MAT. 79 



name is taken, signifies the young slioot of a 

 vine, or tendril, and indicates its tAvining nature. 

 The clematis, though rare in the northern por- 

 tions of this country, is very abundant in the 

 greater part of England, especially in the south, 

 and on limestone, or chalky soils, where, in May, 

 or June, its clusters of greenish white are 

 thickly scattered over the hedges. The flowers 

 are succeeded by a quantity of seeds, crowned 

 with tufts of silvery down, which look very 

 beautiful through the greater part of the winter, 

 and the plant may well be abundant, for these 

 feathered seeds are exactly suited for flying on 

 the air, and are often carried about by birds. 

 In winter these little tufts of down are stripped 

 off by the harvest mice, which make of them 

 and other materials, soft little nests, as warm 

 as a feather bed, and not unlike the nests of 

 a bird, and there, leaving their cheerless little 

 dwellings in the earth, they come and spend a 

 part of their time. 



The stems of the clematis often extend more 

 than twenty feet over the hedge ; and, although 

 it is destitute of the curling tendrils, which, 

 like those of the vine, support the plant, yet 

 its flexible branches answer the purpose more 

 fully. The young stems are, in this month, of 

 a purj)lish green colour, but become brown 

 and hard in the course of the summer ; and 

 then they serve the cottagers instead of pipes, 

 for they are often smoked by country people. 

 Bishop Mant has some lines on this pretty 

 flower : — 



