MAS. 85 



borage was, with the rue and rosemary, gathered 

 not only for present use, hut was stored by the 

 prudent housewife against the season when the 

 fresh plants were not to be procured ; and, hke 

 the two former, was praised for that it kept 

 " seeming and savour all the winter long." 

 " Those of our time," says an eld writer, " doe 

 vise the flowers in salads, to exhilarate and make 

 the mind be glad. There be also many things 

 made of them, used everywhere for the comfort 

 of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow." 



Another very rough-leaved plant, the com- 

 frcy, {Symphytum officinale,^ is now in blos- 

 som, chieflv bv the river-sides, or other moist 

 grounds. It has clusters of yellowish white 

 drooping bells, and the leaves are so rough that 

 they cannot be touched by the naked hand 

 with impunity. The root, which abounds in 

 mucilage, is much valued by villagers, who use 

 it as medicine. The lungwort {Pidmona7-ia 

 officinalis) is showing its purple bells with their 

 young pink buds in the woods. The rough 

 fuliage is spotted like the animal lungs, and 

 hence it was inferred that it was designed to be 

 useful in pulmonary complaints. It was for- 

 merly called sage of Bethlehem, and spotted 

 comfrey, and is known in France as Vhcrbe aux 

 poumons. 



On field-borders, commons, and other waste 

 lands, the j)ea-shaped blossoms of the rest-har- 

 row {Ononis arvensis) are, by the end of the 

 month, covering the spiny stems. This pea- 

 like blossom is called by botanists, papiliari' 



