MAY. 97 



{Lychnis dioica) are very common. This is 

 a flower shaped a little like that of the prim- 

 rose, but the stem, when on moist lands, often 

 rises two or three feet in height. There are 

 many species of wild lychnis ; one is very com- 

 monly known, from its jagged petals, by the 

 name of ragged robin, or cuckoo flower, {Lychnis 

 Aos cnculi ;) it is frequent by streams, and its 

 pink flowers are very similar to those of the com- 

 mon garden C/ar/aa. It is also called bachelor's 

 buttons, becavise, as Gcrarde says, "the similitude 

 which these flowers have to the jagged cloth but- 

 tons, ancieutlyworninthiskingdom, gaveoccasion 

 to our gentlewomen, and other lovers of flowers, 

 in those times, to call them bachelor's buttons." 

 The flower called golden saxifrage {Chry- 

 sosphniiim oppositifoUinn) is now in bloom by 

 river sides ; and several of the true saxifrages, 

 of which there arc twenty-one wild species, are 

 in flower during this month. The golden saxi- 

 frage is remarkable for its medicinal virtues, 

 and is much esteemed as a salad, in the Vosges, 

 where it is termed Cresson de roche. Several 

 species of saxifrage grow on rocks or stones ; 

 one very common kind is often found on old 

 walls, this is the ruc-lcaved saxifrage, {Saxifraga 

 tridactylites,) which flowers in May ; it has 

 small white blossoms, and the leaves and stems 

 are covered with thick viscid hairs. The white 

 meadow saxifrage {Saxifraya granidata) is not 

 uncommon now in meadows and on hedge 

 banks ; it has a much larger flower than the 

 last species, and is remarkable for its root, 



D 



