110 WTID FLOWERS. 



ancients, argemon ; and Pliny says, it takes its 

 name from Eupator, the " finder of it out, and 

 hath a royal and princelie authoritie." 



The yellow avens, {Geum urbanum,) though 

 rare in Scotland, is so frequent in rural places 

 in England as to have obtained many familiar 

 names. It is called herb Bennet,star of the earth, 

 goldy flower, and its oldest name was, blessed 

 herb.- It probably received tliis because it was 

 once much used by physicians as a febrifuge : 

 Dr. Thornton thought highly of its virtue. 

 It is a pretty flower, growing on a branched 

 stem, and has large leaves at the root. Its 

 root is prized on account of its sweet odour, 

 and, in several parts of England, is collected and 

 laid in drawers and chests, to give its scent to 

 linen. It is also put into wine or ale, to im- 

 part to it a spicy flavour, and a water is dis- 

 tilled from it. It is remarkable that when 

 this flower grows in damp places, the root does 

 not possess this peculiar ai'oma. The water 

 avens {Geum rivale) is the only other wild 

 species, and is a much larger and thicker plant 

 than this, with its flowers each about the size of 

 a shilling, and of a deep purplish orange colour. 



In the northern counties of England, and in 

 Scotland, especially in the neighbourhood of 

 mountains, the large round yellow blossoms of 

 the globe flower {TrolUus Europt^xis) are a very 

 handsome ornament to the green lands. In 

 the south, they deck our garden borders, but in 

 Scotland, they are very general as wild flowers, 

 and are called lucker-gowaus, and cabbage- 



