JUNE. 129 



ral as this, and easily distinguished from it by its 

 lesser leaves and small pale lilac flowers, grows 

 by waysides and on waste places. It is the 

 dwarf mallow, (Malva rotundifoUa.) It is not 

 in bloom till July, and frequently remains iu 

 flower till September. 



The only other native mallow — if we except 

 the marsh species, which botanists distinguish 

 by the name of Althcca — is the fragrant musk 

 mallow, {JMalva moschata,^ which is not unfre- 

 quent on the gravelly soil of several English 

 counties. In Essex it is very abundant. In 

 many parts of Kent, not a single specimen 

 could be found wild, but it is planted in gar- 

 dens. The large rose-coloured blossoms of 

 this species are very beautiful, and when a 

 shower has fallen uoon them, their musky odour 

 is very powerful. 



The bitter sweet, or common nightshade, 

 {Solunmn dulcamara,) throws its lurid purple 

 flowers over every hedge ; and that lovely flower 

 the wilding rose is one of the sv/eetest adorn- 

 ments of the green lanes of June. The older 

 writers dcpreciatod this flower so as to call it 

 canker, a name by which it is still known in 

 Devonshire. It was called dog's rose and 

 dog's thorn, because dogs arc said to eat the 

 hips. Its beautiful (lushed ])ctals have a slight 

 odour, scarcely stronger than that which the 

 breath of morning brings us from the dewy 

 grass. " A great store of hips and haws," says 

 Lord Bacon, " portends a cold winter :" a 

 statement which, whether true or not, is gene- 



E 



