130 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



must have been penny cress,* so called from the 

 seed-vessel being about the size of a 

 silver penny. 



" In leaving these interesting 

 plants," he said, "which have de- 

 tained us longer than usual, I must 

 SEED-VESSEL OF mention one that has been the sub- 



PEXNY-CRESS. . .... T . . n 1 ,t 



ject oi superstition. It is called the 

 Eose of Jericho, and has the curious property 

 of contracting its branches into a ball. In this 

 state it is caught up by the wind of the Egyptian 

 deserts, where it grows wild, and is hurried from 

 place to place. On being put into water, how- 

 ever, it revives, and spreads out in its natural form. 

 One of the old legends states, that this plant first 

 bloomed on Christmas eve, to celebrate our Sa- 

 viour's birth, and remained in blossom till Easter, 

 to do homage to his resurrection. But let us now 

 proceed to the next tribe, which is MIGNONETTE, 

 consisting of weeds only, but one of these so fra- 

 grant, that it is admitted into our gardens. 

 Lindley calls these plants We^dworts, from one of 

 them, called Weld, which yields a yellow dye." 

 Mary scarcely liked to hear mignonette called 

 * TJilaspi arvense. 



