342 WILD FLOWERS. 



which was however made admissable by not bearing 

 the objectionable name* was used for scurvy in 

 the county of Hampshire, and was good for flesh 

 wounds, and efficacious in dropsy, though from its 

 acrid qualities it, he says, " hurteth the stomachs of 

 delicate persons." 



This handsome flower, which is represented in 

 the engraving, is almost as large as that of the great- 

 bindweed ; though the plant itself is low and creep- 

 ing, with small and scantily distributed leaves, re- 

 sembling in shape a horse-shoe ; from which the 

 plant obtains the old names of sea-foal-hoof and sea- 

 horse-hoof, corresponding to the Welsh name Ebol- 

 garn-y-mor. It occurs on sandy dunes, as they are 

 termed on the Eastern coast or sand-hills as we 

 more generally designate them, and is a very com- 

 mon plant on all our sandy shores ; seldom rising to 

 a greater height than two or three inches ; it trails 

 along the ground, and makes the desolate spots 

 where it grows bright and gay with its pink 

 blossoms, whose effect is considerably increased by 

 the reddish-yellow tint assumed at a very early 

 period by its bracts, stems, and leaves. The seed of 

 this convolvulus furnishes a curious example of 

 germination, not merely while the seed-vessel is 

 remaining on the plant, but actually within it when 

 still closed; and in this, though deprived of light 

 and air, the seminal leaves of the cotyledon assume 

 a large size, and even a green colour, some time 

 before they burst from their bonds and take root in 

 the earth on which their cradle already lies, afford- 

 * Soldanella was then the generic name. 



