64 GROUND IVY. 



other plants which form the food of cattle. 

 Few animals will touch the Ground Ivy unless 

 compelled by hunger to do so, and it is even 

 said to be injurious to horses. The leaves are 

 much used in villages to make an infusion for 

 coughs, and the plant was formerly called Ale- 

 hoof and Tun-hoof, because their bitter pro- 

 perties rendered them of use in the beer made 

 in the old English households, before hops had 

 become the common growth of our country. 

 Even in recent times a quantity of this plant 

 has been thrown into a vat of ale in order to 

 clarify it, and the ale thus prepared has been 

 taken as a remedy for some maladies of the 

 skin. 



We may often see, during autumn, a num- 

 ber of small hairy tumours on the leaves of 

 the Ground Ivy, which are occasioned by the 

 puncture of the insect called Cynips Glechomse. 

 These galls are sometimes eaten by the pea- 

 santry of France; but Reaumur, who tasted 

 them, remarks that it is doubtful if tliey will 

 rank with good fruits. They have, as might 

 be expected, a strong flavour of the plant on 

 which they are formed. 



