54 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



ing like weeds and apparently " quite wild." It was 

 over eighty years since the plant had been recorded. 

 During that long period it had "wasted its sweet- 

 ness on the desert air." And there it was to-day, as 

 thoroughly established as when the warden's daughter 

 had made her brief entry in the copy of Smith's Flora 

 in the year 1835. It was a thrilling discovery. The 

 mystery of my clump of Noli-me-tangere was now 

 explained. 



