144 TETRAD YNAMI A SILIQUOSA. 



The flowers were at one time supposed to be useful in spas- 

 modic diseases, as epilepsy, for the cure of which they are 

 recommended by RAY and Sir G. BAKER, but they have 

 fallen into neglect. They come with the cuckoo, whence, 

 in some parts, the people call it the Cuckoo-flower ; and 

 they cover the meadows as with linen bleaching, which is 

 supposed to be the origin of the name we have adopted, 

 as being more classical. Thus SHAKSPEARE, 



" When daisies pied, and violets blue, 

 And Lady-smocks all silver -white, 

 And Cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, 

 Do paint the meadows with delight." 



3. C. amara, stem creeping at the base ; leaves pinnate, with- 

 out stipulas, leaflets of the lowermost roundish, of the rest 

 toothed or angular ; flowers white with violet anthers ; style 

 obliquely elongated. Bitter Ladies'' -smock. 



Hal. Watery places, rare. Banks of the Eye about Ne- 

 therbyres, Rev. A. Baird. May. 11 



More likely to be passed by as a Water-cress, than mistaken 

 for any variety of the preceding. Dr HOOKER says, the 

 flowers are larger than those of the pratensis, and SMITH 

 describes them as of the same size ; but in our specimens 

 they are not more than half as large. 



200. NASTURTIUM. 



1. N. officinale, leaves pinnate, leaflets roundish-heart-shaped, 

 wavy ; flowers white. Common Water-cress. 



Hal. Ditches and water-courses. June, July. 'U 



Near London the Water-cress is regularly cultivated, and 

 it is perhaps the best and most wholesome of our sallad 

 herbs. 



2. N. sylvestre, leaves pinnate, leaflets lanceolate, deeply ser- 

 rated or cut ; root creeping ; flowers yellow, the petals much 

 longer than the calyx. Creeping Yellow-cress. 



Hob. Wet gravelly places. River-side a little above West 

 Ord, Dr Thompson. About the Union Bridge. Aug. 7/ 



