JUNE 125 



its relatives. In Scotland, especially in Renfrewshire, 

 country people prepare a tisane from its leaves, sup- 

 posed to be a remedy for rheumatism, but they disguise 

 the bitter flavour with such quantities of sugar as to 

 endanger, one would think, its tonic virtue. The most 

 fragrant riverside flower now coming into bloom is the 

 meadow-sweet. There is a seeming ambiguity in the 

 scientific name of this plant, Spiraea, for there is 

 nothing spiral in the habit of this or any other member 

 of the large and charming group to which it belongs. 

 It is not till the lens reveals the spiral or twisted 

 arrangement of the seed-capsules that one realises 

 why Linnteus chose to distinguish this genus from the 

 rest of the rose family by the title Spircva the twisted 

 one. 



River shallows which, but a few weeks ago, were 

 ridged with rime and solid ice, are now white with the 

 mimic snow of water ranunculus. The blaze of golden 

 kingcups has yielded place to the lighter fretwork of 

 buttercups, and ragged-robin flings a rosy veil over the 

 graves of departed lady's-smocks. Spotted orchises 

 have leapt from the mould with torches of pale purple. 

 Few people care to know how grandly this plant (not 

 to be confused with the early purple orchis) repays 

 cultivation, especially a robust variety, sold by nursery- 

 men as the Kilmarnock orchis. Planted in generous 

 garden soil, it throws up spikes eighteen inches long, 

 and well-established clumps will carry as many as a 

 score of these. From the river margin the great water- 

 dock (Rufnex hydrolapathum) displays its splendid 



