54 



appearing at the end of the branches in the autumn. The 

 berries which succeed ripen in the following spring, and are then 

 black. The leaves on the top of the plant are ovate and entire ; 

 on the lower part of it, and particularly on the creeping stems, 

 they are five-lobed, very dark green, and beautifully veined with 

 white. Among the ancients the Ivy was a celebrated plant, as 

 it formed the crown of victory with which the Greek and Roman 

 poets were crowned. From the circumstance of its being often 

 seen around a decayed tree, it was thought that it had killed it* 

 and thus became the emblem of ingratitude, as having strangled 

 its benefactor ; but this is not true, for although it has roots 

 which cling to the bark, yet it has other roots in the earth which 

 nourish it. The author of " The Studies of Nature" regards 

 it as the emblem of pure friendship. " Nothing," says he, 

 ' ' can separate it from the tree which it has once embraced ; it 

 clothes it with its own leaves in that inclement season when its 

 dark boughs are covered with hoar frost. The faithful com- 

 panion of its destiny, it falls when the tree is cut down, but 

 death itself does not relax its grasp, and it continues to adorn 

 with its verdure the dry trunk which once supported it." 



" Thus the two friends so closely Urine, 

 The tree supports, the flower adorns, 

 The oak need not for youth repine. 

 Nor the frail ivy fear the storm. 



" Thus may old friendship ever be 



Founded on qualities which last, 

 That it may live on sympathy, 

 When beauty and when youth are past/* 



GOOSE-FOOT. CHENOPODIUM. 



ANNUAL SEA-SIDE GOOSE-FOOT. Chenopodium maritimum. 



Plate 3, fig. 14. 

 Leaves awl-shaped, fleshy. Flowers with two bracts. 



Common on the sea shore, but of no beauty and little value ; 

 growing upright, three to six inches high, and bearing very 

 minute yellow flowers, each of which has under it two very 

 small bracts. The plant is much branched, and to be found in 

 flower in July and August. 



