BISTORT AND MEADOW-RtfE 121 



more than its share of space. It thrives best 

 where the ground is fairly moist. We have ordi- 

 narily planted it amongst ferns, the long spikes of 

 flower rising amidst the fronds and giving a very 

 pleasant contrast, while the degree of humidity that 

 suits the one is equally grateful to the other. The 

 leaves form a wholesome vegetable. The bistort 

 is distinctly a local plant, and is commoner in the 

 north of England than in the south. One finds it 

 on the mountain meadows of Switzerland in glorious 

 profusion. 



Another interesting plant to cultivate is the 

 meadow-rue Tkalictrum flavum. It derives its 

 generic title from the Greek verb, signifying to be 

 flourishing, and it is a very well-earned designa- 

 tion, for when once established the difficulty is not 

 so much to preserve it as to insist that it shall give 

 its neighbours a fair chance of being preserved too : 

 it is a perennial. The plant attains to a height of 

 some three feet, and, alike in its richly cut foliage 

 and its masses of yellow blossom, is a welcome 

 addition to one's garden. Though a wild plant, it 

 is not at all commonly distributed. It should be 

 searched for in low-lying moist meadow-land, osier- 

 beds, and such-like aqueous spots, hence another 

 name for it is the fen-rue. It was an old belief 

 that if hung up in a room or tied round the neck 

 of any person the plant preserved them from all 

 danger ; but this statement we merely pass on 



