282 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



the plant is the Impatiens, the touch-me-not, the 

 quick-in-hand. 



The touch-me-not has as its companion the water- 

 loving forget-me-not, that decks throughout the 

 summer our rock-garden with its welcome turquoise- 

 blue flowers. The older herbalists call the plant 

 the mouse-ear scorpion-grass a much more prosaic 

 name than the one it now bears. Mouse-ear was 

 suggested by the form and texture of the little 

 leaves, while the second half of the name was 

 suggested by the spiral unwinding of the inflores- 

 cence, in some sort suggestive of the tail of a 

 scorpion, and therefore indicative to the mediaeval 

 herbalists that the plant was efficacious against 

 injury from the venom of this uncanny creature. 

 Why the old plant-gatherers in search of remedies 

 were, in our English shires, so nervous of the 

 scorpion any more than, say, of an octopus or a 

 rattle-snake, passes one's understanding. The 

 present plant has only borne its present name for 

 a comparatively short period : the mediaeval forget- 

 me-not was a quite different thing the ground pine ; 

 it was thus termed because from its bitterness 

 any one tasting it would be in no danger of not 

 avoiding it in future. The forget-me-not was at 

 one time held to possess magical virtues, and, 

 judiciously employed, brought abundant good for- 

 tune to those who knew the secret of the talisman, 

 and various legends have grown around the pretty 



