286 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



short extract amply suffices to explain why a 

 plant held of such abundant efficacy should find 

 honoured place in the mediaeval herb-garden, and 

 we find that it was held of sovereign virtue even 

 in the days of Pythagoras and Hippocrates. 



Yet another plant of interesting associations we 

 give ready welcome to the fennel. This, though 

 one nowadays associates it with the kitchen garden, 

 is a true British wildling, and may be seen flourish- 

 ing vigorously on the cliffs by the seaside in many 

 localities, rising to a height of some four feet or so, 

 forming a dense mass of very finely cut foliage that 

 contrasts admirably with everything around it when 

 we transfer the plant to our rock-garden. The 

 fennel was well known to the ancient Greeks and 

 Romans : Hippocrates, Dioscorides, and other very 

 venerable practitioners believed greatly in it. It 

 has been largely used throughout the centuries for 

 the relief of dimness of sight and of blindness : 

 according to Pliny, even the serpents had found 

 this out before his days, and when they cast their 

 skins resorted to this plant to restore their sight. 

 There was an ancient distich declaring 



" Foeniculum, rosa, verbena, chelidonia, ruta, 

 Exhis, fit aqua, quae lumina reddit acute," 



which appears in mediaeval garb as 



U O Fennel, Roses, Veruain, Rue, and Celandine, 

 Is made a water good to cheere the sight of eine " 



