188 NATURE NEAR LONDON, 



wayside and wherever the foot of man passes, as 

 at the gateway, are here. White and lilac -tinted 

 yarrow flowers grow so thickly along the roads 

 round London as often to form a border between 

 the footpath and the bushes of the hedge. Dandelions 

 lift their yellow heads, classified and cultivated — 

 the same dandelions whose brilliant colour is admired 

 and imitated by artists, and whose prepared roots are 

 still in use in country places to improve the flavour 

 of coffee. 



Groundsel, despised groundsel — the weed which 

 cumbers the garden patch, and is hastily destroyed, 

 is here fully recognized. These harebells — they have 

 flowered a little earlier than in their wild state — how 

 many scenes they recall to memory ! We found 

 them on the tops of the glorious Downs when the 

 wheat was ripe in the plains and the earth beneath 

 seemed all golden. Some, too, concealed themselves 

 on the pastures behind those bunches of tough grass 

 the cattle left untouched. And even in cold November, 

 when the mist lifted, while the dewdrdps clustered 

 thickly on the grass, one or two hung their heads 

 under the furze. 



Hawkweeds, which many mistake for dandelions ; 

 cowslips, in seed now, and primroses, with foreign 

 primulas around them and enclosed by small hurdles, 

 foxgloves, some with white and some with red flowers, 

 all these have their story and are intensely English. 

 Kough-leaved comfrey of the side of the river and 

 brook, one species of which is so much talked of 

 as better forage than grass, is here, its bells opening. 



Borage, whose leaves float in the claret-cup ladled 



