244 HALF-HOURS IN THE GREEN LANES. 



Another plant, also peculiarly fond of calcareous 

 soils, but which may often be seen blooming on old 

 walls, is the Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare), a 

 decidedly pretty and even showy species. Its spike 

 of blue and pink flowers, and its stem dotted and 

 prickled all over, are ready means of recognising it. 

 Its vulgar name was derived from the supposed 

 resemblance of its seeds to the head of a viper. As 

 the summer advances, the drier hedge-banks and 

 uncultivated fields are all aglow with the bright 

 yellow flowers of the Rag- wort (Senecio jacdbcea), a 

 composite plant, quite as pretty as the Michaelmas 

 Daisies we have imported into our gardens, and, in 

 our opinion, both in the shape of its leaves and in 

 the colour of the flowers, far exceeding the latter 

 plant. The advanced summer also brings out the 

 Hawkweeds (Hieracium) whose many species puzzle 

 the young botanist almost as much as the umbelli- 

 ferous plants. The name of the genus is derived 

 from the belief that the hawk fed on these plants, 

 and also fed its young upon them, in order to obtain 

 that clearness of vision which distinguishes them 

 from other birds. The earliest of the hawkweeds is 

 the Mouse-ear (Hieracium pilosella), which grows 

 with a single stem, and a blossom almost canary 

 coloured. Its pale green, very downy leaves grow 

 on the hedge-banks in pretty rosettes, and in feel 

 and appearance they are not unlike the ear of the 

 little animal whose name they bear. By-and-by you 

 will have other species of hawkweeds out that you 



