140 Introductory View of the 
ably elegant plant, with its flowers collected together into 
crowded heads: they have a smooth and wax-like appear- 
ance, very similar to the blossom of the A’rbutus. The fine- 
leaved heath (£. cin¢rea) is very common on dry sandy 
grounds, and is often cut, together with ling, for making 
brooms, and for fuel. Ling is employed in Scotland in 
building and thatching cabins, and for rustic beds; in the Isle 
of Islay it is mingled with malt in brewing beer. 
We are told by the poets that Daphne, the fair fugitive 
who eluded the pursuit of the god of day, was changed into 
a laurel, with which Apollo crowned his brows, in honour 
to her memory. The genus that now bears the name, some- 
what resembles that noble laurel, chiefly in the leaves. We 
have two British species. One of them, D. Mezereum, more 
commonly known by the name of mezereon, bears its blos- 
soms in March, before the leaves appear ; they have no 
corolla; but a rose-coloured calyx, which is samc Hes mis- 
taken for one, amply supplies the deficiency in point of 
beauty, and is exquisitely fragrant. This hardly little shrub 
is seldom found wild. The scarlet berries are greedily eaten 
by the hawfinch, greenfinch, and others of aa genus. The 
D. Lauréola, commonly called the spurge laurel, is a little 
evergreen shrub, with drooping leaves “and ereen flowers ; 
the latter oppressively sweet-scented in the evening, but 
having little or no scent during the day: its berry is black. 
Both these plants have medicinal properties, valuable in the 
hands of skilful practitioners, but dangerous when adminis- 
tered by mock-doctors, however willingly they may assume the 
title. Ey ery part is acrid, and produces a fierce burning in 
the mouth and threat. 
Of the genus d4cer (sharp, in reference to the juice) we 
have two species; the maple, 4. campéstre (champaign), and 
the sycamore, A. Psetdo-platanus (false-plane tree). The 
maple is common in hedges and thickets, and well known by 
the peculiar form of the leaf, which is five- 
lobed, cut into five segments. (fg. 28.) 
The wood, which is still used for many 
hight sick was formerly in great request 
for cups; and the knots, which were thought 
to resemble various attimnbls! were prized | by 
the Romans at a most extravagant rate, 
chiefly for making tables. ‘The expression 
“to turn the tables upon a person,” has 
been supposed to owe its origin to this 
taste; which afforded the Roman ladies an opportunity of 
retaliation, when their husbands remoustrated against the cost- 
fo 
