THE CHEQUERED DAFFODIL 3827 
on the Cornish coast, and found the turf at the 
foot of the rocks jewelled with the first vernal 
‘squills! And what a thrill of joy in Scotland one 
June, when coming to a narrow green valley 
between high rocks and woods I had my first 
sight of the exquisite grass of Parnassus flowering 
in profusion! 
One day, cycling from Salisbury to Winter- 
bourne Gunner, I found a pretty red flower new to 
me growing by the roadside in great abundance; 
for a distance of three or four hundred yards the 
hedge-side was thickly sprinkled with its lovely 
little stars. It was a geranium, prettier than any 
red geranium known to me, the delicate colour 
resembling that of the red horse-chestnut. It was 
the Geranium pyrenaicum, native of central and 
eastern Europe, and by some botanists supposed to 
be indigenous in this country. Probably the colour 
varies, as some of the books describe it as purple or 
pale purple. 
My delight was greater when I first came upon 
the large blue geranium growing among the South 
Wiltshire downs. The large loose plant with large 
flowers and deep-cut leaves reminded me of the 
geranium -leafed scented mallow, one of my 
favourites, and these two plants became associated 
in my mind, but the mallow is rosy pink and the 
geranium a pure divine (or human) blue. 
One of the rarest, and to my mind one of the 
most beautiful, flowers in England is the bastard 
balm; I have never found it but once, and it was 
