170 The Wild Garden. 



rather freely scattered over the British isles, but 

 not common. These plants are of course only to 

 be collected in a wild state, though they are grown 

 in some botanic gardens. The others are what we 

 would mostly call wild field kinds, and are too apt 

 to become dangerous weeds to be admitted to the 

 garden. R. acris pleno and R. repens pleno are 

 double forms of the wild kinds, and well worth 

 growing, from their exceedingly pretty " bachelor's- 

 button" flowers, bright yellow, neat, and very 

 double. From being double they last longer in 

 flower than the single kinds, are well suited for use 

 among cut flowers, and are, in fact, very desirable 

 border plants. They must be had from a nursery, 

 or from a place where herbaceous flowers are 

 grown, though possibly they may be found wild 

 occasionally, though very rarely. 



Then we have the large marsh marigold (Caltha 

 palustris), which makes such a glorious show in 

 spring along moist bottoms, or by river banks in 

 rich soil — notably on the left bank of the Thames 

 as you go to Kew, where, when there has been a 

 very high tide during the flowering season, I have 

 seen the ground for many feet under the water look 

 as if strewn with gold, in consequence of the water 

 having overflowed the banks and covered numbers 



