The Garden of British Wild Flowers. 179 



not very general. It is what might be called a 

 local plant, while G. lancastriense must now be 

 sought for in nurseries or botanic gardens. G. 

 sanguineum makes a very pretty border plant of 

 dwarf and compact habit. G. phaeum is a species 

 with flowers of a peculiar blackish colour, and is 

 more curious than beautiful. It is wild in some 

 parts of Westmoreland and Yorkshire, and is worth 

 a place in a full collection from its distinctness, if 

 nothing else. 



The common Oxalis (O. Acetosella) is the 

 prettiest among its British allies ; and a chaste little 

 plant it is, too, when seen luxuriating in shady, 

 woody places, along hedge-banks, &c. It cannot 

 be cultivated to perfection fully exposed, but in all 

 gardens where there is a little diversity, or any 

 half-wild, shady spot, it might be introduced with 

 advantage. Some say it is the shamrock of the 

 ancient Irish, but they are certainly wrong. Estab- 

 lished custom among the Irish during the expe- 

 rience of the oldest inhabitants, and everything 

 that can be observed or gleaned, tend to point to 

 the common trifolium as the true shamrock. 



In the Pea tribe there are a few plants of great 

 merit, and the first we meet with is the veiy pretty 

 dwarf shrub Genista tinctoria, or Dyer's genista. 

 N 2 



