] 12 CENTAUREA. ONOPORDUM. 



soft spines, which, in an elongated and enlarged form, make a collar 

 roimd its base. 



322. C. scABiosA. Very rare. R. Gathered at Sprouston, 

 almost on the confines of Berwickshire, by the Rev. John Baird. 

 July, Aug. 



323. C. cYANus. 33luti)ottleS ; ?3la6ev or SBlatoort. Turner 

 calls it the ^Icbblatn. — Corn-fields, now rare, and only occasionally 

 seen in fields amidst our hilly border. It appeared, in several spots, 

 abundantly on the cutting of the rail-roads, intermingled with the 

 Poppy. It was, in former times, an abundant and beautiful weed ; 

 so well known as to have become an object of familiar comparison. 



" Of colour like a SBlatoart blue." — A. Ramsay. 



" May ne'er the canker o' the diink 

 Mak our bald spirits thrawart, 

 'Case we get wherewitha' to wink, 

 Wi' een as blue's a ilstoart, 

 Wi' straiks thir days ! " 



R. Fkrguson. " Leith Races." 



The Bluebottle has been introduced into the garden, where it runs 

 into numerous variegations. July, Aug. 



324. Arctium lappa. JSurKocfeni. — Waste grounds. 



325. A. bardanna = A. minus. JSurUotlttn: Cl^e Burr. — "It 

 groweth comonly about townes and villages, about diches and 

 hyghewayes and doung hylles and such vile places." Autumn. — 

 The observations of Doody and Ray tend to confirm the opinion of 

 those botanists who maintain the distinctness of our Burdocks. See 

 Syn. 1696, p. 88. I am at a loss, however, sometimes to refer a 

 specimen to its species ; but I insert both in our catalogue, having 

 had the advantage of having their characters pointed out by Mr. 

 Babington on our wayside plants. The latter is by much the com- 

 monest. — "In the eastern parts of Berwickshire, the 'ripening,' by 

 which is meant the flowering of the 'burr,' is associated with 

 Cockburnspath or Lammas Fair. To the mirth of this gingerbread 

 festival, it appears, in former times, to have very much contributed, 

 bundles of burrs being introduced just as the olden people began to 

 show themselves. Until the constable allayed the riot, there was no 

 remedy but to fly, or to resume the defensive. The Burr was not 

 the only provoking thing, for when removed, it left a sediment of 

 white hairs, which gave, to well brushed and holiday attire, the ap- 

 pearance of having been wrapt in a woollen blanket ! — Children are 

 wont to dissect the flowering burrs, removing all the hooks and 

 flowers, till the clustered pappus alone adheres to the receptacle. 

 These they term brushes." — J. Hardy. 



17. Onopordum acaiithium. ^cotti) CljrfeiStl. — In gardens and 

 shrubberies ; where it maintains itself unsown. 



