128 OUR COMPOUND FLOWERS. 



wede away, for the gay and gorgeous effect they produce, where they 

 form a large proportion of the crop, has a fine and exhilarating sti- 

 mulus on every beholder, provided always that he is not a farmer, 

 nor an agricultural student*. 



The order is comparatively rich in officinal herbs, and it is fair to 

 conclude, from the fact of their retaining a place in our most expur- 

 gated pharmacopoeias, that the Dandelion, Chamomile, Wormwood, 

 Tansy, Burdock, Coltsfoot, and Wild Lettuce possess medicinal 

 virtues in those ailments for which they are prescribed. The Wild 

 Lettuce is narcotic, the Dandelion and Burdock deobstruent and 

 alterative, the Coltsfoot demulcent and tonic, the Chamomile, Worm- 

 wood and Tansy bitter with aromatic and tonic qualities, yet neg- 

 lected in modern practice from the caprice of fashion, which sways 

 the doctor as well as Bond-street. Now it is patent to remark how 

 little this indication of their qualities tallies with an axiom insisted 

 upon by some advocates of a Natural System, — viz. that " a know- 

 ledge of the properties of one plant is a guide to the practitioner, 

 which enables him to substitute some other with confidence, which 

 is naturally allied to it." Lindley, Nat. System, p. xvi. — But the 

 local Florist gladly escapes from the speculations and practice of 

 Science to the notice of traditional virtues attributed to these home- 

 bred simples by the observant dame, who, in almost every village, 

 disputes the palm of skill with the regular practitioner, albeit she 

 now relies less on them than she did in the days of a foregone gene- 

 ration. Still there live dames who will prepare you wormwood and 

 mugwort for the young friend whose languor and pale complexion 

 tells her of the cold obstructions that these sovereign remedies will 



* I happened once to travel in autumn from Edinburgh to Berwick with 

 an accomplished American lady and her husband, — a professor of Geology. 

 The lady's attention was greatly taken with the gay and gorgeous appear- 

 ance of some corn-fields in E. Lothian, which were made roseate with the 

 Poppy, and she expressed a wish to have seeds of this to take with her to 

 America ! The Professor, as we neared Berwick, remarked on the yellow 

 which predominated in some old grass fields ; and asked the name of 

 "that fine plant" — the Ragweed — which gave that predominance. Satis- 

 fied with the answer, the Ragweed, under a learned alias, was duly \mtteii 

 in a note-hook. 



Yellow is certainly the ruling colour amongst our wild fiowers. A table 

 of fiowers according to their colours might not prove this, or might even 

 disprove it, but the assertion is a fact nevertheless. In spring the Colts- 

 foot, the Pilewort, the Dandelion, the Primrose and Cowslip ; — in early 

 summer the Buttercups and King-cups ; — in a later season the Syngenesia 

 generally and the "Wild Mustards, — whole fields are yellowed with them 

 everywhere, — and the Cistus and the Tormentil glow golden on our braes 

 and muirs ; and in autumn the Hawkweeds and Ragweeds are aided 

 throughout the landscape with the yellow hue of every herb that hath 

 flourished and now decays. 



" The haunt o' Spring 's the primrose brae, 



The Simmer joys the flocks to follow ; 

 How cheery through her shortening day. 



Is Autumn, in her weeds o' yellow ! " — Burns. 



