AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT. 27 



from a fancy that the lurid appearance of many of them indicated the dangerous properties that 

 they possessed. _ It is very singular to notice in so many of our poisonous plants the curious 

 limitation of their ill effects ; thus, though the present plant is deadly to man, and no less so to 

 dogs and many birds (hen-bane, i.e. a bane to poultry), yet horses, goats, and swine seem able to 

 feed on it with impunity, and the same thing is seen in many other plants. The generic name 

 Hyoscyamus, is derived from two Greek words signifying hog and bean, in allusion to the ripening 

 fruit being eaten by swine. Linnaeus, as the result of many experiments, tells us that the horse 

 eats two hundred and sixty-two plants, and rejects one hundred and twelve ; the cow eats two 

 hundred and seventy-six, and declines two hundred and eighteen ; the goat devours four hundred 

 and forty-nine, and refuses one hundred and twenty-six ; the sheep takes three hundred and eighty- 

 seven, and rejects one hundred and forty-one ; while the hog, despite the not over-niceness that 

 appears to control its appetite, is more fastidious than any of the preceding, eating only seventy- 

 two plants, and rejecting one hundred and seventy-one. These experiments were conducted 

 with the Flora of Sweden, and the figures would doubtless require a little modification if we tested 

 the matter on our own soil, but they are at least approximations to the truth, and not, we think, 

 without interest. 



PLATE 14. 



" Without system the field of Nature would be a pathless wilderness j tut system should be subordinate to, and not the 

 main object of our pursuits." — ^White of Selborne. 



The Bush Vetch ( Vicia septum). We have in the first two figures of the present plate a 

 couple of sketches of the natural grbwth of this pleasing plant, the remaining illustrations, with 

 the exception of fig. 131 — an attempt to give some idea of the lightness and grace of the plant in 

 a design — being various useful details, as the forms of the bud, flower, and fruit. The Bush Vetch 

 is very commonly to be met with, and ordinarily in the hedge-row, as both the English and Latin 

 names imply, septum being derived from the word sepe, a hedge ; the plant may also be met with 

 in woods and shady copses, flowering during June, July, and August. The flowers spring, as will 

 be seen from our illustrations, in a racemose manner from the axils of the upper leaves, and both 

 flower and fruit may be met with simultaneously : a very valuable ornamental feature, and one 

 capable of imparting greatly increased interest and variety to the labours of the designer. The 

 whole plant, from its graceful delicacy of growth, is eminently qualified for employment in the 

 decoration of light fabrics, and should on this ground, we think, be its own amply sufficient com- 

 mendation. 



The pea flowers, as an order, present many excellent subjects for the art of the ornamentist, 

 and deserve an attentive consideration, since, though on a casual glance all are apparently very 

 similar, a beautiful variety of form and colour makes itself felt on a closer survey. In the 

 Trifolium incarnatum, or Crimson Clover, a species extensively grown as fodder, the infloresence 

 is densely spicate ; in the T. arvense, or Hare's-foot Trefoil, the flower head is cylindrical ; while it 

 is spherical in T. resupinatum, the reversed Trefoil. In the Vicia lutea, or Rough- Podded Yellow 

 Vetch, the flowers are sessile, and occur singly at intervals up the stem ; in the Lathyrus Aphaca, 

 the Yellow Vetchling, the flowers, though occurring singly, as in the last example, are on stalks ; 

 while in the Melilot (MeLilotus alba) the flowers are in long racemes, containing from twenty to 

 thirty blossoms. In some of the species the leaves are pinnate — ex. Hippocrepis comosa, Horse- 

 shoe Vetch, and the present plant (fig. 124) ; in others trifoliate^ex. Medicago lupulina, the 

 Black Medick ; in others again unifoliate, as in the Dyer's Green-Weed (Genista tinctoria); while 

 in the Lathyrus Nissolia, the Crimson Grass- Vetch, they are very acute in form, and much re- 

 sembling the grassy Turf, amidst which the plant is often found. The leaves are often entire in 

 outline — ex. Trifolium pratense, the common Purple Clover; but sometimes toothed — ex. Melilotus 

 officinalis, the common Yellow Melilot. In Ononis campestris, the Rest-harrow, the lower leaves 

 are trifoliate, while the upper are frequently unifoliate. In the Furze (Ulex Eurupceus) the 

 trefoil leaves are only present immediately after germination, all the succeeding forms being of the 

 spiny growth so characteristic of the plant. In some of the pea plants the leaves are opposite in 

 growth — ex. Lathyrus Aphaca ; in others alternate — ex. Lotus diffusus. Many of the plants, as 

 in the Vicia Cracca, or Tufted Vetch, and the present instance (fig. 125 — see also fig. 163) have 

 tendrils; while others, as the Astragalus Alpinus, or Alpine Milk- Vetch, and the Broom (fig. 97) 

 are without them. In some species — ex, Vicia sativa, the Common Vetch — the pods are long and 

 conspicuous ; in others — ex. Lotus hisptdus, but short, and, therefore, features ornamentally of but 

 secondary value. We might thus point out many other interesting varieties of form apparent on 



