1 8 PLANTS,: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH 



83, ^iven a plan view of the expanded flower of the Malm Sylvestris, an allied species, and one 

 more commonly met with ; the flowers are of a reddish purple, and the leaves very similar to the 

 lower ones (fig. 85) of the Musk Mallow : it has not, however, as a whole, the richness of form and 

 ornamental detail that we find in our present plant. The Musk Mallow is not unfrequently 

 met with on, hedge-banks, in pastures, and by road-sides, and more especially where the soil is of 

 gravel or chalk ; it will be found in flower during July, August, and September. It derives its 

 name of musk in allusion to a slight musky odour that is perceptible when the plant is drawn 

 through the hand. The various species of Mallow have long been held in repute for their 

 medicinal qualities, being emollient in their nature, a feature not peculiar to our English species 

 alone, but to the whole family, some six hundred in number. The Malvacece form a considerable 

 proportion in tropical vegetation, and all the species are thus mucilaginous in their nature, and 

 entirely without deleterious properties. They have also valuable economic use, the various species 

 of Gossypium (the cotton plants) being members, amongst many others of less conspicuous com- 

 mercial utility, of this family. The Holyhock (Althea rosea) a familiar garden plant, is also a 

 Mallow. The ring of bracts, three in number, beneath the true calyx, is characteristic of the whole 

 of our British species of Malva. It is clearly shown in fig. 79. The Musk Mallow yields an 

 excellent fibre after maceration, and several attempts have been made to introduce it in the 

 manufacture of paper, cordage, &c. Good as it is however, other plants, as the Hemp and Flax,, 

 are still better, and it has consequently never come into practical use. The technical name, Malva, 

 like the familiar English name. Mallow, refers to the soothing nature of the plant, being derived 

 from a Greek word signifying to make soft. 



We are unable to give any instances of the use of the plant in the ornament of the past ; 

 possibly the fact of its not being so very common as many other plants may, in part at least, 

 account for this, as it seems to us that, its beauties once perceived, it should be gladly hailed by 

 the follower of ornamental art. We have, in fig. 80, a patera form, based on a flower of five petals; 

 but the resemblance to our Mallow is not sufficiently close to justify us in claiming it as an art- 

 adaptation of that flower. Fig. 84, though more like it, has the unit six times repeated, instead 

 of five times, as we see it in the petals of the natural flower. Though unable to cite either of 

 these ornamental forms as being actually derived from the Mallow, they are at least suggestive, 

 and on this ground we feel justified in introducing them. Both examples are from tiles dug up 

 in the ruins of Chertsey Abbey, Surrey : the originals may be seen in the South Kensington 

 Museum. Many of the Chertsey tiles are very interesting, and give very excellent renderings of 

 our native plants, as in fig. 157; the Maple, Ground Ivy, and other plants being shown with 

 iSufficient truth to render them pleasing, and yet in due subordination to ornamental requirements. 

 Besides the collection at South Kensington, other examples may be seen at the British Museum. 



PLATE 8. 



" Do not depreciate any pursuit which leads men to contemplate the works of their Creator ! The Linnean traveller who, 

 when you look over the pages of his journal, seems to you a mere botanist, has in his pursuit an object that occupies his time, and 

 fills his mind, and satisfies his heart. Nor is the pleasure which he partakes in investigating the structure of a plant less pure, or 

 less worthy, than what you derive from perusing the noblest productions of human genius." — Southey. 



The White Bryony, or White Hedge-Vine (Bryonia dioica), is one of our commoner 

 English plants, though it is but sparingly met with in the northern counties and in Wales, and 

 not at all in Scotland or Ireland. It must be sought in the hedge-row or copse, where it may be 

 found covering large expanses of hedge and bush with its long trailing stems and masses of large 

 leaves. The flowers, from their small size and green colour, are not conspicuous features ; but 

 the bright berries that succeed them— first orange, then of deep scarlet — attract the eye more 

 readily, as the plant hangs in graceful festoons from point to point. The generic name, Bryonia, is 

 derived from a Greek word signifying to shoot or grow rapidly, in allusion to the rapid growth' of 

 the plant ; while the specific name, dioica, refers to its dioecious nature. In most plants we find 

 the male, or staminoid parts, and the female, or pistilloid parts, placed together in each blossom ; 

 but in some cases some of the flowers on a plant are wholly pistilliferous, while others are 

 exclusively staminiferous; while a further modification is seen in such plants as the present, where 

 all the blossoms of one plant are pistil-bearing, and all the blossoms of another plant stamen- 

 bearing. These plants are called dioecious. It is only on the plants bearing fertile or pistillate 

 flowers that the fruit is formed. The leaves, ordinarily with five lobes but occasionally with 

 seven, are very rough in texture. The whole plant possesses dangerous properties, and though 

 long classed amongst medicinal herbs, is, from the violence and uncertainty of its action now 

 discarded, ' 



