AMETHYST ERYNGO. 



Eryngium amethystlnum. 



EASIDE botanists are well ac- 

 quainted with the curious 

 spiny leaves of the sea-holly, 

 which attract no less by their 

 glaucous colour than their 

 challenge of war. When in 

 flower the plant has a fine, 

 daring sort of beauty, and 

 may remind one of the story 

 of the thistle that the invad- 

 ing Dane trod upon, when, by 

 reason of his cry of pain, the 

 plant was "promoted to the 

 banner of Scotland. This sea- 

 holly might be called a thistle, 

 but, as a matter of fact, it is 

 an umbelliferous plant, where 

 as the thistle is a true com- 

 posite. The alliance of the 

 eryngo is with the hemlocks, 

 that of the thistle with the 

 asters : and so an eryngo is 



not a thistle, but agrees in the circumstance of being 



armed for defence against all ordinary foes. 



