
PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 315 
four ; growing in pairs. %st7/: one. Leaves: opposite; on petioles ; lanceo- 
late pointed at both ends; serrated; rough; conspicuously veined. Stem: 
sometimes six feet high; leafy ; angled; rough. 
Rearing amid the summer foliage its tall steeple-like spikes 
of intense colour, the blue vervain strikes joy to many a heart 
beside that of the ancient simpler, who, of shaggy appearance, 
armed with an old tin kettle and a great bag, bent his back 
and thrust his two-edged knife into the soil that he might bear 
the plant away and haggle with his friend, the chemist, for its 
exchange in filthy lucre. For the herb doctors had no more 
faithful ally than the blue vervain, 
Our plant is not identical with the “sacred herb” of the 
Greeks and Romans; a sprig of which was sent as an ambas- 
sador on treaties of peace, and used to decorate altars at 
sacrifices and incantations. In those days the name verbena 
was rather generally applied to almost any branch that had a 
part in religious rites. ‘The plant has, however, been credited 
with averting disaster and signifies enchantment in the lan- 
guage of flowers. 
V. urticifolia, white vervain, is also common along the 
roadsides. It resembles the simpler’s joy, although its flowers 
are fewer and less attractive. 
Both of these vervains are country cousins of the large- 
flowered, many-coloured verbenas of the gardens. 
CREEPING THYME. 
Thymus Serpyllum. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Mint. Bluish purple. Fragrant. General. Summer. 
Flowers: growing closely in whorls at the ends of the branches and _ pos- 
sessed of a pair of floral leaves. Ca/yx and corolla: two-lipped. Stamens: 
two. isti/: one; style, two-lobed. Leaves: small; ovate; veined ; smooth, 
with a fringe of hairs at the base. Stem: creeping ; branched. 
The round moss-like hillocks of this fragrant wilding form 
pleasant playing grounds for the rabbit to gambol amongst. 
It comes to us from Europe, where it is surrounded with 
many tender and classic associations. 
