338 



The Flora of Wiltshire. 



and we may presume it was one of the earliest plants which was 

 cultivated in our gardens, from its being so constantly found on the 

 ruins of our oldest buildings. Turner, one of the earliest English 

 writers on plants, calls it Wallgelouer, or hartis-ease. Gerarde 

 names it Wall Flower, yellow stocke gillo-flowers, and wall gillo- 

 flower. It is the Keyri or Keiri of the Arabians, the leukoion of 

 the Greeks, the Viola lutea of the Latins, and the Giroflee des Mu- 

 r allies of the French. In floral language the Wall Flower has 

 been considered the emblem of fidelity in misfortune, because it 

 attaches itself to the desolate, and enlivens the ruins which time 

 and neglect would otherwise have rendered repulsive. It conceals 

 the savage strokes of feudal times on the castle walls, fills the space 

 of the wonted stone in the mouldering abbey, and wreathes a gar- 

 land on the crumbling monument no longer noticed by friendly 

 relatives. 



1 1 For this obedient zephyrs bear 

 Her light seeds round yon turret's mould, 

 And, undisturbed by tempests, there 

 They rise in vegetable gold." 



There are several varieties of this plant cultivated in gardens, the 

 two principal being the red and yellow. These by intermixture of 

 impregnation have created numerous trivial varieties, as the yel- 

 low striped with a reddish brown, or the red striped with yellow, 

 but none of these impart a more delightful fragrance than the wild 

 one. Parkinson is the earliest writer that notices the Wall Flower 

 with striped or variegated petals. Gerarde notices only the plain 

 yellow variety. Some years since the late Mr. Lambert of Boyton, 

 introduced into his garden, from Moscow, a most singular and 

 beautiful variety of this plant, which was named by him the Cha- 

 meleon Wall Flower, as its petals, at first appearance, were of a 

 bright yellow, but gradually became paler until they were nearly 

 blanched white, after which they changed to a purple tint, so that 

 the top flowers were yellow, those in the middle white, and the lower 

 blossoms of a lilac or purple. He supposed it to be a mixture of the 

 yellow Wall Flower with its kindred the white and purple stock. 



Not unfrequently the Wall Flower presents several interesting 

 deviations from normal structure in the floral organs, that cannot 



