Flowers and Gardens 



beauty of their earliest leaves ; those 

 especially of the great Cow Parsnep 

 might serve as models for the stone- 

 carver ; and the coarse, insignificant 

 Goose-grass {Galium aparine), which 

 children rub over their tongues to make 

 them bleed, fills every hedge-bottom in 

 January and February with a host of tiny 

 star - crosses as delicate as the work of 

 fairies. Then observe that tall Anthriscus 

 sylvestris later on in June, how it varies 

 the long level of many an unmown 

 meadow with the dull misty white of its 

 flowers, giving by the looseness of its 

 growth a wild, indefinite look, here and 

 there almost reminding us of tumbled 

 foam, an effect which is greatly aided by 

 the meanness and unimpressiveness of its 

 foliage. Then the two common Dead 

 Nettles [Lamium) are very undeservedly 

 depreciated. The Red Dead Nettle is 

 one of our earliest spring flowers, and 

 there is a soft vividness in the red, espe- 

 cially in the earlier blossoms, which leads 

 off most exquisitely through the purplish 

 tints of the upper leaves. As to the 

 White Dead Nettle, I will say nothing of 

 it in the spring-time, when it is outshone 

 by more brilliant rivals. I always prefer 

 it when the November mists are falling, 



126 



