AUGUST. 



Ill 



which creeps along every roadside, is eaten roasted or boiled like Parsnips ; 

 and the common Water-cress furnishes a much-liked salad. The root of the 

 hedge Bindweed may serve as a substitute for jalap, while that of the Tormentil 

 has been prescribed as an astringent tonic. 



The little Scarlet Pimpernel, ornamenting the borders of our fields, is one of 

 those " sweet remembrancers which tell how fast the winged moments fly." It 

 opens its red blossoms at eight o'clock in the morning and closes them about noon. 

 "Such is the science to the peasant clear, 



"Which guides his lahour through the varied year ; 



"While he, arnhitious 'mid his hrother swains 



To shine, the pride and wonder of the plains, 



Can in the Pimpernel's red-tinted flowers, 



As close their petals, read the measured hours." 



The flowers also close on the slightest approach of rain ; and hence the plant 

 has been denominated the Poor Man's Weather- Glass. 



The common Daisy was treated in the days of chivalry with great respect as 

 the emblem of fidelity in love, and was worn as such at tournaments — 

 " When in his scarf the Knight the Daisy hound, 

 And dames at tournaments with Daisies crowned, 

 And fays forsook the purer fields above 

 To hail the Daisy, flower of faithful love." 



Many of the common weeds, even in their native state, are attractive on 

 account of the beauty of their flowers. The Broom, as it is called by the poet's 

 pen, the ''Bonnie Broom," and the Whin or Gorse, though shapeless and 

 deformed, and dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom, and decks itself with 

 ornaments of gold. The Tufted Vetch with its clusters of blue flowers, and 

 the Convolvulus, with its large white blossoms, add in no small degree to the 

 beauty of our hedgerows, and well merit a place in our gardens. 



The cultivated Bose, with its gorgeous double flowers, is highly prized by 

 every florist, while the simple Burnet Rose expanding its single flowers by 

 the roadside, is passed by as unworthy of notice ; and yet it is to this despised 

 plant that the greater number of our garden Boses owe their origin. Most of 

 the wild Geraniums would appear to advantage in our gardens, and Avould 

 undoubtedly have been cultivated long ere now had they not been looked upon 

 as vulgar weeds. These plants are not only remarkable for the beauty of their 

 flowers, but also for the peculiarity of structure connected with their seeds. 

 It has been remarked by Withering that among the numerous instances of 

 obvious providential design and contrivance in the structure of the seeds and 

 seed-vessels of plants, few are, perhaps, more remarkable, or more strikingly 

 display themselves as the workmanship of an intelligent Artificer, than what 

 we meet with in the seeds of some species of Geranium. Each of the seeds in 

 these plants is covered with a distinct seed-coat peculiar to itself, which, after 

 having enclosed the seed, runs out in the form of a narrow appendage or tail. 

 Each of these appendages has the property of contracting itself into a spiral or 

 screw-like form when dry, and again extending itself into a right line when, 

 moist. By means of this property the seed when ripe is first detached from 

 the plant, and afterwards kept in motion, according to the dryness or wetness 

 of the weather, until it meets with some crevice in the earth into which it 

 can insinuate itself. 



I have thus noticed rapidly a few facts connected with some of the common 

 weeds found by the wayside. My remarks might have been easily extended to 

 a much greater length but for want of time and space ; enough, however, 

 has been said to show, that in the meanest departments of the natural world, 

 there is matter to engage our interests and draw forth our sympathies. 



Kinnahaird, Robert Murray, F.R.H.S. 



