The YOtfHG RATtfBAMST 



A Monthly Magazine of Natural History. 



Part 53. 



APRIL, 1881, 



Vol. 5. 



THE PILEWORT OR 

 LESSER CELANDINE. 



Ranunculus Ficaria. 



By J. P. Soutter, Bishop Auckland. 



"Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies; 

 Let them live upon their praises ; 

 Long as there's a sun that sets, 

 Primroses will have their glory ; 

 Long as there are violets, 

 They will have a place in story ; 

 There's a flower that shall be mine 

 'Tis the little celandine. 



Ere a leaf is on a bush, 

 In the time before the thrush 

 Has a thought about its nest, 

 Thou wilt come with half a call, 

 Spreading out thy glossy breast, 

 Like a careless prodigal ; 

 Telling tales about the sun, 

 When we've little warmth or none. 



And the thrifty cottager 

 Who stirs little out of doors,' * 

 Joys to spy thee near her home ; 

 Spring is coming thou art come. 



Comfort have thou of thy merit, 

 Kindly unassuming spirit ! 

 Careless of thy neighbourhood, 

 Thou dost show thy pleasant face 

 On the moor and in the wood, 

 In the lane — there's not a place, 

 Howsoever mean it be, 

 But 'tis good enough for thee. 



Blithe of heart, from week to week, 

 Thou dost play at hide and seek ; 

 While the patient primrose sits 

 Like the beggar in the cold, 

 Thou a flowei of wiser wits, 

 Slipp'st into thy sheltered hold ; 

 Bright as any of the train 

 When ye all are out again." 



The Pilewori is one of the very first 

 of our common plants to expand its 

 blossoms to the fitful blinks of sun- 

 shine in early spring. Hence it is 

 always welcomed as the pioneer of the 

 floral forces, which at no distant date 

 will embellish our woods and make gay 

 our fields and hedgerows. Unlike the 

 daisy, primrose, and many other plants 

 which are associated with spring, but 

 which may be found blooming in 

 Autumn, and in mild winters, such as 

 the present, may be gathered all the 

 year round. The Pilewort is essentially 

 a flower of spring, no amount of genial 

 weather will coax it into activity before 

 the winter solstice has passed and the 

 sun again begun to climb his upward 

 course, and no severity of the season 

 will prevent it peeping out from 

 sheltered nooks and exposing its glow- 

 ing gorgeous disk to the mid-day sun 

 of March. By May is ended its reign 



