Annual. — Flowers from May to August. 
Root slender, tapering, fibrous, of a yeliowish-brovvn colour. 
Stem from 6, to 12, or 18 inches high, smooth, glaucous, much 
branched, spreading, often recumbent, leafy, angular. Leaves 
mostly alternate, stalked, twice or thrice pinnate ; leaflets wedge- 
shaped, with flat spear-shaped segments. Clusters opposite to the 
leaves, spike-like, stalked, upright, many-flowered, rather loose. 
Bracteas spear-shaped, pointed, not half the length of the flower- 
stalks, especially when in fruit. Flowers rose-coloured, or pale 
red, tipped with deep red, with a green keel to the upper and 
under petals. Spur very short, rounded. Calyx coloured, toothed 
at the margin, deciduous. Style 3 or 4 times as long as the ger- 
men, crowned with the flattish, downy stigma. Pod globose, a 
little compressed, blunt or notched at the extremity, so as to be 
inversely heart-shaped, smooth, indehiscent (not opening). Seed 
solitary, roundish. 
Whole herb of a sea-green colour, the leaves succulent, saline, 
and bitter. The expressed juice, in doses of 2 ounces, taken twice 
a-day in whey, is useful in hypochondriacal, scorbutic, and cachetic 
habits. It corrects acidity, and strengthens the stomach. Hoff- 
man prefers it to all other medicines as a sweetener of the blood. 
There is no doubt of its utility in obstructions of the viscera, and 
diseases arising therefrom. An infusion of the leaves is used as a 
cosmetic to remove freckles and clear the skin. See Woodville’s 
Medical Botany ; Withering’s Botanical Arrangement, &c. 
THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS. 
How happily, how happily, the flowers die away ; 
Oh, could we but return to earth as easily as they ! 
Just live a life of sunshine, of innocence, and bloom, 
Then drop, without decrepitude or pain, into the tomb. 
The gay and glorious creatures ! they neither “ toil nor spin 
Yet lo ! what goodly raiment they’re all apparelled in ; 
No tears are on their beauty, but dewy gems more bright, 
Than ever brow of eastern queen endiadem’d with light. 
The young rejoicing creatures ! their pleasures never pall ; 
Nor lose in sweet contentment, because so free to all ; 
The dew, the showers, the sunshine, the balmy blessed air. 
Spend nothing of their freshness, though all may freely share. 
The happy, careless creatures ! of time they take no heed. 
Nor weary of his creeping, nor tremble at his speed ; 
Nor sigh with sick impatience, and wish the light away ; 
Nor when ’tis gone, cry dolefully, ‘ would God that it were day !' 
And when their lives are over, they drop away to rest, 
Unconscious of the penal doom, on holy Nature’s breast j 
No pain have they in dying, no shrinking from decay ; 
Oh ! could we but return to earth as easily as they.” 
Caroline Bowles. 
