﻿slightly branched, purplish at the base. Leaves large, variously 

 heart-shaped, crenate, smooth, and shining ; the lowermost on 

 long, somewhat triangular, footstalks ; upper smaller, nearly sessile, 

 alternate, more triangular, and more acutely crenate than the lower. 

 Stipulas brown, membranous, withering. Flowers several, (from 

 3 to 5,) large, showy, bright yellow, on alternate, solitary, slightly 

 furrowed, stalks. Petals 5, an inch long, roundish-oval. Stamens 

 numerous, in two rows, inner row with broad anthers ; outer row 

 twice as long, club-shaped, with the anthers compressed. Pistils 

 from 5 to 10. Seeds beautiful, of an olive colour at the bottom, 

 and a reddish colour at top. 



A small variety of this plant, with more reclining stems, each 

 bearing only from 1 to 3 flowers, with petals only about half the 

 size of the common one, is sometimes met with in marshy places. 

 1 have found it in a boggy place near Stow Wood, about four miles 

 from Oxford. — Sir J. E. Smith observes, that possibly this variety 

 may render Caltlia radicans a somewhat doubtful species. Drs. 

 Withering, Hooker, and Greville, consider C. radicans (Eng. 

 Bot. t. 2175, and Linn. Tr. v. viii. 1. 17.) a variety only of C. pa- 

 'ustris. Sir J. E. Smith, Dr. Lindley, and Mr. G. Don, have 

 mblished it as a distinct species. N. J. Winch, Esq. an inde- 

 itigable Botanist, informs us, in his very excellent “ Flora of 

 Northumberland and Durham,” that he believes the late James 

 Oickson was the only Botanist who ever found Caltlia radicans 

 wild; but in what part of Scotland he knows not. Mr. Winch 

 says, “ it still keeps its habit, and the triangular shape of its leaves, 

 in the Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh and Cambridge, and with 

 Edward Forster, Esq. in Essex; and certainly is entitled to 

 rank as a species. 



Caltlia palustris is a great ornament to our meadows in March 

 and April, and sometimes even as early as February. The flower- 

 buds, preserved in salted vinegar, are a good substitute for capers, 

 which they resemble, except in having numerous germens. The 

 juice of the petals, boiled with a little alum, stains paper yellow, 

 but the colour, so produced, is said not to be permanent. It has 

 been conjectured, that the yellowness of butler in the Spring, is 

 owing to the cattle having fed on this plant ; but this, Linnaeus in- 

 forms us, is certainly a mistake, as cows will not eat. it unless com- 

 pelled to do so by extreme hunger ; and then, Boerhaave says, it 

 occasions such an inflammation that they generally die. 



On May-day, country people strew the flowers of this plant before 

 their doors, and wreath them in their garlands. In Lapland, it is 

 the first flower that announces the approach of Spring, although it 

 does not appear there till the end of May. 



A double-flowered variety is often cultivated in gardens ; this 

 variety has been found wild on Coldham Common, and in Grand- 

 chester Meadow, Cambridgeshire, by the Rev. R. Rei.han. 



