elpestre, Huds. FI. Ang!. (2nd ed.) p. 202. — Thlaspi perfoliatum minus. Kay s 
S y n . (3rd ed.) p. 305. — Thlaspi rotund ifolium, Johnson's Gerarde, p. 206. 
LocAi.niFs.-ln limestone pastures ; very rare. — Oxfordshire ; In old stone- 
quarries between burfortl and \\ itney, and on Burford Downs: Bouaht and 
Sibthorp. In the same place in 1818 : Sir VV. .1. Hooker. — Gloucestershire ; 
In great abundance in the neighbourhood of Upper Slaughter, particularly at 
the Seven Wells. It is soon choked by the grass, and therefore is only found in 
the bare stony parts of the steep vallevs of the Cotswolds, growing in the neigh- 
bourhood of Anemone Pulsatilla, Thesium linophyllum , Cineraria campes- 
Iris (t. 206.), Astragalus hypoglottis, and Orchis ustulata. Abundant on the 
road side at Foss Bridge Hill, between Northleach and Cirencester, where the 
road has been deeply cut through the kill : E. F. Witts, Esq. June 19, 1837. 
Annual. — Flowers in April and May. 
Root fibrous. Stem from 5, to 8 or 9 inches high, branched 
from the bottom, spreading, roundish, striated, smooth, leafy. Leaves 
slightly toothed, smooth, glaucous ; those from the root stalked, 
egg-shaped, blunt ; the rest sessile, arrow-shaped, clasping the 
stem, either rounded or pointed at the base. Flowers very small, 
white, in rather dense corymbs. Calyx often purplish, with white 
membranous edges. Petals about twice as long as the calyx, en- 
tire, blunt. Pouches (fig. 6.) in not very long clusters, smooth, 
inversely heart-shaped, the lobes rising above the very short style ; 
valves keeled at the back, dilated and rounded at the upper part 
(see fig. 8). Seeds (fig. 10.) oval, yellowish, about 4 in each cell. 
The whole herb is smooth, and of a glaucous-green colour. It is a native of 
Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Podolia, Greece, &c. in 
cultivated fields, especially on a chalky soil. In England, the only locality 
known for it, till very lately, was among old stone-pits about Burford, in Oxford- 
shire, where it is now become very rare, in consequence of this station for it 
having been enclosed, and the ground brought under tillage. Fortunately, how- 
ever, E. F. Witts, Esq. of Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire, has very recently 
found it in great abundance in the localities given above; and it is to the kindness 
of this gentleman that 1 am indebted for the specimen from which the drawing 
for the accompanying plate was made. 
Mr. Witts observes, that sheep seem to have a peculiar fondness for this plant, 
while they never touch the common Draha verna ; in a field where he observed 
one day an abundance of it, the next day it had been entirely cropped by sheep, 
which had in the mean time been turned in upon it. Even when left untouched 
this plant is of very short duration, it flowers at a very early period of the year, 
and soon runs to seed, so that before the Summer heat sets in, it has entirely 
disappeared.— Then 
" Spare this flower, this gentle flower, 
The slender creatare of a day ! 
Let it bloom out its little hour, 
And pass away. 
Too soon its fleeting charms must lie 
Decayed, unnoticed, overthrown; 
Oh, hasten not its destiny, 
Too like thy own. 
Oh spare this flower! thou know’st not what 
Thy undiscerning hand would tear; 
A thousand charms thou notest not, 
Lie treasured there. 
Not Solomon, in all his state, 
Was clad like Nature’s simplest child ; 
Nor could the world combined, create 
One flow’ret. wild. 
Spare, then, this humble monument 
Of an Almighty’s power and skill; 
And }et it at His shrine present 
Its homage still. 
He made it, who made nought in vain; 
He watches it, who watches thee; 
And He can best its date ordain, 
Who bade it be.” 
Rev. F. II. Lite. 
