THE WALL PENNYWORT— continued. 
I’Ecluse or Clusius (1526-1609) was the first to join the two names together in the 
form adopted by Linnaeus, Cotyledon Umbilicus-Veneris. The fleshy texture and 
acidulated cool juice of the leaves told some of the earliest botanists — in an age 
before the recognition of the main importance of floral structures in classification — 
of the close affinity of the plant with the House-leek and the Stone-crops, so that in 
popular medicine its leaves were often employed for the same purposes as those of 
the other Crassulacece, and we get such names as the Worcestershire Corn-leaves and 
the Devonshire Cut-finger. It was, however, the doctrine of signatures, no doubt, that 
suggested that the plant might be good for diseases of the hip-joint, or, as the upper 
leaves are kidney-shaped, for those of the kidneys, and thus gave us such names as 
Hipwort, Kidneywort, and Navelwort, while the outspoken frankness of our ancestors 
did not think it shame to transfer the attributes of Venus to the Blessed Virgin. 
It is naturally in the West of England, where the plant is conspicuously 
abundant, that it has received the greatest number of the playful nicknames 
bestowed by children, and Devonshire makes use of Bachelor s Buttons., Cups-and- 
saucers. Pancakes, Penny Pies, Penny Cakes, Penny Plates, Penny Hat, and others. One 
would not have been surprised had the name last mentioned been of Classical 
origin, for the peltate root-leaves, with the central dimple marking the attachment 
of the petiole, closely reproduce the hat usually worn by the Greek statues of 
Hermes. The Latin descriptive names Scutellum, a little shield, and Scutum c<eli, 
shield of heaven, though they gave us the Old French name Escueilles, have been 
without effect upon our English popular nomenclature. 
In the south-east of England the flower-stalk is generally simple and not 
more than six inches high ; but in the west it is often more than a foot and 
bifurcating or branched. Although the arrangement may really be cymose, the 
flowers appear as if in a raceme, hanging by short pedicels. The gamosepalous 
calyx is small and the tubular corolla, which is about two-fifths of an inch long, 
is of a greenish-white and destitute of perfume. The ten epipetalous stamens 
are in two whorls, those opposite to the petals being a little higher up and 
having the stigmas opposite and near to them but a trifle above them as the 
flower hangs. Honey is secreted by large reddish-yellow scales at the base of 
the carpels which give a pink tinge to the lower part of the translucent corolla- 
tube. The flowers are visited by few small insects, such as Aphis and Thrips ; 
but self-pollination often takes place, and seed is set abundantly. 
