46 
nearly twelve feet liigli and completely liiding all the lesser 
vegetation. This plant combined with very large specimens 
of the Male Fern and still larger Bracken sometimes give 
quite a tropical aspect to quiet little English nooks, and 
one might almost expect to see some of those gigantic extinct 
old world monsters come crushing through the foliage. 
USES. 
Said to have been used formerly as food by the Normans, 
and to be still mixed with the food of cattle on the Con- 
tinent. Diuretic, vulnerary, and general astringent. 
LOCALITY. 
Boggy places especially woods. Haw Wood. 
Plate XXII. 
