TB^E BUTTERCUP 
95 
goiitte-de-sang, because of the ancient fable which states 
it to have sprung from a drop of the blood of Adonis. 
It is a pretty crimson flower, very common in corn-fields 
in the southern counties of England, lifting its deep red 
cup among the green slender leaves of the wheat and 
barley long before they are ripening. The marsh mari- 
gold (Caltha), or, as it was formerly called, the brave 
bassinet, is another ranunculus plant. Its young flower- 
buds form a good substitute for the capers which are 
procured from the caper bush of the continent. 
The larkspur (Delphinium), of which one species is 
used in France as a cosmetic ; the wolfsbane, or monks- 
hood (Aconitum), with its lurid purple flowers, which 
the ancients thought the most deadly of all poisons, and 
\vere afraid to touch ; and the fennel flowmr, called also 
familiarly, love-in-a-mist, are classed with them. The 
aromatic seeds of the latter (Nigella) are used in the East 
as pepper, and possess there much more pungency than 
in our climate. They are thought to be 'the cummin 
alluded to in Scripture, where our Saviour reproved the 
Pharisees for their scrupulosity in minor things, and their 
neglect of important duties. 
The columbine (Aquilegia) received its name from 
aquila, an eagle. Dr. Darwin says of it, that it is called 
Columbine, in English, because its nectary represents the 
bodv of a bird, and the two petals standing on each side, 
its expanded wings, the whole reseriibling a nest of young 
pigeons, fluttering wFile their parent feeds them. This 
flower is often found growing wild in the neighbourhood 
of gardens, and it has been discovered in some spots 
of England, where it appears to be truly wild. Withering 
remarks of the blossom, “ the elongated and curved nect- 
ary seems to bid defiance to the entrance Of the bee in 
search of the hidden treasure ; but the admirable in- 
genuity of the sagacious insect is not to be defeated ; for, 
on ascertaining the impracticability of effecting his usual 
admission, he, wfith his proboscis, actually perforates the 
blossom near the depot of the honey, and thus extracts 
the latent sweets.’’ Those who examine flowers may find 
the honeysuckle, or other tube-shaped blossoms, pierced 
in the same way by the little honey-gatherer. 
