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BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
THE BRISTOL ROCK-CRESS. (A. stricta, Smith.) 
This is rather a rare plant, being only found on St. Vincent’s Rocks at Clifton, and at a few other places in 
the neighbourhood of Bristol. The leaves are of a deep glossy green above, and purple beneath. The flowers 
are cream-coloured, and rather pretty, but they rarely open. The plant is a perennial, and it flowers in March. 
THE FRINGED ROCK-CRESS. (A. ciliata, Smith.) 
This species has only been found at Cunnamara in Ireland, and near Loch Lea in Scotland. The flowers 
are small and white ; and the plant is a biennial, flowering in July. 
THE HAIRY WALL-CRESS. (A. hirsuta, Smith.) 
This species is frequently met with on walls, rocks, and dry banks, in many parts of England and Scotland, 
The flowers, which are produced in June, are small and white ; and the seed pods, which are very numerous, 
stand erect around the stem. 
GENUS VII. 
THE LADY-SMOCK, OR BITTER-CRESS. (Cardamine, Lin.) 
Lyn. Syst. TETRADYNAMIA SILIQUOSA. 
Generic Character _Siliqua linear ; valves flat, nerveless, usually dehiscing with elasticity. Seeds ovate, not bordered ; umbilical cords 
slender. {Dec.) 
Description, &c. —These plants are generally found in marshy situations, and always in rather cool 
climates. They were formerly employed in medicine as an anti-scorbutic, and they are still occasionally used in 
the country in salads, to which they give an agreeable flavour. The name of Cardamine is said to be derived 
from two Greek words, signifying to fortify the heart, from the supposed strengthening properties of the 
plants. The origin of the English name is unknown, but it is supposed to arise from the common species 
growing in meadows so abundantly as to look like linen lying to bleach, when seen from a little distance. 
1. —THE COMMON LADY-SMOCK, OR CUCKOO-FLOWER. (Cardamine pratensis, Lin.) 
Engravings.— Eng. Bot., t. 776 ; 2d ed., t. 925 ; and our fig. 2, the radical ones roundish and toothed ; those of the stem-leaves lanceo- 
in PI. 9. late, entire. Petals with a tooth upon the claw. (Smith.) 
Specific Character. —Leaves pinnate, without stipulas ; leaflets of 
Description, &c.— This is a very handsome species; the flowers are purplish when they first appear, but 
when bleached with the sun they become of a silvery whiteness. P’ew plants are more common, as there is 
scarcely a meadow in the kingdom in which this flower is not seen in the month of May ; but it grows most 
abundantly where the ground is rather moist. Clare, who was so pre-eminently the poet of nature, thus 
describes this plant :— 
“ The wan-hued Lady-Smocks, that love to spring, 
Near the swamp margin of some plashy pond, 
Amid the blooms that early Aprils bring.” 
The stem of the common Lady-Smock generally grows about a foot high, and the leaves are pinnate. The 
leaflets sometimes throw out roots and produce new plants. The plant is a perennial, and there is a double- 
flowered variety of it cultivated in gardens. The points of the shoots, before the expansion of the flower-buds, 
were formerly much used in medicine, and they are still said to be very efficacious in cases of epilepsy. 
