BRITISH AVILD FLOAVERS. 
165 
It is on this account that the gathering of Samphire is such a dangerous trade, as the persons employed to 
collect it are obliged to suspend themselves from the rock above. When this is to be done, several persons 
repair to the cliffs with a rope often above one hundred feet long, which one of them fastens round his body; 
and, taking a basket and strong stick in his hands, he is let down by his companions, who place a piece of wood 
on the brink of the rock to prevent its edge cutting through the rope. Thus prepared, the samphire-gatherer 
descends, and steadying himself with his stick, which he thrusts into the fissures of the rocks, he gathers the 
plants he wishes. When he has gathered all he can reach, he shouts to his companions, who draw him up. 
It is necessary to know this, to enter fully into the beauty of the well-known passage in “ King Lear.,” when, 
speaking of Dover cliff, Shakespeare says— 
“ Half way down 
Hangs one who gathers Samphire.” 
The French call this plant the Herb of St. Peter; and Samphire is evidently a corruption of the words 
Saint Pierre. 
GENUS XIII. 
THE LOVAGE. (Ligusticum, Lin.) 
Lin Syst. PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Calyx five-toothed or obsolete. Petals obo- 
vate, acutely emarginate, indexed, with a very short unguis. Fruit 
taper, or a little compressed at the sides. Carpella with five sharp, 
winged, equal ridges ; the lateral of which form a margin. Channels 
with many vittae. Seed nearly half-taper.—Universal involucrum 
various; partial many-leaved. Flowers white. ( Lindley.) 
Description, &c. —There is only one species of this genus which is a native of Britain; the common Lovage 
of the gardens not being now included in it. The name of the genus appears of doubtful origin. The British 
species ( L. scoticum ) is a common plant on the sea-coast in Scotland, and in the north of England, where 
it has a pretty effect from the stalks and the veins of the leaves being red. Its root is fusiform and aromatic ; 
but its leaves and stems are extremely acrid. It is a perennial, and flowers in July. 
GENUS XIV. 
THE SPIGNEL. (Meum, Tourn.) 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Calyx an obsolete margin. Petals entire, 
elliptical, acute at each end. Fruit nearly taper. Carpella with five 
projecting, acutely-carinate, equal ridges, of which the lateral form 
the margin. Channels with many vittae. Seed nearly half-taper.— 
Universal involucrum few-leaved or none; partial many-leaved. 
( Lindl .) 
Description, &c. —There is only one species in this genus. The name of Meum is a Greek word, which it 
is supposed was first applied to the plant by Dioscorides. 
1.—THE SPIGNEL, MEU, OR BALD-MONEY. (Meum atiiamanticum, Jacq.) 
Synonymes. —Athamanta Meum, Lin.; iEthusa Meum, Lin.; Specific Character. —Leaflets all in numerous, deep, bristle-like 
Ligusticum Meum, Crantz. ; Kopr. segments. Involucra both general and partial. {Lindley.) 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 2249; 2nd ed., t. 412; and our fig. 
6, in PI. 38. 
Description, &c. —This curious little plant, which possesses no beauty, but in its finely-cut leaves, is yet 
interesting, on account of two of the names that have been bestowed upon it. The best known of these, Bald- 
