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BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
through them, and this is supposed to have given rise to the old English name of Thorow-wax ; wax being a 
Saxon word, signifying to grow. It is a curious-looking plant, with yellow flowers, which are produced in very 
small umbels, and appear in June and July. The whole of the plant is aromatic and slightly astringent. 
THE NARROW-LEAVED HARE’S-EAR. (B. Odontites, Lin.) 
A little, insignificant, annual plant, with very rigid, deeply-ribbed leaves, and minute, inconspicuous flowers, 
which has only been found on the rocks near Torquay. 
THE FALCATE HARE’S-EAR. (B. falcatum, Lin.) 
This very curious plant, though known and described by the old English herbalists, was, strangely enough, 
neglected by all the writers on British wild flowers till the year 1832, when it was figured and described in the 
Supplement to Sowerby’s English Botany. It is only found in Essex, but it grows abundantly between 
Chelmsford and Ongar. 
THE SLENDER HARE’S-EAR. (B. tenuissimum, Lin.) 
A little, insignificant annual, which is only found in the salt marshes of the eastern and southern coasts of 
England. The flowers, which are of a greenish-yellow, do not make their appearance till September, and, like 
the leaves, they have a most disagreeable smell and taste. 
GENUS XXI. 
THE EARTH-NUT. (Conopodium, Koch.) 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. 
Generic Character. — Calyx an obsolete margin. Petals obovate, 
emarginate, or nearly so, indexed. Fruit contracted at the side, linear- 
oblong, crowned by a conical unedged disk and straight styles. Carpella 
with five equal, filiform, obtuse ridges, and many vitta;. Seed taper, 
convex, flat in front.—LTniversal involucrum none ; partial with few 
leaves. Flowers white. ( Lindley.) 
Description, &c. —There is only one species in this genus, which was formerly called Bunium , a word 
derived from the Greek, and signifying a little hill. This circumstance is worthy of being mentioned, as it is often 
useful to know where Earth-nuts are likely to be found, several instances being on record of persons, who have 
lost their way in a wood, having lived for several days on these tubers. 
1.—THE COMMON EARTH-NUT. (CoNOPomuM flexuosum, Koch.) 
Synonymes. —Bunium flexuosum, Withering ; B. bulbocastanuin, 
Curtis ; Earth-Chestuut; Kipper-or Pig-nut. 
Engravings _-Eng. Bot., t. 988 ; 2nd ed., t. 394. 
Specific Character. —Root a little tuber the size of a nut. Stem 
slender, zigzag, with a very few leaves divided into capillary segments. 
Styles very conical and straight. {Lindley.) 
Description, &c. —This is rather an ornamental little plant, from its light and elegant foliage, and its pure 
white flowers, which are large for those of an Umbelliferous plant. At the base of the stem is a tuber, which 
when roasted is very good to eat, and is considered very nourishing. Pigs are particularly fond of these tubers, 
and they may be often seen turning up the earth with their snouts to find them. The plant is a perennial, and 
it is seldom found except in gravelly soils. 
