110 
F. G. LLOYD-WILD PLANTS I 
St. Patrick to illustrate familiarly the doctrine of the Holy 
Trinity; it abounds in a cooling juice containing oxalic acid, and it 
is used to remove the stains of ink and ironmould from linen. 
Celastracea .—The wood of the Euonymus or spindle tree was 
that preferred for making spindles for distaffs, but it is now used 
for making skewers, from which it is known in some parts as prick- 
wood, peg-wood, and skewer-wood. 
Rhamnacece.-— The Buckthorns have berries which, when gathered 
before they are ripe, yield a yellow dye, and when ripe and mixed 
with lime-water and gum-arabic, the colour known as bladder-green. 
Leguminosce .—We now come to the Bean and Pea tribe, a highly 
interesting order of plants, containing between 6000 and 7000 
species, varying in size from minute herbs to enormous trees with 
trunks 80 feet in circumference, and varying as much also in 
structure, properties, colour of flowers, and range of growth. Some 
afford food of the most nutritious kind, such as peas, beans, and 
lentils; some, valuable fodder for cattle, as clover, vetches, lucerne, 
sainfoin, and the carob bean; some, the finest timber, amongst 
them being rosewood, acacia, logwood, sandal, and Brazil-wood; 
and others, articles of commerce, and drugs used in medicine, such 
as senna, liquorice, balsam of Peru, the Tonquin bean, indigo, 
gum-arabic, tamarinds, dragon’s blood, gum-tragacanth, Senegal, 
anime, gumlac, etc. The first genus is Ulex, than which no 
plant is more broadly characteristic of English scenery; it will 
not thrive in hot climates, and if removed to a much colder one, 
pines and dies. Linnaeus is said to have lamented that he could 
not keep it alive in Sweden, even in a greenhouse, and it is related 
that when he first saw it in full bloom on Hounslow Heath, he 
fell on his knees and thanked God for having created so beautiful 
a plant. The Genista or greenweed has flowers which are used in 
dyeing, and which, although yellow, yield a green colour ; it is this 
plant which gave the name to the Plantagenet family—“ Planta 
Genista.” The broom was so called from its having been used to 
make brooms of; it contains a bitter principle, not unlike quinine. 
Of the clovers, trefoils, vetches, tares, etc., we have many interest¬ 
ing examples among our wild plants. Of one, the tuberous bitter- 
vetch, or heath-pea, the roots are eaten by the Highlanders of 
Scotland, under the name of “cormeille,” a very small quantity 
being said to allay and prevent hunger. 
Rosaceee .—The Bose tribe is a large and important order, many 
of the members of which produce excellent fruit, amongst them 
being almonds, cherries, plums, apricots, strawberries, raspberries, 
blackberries, apples, pears, quinces, and medlars. The almonds 
include most of the stone fruits, the bark of many yielding gum, 
and prussic acid is generally abundant in the leaves and seeds. 
The blackthorn, or sloe, is well known from its early bloom. The 
stems are largely used in the manufacture of walking-sticks and 
whips, the leaves for adulterating tea, the fruit not only for 
preserving, but also in the manufacture of Cheap port wine. The 
Spirese, or meadow-sweets, from the beauty and sweet scent of 
