OCTOB^.U C. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
D 
Weather near London in 
1852. 
Moon 
It. & S. 
Day of 
Year. 
OCTOBER 6—12, 1853. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
Age. 
C iflck 
af. Sun. 
6 
Tu 
-- 
Marvel du jour; wood sides. 
29 . 741 — 29.547 
52—39 
N.W. 
06 
11 a. 6 
26 a. 5 
7 18 
4 
11 54 
279 
7 
F 
Red Green Carpet; trees. 
29 924—29.812 
53—37 
w. 
— 
12 
23 
7 55 
5 
12 11 
280 
8 
s 
Common Plume ; gardens. 
29.902—29.872 
47—28 
N. 
— 
14 
21 
8 45 
6 
12 27 
281 
9 
Sun 
20 Sunday after Trinity. 
29 . 909 — 29-961 
49—31 
N.E. 
— 
36 
19 
9 47 
> 
12 44 
282 
10 
11 
M 
Autumnal Dagger; trees. 
29 . 982 — 29.919 
55—38 
N.W. 
05 
17 
17 
11 0 
8 
13 0 
283 
Tu 
Death’s Head ; gardens. 
30.226—30.052 
57—38 
N. 
— 
19 
15 
morn. 
9 
13 15 
284 
12 
w 
Grey Shoulder-knot; shaded pales. 
30.365—30.331 
56—32 
N.E. 
— 
21 
12 
0 19 
10 
13 30 
285 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-six years, the average highest and iowesttem- 
peratures of these days are 6l.3° and 44° respectively. The greatest heat, 79 , 
6tli in 1850. During the period 88 days were fine, and ou 93 rain fell. 
occurred on the 6th in 1834 ; and the lowest cold, 27°, 
on the 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
(Continued from Vol. x., page 403.) 
BARBAREA.—WINTER CRESS. 
Generic Characters. — Calyx nearly equal at the base, 
erect; leaves oblong, concave, somewhat coloured, deciduous. 
Petals reversed egg-shaped, blunt, undivided, flat; claws 
nearly the length of the calyx. Filaments awl-shaped, 
simple, distinct, erect, with a gland at each side between the 
: two shorter ones and the pistil. Germen oblong, quadran- 
j gular. Style short, cylindrical. Stigma blunt, simple. Pod 
linear, with four angles, slightly compressed; valves eon- 
! cave, keeled, even and straight; partition membranous, 
I thick-edged. Seeds ranged alternately, in a single row, egg- 
! shaped, flattish, not bordered ; cotyledons flat, accumbent. 
Barbarea vulgaris : Belleisle Cress; Bitter Winter 
1 Cress ; Yellow Rocket; Winter Hedge Mustard. 
Description. —It is a perennial. Root tapering, somewhat 
woody. Stem about tw'o feet high, simple or branched, 
leafy, stout, angular and furrowed. Radical and lower stem- 
leaves lyrate; upper ones becoming gradually less divided, 
clasping the stem; the uppermost of all reversed egg- 
| shaped, and much diminished; all are variously toothed, 
strongly ribbed, of a firm texture, quite smooth. Petals 
bright yellow. Flowers in round-headed, corymbose clusters. 
Sepals of the calyx before expansion green, two larger, with 
a helmet-like hollow at the top. Pod not very acutely quad¬ 
rangular, about an inch long, crowned by the thick, rather 
elongated, style. 
Time of flowering. —May to August. 
Places where found .—Common about moist hedges and 
marshy meadows. 
History. —This is sometimes called Herb St. Barbara, 
and is generally known by that name upon the continent. 
Why it should be named after that martyr we cannot 
trace, for it does not bloom about the time of her anni¬ 
versary, nor is it found upon prison walls, or on hills, of 
which she is believed by Roman Catholics to be the 
guardian saint. Old Gerarde, after noticing its antiscor¬ 
butic properties, says:—“ In winter, when Salad herbs be 
scarce, this herb is thought to be equal with Cresses of the 
garden, or Rocket.” We think it could be only when other 
salading was scarce that it could be eaten as their sub¬ 
stitute, for the flavour, though pungent, is bitter and nau¬ 
seous. We are also let a little into the etymology of the 
name of one of the well-known streets in London, by the 
following statement by Parkinson, though we may look in 
vain now, for “Herb St. Barbara,” in that locality. He 
says—“ It groweth of its own accord in the next pasture to 
the Conduit head behind Gray’s Inn, that bringeth water 
to Mr. Lamb’s Conduit in Holborn.” 
A double-flowered variety of this plant is cultivated in our 
gardens under the name of Yellow Rocket , which Parkinson 
says “ was found in the province of Berne, among the 
Switzers.” Cows eat it; horses and swine will not partake 
of it, and neither goats nor sheep are fond of it. 
Barbarea ppjecox: Early Winter Cress. 
Description. —It is a biennial. Stems one or more, erect, 
one-and-a-half or two feet high, leafy, angular, smooth, a 
little branched, tinged at the bottom with a violet hue. 
Radical leaves the first year numerous, spreading on the 
ground, lyrate, with a rounded toothed terminal lobe, being 
much like the first species, but of a more neat and regular 
figure ; the stem-leaves are often partly lyrate also, but the 
upper ones are deeply and regularly pinnatifid, with parallel, 
linear-oblong, bluntish, entire segments. Flowers fewer, 
smaller, and paler than those of B. vulgaris. Pods thrice 
as long as in that species, exactly square, smooth. Style 
short, with a blunt, but not large, stigma. 
Time of flowering. —April to October. 
Places where found. —Banks of ditches and other grassy 
watery places. It is rare. 
History .—This was considered by Linnaeus to be only a 
variety of the preceding species, from which, however, it is 
very distinct. The leaves which spring directly from the 
root closely resemble the leaves of the common Water 
Cress, and it equally resembles that plant in flavour. It is, 
indeed, an excellent substitute for it as a Salad herb. Those 
who take so much pains to cultivate the Water Cress in a 
garden-border would have as palatable a produce, and with 
much less trouble, from this plant. 
The flowers of both species are liable to be pierced by a 
species of Tipula, or Daddy-long-legs, causing a malform¬ 
ation in them resembling the Hop blossom. (Smith. 
Marty n. Withering. Gerarde. Parkinson.) 
No. COLXII., Vol. XI. 
