93 
May 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
MAY 12—18, 1853. 
Weather near London in 
1852. 
9un 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day 0 ! 
Yeai. 
D D 
Barometer. Thermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
af. 
Sun. 
12 Th 
Pearl-bordered Likeness. 
29.724 — 29.639 67—49 S.W. 
25 
15 a. 4 
38 a. 7 
morn. 
4 
3 
52 
132 
13 F 
Azure Blue ; meadows. 
29714 —29-680 59—51 S.W. 
02 
13 
39 
0 1 
5 
3 
53 
133 
14 S 
Oxford Term ends. 
29.953 — 29.586 62—38 W. 
02 
11 
4 1 
0 45 
6 
3 
54 
134 
15 Son 
Wiiit Sunday. 
30.077 — 29 . 935 , 65—39 S.W. 
— 
10 
42 
1 20 
7 
3 
54 
135 
16 M 
Whit Monday. 
29.825 —29.811 74—47 W. 
— 
8 
44 
1 48 
3 
3 
53 
136 
I? To 
Whit Tuesday. 
29.851 — 29.709 66-47 S.W. 
33 
7 
45 
2 11 
9 
3 
52 
137 
,8 \V 
Ember Week. 
29.662 — 29.569 72—45 E. 
11 
6 
47 
2 32 
10 
• 3 
50 
138 i 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-six years, the average highest and lowest tempera- 
turesof these days are 64.°, 5 and 42° respectively. The greatest heat, S6°, occurred on the 15th in 1833 ; and the lowest cold, 25°, on the 15th 
in 1850. During the period 112 days were fine, and on 70 rain fell. 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
(Continued from page 53.) 
Corydalis lutea i Yellow Fumitory. 
Description .—It is a perennial. Root of numerous fibres, 
striking deep. Stem erect, a foot liigli, and, like tlie foot¬ 
stalks, triangular, brittle, juicy, reddish and shining. Leaves 
on long stalks, thrice three-leafieted, of a bright, rather 
milky-green; leaflets wedge-shaped, with rounded lobes. 
Flowers in a solitary, terminal, upright cluster, scentless, 
lemon-coloured, with deep-yellow lips. Bractcs very small, 
egg or awl-shaped, saw-toothed, acute, much shorter than 
the flower-stalks. Calyx-leaves egg, or spear head shaped, 
with blunt points, membranous, soon deciduous. Spur of 
the corolla rounded, incurved, very much shorter than the 
stalk, as is likewise the rather compressed and quadran¬ 
gular pod. Seeds small, round, somewhat flattened, and 
dark coloured. 
Time of flowering .—April to end of summer. 
Places where found .—It is very rare. First found in Eng¬ 
land by Mr. Howard, growing on old walls near Castleton, 
in Derbyshire. At Holmhead, near Giggleswick, and at 
Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire. At Marple, near Stockport. 
At Nether-Witton, in Northumberland. On Broadway Hills, 
Gloucestershire. In St. Mary’s Churchyard, and in Mellas 
Lane, Warwick. At Brislington, and other places near ; 
Bristol. In all these localities it was growing either upon 
or near old walls. 
History .—In 1590, being then considered an exotic, it 
was introduced from Barbary, and cultivated by Gerarde. 
The flowers are sometimes white. The older botanists, from 
Gerarde down to Linnaeus, called it Fumaria, and the last- 
named authority confounded it with F. capnoides; but this 
is an annual, and he soon corrected the error into which he 
had fallen. Ray, in his Historia Plantarum, gives several 
recipes for its employment in medicine, but they are not 
fitted for publication in a work like the present. Decan- 
dolle at first called it Corydalis capnoides, but this gave way 
to the more legitimate name of lutea. Miller justly observes 
that the leaves continuing green all the year, and the 
flowers in succession through the summer, render it de¬ 
serving of a place in every garden. It is peculiarly fitted 
for rock-work, old walls and ruins, where the seeds often 
lodge of themselves, being thrown to a considerable dis¬ 
tance by the elastic contraction of the sides of the pods, 
when they burst spontaneously. 
Corydalis clayiculata : White climbing Fumitory. 
Description .—It is an annual. Root slender. Stems one 
or more, three-cornered, delicate and tender, branched, 
leafy, from one to three or four feet high, purplish at the 
base, climbing upon other plants, by means of branched 
tendrils terminating their leafstalks. Tendrils generally 
forked, with two small leaves near their end. Leaves leafleted; 
leaflets two to five, elliptical, entire, milky - green ; paler 
beneath, ending in a flexible point. Clusters opposite to each 
leaf, stalked, rather dense, of several elegant white flowers, 
about five, rarely more than two perfect, variegated with 
blue or grey, each on a short partial stalk, scarcely so long 
as its accompanying small bracte. Calyx toothed. Spur 
rounded, very short. Pod spear-head like, acute, undulated 
at each side, containing three or four seeds. 
Time of flowering .—M ay to July. 
Places where found .—In bushy, shady places; especially 
on gravelly, or stony, sandy soil. 
History .—It is first mentioned as an English plant, by 
Gerarde, in 1590, who says he found it “ growing in a corn¬ 
field between a small village called Charlton and Green¬ 
wich.” It is the Fumaria and Capnos alba latifolia, and the 
F. claviculata of the older botanists. Decandolle first in- | 
eluded it in his genus Corydalis. The vdiole genits is in- 
eluded in the Diadelphia Hexaiulria, class and order of ' 
Linnams. (Smith. Withering. Miller.) 
Frequently, a simple principle reasoned upon affords 
a clearer insight into a gardening operation than ivhole 
pages of practical directions. We recollect once re¬ 
ceiving a good supply of a pretty plant, with the added 
information, that it was found “growing on a sand- 
I bank,” and the wish implied that we would try what we 
could do with it. Part of the plant was, therefore, placed 
on a sandy knoll, another part on a gravelly slope, and 
another part among decaying rubbish of ricks, and 
| every suitable attention, as we thought, bestowed upon 
upon them, but all to no purpose. When about to 
abandon them in despair, in an evening ramble, we 
beheld, for the first time, the identical plant growing 
vigorously in rather sandy soil, it is true, but mixed 
with rich alluvial matter, and at such a short distance 
from a stream of water, that its roots could seldom 
know what it was to be thirsty, while even the leaves 
would run the risk of a thorough drenching during 
every flood. This solved the whole difficulty about the 
plant in question. 
No. OCX LI., Vol. X. 
