August 4. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEF.KLY CALENDAR, 
M 
D 
AUGUST 4—10, 1S53. 
Weather near London in 
Barometer. .Thermo. Wind. 
1852. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of 
Yeai. 
4 
5 
6 
7 
s 
9 
10 
Th 
F 
S 
SDN 
M 
To 
W 
Clifden niuc ; chalky places. 
Common Copper ; com. 
Prince Alfred b. 1844. 
11 Sunday after Trinity. 
Coxcomb Prominent; oaks. 
Lesser Yellow Underwing. 
Brown Tail; hedges. 
29.419 — 29.338 
29.458 —2g.439 
29.398 — 29.353 
29.336 — 29.298 
29.477 —29.396 
29.523 — 29.499 
29.631 —29.583 
72—46 
74-47 
68—54 
74—52 
72—51 
71-47 
71-49 
S.W. 
S. 
S. 
s. 
w. 
S.W. 
S.W. 
01 
04 
42 
12 
02 
06 
08 
30 a. 4 
31 
33 
35 
36 
38 
39 
42 a. 7 
40 
38 
37 
35 
33 
31 
.3 21 
sets. 
8 a 48 
9 8 
9 26 
9 42 
9 59 
28 
© 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
5 47 
5 42 
5 35 
5 29 
5 21 
5 13 
5 5 
216 
217 
218 
219 
220 
221 
222 
Mrteorology ok the Week.—A t Chiswick, from observations 
during the last twenty-six years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 74.7° and 52° respectively. The greatest 
93°, occurred on the 10th in 1842 ; and the lowest cold, 36°, on the 
4th in 1847. During the period 110 days were fine, and on 72 rain 
fell. 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
( Continued, from page 253.) 
NATURAL ORDER. CROSSWORTS OR CRUCIFERS (CRUCIFER.e) . 
Characters. — Sepals four, deciduous, cross-form. Petals 
four, cross-form, alternate with the sepals. Stamens six, of 
which two are shorter, solitary, and opposite the lateral 
sepals, occasionally toothed; and four longer, in pairs, 
opposite the anterior and posterior sepals; generally dis¬ 
tinct, sometimes joined at the base, or furnished with a 
tooth on the inside. Disk with various green glands between 
the petals and the stamens and ovary. Ovary above the petals 
one-cclled, with placentas attached to its side, often meeting 
in the middle, and forming a spurious division. Stigmas 
two, opposite the placenta;. Fruit a long-pod, one-celled, or 
spuriously two-celled; one, or many-seeded; opening either 
by two valves separating from the septum; or not opening 
naturally. Seeds attached in a single row by a small stalk 
to each side of the placenta;, generally pendulous. Albumen 
none. Embryo with the radicle folded upon the cotyledons. 
Matthiola : The Stock. 
Generic Character. — Calyx converging, a little com¬ 
pressed; leaves line like, narrow, oblong, concave, erect, 
deciduous, two opposite ones protuberant at the base. Petals 
reversed-egg-shaped, spreading, entire, or with a broad 
shallow notch; claws erect, the length of the calyx. Stamens 
with awl-shaped, simple, distinct filaments ; two outermost 
much the shortest, embraced at the bottom by a nectariferous 
gland. Anthers oblong-arrow-shaped, nearly erect, of two 
line-like lobes. Germen oblong, rather compressed, shorter 
than the stamens. Style short and thick, or more frequently 
wanting. Stigma of two converging lobes, either thickened 
or protuberant at the back, permanent. Pod streight, 
narrow, oblong, compressed, or nearly cylindrical, convex or 
keeled at one or both sides; valves straight; partition 
membranous. Seeds ranging alternately in a single row, 
orbicular, compressed, generally encompassed by a mem¬ 
branous border; cotyledons flat, lying upon the part of the 
pod. 
Matthiola incana ; Hoary Shrubby Stock. 
Description. —It is a biennial, as cultivated in our gardens, 
but there is reason to believe that in a state of nature it is 
a perennial. Root much branched downwards; simple at 
the crown. Stem erect, bushy, round, leafy, hoary, about 
two feet high. Leaves scattered, two inches or more in 
length, covered on both sides with dense, starry, hoary 
down, single-ribbed, entire, thick and leathery ; rounded at 
the extremity; each tapering at the base into a short foot¬ 
stalk. Flowers in terminal bunches, large, fragrant, often 
double. Petals rounded, nearly entire, light purple, their 
claws pale and greenish. Pod two or two-and-a-half inches 
long, crowned with the stalkless stigma subtended at each 
side by a small point; the valves frequently dissimilar, one 
being more keeled than the other. Seeds numerous, most 
convex at one side, light brown, surrounded entirely by a 
white filmy border ; cotyledons accumbent, as may be seen 
without taking off the skin. 
Places where found. —On rocky ledges of the cliffs in the 
south of England. 
Time of flowering. —June and July. 
History. —The first notice we have of this and the next 
species we shall describe, is in Lyte’s edition of “ Dodoen’s 
Herbal.” It is there said, “ Some of the late writers do call 
1 them Violw matronales, that is to say, Dames Violets, but 
this name doth rather belong to another sort of Violets. 
If we ought to call these Violets by the aforesaid name, the 
name will best agree with the small Castle Gilofer. The 
greater sort is called in English, Garnesie Violets, White 
Gilofer (from the lioariness of the leaves), Stock Gilofer, and 
Castle Gilofer. The smaller kind may be so called also.” 
This “ smaller kind ” is that above described, and is the 
“ Violet-coloured Stock Gillofloure ” of Gerard. In his I 
time only single-flowered kinds were known, but in the ! 
second edition of Iris “ Herbal,” in 1630, by Johnson, the 
latter mentions the double varieties, adding, “ of which 
there are many and pretty kept in the garden of my kind 
friend, Mr. Ralph Tuggye, at Westminster.” 
This is, in fact, the flower known in our gardens as the 
Queen’s Stock, of which the Brompton Stock, White Stock, 
and White Wall-flower, are merely varieties. The old name 
Gilliflower is a corruption of its French name Giroflier. 
Turner calls them Gelyflower, or Gelover, adding, that “ the 
garden Gelovers are made so pleasant and sweet with the 
labours and wit of man, and not by nature.” Eventually 
these names were corrupted into July-flower. 
No. CCLIIL, Voi. X. 
