March  12,  1903. 
217 
JOUBNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
J2ocat  iS^QauiiQs. 
Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blusli  unseen. 
(TTHERE  are  in  our  country,  in  certain  “parts  and  dis- 
tricts,  various  flowers,  whether  essentially  wild  or 
^  largely  akin  to  their  confrars  in  cultivation,  which,  from 
one  cause  or  another,  have  .their  own  peculiar,  and  in  some 
cases  distinctly  rare,  habitat.  Many  of  them  are  probably 
not  indigenous  to  the  ground  at  all,^but  affect  particular 
regions  or  locales  simply  from  their  seeds  being  scattered 
thither  by  the  birds,  or  wafted  thence  by  the  breeze,  and 
finding  a  sympathetic  soil  germinate  and  spring  up  with 
more  or  less  permanency,  in  some  cases  becoming  so  wide¬ 
spread  and  plentiful  that  their  true  origin  is  most  difficult 
to  define.  A  few  of  these  waifs  and  strays,  as  well  as  some 
real  natives,  it  may  be  interesting  to  follow  up. 
Imprimis,  let  us  give  pride  of  place  to  the  ideal  little  ex¬ 
quisite  Lily  of  the  Valley.  It  may  be  found  quite  wild  and 
in  some  profusion  in  woods  in  a  few  favoured  parts,  chiefly 
in  the  West  of  England,  notably  around  Clifton,  higher 
parts  in  Gloucestershire,  and,  I  think,  in  some  woodland 
valleys  beneath  the  mynds  in  Shropshire.  At  one  time, 
indeed,  it  is  reputed  to  have  grown  on  Hampstead  Heath  ! 
Alas !  the  all-devouring  and  ever-spreading  metropolis  was 
hardly  likely  to  keep  so  choice  a  bloom  at  its  very  portals, 
and  so 
The  Lily  of  the  vale,  whose  virpin  flower 
Shakes  at  each  breeze  beneath  its  leafy  bower, 
must  be  sought  nowadays  in  lonelier  and  purer  abodes  than 
the  close  proximity  of  the  cities  of  men. 
Akin  in  elegance,  and  a  fit  companion  for  the  Lily, 
though  not  a  flower,  is  the  gentle  Maidenhair.  This,  again, 
we  must  class  as  rare.  It  may  be  obtained  in  certain  south¬ 
western  counties.  South  Wales,  and  parts  of  Ireland. 
Indeed,-  its  haunts  are  exti'emely  local,  and,  as  a  rule,  it 
flourishes  in  elevated  quarters  near  the  sea.  Thus,  St.  Ives 
and  Penzance,  in  Cornwall,  can  both  make  claim  to  this 
delectable  Fern,  as  also  Ilfracombe,  where  it  may  be  found 
in  the  rocky  ravines.  Round  about  Coombe  Down,  near 
Bath,  too,  a  patient  search  will  probably  be  rewarded. 
Corning  to  the  Daffodil,  whose  name  is  derived  from  the 
early  English  affo  <Jplc,  that  which  comes  early: — 
When  tlie  vales  are  (Iccked  with  Daffodils 
I  hail  the  new  reviving  year. 
Its  local  name  in  Cornwall  is  Lent  Lily.  The  south-west 
of  England  is  its  favourite  haunt,  and  I  know  of  a  wood  in 
Berkshire  whose  owner  has  an  annual  Daffodil  tea  when  the 
Golden  Lily  is  en  grande  fenue,  and  has  bedecked  the  copse. 
This  flower  readily  adapts  itself  to  new  ground,  and  is  con¬ 
sequently  very  often  but  an  escape  from  cultivation. 
A  different  bloom  altogether  is  the  modest  unassertive 
little  Crocus.  “Who  would  reach  the  Rose,  treads  the 
Crocus  under  foot,”  Browning  rather  unkindly  says,  which, 
on  the  Swiss  hill  slopes  and  mountain  meads  bears  a  double 
crop.  With  us  it  is  found  in  the  meadows  around  Notting¬ 
ham  and  other  central  spots  apparently  naturalised,  as  also 
in  a  park  near  Bury  St.  Edmunds.  Parts,  too,  of  the 
Emerald  Isle  possess  it.  In  ancient  times  the  Crocus  was 
used  for  strewing  apartments  and  for  making  saffron,  and 
in  this  connection  it  should  be  mentioned  the -Crocus  was 
introduced  at  Waldron,  in  Suffolk,  which  brought  in  the  first 
manufacture  of  saffron  there,  and  caused  its  name  to 
become  thenceforward  Saffron  Waldron. 
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Acres  of  Paonies.  (Sec  page  666) 
