great abundance about Dornington and Stoke Edith, in Herefordshire, and elsewhere in similar situations. The yellow flowers are not large enough for the cluster to be gay, so the very fresh green of its foliage is its greatest recommendation. The small order of FUMEWORTS comes next to the Poppyworts (fig. 30). We made an excursion one summer to see the magnificent ruins of Fountains Abbey. There, in the garden of the old monks, as well as in wild spots among the ruins, was growing the yellow Fumitory (Fumária lútea), as I remembered to have seen it growing when I was a little child, and as it probably grew centuries before. These plants have two sepals, which fall off when the flower opens, and four petals, one or two of which have little bags at the base, which seem like a spur at the back of the flower. The flowers are arranged in an irregular inclined spike, and light much-divided leaves grow upon it in pairs. The Bulbous Fumitory is called a wild plant; but I have only seen it in old gardens. It has a bulbous root and purple flowers. Fig. 30. Fumária lútea. The common Fumitory (Fumária officinális, Plate I., fig. 4) is a familiar garden weed. The glaucous, much-divided leaves resemble so closely those of the brilliant orange Eschscholtzia that the young plants are often spared in mistake for the welcome seedlings. Its flower is white, just tipped with pink and green. Altogether it is very inexpressive. The Ramping Fumitory (F. claviculáta) is the prettiest member of the family. Never shall I forget its graceful charm as I first beheld it from the top of a coach passing through the Trosachs. It was September, and we had wandered in vain among the lovely scenery round Callander in search of alpine BERBERIDS—BARRENWORT. 37 plants. I had sorrowfully resigned myself to returning without floral mementoes of that region of poetry and beauty, and in this spirit I had ascended the coach to pass forward to the Trosachs. A fellow-traveller was reading aloud "The Lady of the Lake," the Brig o' Turk was passed, and my eyes had rested from the vain search for flowers, and were feasting on Loch Achray and the hills beyond, when I espied a dainty garland of tender green mixed with clusters of pale wax-like blossoms. A humane friend procured me a quantity of the plant, which proved to be the Ramping Fumitory. I know of no medicinal or useful properties in these plants. The fifth order is that of the BERBERIDS (Bérberis vulgáris, Plate I., fig. 6). We have but two British families in it. Sepals, from three to six, falling off; and petals either the same or double the number; stamens equalling the petals in number, and anthers opening by valves, and so discharging the pollen. The Berberry shrub, so ornamental whether in flower or fruit, is the familiar representative of the order. It grows freely in some of our Yorkshire woods, and in many other counties. The pendant clusters of yellow flowers appear in May, each bunch guarded by a three-pronged thorn. The stamens are curiously sensitive; if you touch them lightly at the base with a straw or a pin the stamen contracts, and the anther bends forward and strikes against the stigma. The strange sensitiveness is probably a provision of nature, securing that if any insect walk round the flower each anther touches the stigma, the collision probably causing the valves to open, and thus discharging the fertilizing pollen. This shrub is liable to a tiny fungus, which appears in clusters like an orange blot on the leaves. In former days it was thought that the Berberry blight gave rise to smut and bunt, the destructive diseases of corn; and farmers would not suffer the Berberry in their hedgerows. The berries make a fine preserve, and, when merely kept in salt, they form a pretty garnish for savoury dishes. The Barrenwort (Epimédium alpínum) is the other British member of this order (fig. 31, 6). My specimen was gathered near Frome, in Somersetshire; but I am told that it is no longer found there. It may still be occasionally met with among the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh. It has four petals of a crimson colour, four hollow yellow nectaries lying upon the petals, which form the figure of a Maltese cross, and four stamens. The foliage is very handsome, the leaflets are in clusters of nine; they are slender, heart-shaped, bright green, and fringed. The kind, genial old botanist who first introduced me to this plant said he called it the "Happy Medium," in fanciful allusion to its botanical name. CHAPTER III. CRUCÍFERÆ. "Not to myself alone,' The little opening flower transported cries, His dainty fill; The butterfly within my cup doth hide From threatening ill."" SARGENT'S Collection. `HERE is no family of plants whose uses are wider spread TH and who live less "to themselves" than the CRUCÍFERÆ or CRESSWORTS, the sixth natural order. Their simply constructed flowers utter God's praises with their "silent lips," showing forth His wisdom in their easily recognized construction, and His love in scattering so suitably and abundantly these most useful and healing herbs. The cruciform flower, with its four petals, four sepals, four longer and two shorter stamens, and the entire absence of any floral leaf or bract at the junction of the flower-stalk with the main stem, are distinguishing marks which never vary, and which are open even to a child's observation. The uniformity and simplicity of this rule become a matter of no small importance when we consider that all the plants of this order are wholesome, and many afford agreeable food, either cooked or eaten as salad. The commonest sea-side plants, extending into very high latitudes, are the Scurvy Grasses, the most valuable antidote to that frightful scourge of seamen. When in Anson's famous expeditions this disease was consuming the power of the crew, the doctor dare not allow them to eat any vegetable except grass when they landed on unknown shores. How valuable would this simple rule of botany have been which makes the cross-shaped flower and bractless stalk an ensign of safety, an invitation to eat and live! Surely, without too fanciful a straining of metaphors, we may see here an indication of a more holy mystery, a greater benefaction to humanity, where the cross is raised over all created things, whether upon the earth or above the earth, and by the power of Him who hung upon it the curse of sickness and death is taken away, and health of the entire nature, both physical and spiritual, established for eternity. The Cressworts have two different kinds of seed-vessels, a pouch and a pod. The tiny Rock Hutchinsia stands first in the pouch group; it is a fairy-like plant with pinnate leaves, and a spike of minute white flowers, its whole stature not exceeding from an inch to an inch and a half. I cannot say that I found it wild, for it was growing upon the wall of a botanic garden; but Mr. Ward, the proprietor, had taken the seed from wild specimens. The same botanist furnished me with a specimen of the Penny Cress (Thláspi arvénse), which I afterwards found in abundance in corn fields near Ross, Herefordshire. Its flowers are also insignificant; but its large pouches are very striking. There are an alpine and a perfoliate Penny Cress, but I have not found either. The Shepherd's Purse (Capsélla búrsa-pastòris, fig. 32) is a |