Hook. Fl. Lond. t. 147.-Linn. Sp. Pl. p 924-Willd. Sp. Pl. v. iii. pt. 1. p. 516-Huds. Fl. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 287.-With. (2nd ed.) v. ii. p. 699.— Lindi. Syn. p. 22-Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 307.-Lightf. Fl. Scot. v. i. p. 357.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 202.-Abb. Fl. Bedf. p. 144.-Relh. Fl. Cant. (1st ed.) p. 252.—A it. Hort. Kew. (2nd ed.) v. iv. p 118.-Purt. Midl. Fl. v. i. p. 311.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 145.-Winch's Fl. of Northumb & Durh. p. 44.-Don's Gen. Syst. of Gard. and Bot. v. i. p. 154?-Bab. Fl. Bath. p. 4.--Mack. Fl. Hibern. pt. 1. p. 17.— Cheiranthus fruticulósus, Engl. Bot. t. 1934.-Curt. Brit. Entomol. v. vii. t. 325.-Linn. Mant. p. 94.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. ii. p. 709.--Willd. Sp. Pl. v. iii. pt. 1. p 516.-Sm. Engl. Fl. v. ii. p. 203.-With. (7th ed.) v. iii. p. 776.-Gray's Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 681.-Davies' Welsh Bot. p. 64.-Reih. Fl. Cant. (3rd edit.) p. 269.-Put. Midl. Fl. v. iii. p. 368.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 202.-Rev. G. E. Smith's Pl. of S. Kent. p. 36.-Fl. Devon. pp. 113 & 190-Johnston's Fl. of Berw. v. i p. 146.-Walker's Fl. of Oxf. p. 192.-Perry's Pl. Varv. Sel. p. 56.— Mack. Catal. of Pl. of Irel. p. 62.-Leucojum luteum, vulgo Cheiri flore simplici, Ray's Syn. p. 291.-Viola lutea, Johnson's Gerarde, p. 456. LOCALITIES.-On old walls, ruins, &c. Perennial.-Flowers in April, May, and June. Root woody. Stem shrubby, brownish, a foot high, upright, branched; branches angular, leafy, clothed with bristly, silvery hairs, which are 2-parted nearly to the base, each division close pressed to the stem in an opposite direction. Leaves numerous, crowded, stalked, spear-shaped, pointed, almost always entire, rigid; deep green above, paler underneath, clothed more or less with 2-parted, silvery, close-pressed hairs, like those on the branches, pods, and calyx. Flowers corymbose, very sweet scented. Calyx (fig. 1.) reddish-purple. Corolla yellow; petals with a long narrow claw, and broad, spreading or recurved limb (see fig. 3). Style short. Stigma notched at the end. Pods racemose, nearly upright, straightish, from 1 to 2 inches long, covered with close, 2-parted hairs; each valve marked with an elevated central line, which often disappears about halfway up. Seeds (figs. 8 & 9.) flat, with a narrow, membranous, deciduous border at one side, as well as at the summit, of each. Several varieties of this plant are cultivated in gardens; as the double yellow— the large-flowered yellow-the large double pale yellow-and the single, and double bloody-flowered-but none of these impart a more delightful fragrance than the wild one. There is a very curious variety sometimes met with, in which the petals are very diminutive, and the anthers changed into carpels *.-In June, 1836, I received, from Mr. J. DENSON, jun. Some specimens of a very singular variety of the double-flowered yellow Wall-flower; in this variety the pedicels or partial flower-stalks are very much elongated, with joints or constrictions at intervals; the constrictions, as Mr. DENSON observes, appear to have been the sites of so many whorls of petals, and perhaps of sepals. If so, the pedicel becomes a common axis to several flowers, which successively develope themselves as the pedicel advances in length, and then fall off in the same order. In one of the specimens received, the fourth constriction has a whorl of 6 petals still attached to it, with a full-flower at the termination of the axis or elongated pedicel. This variety of the Wall-flower is analogous to the proliferous variety of the double-flowered Ranunculus bulbosus, a plant not uncommon in cottage gardens. The Wall-flower has been considered the emblem of fidelity in misfortune, because it attaches itself to the desolate, and enlivens the ruins which time and neglect would otherwise render repulsive. It conceals the savage records of feudal times by decorating the castle walls; occupies the painful void of the mouldering abbey; and wreathes a garland on the crumbling monument, deserted even by grateful memory. It is the flower with which the romance-writers embellished all their decaying battlements, falling towers, and monastic ruins; and it seems as necessary to their stories as the dark ivy, the screeching owl, and the gliding spectre itself." * An account of this curious variety of the Wall-flower, with some interesting observations on some of the apparent anomalies exhibited in the structure of the floral organs of cruciferous plants, by J. W. HOWELL, of Bath, may be seen in The Cheltenham Magazine, for October, 1836. SOLIDA'GO*. Linnean Class and Order. SYNGENE'SIA †, POLYGA'MIA, SUPE'RFLUA+. Natural Order. COMPO'SITE §; tribe, CORYMBI'FERÆ ||, Juss.Lind. Syn. pp. 140 & 142.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. pp. 197 & 199.-COMPOSITE; subord. ASTEREE; Loud. Hort. Brit. pp. 520 & 521.-SYNANTHEREE; tribe, CORYMBI'FERE; Rich. by Macgilliv. pp. 454 & 455.-CORYMBI FERÆ, sect. 2. Juss. Gen. Pl. pp. 177 & 180.-Sm. Gram. of Bot. pp. 121 & 123. Engl. Fl. v. iii. p. 334.-SYRINGALES; subord. ASTEROSE; sect. ASTERINE; subsect. ASTERIANE; type, ASTERACEE; Burn. Outl. of Bot. PP. 900, 901, 920, 924, & 926.-COMPOSITE, Linn. GEN. CHAR. Involucrum (common calyx) (figs. 1 & 2) oblong, closely imbricated; scales oblong, straight, converging. Corolla compound, radiant; florets of the disk (fig. 3.) numerous, perfect, tubular, with 5 equal spreading segments; florets of the ray (fig. 4.) from 5 to 10, with a pistil only, strap-shaped, elliptic-oblong, 3-toothed, yellow. Filaments (see fig. 5.) 5, in the tubular florets only, hair-like, short. Anthers (see fig. 5.) in a cylindrical tube. Germen (see figs. 6 & 7.) in all the florets fertile, oblong. Style (see figs. 3-5.) thread-shaped. Stigmas 2, revolute; those of the disk rather thicker. Seed-vessel none, but the unchanged calyx. Seed inversely egg-oblong. Down (pappus) (fig. 7.) sessile, hairlike, simple. Receptacle (fig. 8.) naked, almost flat, slightly cellular. Distinguished from other genera, in the same class and order, by the closely imbricated calyx; the ray of few yellow florets; the sessile, simple pappus; and the naked receptacle. Two species British? SOLIDA'GO VIRGAU'REA. Common Golden-rod. Aaron's Rod. Woundwort. SPEC. CHAR. Stem slightly zigzag, angular, upright. Lower leaves stalked, elliptic-oblong; those of the stem sessile, spearshaped, all partly serrated. Clusters downy, panicled, crowded, upright. Flowers yellow. Engl. Bot. t. 301.-Curt. Brit. Entomol. v. i. t. 45.-Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 1235.Huds. Fl. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 367.-Willd. Sp. Pl. v. iii. p. 1. p. 2065.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. iii. p. 889. Engl. Fl. v. iii. p. 438.--With. (7th ed.) v. iii. p. 941.-Lindl. Syn. p. 144.- Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 362.-Ait. Hort. Kew. 1st edit. v. iii. p. 218.; 2nd edit. vol. v. p. 70.--Lightf. Fl. Scot. v. i. p. 482.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 254.Abbot's Fl. Bedf. p. 183.-Davies' Welsh Bot. p. 79.-Purt. Midl. Fl. v. ii. p. 412.-Relh. Fl. Cant. (3rd edit.) p. 344.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 244.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 179.-Fl. Devon. pp. 139 & 160.-Johnst. Fl. of Berw. v. i. p. 185.Winch's Fl. of Northumb. and Durham, p. 54.-Walker's Fl. of Oxf. p. 242. Figs. 1 & 2. Involucrum.-Fig. 3. A Floret of the Disk.-Fig. 4. A Floret of the Ray.-Fig. 5. The Stamens and Pistil.-Figs. 6 & 7. The Seed, crowned with the Pappus and Style.-Fig. 8. Receptacle.-All, except figs. 1 & 6, a little magnified. *From solidando vulnera, or in supposed efficacy in healing wounds. + See Tussilago farfara, f. 91, n. See Prenanthes muralis, f. 27, a. t. solidum ago, "I consolidate," from its See Achillea Ptarmica, f. 36, n. ‡. Perry's Pl. Varv. Selectæ, p. 71.-Bab. Fl. Bath. p. 26.-Mack. Catal. of Pl. of Irel. p. 74.; Fl. Hibern. pt. 1. p. 145.-Solidago vulgaris, Gray's Nat. Arr. v.ii. p. 465.-Virga aurea, Ray's Syn. p. 176.-Johnson's Gerarde, p. 430. LOCALITIES.-In woods, hedges, copses, grassy lanes, and on heaths and mountains. Not very uncommon in some counties, more rare in others. Perennial.-Flowers in July, August, and September. Root woody, with many long, stout, simple fibres. Stem from 1 to 2 feet or more high, upright, but often decumbent at the base, variously zigzag, never quite straight, leafy, angular, solid, striated, purple; slightly downy on the lower part, more so on the upper. Lower leaves oval-spear-shaped, stalked, more or less pointed, rough at the edges, distantly serrated, but towards the point almost entire, slightly hairy, dark green above, paler underneath, with numerous reticulated veins; upper leaves smaller, alternate, nearly sessile, gradually diminishing to bracteas, which are downy like the flower-stalks. Flowers bright yellow, in a terminal, leafy cluster, which is either simple or compound. Scales of the Involucrum upright, unequal, spear-shaped, downy, membranous at the edges, and finely fringed. Florets of the ray from 5 to 10, ellipticoblong, unequally 3-toothed, spreading; becoming revolute and tawny in decay; disk prominent. Seeds brown, minutely hairy. Down rough. When bruised, the whole herb smells like Wild Carrot. It was formerly esteemed as a good vulnerary and diuretic; but it has latterly fallen into comparative neglect. This plant will flourish in poor soil, and as the abundance of blossoms which it yields during Autumn affords a feast for bees when other flowers fail, it should be cultivated near every apiary. It is well adapted to ornament the banks of lakes and rivulets, where its panicles of bright yellow flowers appear to great advantage when reflected in the water. Solidago Cambrica of HUDSON, AITON, WILLDENOW, and LINDLEY, is considered by Sir J. E. SMITH, Sir W. J. HOOKER, and some other Botanists, as only a variety of S. Virgaurea. These plants, as Dr. WITHERING observes, are so variable in size, and other more proper characteristics, that it is most difficult to determine species and varieties. THE CLOSE OF SPRING. "The garlands fade that Spring so lately wove, Each simple flower which she has nursed in dew,— Anemones, that spangled every grove; The Primrose wan, and Harebell mildly blue : No more shall Violets linger in the dell, Or purple Orchis variegate the plain: Till Spring again shall call forth every bell, And dress with humid hands her wreaths again. Oh, poor humanity! so frail, so fair, Are the fond visions of thy early day; Till tyrant passion, and corrosive care, Bid all thy fairy colours fade away! Another May new buds and flowers shall bring: |