"There bright as gems of fairy lore, The horned poppies gild the shore "The red bind to the barren soil Clings safe 'mid all alarms, While drowning seamen faintly toil Older poets told, too, of the Horned Poppy, and the powers which the superstitious believed it to possess. Ben Jonson, in the Witches' Song, says,— "Yes, I have bought to help our vows Horned poppy, cypress boughs, The fig-tree wild that grows on tombs, And juice that from the larch-tree comes." The light of Revelation, which has dawned now on every British village, and brought its teachings to hall and cottage, has dispelled fancies and practices which were sanctioned in other times, and none dream now of gathering the poppy for incantations. It is very acrid in its nature, and was formerly used as a medicine in various disorders. It has a dark-yellow spindle-shaped root, like a small carrot in appearance, but having no resemblance to it in its mild and nutritious qualities; and it is said, if eaten, to occasion madness. 2. G. phoeniceum (Scarlet Horned Poppy).-Pod hairy; stem-leaves deeply pinnatifid and cut; stem hairy. Plant annual. This flower, which has the long pods that led him who first named the genus to designate it Horned, is in blossom in June and July. It is a showy scarlet flower, with a black spot at the base of its petals, and is a doubtful native, but has been found in some fields of Norfolk and in Portland Island. 3. G. violáceum (Violet-coloured Horned Poppy).-Pod erect and threevalved, hairy near the summit; leaves rough with bristly hairs thrice pinnatifid, the segments linear. This flower is easily known from all our other wild poppies by its violet-blue petals. It is a very lovely but a very rare plant, occurring in some corn-fields, in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, in May and June. This poppy is so nearly allied to the genera Chelidonium and Papaver, that it has by various botanists been classed in one of these. Recent writers, as Sir William Hooker and Dr. Arnott, make it a distinct genus, and call it Roeméria, which is the name given to it by Decandolle. J. J. Roemer, after whom it was called, was a Professor of Botany at Landshut, and assisted Schultz in an edition of the " Species Plantarum of Wildenow:" he died in 1820. 4. CHELIDÓNIUM (Celandine). 1. C. május.-Pod linear, one-celled, and two-valved; leaves pinnate, with about five leaflets, which are broadly ovate, lobed, and cut and notched at the edges with rounded notches. Plant perennial. This plant has no affinity to the Lesser Celandine, which, as we have stated before, is a species of ranunculus. It is very common on old walls, among ruins, and waste places; and is one of the herbs which follow man, and are more often found near his dwellings than in secluded places. It is about two feet high, slightly hairy; its foliage of bluish green, and its flowers, which are of a dull-ochre yellow, appear in April, and are in blossom till October. They are smaller than any other of the poppy tribe. The stems are brittle, and full of a thick yellow juice, which is used in villages as a cure for warts. It is of very acrid properties, and is a violent poison, though Dr. Withering remarked of it, that a medicine of so much activity would some day be converted to important uses. It is now employed by oculists very suc cessfully in operations on the cornea, and has long been known in villages as a remedy, when diluted with milk, against thick spots in the eye. Pliny, whose large book of wonders is called by Mr. D'Israeli, an "awful repository of all the errors of antiquity," has recorded the discovery of the virtues of this plant, which he says was made by the swallows, who anointed the eyes of their young ones with its juices. Our great naturalist, John Ray, however, who rejected the absurd notions about plants so prevalent in his time, even among scientific men, yet thought very highly of this mighty tome of the great Roman naturalist, and considered it as a vast treasury of learning. Although we cannot give credit to the science of the swallow, yet from earliest ages this orange juice of the Celandine was applied both to eyes and heads as a remedy; hence the flower is called by the old herbalists both Swallow-wort and Tetter-wort; and most of the continental names refer to the swallow. The plant is La Chélidoine of the French, Das Schölkraut of the Germans, the Schelkruid of the Dutch, and the Svaleurt of the Danes; while both the Spaniards and Italians term it Celidonia. cording to Loureiro, its juice is greatly esteemed by the natives of Cochin-China, as a medicine for a variety of maladies. Ac ORDER V. FUMARIACEÆ FUMITORY TRIBE. Sepals 2, deciduous; petals 4, irregular, and more or less united and swollen or spurred at the base; stamens 6, in two bundles; ovary 1-celled; style threadlike; stigma lobed; seed-vessel 1 or 2-seeded; seeds shining, crested. Herbaceous plants, closely allied to the poppies, but having a watery and not milky juice. They are scentless and slightly bitter. They are found chiefly in the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, in thickets and waste places. Two are found at the Cape of Good Hope. 1. CORYDALIS.-Petals 4, one of which is spurred at the base; seed-vessel many-seeded. Name, the Greek word for Fumitory. 2. FUMÁRIA (Fumitory).—Petals 4, more or less united, one of them swollen at the base; seed-vessel 1-seeded. Name from fumus, smoke. 1. CORYDALIS. 1. C. claviculáta (White Climbing-Corydalis).—Stem much branched, climbing; leaves pinnate; leaflets elliptical and entire, the leaf-stalk terminating in tendrils. Plant annual. This plant, which is found in some shrubby and bushy places in England where the soil is stony or gravelly, is very abundant in Scotland, and especially in the Highlands, where it grows on old walls or on the roofs of cottages, among stonecrops, houseleeks, the short brownish-green cushion moss, and the scaly crusts of the lichen called the orange parmelia. The Corydalis is long and straggling, very delicate in texture and appearance; and its flowers, which are pale yellow, almost white, bloom in June and August in small clusters. When growing among the underwood, its tendrils enable it to climb to a distance of some feet. Several species of Corydalis are favourite garden flowers, and they have mostly yellow or purple blossoms. They are easily cultivated, and are pretty ornaments of rockwork. Some of the most elegant of the genus grow wild in North America. 2. C. sólida (Solid-rooted Corydalis).—Stem erect, and without branches or tendrils; a scale beneath the lower leaf. Leaves 3-4, twice ternate, their leaflets wedge-shaped or oblong, and cut; root solid and tuberous. Plant annual. The flowers of this species are purple, and very much larger than D those of the white-flowered Corydalis. The plant blossoms in May and June, and is sometimes admitted into the garden. It is doubtful, indeed, if it is truly wild, as many of the habitats recorded for it are spots on which gardens were once cultivated, and where still " many a garden-flower grows wild." Sir William Hooker and Dr. Arnott think it may be wild at Wickham, in Hampshire. Its foliage is of bluish green, and its roots abound in starch, which is used by the Kalmucs for their winter food. 3. C. lutea (Yellow Corydalis).-Stem angular, erect; leaves twice pinnate; leaflets broadly wedge-shaped, and cut, or 3-cleft; bracts very small; pods nearly cylindrical, and very short. Like the solid-rooted species, this plant is destitute of tendrils. Its flowers are of a bright yellow, appearing in May and June. This species is not uncommon on old walls, sometimes flourishing there in great abundance; but there is no reason to believe it is an indigenous plant, though, from its frequent occurrence without culture, it is generally enumerated among the plants of our British Flora. 2. FUMÁRIA (Fumitory). 1. F. capreoláta (Ramping Fumitory).-Sepals as broad as the corolla, and half as long; fruit globose, notched; leaves twice pinnate; leaflets flat. Plant annual. This species, which is very common in hedges, gardens, and by roadsides, is so variable, that it is often very difficult of discrimination by the unpractised botanist. Sir William Hooker observes, that it is best distinguished by its calyx leaves, and its large petals. He remarks, that "in the south of Europe, the fruit-bearing flower-stalks are usually remarkably recurved; in Germany and the south of England, they are only arched backwards; and in Wales and Scotland they are often straight and spreading." Other changes in the appearance of the plant occur also according to the soil on which it is found. It generally climbs by means of its footstalks. It is in blossom very early in the year, and during May it grows beside the lovely flowers, some of them so full of the sweet scents, "Which zephyr, in his wanton play, Of primrose pale, and violet, And young anemone, beset By thousand spikes of every hue, Purple and scarlet, white and blue; And every breeze that sweeps the earth, Brings the sweet sound of love and mirth; The shrilly pipe of things unseen That pitter on the meadow green; The linnet's love-sick melody; The laverock's carol, loud and high; And mellow'd, as from distance borne, The music of the shepherd's horn." The flower is in bloom until August; it is pale pink, tipped with purple, and, in some cases, cream-coloured. The old English name of Earth-smoke, given indiscriminately to several of the species, has its French synonym of Fume de Terre, while the Italians call the plant Fummosterno. It is Der Erdrauch of the Germans, the Duivekervel of the Dutch, and the Palomilla of the Spaniard. The Fumitory and the Fumaria of the botanist alike indicate, with most of the continental names, its connexion with smoke; some say, because it covers the earth like smoke; others, because it affects the eyes like smoke. Some detect in it a smoky odour, not perceptible to the author; but the reason given by the Rev. C. A. Johns, in his |