The rural swains, because it takes delight

In barren rocks, surnamed it Aconite.

The juice of this plant is said to have been used to poison arrows with, when required in the pursuit of wild animals, or in conflict against a human foe.

Although the properties of Monk's-hood are naturally so injurious, yet the skill of the educated and judicious physician has been able to apply it in various ways to the relief of some of the many ills that flesh is heir to; being administered with beneficial effect internally, and also used in the form of an ointment for the relief of local pains.

There are several species of the Aconite, many of them highly ornamental to the garden and shrubbery, and not the least agreeable of these is the winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), which blooms in January, to which the following anonymous lines have been addressed:

Ere thy sisters fair are waking,

Deep in earth's dark bosom sleeping!
Ere the chains of winter breaking

Loose the streams their might is keeping:

With a smile that well had greeted

Light, and song, and Summer bower,

On the sheltering calyx seated,

Shines thy yellow-petaled flower. ·

Gem of Winter! quickly faded,
Early loved and early lost,
Type of joy too quickly shaded!
Of earth's children tempest tost.

Still, from thee a lesson learning,
Let us choose the fitting hour
To soothe, to cheer,-nor less discerning
Prove than Winter's simple flower.

The Monk's-hood (Aconitum Napellus) is found wild in the following localities: on the banks of the river Teme, in the county of Hereford; in great abundance by the side of a stream at Ford, in Somersetshire, and at intervals along the banks as far as Wolverton, a distance of three miles; below the bridge at Staverton, Devonshire; near Mylor Bridge, in Cornwall; and in different parts of Denbighshire. It is a perennial plant, blooming in June, July, and August, and even later it belongs to the Linnæan class Polyandria, and order Trigynia; and to the Natural order Ranunculaceœ.

:

THE SPRING CROCUS.

Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow
Congealed, the Crocus' lilac bud to blow ?
Say, what retards, amidst the summer blaze,
Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days?
The God of Seasons,-Whose pervading power
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower;
He bids each flower His quickening power obey,
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay.

WHITE.

We have previously described the autumnal Crocus, and we now come to the pretty Spring Crocus, which tends so much to enliven the early days of the opening year. The numerous varieties which adorn the earth in our gardens from February to April, are well known to most of us, being, as they are, with the snowdrop, almost the only flowers that venture to put forth their tender petals ere frost and snow have receded before the increasing power of the vernal sun; and all of us are conscious of pleasurable sensations when we look upon their white, grey, and golden petals, caused, not so much by the beauty of the flowers, as by the passing of the imagination over coming days to the delightful and life-restoring Spring.

The purple Spring Crocus (Crocus vernus) differs but little indeed from the Saffron Crocus, except as to the season of its blooming. Its leaves are shorter and broader, and the stigma, which is erect and without fragrance, remains within the flower. The segments of the flower and the tube of the corolla are thickly set with pellucid hairs. This species is not by any means a common flower, its principal locality being the mea

dows about Nottingham, between the castle and the silvery Trent. There it has increased to a great extent, and in the month of March it covers a great number of acres with a rich mantle of a bright purple colour. When the flower has ceased blooming, the leaves grow larger, and contribute to the nourishment of the fruit and future bulbs.

As the other members of this family, which are either indigenous, or have been so long naturalized as to gain for them a place in the British Flora, are all pretty flowers, we shall notice them as being worthy of the attention of our readers.

The lesser gold-coloured Crocus (C. aureus), has small golden yellow-coloured flowers, rarely marked at the top of the tube with blue lines, two and sometimes more on one root. The leaves are produced with the flower and are shorter than it, until the corolla has decayed, when they become much longer. This species grows apparently wild in Sir H. Bunbury's park at Barton Hall, Suffolk, and flowers in March.

The small annular-rooted Crocus (C. praecox) bears a pretty little flower nearly white, having its outer segments beautifully marked with three feathered violet-coloured stripes. There is seldom more than one flower springing from a root, and it is accompanied with leaves. The root-coats divide into rings at the base, perfectly regular and extremely neat. It is supposed that it may be a diminutive variety of the Scotch, or Cloth-of-silver Crocus; and that the least purple Crocus (C. minimus) of Redouté is only another variety.

The naked flowering Crocus (C. nudiflorus) is another species of much beauty, flowering in Autumn,

but somewhat smaller than the Saffron Crocus. The leaves of this species do not make their appearance until the flowers are out of bloom, when they shoot forth and continue until the succeeding April or May, at which time the seed is ripe. It grows in the neighbourhood of Nottingham Castle; and it is said to be the same as the showy autumnal Crocus (C. speciosus) which is found about Warrington and Halifax. The plant is increased by long scaly runners, which are peculiar to the species.

In the records of mythology, the name of this flower is derived from a handsome youth named Crocus, the friend of Smilax, who was changed into the saffron flower, having been first consumed by the ardency of unrequited affection. But some writers have supposed that its name is taken from Coricus, a city and mountain in Cilicia. It is mentioned by Homer as one of those flowers which composed the couch of Zeus.

Crocus and Smilax may be turned to flowers,
And the Curetes spring from bounteous showers;
I pass a hundred legends stale as these,

And with sweet novelty your taste will please.

OVID.

How frequently do we find that flowers with which the most pleasing feelings are commonly associated, are by the poets allied with sensations of sadness and gloom, who seem to colour the objects they look upon with hues derived from their own feelings, rather than with those the subjects naturally suggest. Thus Patterson, after alluding to the cheering influence of the Crocus, draws from it suggestions of the fading character of human hopes, and the uncertainty of human friendships.