THE STORK'S-BILL, OR HERON'S-BILL.

Erodum cicutarium; L'Heritier.

"May, thou month of rosy beauty,
Month, when pleasure is a duty;
Month of maids that milk the kine,
Bosoms rich and breath divine;
Month of bees and month of flowers,
Month of blossom-laden bowers;
Month of little hands with daisies,
Lovers' love and poets' praises;
O thou merry month complete,
May, thy very name is sweet!
May was maid in olden times,
And is still in Scottish rhymes;

May's the blooming hawthorn bough,

May's the month that's laughing now.”

LEIGH HUNT.

No sooner does the month of May open upon us, than we seem naturally to expect a great increase in the number of wild flowers. We are ever on the watch for some old friend, or for some flower which we know only by name; and we are not wholly disappointed. We cannot be so unreasonable as to require that all the prettiest, all the choicest, all the rarest flowers, which are indigenous to our sea-girt island, should be collected together within the few square miles which one individual can perambulate on foot, near his own residence. We are therefore content with those we do meet with; nay, we rejoice that they are so numerous and so beautiful. A few days ago we determined to take the shortest way to one of the loftiest hills in Surrey, which overlooks the valley of the Wey; and

SECOND SERIES.

F

accordingly we climbed up its north-west side, which forms an inclined plane, rising at an angle of more than forty-five degrees. As we ascended, the landscape increased in beauty each time we turned and looked upon the pale green verdure of the woods below, the effect of which was varied by the deep hue of evergreen firs, and by the light yellow green of the young leaves of the oak. At every step we took we came upon a new tuft of primroses, contrasting beautifully with large deep purple dog violets (Viola canina), with the rich purple bells of the wild hyacinth (Hyacinthus non-scriptus) and ever and anon we observed a solitary purple orchis (Orchis mascula), sometimes two or three together. There, too, were the ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), with its whorls of beautiful flowers, and the yellow weasel-snout (Galeobdolon luteum), or archangel. At length we reached the summit of the hill, a flat table top, being rounded in the form of a horse-shoe towards the western extremity, and considerably elongated towards the heel, or eastward. Three sides of the hill are clad with copsewood. The greater part of the surface on the top is planted with larch trees, which are yet in their infancy. Advancing towards the circular end, we obtained a commanding view of the valley, which here opens out to the south-east into an extensive tract of champaign country.

And we thought at the time of Dyer's question,—

"Ever charming, ever new,

When will the landscape tire the view ?"

and could have answered, "Never!" if we considered only the varied objects which lay before us, apart from

the inability of human strength to continue the survey; for there were—

"The fountain's fall, the river's flow,

The woody vallies warm and low;
The windy summit wild and high,
Roughly rushing on the sky;

The pleasant seat, and ruin'd tow'r,
The naked rock, the shady bow'r ;

The town and village, dome and farm,"

each lending to the vast prospect its own peculiar charm, while the several combinations taken in by the eye on every change of position, constituted an endless series of panoramic views.

And as we recall the scenes to mind, we may, with slight exceptions, speak of them in the words of Cowper,

"Thence with what pleasure have we just discerned
The distant plough slow moving, and beside

His labouring team, that swerved not from the track,

The sturdy swain diminished to a boy!

Here [Wey], slow winding through a level plain

Of spacious meads with cattle sprinkled o'er,

Conducts the eye along his sinuous course

While far beyond, and overthwart the stream,
That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale,
The sloping land recedes into the clouds,
Displaying on its varied side the grace

Of hedge-row beauties numberless, square tower,
Tall spire, from which the sound of cheerful bells
Just undulates upon the listening ear,

Groves, heaths, and smoking villages remote.”

It was while we were walking about on the summit of this hill that we observed the Heron's-bill. It was not a large flower, to be sure, but was a very pretty one. It was some three-quarters of an inch in diameter;

of a pink colour, with a slight tinge of blue. We immediately possessed ourselves of some specimens, and found that the plant has a somewhat whitish root, long and tapering; from which proceed several stems, spreading themselves in all directions upon the surface of the ground, and though long, very little raised above the earth. These are round, with blunted angles, and are branched and swollen at the joints. The stems are furnished with pinnate leaves, alternate near the base, and opposite above; the footstalk of the leaves is channelled; the leaflets are oblong egg-shaped, sessile, generally cut to the mid-rib, and the segments dentated, blunt, or sharp. The stipules, the small scales at the base of the footstalk of the leaves, are pale, thin, and membranous; of a lanceolate egg-shape, and nearly smooth. The numerous flowers grow somewhat in the form of an umbel, on a long hairy footstalk opposite to the leaf, or grow from the axil of the leaf. The pedicels, the small footstalks of the flowers, are short and slender, and bent back when the plant is in fruit. The flower cup consists of five oblong acute pieces, with membranous margins, three or five-ribbed, and scattered over with hairs. The petals are longer than the flower cup, round, egg-shaped, and threeribbed at the base. The stamens are ten, the filaments being alternately without the minute black anthers.

The Hemlock-leaved Stork's-bill (Erodium cicutarium), or Heron's-bill, is altogether a pretty plant, though the flowers are small, as most of the flowers of the wild plants of this and the allied genus, geranium, are; the long, narrow, tapering beak, which is hard and firm, is formed by the elongation of the styles, which unite around the prolonged axis. It is in the class

Monodelphia, and order Pentandria, of the Linnæan classification; and in the order Geraniacea of the Natural system.

Dr. Deakin gives the following beautiful account of the means with which this genus is supplied to enable it to ensure its propagation :-" The carpels (fruit or seed cells) are five, narrow, conical, membranous, pointed at the base, one-celled, containing a single pendulous seed. The style, which becomes elongated, and forms the awn, is highly hygrometrical (or rather hydropathical), and as the plant matures, this, from the unequal density of its structure, curves up with an elastic force, and becomes more or less spirally twisted in its lower part. The carpels and the inner surface of the awn are more or less thickly clothed with bristles pointed upwards. From this structure of the fruit, it will be seen how admirably the progeny are provided for their future sustenance and growth. The pointed carpels, of a slender conical shape, more readily pierce the ground; the elongated awn curved and twisting round, by changing humidity, screws it beneath the soil; while every advanced movement that it makes, it is prevented from retracting by the up-pointed bristles which barb the carpels and inner surface of the awn. Thus its penetration of the earth (which is mostly of a dry sandy nature) is secure; and the awn further performs the important part of attracting moisture from the atmosphere, and conducting it most faithfully to its tender charge below, until it is enabled to support itself."