a scent resembling anise, and was at one time esteemed as a perfume in some parts of Europe. The leaves are perfectly wholesome, and may be eaten as a potherb or a salad.

MONEYWORT, OR CREEPING LOOSE-STRIFE. " LYSIMACHIA NUMMULARIA.

THIS is a pretty little plant, to be seen in all hedges, or on banks, during the summer and autumn, throughout England. It belongs to the natural family Primulaceæ. The stems are prostrate, trailing to the length of one or two feet, often rooting at the nodes. The leaves are round, on very short stalks, looking almost like pieces of money; the flowers yellow, large, and handsome, on short stalks-the segments of the calyx are pear-shaped. With a microscope little pedicillate glands may be seen covering the blossoms and stamens.

PIMPERNEL, OR POOR MAN'S WEATHER-GLASS. ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS.

"Whose brilliant flower,

Closes against the approaching shower,
Warning the swain to sheltering bower,
From humid air secure."

THIS well-known and very attractive little plant belongs to the family Primulaceæ, and is a neat, much

branched, procumbent annual, six inches to near a foot long, with opposite, broadly ovate, sessile, and entire leaves. The calyx divisions are pointed. The corolla is rotate, and usually of a bright red colour; sometimes it is white or pale pink, or blue. The blue variety is as common in central and southern Europe as the red is with us, but in England it is very rare. I have, however, found it in Suffolk, in a lane near Felixstowe, where the red Pimpernel grows most luxuriantly. The extreme sensitiveness of this pretty little plant to a change of atmosphere causes it to shut up its petals at the approach of rain. In fine weather it remains open from about eight in the morning till four in the afternoon. It is a common weed in the valley of the Nile, and its botanical name, which is derived from the Greek, signifies a "reviver of the spirits," in allusion to the medical and magical properties for which it was at one time highly valued. At present its only use seems to be as a pot-herb, and it is also sometimes-more especially on the Continent -eaten as a salad.

PLANTAIN, OR WAY-BREAD.

PLANTAGO MAJOR.

THOUGH not an attractive-looking plant as we generally see it by the wayside, it is so closely associated with almost every walk along a country lane, or even