remembered plant of the sea-shore. Our Yellow HornPoppy is the most striking and remarkable of our sea-shore plants, and cannot fail to arrest the attention of the most casual observer, in a position where so little vegetation flourishes. The foliage is of a pale seagreen colour, which botanists term glaucous : hence its scientific name. It is rough, with short bristles; the pods or horns are from six to ten or twelve inches long, crowned by the spreading lobes of the stigma. When we see this pretty plant, it is interesting to remember the history of Glaucus, after whom it is named. He was the son of Neptune and of Nais, a sea-nymph, but lived on shore. His nature, however, had some influence on his habits, and he was fond of fishing. One day, having been very successful in his sport, he laid his scaly prize on a neighbouring marsh, when to his great surprise they began to nibble the green grass, and then

"Sudden darting o'er the verdant plain, They spread their fins as in their native main,

Left their new master, and regain'd the sea.'

Amazed at what he saw, Glaucus resolved to test the power of the herbage in his own person; and no sooner had he bitten it, than his hereditary aquatic propensities seized him, and into the ocean he leaped, when, for his faith and courage, he was received as a denizen among the sea-gods.

In their domain he still shows his royal descent by wearing a golden robe; and yet, from old affection,

high above it he bears his favourite long and curved fishrod, with its point bent, as if a captive fish ever strained it. Glaucus never goes far out to sea, but rather frequents the shores and cliffs; for Scylla, whom he loved, was turned into a rock, with howling waves around her; and his faithfulness retains him still close to her side.

The Yellow Horn-Poppy is the "squats" of the Portland Islanders.

DYER'S WOAD.

ISATIS TINCTORIA.

OUR next specimen belongs to another and very extensive and useful family of plants-Cruciferæ or Crossworts. The species are herbs, or rarely undershrubs, with alternate leaves and no stipules; four sepals, four petals of equal size, or two on the outerside layer. The stamens are six in number, of which two are generally shorter, or sometimes altogether absent. The fruit is a pod, divided into two cells by a thin partition, from which the valves generally separate when ripe. When long, it is called a silique, and when short, a silicle.

Isatis Tinctoria preserves the general characteristics of the family. The stem is from eighteen inches to two or three feet high, branched in the upper part.

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Its long leaves are smooth and coarsely toothed and stalked, the pods hanging on slender stalks downwards. The flower is of a yellow colour.

The specific name tinctoria signifies its use in dyeing or staining. From it was undoubtedly obtained the blue dye or woad with which the Ancient Britons stained their skins.

When the arts of civilized life were not practised, this substance supplied, according to the poet Garth, all the requirements of a fashionable toilette.

"In times of old when British nymphs were known
To love no foreign fashions like their own,

When dress was monstrous, and fig-leaves the mode,
And quality put on no paint but woad."

At the present day this plant is used by dyers, not on account of its own blue colour, but as a mordant for other colours. Its colouring principle seems to be identical with indigo. It is cultivated in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Somersetshire.

THE COMMON WHITLOW-GRASS.

DRABA VERNA.

DRABA VERNA, a cruciferous plant, is one of our earliest spring flowers; and as soon as the bright days of March and April tempt us out into the fields and lanes, we may look for it on dry walls and banks, with