The Wild Flowers of Great Britain Volume 2; Botanically and Popularly Described, with Copious Notices of Their History and Uses (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1864 Excerpt: ...to the form of the stem. Of its English names, Kipper-nut seems derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and means an Onionshaped nut. Hawk-nut seems merely a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon Eard, or Earth-nut; but it may be a corruption of Hog-nut; and Jtr-nut seems similarly corrupted from the same language, Jirth, meaning the same as our earth. Earth-Chestnut and Ground-nut need no explanation. Boys, we all know, dig up the bulbs and eat them uncooked; but in Holland and the Alps they are boiled, and then are quite as palateable as roasted Chestnuts. In some parts of England they are sliced and put into soups. In Sweden they are extensively used, and are a standard market article. Pigs detect them underground as they do Truffles, by their very acute power of smelling. LYSIMiCHIA NfiMORUM. Linn. Yellow Pimpernel. Nat. ord., Primulaceee. Linn, arr., Pentandria Monogynia. Essential Character.--Flowers solitary, rotate. Calyx segments very narrow. Filaments of the stamens not glandular. Synonymes.--WoodLysimachia, Bentham's Handbook, 356. Wood Loosestrife; Wood Money-wort; Luss no colum kill, Irish. Trewynyn y goedwig; Gwlydd melyn Mair, Welsh. Description.--Root fibrous. Stems creeping at the base, often pendant from banks and rocks, branched, 12 to 18 inches long, leafy, square, with a furrow alternately on each side, smooth, red and pellucid, striking roots at the lower joints. Leaves opposite, stalked, veiny, ovate, pointed, glossy on each side, somewhat waved, of a yellowish-green colour; footstalks short and rather broad. Flowers axillary, of a beautiful golden yellow colour, each on a simple, slender, twisting, solitary stalk, about the length of the adjoining leaf. Calyx with very narrow and pointed segments, which are somewhat triangular. Corolla bright yellow, ...