John Keble's Parishes: A History of Hursley and Otterbourne Part 20

WILLOW-HERB TRIBE

ROSEBAY WILLOW-HERB (Epilobium angustifolium).--This splendid flower, rose-coloured, white-pistilled and red-leaved, spreads in sheets in Cranbury Copse and on railway cuttings, at Cuckoo Bushes, and in Ampfield Wood.

CODLINS-AND-CREAM (E. hirsutum).--Adorning wet places.

SMALL WILLOW-HERB-- (E. parvaeorurn) Troublesome though pretty weeds in the garden.

(E. tetragonum) (E. roseum) (E. montanum).--Found at Ampfield.

ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE (Circaea lutetiana).--A graceful, delicate- looking plant of universal occurrence.

WATER STARWORT (Callitriche verna).--Ponds.

MARESTAIL (Hippuris vulgaris).--Waves with the current of the stream in the Itchen.

WHITE BRYONY (Bryonia dioica).--Vine-like leaves wreathe round in the hedges, and the pale, whitish flowers give place to graceful cl.u.s.ters of red berries.

GOOSEBERRY (Ribes Grossularia).--Lane towards Brambridge.

SAXIFRAGEA

ORPINE (Sedum Telephium).--Also called Midsummer May; grows in Otterbourne Park, and a large bunch on the Romsey Road. An old woman described having tried the augury, having laid the plants in pairs on Midsummer Eve, naming them after pairs of sweethearts. Those that twisted away from each other showed inconstancy!

STONECROP (S. anglic.u.m).--Otterbourne Hill.

(S. acre).--Hursley.

HOUSELEEK (Sempervivum tectorum).--Also called Sin-green, or some word so sounding. It is not permitted to blow upon the roof on which it grows, for fear of ill-luck, which is strange, as it has been Jupiter's beard, Thor's beard, and St. George's beard, and in Germany is thought to preserve from thunder.

SAXIFRAGE (Saxifraga tridactylites).--Hursley.

GOLDEN S. (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium).--Wet places in Lincoln's Copse.

MARSH PENNYWORT (Hydrocotyle vulgaris).--Bogs at Cuckoo Bushes.

WOOD SANICLE (Sanicula vulgaris).--In all the copses.

UMBELLIFERA

GOUTWEED (AEgopodium Podagra).--Handsome leaves, but a troublesome weed.

PIGNUT (Bunium flexuosum).--The delicate, lace-like, umbellate flowers in all the woods.

WATER DROPWORT (OEnanthe fistulosa).--Banks of Itchen.

WATER HEMLOCK (OE. crocata).--Itchen banks.

WILD CARROT (Daucus Carota).

BURNET SAXIFRAGE (Pimpinella Sax Jraga).--Hursley.

COW PARSLEY (Chaerophyllum sylvestre).--Boys may be seen bearing home bundles for their rabbits.

SHEPHERD'S NEEDLE (Scandix Pecten Veneis).--In cornfields.

HEDGE PARSLEY (Torilis infesta).--Hursley.

HEMLOCK (Conium maculatum).

IVY (Hedera Helix).--Everywhere.

DOGWOOD (Cornus sanguinea).--The red and purple of the fading leaves mixed with the yellow of the maples make every hedge a study.

MISTLETOE (Visc.u.m alb.u.m).--Grows on hawthorns in Hursley Park, and on apple-trees at Otterbourne.

MOSCATEL (Adoxa Moschatellina).--This dainty little green-headed plant is one of the harbingers of spring.

ELDER (Sambucus nigra).--In most hedges, though its honours are gone as the staple of elder-wine, and still better of elder-flower water, which village sages used to brew, and which was really an excellent remedy for weak eyes.

GUELDER-ROSE (Viburnum Opulus).--Equally handsome whether white- garlanded cymes of blossoms or scarlet berries, waxen when partly ripe.

WAYFARING-TREE (V. Lantana).--Not quite so common, but handsome, with white flowers and woolly leaves.

HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera Periclymenum).--To be seen in full glory waving on the top of a holly-tree, and when the stem has become amalgamated with a bough, circling it like the staff of Esculapius, it is precious to boys.

(L. Caprifolium).--Noted as once found, but not lately.

MADDER TRIBE

MADDER (Rubia peregrina).--Tiny flowers--Otterbourne Hill.

CROSSWORT or MUGWORT (Galium Cruciatum).--Roadside, Allbrook.

YELLOW LADY'S BEDSTRAW (G. verum).--Everywhere.

MARSH B. (G. pal.u.s.tre).--Cuckoo Bushes.

(G. uliginosum).--Gravel-pit, Otterbourne.

WHITE BEDSTRAW (G. er.e.c.t.u.m).--Winchester Road.

CLEAVERS or CLIDERS (G. Aparine).--Everywhere.

ROUGH (G. Mollugo).--Cornfields.