(1863)  Page(s) 2-3.  Includes photo(s).
 
Natural Order I. — Ranunculaceæ.
Tribe I. — Clemitideæ.
Genus I. — Clematis. Linn.
Species I. — Clematis vitalba. Linn.
Plate I.
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. IV. Ran. Tab. LXIV. Fig. 4667.
Sepals thick, downy on both sides.  Carpels with feathery tails.  Stem woody, climbing.  Leaves pinnate.  Leaflets ovate-acuminate.
Common in hedges and among bushes, especially on a calcereous soil in the South of England, extending northward to South Wales and Yorkshire.  It also occurs in the North of England, Scotland, and Ireland, but only in places where it has doubtless been introduced.
England [Scotland, Ireland].  Shrub.  Summer and Autumn.
A small shrub with tough trailing or climbing branches, supporting themselves by means of the petioles, which, below the leaflets twine around adjacent bodies, and remain after the fall of the leaves.  Leaves opposite, with about 5 stalked 3- to 5-nerved leaflets, the edges of which are generally coarsely serrated or even lobed, but occasionally entire.  Flowers in lax terminal or axillary panicles.  Sepals and stamens greenish white.  Carpels ovoid compressed, reddish brown, with long bent white feathery tails, about 1½ inch long; receptacle woolly.
Common Traveller's Joy, or Old Man's Beard.
French, Clématite blanche.  German, Steigende Waldrebe.
The scientific name Clematis Vitalba is derived from κλεμα (klema), a tendril, from the climbing nature of the species, and Vitis alba, white vine.  It is sometimes called Virgin's Bower, which name was given to it by Gerarde in 1597, "by reason of the goodly shadowe which they make with their thick bushing and climing; as also for the beautie of the flowers, and the pleasant savour or scent of the same."  This pretty plant is one of the greatest ornaments of our country hedges, with its copious clusters of white blossoms and succeeding heaps of feather-tailed silky tufts.  In some places it is used as fodder for cattle, an acrid juice which the leaves contain whilst fresh, disappearing after drying.  The branches are tough enough to makes withes for faggots, for which purpose it is always used in woods where it can be procured.  As a medicine, it has had some reputation internallly as a remedy for dropsy, and in the form of an infusion for rheumatism.  In France, the irritating and vesicatory properties of its juice are sometimes turned to account by beggars, who apply it to their skin to produce ulcers and excite compassion.  In the same country the twigs are used to make beehives, baskets, &c.: they probably grow stronger in a warm climate.  A section of Clematis wood forms a very interesting object under the microscope; the air-vessels and cells are arranged in a radiate manner, allowing the air to circulate freely through them.  This circumstance is turned to account by our village boys, who smoke pieces of the wood as they do of rattan cane; hence it is sometimes called smoke-wood and smoking-cane.

(1863)  Page(s) 68-9.  
 
Tribe V. —Pæonieæ.
Genus XV. — Pæonia. Linn.
Species I. — Pæonia corallina. Retz.
Plate L.
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Kelv. Vol. IV. Ran. Tab. CXXVIII. Fig. 4745.
Stem simple, herbaceous.  Leaflets oval or elliptical, entire.  Petals broadly obavate.  Stigmas recurved.  Follicles diverging when ripe.
Naturalized on the rocky cliffs of Steep Holmes Island, at the mouth of the river Severn, and said to have once been abundant there; but it is now become very scarce.  It is also reported from a few other places- as near the "Rocks", Bath, and at Kildale Woods, Cleveland, Yorkshire, "probably on the site of an old garden." — (Sup. to Fl. of Yorkshire.)
[England.] Perennial.  Summer.
Rootstock producing thickened, fleshy, sessile or stalked carrot-shaped tubers.  Stem 1 to 2 feet high, 1-flowered.  Leaves stalked, ternate, the divisions again ternate or pinnate, with 2 pairs of leaflets and an odd one; uppermost leaves resembling one of the leaflets of the lower ones; leaflets 2 to 4 inches long.  Flower about 4 inches in diameter.  Calyx with 1 or 2 of the sepals resembling one of the leaflets.  Petals crimson.  Filaments crimson, with yellow anthers.  Pistils covered with whitish wool.  Stigmas crimson, hooked, or even coiled.  Follicles about 1¼ inch long, very woolly, spreading horizontally.  Plant nearly glabrous.  Leaves dark green above, glaucous beneath.
Entire-leaved Male or Coral Peony.
French, Pivoine Coralline.  German, Eichtrose.
This genus of plants is said to have been named after the physician Paeon, immortalized for having cured Pluto and other gods of wounds received during the Trojan War, it is said, with the aid of this plant.  The Peony is a common garden plant, and is very showy and handsome with its rich-coloured flowers when well placed.  In its wild native haunts it is peculiarly attractive.  Dr. Withering says: "Few aquatic excursions can prove more interesting to the naturalist than a sail through the romantic pass of St. Vincent's Rocks to the Holmes Islands.  The Steep Holmes represents the rugged truncated apex of a submarine mountain, whose abruptly precipitous sides are only accessible at one proper landing-place.  Amid the shelving rocks and loose shingly stones, at an elevation of 100 feet,
'There ye may see the Peony spread wide.'"
It seems almost peculiar to this locality, and the supposition would be that it has been introduced from some wrecked vessel, or that it must have escaped from some neighboring garden; but tradition recognizes its existence for so many years in this spot, that it would be difficult to trace its origin.  The superstitions connected with the Peony are very numerous.  In ancient times it was supposed to be f divine origin, an emanation from the moon, and to shine during the night, protecting shepherds and the harvest from injury, driving away evil spirits, and averting tempests.  Josephus speaks of the Peony as a wonderful and curious plant.  He says, according to Gerarde, that to pluck it up by the roots will "cause danger to he that touches it; therefore a string must be fastened to it in the night, and a hungry dog tied thereto, who, being allured by the smell of roasted flesh set towards him, may pluck it up by the roots."  Pliny and Theophrastus assert that "of necessity it must be gathered in the night; for if any man shall pluck of the fruit in the daytime, being seen of the woodpecker, he is in danger to lose his eyes."  Gerarde, with discenment superior to his time, adds: "But all these things be most vaine and frivolous, for the root of Peionie may be removed at any time of the yeare, day, or houre whatsoever."  Still, although he disallows the superstitions connected with the gathering of the plant, he believes in its medical virtues, and gives a long list of ailments and diseases for which it is a sovereign remedy.  The seeds have been strung and worn round the neck as an ornament, from their beautiful red colour, and frequently not without reference to cabalistic purposes as a protection against evil spirits.  At the present day necklaces are made of small beads carved from the root of the Peony, and sold in respectable chemists' shops, to be worn round the necks of young children, when cutting their teeth, as anodyne necklaces.  Can we be severe on the follies of our ancestors when such superstitions linger in our own day?