Dyer’s Weed.... Relief.
Dyer’s Weed is like a very large upright plant of Mignonette, to which sweet exotic it is nearly related, both being members of the reseda family. The Reseda odorata, or Mignonette, is a native of Egypt, and was introduced into England in 1752. The word reseda is from resedo, to calm, to appease. The plants were thought useful applications to external bruises, to ease pain. There are two species growing wild in England. Reseda lutea, or Base-rocket, likes a chalky soil, but R. luteola, the Dyer’s Weed, is often found on waste ground everywhere. It is much used by dyers, particularly in France. It affords a most beautiful yellow dye, for cotton, woollen, mohair, silk, and linen. Blue cloths dipped in a decoction of it become green. The entire plant, when about to flower, is pulled up, and employed both fresh and dried. Like the Coltsfoot, this plant is among the first which spring from the rubbish thrown out of coal-pits. Linnæus observed, that the nodding spike of flowers always follows the sun, even on a cloudy day, pointing eastward in a morning, southward at noon, westward in the afternoon, and northward at night. If this be true, it may supplant the sunflower in the favour of sentimental florists, for the inconstancy of that has long been proved. Good old Gerarde, who evidently did his best to believe all things, says, that he has seen four sunflowers on one stem, pointing to the four cardinal points. I am wandering from my subject, but must remind you of some sweet lines by that poet of nature—Clare, where he groups the sunflower so nicely; and you may look at that cottage, where the children are playing, and see the picture nearly realized:
Where rustic taste at leisure trimly weaves
The rose and straggling woodbine to the eaves,
And on the crowded spot that pales enclose
The white and scarlet daisy rears in rows,
Training the trailing peas in clusters neat,
Perfuming evening with a luscious sweet,
And sun-flowers planting for their gilded show,
That scale the window’s lattice ere they blow,
And, sweet to habitants within the sheds,
Peep through the crystal panes their golden heads.
A gentle peace, like evening winds
In summer from the ocean’s breast,
Moved o’er my sighing, sinking soul,
And soothed my murmuring griefs to rest;
And through the weary night of pain,
When it were manliness to weep,
My soul was comforted by this—
“He giveth his beloved sleep.”
Nasturtion.... Patriotism.
The Nasturtion is a native of Europe and the East. The flowers are of a very brilliant golden yellow, and present a beautiful appearance. The plant is said to emit flashes of light in the morning before sunrise, and also at twilight. Its pure, glowing hue recalls that ardent feeling, so clear of self, which leads men to lay down their lives and fortunes for their country’s safety and glory.
Land of the forest and the rock,
Of dark blue lake and mighty river—
Of mountain reared aloft to mock
The storm’s career and lightning’s shock,
My own green land forever!
Whittier.