"Coming like an after-thought,
When other flowers are vainly sought,"
lingers on until Christmas; and when cold winds and wintry snows have withered every other flower, this remains,
"A token to the wintry earth that beauty liveth still".
Very pretty is the yellow carpet spread on the dry bank by the yellow bed-straw, with its mass of tiny blossoms and slender thready leaves of brilliant green. Its flowers, like those of the ragwort just mentioned, also smell sweetly of honey. In the Hebrides, a reddish-brown dye is extracted from its roots.
In September, we see the tall, handsome golden-rod, not only in our woods and hedgeways, but also on the sea-side cliff, somewhat stunted in growth, but still beautiful with its crowded clusters of golden blossoms, over which butterflies, moths, and bees hover incessantly, in spite of its
"Florets wrapped in silky down,
To guard it from the bee."
In the days of Queen Elizabeth it was sold in the London markets by herb-dealers. It was supposed to cure wounds.
Then also the Michaelmas daisy, or sea-starwort, opens its pale lilac petals, and continues to blossom until other flowers have nearly all faded away:
"And the solo Lawson which can glad the eye
Is yon pale starwort nodding to the wind."