595.  Salix pentandra.  Willow.—­The leaves produce a yellow colour.

596.  Scabiosa succisa.  Devil’s bit SCABIUS.—­The dried leaves produce a yellow colour.

597.  Serratula tinctoria.  Saw-wort.—­The whole herb produces a yellow tincture.

598.  Senecio Jacobaea.  Ragwort.—­The roots, stalks, and leaves, before the flowering season, give out a green colour which can be fixed on wool.

599.  Stachys sylvatica.  Hedge-horehound.—­The whole herb is said to dye a yellow colour.

600.  Thalictrum flavum.  Yellow meadow-rue.—­The roots and leaves both give out a fine yellow colour.

601.  Thapsia villosa.  Deadly carrot.—­The umbels are employed by the spanish peasants to dye yellow.

602.  TORMENTILLA erecta.  Erect tormentil.—­This root is red, and might probably be usefully employed.

603.  Trifolium pratense.  Meadow-clover.—­The inhabitants of Scania employ the heads to dye their woollen cloth green.

604.  Urtica dioica.  Nettle.—­The roots of bettles are used to dye eggs of a yellow colour against the feast of Easter by the religious of the Greek church, as are also madder and logwood for the same purpose.

605.  XANTHIUM strumarium.  Lesser BURBOCK.—­The whole herb with the fruit dyes a most beautiful yellow.

* * * * *

SECTION XII.—–­PLANTS USED IN RURAL OECONOMY.

The following few plants are such as are used for domestic purposes which do not fall under any of the foregoing heads, and I therefore have placed them together here.

606.  Conferva.—­This green thready substance has the power of rendering foetid water sweet; for which purpose, when water is scarce, it is usually put into water-tubs and reservoirs.

607.  Corylus Avellana.  Hazel nut.—­The young shoots of hazel put into casks with scalding water, render them sweet if they are musty, or contain any bad flavour.

608.  Crocus vernus.  Spring Crocus.—­Is well kown as a spring flower, producing one of the most cheerful ornaments to the flower-garden early in the spring.  It affords a great variety in point of beauty and colour, and is an article of considerable trade among the Dutch gardeners, who cultivate a great number of varieties, which every year are imported into this and other countries.

609.  Equisetum hyemale.  Dutch Rush.—­Of this article great quantities are brought from Holland for the purpose of polishing mahogany.  The rough parts of the plant are discovered to be particles of flint.

610.  Eriophorum polystachion.  Cotton grass.—­The down of the seeds has been used, instead of feathers, for beds and cushions; and the foliage in the north of Scotland is considered useful as fodder.