Wallflowers and Forget-me-nots T O thousands of country-bred folk, who have
the mis- fortune to live in cities, a bunch of wallflowers is a pleasure so great that it is almost pain. For their scent transports one instantly into the joyous sunlight of an old-fashioned garden and one sees not only the wall- flowers but the lilacs in full bloom, the peonies and lad's love, the flowering currants and apple blossom, and instead of the noise of the city one hears only the pleasant sound of the bees. Scientists tell us that wallflowers comprise the elements of many scents in their petals, even rose_ and violet scents, and possibly this accounts to some extent for the sensation they give that one is enjoying a garden full of flowers. But there is something in the scent of wallflowers beyond anything for, which. science can account.
Nowadays one seldom sees wallflowers treated as perennials, left to grow in peace and to live their full span of life, but how sturdy and attractive and full of character they are. A bed of wallflowers raised from seed the previous year give a feast of colour, but they cannot compare with a fine old plant full of years. Such a plant covered with blossoms and with the bees hovering over it is a delight. Wallflowers are beloved by bees, and hence the old name of " bee-flower." As Gervase Mark- ham wrote over three hundred years ago, " The Husband- man preserves it most in his bee-garden, for it is wondrous sweet and affordeth much honey."
We do not know when wallflowers, " which are very delightful to be set under a parlour or lower chamber window," were introduced into our gardens, but it must have been in very early days. They are natives of the South of Europe. When found growing wild on old buildings the flowers are invariably yellow, and yellow therefore is evidently the original colour. " Yellow violet " was formerly a common name for them among country-folk. Gerard in his Herball (1597) mentions only yellow wallflowers—" most pleasant sweete yellow flowers very double " ; Parkinson in his Paradisua is the first to record those with striped or variegated petals. It is interesting to remember that both Turner and Lyte call wallflowers " Hertes Ease." In his Names of Herbes (1548) Turner says, " Called in English Cheiry, Hertes ease or wal Gelefloure, it hath yealowe floure." In his Herbal (1551) he says, " Viola that hath the yelow floure is called in English Wal geloner or hartes ease."
Lyte in his translation of Dodoen's Herbal says, " The yellow Gillofer is called in English wall floures and Hartes ease." Lyte also speaks of them as gillofer- wallflowers, and wall-gillyflowers was a common name for them in the sixteenth century. Parkinson gives the alternative English names Bee-flowers, Wall-gilloflowers, Winter Gilloflowers and Yellow Stocke-Gilloflowers. In Lincolnshire they used to call the dark double Wallflower " Bloody-Warrior," and in Wiltshire " Bleeding Heart." It is said that the name " Cheiranthus " was given by Linnaeus because the flowers had for so long been a favourite for nosegays. As Parkinson said of them, " The sweetnesse of the flowers causeth them to be gene- rally used in nosegays and to deck up houses." Wall- flowers were valued formerly not only for their beauty and scent, but also for their medicinal properties. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries an oil was made from them which the apothecaries sold under the name " Cheiri- num." Mixed with honey the petals were used to cure ulcers, the juice was dropped into the eyes to remove dimness of sight, the leaves bound to the wrist with bay salt were accounted good for ague, and a conserve made of them was a remedy for palsy.
One cannot help wishing that we had kept the prettiest of the old names—Chevisaunce. For this is the name Spenser used in his Shephearde Calender :- " Strowe me the ground with Daffadowodillies,
And cowslips and Kingcups and loved Lilies, The pretty Pawnee And the Chevisaunce Shall match with the fayre flowre Delice."
We have long since lost the art of giving flowers names. Old flower-names are not only full of meaning but they describe the essential character of the flower so simply and yet so perfectly that sometimes one cannot help wondering whether these names grew like the flowers themselves. Or were they given in more leisured ages when people had time to " consider '! flowers in the Biblical sense of the word ? In spite of the learned authorities (who tell us there is no such word as cherisaunce) possibly chevisaunce is a misprint for cherisaunce, which would mean " comfort." "Comfort " describes the true character of this beloved flower. For surely of all flowers wallflowers are the most comforting. The various mean- ings of chevisaunce all centre round the idea " achieve- ment," and applied to a flower they are meaningless. Is it likely that so great a flower lover as Spenser would have used a meaningless word when he had the whole range of sixteenth-century names from which to choose ? Re- membering that two of the greatest botanists of his day called wallflowers " Hertes ease," one cannot help cherishing the belief that Spenser used a name which describes the wallflower as no other name could describe it—" comfort."
Forget-me-nots preserve in their name a beautiful old legend. There came a day when the Heavenly Father bestowed on all the flowers their names. But a pale blue flower, a little dreamer, forgot her name. She looked in the clear water at her feet and up to the blue heaven above her, but try as she would she could not remember.
When night came on, and the stars shone out, it filled her with wonder to think that her Heavenly Father knew the number of those dazzling myriads in the infinite gardens of Heaven and called them all by their names. " I cannot remember my name. Do you know it ? " she whispered to one of the fairest stars. " Not yet," said the star, gazing down on the exquisite beauty of his new little sister on earth. " But our Heavenly. Father knows your name. Ask Him and He will tell you." In the morning when she woke she saw a group of daisies near her throwing back their lovely crimson-tipped petals to be kissed by their big brother the Sun. " Do you remem- ber your name, for I have forgotten mine-? " she said to one of them, a gay little fellow with more crimson tips on his petals than any of the others: " I did not hear your name," he replied, " but ask our Heavenly Father and He will tell you. We'are daisies. What other name could be ours; for see how like we are tb our big brother." And he turned his laughing little face up to the Sun.
In the cool of the evening God walked in the garden. In time He came to the little blue flower, and with adoring love and wonder she beheld His Face. Presently she said very humbly, " Alas ! that I should have for- gotten the name Thou gayest me." The Heavenly Father smiled on her, but He did not tell her the name she had forgotten. He answered her, " Forget-Me-Not."
The little blue flower was silent with happiness. So beautiful a name would have crowned the furthest star in the Heavens, yet her Heavenly Father had chosen to bestow it on a little flower of this earth. The forget-me- not is still a dreamer. Through the centuries she dreams and forgets continually, but she does not forget her name. So earnestly does she obey her Heavenly Father's com- mand that not only is the blue of Heaven in her petals, but something of its peace and joy as well. And to all who look on her she gives a peculiar joy.
ELEANOUR SINCLAIR ROHDE.
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