d he know a sheep's head from a Carrot
He should learn to drink cider and brandy."
Song of Mad Tom in _Midsummer Night's Dream_.

CELANDINE (Greater, and Lesser).

This latter flower is a conspicuous herald of spring, which is
strikingly welcome to everyone living in the country throughout
England, and a stranger to none. The Pilewort, or lesser Celandine,
bespangles all our banks with its brilliant, glossy, golden stars,
coming into blossom on or about March 7th, St. Perpetua's day.
They are a timely tocsin for five o'clock tea, because punctually at
that hour they shut up their showy petals until 9.0 a.m. on the
following morning. The well-known little herb, with its heart-shaped
leaves, is a Ranunculus, and bears the affix _ficaria_ from
its curative value in the malady called _ficus_--a "red sore in the
fundament". (Littleton, 1684).

[91] The popular title, Pilewort, from _Pila_, a ball, was probably
first acquired because, after the doctrine of signatures, the small
oval tubercles attached to its stringy roots were supposed to
resemble and to cure piles. Nevertheless, it has been since proved
practically that the whole plant, when bruised and made into an
ointment with fresh lard, is really useful for healing piles; as
likewise when applied to the part in the form of a poultice or hot
fomentation. "There be those also who thinke that if the herbe be
but carried about by one that hath the piles the paine forthwith
ceaseth." It has sometimes happened that the small white tubercles
collected about the roots of the plant, when washed bare by heavy
rains, and lying free on the ground, have given rise to a supposed
shower of wheat. After flowering the Pilewort withdraws its
substance of leaf and stem into a small rounded tube underground,
so as to withstand the heat of summer, and the cold of the
subsequent winter.

With the acrid juice of this herb, and of others belonging to the
same Ranunculous order, beggars in England used to produce
sores about their body for the sake of exciting pity, and getting
alms. They afterwards cured these sores by applying fresh mullein
leaves to heal them. The lesser Celandine furnishes a golden
yellow volatile oil, which is readily converted into anemonic acid.

Wordsworth specially loved this lesser Celandine, and turned his
lyre to sing its praises:--

"There is a flower that shall be mine,
'Tis the little Celandine;
I will sing as doth be