n
the Hanger plentifully.

_Serapias latifolia_, helleborine--in the High Wood under the shady
beeches.

_Daphne laureola_, spurge laurel--in Selborne Hanger and the High Wood.

_Daphne mezereum_, the mezereon--in Selborne Hanger among the shrubs, at
the south-east end above the cottages.

_Lycoperdon tuber_, truffles--in the Hanger and High Wood.

_Sambucus ebulus_, dwarf elder, walwort, or danewort--among the rubbish
and ruined foundations of the Priory.

Of all the propensities of plants, none seem more strange than their
different periods of blossoming. Some produce their flowers in the
winter, or very first dawnings of spring, many when the spring is
established, some at midsummer, and some not till autumn. When we see
the _helleborus foetidus_ and _helleborus niger_ blowing at Christmas,
the _helleborus hyemalis_ in January, and the _helleborus viridis_ as
soon as ever it emerges out of the ground, we do not wonder, because they
are kindred plants that we expect should keep pace the one with the
other; but other congenerous vegetables differ so widely in their time of
flowering, that we cannot but admire. I shall only instance at present
in the _crocus sativus_, the vernal and the autumnal crocus, which have
such an affinity, that the best botanists only make them varieties of the
same genus, of which there is only one species, not being able to discern
any difference in the corolla, or in the internal structure. Yet the
vernal crocus expands its flowers by the beginning of March at farthest,
and often in very rigorous weather, and cannot be retarded but by some
violence offered; while the autumnal (the saffron) defies the influence
of the spring and summer, and will not blow till most plants begin to
fade and run to seed. This circumstance is one of the wonders of the
creation, little noticed because a common occurrence, yet ought not to be
overlooked on account of its being familiar, since it would be as
difficult to be explained as the most stupendous phenomenon in nature.

"Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow
Congeal'd, the crocus, flamy bud to glow?
Say, what retards, amidst the summer's blaze,
Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days?
The GOD OF SEASONS; whose pervading power
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower:
He bids each flower His quickening word obey,
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay."

LETTER XLII.

"Omnibus animalibus reliq