The second species (_Scutellaria minor_), rarer than the former, is met with on the banks of ponds and in damp woodland paths. It attracts your gaze by its tiny caps or helmets: the moment you see it, you exclaim, "That's a scutellaria!" More diminutive in all its parts than its congener, it is also distinguished by its whole leaves (they are crenelated or dentate in the _Scutellaria galericulata_), by its soft, rose-hued corolla, with brown lips coquettishly pointed with red, and by its hairy calyx. The _Scutellaria Columnæ_[63] is very rare. It may be recognised by its erect stems and flowers of a bright violet hue, arranged in terminal spikes and garnished with bracts; while the flowers are axillary, and form no spike, in the two species above described. The _Scutellariæ_ were first described with accuracy and classified by Linnæus, who included them among his _Didynamia_, a class of vegetables distinguished by the unequal length of the stamens. THE FORGET-ME-NOT. "Ye field flowers! the gardens eclipse you, 'tis true; Yet, wildlings of nature, I dote upon you, For ye waft me to summers of old, When the earth beamed around me with fairy delight, And daisies and buttercups gladdened my sight, Like treasures of silver and gold. "Even now, what affections the violet awakes! What loved little islands, far seen in the lakes, Can the wild water-lily restore! What landscapes I read in the primrose's looks! What pictures of pebbles and minnowy brooks In the vetches that tangle the shore!"[64] [Illustration: FIG. 53.--"A loved little island, far seen in the lake."] "How beautiful," says Miss Pratt, in one of her agreeable little books,[65]--"how beautiful are the little islands of the stream, edged with the tall white meadow sweet, which sends its perfume far up over the green lands that lie around, and contrasts with the deep blue colour of the purple loose-strife! The willow herb, or codlins-and-cream, as the children call it, grows in perfection there; and there, too, bloom the little yellow water-flag, and the vetches, and the rich water-lily, which, seated on its round leaf, seems to swim over the crystal stream. The water-plantain, with its numerous small pink blossoms, grows in thick clusters quite down in the water, mingling with the white flowers and large spear-shaped leaves of the arrow-head, or half shading the large cup of the yellow water-lily. Then, too, the blue-eyed forget-me-not covers the little isles in such abundance that many of them well deserve the name of azure islands. The water-rat hides among the flowers, nibbling with much glee at the arrow-head, or rushing out from under its broad green leaves; and the water-fowl, followed by her young, sails across the stream in all the stateliness of matron dignity; and the little meek-eyed daisy grows beside the yellow velvet flower of the silver-weed, or the blue blossoms and succulent leaves of the brook-lime."