"When gorse is out of bloom, kissing is out of season."

The health-giving properties of various plants have long been in the
highest repute, and have given rise to numerous well-known proverbs,
which are still heard in many a home. Thus old Gerarde, describing the
virtues of the mallow, tells us:--

"If that of health you have any special care,
Use French mallows, that to the body wholesome are."

Then there is the time-honoured adage which says that:--

"He that would live for aye
Must eat sage in May."

And Aubrey has bequeathed us the following piece of advice:--

"Eat leeks in Lide, and ramsines in May,
And all the year after physicians may play."

There are many sayings of this kind still current among our
country-folk, some of which no doubt contain good advice; and of the
plaintain, which from time immemorial has been used as a vulnerary,
it is said:--

"Plantain ribbed, that heals the reaper's wounds."

In Herefordshire there is a popular rhyme associated with the aul
(_Alnus glutinosus_):--