SCROPHULARIACEyE 



m 



pillars are very handsome, being yellow, spotted 

 with black, and as they feed gregariously, are very 

 easily observed. 



Foxglove — Digitalis purpurea 



(Plate LXVIII) 



The Foxglove grows on banks, and on the borders 

 of woods, and is one of the most beautiful of our 

 summer flowers. It is a biennial, and flowers from 

 June to August. The stem is erect, and grows 3 

 or 4 feet high ; it is rounded, clothed with fine 

 hairs, and branching. The leaves are very large, 

 alternate, and bright green. They curve away 

 from the stem, are finely hairy on both surfaces, 

 and the edges are denticulated. The flowers form 

 a long spike at the end of the stem. They are 

 large and red, spotted within with darker red. 

 They stand on separate stalks, and droop down on 

 one side of the stem. The upper lip of the flower 

 is entire. The seed-capsule has four divisions, and 

 contains a number of minute seeds. Medicinally 



this is a most valuable drug, and is much used in 

 diseases of the heart. It slows the heart, while 

 increasing the force and regularity of the beats. 

 In poisoning, the circulation is checked, and death 

 results from cardiac failure. 



Occasionally a Foxglove is met with with white 

 instead of red flowers ; and there are some species 

 on the Continent with yellow flowers. The name 

 Foxglove is believed to be a corruption of " Folk's 

 Glove," i.e. Fairy's Glove ; the legendary connection 

 between flowers and fairies being often very close ; 

 indeed, George Macdonald says, " Those whom 

 you call Fairies in your country are mostly the 

 young children of the Flower-fairies." 



Allied to the Foxglove are the Snapdragons and 

 their allies, in which the bifid lip of the corolla 

 meets a lower lobe called the palate, completely 

 closing the tube. They are best known as garden 

 flowers, but one red or white species [Antirrhinum 

 majus) grows in rocky places, and more especially 

 on old walls, both in Britain and on the 

 Continent. 



A smaller Snapdragon with purple flowers 



