1§ SCROPHULARINE^ 



and the Dutch, Vingerhoed. Turner, Avho wrote his book on plants in the 

 reign of Queen Mary, says, "There is an herbe that groweth very much in 

 Englande, and specially about Norfolke, about the conie holes, and in divers 

 wocldes, which is called in English Foxglove. It is named of some in Latin 

 Digitalis ; that is to say, Thimble-wort. It hath a long stalke, and on the 

 toppe many flowers hanginge downe like belles or thimbles." Cowley 

 fancifully said — 



" The Foxglove on fair Flora's hand is worn, 

 Lest while she gather floAvers she meet a thorn." 



Yet these pretty poetical fancies are not so interesting as the teaching of 

 living naturalists, that the form of the flowers has relation to the shape and 

 size of the humble-bees that alone can fertilize the incipient seeds, whilst 

 smaller insects intent on the honey, but unable to earn it by a return service, 

 are forbidden by an array of hairs within. 



The stem on which the bells hang is usually three or four feet high, and 

 the flowers are pale purple, beautifully spotted within, and from May to July 

 they form a spike-like cluster, sometimes a foot long. We have scarcely 

 another wild flower which can at all compete in stately beauty, in loveliness 

 of form and hue, with our magnificent Foxglove, the "emblem of punish- 

 ment and pride," as the poet has called it. Many a bard has told how it 

 gladdened grove and hill, and many a lover of wild flowers has gazed for 

 hours on spots enlivened by its beauty, while the artist has seized it as a 

 foreground for his picture of rural scenery. 



This flower, though unknown in many districts of this kingdom, is 

 abundant in others, especially in hilly regions, apparently preferring a sandy 

 or gravelly soil, producing an abundance of seed, which sometimes springs 

 up after it has lain long in the earth. This was the case a few years since 

 on one of the hills of Malvern, where, when the soil was turned up, the Fox- 

 glove sprang up plentifully. On one part which was made into a pathway, 

 the young plant was soon crushed by the passing footsteps, but it grew up 

 in rows on each side of the path, giving it much the formal appearance of 

 having been planted there by the gardener. It often grows either among 

 the short grass of the hills, or amid the longer blades of the meadow, or by 

 the bushes of hedgerows ; and the author never saw it more luxuriant than 

 in Kent. In the neighbourhood of Saltwood Castle, near Hythe, the plant 

 is very abundant, growing in the woods and pastures among some of the 

 most magnificent orchises ; and we have gathered thence more than one 

 specimen nearly six feet high, with its bells forming a pyramid two feet long. 

 Ine inside of the bell is beautiful, with its rich purple spots and silken hairs, 

 and its dashes of dark purple, which may be seen through its substance 

 marking its exterior surface, while a beautiful white variety of the flower 

 occurs in many woods. When this White Foxglove is removed to a garden, 

 however, it often becomes more or less tinged with the original lilac or 

 purple hue from which it varied. 



But the Digitalis may be praised for its use, as much as for its beauty ; 

 for the leaves, after having been well dried in the sun or by the fire, yield a 

 very important medicine. Many country medical practitioners procure these 

 leaves, and themselves prepare the extract, as the plant should be gathered 



