20 SCEOPHULAKINE^ 



which are very much longer than the little blossom. Though somewhat 

 local, this is not an unfrequent plant in corn-fields, and the author often finds 

 it as a weed in gardens in Kent. The stem is about a foot high, and the 

 leaA'es are dark green. It is in flower from July to October. 



2. Great Snapdragon {A. mdjus). — Leaves lanceolate, alternate, those 

 of the branches opposite ; flowers in spikes ; segments of the calyx egg- 

 shaped, blunt, shorter than the corolla ; upper lip of the corolla cleft ; 

 perennial. Everyone who has lingered among old walls and ruins during 

 our summer months, has seen the rich crimson blossoms of the Snapdragon 

 waving to the wind which sweeps over castle-turret or church-tower. Nor 

 is the bright flower wanting on the wall of more modern gardens. It is 

 certain this plant should not be recorded as wild ; for though it grows in 

 innumerable places without culture, yet it has naturalized itself near to the 

 garden ground, where once it was planted. Like the wall-flower, though so 

 frequent on walls it is not confined to them, for it often occurs in chalk-pits 

 and limestone quarries. It varies in colour from deep purplish crimson to 

 pale pink or white, and in the garden, several varieties raised by nursery- 

 men and florists assume every tint of red, yellow, and white, or are streaked 

 like a carnation. Children press the corolla till they open the palate, when 

 it bears that resemblance to the imaginary dragon which induced our fathers 

 to give it its common name, though its similarity to the mouth of the pet 

 animal renders its other common appellation of Eabbit's-mouth sufticiently 

 expressive. Bull-dogs, Lion's-snap, Toad's-mouth, and Dog's-mouth, are also 

 old names of the plant, which the French call Muflier ; the Germans, Lowen- 

 maul ; the Dutch, LeemvebeJc ; the Italians and Spaniards, Antirrino. Vogel 

 says that in many countries the common people attribute a supernatural 

 influence to the Snapdragon, and believe it to serve as a counter-charm, 

 rendering all influences of the evil eye and of maledictions ineffectual. The 

 seeds are numerous, and yield an excellent oil, much used in Persia for 

 domestic purposes ; while in Russia the plant is sown in fields for the sake 

 of this oil. A species used in Cochin China as food for swine is called 

 A. porcinum. 



10. Toad-flax (Lindria). 



* Stems and branches trailing. 



1. Ivy-leaved Toad-flax (L. cymbaldria). — Leaves roundish, heart- 

 shaped, 5-lobed, smooth ; flowers solitary, axillary upon long stalks ; peren- 

 nial. This plant is familiarly known to many persons by the name of Mother 

 of Thousands. It is indeed very prolific, both in flowers and leaves, and, 

 when once established on a bank or stone wall, will soon spread over it. The 

 long slender rooting stems attach themselves to the crumbled earth among 

 crevices of buildings, and droop down so as to have suggested one of its 

 familiar names, Maiden Hair. It is a common plant on the walls of gardens, 

 and doubtless was, in former years, cultivated there, for it is a naturalized 

 and not an indigenous species. It often combines with ferns and mosses to 

 give a verdant tapestry to the old church or castle ; its shoots sometimes 

 winding in at a window, in which case the leaves are much smaller, for want 



