Foxglove and Toadflax 259 
anthers are shaken, and pollen falls on the bee’s 
proboscis. In the earliest condition of the flower the 
stigma protrudes from the opening bud, and is thus 
very likely to be cross-fertilised before the pollen is 
ripe. But when the plant grows in shady places, 
where the visits of bees are not very frequent, they 
being sun-loving creatures, the style, though at first 
longer than the bud, does not grow at the same rate 
as the corolla, with the result that when the anthers 
are ripe the stigma is between them, and gets covered 
with their pollen. 
In heathy places and old pastures we may find 
another of these root-parasites, the Eyebright 
(Euphrasia officinalis), the Euphrasy of which our 
forefathers made so much as an eye-medicine. One 
old writer (Culpepper) says: “If the herb was but as 
much used as it is neglected, it would half spoil the 
spectacle-maker’s trade. . . . Arnoldus de Villa Nova 
saith, it hath restored sight to them that have been 
blind a long time before.” That interest in the little 
Eyebright has all evaporated, because it does not 
appear to have had any such virtue, but to have been 
so regarded on account of its name, probably given to 
it because of the brightness of its flowers in contrast 
with the grass and its own dark foliage. But to-day 
we find interest in it by reason of its doubtful 
method of getting a living, and the mechanism of its 
flower-parts. The flowers are somewhat similar to 
those of Bartsia, but the two-lipped corolla is more 
dilated towards the mouth ; painted white, with hair- 
streaks of purple on both lips pointing to the entrance 
where there is a yellow spot to make it more con-’ 
spicuous, and a similar yellow patch covers the 
