236 The Flora of Wiltshire. 



EcHiuM, (Linn.) Viper's Bugloss. 

 Linn. CI. V. Ord. i. 



Name. From echis, (Grr.) a viper ; because this or some allied 

 plant was supposed to be an effectual remedy against the bite of 

 that animal. Bugloss is from the Greek {hous), an ox, and [glosm), 

 a tongue ; in allusion to the roughness and shape of the leaf 

 resembling the tongue of an ox. 



1. E. vulgar e, (Linn.) common Viper's Bugloss. Engl. Bot. t. 

 181. E. Italicum, Suds. : E. B. t. 208. (not L.) 



Locality. On old walls, and on rubbish ; also in fields and waste 

 ground, especially on a sandy or gravelly soil. B. Fl. June, July. 

 Area, 1. * 3. 4. 5. 



South Division. 



1. South-east District, " Corn-fields not unfrequent, especially 

 about Alderbury," Dr. Maton. Nat. Hist. Wilts. "Neighbour- 

 hood of Salisbury," Mr. James Hussey. " Clarendon Wood," 

 Major Smith. 



3. South-west District, " Warminster," Mr. Wheeler. " Corsley," 

 Miss Griffith. 



North Division. 



4. North-west District, Quarries at Conkwell, Box, Kingsdown, 

 and South Wraxhall. In the lane leading from Colerne to Slaughter- 

 ford. On banks by the side of the road from Sandy Lane to Lacock, 

 also near Kington St. Michael and Draycot. 



5. North-east District, " Railway near Ivy's Farm " Flor. Marlb. 

 "Great Bedwyn," Mr. William Bartlett. Rather a local plant 

 throughout Wilts. Whole plant rough, with prickly bristles, arising 

 from callous points or bulbs, intermixed with smaller hairs. Corolla 

 large, and very beautiful, of a fine red before it expands, after- 

 wards of a brilliant blue, occasionally white. It varies much in 

 the comparative length of calyx, corolla and stamens. The E. 

 Italicum, found by the late Mr. Sole on Kingsdown {North-west 

 District), was only a white flowered varietj' of E. vulgare. This 

 latter variety has been sometimes mistaken for E. Italicum of 

 Linnaeus, a species which has probably never been found wild in 

 Britain. 



