THE HEDGE-BANK. 55 



floss silk. The " Fox-glove,"* the stateliest of 

 all our English herbaceous plants, needs no de- 

 scription; its name, according to some people, 

 is derived from " Folks- 

 gloves," Folk being a 

 name for the fairies. 

 The last that I shall men- 

 tion is the " Gromwell,"t 

 or " Grey Millett." I 

 know not how to de- 

 scribe it, so as to enable 

 you to find it when it is 

 in flower; but if you 

 should ever chance to 

 light upon a plant, with 

 straight stems, about two 

 feet high, rough leaves, 

 and bearing seeds one- 

 sixth of the size of a 

 pea, of a bluish grey 

 colour, and with a sur- 

 face as smooth as ena- 

 mel, you have found my 

 plant. The seeds are 

 very singular; so ex- 

 actly resembling small 

 sea-shells, that I have 

 seen people take up a 

 box of them, look at 

 them, and lay them 

 down again, with a full 

 conviction that the ob- 

 jects of their curiosity 

 had spent their lives in FOX-GLOVE. 



* Digitalis purpurea. t Lithospernum officinale. 



