1 88 CHEI.ONE GI.ABRA. TURTLE-HEAD. 



Linnseus is usually credited widi the name, but he tells us 

 he adopted it from Dillenius, an author who flourished just 

 before his own time. Tournefort, however, seems to be the 

 original author, who wrote about 1 700, and who, according to 

 Milne, named it Cheloiie, " from the Greek, meaning a tortoise, 

 from the figure of its seeds, which are round, compressed, and 

 begirt with a membraneous rim or border." Clayton, and others 

 of his time, regarded it as one of the Digitalis or Fox-gloves ; 

 though Gronovius, the editor of Clayton's work, refers it cor- 

 rectly to Tournefort's Chelone. 



Lindley and Moore, already quoted, say, comparing it with 

 Pentstemon, " the form of the corolla in this genus is very dis- 

 tinct, the broad-keeled upper lip and scarcely open mouth giving 

 it some resemblance to the head of a tortoise or turtle, to which 

 feature are due both the scientific appellation and the popular 

 American name of 'Turtle-head.' " Our American botanists do 

 not seem quite sure about this. Professor Wood, after giving 

 the Greek name, simply says, " from the appearance of the 

 flower," and Dr. Gray, though he translates the Greek to " tor- 

 toise," adds, " the corolla resembling in shape the head of a rep- 

 tile," which may include many things besides a tortoise. The 

 peculiar-looking seed, as already noted, is the chief distinctive 

 mark between Pentsteinon and Chelone, and as this must have 

 been in mind by the botanist describing it, gives some reason 

 for concluding Milne to be right as to the original intention of 

 the name. The "American common name " probably came from 

 the botanists, for we have rarely heard those who live among the 

 flower give it any name. 



Dr. Gray says it grows "from Newfoundland to the Saskatch- 

 ewan and south to Florida." It is across the Mississippi, how- 

 ever, in Arkansas, though it has not been found in Kansas or 

 Nebraska. It bears garden culture well. Among the common 

 names given in books are "Snake-head," "Shell-flower," and 

 " Balmony." 



