DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 205 



" But it is not the bee alone that braves this powerful 

 poison ; women of the poorer class, in Derbyshire, drink 

 large draughts of Fox-glove tea, as a cheap means of ob- 

 taining the pleasures, or forgetfulness, of intoxication. It 

 is said to produce a great exhilaration of spirits. Well 

 may the word intoxicate originate in poison." 



It is a native of England, Germany, and other parts of 

 Europe. 



DODECATHEON.— American Cowslip. 



[A fanciful name, signifying the twelve gods or divinities.] 



Dodecatheon Meadia. — American Cowslip, Shooting 

 Star. — A highly ornamental plant, displaying its flowers 

 in May and June; throwing up stems a foot high, with a 

 large, umbel-like cluster of singularly beautiful pale-pur- 

 ple flowers. The petals are reflexed, or thrown back 

 from the centre, like the Cyclamen. There is a variety 

 with white flowers. Soon after flowering, the foliage dies 

 down, and the plant is dormant during the summer, when 

 it may be propagated by parting the roots, leaving a bud, 

 or the rudiments of one, on the crown of each. It is a 

 native of the West and South, and perfectly hardy. 



DOLICHOS.— Htacenth Bean. 



[A name under which Dioscorides describes a plant supposed to have been 

 the kidney bean of tlie moderns.] 



Dolichos Lablab. — Purple Hyacinth Bean. — A fine 

 tender annual climber, with flowers in clustered spikes ; 

 purple, with a white variety. It grows from ten to twen- 

 ty feet in a season ; treatment very much like that of the 

 common bean. A native of Egypt. 



