xxix LETTERS TO MARCO 197 



cultivated species of tulips, such as the Gesner, 

 have longer stems, which bend, and thus help 

 the bloom to throw off the rain, and the little 

 wild tulip droops like a fritillary. Large 

 masses of this wild tulip are found in a cover 

 in a park at Chiselhampton, about eight miles 

 from here, where also a curious species of 

 martagon lily has become naturalised in a 

 very remarkable manner. 



In the spring the old man's fancy lightly 

 turns to thoughts of flowers, as this letter 

 seems to show ; so I may as well here mention 

 that, fond as I am of wild flowers, and much 

 as I have lived in the country, it was not 

 until a year ago that I ever saw two rather 

 rare plants growing. One, the deadly night- 

 shade, Atropa belladonna, which I recog- 

 nised in a moment by its large black fruit, 

 unlike anything I had ever seen, each berry 

 by itself growing at the base of each pair 

 of leaves all the way up the stem. In 

 the woods where I saw it first it was 

 a handsome shrub, and grew gracefully 



