146 COMMON enchanter's nightshade, 



Atropa, too, that, as the beldams say, 



Shows her black fruit to tempt and to betray, 



Nods by the mouldering shrine of Monica." 



The Conium is the Hemlock, the Atropa the 

 Deadly Nightshade. 



Notwithstanding its evil associations, our 

 Enchanter's Nightshade is a pretty little flower, 

 and a frequent one too in shady places, w^hile 

 it often grows wild in the garden, among the 

 bushes and trees. The blossoms, which are 

 w^hite or rose-coloured, appear in June and 

 July. The stem is about a foot, or a foot and 

 a half high, and the root is creeping. It is as 

 common beneath the shadow cast by the tall trees 

 of Canadian Avoods, as in the recesses of ours. 



We have another wild species of the genus 

 growing in woods, coppices, and stony places, 

 especially by the sides of lakes in the north of 

 England and in Scotland ; flowering in July and 

 August. This is the Alpine Enchanter's Night- 

 shade [Circcea alpind). It much resembles the 

 common kind, the flowers being exactly like 

 it, and the leaves differing in little except 

 their longer stalks. It is usually, however, 

 altogether a smaller plant than the former 

 species. Neither kind has anv odour. 



