DIGITALIS PURPUREA-FOXGLOVE, 



CLASS, DIDYNAMIA ; ORDER, ANGIOSPERMIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, SCROPHULARIACE.E. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx, five parted. Corol, bell form, five cleft, 

 ventricose. Capsule, egg shaped, two celled. SPEC. CHAR. 

 Sepals, ovate, acute. Corol, obtuse, superior lip entire. Leaves 

 rough and somewhat spear-shaped. 



This genus contains many species, not one of which is American. 

 The generic name is derived from a word signifying thimble, in 

 allusion to the form of the flowers. Its common name is a cor- 

 ruption of Fairy's Thimble. This biennial plant is a native of 

 the mountainous and sandy regions of Europe. It has a simple 

 stem, leafy below, covered with light down, which induced the 

 poets to make it the emblem of YOUTH. The leaves are alternate, 

 of an oval, spear-shape, those from the root attaining a conside- 

 rable size. It flowers on a spike. Its corolla, says Lindley, is a 

 large, inflated body, with its throat spotted with rich purple, and 

 its border divided obliquely into five very short lobes, of which the 

 two upper are the smaller ; its four stamens are of unequal length ; 

 and the style divided into two lobes at the upper end. A number 

 of long, glandular hairs cover the ovary, which contains two cells 

 and a great quantity of valves. 



Phillips remarks, that this beautiful but deleterious plant, which 



so highly ornaments the banks of hedge-rows and borders of 



oods, has been taken into the pleasure grounds to embellish the 



