532 GENERAL REVIEW. 



Mag.,' t. 5677) is one of the finest of all the twenty-three species 

 of this genus figured in the ' Botanical Magazine,' and it is so 

 distinct in habit, and bears such a profusion of orange-red 

 flowers, that it ought to be invaluable to the hybridiser. The 

 flowers of this plant are similar in form to those of C. Pavonii, 

 and appear to be protandrous in much the same way. 



Digitalis* (Foxgloves]. A genus of erect-growing herbaceous 

 biennials or perennials, principally natives of temperate coun- 

 tries, and represented in our rocky dells and woodland hedges 

 by D. purpurea, the Common Foxglove, a poisonous plant by 

 the by, but a most stately and handsome one, nevertheless. 

 A medicinal extract (digitaline) or infusion of the leaves is pre- 

 pared from this plant, and is of value in delirium tremens, 

 dropsy, and heart disease ; but the action of this medicine is so 

 subtle that none but the most practised medical man should 

 attempt to administer it. Several species are grown in gardens, 

 including D. grandiflora, 'D. ferruginea, and D. lutea (see 

 Parkinson's 'Paradisus,' p. 381, figs. 4, 5, 6). The white- 

 flowered variety of the purple English Foxglove was known in 

 Parkinson's time, since he describes it as being grown in gar- 

 dens, and also says it is found wild along with the purple form. 

 Although little appears to have been done in a systematic 

 manner to improve the white and rosy-purple varieties of D. 

 purpurea by cross-breeding, yet culture has worked some 

 marked changes, and by hybridising with other species we may 

 hope to obtain a race of seedlings of a good strain, the flowers 

 of which, while rivalling those of the Gloxinia in purity of 

 colour and diversity of markings, are borne on a much more 

 noble and stately plant. Here is a good field for all lovers 

 of handsome hardy flowers. In 1769 Koelreuter hybridised 

 these plants, and obtained seedling hybrids, which reproduced 

 themselves from seed. I cannot just now lay my hands on 

 the records of these crosses, but I believe references to many 

 of Koelreuter's papers are given in Herbert's ' Amaryllidaceae.' 

 Among these hybrids are D. purpurascens, and a whole race 

 of fertile hybrids between D. purpurea and D. Thapsi, D. fer- 

 ruginea and D. ambigua, and D. purpurea and D. canariensis. 

 A hybrid between D. purpurea and D. ambigua has been raised 

 in the Paris Botanic Garden (Jardin des Plantes). 



Linaria (Toad -flax). A group of annual or herbaceous 

 perennial plants, natives of Africa, America, and Europe, and 

 represented in England by the graceful little " Ivy-leaved Toad- 

 flax" (L. Cymbalarid) and by the common L. vulgaris, of 



* See 'Digitalium Monographia, ' with descriptions of Foxgloves by Dr 

 Lindley, and drawings by F. Bauer. 



