382 SCROPHULARIACEAE (FIG WORT FAMILY) 



Stem rather stout, two to four feet tall, simple or branched from 

 the base, often ruddy-colored, smooth except for the flower-stalks 

 which are set with glandular hairs. Leaves opposite, light green, 

 firm and glossy, long ovate to lance-shape, the upper ones sessile 

 with clasping bases and the lower ones tapering to margined petioles. 

 Panicle slender, many-flowered, terminal, the corolla about an inch 

 long, whitish, tinged with reddish purple, the tube much dilated 

 just behind the throat, which is open and not hairy ; the five lobes 

 are spreading and pointed, two on the upper lip, three on the lower ; 

 four stamens are fertile with purple anthers, and the sterile fila- 

 ment, or "tongue," is bearded only on its upper side; calyx- 

 segments lance-shaped, acute. Capsule ovoid, two-celled, con- 

 taining many irregular, angled seeds. (Fig. 266.) 



Means of control 



Small areas may be destroyed by digging or pulling when the 

 soil is soft, but meadows badly infested with Beard-tongue require 

 to be put under cultivation for a season. 



PURPLE FOXGLOVE 

 Digitalis purpurea, L. 



Other English names: Lady-fingers, Pop-dock, Scotch Mercury. 



Introduced. Biennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: June to August. 



Seed-time: August to October. 



Range : British Columbia, Washington and Oregon ; also in the 



East in Virginia and West Virginia and in Cape Breton Island ; 



casual in New York and New Brunswick. 

 Habitat: Meadows and pastures, roadsides, waste places. 



An escape from gardens, and a very grave one, for the plant is very 

 poisonous. In the green state, cattle usually leave it untouched to 

 reproduce itself, but when cured in hay it becomes a danger to 

 animals served with such fodder ; also there is risk that the range 

 of the weed may be extended by its transportation in baled hay. 

 The plant is medicinal and about forty thousand to sixty thousand 

 pounds of its dried leaves are annually imported from Europe at a 

 cost of six to eight cents a pound. They should be collected in mid- 



