252 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



No flower makes a grander show in the rock- 

 garden than the graceful foxglove, and one can 

 scarcely have too many of them, since they make a 

 noble background to the smaller things, towering 

 some five or six feet above them in long columns 

 of crimson or white. Botanically the plant is the 

 Digitalis purpurea, but the flowers are much more 

 crimson than purple, while its frequent variation to 

 white makes the specific name a by no means happy 

 one. Names derived from colours are often some- 

 what unsatisfactory, as nothing, perhaps, in a plant 

 is more subject to variation. In the midst of a 

 large patch of bluebells one may find that contra- 

 diction of terms a white bluebell, while in our 

 gardens the various colours in our chrysanthemums 

 make their name entirely inappropriate when we 

 bestow a thought upon it, derived as it is from the 

 two Greek words signifying golden and flower. 

 Rose in like manner implies a red flower. A 

 moment's reflection will show that in speaking of 

 yellow roses, white lilac, white violets, pink chry- 

 santhemums, we use terms that are really contra- 

 dictory. The crimson orpine of our hedgerows 

 derives its name from the Latin auripigmentum, 

 golden colour, the name having got somehow trans- 

 ferred from a species where it was entirely appro- 

 priate to one where it is wholly misleading. 



The foxglove has for centuries been held in 

 medicinal repute, and, despite its charming attrac- 



