194 LETTER XVI. 



tlic sides of banks among the grass ; Woiindivort 

 (Stachys), which owes its name to the blood-red 

 stains upon its corolla ; Self-heal (Prunella), peeping 

 up among the sward of commons and old pastures ; 

 and Gipsy -wort (Lycopus), with its minute pale rosy 

 flowers, which inhabits the banks of rivers and lakes, 

 and yields a deep brown stain when its leaves are 

 bruised in water. 



All these and a thousand more agree in having 

 perfectly harmless properties, and are for the most 

 part aromatic; their favourite places of resort are 

 hedges, woods, and shady lanes ; they spring up on 

 the sloping face of chalky downs, and enamel the 

 meadows of subalpine regions ; even the scorching 

 sun of S}Tian deserts they can endure, but they are 

 unable to support the most intense cold in which 

 vegetation can exist. In Melville Island, for instance, 

 situated in the Arctic Ocean, none of the tribe were 

 found by Captain Parry's officers, although Saxifra- 

 ges, little Potentillas, and many other pretty flowers 

 appear in the summer through the thin coating of 

 soil which conceals the everlasting ice of that deso- 

 late region. 



Far removed from these in their qualities, for 

 many are poisonous, and all suspicious, although ex- 

 tremely similar in most points of organization, are 

 the beautiful plants which form the Foxglove tribe 

 (Plate XVI. 2.). They are known by their fi'uit not 

 consisting of four seed-like lobes, but being a hollow 

 case, or capsule {Jig. 7-)> containing two cells (Jig. 

 9.)> ^^^ ''^ gTeat number of seeds. In the irregu- 



