The Red Rattle 



The dark calyx is noteworthy. It is divided 

 into two broad lobes, each of which is edged with 

 jagged teeth — " crested " it is sometimes called. It 

 t)ecomes of an inflated appearance, and as the flower 

 fades remains round the oblique seed-case and 

 protects it. Even when the seed capsule is mature 

 only a short point of it projects beyond its envelope. 

 It contains a few large dark seeds. This bladder- 

 like calyx, together with the finely segmented leaves 

 whose very segments have deeply indented margins, 

 are characteristics that readily distinguish the plant. 



The unpleasant botanical name of its genus, 

 Pedicularis, and the English equivalent Lousewort, 

 by which names both marsh and meadow species 

 are known, are founded on a belief, long and stoutly 

 held by farmers, that the healthiest sheep feeding 

 on these plants inevitably become infested with 

 scab. But this, as happens in other cases, is a 

 libel on the plant ; the fact is that the Red Rattle 

 preferably estabhshes itself where the ground is 

 marshy and the pasturage poor, and if sheep be 



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