Wild Flowers as They Grow 



also against poison, or poisonous herbs." The 

 ancient Greek physician Dioscorides went farther 

 than this ; he asserted that if a person took a dose 

 before the viper bit him he would suffer no iU effects 

 from the bite. Others, therefore, rest the name 

 upon this remedial value. Others, again, profess 

 to find the reason in the rough, speckled stem, whose 

 surface is like a serpent's skin. 



The curious name of Bugloss is probably derived 

 from two Greek words, hous, meaning an ox, and 

 glossa, a tongue, and has reference to the rough, 

 pointed leaves which are reminiscent of an ox's 

 tongue. 



The Viper's Bugloss is sometimes claimed as our 

 handsomest native plant — a large claim — but un- 

 doubtedly, as Thomas Green wrote one hundred 

 years ago, " It is a showy plant ; and such is the 

 absurdity of fashion that if it were not common, it 

 would assuredly obtain admittance into our gardens." 

 It is usually about a foot or two high, but may even 



rise to a height of three feet where conditions are 



114 



