Wild Flowers as They Grow 



Deadly or Sleeping Nightshade and Banewort 

 (a plant to be banned) all illustrate this point. 

 Dwale, the name by which Chaucer knew it, and by 

 which it is stiU known in some parts of England, is 

 said to be derived either from a French word, deuil, 

 signifying mourning, or from a Danish word, 

 dwaelen, meaning dehrium. The curious name 

 " Manicon," sometimes met with, is probably a 

 country rendering of the old name " Maniacum," 

 owing to the madness it causes. Shakespeare no 

 doubt had this plant in mind when he spoke of " the 

 insane root that takes the reason prisoner." 



From a botanical point of view the plant is 

 interesting. It has a thick root which, year by 

 year, sends up branching shoots two, three, or even 

 four feet high. On these shoots are leaves of two 

 very different sizes, and on the horizontal branches 

 the manner of their arrangement is striking. Look- 

 ing down on such a shoot we see large leaves arranged 

 on short stalks in a row on either side of the stem ; 

 in the spaces that are left between their stalks small 



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