Wild Flowers as They Grow 



standing on it is left quite naked, except for the 

 calyx, which remains faithfully clasping it. The 

 column withers, the seed-case grows and dries, and 

 the fruit forms, a hard little capsule of curious 

 shape. It has been compared to a calf's head, 

 and the plant has therefore been called " Calf's 

 Snout," but Gerard remarks, " In mine opinion it 

 is more hke unto the bones of a sheep's head that 

 hath lane long in the water, the flesh consumed 

 clean away." And Gerard's simile is very apt if 

 one reverses the capsule and looks at it when it is 

 quite ripe and discharging its seeds. Large cavities, 

 which might well be the cavities of eye orbits and 

 nostrils, have then formed at its tip by the folding 

 back of teeth. The seeds are small and almost 

 black, and are covered with ridges and points. It 

 is said that in some Continental countries an oil, 

 little inferior to oHve oil, is expressed from them. 



This plant will be recognised as a member of the 

 ScrophulariacecB family. 



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