44 PLANTS i THEIR NATURAL GROWTH 



(temp. Henry VI.) on the hangings in the State bed-room at H addon Hall ; and, again, on a white 

 tea-Gup of Wedgwood-ware in the Ceramic Gallery of the South Kensington Museum. The Field 

 Pansy (Viola tricolor) iorms one of the borders of the "Hours of Henry VH." in the British 

 Museum. 



The V. cornuta, or Horned Violet (represented at fig. 221), is a native of Spain and 

 Northern Africa, though, from its hardy and perennial nature, and the great ease with which it 

 may be propagated, it is not uncommonly met with in our gardens, being often used as a bordering, 

 as it flowers very profusely and remains in blossom during the greater part of the Summer. The 

 distinctive term (cornuta, or horned) is applied to it on account of the curiously elorigated spur ; 

 this member may be very well seen in the side view of the flower, fig, 227, and again in the bud 

 represented in fig. 225. 



Fig. 222 is the natural growth of one of the numerous species of Garden Pansies, the 

 geometric elevation of the flower being seen in fig. 223. We have introduced it here as affording 

 a pleasant variation of form. The points of difference, judging as an ornamentist, are, when com- 

 paring it with the V. cornuta, mainly these : — The flowers, different in colour, are also decidedly niore 

 rounded in character, and having the segments of the calyx much less conspicuously entering into 

 the general effect of the blossom. The leaves are much larger, so that in this species the stem 

 appears more clothed with foliage, while the stipules at the base of the leaf-stalks are very much 

 more conspicuous than such members ordinarily are, and, from their deeply-cut segments, their 

 size, and the general quaintness of their effect, appear admirably adapted to art treatment. The 

 whole plant would appear to be in an especial degree suggestive to the designer. 



PLATE 28. 



" Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the frUit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is ill 

 itself, upon the earth ; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding 

 fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind : and God saw that it was good." — Genesis i. ii, 12. 



The Aconitum napellus (Monk's-hood or Wolf*s-bane), though apparently really naturalised 

 in some few localities, is ordinarily to be met with only as a cultivated flower in Britain. It is a 

 true native of the wooded and mountainous parts of Western Europe, but appears not to have 

 been known in England until about the reign of Queen Elizabeth. As a garden plant, it possesses, 

 in addition to its striking character, one great recommendation, as it will grow under the drip of 

 trees, and in shady spots where most other plants refuse to thrive. 



The whole plant is exceedingly poisonous in its nature ; every part of it possesses very 

 virulent properties, though in the root these properties are intensified. The ancients had so great 

 a dread of it that many superstitious cautions were observed in gathering the herb, that the 

 gatherer might escape scot-free from the peril involved in the undertaking. The Greeks ascribed 

 its discovery to Hecate, and its first origin to the foam dropping from the jaws of Cerberus, the 

 janitor of Hades — points in its mythical history that at least serve to prove their recognition of 

 its deadly power. 



The Monk's-hood is still retained in use as a medicinal plant, though, from its strength, 

 great care is needed in its employment : it is occasionally used externally as a sedative in neuralgia 

 and diseases of the heart. It is cultivated, together with its allies, A . paniculatum and A. decorum, 

 in the botanical gardens at Mitcham, in Surrey, for use in medicine. 



Fatal accidents have from time to time arisen from the roots having been eaten in mistake 

 for horse-radish. Turner, one of the old Herbalists, cites a case as a warning at the time of its 

 introduction into England, and as it still remains no less a warning to all those who at the present 

 day cultivate the plant in their gardens, we will quote his remarks. " About twenty ycare ago," 

 he writes, " certeyne Frenchmen at Antwerp, willing to make a sallet, gathered the rotes of blew 

 Wolt's-bayne and eat them, but as many as eat of them, died all within two dayes, wherefore 

 if they had been better learned in the knowledge of herbes, they mighte have avoyded the 

 hasty death that they come to. Let oure Londiners, which of late have receyved this blew 

 Wolf s-bayne, otherwise called Monke's-coule, take hede that the poyson of the rote of this herbe 

 one daye do not more harme, than the freshnesse of the flower have done pleasure in seven years ; 

 let them not saye but they are warned." When once established in the ground it is very difficult 

 to eradicate it. The most potent form of the drug is found in the alkaloid, Aconitina, that by 

 skilful preparation is procured from the roots ; in the case of a man who had eaten some Monk's- 

 hood root, it was found ori analysis that the amount of this alkaloid contained in the bulk he had 

 with fatal results taken, could not have exceeded five one-hundreths of a grain in weight ; the 



