68 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



on looking down into the flower. The anthers are recurved 

 on the filaments that support them ; two of these filaments 

 are rather shorter than the other three. The seed vessel is 

 a large and glossy berry, almost round, but greater in 

 width than height, and when ripe of an intense black. 

 On cutting it across with a sharp knife it is seen to consist 

 of two cavities, and each of these is filled with numerous 

 brown seeds. 



The names of the plant are all suggestive of its 

 powerful qualities. In the one we have hitherto used the 

 dark shadow of death and the rest of the grave are not 

 obscurely hinted at. Another name for it is the " dwale." 

 The root of this is possibly the Danish word signi- 

 fying torpor ; or it has been suggested that it is derived 

 from the Anglo-Saxon dwal, foolish, in allusion to the 

 stupefying and maddening powers of the poison ; or 

 again, that we are to find its meaning in the French cleuil, 

 mourning. In Germany the plant is the "tollkraut" 

 toll, frantic; kraut, herb. In France it is the 

 " morelle mortelle," and in Buckinghamshire the local 

 name is somewhat similar " devil's cherries/' The generic 

 name Atropa was bestowed by Linnaeus, and refers to 

 Atropos, one of the three Fates of classic mythology. 



