620 



THE SCROPTTULAKJA FAMILY. 



wards to the Channel Islands, southern Ireland, and the south-west 

 of England. Fl. summer. 



VIII. FOXGLOVE. DIGITALIS. 



Biennials or perennials, with stout, erect, usually simple stems, al- 

 ternate leaves, and showy flowers, in long, terminal, one-sided, simple 

 racemes. Calyx of 5 unequal sepals or segments. Corolla tubular, 

 contracted above the base, then much inflated, with the limb shortly 4- 

 or 5-lobed; the lateral lobes outside the upper one in the bud, and 

 the lowest usually the longest. Stamens 4. Capsule pointed, open- 

 ing at the partition in 2 valves, with numerous small seeds. 



A European and North Asiatic genus, of which several species be- 

 sides our own are occasionally cultivated in flower-gardens, especially 

 the yellow D. grandiflora. 



1. Purple Foxglove. Digitalis purpurea, Linn. (Fig. 742.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1297.) 



Hoot usually bi ennial, but will sometimes 

 form a stock, which will flower a second 

 or even a third time. Eadical leaves on 

 long stalks, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 6 

 inches long or more, coarsely veined and 

 downy. Flowering stems 2 to 3 or even 

 4 feet high, with a few alternate shortly- 

 stalked leaves in the lower part, the 

 upper part occupied by a long stately 

 raceme of purple flowers, each 1^ inches 

 long. Four of the calyx-segments broad 

 and leafy, the fifth upper one much nar- 

 rower and more pointed. Corolla beau- 

 tifully spotted inside, with 4 short lobes, 

 the lowest about twice the length of the 

 others and hairy inside. 



On dry, hilly wastes, and roadsides, 

 in many parts of western and central 

 Europe, northwards into Scandinavia, 



but almost unknown in limestone districts. Abundant in several parts 



of Britain. Fl. spring and summer. 



Fig. 742. 



i 



