DIGITALIS PURPUREA, var. SUPERBA. 
(Purple Pox-glove; superb variety.) 
Class. 
DIDYNAMIA. 
Order, 
ANGIOSPERMI A . 
Natural Order, 
SCROPHULARIACE^. 
Generic Character. — Calyx unequal. Corolla tubu- 
lar at the base, funnel-shaped; limb obliquely four- 
lobed ; upper segment much shorter than the lower 
one or lip, and is, as well as it, imbricate in aestivation, 
Rudiment of the fifth stamen hardly conspicuous. 
Stigma simple, or bilamellate. Capsule ovate, acumi- 
nated.— Don's Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character.— Leaves oblong, rugose, crena- 
ted ; calycine segments ovate, oblong. Segments of 
corolla transverse, acute ; peduncles straight, about 
equal in length to the calyxes. Plant pubescent. Co- 
rolla large, purple, marked inside with dark purple 
spots, which are edged with white.— Don's Gard. and 
Botany. 
Var. Superba.— Flowers very large, pinkish white, 
with great purplish blotches in the lip. 
It has often been to us a matter of regret that, in those localities where the 
common Foxglove abounds, it should not be turned to account in an ornamental 
point of view, by being planted to enrich the ruder and more natural parts of large 
pleasure-grounds. We are familiar with a garden which, in one of its outlying- 
portions, presents a wild and deep dingle, through the bottom of which a small 
stream dashes, while one of its banks is entirely unclothed, save with a few scattered 
trees, and a profusion of gay indigenous flowers. Among these last, the Foxglove 
is conspicuous, and when it is in blossom the effect which its numberless stately 
heads of flowers produce is extremely striking. 
So great, likewise, is the beauty of its blooms, that it seems a pity that it is 
not frequently sown in districts where it does not naturally flourish, as an under- 
growth to ornamental woods, and even as a decoration to shrubbery borders. Few 
exotics are more handsome ; and we know not why its being a British plant should 
be allowed to operate to its exclusion from cultivated scenes. 
The variety, however, which we now produce has higher pretensions than the 
common species, and will at once, we think, be admitted to a place among the 
hardy productions of foreign countries. It is, in truth, a very handsome herbaceous 
plant, of a better habitude than the old species, because not growing so tall, and 
being more compact in its appearance. The flowers, moreover, are larger, and of so 
delicate a hue that it is difficult to depict their colours upon paper. Commonly, 
they are of a whitish tint, slightly mingled with blush ; but they occasionally 
