Localities. — On old walls, and chalk hills, frequent. Supposed to have 
escaped originally from gardens. — Oxfordsh. On Merton College walls : Dr. 
SiBTHORr. — Jesus College walls : Rev. 11. Wai.kfr. On the walls of Si John’s 
College garden ; walls in New College lane; and in many other places in Ox- 
ford, plentiful: W. B. — Berks ; On the ruins of Reading Abbey : Mr. Biciieno. 
— Bedfordsh. On walls about Elstow, and Bedford : Rev. C. Abbot. — Cam- 
bridgesh. Walls at Cambridge: Rev. R. Relhan. — Devon ; Old walls about 
Exeter, Chudleigh, Tor Abbey, and Totness Castle: FI. Devon. — Cat-down 
Quarries, near Plymouth : Rev. J. Jacob, LL. D — Durham ; On the walls of 
Barnard Castle; and naturalized on old walls at Kibblesworth : N. J. Winch, 
Esq. — Essex ; Old walls near Woodford ; Warner. — Gloucestersh. On Beik- 
ley Castle and Church in rich profusion; also at Redland, Westbury, Hen- 
bury, &c. near Bristol : Withering. — Kent ; Chalk Cliffs, and old walls near 
Dover, and between Northfleet and Gravesend : Hudson. On old walls about 
Feversham : E. Jacob, Esq. — Norfolk; Walls near Norwich: Mr. Wood- 
ward. — Northumberland ; Near the Hermitage at Warkworth : N. J. Winch, 
Esq. — Somersetsh. Naturalized on old walls about Bath : Rev. C. C. Bauing- 
ton. — Stajfordsh. On the walls of Rushall Castle near Walsall : Mr. Pitt. — 
Warwicksh. Salford : Mr. Purton. On an old wall at the bottom of the gar- 
den at Lawford Hall near Rugby: 1831, W. B. — Wilts ; At Great Bedwyn: 
W. Bartlett, Esq. — Worcestersh. Littleton: Mr. Purton. Walls near the 
Cathedral, Worcester: Mr. W. G. Perry, in Mag. of N. Hist. v. iv. p. 451. — 
WALES. Anglesey ; On the church and walls at Beaumares and Holyhead: 
Rev. H. Davies. — SCOTLAND. On old walls at Mugdoch Castle: Hop- 
ki rk. — IRELAND. Tops of old garden walls, near Dublin and elsewhere : 
Mr. J. T. Macka y. 
Perennial. — Flowers from June to September. 
Root somewhat woody, fibrous. Stem from 1 to 2 feet, or more, 
high; branched, nearly cylindrical, solid, leafy, smooth and shining 
at bottom, but more or less downy with short glandular hairs higher 
up, and slightly viscid, frequently of a purplish colour. Leaves 
opposite or alternate on the same plant, sometimes ternate (growing 
three together round the stem), somewhat stalked, spear-shaped, 
bluntish, recurved, entire, smooth, dark green on the upper sur- 
face ; paler on the under, often purplish. Flowers in a kind of 
spike or dense cluster , each on a short downy peduncle, accom- 
panied by an egg-shaped, pointed, concave bractea. Calyx downy 
and viscid, in 5 egg-shaped, concave, unequal, often coloured, seg- 
ments. Corolla very large and handsome, nearly an inch and a 
half long, of a purplish-red, often varying to white, with a large, 
yellow, downy palate white in front ; tube with a short, blunt 
pouch (nectary of Linn.) at the base in front. Capsule (fig. 7 ) 
egg-shaped, unequal at the base, of 2 oblique cells, the lower cell, 
which is largest and protuberant at the base, opening at the top 
by 2 large pores, the tipper cell with a single orifice. Seeds black, 
wrinkled. The ripe capsule, when reversed, bears a strong re- 
semblance to a skull. 
Several handsome varieties of this plant are cultivated in gardens. 
“ The flowers are perfect insect traps ; multitudes of small creatures seek an 
entrance into the corolla through the closed lips, which upon a slight pressure 
yield a passage, attracted by the sweet liquor that is found at the base of the 
germen ; but when so admitted, there is no return, the lips are closed, and all 
advance to them is impeded by a dense thicket of woolly matter, which invests 
the mouth of the lower jaw. — But this Snapdragon is more merciful than most 
of our insect traps. The creature receives no injury when in confinement ; but, 
having consumed the nectareous liquor, and finding no egress, breaks from its 
dungeon by gnawing a hole at the base of the tube, and returns to liberty and 
light.” Journal of a Naturalist, (2nd edit.) p. 80. 
Gmelin says, that in Persia an excellent oil, equal to that of the olive, is pro- 
cured by expression of the seeds of this plant. 
