Root somewhat spindle-shaped. Stems from 1 to 2 feet high, 
upright or spreading, thickish, firm, leafy. Leaves alternate, spear- 
shaped, single-ribbed, entire, dull green, tapering at the base, the 
lowest stalked ; those from the root often nearly 2 feet long, strap- 
shaped, spreading. Spikes very numerous, from the axils of the 
stem-leaves, unilateral, recurved, but gradually becoming upright 
as the flowering proceeds ; forming, altogether, one long, compound 
raceme. Corolla large and very beautiful, of a fine red before it 
expands, afterwards of a brilliant blue, occasionally white. Fila- 
ments red, longer than the corolla. Jlntliers grey. Style hairy. 
Gevmens embedded in a fleshy receptacle. Whole plant rough 
with prickly bristles, arising from callous points or bulbs, inter- 
mixed with smaller hairs. It is remarked in Maftyn’s edition of 
Miller’s Gardener's Dictionary , that if the colour of the corolla 
be blue, the stems are blueish, the stamens purple, and the bulbs 
from which the bristles spring are blood-red ; but if the corolla be 
p.de red, then the other parts of the flower are of the same colour, 
and the bristle-bulbs are yellow ; and if it be white, all the parts 
of the flower are of that colour, and the bristle-bulbs green. — It is 
one of the handsomest of our native plants, and not unworthy a 
place in the ornamental flower garden. 
Dried and powdered it forms an ingredient of the celebrated 
Spanish remedy against the bites of vipers and mad dogs ; particu- 
lars of which may be seen in the Monthly Magazine, v. xxix, p. 414. 
The white-flowered variety has been found on the South-west 
point of Box Hill, in Surrey, by N. J. Winch, Esq. ; at Cobham, 
Kent, by the Rev. Professor Henslow ; on the walls of Kenilworth 
Castle, Warwickshire, by the late Dr. Lamii, of Newbury, Berks; 
near Croydon, in Surrey, by Mr. W. Pamplin, jun. ; and I have 
seen it, some years ago, on an old wall inGlocester Green, Oxford, 
but this locality is now destroyed, in consequence of the buildings 
that have been erected there. In Scotland it has been found at 
Duncansby, Caithness, by Sir W. J. Hooker. This variety has 
been sometimes mistaken for E. Italicum of Linnaeus, a species 
which has, probably, never been found wild in Britain ; unless Mr. 
Winch’s plant, found on Sunderland Ballast Hills, Durham, be 
this species, which he thinks was imported from the Continent. 
Lycopsis or Wall Bugloss, of Ray’s Syn. p. 227, is Ecliium viola- 
ccum, specimens of which were gathered on the sandy grounds 
near St. Hilary, in the Isle of Jersey, (Ray’s locality,) in 1833, by 
W. C. Trevelyan, Esq., who observes, that this is “ the plant 
which should have been figured in English Botany, in the place of 
E. italicum." 
Bees are fond of the flowers, but their wings are often torn by the strong bristly 
hairs, with which the plant is clothed. 
THE PURPOSE OF FLOWERS. 
Beautiful flowers, whose tender forms 
Survive the deadly lightning’s glare, 
And bend your bosoms to the storms 
That ride upon the midnight air! 
Say, were ye only born to fade, 
Or were your tints and odours given, 
To give the spirit in the shade 
Of this dull world some glimpse of heaven 1 — W. Martin. 
