TH£ FOXGLOVE. 67 
bare reality, and giving to fancy and imagination room 
to expand, a plaything to amuse them. 
We still retain the name of this plant as given by 
Pliny, though we know no reason why it was so called ; 
but the word “ helix,” winding about, or twisting, is 
sufficiently apposite. 
The foxglove (digitalis purpurea) is found with us in 
one or two places only, rather existing than flourishing, 
manifesting, like many other plants, a marked partiality 
to particular soils. It produces an abundance of seed, 
yet seems to wander little from the station its progeni- 
tors had fixed on, as if that alone was congenial to its 
habits ; but with us the soil varies greatly. In the West 
of England, it thrives and increases with particular 
luxuriance ; but many counties may be searched in vain 
for a single specimen. It seems to prefer a sandy, 
gravelly, or loose drained soil ; not I think vegetating 
in strong retentive earths. We have few indigenous 
plants, not one, perhaps, which we have so often sum- 
moned to aid us in our distresses as the foxglove : no 
plant, not even the colchicum, has been more the object 
of our fears, our hopes, our trust, and disappointment, 
than this : we have been grateful for the relief it has 
afforded, and we have mourned the insufficiency of its 
powers 
“ Thy last, sole aid (which art can give) 
The wo- worn parent seeks, and, hoping, clings 
In tearless wretchedness to thee ; watches with 
Anxious heart thy subtle progress through the 
Day, and of thee fitful dreams through all the 
Night — - 
spare, if thou 
Canst, his hopeless grief; save worth, save beauty, 
From an early grave.” 
As a mere flower, the digitalis is a very handsome 
plant ; and could we rely upon its yielding the virtues 
it is considered to possess, or could we regulate or con- 
trol its influence, it would exist unrivalled for beauty 
and worth amidst our island plants. Why such a name 
as “ foxesgloves,” was bestowed upon this plant it is 
difficult to say, perhaps from the bare resemblance to 
