LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
135 
received various names. In the south of Scotland it is still 
called ‘ bloody fingers; ’ in the north, ‘ dead man’s bells.’ 
In Wales it is called ‘ fairies’ gloves.’ Fairies were often called 
‘ folks; ’ hence, no doubt, the origin of the common name 
1 folk's glove,' and not, as misspelled, foxglove .” The foxglove 
has very powerful medicinal qualities, especially in dropsy, 
and to retard the circulation. It requires to be administered 
with great caution, being a violent poison. The Italians 
value it so highly that they have a proverb, “ Aralda tutte le 
piaglie sana” (Foxglove cures all hurts). There are two kinds, 
the purple or red, and the white. A poet writes,— 
“ Here the spotted foxglove dwells, 
Ringing oft its fairy bells; 
And its sister, purely white, 
Makes the shady places bright, 
Like that maiden mild and young 
By Spenser’s magic numbers sung.” 
Oracle, Dandelion. 
The dandelion is used as a salad, as greens, as a bitter, and 
to prepare a kind of coffee. Its feathery seed-globes are 
made to give various prophecies ; hence its meaning, oracle. 
Ornament, Hornbeam. 
Under the name of charmille, this fine tree was formerly the 
principal ornament of the great gardens of France; and one 
can still see at Versailles how the famous Le Notre employed 
it in his compositions. Father Papin has eulogized it in 
verse. 
Ostentation, reony. 
The peony was called from the Greek Paeon, who is said to 
have used it in medicine, and cured Pluto, by its means, of a 
