Shrubby Fox-glove has yellow flowers, which begin to appear in May. The Madeira-Shrubby Fox-glove is a very handsome plant, flowering in July and August. These two kinds must be sheltered in the winter, admitting the fresh air in mild weather. In the summer they should be placed abroad where they may enjoy the morning sun; and in dry weather be plentifully watered every evening: twice a week will suffice in winter.

The seedlings, sown in the autumn, and kept in a room tolerably warm, will be large enough to be transplanted early in spring; when they should be placed separately in small pots, and after they have taken firm root, should be gradully accustomed to the open air.

It is a pity this plant is poisonous, for it is extremely beautiful, particularly those kinds which are of a deep rose-colour. They are all speckled within the bell, which adds still more to their richness.

Mrs. C. Smith invites the bee to

"Explore the Fox-glove's freckled bell."

Browne uses a similar epithet when he describes Pan as seeking gloves for his mistress; a curious conceit :

"To keepe her slender fingers from the sunne,
Pan through the pastures oftentimes hath runne
To pluck the speckled Fox-gloves from their stem,
And on those fingers neatly placed them."

W. BROWNE.

It is not one of his happiest passages; but he is a true poet, and deserves in particular the gratitude of the lover of nature. Cowley has the same conceit, but conceits are common with Cowley.

"The Fox-glove on fair Flora's hand is worn,

Lest while she gathers flowers she meet a thorn."
COWLEY, ON PLANTS.

The bee appears regardless of its poisonous qualities:

"Bees that soar for bloom,

High as the highest peak of Furness Fells,

Will murmur by the hour in fox-glove bells."

WORDSWORTH'S SONNET.

"The fox-glove, in whose drooping bells the bee

Makes her sweet music."

"Let me thy vigils keep,

B. CORNWALL.

'Mongst boughs pavilioned, where the deer's swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell."

KEATS, SONNET Vii.

But it is not the bee alone that braves this powerful poison; women of the poorer class, in Derbyshire, drink large draughts of Fox-glove tea, as a cheap means of obtaining the pleasures, or the forgetfulness, of intoxication. It is said to produce a great exhilaration of spirits *. Well may the word intoxicate originate in poison!

LILIACEÆ.

FRITILLARY.

FRITILLARIA.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

THE Imperial Fritillary, or Crown Imperial, is supposed to be a native of Persia: there are many varieties, all handsome, and varying in colour. This species is less esteemed than its beauty merits, on account of its strong and disagreeable scent. The earth should be kept moderately moist. About the end of July the bulbs should be taken up, cleaned, &c. &c. and kept out of the earth about two months; but care must be taken in putting them by, to lay them all singly, not in heaps. The offsets

* See Time's Telescope, 1822, p. 237.

should be the first planted, because they are the most apt to shrink.

This lily requires deep pots, and the bulb should be laid four inches deep at the least. It will require support, and will flower in April.

The Persian Fritillary, or Persian Lily-called by the Italians, giglio di Persia; giglio di Susa*; and pennacchi Persiani-bears a spike of deep purple flowers, growing at the top of the stem in the form of a pyramid: they open in May, but seldom produce seeds in England.

The Black Fritillary is a native of France and Russia : it has yellow flowers, which blow in April or May.

The Common Fritillary, or Chequered Lily, is a native of England, and most of the southern parts of Europe. The flowers are chequered with purple and white, or purple and yellow. "It is for this reason," says Mr. Martyn, "that it has been named fritillus [a draught or chess-board]. Nevertheless, fritillus is not the board, but the dice-box."

It is most probably of the Crown Imperial that Moore speaks in the following lines; not the Persian lily, commonly so called, since he describes the colour as golden:

Once, Emir! thy unheeding child,

Mid all this havoc, bloomed and smiled,

Tranquil as on some battle plain

The Persian lily shines and towers,
Before the combat's reddening strain

Hath fallen upon her golden flowers.”

FIRE WORSHIPPERS.

It has many familiar English names, as Turkey-henflower, Guinea-hen-flower, Chequered Daffodil, and Snake'shead; from which last name, a meadow between Kew and

*The lily is considered in Persia as an emblem of loveliness; and Susa is said to be named from it: that word being the Persian for

:

Mortlake is called Snake's-head Meadow. Some call it Narcissus Caparonius, from Noel Caparon, who first discovered it he was an apothecary, then dwelling in Orleans, but murdered soon after in the massacre of France. The French call it le damier [the chess-board]: the Italians, giglio variegato; fritillaria scaecheggiata [chess-board fritillary].

Gerarde informs us that "the curious and painful herbalist of Paris, John Robin," sent him many of the plants for his garden, and that "they were greatly esteemed for the beautifying of our gardens, and the bosoms of the beautiful."

This lily flowers in April and May. The three last may be preserved and increased in the same manner as the first; only they do not take so much room, and the roots will not keep so long out of the ground. If they cannot conveniently be planted sooner, they should be laid in sand, to prevent their shrinking. They should be removed every second year; will bear the open air; and should have just water enough to prevent drought.

MYRTOIDEÆ.

FUCHSIA.

TETANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

So named in honour of Leonard Fuchs, a noted German botanist.

THIS is a most beautiful little plant'; the leaves are of a fine green; their veins tinged with red: the flowers pendulous, and of a brilliant scarlet. "The Scarlet Fuchsia," says Mr. Martyn, "is a "is a plant of peculiar beauty, producing its rich pendent blossoms during most part of the summer: the petals in the centre of the flower are particularly deserving of notice; they somewhat resemble a small roll of the richest purple-coloured riband."

It is a native of Chili. It will not bear the

open air in

this country, and in the winter must be kept in a warm inhabited room; for it is commonly treated as a stove-plant. The fresh air should be admitted in the summer, and it should always be kept moist. This is an elegant plant for the drawing-room or study.

FUMITORY.

FUMARIDEÆ.

FUMARIA.

DIADELPHIA HEXANDRIA.

So named from a notion that it affects the eyes like smoke, or rather because a bed of the common kind when in flower appears at a distance like a dense smoke.-French, fumiterre; the common species by the villagers is called coridalo.

THE Red Canadian Fumitory is a handsome plant with large flowers. The Evergreen Fumitory has purple flowers, which bloom all the summer: it is a native of North America. They may be sown in the autumn; two or three seeds in a pot eight inches wide; and watered occasionally in dry weather. The Naked-stalked Fumitory, a native of Canada, has white and yellow blossoms, and may be increased by offsets from the roots, which should be planted in the autumn when the leaves have decayed.

The Great-flowered Siberian, with white and yellow flowers, blowing in May; and the Bulbous Fumitory, with purple, blush-coloured, or white flowers, may also be increased by offsets. The time to transplant these is between May and August (inclusive), as the leaves die off. They are pretty, and very hardy. As they do not increase very fast, they should not be parted oftener than once in three years. They like a light sandy soil, and the earth should be kept moderately moist. The last species grows wild in many parts of Europe. It has the scent of the Cowslip.

The Bladdered Fumitory is rather tender. It is an an nual plant, raised in a hot-bed, and not exposed to the open