"Queen Elizabeth, in 1584, granted a patent 'for planting and discovering in new countries, not possessed by Christians,' and, under this sanction, some ships, principally equipped by Sir Walter Raleigh, sailed with him to America. Thomas Harriott (afterwards known as a mathematician) who accompanied the adventurous squadron, transmitted to England the description of a plant, called Openawk by the natives of that part of America, which the courtier-like gallantry of Raleigh had named 'Virginia.' Harriott described the Openawk as having the roots round, and 'hanging together as if fixed on ropes, and good for food either boiled or roasted.' Girarde in his Herbal a few years subsequently, distinguished the plant by a plate, and not only confirmed the assertion that it was an indigenous production of Virginia, whence he himself had obtained it, but supplied some curious details of its qualities, and of the various modes in which it might be dressed for the table. But the Potatoe had been known in Spain and Portugal at an earlier period, and it is from the latter country that we most directly derive the name by which we know it. This is easily shown; although the natives of South America called the plant by the name 'Openawk,' those of the South, more particularly the inhabitants of the mountains of Quito, called it 'Papas,' which the Spaniards corrupted into 'Battata,' this again their neighbours in Portugal softened into 'Ba-ta-ta' (da terra), to which 'potato' is a very close approximation." This plant, the tubers of which for a long time were a luxury obtainable by the rich only, now yields the support of the poor, and furnishes the cheapest food known; the peasantry of Ireland almost subsist upon Potatoes, and the poor of most parts of Europe find it indispensable to their living. 16. SCROPHULARIACEÆ (Digitalis purpurea) Foxglove. (Veronica officinalis) Speedwell. [Illustration: Speedwell.] Some of the members of this order were formerly considered useful in scrofulous complaints, especially the Scrophularia nodosa, a common plant growing by the sides of ditches, and whose tuberculated roots were considered to resemble scrofulous tumours, and therefore to be the natural remedy for them. The Foxglove is used as a medicine and is highly poisonous. 17. LENTIBULARIACEÆ (Pinguicula vulgaris) Butterwort. [Illustration: Butterwort.] This order includes the Butterworts, which are herbaceous indigenous plants, growing in ditches and wet places; they are divided into the Pinguicula and the Urticularia. The example given is the most common and characteristic of the order. 18. PLANTAGINACEÆ (Plantago lanceolata) Plantain. [Illustration: Plantain.]