Posted by Ed Kiser on July 08, 2005 at 21:03:15 from 64.12.116.6 user Kisered.
There are several references to the "foxglove" which is a bell shaped flower growing along a stalk, with the larger flowers lower down and smaller developing flowers nearer the top.
In PM Chapter 6.
The D's are examining their new home, the Dogs' Home. Dorothea was considering planting a garden, but after looking about, decided to just accept the FOXGLOVE flowers growing nearby as being good enough for decoration.
In PP Chapter 9
Nancy is showing the prospectors the old charcoal burner's pit stead, which became known as "camp might-have-been" and noted that there were FOXGLOVE plants among the bushes as the edge of the clearing.
In SD Chapter 29
Titty and Roger are making the hike back by themselves from their Mountain excursion while the rest of the group was returning on the Amazon. They came to the end of the wood, and saw where some trees had been cut down with FOXGLOVES and ferns among the stumps.
In SD Chapter 31
Roger was injured and was staying overnight with the Billies. For their evening meal, Billy fixed two Duck eggs, one for himself and one for Roger. These eggs were too hot to hold, so Billy wrapped each in a FOXGLOVE leaf so they could manage to hold it while peeling the shell off. The egg cooled during the peeling process, so it was found to be cool enough for the peeling of the bottom half to hold in the bare hand, so the FOXGLOVE leaf could be discarded.
In WH Chapter 4
As they came out of the igloo, they went to a trickling beck with frozen ice along the edges. On their way there, the stepped over the frozen leaves of last year's FOXGLOVES.
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I have noticed that recently, there have been occasional photos on the LAKELANDCAM showing the FOXGLOVE blooms. These plants are not in the range of my own personal experience, living in the sub-tropics, as these plants want a bit cooler climate. Upon looking up FOXGLOVE on the Internet, I find that the leaves of this plant are rather dangerous as they are POISONOUS, as they are a source of the deadly DIGITALIS. That being the case, I was wondering about the advisability of the Charcoal Burner Billy in using its leaf to hold the cooked Duck Egg as they were peeling the shell, with the possibility of that somehow the digitalis would be transferred to the egg and then eaten. Apparently they surived the experience, as they did not eat the leaves themselves, only the egg that had touched the leaf. There is no mention in the Ransome stories of the dangerous feature of this rather delightful looking stem of flowering "bells".
The FOXGLOVE also made an appearance in a Harry Potter movie (the third one). Right after Hagrid had introduced his class, primarily Harry, to the Hippogrif (or whatever that flying horse/hawk thing was), the scene shifted to show the Dementors floating about the castle, surrounded by an extreme cold, such that as one of those horrors went by a Foxglove flower, it turned gray as it froze in a good close-up shot showing that flower in transition. When I saw that flower freezing, I though it looked familiar, like I had seen it before, so I looked it up in my collection of photos from the LAKELANDCAM and found it there. The filename had the name FOXGLOVE so that identified the flower for me. Apparently the Hogwarts Castle is supposed to be somewhere in that same part of the world as the Ransome Lake is in, so the Foxglove would be a natural local flower.
I just saw in today's offering (July 8, Friday) of the WWW.LAKELANDCAM.CO.UK, Tony Richards has there a nice closeup of the Foxglove blooms.
The things one learns while pursuing All Things Ransome...
Ed Kiser, South Florida