THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID FLORA DOMESTICA, Oft THE PORTABLE FLOWER-GAKDEN ; WITH DIRECTIONS FOR THE TREATMENT OF PLANTS IN POTS; AND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE WORKS OF THE POETS. " How exquisitely sweet This rich display of flowers, This airy wild of fragrance So lovely to the eye, And to the sense so sweet.*' ANDREIJTI'S ADAM. " And round about he taught sweet flowers to grow." SPENSER. THE SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS. LONDON : PRINTED FOR TAYLOR AND HESSEY, 93, FLEET-STREET, AND 13, WATERLOO-PLACE, PALL-MALL. 1825. $£419 SIR WILLIAM KNIGHTON, BART. SIR, I TAKE the liberty of laying this Volume before you, in humble acknowledgment of the gra- titude and respect with which L remain, SIR, Your humble and obedient Servant, THE AUTHOR. DC A LIST OF THE PLANTS DESCRIBED IN THIS WORK. A. Ad6nis f- , ' J African Lily Agapanthus 4 African Marygold, see Tagetes. Agave, see Aloe. Almond-tree Amygdala 5 A'loe 6 A maranth Amaranthus 18 Amaryllis, see Star Lily. Andromeda 22 Anemone Anemone 23 Antholy'za. 28 Anthy'llis 30 Antirrhinum 30 A'rbor Vitae Thuja 32 A'rbutus 35 A'rum Calla ^Ethiopica 38 A'sphodel Asphodelus 41 A'ster 43 Aucuba Japanica 45 Auricula Primula Auricula 46 Azalea $2 B. Balm Melissa 53 Balm of Gilead, see Dragon's-head. Balsam Impatiens 56 Basil O'cymum 58 Bay Laurus Nobilis 60 Belvedere Chenopodium Scoparia 71 Bitter-vetch O'robus 71 Bloodwort Sanguinaria 72 Box-tree Buxus 73 Broom Spartium 77 Browallia . 83 viii LIST OF PLANTS. Page c. Camellia Japonica 83 Campanula 84 Candy-tuft Iberis r 88 Canterbury Bells, see Campanula. Cardamine 89 Cardinal-flower Lobelia 91 Catchfly Silene 92 Celandine Chelidonium . . 92 Centaury Centaurea 98 Cereus CSctus 100 Cerinthe 1 02 Chelone 103 China Rose, see Hibiscus. Chion£nthus 1 04 Chironia 1 05 Chrysanthemum 105 Cineraria 1 07 Cistus 108 Clematis Ill Clethra 114 Cock's-comb, see Amaranth. C61chicum 114 Columbine Aquilegia 115 Colutea Frutescens 117 Convolvulus 118 Coreopsis 121 Corn-flag Gladi61us 1 22 Coronilla 123 Cotyledon 1 24 Cowslip Primula Veris 125 of Jerusalem Pulmonaria 129 Crinum 130 Crocus 130 Cy'clamen 1 33 Cy'tisus 134 D. Dahlia 138 Daisy Bellis 139 Danewort . . ,. Sambucus E'bulus 149 Daphne 150 Dog's-bane Ap6cynum 153 Dragon's-head Dracocephalum 156 Dry'as 157 E. Egg-plant Sol«mum Melongena 158 LIST OF PLANTS. IX Page Erinus 159 Everlasting GnaphaJium 159 F. Foxglove Digitalis 161 Fritillary Fritillaria 163 Fuchsia *. 165 Fumitory Fumaria 1 66 G. Gentian Gentiana 167 Geranium Erodium — Pelargonium .... 1 69 Germander Teucrium 1 76 Globe-flower Trollius 1 77 Globularia 1 78 Goat's-Rue Galega 179 Golden-Locks . . Chrysocoma 180 Gourd Cucurbita 181 Greek Valerian Polemonium Caeruleum 183 Guelder- Rose Viburnum O'pulus 184 H. Hawthorn Cratee'gus Oxyacantha 185 Heart's-ease Viola Tricolor 190 Heath Erica 198 Heliotrope Heliotropium 201 Helmet-flower Scutellaria 203 Helonias 203 Hepatica Anem6ne Hepatica 204 Hibiscus 204 Hollyhock Althae'a '. 207 Honesty Lunaria 208 Honeysuckle Lonicera 209 Hottentot Cherry Cassine Maurocenia 213 Houseleek . ; Sempervivum 213 Hyacinth Hyacinthus 215 Hydrangea 224 Hypericum 226 I. Ice-plant, see Mesembryanthemum. Indian Corn ." Zea 229 Indian Pink Dianthus Chinensis 230 Ipomce'a 23 1 Pris 232 I'xia 236 Jerusalem Sage . ... ...... Phl6mis 237 X LIST OF PLANTS. Page Jessamine Jasminum 238 Jonquil, see Narcissus. Juniper Juniperus 24 1 K. Kalmia 244 L. Laburnum, see Cytisus. Lady's-smock, see Cardamine. Larkspur Delphinium 245 Laurel Prunus Laurocerasus 246 Lavatera ; 247 Lavender Lavandula. 248 Lemon-tree Citrus Limon 250 Lilac Syringa 252 Lilies Lilium 255 Lily of the Valley Convallaria 259 London-pride, see Pink and Saxifrage. Lupine Lupinus 262 Ly'chnis 264 M. Mallow Malva 266 Marsh Marygold Caltha Palustris 268 Marvel of Peru Mirabilis 269 Marygold Calendula 271 Maurandia Semperflorens 276 Mesembryanthemum 276 Mezereon, see Daphne. Mignonette Reseda Odorata. . *: 280 Milkwort Poly'gala 281 Mimosa 282 Mint Mentha 287 Monk's-hood Aconitum 289 Motherwort Leonurus 290 Myrtle % Myrtus 293 N. Narcissus 300 Nasturtium Tropae'olum 306 Nigella 3QS O. Oleander Nerium 308 Olive-tree Olea 310 O'range-tree Citrus Aurantium • 315 LIST OF PLANTS. XI Page P. Peony Paeonia 323 Passion-flower Passiflora 324 Perwinkle Vinca 326 Phillyrea Cassine Capensis 328 Phlox 329 Piiik Dianthus 330 Polyanthus Primula Vulgaris 333 P6ppy Papaver , . 334 Primrose Primula Grandifl6ra 343 Prince's-feather, see Amaranth. Privet Ligustrum 347 Pr6tea 349 R. Ranunculus 349 Rhododendrum Rhododendron 353 Rhodora, see Rhododendron. Robinia .' 354 Rocket Hesperis 355 Rose-bush Rosa 357 Rosemary Rosmarinus 3.84 S. Sage Salvia 387 Saxifrage Saxifraga 388 Scabious Scabiosa 391 Scarlet Bean Phaseolus Multiflorus 392 Sea Lavender Statice 393 Sedum 394 Sensitive -plant, see Mimosa. Shaddock-tree Citrus Decumana 395 Snow-drop Galanthus 396 Solomon's Seal, see Lily of the Valley. Southernwood Artemisia Abrotanum 398 Speedwell Veronica 399 Spirse'a 401 Star of Bethlehem Ornith6galum 404 Star Lily Amaryllis 404 Stock Matthiola 4-09 Stone-crop, see Sedum. Stramonium Datura 413 Strawberry- Blite Blitum 414 Sun-flower Helianthus 415 Sweet Pea Lathynis 418 Sweet-briar, see Rose-bush. Sweet Sultan, see Centaury. xii LIST OF PLANTS. Page Sweet William, see Pink. Syr'mga Philadelphia 421 T. Tagetes 423 Tarchonanthus 423 Tobacco Plant Nicotiana . . , 424 Tuberose Polyanthes 430 Tulip Tulipa 433 V. Valerian Valeriana 438 Venus's Looking-glass, see Campanula. Vervain Verbena. . . . 439 Violet Viola 441 Viper's Bugloss E'chium 448 Virginian Cowslip Dodecatheon Meadia 449 W. Wallflower Cherianthus 449 Water Lily Nympha3a 451 Winged Pea Lotus Tetragonolobus 454 Winter Cherry Physalis 454 X. Xeranthemum 455 Y. Yucca 456 Z. Zinnia 457 Zygophy'llum 458 PREFACE. As I reside in town, and am known among my friends as a lover of the country, it has often happened that one or other of them would bring me consolation in the shape of a Myrtle, a Geranium, an Hydrangea, or a Rose-tree, &c. Liking plants, and loving my friends, I have earnestly de- sired to preserve these kind gifts ; but, utterly ignorant of their wants and habits, I have seen my plants die one after the other, rather from attention ill-directed than from the want of it. I have many times seen others in the same situation as myself, and found it a common thing, upon the arrival of a new plant, to hear its owner say, " Now, I should like to know how I am to treat this ? Should it stand within doors, or without ? should it have much water, or little ? should it stand in the sun, or in the shade ?" Even Myrtles and Geraniums, commonly as they are seen in flower-stands, balconies, &c., often meet with an untimely death from the ignorance of their nurses. Many a plant have I destroyed, like a fond and mistaken mother, by an inexperienced tenderness ; until, in pity to these vege- table nurslings and their nurses, I resolved to obtain and to communicate such information as should be requisite for the rearing and preserving a portable garden in pots. This little volume is the result ; the information contained in it has been carefully collected from the best authorities ; and henceforward the death of any plant, owing to the xiv PREFACE. carelessness or ignorance of its nurse, shall be brought in, at the best, as plant-slaughter. It has not been attempted to make a complete catalogue of every plant that may be reared in a pot or tub, but such have been selected as are the most frequently so cul- tivated ; and such as are most desirable for beauty of form or colour, luxuriance of foliage, sweetness of perfume, or from interesting or poetical associations with their history. In the belief that lovers of nature are most frequently ad- mirers of beauty in any form, such anecdotes or poetical passages are added, relating to the plants mentioned, as ap- peared likely to interest them. To avoid endless repetition, some few general observa- tions are subjoined, but only such as are really general; and they will not be found to render a variety of references necessary for the treatment of one plant, a necessity which it is the chief aim of this little work to set aside. It is hoped that any person desiring to know the treatment proper for this or that plant, will find all the information necessary under its particular head. The General Ob- servations are comprised in so small a compass, that the merely reading them over will probably be found sufficient. The love of flowers is a sentiment common alike to the great and to the little ; to the old and to the young ; to the learned and the ignorant, the illustrious and the obscure. While the simplest child may take delight in them, they may also prove a recreation to the most profound philo- sopher. Lord Bacon himself did not disdain to bend his mighty intellect to the subject of their culture. Lord Burleigh also found recreation from the cares of state in his flower-garden. Ariosto, although utterly ig- norant of botanical science, took even an infantine pleasure in his little garden ; and we are informed by his son, that after sowing a variety of seeds, he would watch eagerly for PREPACK. XV the springing of the plants, would cherish the first peep of vegetation, and having for many days watered and tended the young plant, discover at last that he had bestowed all this tenderness upon a weed ; a weed, perhaps, which had choked the plant for which he had mistaken it. " Nelle cose de' giardini teneva il modo medesimo, che nel far de versi, perche mai non lasciava cosa alcuna che piantasse piii di tre mesi in un loco ; e se piantava anime di persiche, o semente di alcuna sorte, andava tante volte a vedere se germogliava, che finalmcnte, rompea il germoglio : e perche avea poco cognizione d' erba, il piu delle volte prossumea che qualunque erba, cbe nascesse vicina alia cosa semi- nata da esso, fosse quella ; la custodiva con diligenza grande sin tanto che la cosa fosse ridotta a' termini, che, non accascava averne dubbio. I' mi ricordo, ch' avendo seminato de' capperi, ogni giorno andava a vjederli, e stava con una allegrezza grande di cosi bella nascione. Final- mente trovo ch' eran sambuchi, e che de' capperi non n'eran nati alcuni." " He treated his garden as he did his verses, never leaving any thing three months in the same place. Whenever he planted or sowed any thing, he went so often to see if it sprouted, that at last he broke the shoot: and having little knowledge of plants, he took any leaves that appeared near the place where he had sown his seeds for the plants sown, and tended them with the greatest diligence, till his mistake was clear beyond doubt. I remember once when he had sown some capers, he went every day to look at them, and was delighted to see them thrive so well. At last he found these thriving plants were young elders, and that none of the capers had appeared." NOTES BY VIRGINIO ARIOSTO, FOR A LIFE OF HIS FATHER. Who can read this anecdote of so great a man^ and not feel an additional interest in him ! In how amiable a light it represents him ! Was a cruel, unfeeling, or selfish man ever known to take pleasure in working in his own garden ? Surely not. This love of nature in detail (if the expression may be allowed) is a union of affection, good taste, and natural piety. How amiable a man was Cowper ! — and Evelyn, too> and Evelyn's friend, Cowley, who addressed to him a poem xvi PREFACE. entitled The Garden. Gessner also is represented as of a kindred sweetness of nature. They all worked in their own gardens, and with enthusiastic pleasure. Barclay, the author of the Argenis, rented a house near the Vatican, in Rome, with a garden in which he planted the choicest flowers, principally such as grow from bulbs, which had never been seen in Rome before. He was ex- tremely fond of flowers, particularly of the bulbous kind, which are prized chiefly for their colours, and purchased the bulbs at a high price*. Pope had the same taste, and was assisted in his horti- cultural amusements by Lord Peterborough. One of the most interesting descriptions of him represents him as being seen before dinner in a small suit of black, very neat an'd gentlemanly, with a basket in his hand containing flowers for the Miss Blounts. Rousseau, who has written some in- teresting Letters on Botany, of which among his other accomplishments he was master, found friends in the flowers, when he thought he had no others. Even his great rival Voltaire, who if he had more wit had much less sentiment, soothed his irritability and cherished his bene- volence in his garden ; and one, " greater than he," and whom I mention in the same page with any thing but an irreverent or unchristian feeling, said the noblest thing of a flower that ever was uttered : " Behold the lilies of the field, how they grow : they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." (Matthew, chap, vi. v. 28, 29 f.) How surely would Solomon himself have * See Beckmann's History of Inventions, vol. i. t Some have supposed that the flower to which Jesus alluded must have been the Tulip ; as if it were necessary for it to be really gaudy or gorgeous before it could be set above the splendour of royalty ! This may be called the art of divesting sentiment of its sentiment. PREFACE. xvil agreed with this beautiful speech ! for that his " wise heart" loved the flowers, the lily especially, is evident from numerous passages in his Song. The object of his love, in claiming a supreme dignity of beauty, exclaims, " I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley," The Emperor Dioclesian preferred his garden to a throne : " Methinks I see great Dioclesian walk In the Salonian garden's noble shade, Which by his own imperial hands was made : I see him smile, methinks, as he does talk With the ambassadors, who come in vain T' entice him to a throne again. e If I, my friends,' said he, ' should to you show All the delights which in these gardens grow, 'Tis likelier far that you with me should stay, Than 'tis that you should carry me away : And trust me not, my friends, if, every day, I walk not here with more delight, Than ever, after the most happy fight, In triumph to the capital I rode, To thank the gods, and to be thought myself almost a god.' " COWLEY'S GARDEN. Sir W. Temple desired to have his heart buried in his garden. Lope de Vega appears to have been a lover of gardens. " As he is mentioned more than once," says Lord Holland, " by himself and his encomiasts, employed in trimming a garden, we may collect that he was fond of that occupation. Indeed his frequent description of parterres and fountains, and his continual allusion to flowers, justify his assertion, — -' that his garden furnished him with ideas, as well as vegetables and amusement *.' r The French poet Ronsard was evidently a lover of * See Life of Lope de Vega, vol. i. page 93. xviii PREFACE. flowers, as may be seen in his poems, particularly of the Rose, and the Violet, which he calls the flower of March ; these he has introduced repeatedly : " Two flowers I love, the March-flower and the rose, The lovely rose that is to Venus dear V Ovid was, as might be expected, a lover of gardens, and by a passage in one of his poems appears to have been fond of writing in them. It is in his T ristia, where he is regretting, during his voyage to the place of his exile, the delight he used to feel in composing his verses under the genial sky, and among the domestic comforts of his native country : " Non haec in nostris, ut quondam, scribimus hortis, Nee, consuete, meum, lectule, corpus habes : Jactor in indomito brumali luce profundo, Ipsaque cseruleis charta feritur aquis. Improba pugnat hieras, indignaturque, quod ausim Scribere, se rigidas incutiente minas." Lib. i. Eleg. 11. ••' ' -. • • ... '-.*•* .,.,»"., . • " Not in my garden, as of old, I write, With thee, dear couch, to finish the delight : I toss upon a ghastly wintery sea, While the blue sprinkles dash my poetry. Fell winter's at his war ; and storms the more To see me dare to write for all his threatening roar." Ovid is so fond of flowers, that, in the account of the Rape of Proserpine in his Fasti, he devotes several lines to the enumeration of the flowers gathered by her attendants. Mr. Gibbon is very angry with him for it : " Can it be believed," says he, " that the Rape of Proserpine should be described in two verses, when the enumeration of the flowers which she gathered in the garden of Eden had just * See Mr. Cary's Translation in the London Magazine, vol. v. page 507. PREFACE. xix filled sixteen* ?" But surely this loitering of the poet, over his meadows and crocuses, conveys a fit sense of the plea- sure enjoyed by Proserpine and her nymphs ; a pleasure, too, for which they expressly came forth, and by the too great pursuit of which the latter were separated from their mistress. In our own time, we may instance the late Mr. Shelley. Of a strong and powerful intellect, his manners were gentle as a summer's evening : his tastes were pure and simple : it was his delight to ramble out into the fields and woods, where he would take his book, or sometimes his pen, and having employed some hours in study, and in speculations on his favourite theme — the advancement of human hap- piness, would return home with his hat wreathed with briony, or wild convolvulus ; his hand filled with bunches of wild-flowers plucked from the hedges as he passed, and his eyes, indeed every feature, beaming with the bene- volence of his heart. He loved to stroll in his garden, chatting with a friend, or accompanied by his Homer or his Bible (of both which he was a frequent reader) : but one of his chief enjoyments was in sailing, rowing, or float ing in his little boat, upon the river : often he would lie down flat in the boat and read, with his face upwards to the sunshine. In this taste for the water he was too ven- turesome, or perhaps inconsiderate ; for it was rather a thoughtlessness of danger, than a braving of it. In the end, as it is well known, it was fatal to him : never will his friends cease to feel, or to mourn his loss ; though their mourning will be softened by the contemplation of his amiable nature, and by the memory of that gentle and spiritual countenance, " which seemed not like an inha- bitant of the earth" while it was on it. * Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, vol. iv. page 356. XX PREFACE. Among the existing lovers of flowers, it. is a pleasure to be able to name the gallant and accomplished young prince, Alexander Mavrocordato, one of the chief leaders of the Greeks in their present glorious struggle for freedom. A botanical work, not long since published in Italy, is dedicated to him on account of his known fond- ness for the subject. Thus, in every respect, he inherits the feelings of his ancestors. This is the same prince to whom Mr. Shelley dedicated his Hellas. Among the Greeks this taste was very general, as may be gathered from many ancient writers. In the following passage from the Travels of Anacharsis, several of these authorities are assembled : the author describes a visit to a friend who had retired to his country-house : ff Apres avoir traverse une basse-cour peuplee de poules, fie canards, et d'autres oiseaux domestiques, nous visitames 1'ecurie, la bergerie, ainsi que le jardin des fleurs, ou nous vimes successivement briller les narcisses, les jacinthes, les anemones, les iris, les violettes de diffe- rentes couleurs, les roses de diverses especes, et toutes sortes de plantes odoriferantes. Vous ne serez pas surpris, me dit-il, du soin que je prends de les cultiver : vous savez que nous en parons les temples, les autels, les statues de nos dieux; que nous en couronnons nos tetes dans nos repas et dans nos ceremonies saintes; que nous les repandons sur nos tables et sur nos lits ; que nous avons meme Tatten- tion d'offrir a nos divinitc's les fleurs qui leur sont les plus agreables. D'ailleurs, un agriculteur ne doit point n<%liger les petits profits ; toutes les fois que j'envoie au marche d'Athenes, du bois, du charbon, des denrees et des fruits, j'y joins quelques corbeilles de fleurs qui sont enlevces a 1'instant*." " Having crossed a court-yard peopled with fowls, ducks, and other domestic birds, we visited the stable, the sheep-fold, and the flower- garden ; where we saw in succession narcissuses, hyacinths, anemonies, irises, violets of different colours, roses of various kinds, and all sorts of odoriferous plants. You will not be surprised, said he, at the care I take in cultivating them ; for you know that we adorn with them * Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Grece, vers le milieu du qua- tricme siecle avant 1'ere vulgaire ; par J J. Barthelemi. Tome cin- quieme. PREFACE. xxi the temples, altars, and statues of our gods : that we crown our heads with them in our festivals, and holy ceremonies ; that we scatter them upon our tables, and our beds ; that we even consider the kinds of flowers most agreeable to our divinities. Besides/ an agriculturist should not neglect small profits ; whenever I send to the market of Athens, wood, provision, or fruit, I add some baskets of flowers, and they are seized instantly." In another part of the same work, the author describes a marriage ceremony in the Island of .Delos, in which flowers, shrubs, and trees make a conspicuous figure. He tells us that the inhabitants of the island assembled at day-break, crowned with flowers : that flowers were strewed in the path of the bride and bridegroom : the house was garlanded with them : singers and dancers appeared, crowned with oak, myrtle, and hawthorns : the bride and bridegroom were crowned with poppies ; and upon their approach to the temple a priest received them at the en- trance, presenting to each a branch of ivy, — a symbol of the tie which was to unite them for ever *. It was not in their sports only that the Greeks were so lavish of their flowers : they crowned the dead with them ; and the mourners wore them in the funeral ceremonies. Flowers seem to have been to this tasteful people a sort of poetic language, whereby they expressed the intensity of feelings to which they found common language in- adequate. Thus we find that their grief, and their joy, their religion, and their sports, their gratitude, admiration, and love, were alike expressed by flowers. And flowers do speak a language, a clear and intel- ligible language : ask Mr. Wordsworth, for to him they have spoken, until they excited " thoughts that lie too deep for tears ;" ask Chaucer, for he held companionship with them in the meadows ; ask any of the poets, ancient or modern. Observe them, reader, love them, linger over * Vol. vi. chapter 77. xxil PREFACE. them ; and ask your own heart if they do not speak affec- tion, benevolence, and piety. None have better under- stood the language of flowers than the simple-minded peasant-poet, Clare, whose volumes are like a beautiful country, diversified with woods, meadows, heaths, and flower-gardens : the following is a pleasing specimen : (t Bowing adorers of the gale, Ye cowslips delicately pale, Upraise your loaded stems ; Unfold your cups in splendour, speak ! Who decked you with that ruddy streak, And gilt your golden gems ? " Violets, sweet tenants of the shade, In purple's richest pride arrayed, Your errand here fulfil ; Go bid the artist's simple stain Your lustre imitate, in vain, And match your Maker's skill. " Daisies, ye flowers of lowly hirth, Embroiderers of the carpet earth, That stud the velvet sod ; Open to spring's refreshing air, In sweetest smiling bloom declare Your Maker, and my God *." This poet is truly a lover of Nature ; in her humblest attire she still is pleasing to him, and the sight of a simple weed seems to him a source of delight : ' ' There's many a seeming weed proves sweet, As sweet as garden-flowers can bef." In his lines to Cowper Green, he celebrates plants that seldom find a bard to sing them : having enumerated several, he continues ;— " Still thou ought'st to have thy meed, To show thy flower, as well as weed. * Clare's Village Minstrel and other Poems, vol. ii. page 61. t Clare's Poems on Rural Life, &c. page 63. PREFACE. Though no fays, from May-day's lap, Cowslips on thee dare to drop ; Still does nature yearly bring Fairest heralds of the spring : On thy wood's warm sunny side Primrose blooms in all its pride ; Violets carpet all thy bowers ; And anemone's weeping flowers, Dyed in winter's snow and rime, Constant to their early time, White the leaf- strewn ground again, And make each wood a garden then. Thine 's full many a pleasing bloom Of blossoms lost to all perfume : Thine the dandelion flowers, Gilt with dew, like suns with showers ; Harebells thine, and bugles blue, And cuckoo flowers all sweet to view ; Thy wild-woad on each road we see ; And medicinal betony, By thy woodside railing, reeves With antique mullein's flannel leaves. These, though mean, the flowers of waste, Planted here in nature's haste, Display to the discerning eye Her loved, wild variety : Each has charms in nature's book I cannot pass without a look. And thou hast fragrant herbs and seed, Which only garden's culture need : Thy horehound tufts, I love them well, And ploughman's spikenard's spicy smell ; Thy thyme, strong-scented 'neath one's feet ; Thy marjoram beds, so doubly sweet ; And pennyroyals creeping twine : These, each succeeding each, are thine, Spreading o'er thee, wild and gay, Blessing spring, or summer's day. As herb, flower, weed, adorn thy scene, Pleased I seek thee, Cowper Green." VILLAGE MINSTREL, &c. vol. i. page 113. The eloquence of flowers is not perhaps so generally xxiv PREFACE. understood in this country as it might be, but Mr. Bowring scarcely does us justice in the following observations : " In the Peninsula the wildest flowers are the sweetest. There are hedges of myrtles, and geraniums, and pome- granates, and towering aloes. The sunflower and the bloody warrior (Aleli grosero) occupy the parterre : they are 110 favourites of mine. " Flowers ! what a hundred associations the word brings to my mind ! Of what countless songs, sweet and sacred, delicate and divine, are they the subject ! A flower in England is something to the botanist, — but only if it be rare ; to the florist, — but only if it be beautiful : even the poet and the moralizer seldom bend down to its eloquent silence. The peasant never utters to it an ejaculation — the ploughman (all but one) carelessly tears it up with his share — no maiden thinks of wreathing it — no youth aspires to wear it : But in Spain ten to one but it becomes a minister of love, that it hears the voice of poetry, that it crowns the brow of beauty. Thus how sweetly an anony- mous cancionero sings : " Put on your brightest richest dress, Wear all your gems, blest vale of ours ! My fair one comes in her loveliness, She comes to gather flowers. " Garland me wreaths, thou fertile vale ; Woods of green your coronets bring ; Pinks of red, and lilies pale, Come with your fragrant offering. Mingle your charms of hue and smell, Which Flora wakes in her spring-tide hours ! My fair one comes across the dell, She comes to gather flowers. " Twilight of morn ! from thy misty tower Scatter the trembling pearls around, PREFACE: xxv Hang up thy gems on fruit and flower, Bespangle the dewy ground ! Phoebus, rest on thy ruby wheels- Look, and envy this world of ours ; For my fair one now descends the hills, She comes to gather flowers. " List ! for the breeze on wings serene Through the light foliage sails ; Hidden amidst the forest green Warble the nightingales ! Hailing the glorious birth of day With music's best, divinest powers, Hither my fair one bends her way, She comes to gather flowers." LONDON MAGAZINE, Spanish Romances, No. 3. For the most part of our countrymen, I fear they do not allow themselves leisure to admire or enjoy the beauties of nature ; yet it cannot be said that they are utterly in- sensible to them; for with regard to flowers at least we may observe, that on Sundays every village beau, nay every straggling townsman who comes on that day within reach of a flower, has one in his button-hole. It was, perhaps, the general power of sympathy upon the subject of plants, which caused them to be connected with some of the earliest events that history records. The mythologies of all nations are full of them ; and in all times they have been associated with the soldiery, the government, and the arts. Thus the patriot was crowned with oak ; the hero and the poet with bay ; and beauty with the myrtle. Peace had her olive ; Bacchus his ivy ; and whole groves of oak-trees were thought to send out oracular voices in the winds. One of the most pleasing parts of state-splendor has been associated with flowers, as Shakspeare seems to have had in his mind when he wrote that beautiful line respecting the accomplished prince, Hamlet : " The expectancy and rose of the fair state." xxvi PREFACE. It was this that brought the gentle family of roses into such unnatural broils in the civil wars : and still the united countries of Great Britain have each a floral emblem : Scotland has its thistle, Ireland its shamrock, and England the rose. France, under the Bourbons, has the golden lily. It was an annual custom with the Popes to send a golden rose perfumed to the prince who happened to be most in their good graces. Our different festivals have each their own peculiar plant, or plants, to be used in their celebration : at Easter the willow as a substitute for the palm ; at Christmas, the holly and the mistletoe ; on May-day every flower in bloom, but particularly the hawthorn or May-bush. In Persia they have a festival called the Feast of Roses, which lasts the whole time they are in bloom — (See ROSES, page 371). Formerly it was the custom, and still is in some parts of the country, to scatter flowers on the celebration of a wedding, a christening, or even of a funeral (See ROSES, page 364, and ROSEMARY, page 384). It was formerly the custom also to carry garlands before the bier of a maiden, and to hang them, and scatter flowers over her grave : " Her death was doubtful ; And, but that great command o'ersways the order, She should in ground unsanctified have lodged Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers, Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her, Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants*, Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home Of bell and burial." The Queen scattering flowers : " Sweets to the sweet. Farewell ! I hoped thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, And not have strewed thy grave." HAMLET, Act v. Scene 1. * Crants is the German word for garlands. PREFACE. xxvii In Tripoli, on the celebration of a wedding, the baskets of sweetmeats, &c. sent as wedding presents, are covered with flowers ; and although it is well known that they fre- quently communicate the plague, the inhabitants will even prefer running the risk, when that dreadful disease is abroad, rather than lose the enjoyment they have in their love of flowers. When a woman in Tripoli dies, a large bouquet of fresh flowers, if they can be procured, if not, of artificial, is fastened at the head of her coffin. Upon the death of a Moorish lady of quality, every place is filled with fresh flowers and burning perfumes : at the head of the body is placed a large bouquet, of part artificial, and part natural, and richly ornamented with silver: and additions are continually made to it. The author who de- scribes these customs also mentions a lady of high rank, who regularly attended the tomb of her daughter, who had been three years dead : she always kept it in repair, and, with the exception of the great mosque, it was one of the grandest in Tripoli. From the time of the young lady's death, the tomb had always been supplied with the most expensive flowers, placed in beautiful vases ; and, in addition to these, a great quantity of fresh Arabian Jessa- mines, threaded on thin slips of the Palm-leaf, were hung in festoons and tassels about this revered sepulchre. The mausoleum of the royal family, which is called the Turbar, is of the purest white marble, and is filled with an immense quantity of fresh flowers ; most of the tombs being dressed with festoons of Arabian Jessamine and large bunches of variegated flowers, consisting of Orange, Myrtle, Red and White Roses, &c. They afford a perfume which those who are not habituated to such choice flowers can scarcely conceive. The tombs are mostly of white, a few inlaid with coloured marble. A manuscript Bible, which was presented by a Jew to the Synagogue, was adorned with xxvm PREFACE. flowers ; and silver vases filled with flowers were placed upon the ark which contained the sacred MS*. The ancients used wreaths of flowers in their entertain- ments, not only for pleasure, but also from a notion that their odour prevented the wine from intoxicating them : they used other perfumes on the same account. Beds of flowers are not merely fictitious (see ROSES, page 370). The Highlanders of Scotland commonly sleep on heath, which is said to make a delicious bed ; and beds are, in Italy, often filled with the leaves of trees, instead of down or feathers. It is an old joke against the effeminate Sy- barites, that one of them complaining he had not slept all night, and being asked the reason why, said that a rose- leaf had got folded under him. In Naples, and in the Vale of Cachemere (I have been told also that it sometimes occurs in Chester), gardens are formed on the roofs of houses : " On a standing roof of wood is laid a covering of fine earth, which shelters the building from the great quantity of snow that falls in the winter season. This fence communicates an equal warmth in winter, as a refreshing coolness in summer, when the tops of the houses, which are planted with a variety of flowers, exhibit at a distance the spacious view of a beau- tifully chequered parterre." (FoR STER.) The famous hang- ing gardens of Babylon were on the enormous walls of that city. A garden usually makes a part of every Paradise, even of Mahomet's, from which women are excluded, — women, whom gallantry has so associated with flowers, that we are told, in the Malay language, one word serves for both -(-. In Milton's Paradise, the occupation of Adam and Eve * See Tully's Narrative of a Residence in Tripoli, t See Lalla Rookh, page 303. Sixth edition. PREFACE. xxix « was to tend the flowers, to prune the luxuriant branches, and support the roses, heavy with beauty (see ROSES, page 374). Poets have taken pleasure in painting gardens in all the brilliancy of imagination. See the garden of Alcinous, in Homer's Odyssey ; those of Morgana, Alcina, and Ar- inida, in the Italian poets : the gardens fair " Of Hesperus and his daughters three, Who sing about the golden tree ;" and Proserpina's garden, and the Bower of Bliss in Spen- ser's Fairie Queene. The very mention of their names seems to embower one in leaves and blossoms. It is a matter of some taste to arrange a bouquet of flowers judiciously ; even in language, we have a finer idea of colours, when such are placed together as look well to- gether in substance. Do we read of white, purple, red, and yellow flowers, they do not present to us so exquisite a picture, as if we read of yellow and purple, white and red. Their arrangement has been happily touched upon by some of our poets : " Th' Azores send Their jessamine ; her jessamine, remote Caffraia : foreigners from many lands, They form one social shade, as if convened By magic summons of th' Orphean lyre. Yet just arrangement, rarely brought to pass But by a master's hand, disposing well The gay diversities of leaf and flower, Must lend its aid t' illustrate all their charms, And dress the regular, yet various scene. Plant behind plant aspiring, in the van The dwarfish ; in the rear retired, but still Sublime above the rest, the statelier stand." COWPER. Tibi lilia plenis Ecce ferunt nymphse calathis : tibi Candida Nais, XXX PREFACE. Pallentes violas et summa papavera carpens, Narcissum et florem jungit bene olentis anethi. Turn casia, atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis, Mollia luteola pingit vaccinia caltha." VIRGIL, Eclogue 2. " Behold the nymphs bring thee lilies in full baskets : for thee fair Nais, cropping the pale violets and heads of poppies,, joins the nar- cissus, and flower of sweet-smelling anise : then, interweaving them with cassia and other fragrant herbs, sets off the soft hyacinth with the saffron marygold." DAVIDSON'S TRANSLATION. Drayton runs riot on the subject : a nymph in his Muse's Elysium says, " Here damask-roses, white and red, Out of my lap first take I, Which still shall run along the thread ; My chiefest flower this make I. Amongst these roses in a row, Next place I pinks in plenty, These double-daisies then for show, And will not this be dainty ? The pretty pansy then I'll tye Like stones some chain inchasing ; And next to them, their near ally, The purple violet placing. The curious choice clove July-flower, Whose kinds, hight the carnation, For sweetness of most sovereign power Shall help my wreath to fashion ; Whose sundry colours of one kind, First from one root derived, Them in their several suits I'll bind, My garland so contrived : A course of cowslips then I '11 stick, And here and there (though sparely) The pleasant primrose down I'll prick, Like pearls which will show rarely; Then with these marygolds I '11 make My garland somewhat swelling, These honeysuckles then I '11 take, Whose sweets shall help their smelling. PREFACE. xxxi The lily and the fleur-de-lis, For colour much contenting, For that I them do only prize, They are but poor in scenting ; The daffodil most dainty is To match with these in meetness ; The columbine compared to this, All much alike for sweetness : These in their natures only are Fit to emboss the border, Therefore I '11 take especial care To place them in their order : Sweet-williams, campions, sops-in-wine, One by another neatly ; Thus have I made this wreath of mine, And finished it featly." DRAYTON. " So did the maidens with their various flowers Deck up their windows and make neat their bowers : Using such cunning as they did dispose The ruddy peony with the lighter rose, The monkshood with the bugloss, and entwine The white, the blue, the flesh-like columbine With pinks, sweet-williams ; that far off the eye Could not the manner of their mixtures spy." W. BROWNE. What is here said on the subject of arrangement is of course addressed to those who are unacquainted with botany ; those who study that delightful science will, most probably, prefer a botanical arrangement, observing how- ever to place the smaller plants of each division next the spectator, and thus proceeding gradually to the tallest and most distant ; so that the several divisions will form strips irregular in their width. The exertions of Lamarcke and the Jussieus have now so improved the ancient and original method of arranging, plants by their natural affinities to each other, that most of the young botanists have adopted it. The only work xxxii PREFACE. in which this truly scientific method is applied to all the plants growing wild in the British Islands is Gray's Na- tural Arrangement ; which also contains an Introduction to Botany in general, on a more extensive scale than Withering's, as it includes the explanation of all the new terms which have been lately introduced into botany by the cultivators of the natural system. Although it is true that near London plants in general will not thrive so well as in a purer air, and that people in the country have usually some portion of ground to make a garden of, yet such persons as are condemned to a town life will do well to obtain whatever substitute for a garden may be in their power ; for there is confessedly no greater folly than that of refusing all pleasure, because we cannot have all we desire. In Venice, where the nature of the place is such as to afford no garden ground, it is common to see the windows filled with pots, and they have a market for the sale of them. Those who can afford it, indeed, have gardens elsewhere ; but by far the greater number are obliged to content themselves with a portable garden. A lover of flowers, who cannot have a garden or a green- house, will gladly cherish any thing that has the aspect of a green leaf : " These serve him with a hint That Nature lives : that sight-refreshing green Is still the livery she delights to wear, Though sickly samples of th' exuberant whole. What are the casements lined with creeping herbs, The prouder sashes fronted with a range Of orange, myrtle, or the fragrant weed, The Frenchman's darling * ? Are they not all proofs, That man immured in cities, still retains His inborn, inextinguishable thirst * Mignonette. PREFACE. XXXlll Of rural scenes, compensating his loss By supplemental shifts, the best he may ?" COWPER. With this passage, which brings us round to the direct object of this little work, it will be as well for me to con- clude the preface. I am as fond of books as of flowers ; but in all that regards authorship, I fear I am as little able to produce the one, as to create the others. I therefore hasten to the more mechanical part of my work, and to the kind aid of my quotations. I shall only add, if any body would like to have additional authority for the cultivation of a few domestic flowers, that Gray, with all his love of the grander features of nature, and all his nice sense of his own dignity, did not think it beneath him to supply the want of a larger garden with flower-pots in his windows, to look to them entirely himself, and to take them in, with all due tenderness, of an evening. See his delightful letters to his friends. For a poetical translation of some quotations, of which there was before either no English version, or none that did justice to the original, as well as for some general cor- rections, &c. I am indebted to the assistance of a friend, whose kindness I most gratefully and somewhat proudly acknowledge, in sparing a few hours from his own im- portant studies, to give this little volume some pretension to public notice. Although no other flowers are considered in this work, but those usually grown in pots ; yet this comprises a larger collection than most persons are likely to cultivate. They indeed who are much attached to the beauties of the vegetable tribes may add others not here mentioned, go very deep into the science of botany, and yet keep within the limits of a garden of pots. Some even of the most scientific botanists prefer a domestic garden of this kind. xxxiv PREFACE. For example, Richard Anthony Salisbury, Esq. the uni- versally acknowledged head of our English botanists, no longer cultivates his former gardens at Chapel Allerton, Yorkshire, or at Mill Hill, Middlesex, but confines his at- tention to a choice collection of the most curious plants in pots, arranged in the yard of his house in Queen Street, Edgeware Road. In like manner, Messrs. Loddiges, nurserymen at Hackney, have a very large collection of hardy herbaceous plants, in small pots, set on beds of scoria, to keep the soil contained in them moist. June 5, 1825. Considerable additions have been made to this volume since its first publication, as well with regard to the bio- graphy of plants, and to their titles (whether of modern date, or held by inheritance from a long line of noble an- cestry), as to poetical illustrations. To the latter, indeed, it is not easy to affix limits : a collection of all the passages on this subject, even though it were confined to the poets of our own country, would fill volumes ; yet it is often a painful task to reject them. There is an inspiration in the works of nature which gives a more than usual power even to talents of a common order, when treating of them ; and although we take greater delight in the rose, the violet, or the lily, we also love to pluck from the hedge-side the haw- thorn and the ragged-robin. Wordsworth very naturally describes the inclination we have to gather wild flowers : -: V v :!(-. «tft && |p -.:'* 'io -v.r;.- r" * St. Pierre's Voyage to the Isle of France. 8 FLORA DOMESTIC A. when weaning their children ; applying it to the bosom to induce them to refuse it ; but this is surely a more objec- tionable deceit than that by which they are allured to swallow nauseous drugs. " Cosi all' egro fanciul porgiamo aspersi Di soavi licor gli orli del vaso : Succhi amari, ingannato, intanto ei beve ; E dall' inganno suo vita riceve." T.ASSO. <( So we (if children young diseased we find") Anoint with sweets the vessel's foremost parts, To make them taste the potions sharp we give : They drink, deceived ; and so deceived, they live." FAIRFAX'S Translation. It seems strange that any thing but the most imperative necessity should induce a mother to use any means which can render her an object of disgust to her child. The most remarkable of the Aloe tribe is the great Ame- rican Aloe, named by botanists Agave, which name is de- rived from the Greek, and signifies admirable, or glorious : called by the French aloe en arbre [tree aloe], and also pitte, The natural order in which it should be arranged is uncertain. Bernard Jussieu placed it with the Narcissi, and Anthony Jussieu with the Bromeliacca?. It is a native of all the southern parts of America. The stem generally rises upwards of twenty feet high, and branches out on every side towards the top, so as to form a kind of pyramid. The slender shoots are garnished with greenish yellow flowers, which come out in thick clusters at every joint, and continue long in beauty ; a succession of new flowers being produced for near three months in favourable seasons, if the plant is protected from the autumnal cold. The elegance of the flower, and the rarity of its appearance in our cold climate, render it an object of such general cu- ALOE. 9 riosity, that the gardener who possesses the plant an- nounces it in the public papers, and builds a platform round it for the accommodation of the spectators. The popular opinions, that the aloe flowers but once in a cen- tury, and that its blooming is attended with a noise like the report of a cannon, are equally without foundation. Some other plants are said to blow with this explosion. Thun- berg says of the talipot-tree, that when it is on the point of bursting forth from its leafy summit, the sheath which en- velops the flower is very large, and when it bursts makes an explosion like the report of a cannon. Miller suggests a curious and not improbable origin of this error with regard to the Aloe. " I suppose," says he, " the rise of this story might proceed from some persons saying, when one of these plants flowered, it made a great noise ; meaning thereby, that whenever one of them flow- ered in England, it was spread abroad as an uncommon thing, and occasioned a great noise among the neighbouring inhabitants ; most of whom usually repair to see it, as a thing that rarely happens, and as a great curiosity."" The fact is, that the time which this plant takes to come to per- fection varies with the climate. In hot countries, where they grow fast, and expand many leaves every season, they will flower in a few years; but in colder climates, where their growth is slow, they will be much longer in arriving at perfection. The leaves of the American Aloe are five or six feet long, from six to nine inches broad, and three or four thick*. Millar mentions one of these plants in the garden of the King of Prussia, that was forty feet high ; another in the royal garden at Friedricksberg in Denmark, two-and-twenty feet high, which had nineteen branches, bearing four thou- * Wood's Zoography, vol. iii. 10 FLORA DOMESTICA. sand flowers; and a third in the botanic garden at Cam- bridge, which, at' sixty years of age, had never borne flowers. He specifies some others, remarkable for the num- ber of their flowers, but does not mention the age of any one at the time of flowering. " With us," says Rousseau, " the term of its life is un- certain ; and after having flowered, it produces a number of offsets, and dies." Brydone, speaking of the approach to the city of Agri- gentum, says, " The road on each side is bordered by a row of exceeding large American Aloes ; upwards of one- third of them being at present in full blow, and making the most beautiful appearance that can be imagined. The flower-stems of this noble plant are in general betwixt twenty and thirty feet high (some of them more), and are covered with flowers from top to bottom; which taper re- gularly, and form a beautiful kind of pyramid, the base or pedestal of which is the fine spreading leaves of the plant. As this is esteemed in northern countries one of the greatest curiosities of the vegetable tribe, we were happy in seeing it in so great perfection ; much greater, I think, than I had ever seen it before. " With us, I think, it is vulgarly reckoned (though I be- lieve falsely) that they only flower once in a hundred years. Here I was informed, that, at the latest, they always blow the sixth year, but for the most part the fifth. As the whole substance of the plant is carried into the stem and the flowers, the leaves begin to decay as soon as the blow is completed, and a numerous offspring of young plants are produced round the root of the old one. These are slipped off, and formed into new plantations, either for hedges or for avenues to their country-houses *." Thunberg says * BrydoneV Tour in Sicily and Malta, vol. ii. p. 5. ALOE. 11 that this Aloe is very common at the Cape ; and, although not a native, but imported from the botanic gardens of Europe, blossoms finely every year*. A kind of soap is prepared from the leaves, and the leaves themselves are used for scowering floors, pewter, &c.; their epidermis is serviceable to literature as a material for writing upon. The following extract from Wood's Zoo- graphy will give some idea of the general utility of this ex- traordinary plant : — " The Mahometans respect the Aloe as a plant of a su- perior nature. In Egypt it may be said to bear some share in their religious ceremonies ; since whoever returns from a pilgrimage to Mecca hangs it over his street-door as a proof of his having performed that holy journey. The superstitious Egyptians believe that this plant hinders evil spirits and apparitions from entering the house ; and on this account, whoever .walks the streets in Cairo, will find it over the doors of both Christians and Jews." Maximilian, in his Travels in Brazil, mentions a species of Agave which grew by the sea-side (Agave fcetida), of which he says — " Its smooth-edged stiff leaves, eight or ten feet long, form strong hedges ; and from the middle rises a thick stem thirty feet high, which bears at the top yellowish green flowers, and gives the landscape an original appear- ance. The pith of the stem^ called Pitta, serves the col- lectors of insects instead of cork •(•." May not the French name Pitte be taken from this word Pitta? Lavaysse, in his " Venezuela," says the inhabitants make ropes from the Jgavejwtida : — " The leaves of the different specimens of Aloe, as well as the Agave, are highly serviceable to the natives of the * Thunberg's Travels, p. 283. t Page 82. 12 FLORA DOMESTICA. countries where they grow. The negroes in Senegal make excellent ropes of them, which are not liable to rot in water ; and of two kinds mentioned by Sir Hans Sloane, one is manufactured into fishing-lines, bow-strings, stock- ings, and hammocks ; while the other has leaves, which, like those of the wild pine and the banana, hold rain- water, and thus afford a valuable refreshment to travellers in hot climates. The poor in Mexico derive almost every necessary of life from a species of Aloe. Besides making excellent hedges for their fields, its trunk serves instead of beams for the roofs of their houses, and its leaves supply the place of tiles. From these they obtain paper, thread, needles, clothing, shoes, stockings, and cordage ; from the juice they make wine, honey, sugar, and vinegar." Such of the Aloes as do not require a stove will bear the open air, in our climate, from the end of March to the end of September. During the winter they should be watered about once in a month ; in the summer, when the weather is dry, once in a week or ten days ; but when there is much rain, they should be sheltered from it, or they will be apt to rot. If the weather be mild, they may be placed where they may receive the fresh air in the day-time for a month after they are housed ; after that the windows should be closed. They should not be put into large pots, but should be re- moved into fresh earth every year, which should be done in July. As much of the earth should be shaken away as possible, the roots opened with the fingers, and such as are decayed taken off; but great care must be taken not to break or wound those which are young and fresh. Water them gently when newly planted, place them in the shade for three weeks, and if the weather is hot and dry, water them in a similar manner once or twice a week. Most of the species may at this time be increased by offsets, which should be planted in very small pots ; and if, in taking off ALOE. the suckefs, you find them very moist where they are broken from the mother-root, they should lie in a dry shady place for a week before they are planted. When planted, treat them like the old plants. Such kinds as do not afford plenty of offsets may generally be propagated by taking off some of the under leaves, laying them to dry for ten days or a fortnight, and planting them, putting that part of the leaf which adhered to the old plant about an inch or an inch and a half into the earth. This should be done in June. There are few things, I believe, more venerable, more eloquently impressive in their antiquity, than an old tree. The ruins of an old and noble edifice, of which every shat- tered fragment, every gaping cranny, complains of the de- structive hand of time, is young and modern in our eyes, compared with that which still survives its touch, — the old ivy, that still, with every succeeding year, moves slowly on, knitting its creeping stalks into every crevice, and carrying- its broad leaves up to the very summit. What can be more venerable than the far- spreading roots of an old elm or oak tree, veining the earth with wood ! Cross but that little piece of wood, called the wilderness, leading from Hamp- stead towards North End, where the intermingled roots are visible at every step, casing the earth in impenetrable armour, and forming a natural pavement, apparently as old as time itself — can all the antiquities of Egypt command a greater reverence ? The larger species of Aloe, from the immensity of its size, and the known slowness of its growth, must speak the same impressive language. Mr. Campbell has put it in a noble attitude for the occasion : " Rocks sublime To human art a sportive semblance bore, And yellow lichens colour'd all the clime Like moonlight battlements, and towers decay 'd by time. 14 FLORA DOMESTIC A. But high in amphitheatre above, His arms the everlasting aloe threw." GERTRUDE OF WYOMING. The Abbe la Pluche gives an interesting account of the Uses of the Chinese Aloe, commonly called Wood-aloes, or Aloes-wood; from whence, as has been supposed, the name of aloe has been transferred to the common species. " This Aloe," says he, " is as tall as the olive-tree, and of much the same shape : there are three sorts of wood contained under its bark ; the first is black, compact, and heavy ; the second swarthy, and as light as touchwood ; the third, which lies near the heart, diffuses a powerful fragrance. The first is known by the name of eagle-wood, and is a scarce commodity ; the second, calembouc-wood, which is transported into Europe, where it is highly esteemed as an excellent drug ; it burns like wax, and, when thrown into the fire, has an aromatic odour. The third, which is the heart, and called calambac, or tambac- wood, is a more valuable commodity in the Indies than gold itself. It is used for perfuming the clothes and the apart- ments of persons of distinction ; and is a specific medicine for persons affected with fainting-fits, or with the palsy *. The Indians, likewise, set their most costly jewels in this wood. The leaves of this tree are sometimes used instead of slates for roofing houses ; are manufactured into dishes and plates, and, when well dried, are fit to be brought to table. If stripped betimes of their nerves and fibres, they are used as hemp, and manufactured into a thread. Of the points, with which the branches abound, are made nails, darts, and awls. The Indians pierce holes in their ears * The pieces of this wood are carefully preserved in pewter boxes, to prevent their drying ; when used, they are ground upon a marble with such liquids as are best suited for the purpose intended. — HARRIS'S Natural History of the Bible, p. 9. ALOE. 15 with the last, when they propose to honour the devil with some peculiar testimonies of their devotion. If any orifice or aperture be made in this tree by cutting off any of its buds, a sweet vinous liquor effuses in abundance from the wound, which proves an agreeable liquor to drink when fresh, and in process of time becomes an excellent vinegar, The wood of the branches is very agreeable to the taste, and has something of the flavour of a candied citron. The roots themselves are of service, and are- frequently con- verted into ropes. To conclude, a whole family may sub- sist on, reside in, and be decently clothed by, one of these Aloes." The common writing-paper in Cochin-China is made from the bark of this tree ; of which the botanical name is aquilaria, from aquila, an eagle, so named because it grows in lofty places ; and from its bitter taste, also termed Wood- aloes. Chaucer notices both the fragrance and the bitterness of the Aloe-wood : / pansion, and the ripening of the seeds." In the woods of Canada, and other parts of North America, it grows in abundance : the Indians are said to paint their faces with the juice. In this country the flowers open in April, but they fully expand only in fine warm weather. We are told, that in the year 1680 this plant was culti- vated in " Mr. Walker's suburban garden in St. James's Street, near the palace." Its flowers are white, and three or four flower-stems spring from one root : it prefers a loose soil and a shady situation, and may be annually in- creased by parting the roots in September. When the flowers decay, the green leaves come out, which last till Midsummer : from which time till autumn the roots remain inactive. It should be planted in a pot seven or eight inches wide, and an equal mixture of bog earth and rotten leaves will be the best soil. It must be watered every evening in dry summer weather. The earth may be co- vered with moss, which will tend to preserve the moisture in the summer, and to protect the roots from frost in the winter. BOX TREE. BUXUS. EUPHORBIACEjE. MONOECIA TETRANPRIA, French, le buis ; le bois beni [blessed wood]. — Italian, busso ; bosso; bossolo ; in the Brescian territory, martel [hammer wood] ; buz. PROPERLY speaking, there is but one species of Box; varying much in size, and somewhat in the colour of its leaves. It may be easily propagated both by seeds and cuttings ; but is so slow of growth, as to be many years in 74 FLORA DOMESTICA. attaining any considerable size. It is therefore advisable to purchase it of the size desired, rather than to raise it at home. It will thrive in any soil or exposure, and under the deepest shade. It is an evergreen, and re- markable for its fine glowing colour : particularly the dwarf kind. In the story of Rimini, it is called " sunny- coloured box." " The pleasantness of its verdure," says Evelyn, " is incomparable." The Box-tree, though in gardens seldom seen more than three or four feet high, will, if not cut, rise to a height of twelve or fifteen. The wood is close-grained, very hard, and heavy. It is the only one of the European woods that will sink in water ; and is sold by weight, fetching a high price. Not being liable to warp, it is well adapted to a variety of nicer purposes ; as tops, screws, chess-men, pegs for musical instruments, knife-handles, modelling- tools, &c. The ancients made combs of it, which use is mentioned by Cowley in his poem on Plants : te They tye the links that hold their gallants fast, And spread the nets to which fond lovers haste." Thunberg says that Box is very common in Japan, both in a wild and in a cultivated state ; and that it is there made into combs, which are covered with a red varnish, and worn by the ladies for ornament*. Corsican honey was supposed by the ancients to owe its ill name to the bees feeding upon Box : (Virgil indeed seems to attribute it to their feeding upon Yew).-f- None of our animals will touch it. Parkinson says, " the leaves * Thunberg's Travels, vol. iii. p. 83, or 227. t See Virgil's ninth Eclogue : not in Dryden's Version ; he makes no mention of Corsica. The ill qualities of the Corsican honey are, by some writers, attributed to the yews and hemlock which grow in that island in great abundance. BOX TREE. 75 and saw-dust boiled in lye will change the hair to an auburn colour.1' When it was the fashion to clip and cut trees into the shapes of beasts, birds, &c. the Box was considered as second only to the yew for that purpose ; for which, Pliny says that nothing is better adapted. Martial notices this quality in speaking of Bassus's garden : " otiosis ordinata myrtetis, Viduaque platano tonsilique buxeto." " There likewise mote be seen on every side The yew obedient to the planter's will, And shapely box, of all their branching pride Ungently shorne, and with preposterous skill, To various beasts, and birds of sundry quill Transformed, and human shapes of monstrous size ; ***** " Also other wonders of the sportive shears Fair Nature mis-adorning, there were found Globes, spiral columns, pyramids and piers With sprouting urns, and budding statues crown'd ; And horizontal dials on the ground In living box by cunning artists traced ; And gallies trim, on no long voyage bound, But by their roots there ever anchored fast, All were their bellying sails outspread to every blast." G. WEST. This preposterous taste in gardening was at last reformed by the pure and classical taste of Bacon ; who, though no enemy to sculpture, did not approve of this absurd species of it : at once disfiguring art and nature. " In several parts of the north of England, when a funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of Box-wood is placed at the door of the house from which the coffin is taken up ; and each person who attends the funeral ordi- narily takes a sprig of this Box-wood, and throws it into the grave of the deceased.11 — (See Note in WORDSWORTH'S POEMS, 8vo. vol. i. p. 163.) 76 FLORA DOMESTICA. " The basin of box-wood, just six months before, Had stood on the table at Timothy's door ; A coffin through Timothy's threshold had pass'd, One child did it bear, and that child was his last." WORDSWORTH. Gerarde informs us, that turners and cutlers call Box- wood dudgeon, because they make dudgeon-hafted knives of it. The box-tree is a native of most parts of Europe, from Britain southwards : it also abounds in many parts of Asia and America. In England it was formerly much more common than at present. " These trees," says Evelyn, " grow naturally at Boxley in Kent, and at Box-hill in Surrey : giving name to them. He that in winter should behold some of our highest hills in Surrey, clad with whole woods of them, for divers miles in circuit, as in those delicious groves of them belonging to the late Sir Adam Brown of Beckworth Castle, might easily fancy himself transported into some new or enchanted country." But this enchantment has been long since dissolved. Mr. Millar, in 1759, lamented the great havoc made among the trees on Box-hill, though there then remained several of considerable magnitude ; but since that time the destruction has been yet greater. Not only this hill in Surrey, and Boxley in Kent, but Boxwell in Coteswold, Gloucester- shire, is said to be named from the Box tree. It has been made a serious and heavy complaint against Box, that it emits an exceedingly unpleasant odour, of which the poets speak as a thing notorious : yet it is only when fresh cut that the scent is unpleasant, and a little water poured over it immediately removes this objection. According to Herrick it was the custom with our fore- fathers, on Candlemas day, to replace the Christmas ever- greens with sprigs of Box : BROOM. 77 " Down with the rosemary and bays, Down with the misseltoe ; Instead of holly, now upraise The greener box for show. The holly hitherto did sway ; Let box now domineer, Until the dancing Easter-day, Or Easter's eve appear : Then youthful box, which now hath grace Your houses to renew, Grown old, surrender must his place Unto the crisped yew. When yew is out, then birch comes in, And many flowers beside, Both of a fresh and fragrant kin To honour Whitsuntide : . Green rushes then, and sweetest bents, With cooler oaken boughs, Come in for comely ornaments To readorn the house." BROOM. SPARTIUM. LEGUMINOS.E. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. French, le genet * ; le genet a balais. — Italian, sparzio ; scopa ; gi- nestra ; scornabecco : all referring to its use as besoms. THE Brooms are very ornamental shrubs, with few leaves, but an abundance of brilliant and elegant flowers : they strike a deep root, but are too handsome to be rejected where * The family of Plantagenet took their name from this shrub, which they wore as their device. It has been said that Fulk, the first Earl of Anjou of that name, being stung with remorse for some wicked action, went in pilgrimage to Jerusalem, as a work of atonement; where, being soundly scourged with broom-twigs, which grew plenti- fully on the spot, he ever after took the surname of Plantagenet, or Broom-plant, which was retained by his noble posterity. 78 FLORA DOMESTICA. room can be afforded for them. They must be planted in a pot or tub of considerable depth. There are three species with white, and one with violet-coloured flowers : the others have all yellow blossoms. The violet-coloured has no leaves, and is usually called the Leafless Broom : it was found by Pallas in the Wolga Desert. The Spanish Broom has yellow — the Portugal, white blossoms. The white-flowered, one-seeded kind, is a native both of Spain and Portugal. " It converts the most barren spot into a fine odoriferous garden,'" says Mr. Martyn, speaking of this species. All the species here named will endure the cold without shelter : they do not like much wet. Our common Broom surpasses many of the foreign kinds in beauty : indeed, few shrubs are more magnificent than this evergreen, with its profusion of bright golden blossoms. " On me such beauty summer pours That I am covered o'er with flowers ; And when the frost is in the sky, My branches are so fresh and gay That you might look at me, and say, This plant can never die. * # * # The butterfly, all green and gold, To me hath often flown, Here in my blossoms to behold Wings lovely as his own." WORDSWORTH, vol. i. p. 259. They are the delight of the bees : and the young buds, while yet green, are pickled like capers. It is said that the branches are of service in tanning leather, and that a kind of coarse cloth is manufactured from them. The young shoots are mixed with hops in brewing ; and the old wood is valuable to the cabinet-maker. Brooms are made from this shrub ; and, from their name, it is supposed to have furnished the first that were made. BBOOM. 79 " Where yon brown hazels pendent catkins bear, And prickly furze unfolds its blossoms fair ; The vagrant artist oft at eve reclines, And broom's green shoots in besoms neat combines." SCOTT of Am well. In the north of Great Britain it is used for thatching cottages, corn, and hay-ricks, and making fences. In some parts of Scotland, where coals and wood are scarce, whole fields are sown with it for fuel. But the Scotch have long been aware of the poetry as well as the utility of this beautiful shrub. The burden of one of their most popular songs is well known : " O the broom, the bonny bonny broom, The broom of the Cowden-knows ; For sure so soft, so sweet a bloom Elsewhere there never grows." Burns lauds it, too, in one of his songs, written to an Irish air, which was a great favourite with him, called the Humours of Glen : " Their groves of sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon, Where bright beaming summers exalt the perfume ; Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green breckan, Wi', the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom. " Far dearer to me are yon humble broom bowers, Where the blue-bell and gowan lurk lowly unseen ; For there lightly tripping amang the sweet flowers, A listening the linnet, oft wanders my Jean." " 'Twas that delightful season, when the broom Full-flowered, and visible on every steep, Along the copses runs in veins of gold." WORDSWORTH'S POEMS, 8vo. vol. ii. p. 265. Thomson speaks of it as a favourite food of kine. It flowers in May and June. " Yellow and bright, as bullion unalloyed, Her blossoms." COWPER'S TASK. SO FLORA DOMESTIC A. Broom makes a pleasant shade for a lounger in the summer : it seems to embody the sunshine, while it inter- cepts its heat : " To noontide shades incontinent he ran, Where purls the brook with sleep-inviting sound ; Or, when Dan Sol to slope his wheels began, Amid the broom he basked him on the ground, Where the wild thyme and camomile are found." CASTLE OF INDOLENCE, Canto I. Mr. Horace Smith speaks of it as poisonous, yet most of the species are eaten by cattle : some are particularly recommended as a food for kine. The Base Broom, or Green-weed, is said to embitter the milk of the cows that eat of it ; but, from the bitterness of the plant itself, they commonly refuse it. " my herd Cannot be browsed upon the mount, for so The heifers might devour with eager tongue The poisonous budding brooms." AMARYNTHUS. Virgil speaks of it as a food for cattle : " salices, humilesque genistse, Aut illae pecori frondem, aut pastoribus umbras Sufficiunt ; sepemque satis, et pabula melli." GEORGIC ii. " Willows and humble broom afford either browse for the cattle, or shade for the shepherds, and hedges for the fields, and food for bees." MARTYN'S TRANSLATION. The poet is supposed to intend the Spanish Broom in this passage, which grows plentifully in some parts of Italy, and of which the Italians weave the slender branches into baskets. Virgil speaks of it in another passage as the " bending broom." In England, the Broom has generally a kind of sharp and arrow-like straightness ; in Italy, where it rises higher than in this country, the branches being very slender, do not support themselves so stiffly BROOM. 81 Clorin, in the Faithful Shepherdess, reproves " the lazy clowns That feed their heifers in the budded brooms." Mr. Seward observes, in a note upon this passage, that this instance of laziness is taken from Spenser's Shepherd^s Calendar for February, and supposes it to mean that they leave their herds among the broom, which grows on the worst soil, instead of driving them into the best pastures *. " So loitering live you little herd-grooms, Keeping your beasts in the budded brooms." SPENSER. Dr. Hall complains much of the negligence of the farmers in taking so little heed to check the growth of thistles, furze, broom, &c. even in the fields in the neighbourhood of Edin- burgh. " It is well known," says he, " that the seeds of thistles, rag-weed, and the like, are blown with the wind, and that though furze, as Lord Kaimes observes, is the only shrub in Britain that flowers all the year round ; and broom in bloom is one of the most beautiful shrubs we have, and appears like gold at a distance, yet they ought, if possible, to be completely extirpated out of those parts of the country where sheep are not reared. And it is to be hoped the day is not far distant when the farmers who allow thistles, ragweed, and the like, to seed on their fields, without having attempted to prevent them, will be sub- jected to a penalty -fV Browne alludes to the use of Broom in thatching : " Among the flags below, there stands his coate, A simple one, thatched o'er with reed and broom ; It hath a kitchen, and a several room For each of us." BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS. A Russian poet speaks of the Broom as a tree : * See Beaumont and Fletcher, vol. iv. p. 127. t Hall's Scotland, p. 605. o FLORA DOMESTICA. " See there upon the broom-tree's bough The young grey eagle flapping now." BOWRING'S RUSSIAN ANTHOLOGY. The blossom of the Common Broom closely resembles that of the Furze, both in form and colour — that Furze which sheds such a lustre over our heaths and commons, and at sight of which, it is said, Dillenius fell into a perfect ecstasy. In many parts of Germany the Furze-bush is un- known. Gerarde says, that about Dantzic, Brunswick, and in Poland, there was not a sprig of either Furze or Broom ; and it is really a striking sight to come suddenly upon a common, glowing, as it were, in one great sea of gold. Gerarde adds, that, in compliance with earnest and repeated entreaties, he sent seeds to these places, and that the plants raised from them were curiously kept in the finest gardens. Furze bears various names in different parts of England : Furze in the south, Whin in the east, and Gorse in the north. " The prickly gorse, that, shapeless and deformed, And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom, And decks itself with ornaments of gold." COWPER'S TASK. " Or from yon swelling downs, where sweet air stirs Blue harebells lightly, and where prickly furze Buds lavish gold." KEATS'S ENDYMION. St. Pierre evidently alludes to the Furze-bush in the following passage : " I saw in Brittany a vast deal of un- cultivated land ; nothing grows upon it but Broom, and a shrub with yellow flowers, which appeared to me a com- position of thorns. The country people called it Lande, or San : they bruise it, to feed their cattle. The Broom serves only to heat their ovens. It might be turned to better account. The Romans made cord of it, which they preferred to hemp, for their shipping." — ST. PIERRE'S VOYAGE TO THE ISLE OF FRANCE. BROWALLIA-— CAMELLIA JAPONICA. 83 It is also called in different parts of France, Jonc Marin [Sea-rush] ; Pore Marin [the Sea-hog] ; Lande Epmeme [Thorny Heath]. Its botanical name is Ulex. BROWALLIA. BROWALLIEJE. DIDYNAMIA ANOIOSPERMIA. So named by Linnaeus, from Job Browallius, Bishop of A*boa. French, Broualle. THIS is but an annual plant, and must be raised in a hot-bed ; but it is worth procuring for its short-lived beauty, on account of the extreme brilliancy of the colours. " We cannot," says Mr. Curtis, " do justice to it by any colours we have." There are but two kinds : the Upright, and the Branching. The former is the handsomest. It is a native of Peru, and flowers from July to September. It should be kept within doors till June ; and, in dry and hot weather, should be frequently, but sparingly, watered. CAMELLIA JAPONICA. CAMELLIADE^E. MONADELPHIA POLYANDRIA. So named in honour of Joseph Kamel, a Jesuit, whose name is usually spelled Camellus. This tree is sometimes called Japan Rose. THIS beautiful evergreen must be sheltered from the middle of September till the beginning of June. In the summer, when the weather is dry, it should be watered every evening, or second evening, according to the heat of the sun : in the winter once a week will suffice, and that should be at noon. There are double and single varieties ; white, purple, and red of each. This tree has the appearance of a bay bearing roses, much more than the rhododendron, which, from some fancied resemblance of that sort, is also named rose-ba. 84 FLORA DOMESTICA. There are several other Camellias, requiring the same treatment as this, which is the handsomest species. Had the Camellia been a Greek, or Italian, or English plant, there would have been a great deal said of it by poets and lovers; and doubtless it makes a figure in the poetry of Japan. But, unfortunately for our quotations, though perhaps fortunately for their own comfort, the Japanese have hitherto had most of their good things to themselves. Their country would lay open a fine field for the botanist. See an interesting account of this apparently intelligent and amiable people in Golownin's Narrative of his Captivity among them. There are two superb collections of the Camellia Ja- ponica open to the public : one at Vauxhall, the other at Hackney. In Japan an oil is expressed from the seeds of the Ca- mellia Japonica, which is constantly used in preparing food. The species called the Camellia Sasanqua is a small shrub, so exactly like the tea-shrub, both in leaf and blossom, that they are not readily distinguished but by their size. The leaves have a pleasing scent, and, after being boiled, are used by the Japanese ladies to wash their hair. They are likewise sometimes mixed with the tea- leaves to make their scent yet more agreeable *. CAMPANULA. CAMPANULACEjE. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Italian, campanella. — French, campanule, or carapanette. — English, Bell-flower. These names signify a little bell, and were given to the flower on account of its bell-like shape. MILLAR mentions seventy-eight kinds of Campanula, of which it will be sufficient to specify some of the most de- * See Thunbcrg's Travels, vol. iv. p. 38 and 120. CAMPANULA. 85 sirable; as the Venus's Looking-glass, which has usually a handsome purple flower, but sometimes white. This plant takes its name from the glossiness of the seeds. It is also called Corn-Gilliflower, and Corn-Pink : in French, Miroir de Venus, but at Paris, la Doucette: in Italian, Specchio di Venere. It is a native of , the south of Europe. Plants sown in the autumn will flower in May, a month earlier than those sown in the spring. The seeds may be sown about an inch asunder ; the earth should be kept moist, and the plant should remain in the open air. The roots of this species are annual. The Peach-leaved Campanula is a perennial. The flowers are blue or white; double and single varieties of each. This may be increased by parting the roots, which should be done in September. It will thrive in any soil or situation. The Giant Throatwort is a native of England and most parts of Europe. It has a purple or white flower, which blows in July and August. This species loves shade. The Giant Throatwort is mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in the poem of Rokeby ; and he observes in a note, that it grows in profusion upon the beautiful banks of the River Greta, where it divides the manors of Brignell and Scargill, about three miles from Greta bridge : -" he laid him down, Where purple heath profusely strown, And throat wort with its azure bell, And moss, and thyme, his cushion swell." ROKEBY, 4to Edit. p. 112. Great Throatwort, Canterbury Bells, called in French la Cloche [Bell], la Clochette [Little Bell], les Gands de Notre Dame [Our Lady's Gloves], is a native of Europe and Japan. It has purple or white flowers, blowing in 86 FLORA DOMESTICA. July and August. This species may be increased in the same manner as the Peach-leaved, but prefers a loamy soil : they are both very hardy. The name of Throat wort was given to these plants from a notion that they would cure inflammation and swelling of the throat. The lesser Canterbury Bells have purple, brilliant blue, or white flowers, which continue from June to September. This prefers a dry chalky soil : in a rich soil the flowers are apt to lose their colour. This is the Calathian Violet ; also called Autumn Bell-flower, Autumn Violet, and Harvest Bells. The Medium, or Coventry Bells, — in French, Mariettes, and in Italian, Viola Mariana [Mary's Violet] — to which Gerarde gives the name of Mercury's Violets, have large and handsome flowers, blowing in June : their colours, blue, purple, white, or striped. The Campanulas here enumerated, and such others as are not natives of the Cape, are sufficiently hardy to endure the open air in the winter, although some of them are sheltered while seedlings. Most of them may be increased by cuttings or seeds. Those raised from cuttings flower more quickly; those from seeds are considered as the strongest. They should be sparingly watered. There is a species of Campanula which is trained to conceal fire-places in the summer, and has a very pretty effect when so used. It is the Pyramidal Campanula ; la Pyramidale des Jardms of the French. The roots send out three or four strong upright stalks, which grow nearly four feet high, and are garnished with smooth oblong leaves and an abundance of large blue flowers. These upright stalks send out short side-branches, which are also adorned with flowers; so that, by spreading the upright stalks to a flat frame composed of slender laths, the whole plant is formed into the shape of a fan, and will perfectly CAMPANULA. 87 screen a common sized fire-place. The plant may stand abroad till the flowers begin to open ; and, being then placed in a room where it is shaded from the sun and rain, the flowers will continue long in beauty. If it be removed into the air at night, where it is not exposed to heavy rains, the flowers will be handsomer, and will last longer. This species is a native of Savoy, and makes a magnificent ap- pearance among the rocks on the coast of Ithaca, where it grows plentifully. Few plants, especially of so hardy a kind, have such an abundance of beautiful flowers, and alto- gether so elegant an appearance as this. It is, however, rather more delicate than those before mentioned ; and when raised from seeds, which is the best mode, requires a hot- bed to bring it forward. It should therefore be procured in a pot, and should be one that has been raised from seed. This species is in every part filled with a kind of milky juice, which issues forth on the plucking of the smallest leaf or flower ; this is, in some degree, common to Cam- panulas in general ; but the pyramidal sort has it in greater abundance than most of them. Most of the Campanulas close their flowers at night. They will grow in common garden earth. ' There is a beautiful little Campanula, common on heaths and commons all over England, and which is, doubtless, an old friend and favourite with the reader. It is called the Round-leaved Bell-flower, [Campanula rotundifolia] ; the leaves from which it is framed grow near to the root, and as they soon dry away, and fall off, are seldom observed ; but the little blue-bell flower, nodding upon its long and slender stem, is an object of admiration to all who see it. The stem is sometimes branched, but perhaps more fre- quently simple ; when branched, each branch has, like the stem, a single flower at the summit. The flower itself is a miniature likeness of the Pyramidal Campanula. 88 FLORA DOMESTICA. This elegant wild-flower is familiarly called the Heath- bell ; some have confused it with the Harebell, or English hyacinth, which is a very different flower ; and some say that the name of harebell properly belongs to the Little Campanula. Sir Walter Scott speaks of it by that title : " What though no rule of courtly grace To measured mood had trained her pace ? A foot more light., a step more true, Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew : E'en the slight hare-bell raised its head Elastic from her airy tread." LADY OF THE LAKE. CANDY-TUFT. JBERIS. CRUCIFERfc. TETRADYNAMIA SILICULOSA. Candy-Tuft takes its English name from Candia, one of the many countries of which it is a native ; and its Latin name from Iberia, now Spain. — French, Grin de lin ; Italian, Iberide. THE evergreen kinds are more tender than most of the species, and require shelter from frost : they do not thrive so well in a pot as in the open ground, but cannot for a comparative inferiority be dispensed with. In addition to the advantage of retaining their green leaves all the year, they enliven the winter months with their tufts of white flowers, which continue in succession from the end of August till the beginning of June. There are two species of evergreen Candy-Tufts : the broad and the narrow-leaved. The former is a native of Persia ; the latter, of the island of Candia. As these do not often produce seeds in England, they are increased by cuttings, which may be planted in any of the summer months ; and, if shaded from the sun, and kept moist, will take root in two months. Their branches will fall unless, supported by sticks. CARDAMINE. 89 The Common Purple Candy-Tuft, the White, and the Sweet-scented are annuals; and, if sown in September, March, April, and May, may be continued in succession throughout the summer. These, as well as the Rock and the Round-leaved Candy-Tufts, will bear exposure to the open air. They must not have more water than is suf- ficient to keep them from absolute drought. The Purple has a variety of names : as Candia Thlaspi, Candia Mustard, and Spanish Tuft. The White species, though not mentioned by any of the old botanical writers, is indigenous : it is common to most European countries. The Sweet-scented, the flowers of which are dazzlingly white, is a native of the mountains near Geneva. The seeds should be sown in pots four or five inches in diameter, one in each. CAKDAMINE. CRUCIFERjE. TETRADYNAMIA SILIQUOSA. So called from its taste of cardamoms; also Lady's Smock, from the white sheets of flowers they display on the plashes of water in which they usually grow ; and Cuckoo-flower, from blowing at the time of that bird beginning to sing. — French, cresson de pres [meadow-cress] ; passarage sauvage [wild cress]. — Italian, cardamindo; nasturzio di prato ; o crescione di prato : both signifying meadow-cress. FEW of the species of Cardamine are admitted into gardens. The kind most deserving of a place there is the common Cuckoo-flower, or Lady's Smock, which is common in our meadows, and by brook sides, &c, ; or, ra- ther, the double varieties of this kind should perhaps be selected. This flower has been usually described by the poets as of a silvery whiteness, which shows the season they have chosen for their rural walks to have been a late one ; as, in its natural state, it is more or less tinged with purple, but becomes white as it fades, by exposure to the heat of 90 FLORA DOMESTICA. the sun. " The allusions to the whiteness of the corollas/' says Rousseau, " will not hold, for they are commonly purple." The various shades of these flowers, with the little green leaves that enclose the unopened buds, have an exceedingly pretty effect when a quantity of them are collected ; and if kept in fresh water, and well supplied, they will survive their gathering for a fortnight or more. The young leaves are eaten in salads. The double varieties are white or purple : they are in- creased by parting the roots in autumn. They love the shade, and should be plentifully watered every evening. It is called the Cuckoo-flower, because it comes at the same time with the cuckoo ; and, for the same reason, the name has been given to many other flowers. Shakspeare's Cuckoo- buds are yellow, and supposed to be a species of ranunculus. Indeed, he expressly distinguishes his Cuckoo-bud from this flower : " When daisies pied, and violets blue, And lady's-smocks all silver white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, I)o paint the meadows with delight." " So have I seen a ladie- smock soe white, Blown in the mornynge, and mowd down at night." CHATTERTON'S BATTLE OF HASTINGS. Clare more accurately styles this flower " wan-hued." " And hooded arum, early sprouting up, Ere the whitethorn bud half unfolds to view ; And wan-hued lady-smocks, that love to spring 'Side the swamp margin of some plashy pond." Again, he says — " In spite of nipping sheep and hungry cow, The little daisy finds a place to blow ; And where old winter leaves her plashy slough, The lady-smocks will not disdain to grow/' CLARE'S POEMS, vol. ii. CARDINAL-FLOWER. CARDINAL-FLOWEK. LOBELIA. LOBELLIACE^E. SYNGENESIA MONOGAMIA. Named from Matthias de Lobel, a Flemish botanist, physician and botanist to King James the First. — French, la cardinale. — Italian, fior cardinale ; cardinalizia. THE Cardinal-flower is a very handsome plant, the scarlet species in particular : the blue, however, is very handsome. They do not flower the first year : yet, as the offsets produced from the roots do not flower so strongly as seedling plants, it is better to sow them. This should be done in the autumn. They may at first be sown several together : the pots in which they are sown should stand abroad in mild weather, but under cover in frost or heavy rain. In spring the plants will appear. They may then remain abroad altogether, and must be kept always rather moist. When big enough to remove, they may be re- planted separately into small pots ; or, if preferred, may be so sown at first. They should be placed where they may enjoy the morning sun, and there remain till autumn : they must then be taken into the house, but stand near an open window in mild weather. If in the course of the summer the roots should fill the pots, the plants must be removed into larger ones. The following spring they must be potted in fresh earth, and again placed abroad. They will flower in August ; and, if not exposed to the mid-day sun, will continue long in beauty. The roots will last two or three years. They are likewise increased by their off- sets, and by cuttings of the stalks, like rockets ; but no other way is so good as sowing them. 92 FLORA DOMESTICA. CATCHFLY. SILENE. CARYOPHYLLE.E. DECANDR1A TR1GYNIA. French, le cornillet; attrape mouche [catch fly.] THIS plant is covered with a glutinous moisture, from which flies, happening to light upon it, cannot disengage themselves. This circumstance has obtained it the name of Catchfly ; to which Gerarde adds the name of Limewort. If the seeds are sown in the autumn, separately, in pots about six inches in diameter, and in a dry soil, they will grow without further attention. They will bear the open air ; and unless in very dry weather, will not need water- ing. These directions will serve for nearly all the kinds, of which there are upwards of sixty. There are, however, two exceptions : the Dark-flowered and the Waved-leaved species, which require a stove. CELANDINE. CHELIDONIUM. FAPAVERACE.E. POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. The name of this plant is derived from the Greek, and signifies a swallow. It is not so named, as some have supposed, from its coming and going with the swallow ; but, according to Gerarde, from an opinion which prevailed among the country people, that the old swal- lows used it to restore sight to their young when their eyes were out. For the same reason it is also called Swallow-wort. THE Sea Celandine, or Yellow Horned Poppy* (called also Bruisewort), is a flower common to every part of Europe, growing on sandy soils, chiefly by the sea-shore. The flowers fall the second day after they are blown ; but they are large, form a fine contrast with the sea-green colour * Italian, papavero cornuto. CELANDINE. 98 of the leaves, and follow each other in such quick succession and abundance almost all the summer, as to make it a va- luable plant. It begins to flower in June. It is a perennial flower. The whole plant abounds with a poisonous juice, which is said to occasion madness. The Red and the Violet Celandines, or Horned Poppies, are common in Europe, growing in the same sandy soil as the former. These flower in July and August. Ben Jonson mentions the Horned Poppy among the plants used by the witches in their incantations. The Great, or Major Celandine, is common in hedges, and other shady places ; on rubbish, rocks, or old walls *. It bears a bright yellow flower, and continues in blossom from the beginning of May till the end of July. The juice of this plant is acrimonious : it is said to cure ring-worms, and, when diluted with milk, to consume white opaque spots in the eyes. It is also thought efficacious in the cure of warts and cutaneous disorders. The root is esteemed by the natives of Cochin-China for a variety of medicinal purposes. This species preserves its green leaves all the year, and they are remarkably handsome ; being large, elegantly shaped, and of a transparency which shows the delicacy of their texture, as the yellow light shines through them. The double-flowered variety is chiefly cultivated in gardens : it is increased by parting the roots in autumn. The usual mode of sowing these plants is to scatter the seeds about in rock- work, where they will come up without further trouble. If sown in pots, the best time for the pur- pose is in September : one seed in each pot. They should stand in the open air, and they require watering only in * This is the proper swallow-wort ; and called, in French, 1'eclaire, la grande eclaire, le felongene, 1'herbe de I'hirondelle [swallow's herb] : in. Italian, favagella, cerigogna. 94 FLORA DOMESTIC A. very dry weather : the last-mentioned species loves the shade. Clorin, who was learned in the properties of plants, speaks of the Celandine as a purifier of the blood : " Yellow Lysimachus, to give sweet rest To the faint shepherd, killing, where it comes, All busy gnats, and every fly that hums : For leprosy, darnell, and celandine, With calamint, whose virtues do refine The blood of man, making it free and fair As the first hour it breathed, on the best air." FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS. Of the Lysimachus here mentioned, which in English is called Loose Strife, there is a story that it was so named because the Romans had a notion that the flowers, put under the yokes of oxen, kept them from quarrelling with each other. If Glorias account of its virtues be correct, the Romans may have had good reason for this notion, since the plant, by killing or keeping off flies and other stinging insects, must have relieved them from a great source of irritation. The Small Celandine, or Pilewort, is not usually ad- mitted into gardens ; but, on the contrary, on account of the injury it does to every thing growing near it, is care- fully rooted out wherever it appears. It is a species of ranunculus, called the Ranunculus jicaria, from the shape of the root, which resembles that of the fig ; and belongs to the natural family of the Ranunculacete. In early spring, there is scarcely a grove, thicket, mea- dow, hedge, orchard, or plantation of any kind, that is not covered with the glossy golden flowers of the Small Celan- dine. When they have been exposed for some days to the heat of the sun, they turn white, and fall off: they are succeeded by small bulbs, like grains of wheat, which shoot from the bosom of the leaves ; and as the stalks He CELANDINE. 9£ upon the ground, these little bulbs get into the earth, and become the roots of new plants. The stalks being some- times washed bare by the rains, have induced the ignorant and superstitious to believe that it rained wheat. The young leaves are eaten by the common people of Sweden, boiled as greens. ^Vt night, and in wet weather, the flowers close, which helps to preserve them from the cold that otherwise might be hurtful to them, from their flowering so early in the spring. They first appear in February, and continue through March, and a great part of April. It seems, the early flowering of this plant has helped to recommend it to the notice of Mr. Wordsworth, by whom it has been highly and repeatedly celebrated : " Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies, Let them live upon their praises ; Long as there's a sun that sets, Primroses will have their glory ; Long as there are violets, They will have a place in story : There 's a flower that shall be mine, 'Tis the little Celandine. Eyes of some men travel far For the finding of a star ; Up and down the heavens they go, Men that keep a mighty rout ! I'm as great as they, I trow, Since the day I found thee out, Little flower !— I '11 make a stir Like a great astronomer. Modest, yet withal an elf, Bold, and lavish of thyself, Since we needs must first have met I have seen thee high and low, Thirty years or more, and yet 'Twas a face I did not know ; 96 FLORA DOMESTICA, Thou hast now, go where I may, Fifty greetings in a day. Ere a leaf is on a hush, In the time before the thrush Has a thought about its nest, Thou wilt come with half a call, Spreading out thy glossy breast Like a careless prodigal ; Telling tales about the sun, When we 've little warmth, or hone. Poets, vain men in their mood ! Travel with the multitude ; Never heed them ; I aver That they all are wanton wooers ; But the thrifty cottager, Who stirs little out of doors, Joys to spy thee near her home : Spring is coming, thou art come ! Comfort have thou of thy merit, Kindly, unassuming spirit ! Careless of thy neighbourhood, Thou dost show thy pleasant face On the moor, and in the wood, In the lane — there 's not a place, Howsoever mean it be, But 'tis good enough for thee. Ill befall the yellow flowers, Children of the flaring hours ! Buttercups, that will be seen, Whether' we will see or no ; Others, too, of lofty mien ; They have done as worldlings do, Taken praise that should be thine, Little humble Celandine ! Prophet of delight and mirth, Scorned and slighted upon earth ; Herald of a mighty band, Of a joyous train ensuing, CELANDINE. 97 Singing at my heart's command, In the lanes my thoughts pursuing, 1 will sing, as doth behove, Hymns in praise of what I love." But to quote all this poet's praises of the Celandine is more than can be allowed to us. The reader is too well acquainted with his writings to be ignorant of his love for this little flower, or to refuse him the sympathy he requires : " Let, with bold advent'rous skill, Others thrid the polar sea ; Build a pyramid who will ; Praise it is enough for me, If there be but three or four Who will love my little flower." Mrs. Charlotte Smith more than once alludes to the early flowering of the Pilewort: particularly in the lines ad- dressed to the early butterfly : ' ' Trusting the first warm day of spring, When transient sunshine warms the sky, Light on his yellow spotted wing Comes forth the early butterfly. With wavering flight he settles now Where Pilewort spreads its blossoms fair, Or on the grass where daisies blow, Pausing, he rests his pinions there. But, insect, in a luckless hour Thou from thy winter home hast come, For yet is seen no luscious flower, With odour rich and honied bloom. And these that to the early day Yet timidly their bells unfold, Close with the sun's retreating ray, And shut their humid eyes of gold." 98 FLORA DOMESTICA. CENTAUKY. CENTAUREA. CINAROCEPHALEA. SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA FRUSTANEA. This plant has been also named Chironium ; both names being de- rived from the centaur Chiron ; some say, because first discovered by him — others, from his having been cured by it of a wound in his foot, made by the fall of an arrow when he was entertaining Hercules — French, la centauree; bluette; barbeau; aubifoin. — Italian, cen- taurea ; ambretta. THIS is a very extensive genus, greatly varying in beauty : some being mere ordinary weeds, others handsome and showy flowers. Many of them are cultivated in our gardens : the most common, perhaps, is the Sultan-flower, or Sweet-sultan, a native of Persia, and commonly seen growing wild among the corn in the Levant. The colour is purple, flesh-coloured, or white. The scent is very power- ful, and to some persons disagreeable. There is a variety, called, from the colour of its flowers, Yellow Sweet-sultan*, of which the scent is unquestionably pleasant. The best time to sow Sweet-sultan is in the spring : they will begin to flower in July. One seed will suffice for a six-inch pot : water must be given sparingly, or the roots will be liable to rot. The yellow variety is raised in a hot-bed, and, when grown, requires more tender treatment than the rest of the family. They are annual plants. The perennial kinds may be either increased by seed, as directed, or by parting the roots in autumn : always ob- serving to place such as are newly planted in the shade until they have taken fresh root. These will require shelter * The centaurea amberboi of the botanists. In French, le barbeau jaune ; Jleur du grand seigneur ; I' amberboi. — Italian, ciano giatto Turche$co odoroso. CENTAURY. 99 in the winter. Centaury has a tendency to strike very deep root, which makes many of them altogether unfit for pots. Unfortunately, the Great Centaury is of this number : I say unfortunately, because this species, which grows na- turally on the mountains of Italy, has been rendered clas- sical by Virgil's mention of it in his Georgics, where it is recommended, among other flowers, as a medicine for bees when sick. I think Dryden also mentions it somewhere. We have a beautiful species of Centaury growing wild in our corn-fields, called the corn-flower, or blue-bottle ; it is a brilliant blue flower, and of a shape peculiarly elegant. In a corn-field, near the banks of the Thames, on the Ham-side, near Teddington ferry, these flowers and the red poppies grow among the corn in such abundance as to make an appearance truly splendid. In some parts of Germany the ladies gather bunches of these flowers, and adorn their hair with them. The French call this elegant flower Fiordaliso. This flower is mentioned by Drayton (in his Marriage of the Tame and Isis, in the fifteenth song of the Polyol- bion), by its rustic appellation of blue-bottle. " The crimson darnel-flower, the blue-bottle, and gold ; Which though esteemed but weeds, yet for their dainty hues, And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose chuse." Harte, in enumerating a variety of medicinal plants, speaks of the " Centaury to clear the jaundiced eye." The Abbe Barthelemy informs us, that when Anacharsis visited the cave of Chiron the Centaur, on Mount Pelion, he was shown a plant which grew near it, of which he was informed, that the leaves were good for the eyes, but that the secret of preparing them was in the hands of only one family, to whom it had been lineally transmitted from the 100 FLORA DOMESTICA. Centaur Chiron himself. This cannot, however, be our Centaury, since he represents it as a shrub, and speaks of the medicinal virtues of the bark. In Lucan's Pharsalia, this is one of the plants burned, to drive away the serpents : " Beyond the furthest tents, rich fires they build, That healthy medicinal odours yield : There foreign galbanum dissolving fries, And crackling flames from humble wallwort rise ; There tamarisk, which no green leaf adorns, And there the spicy Syrian costos burns : There centaury supplies the wholesome flame, That from Thessalian Chiron takes its name ; The gummy larch tree, and the thapsos there, Woundwort, and maidenweed, perfume the air : There the large branches of the long-lived hart, With southernwood, their odours strong impart ; The monsters of the land, the serpents fell, Fly far away, and shun the hostile swell." BOOK 9. CEEEUS. CACTUS. OPUVTIACE^E. ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. The origin of the name uncertain. — French, le cactier. THE Great-flowered Creeping Cereus, called in French le serpent, is a plant of extraordinary magnificence and beauty. Its blossoms open in the evening : they are large and sweet-scented, but ' of very short duration. They begin to open between seven and eight o'clock ; are fully blown by eleven, and by three or four in the morning they fade, and hang down quite decayed. During their short-lived beauty, few flowers can compare with them. The calyx of the flower, when open, is nearly a foot in diameter ; the inside of which, being of a splendid yellow, appears like the rays of a bright star : the outside is of a CERKUS. 101 dark brown. The petals of the flower are of a pure and dazzling white ; and a vast number of recurved stamens, surrounding the style in the centre, add to its beauty. The fine scent of this extraordinary flower perfumes the air to a considerable distance. It flowers in July ; and upon large plants eight or ten flowers will open on the same night, and be succeeded by others for several nights together, making a most magnificent appearance by candle- light. This plant does not bear fruit in this country, and must be nursed in a stove, to enable it to produce flowers. It is, in fact, an intruder here ; but it is to be hoped its beauty will obtain pardon for its intrusion : the more readily, as it introduces a very lovely relation, who has right of admission, The Pink-flowered Creeping Cereus produces a greater number of flowers than the former. They open in May, or, in warm seasons, yet earlier. They are of a fine pink colour, and keep open three or four days. This plant has very slender branches, which should be trained to a little trellis frame of sticks. The flowers are so beautiful and so numerous, that it deserves some care to cherish it. It may be preserved through the winter in a warm inhabited room, and towards the end of May may be set abroad. Very little water must be given in summer, and scarcely any in the winter. About the middle of September it should again be removed into the house. If there be much rain or sharp winds in the summer season, this plant must be sheltered ; and it must always be in a warm situation. It will flower better if it can conveniently be placed within the room even in summer, if near to an open window. It should not have a very large pot, or a rich soil. This plant is a native of Peru : the former species, of Jamaica. The Six-angled Upright Cereus, or Torch-thistle — in French, le cactier de Surinam — was the first which became 102 FLORA DOMKSTICA. common in English hot-houses. This plant, if not cut down, will grow forty feet high ; but wherever the stems are cut, they put out others from the angles immediately below the wounded part. The flowers are white, and as large as those of the hollyhock. It does not often flower ; when it does, it is generally in July. It is a native of Su- rinam, and may be preserved in the same manner as di- rected for the Pink-flowered species. The cochineal insect feeds chiefly upon plants of this genus, and the Indians fre- quently propagate them for the sake of those insects ; par- ticularly that which is called the Cochineal Indian-Fig *. Maximilian, in his Travels, found these plants frequently in the woods of Brazil, and speaks of them as particularly dangerous to the mules and horses ; the thorns running into their hoofs and laming them. CERINTHE. HYDUOPHYLLE.*:. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Cerinthe is derived from the Greek, and signifies honeycomb, which, as well as the name of honeywort, has been given to this plant on ac- count of the quantity of honey-juice it contains. — French, le melinet. Italian, cerinte or cerinta. THE Great Honeywort has a purple flower, with a yellow tube : the Small, a yellow flower. They will con- tinue in blossom the greater part of the summer. As it injures the seeds to remain long out of the ground, they should be sown in autumn, soon after they are ripe : sow the seeds singly, in four or in five inch pots ; house them during frost, and keep them moderately moist. They are both annual plants ; pretty while they last, and of an agree- able scent. The honey-juice contained in the tube of the flowers is a great attraction to bees ; and it is for this reason recommended as proper to plant near apiaries. CHELONE. 103 Virgil recommends the keepers of bees to sprinkle the fragrant juices of Balm and Honey wort, to entice them home. Cerinthe is one of the most common herbs in the fields of Italy; which induces Virgil to term it ignobile gramen : " Hue tu jussos asperge sapores, Trita melisphylla, et cerinthse ignobile gramen." Dryden translates melisphylla and cerinthe, melfoil and honeysuckle : ( f Then melfoil beat, and honeysuckles pound, With these alluring savours strew the ground." But we have no plant named Melfoil. Milfoil is so called from its great number of leaves. Rucellai, in his Italian poem, translates the passage thus : " E pero sparga quivi il buon sapore De la trita melissa, e Terba vile De la cerinta." LE API DEL RUCELLAI. And therefore sprinkle here the genial flavour Of the bruised balm and lowly honey wort. CHELONE. BIGNONIE^E. DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. This name is derived from the Greek, and signifies a tortoise.— French, galane; tortue, [tortoise]. THE White Chelone has been called by Joscelin, in his New England Rarities, the Humming-bird Tree, When planted in the open ground, it spreads its roots to a con- siderable distance; but4 it rather improves than injures them to confine the roots by putting the plant in a pot ; as the stalks which the root sends up will otherwise be too far distant, and have a straggling appearance. The Red Chelone is very similar to the first species, FLORA DOMEST1CA. but has broader leaves, and the flowers being of a brilliant purple, it is altogether more showy than those with white flowers. The Hairy Chelone is also very similar to the first, but that the leaves of this are hairy, and the flowers are of a clearer white. There are one or two others, but these are the hand- somest ; and as their treatment should be the same, it is useless to make a mere catalogue of names. They are all natives of North America, and will endure the cold without injury, but must be watered daily in hot weather ; and, when very dry, both morning and evening. These plants are the more valuable, as they are in full beauty in the autumn, when most flowers are beginning to decay. CHIONANTHUS. JASMINE*. DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. The name of this shrub is derived from the Greek, and signifies snow-flower. It is usually called the Virginian snow-drop tree. — French, 1'arbre de neige. — Italian, albero di neve. THIS shrub is common in South Carolina, where it grows by the side of rivulets. The flowers come out in May, hanging in long bunches, and are of a pure white ; whence it is called by the inhabitants Snowdrop Tree : and, from the flowers being cut into narrow segments, they give it also the name of Fringe Tree. The Snowdrop Tree requires much care in raising : the best time to procure one is when it is about four years old ; it will then endure the cold of winter. In the summer it likes the morning sun ; and is always fond of water. In dry summer weather it may be refreshed with a little water, both morning and evening. CHIRONIA— CHRYSANTHEMUM. 105 CHIEONIA. GENTIANE.E. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. This genus, like the centaury, is named after the centaur Chiron. THERE are several species of Chironia, which, being chiefly natives of the Cape, may be treated in the same manner. They are little shrubby plants, varying in colour according to the species : blue, purple, yellow, or red. The most common are the berry-bearing kinds, of which there are two ; one, which is, on this account, named the Berry-bearing Chironia; the other, Frutescens, or Fruit- bearing. The first of these is both in flower and in fruit during nearly the whole of the summer. These plants must be housed in the winter, but so placed as to receive as much sun as possible ; and fresh air in mild weather. They must be observed daily, that they may not be left with the earth dry, but must have only water suf- ficient to prevent this, particularly in the winter ; and must be preserved from damps. CHRYSANTHEMUM. CORYMBIFER^E. SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA SUPERFLUA. This name is derived from the Greek, and signifies gold-flower. THIS article will be found to contain some of the Mary- golds, of which the different kinds are so dispersed, and so intimately connected with many different genera, that it would rather increase than lessen the confusion to place them all under one head. The Index will refer to such articles as relate to them. One of the handsomest of the Chrysanthemums is the Indian *; the flowers of which are three inches or more in * Italian, Magellanica. 106 FLORA DOMESTICA. diameter : it varies in colour ; there are white, purple, red, orange, yellow, &c. This kind requires shelter in the winter; as also does the Canary Ox-eye, a native of the Canary Islands, very much resembling the common cha- inomile flower. In winter, these two kinds should be very gently watered, about three or four times in a week : in the summer, they will require it more plentifully, and every evening when the weather is dry. The Siberian Chrysanthemum is very hardy, and will live in the open air all the year : it does not often perfect seeds in England, but may easily be increased by slips, which may be planted two or three in a pot, in September or October, and transplanted into separate pots in March ; it will be necessary to shelter these young shoots in frosty weather, and to keep the earth moist. The Garden Chrysanthemum, sometimes called the Cretan, or Cretan Corn Mary gold*, is yellow ; it flowers in June. This is an annual plant, and generally raised in a hot- bed. It is not, however, very tender; and cuttings planted in autumn, and kept in the house in the winter, will, if in a tolerably warm situation, take root, and flower well in the summer. The common Ox-eye, likewise called Ox-eye Daisy, Sum- mer Daisy, Maudlin-wort, and Moon-flower, is a perennial plant, very common in dry pastures, corn-fields, &c. It is called in French, la marguerite grande [great daisy] ; la grande paquette ; Pceil de bceiif[ox eye] ; rail de bouc [goat's eye] : and in Italian, leucanteino [white flower] ; la marghe- ritlna maggiore [great daisy] ; Vocchio di bue [ox eye]. The flower is white, with a yellow eye. It has been much re- commended for its medicinal virtues, but does not appear to have established its reputation in this respect : the young * Italian, Bambagella. CINERARIA. 107 leaves are eaten in salads ; and it is said are, in Padua, much esteemed for this purpose. It continues in blossom from May till July ; will live in the open air ; and should, as well as all the other kinds, be kept moist. There are several other species, which generally require the same treatment ; that is, moderate watering, and winter shelter. The common Corn Marygold, which belongs to this genus, known in France by the name of la marguerite jaune [yellow daisy] ; souci des champs [field marygold] ; souci des bits [corn marygold] ; and in Italy, by those of crisantemo [gold flower] ; and margfierita gialla (yellow daisy] ; is seldom grown in gardens : it is very common in corn-fields; and, as Linnaeus observes, though their brilliant colours may please the eye of the passing traveller, they are no very agreeable sight to the farmer, to whom they are but troublesome weeds. He informs us that there is a law in Denmark to oblige the farmers to extir- pate them. These flowers are also called Gowans, Gules, Gools, Gowls, Guills, Goulans, Goldins, Yellow-bottles, and Golden Corn-flowers. The Germans use them as a yellow dye. The Chrysanthemum, the Indian particularly, is in high estimation with the Chinese, and is celebrated by all their poets *. CINERAEIA. CORYMBIFERjE. SYNGENESIA POLYOAMIA SUPERFLUA. Ash-coloured; most of the species being of a grayish colour. — French, cendriette ; cinerre. — Italian, cineraria. THE handsomest kinds are the Blue-flowered Cineraria, or Cape-Aster, and the Woolly Cineraria. The 'flowers * See Titsingh's Illustrations of Japan, 108 FLOIIA DOMESTICA. of the first are of a bright sky-blue, and the plant is never without them the whole year round. Of the second, the inner part of the flowers is white, the outside a most vivid purple : it flowers early in the spring, and, if in a healthy state, will also flower all the year ; but this plant is often infested with a kind of insect which destroys its vigour ; therefore, to ensure a succession of healthy, handsome plants, it should be annually increased by cuttings, which, if planted in September, and placed in a tolerably warm situation, will strike root very readily. These plants must be housed in the winter. Many persons keep the last kind in a stove, but, like many of ourselves, they are more healthy when treated less tenderly. The earth must be kept moderately moist. CISTUS. CISTE^E. POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Called also gum cistus, and rock rose. — French, le ciste. — Italian, cisto, cistio. THE Cistus is a very extensive genus, and all the species are valuable ornaments to a garden. Their flowers, al- though of short duration, are succeeded almost every day by fresh ones, for more than two months, and are generally about the size of a rose. They are of different colours, and the plants retain their leaves all the year. Some few require a stove ; it will be sufficient to specify the most beautiful kinds which may be preserved without one. The Poplar-leaved Cistus, a native of Portugal : flowers white, tinged with purple at the edges ; bloom in June and July. The Bay-leaved Cistus, a native of Spain : flowers white; blow in June and July. CISTUS. 109 The Spanish Gum Cistus : white flowers, with spots of purple at the base ; in blossom from June to August. — The whole plant exudes a sweet glutinous substance in warm weather, which has a strong balsamic scent, and per- fumes the air to a great distance. The Montpelier Gum Cistus *, a native of Narbonne and Valencia: white flowers, open from June to August. — This species exudes a gum, like the last. There is a va- riety of it, with lemon-coloured flowers. The Hoary Rock Rose, or Rose Cistus, le ciste ordinaire of the French •(• ; a native of Spain and Narbonne ; purple flowers. The Cretan Cistus : a native of the Levant ; flowers red purple, blowing in June and July. This is frequently called the Ladaniferous Cistus J, being that from which the drug called ladanum is obtained : a kind of resin, which, on account of its fragrant smell, is frequently used in fumi- gations. The White-leaved Cistus, a native of Spain and Nar- bonne : flowers purple. June and July. The Sea Purslane-leaved Cistus, a native of Portugal ; with large bright yellow flowers, which appear in June and July. These Cistuses are shrubs, from one foot to five or six feet high. They must be housed at the approach of win- ter, and gradually replaced in the open air early in the spring. The earth should be kept moderately moist. The Dwarf Cistus, or Little Sunflower, is an indigenous plant : it is called in France, lajleur du soleil [sun flower] ; Thysope des Carigues; fherbe ft or [golden herb] : and in * Italian, Reimbrentine ; Tignamicore. •f Italian, Rosolajo. t Italian, Ladano. 110 FLORA DOMESTICA. Italy, eliantemo [sun flower] ; for del sole [sun flower]. The flowers are usually a deep yellow, or pale lemon colour ; but they are sometimes seen white, and rose-coloured. — All these varieties, placed together, have an agreeable effect. This species will live in the open air, all the year round. Scott of Amwell, speaking of the vexations to which the possessor of a garden is liable, says : " For me, my groves not oft my steps invite, And far less oft they fail to offend my sight ; In vain the senna waves its glossy gold, In vain the cistus' spotted flowers unfold, In vain the acacia's snowy bloom depends, In vain the sumach's scarlet spike ascends, In vain the woodbine's spicy tufts disclose, And green slopes redden with the shedding rose ; These neat shorn hawthorn's useless verdant bound, This long straight walk, that pool's unmeaning round, These short-curved paths that twist between the trees, Disgust the eye, and make the whole displease." This is written in a spirit of discontent, not common with poets on such a subject. Southey speaks of the Cistus as furnishing fuel, in Spain: " there at eve Entering an inn, he took his humble seat With other travellers round the crackling hearth, Where heath and cistus gave their fragrant heat." RODERICK, part 5. the cistus gives her dyes, And opes her silken petals to the sight ; Around the capsule glow her spotted eyes, With scarlet lustre rich, and deeply bright *.' * From Time's Telescope for 1820, p. 114. CLEMATIS. Ill CLEMATIS. »';*. '. * jf , I > 9 ' ' KANUNCULACEJE. POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA. Called frequently, virgin's bower, or traveller's joy.— French, 1'herbe au gueux [beggar's herb] ; la viorne ; viorne des pauvres [poor man's rest] ; la consolation des voyageurs [traveller's consolation] ; in the villages, vouabla, a corruption of the Latin name vitalba [white vine]. —Italian, vitalba; clematite. Clematis is derived from the Greek,, and signifies a clasper. It fastens itself for support to any tree or twig within its reach. THESE are, for the most part, climbing plants, needing support, and should be placed where they may run up a wall or balcony. They will not flower so strongly in pots as in the open ground ; but must not, on this account, be rejected. The Evergreen Clematis would require to be planted in a tub of some magnitude : it grows to the height of eight or ten feet, and becomes very thick and bushy. The flowers are of a greenish colour, and appear in De- cember or January. It retains its leaves all the year. — Gerarde gives it the name of Traveller's Joy of Candia ; Johnson, Spanish Traveller's Joy ; and Parkinson, Spanish Wild Climber. Purple Clematis grows naturally in the woods of Spain and Italy: there are several varieties, the Single Red- flowered, Blue-flowered, and Purple-flowered, and the Double Purple ; which flower in June, July, and August : and another with white flowers, which appear in May. — Gerarde gives this species the name of Climbing Ladies' Bower, " from its aptness," he says, " to make bowers or arbours in gardens." The Curled Clematis is a native of Carolina, Florida, and Japan ; the stalks grow near four feet high, and fasten themselves by their claspers or tendrils to the neighbouring plants. The flowers are purple, and blow in July. FLORA DOMESTIC A. The Oriental Clematis is a native of the Levant ; it has flowers of a greenish yellow colour, which are in blossom from July till October. The Upright Virgin's Bower, or Clematis Flammula, (in French, laflammule; clematite odorante : Italian,JZammula :) grows naturally in many parts of Europe. The flowers are white, and continue in blossom from June till September. This is an acrid, corrosive plant, and inflames the skin, whence it has been named Flammula. 66 If one leaf,'1 says Miller, " be cropped in a hot day in the summer season, and bruised, and presently put to the nostrils, it will cause a smell and pain like a flame." The Hungarian Clematis has blue flowers, which are in blossom from June to August. This and the last men- tioned species have annual stems, All the kinds here enumerated, which are the handsomest, will live in the open air all the year. They should, in ge- neral, be watered about three times in a week, but in very hot and dry weather every evening. There are some few species of the Clematis which require artificial heat, but they are by far the least handsome. The two last mentioned kinds may be increased by parting the roots, which should be done either in October or February. The roots may be cut through their crowns with a sharp knife, taking care to preserve some good buds to every offset. The Clematis is as great a rambler as the Honeysuckle itself: " o'errun By vines, and boundless clematis, (between Whose wilderness of leaves, white roses peep'd) And honeysuckle, which, with trailing boughs. Dropp'd o'er a sward, grateful as ever sprung By sprinkling fountains." BARRY CORNWALL. CLEMATIS. 118 Mr. Keats makes mention of the Clematis in a passage, of which, as it relates entirely to flowers, it may, perhaps, be allowable to quote the whole. He describes a youth sleeping in a bower walled with myrtle : " Above his head Four lily-stalks did their white honours wed, To make a coronal, and round him grew All tendrils green, of every bloom and hue ; Together intertwined, and trammel'd fresh : The vine of glossy sprout ; the ivy-mesh, Shading its Ethiop berries ; and woodbine Of velvet leaves, and bugle blooms divine ; Convolvulus in streaked vases flush ; The creeper, mellowing for an autumn blush ; And virgin's bower, trailing airily, With others of the sisterhood." ENDYMION, p. 72. This poet appears to allude to the Clematis and the Honeysuckle in the following passage : " The sweet-lipped ladies have already greeted All the green leaves that round the window clamber To show their purple stars, and bells of amber." KEATS' s POEMS, p. 26. Wherever a lattice is mentioned, the Clematis is expected to run over it : " In all the calmness of a cloudless eve, How gently dies a long, long summer's day, O'er yon broad wood, as loth to take its leave, It sheds at parting its most lovely ray, And golden lights o'er all the landscape play, And languid zephyrs waft their rich perfume, Where the wide lattice gives them open way, And breathe a freshness round the twilight room, From jasmine, clematis, and yellow-blossomed broom." From an unpublished Collection by different Authort. 114 FLORA DOMESTICA. CLETHRA. DECANDRIA MONOGYN1A. THE Clethra Arborea, or Tree Clethra, will require shelter from the winter cold, in our climate : it should be housed about the middle or end of September, according as the weather is more or less mild ; and, during this season, should be watered about twice a week ; in the summer, when the weather is dry, it should be watered once in a day, or in two days, in proportion to the heat of the sun, or the plant's exposure to it. The earth should not be suf- fered to become parched. It is a native of Madeira. COLCHICUM. COLCHICACE^E. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. So called from Colchis, a city of Arminia, where this plant is sup- posed to have been very common. The English name of meadow saffron is from its common place of growth, and its resemblance to the crocus, or saffron flower. THE Autumnal Colchicum, or Common Meadow Saf- fron, is named in French, tue chien, mort au Men, both signifying dog poison; in the villages, bovet ; in Italian, colchico ; and has many varieties : the Yellow-flowered or Crocus Colchicum, the Purple, Red, White, Rosy, Rosy-va- riegated, Purple-variegated, and Double. The flowers ap- pear in autumn, the leaves not till the following March ; for which reason the country people call them Naked Ladies, an appellation bestowed upon many flowers which blow before they are in leaf. The leaves are of a fine glowing green, and very luxuriant. There are several other species, requiring the same treat- ment as this. The roots are bulbous, and a new one is formed every year, as the old one decays. The leaves COLUMBINE. 115 begin to wither in May, soon after which the roots should be taken out of the earth, put in a shady place to dry, wiped clean from earth, decayed fibres, &c. and put into a dry place, safe from insects, &c. until the beginning of August, when they should be planted again, about three or four inches deep, in a sandy soil. The pot should be about six inches wide and nine deep. Water should be given in small quantities, and if the pot be placed in the shade, exposed to the dews and light summer showers, it need not be watered at all, until after the plant has begun to shoot above the earth. It injures the root of the Colchicum to pluck the flower when newly blown, as it deprives the new root which is forming of a part of its nourishment. It will likewise be improper to delay planting the roots after the beginning of August, as they will otherwise vegetate, and produce their flowers without planting, which will greatly weaken them. COLUMBINE. AQUILEGIA. RANUNCULACE^E. POLYAXDRIA PENTAGYNIA. Cock's-footor culverwort. — The botanical name for this plant, Aqui- legia or Aquilina, is derived from aquila, an eagle, from a notion that the nectaries resemble an eagle's claws. Our English name, colum- bine, is derived from the resemblance which, in a wild state, these parts bear, both in form and colour, to the head and neck of a dove, for which the Latin name is Columba. — French, aiglantine, ancolie, la colombine, la galantine ; gands de notre dame [our lady's gloves]. — Italian, achellea, colombina, perfetto amore [true love], celidona maggiore [great celandine] ; at Venice, galeti. THE Common Columbine is generally, in its wild state, of a blue colour, whence it is named the Blue Starry, but in the neighbourhood of Berne, and in Norfolk, it has been found both with red and white flowers. It is common in 116 FLORA DOMESTIC A. woods, hedges, and bushes, in most parts of Europe. They are greatly changed by culture ; become double in various ways ; and are of almost all colours ; blue, white, red, purple ; flesh, ash, and chestnut coloured ; blue and white, and red and white. It is a perennial plant, and, with us, flowers in June. Every part of this plant has been considered as a useful medicine, but Linnaeus affirms that, from his own know- ledge, children have lost their lives by an over dose of it. That might, however, be the case with some of our best medicines. The Alpine Columbine has blue flowers tipped with a yellowish green, blowing in May and June. (Biennial). The Canadian Columbine flowers in April : the flowers are yellow on the in, red on the outside. (Perennial). The Columbines may be increased by parting the roots ; but, as they are apt to degenerate, are most commonly raised from seed : these will not grow to flower till the second year ; and, as you cannot be sure of the kinds they will produce, it is better to procure the plants from a nur- sery. They should have a little water, two or three times a week, in dry weather ; and may remain in the open air. Gawin Douglas speaks of the Columbine as black, from the deep purple which some of them take : " Floure-damas, and columbe blak and blew." This has been differently expressed in Mr. Fawkes's modernized version ; and not happily, for the Columbine drops its head : " And columbine advanced his purple head." W. Browne speaks of it in all its colours : " So did the maidens with their various flowers Decke up their windowes, and make neat their bowers ; Using such cunning, as they did dispose The ruddy piny with the lighter rose, COLUTEA FRUTESCENS. 117 The monk's-hood with the bugloss, and intwine The white, the blewe, the flesh-like columbine With pinks, sweet-williams ; that, far off, the eye Could not the manner of their mixtures spye." He tells us that the King-cup is an emblem of jealousy ; that— " The columbine in tawny often taken, Is then ascribed to such as are forsaken ; Flora's choice buttons, of a russet dye, Is hope even in the depth of misery ; The pansie, thistle all with prickles set, The cowslip, honeysuckle, violet, And many hundreds more that grace the meades." A preparation from the Columbine has been administered to children, in the same manner as the Syrup of Poppies ; and Linnaeus says he has seen them die in consequence. COLUTEA FRUTESCENS. LEGUMINOS^E. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. French, baguenaudier. — Usually called Scarlet bladder-senna. THIS shrub is a native of the Cape : the flowers are of fine scarlet, and, intermingled with its silvery leaves, are very handsome. If the plant is treated hardily, it seldom lives more than two years ; but it is much handsomer and fuller of flower while it does last than such as are treated in a more tender manner. The best way to manage it is to let it remain abroad altogether, till the middle, or, if tolerably mild, -till the end of October. It should then be housed at night, but placed near to an open window, and put abroad, in as warm a situation as can be chosen for it, in the day-time, whenever the weather is not frosty. On frosty days it should remain in its night's lodging. When the frosts are securely over, it may be again left altogether in its out-door station. The flowers appear in June. The earth should be kept moderately moist. 118 FLORA DOMESTICA. A species of Colutea is much esteemed at the Cape of Good Hope, as a cure for diseases of the eye. CONVOLVULUS. CONVOLVULACE^E. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Commonly known, when wild, by the name of bind-weed, from some of the species twining their stem round other bodies ; which is also the signification of the Latin name. — French, le liseron. — Italian, il villuchio. THIS is a most extensive genus : Martyn's edition of Millar's Dictionary mentions 110 different species, besides a great many flowers of different genera, which are inti- mately connected with it. The Common Field Bind-weed is one of the greatest pests to gardeners and farmers. It is yet worse than the Hedge Bind-weed ; for that, for the sake of climbing, con- fines its ravages to the borders of the fields or gardens, while this wanders over the whole ground, and is with great difficulty rooted out. And yet it must be acknow- ledged that this little red and white flower is extremely beautiful; and, were it but a little more modest, would, doubtless, be a general favourite. As it is, it must suffer the consequence of its impertinence, not only in being avoided, but positively turned out. From the frequent occurrence of this beautiful intruder, it has acquired a multitude of names, as bell-bind, bell-wjnd, rope-weed, with-wind, hedge-bells, weed-bind ; in some counties, wood- bine. In French, la lizeret, le liseron des champs; in Provence, courregeolo ; in Languedoc, campanette; in Lor- raine, ocillet [pink]. In Italian, vilwchioj viticchio; cor- reggiola; campanella; convolvolo ; in the Venetian terri- tories, brocca: in the Brescian, tirangolo. There are comparatively few of these plants cultivated CONVOLVULUS. 119 in our gardens. The following are some of the most esteemed. The Two-coloured ; white and purple, flowering in June, July, and August. The Hairy Convolvulus, with purple flowers, blowing at the same -time. These are natives of the East Indies. The Five-petaled ; blue, with a yellow centre : native of Majorca. Flowers from June to August. The Indigo Convolvulus, which is named from the co- lour of its flowers : it is a native of America, and considered one of the handsomest of the genus. The Italians call it campana azurea [azure-bell], andjfor di notte [night-flower], because its beauty appears most at night. A singular cir- cumstance in this genus, of which most of the species close their flowers at night. It blows in July and August. In opposition to this, the Trailing, or Tri-coloured Convolvulus, is called by the French, belle de jour, Day Beauty. Of the Major Convolvulus there are three or four va- rieties ; purple, white, red, and pale blue. It is a native of America. It requires support, and will grow ten or twelve feet high ; continuing in flower from the beginning of June till the approach of frost. The Minor Convolvulus is a native of Spain and Por- tugal; the flowers are sometimes pure ^ white, but more commonly variegated with blue and yellow, or blue and white : the most beautiful kind is a bright blue, fading, by delicate gradations, to a pure white in the centre. It re- sembles the blue atmosphere, relieved by fleecy clouds, on a fine day in summer : " when on high, Through clouds of fleecy white, laughs the cerulean sky/' KEATS. Nor is the form of this flower less beautiful than the 1 20 FLORA DOMESTICA. colour, either when spread out in full beauty to the mid- day sun, or when, at the approach of night, it closes its blue eye to sleep. This flower is too well known to need description ; but its exquisite loveliness impels one to linger over it with admiration. All the kinds here specified are annual plants. The Five-petaled, the Major, and the Minor, may be raised at home with little trouble. The seeds may be sown about an inch asunder. As some may fail, they may at first be scattered more closely; and, as they come up, thinned where they crowd each other. If sown in the autumn, they will flower in May : those sown in spring will be a month later. They may be sown in September and March ; and, for a longer succession, in April and May likewise. The other kinds must be raised in a hot-bed, and will not bear the open air in the winter. The Dwarf Convolvulus is a native of France, Spain, and Sicily. It has deep rose-coloured flowers, is a perennial plant, and will live in the open air. It may be increased by parting the roots, either in spring or autumn. The Canary Convolvulus, with pale blue or white flowers, blowing in June and July, is a native of the Canary Islands. The Silvery Convolvulus, with pale rose-coloured flowers, opening in June, July, and August, is found in Spain, Si- cily, the Levant, &c. The Arabian — but there will be no end of enumeration at this rate. The Canary and Silvery kinds must be housed in the winter. With respect to the variegated kinds, if a plain flower appear, care should be taken to pluck it immediately, in order to prevent the succeeding blossoms also from degenerating from their natural beauty. COREOPSIS. The earth should be kept moderately moist, and the water given in small quantities at one time. The plants, being mostly tall and slender, should be sheltered from heavy beating rains and violent winds ; but light spring or sum- mer showers will refresh them. This genus furnishes to the materia medica two of its most powerful drugs : scammony, from a species growing naturally at the Levant ; and jalap, from another kind, which is a native of Xalapa, between Vera Cruz and Mexico. They are obtained from the roots of the plants. Most of these flowers close at night ; and many remain close all day when the weather is wet or cloudy, but open to the sunshine : " Qual' i fioretti dal notturno gielo Chinati e chiusi, poi che '1 sol gl' imbianca, Si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo." DANTE, INFERNO, Canto II. " Like flow'rsj which shrinking from the chilly night, Droop and shut up ; but with fair morning's touch Rise on their stems, all open and upright." COREOPSIS. CORYMBIFERJE. SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA FRUSTANEjE. The generic name is from the Greek, bug-like, the seed being like a bug or tick : hence it is called by gardeners the Tick-seeded Sun- flower. THE Whorl-leaved Coreopsis has a yellow flower with a purple centre: it is a showy plant, grows very tall, and continues long in flower. It begins to blossom in July. It is a native of North America, where the flowers, although yellow, are used to dye cloth red. The Three-leaved has the same coloured flowers, and is from the same country. The Alternate-leaved, Thick-leaved, and Golden, are FLORA DOMESTICA. all from North America. The first flowers in October and November; the other two from August to October. These are all perennial plants, as are most of the genus. They may be increased by parting the roots, which should be done in autumn, when the stalks begin to decay. The two first prefer a light loamy earth, and exposure to the sun ; the others will thrive in almost any soil or si- tuation. There are other species of this genus, some of which are raised in a hot-bed ; but their treatment, when grown, is generally the same. The kinds here named will bear the open air. The earth should be kept just moist, and the plants be supported by sticks as they advance in height, or the strong winds of autumn may be apt to break them. CORN-FLAG. GLADIOLUS. IRIDE^E. TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. The botanical name of this plant is the diminutive of gladius, a sword, and is given it from the form of its leaves. It is also called Sword-flag, Corn-sedge, and Corn-gladin. — French, le glayeul ; flambe. — Italian, ghiaggiuolo; gladiolo. — In Sicily, spatulidda. THE Corn-flag is related to the lily, and has a bulbous root. It is a handsome genus. Of the Common Corn- flag there are many varieties, differing in colour. These may be increased by offsets from the roots. About the end of July, when the stalks decay, the roots may be taken up, the offsets separated from them, and the whole dried, cleaned, and carefully preserved in a dry and secure place till the end of September, or the beginning of October, when they may be re-planted. They will bear the open air. The other species are chiefly natives of the Cape, and COttONILLA. require this difference in their treatment, that they must be kept within doors from October till May, allowing them fresh air in mild weather. The Corn-flags must be sparingly watered ; in the win- ter, not more than once a week. The roots should be planted separately, in pots about five inches wide, and should be covered two inches deep. Speaking of the great variety of bulbous plants in the Cape of Good Hope, Thunberg observes that many of them diffuse an agreeable odour, particularly towards evening, and in the night, especially some of the species of Ixia and Gladiolus. " The baboons of Table Mountain,1' continues he, " feed upon the bulbs of several plants, which they dig up, peel, and eat. The Gladiolus plicatus appears to be the most favourite plant with those that live near the Cape, for which reason this plant is known also by the name of Baboon. The root is often boiled, and eaten by the colonists." Indeed plentiful as these bulbs are, they can ill be spared to the baboons, for many of the Caffres entirely live upon them ; particularly those of the Iris, Ixia, Gladiolus, &c. and a bulb which they call the Hottentot Fig *. Many poor creatures pass a great part of their lives in roaming about in the woods in search of bulbs to sustain life. CORONILLA. LEGUMINOS^E. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. The name of this plant is derived from corona, a crown, of which it is the diminutive ; the flowers crowning the branches in a cluster. THE Coronilla Emerus, or Scorpion Senna f, is a native of most parts of the Continent of Europe. The flowers * Thunberg's Travels, Vol. I. p. 285 and 287. Vol. II. p. 189. t Italian j ginestra di bosco. (Broom of the Forest.; FLORA BOMESTICA. are yellow, and blow in April. A dye is obtained from this plant nearly equal to that of indigo. This shrub is fond of water. The Small Shrubby Coronilla has small deep yellow flowers, blowing in May, June, and July. It has a very powerful scent, and is a native both of Spain and Italy. The Great Shrubby Coronilla is very similar to the last ; but this is in flower almost all the year ; and the scent of it is more powerful in the day-time than in the night. It is a native of the South of France. The Cretan Coronilla is a very low shrub, but very handsome when in full blossom, as it produces an abun- dance of yellow flowers. They blow in May, and are very sweet scented. The three last kinds are not so fond of water as the first, but incline to a dry soil. In dry summer weather they may be slightly watered about three times a week. In the win- ter they should be sheltered from the frost, and then once in a week will suffice to water them. This treatment will suit most of the species. COTYLEDON. CRASSULACE,*. DECANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. Called also Navel wort, which is the signification of the botanic name in the Greek. THE Round-leaved, Oval-leaved, and Oblong-leaved are properly only varieties of the same species. They are natives of the Cape, and are in blossom from July to September. They must be sheltered in the winter. They are extremely succulent ; and care must be taken to pre- serve a due medium in watering them. If they have too much wet, it will rot them : too little will not nourish them. Observe the leaves, and do not let them shrink for COWSLIP. 125 want of moisture. Give them just sufficient to keep their vessels distended. It must be shed on the roots only. There are many species of Navelwort. Those which do not require a stove may be treated in the same manner as those already mentioned. They are all very succulent, and should have a poor, dry soil. They may be sown either in spring or autumn. The flower called Venus's Navelwort has no affinity with these, but is the cynoglossum linifolium. It is an annual plant. The seeds may be sown pretty thick, either in spring or autumn ; and, if they all grow, they should be thinned where too close. Those sown in autumn will flower in May and June. The spring-sown seeds will come to flower a month later. The earth should be moderately moist. COWSLIP. PRIMULA VERTS. PRIMULACE^E. PENTANBRIA MONOGYNIA. The Cowslip, ». e. cow's lip, is of the same genus as the primrose. The Yorkshire people call the Cowslip Cow-stripling. It is also called Herb- Peter, and Paigles. — French, la primevere, primerole; herbe de la paralysie £palsy herb]]; fleur de coucou; bavillon. — Italian, primavera-odorosa. — In the Venetian territory, primola. — Some of these are also used for the primrose. The Italians call the Oxlip, occhio di civetta, (owl's eye.) THE Common Cowslip, or Paigle, is common in Europe, both in moist sand and upland pastures, and on the borders of fields. In a clayey or loamy soil it thrives best, and prefers an open situation. It flowers in April and May. Though respected both for its beauty and utility, the Cowslip, in pastures where it is very common, becomes an injurious weed. The leaves are eaten in salads, and re- commended for feeding silk-worms before the mulberry- leaves make their appearance. The flowers are very 126 FLORA DOMESTICA. fragrant ; and a pleasant and wholesome wine is made from them, approaching in flavour to the rnuscadel wines of the South of France. It is said to be an inducer of sleep. " For want of rest, Lettuce and cowslip- wine : probatum est." POPE. -" Thy little sons Permit to range the pastures : gladly they Will mow the cowslip-posies, faintly sweet From whence thou artificial wines shalt drain Of icy taste, that, in mid fervours, best Slack craving thirst, and mitigate the day." PHILIPS'S CIDER. " Now in my walk, with sweet surprise, I saw the first spring cowslip rise, The plant whose pensile flowers Bend to the earth their beauteous eyes, In sunshine and in showers. * * * * Where thick thy primrose blossoms play Lovely and innocent as they, O'er coppice lawns and dells, In bands the rural children stray, To pluck thy nectared bells. Whose simple sweets with curious skill, The frugal cottage dames distil, Nor envy France the vine, While many a festal cup they fill With Britain's homely wine." MONTGOMERY'S WALK IN SPRING. These flowers have a rough and somewhat bitter taste, which, with their agreeable odour and yellow colour, they impart both to water and spirit. A pleasant syrup is made from them; and a strong infusion, drank as tea, is con- sidered antispasmodic. The colour, as is well known, is usually a bright yellow, dashed with deep orange, sometimes approaching to crimson. — Thus lachimo describes Imogen as having COWSLIP. " on her left breast A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops I' the bottom of a cowslip." But there is a variety with red flowers. They will some- times flower again in November and December. Mr. Martyn speaks of some in his own gardens which always blew at that season when the winter was mild. The light stalk of the Cowslip, gently bending with its weight of flowers, is elegantly described by Milton, who takes advantage of this drooping appearance to select it, with some others, to adorn the tomb of Lycidas : " Bring the rathe-primrose that forsaken dies, The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet, The glowing violet, The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine, With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, And every flower that sad embroidery wears : Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed, And daffodillies fill their cups with tears, To strew the laureat hearse where Lycid lies." And again, in the song of Sabrina, how beautifully does the unbending flower, and the airy tread of the goddess, each express the lightness of the other : " By the rushy fringed bank, Where grow the willow and the osier dank, My sliding chariot stays, Thick set with agate and the azure sheen Of turkis blue, and emerald green, That in the channel strays ; Whilst from off the waters fleet Thus I set my printless feet, O'er the cowslip's velvet head, That bends not as I tread ; Gentle swain, at thy request, I am here." Ben Jonson plays with the name of the Cowslip, as Chaucer does with that of the daisy : 128 FLORA DOMESTICA. <( Strew, strew the glad and smiling ground With every flower, yet not confound The primrose drop, the spring's own spouse, Bright daisies and the lips of cows, The garden-star, the queen of May, The rose, to crown the holiday." From the SHEPHERD'S HOLIDAY. The oxlip is by no means so common as the Cowslip : it is considered as a link between that and the primrose. It has been called the great primrose : but though the oxlip flower spreads wider, the Cowslip has the advantage in height. On this account Shakspeare selects the latter for the courtiers of the Fairy Queen, in allusion to the tall military courtiers called Queen Elizabeth's Pensioners : " The cowslips tall her pensioners be, In their gold coats spots we see ; Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours ; I must go seek some dew-drops here, And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear." The single Cowslip is rarely admitted into gardens, but the double flowers are common : they have a good effect by the side of the dark polyanthus, or shaded by a bunch of glowing wallflowers. The roots may be purchased almost for nothing. They who desire to have the single flowers may transplant the wild roots, which should be done about Michaelmas, and they will have time to gain strength for flowering in the spring. But it must be ob- served, that although these plants, in their wild state, are entrusted to Nature's care, and though we must confess that she deserves this confidence, we must no longer de- pend entirely upon her care of them, after we have removed them from her own great garden. Cowslips love a moist soil ; and when we plant them in a pot, the small portion of earth which it contains will na- COWSLIPS OF JERUSALEM. 129 turally dry much faster than in the open ground : there- fore, as we do not remove the brooks and springs with them, we must supply this deficiency by giving water to the potted plants in dry weather ; in return for which, if we will find artists to manufacture it, they will furnish us with honey in abundance : for — " rich in vegetable gold From calyx pale the freckled cowslip born, Receives in amber cups the fragrant dews of morn." COWSLIPS OF JERUSALEM. PULMONARIA. BORRAGIXE;£. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Also called Sage of Jerusalem, Sage of Bethlehem, Spotted Com- frey, and Common Lungwort, as being esteemed in complaints of the lungs. — French, la grande pulmonaire; les herbes aux poumons; 1'herbe du cceur [heart wort] ; Therbe au lait de Notre Dame [Our Lady's milk- wort] j pulmonaire d' Italic. — Italian, polmonaria mag- giore. THIS is a perennial plant, very much resembling the cowslip in form. The colours are many ; not only on the same cluster, but even on the individual blossom, ap- pearing various shades of red and blue, and these shades continually changing. Drayton places this flower in such honourable company, as gives us good reason to believe that he held it in great esteem : " Maids, get the choicest flowers, a garland, and entwine, Nor pinks, nor pansies, let there want ; be sure of eglantine. See that there be store of lilies, (Called of shepherds daffodillies) With roses damask, white, and red, the dearest flower-de-lis, The cowslip of Jerusalem, and clove of Paradise," DRAYTON'S PASTORALS. 130 FLORA DOMESTICA. CRINUM. H1MEROCALLIDES. HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. French, crinole. THE Crinums most cultivated in this country are the American. The Great American Crinum flowers in July and August : the small species will flower three or four times in the year. They will thrive very well in a room generally inhabited in the winter; and their flowers at that time will be particularly valuable, so few being then in blossom. In the summer they should be placed abroad where they can enjoy the sunshine. The roots should be transplanted every year in March or October, and the offsets taken off and planted in separate pots, about six inches in diameter and eight or nine inches deep, filled with a light rich earth. Do not scruple to deprive the mother of her children, for she cannot afford food to so large a family ; and the unnatural little bulbs will deprive her of all nourishment, and starve her without mercy, if they remain. The flowers are white and sweet-scented. These plants should be watered very sparingly every second evening when newly planted ; when they begin to shoot, they may have more water, every evening; but when they begin to blow, they will continue longer in blossom if more sparingly watered, as before. CROCUS. TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. An unhappy lover, whom the gods in pity were said to have changed into this flower. — French, safran. — Italian, zafferano ; gruogo. THE Autumnal Crocus is supposed to have come ori- ginally from the East, but is now so common in Europe, that it is difficult to ascertain with certainty its original birth-place. The flowers are of a purple, lilac, or pale blue colour, blowing in October : the leaves grow all the winter. CROCUS. 181 This species of Crocus is also called Saffron, and the medi- cine so called is obtained from it. Saffron was formerly more esteemed as a medicine than at present ; but it is still used occasionally : it is often substituted for eggs in cakes, puddings, &c. and to some persons its flavour is very agree- able. A bag of saffron worn at the pit of the stomach has been lately said to be an effectual preventive of sea-sickness. The first introduction of this plant into the country was considered so great a national benefit, as to have occasioned much controversy upon the subject. It is commonly said that Sir Thomas Smith was the first who brought it to England, in the reign of Edward the Third, and that it was first planted at Walden in Essex. That Walden was noted for the cultivation of it is clear, since the flower has even bestowed its own name upon that place, which is com- monly called Saffron Walden. In Hakluyfs Voyages (edit. 1599, vol. ii. p. 165) the first introduction of Saffron is ascribed to a pilgrim, who, with the intention of serving his country, stole a head of Saffron, which he hid in his staff: but this is mentioned only as a thing reported at Saffron Walden*. Mr. Marty n, after referring to this volume, says he has been informed that the corporation of Walden bear three Saffron plants in their arms. The Spring Crocus is common in many parts of Europe ; there are many varieties ; and as this kind furnishes the florists with seed, new varieties continually occur. The most usual are. the Common Yellow, the Great Yellow, Deep Blue, Light Blue, White with Blue Stripes, Blue * This, however, is probably only a version of the history of the introduction of silk into Europe : two monks having brought from China, in the hollow of their walking-canes, the eggs of the silk- worm, which were hatched at Constantinople under the empress's own eye* w.ho had, during the two years' absence of the monks, caused some mulberry trees to be ^ot ready for the food of the young family. FLORA DOMESTICA. with White Stripes, White with a Purple Base, and Cream-coloured, — all natives of Britain : as also several from Scotland ; the Black and White Striped, the Cloth of Gold, &c. The Spring Crocus flowers in March ; and where there are plenty of them, they make a magnificent show. If the season be mild, the flowers will sometimes appear in February, before the leaves have grown to any length. The leaves must not be cut off before they decay, or the root will be deprived of nourishment, and will not pro- duce handsome flowers the next year. About the end of May, when the leaves and fibres have decayed, the roots may be taken up, wiped clean from earth, husk, &c. and placed in a dry room till September, when they should be replanted. Care must be taken to preserve them from mice, and other fond enemies : mice will utterly destroy them if they can get at them. The bulb should be planted with the bud uppermost, and the earth an inch deep above the top : for one root, a pot three inches wide will be large enough ; four roots may be planted in a pot of six inches in diameter. They should be kept moist ; which will re- quire more or less water, according as they are in the sun or the shade, the room or the balcony, &c. : they will continue longer in blossom if watered rather sparingly after they have begun to blow. These bulbs will likewise flower in water : they may be put into the glasses any time from October to January, and thus be continued in succession. The water should rise a little above the widening of the glass ; and from the time the fibres begin to shoot, should be renewed every four or five days. The Autumnal Crocus does not increase so fast as the Spring kinds, nor does it produce seeds in this country. It should be replanted in August, as it flowers in Sep- tember or October. These Crocuses will produce hand- somer flowers if the bulbs be left undisturbed for two or CYCLAMEN. 133 three years ; but they must not remain more than three. When it is not intended to remove them every year, more room must be allowed them for the growth of the offsets. Virgil speaks of the Crocus as one of the flowers upon which bees love to feed : " pascuntur et arbuta passim, Et glaucas salices, casiamque, crocumque rubentem, Et pinguem tiliam, et ferrugineos hyacinthos." VIRGIL, GEORGIC 4. " They feed also at large on arbutes and hoary willows, and cassia, and glowing saffron, and fat limes, and deep-coloured hyacinths/' — MARTYN'S TRANSLATION, p. 372. CYCLAMEN. PRIMULACE^. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. This name is of Greek origin, and signifies circular. It alludes either to the roundness of the leaves, or of the roots. The familiar name among the country people is Sow-bread. — French, pain du por- ceau; in the village dialect, pan de pur, both signifying sow-bread. Italian., pane porcino ; pane terreno [ground bread.] THE common Cyclamen is an Austrian. The flowers are purple, drooping, and sweet-scented. The Ivy-leaved species is Italian: the flowers appear in August or Sep- tember, soon after the leaves come out, and continue growing till May, when they begin to decay, and in June are quite dried up. There are two varieties; one with white, and one with purple flowers. The Round-leaved Cyclamen is a native of the South of Europe : it has purple flowers, which blow late in the autumn. The Persian Cyclamen, which is the most popular, flowers in March or April : it is sweet-scented, and varies in colour from a pure white to white and purple, or some- times to a beautiful blush-colour. It is, as the name im- plies, a native of Persia: it has also been found in the 134 FLOllA DOMESTICA. Isle of Cyprus ; and is, indeed, not unworthy of cultivation in VenusV own garden. It is a pretty flower for the par- lour or study table ; and the temperature of an inhabited room is well adapted to it. The Cyclamen requires shelter from frost ; particularly the two last-mentioned kinds. During the winter, or while destitute of leaves, they should have very little water, and be carefully preserved from damps. In the summer, they should be placed where they may enjoy the sun till about eleven o'clock. They do not flower till the fifth year after they are sown. CYTISUS. LEGUMINOSJE. DlADELPHIA DECANDRIA. Said to have been first found in the island of Cythnus, whence it has derived its name. — French, le cytise. — Italian, citiso ; avorniello ; maggio pendolino. OF this genus is that most elegant tree, the Laburnum, which drops its yellow blossoms so invitingly, as if wooing the beholder to pluck them. There are two varieties of Cytisus; one with narrower leaves and longer blossoms than the other, which is by far the handsomest, and is very justly called Golden-chair. I have seen a sprig of this in a lady^s hair, where its bright green leaves, and its drooping blossoms, intermingling with the rich chestnut curls, had a very graceful appearance. But unfortunately it does not long survive the gathering : so that ladies who are disposed to adorn themselves with it must have recourse to imitation ; and this* notwithstanding the perfection to which artificial flowers have been brought of late, will not easily equal the real flower. In a delightful little volume, which I saw for the first time but a few days since, (and upon that occasion knew not whether most to regret the time lost, or to rejoice that CYTJSUS. the pleasure was yet before me,) the Laburnum blossom is compared to the hair itself : " I painted her with golden tresses, Such as float on the wind's caresses When the laburnums wildly fling Their sunny blossoms to the spring." IMPROVISATRICE, p. 5. It is well for the present purpose that the handsomest of the Laburnums is the smallest tree, and may be grown in a tub for many years. They ought to be in company with leafier trees, as they are but sparingly supplied with green of their own. Who would not have at least one of them, were it but to place by the side of the Persian lilac, or the rhododendron ? It has been recommended to sow the Laburnum in plantations infested with hares and rabbits ; for so long as they can find a sprig of it, they will touch nothing else : and though it be eaten to the ground in the winter, it will spring up again the next season, and thus be a constant supply for them. A whole plantation will be secured at the expense of a few shillings. Laburnum-wood is very strong, and is much used for pegs, wedges, knife-handles, musical instruments, and a variety of purposes of that nature. Mr. Martyn, in his edition of Millar's Dictionary, speaks of a table and chairs made of this wood, which judges of elegant furniture pro- nounced to be the finest they had ever seen. Pliny speaks of this wood as next in hardness to the ebony : it has been thought to make the best bows ; and it occasionally afforded torches for the Roman sacrifices : " Tondentur cytisi; taedas sylva alta ministrat; Pascunturque ignes nocturni et lumina fundunt." VIRGIL, GEORGIC 2. " The cytisus is cut, the tall wood affords torches, and the nocturnal fires are fed, and spread their light."— MARTYN'S TRANSLATION, p. 197. , FLORA DOMESTICA. The tree was formerly called Peas-cod-tree, and Bean- trefoil ; but it is now generally known by its Latin name Laburnum, which is supposed to have been derived from the Alpine name Uaubours. The French call it Cytise des Alpes (Cytisus of the Alps), and Faux Ebenien (False Ebony-tree). It is a native of Switzerland, Austria, and the Levant, &c. and flowers in May: at this season the mountains in Italy are hung so richly with its golden drapery as to obtain for it the name of Maggio, as we give that of May to the hawthorn. The Black Cytisus is a shrub, seldom growing higher in this country than three or four feet : it is very bushy, and the branches are terminated by bunches of yellow flowers, four or five inches in length, having a very agree- able scent. It blossoms in July. This is a native of Si- lesia, Hungary, Italy, &c. The Winged-leaved Cytisus is a handsome shrub, scarcely two feet high : the flowers are large, and of a deep yellow. It is a native of Siberia. The Common Cytisus is a native of the South of Europe : it grows seven or eight feet high, is very bushy, and has bright yellow flowers. These will live all the year abroad after they are first raised to strength. If the weather be very dry, they should be watered once or twice a week. Virgil recommends the Cytisus as a food for goats : ; « At cui lactis amor, cytisos, lotosque frequentes Ipse manu, salsasque ferat praesepibus herbas." VIRGIL, GEORGICS. «w T33gcn xtfcw st»urV:'J»»-- 'giifli>#K>? " Those who desire to have milk must give them with their own hands plenty of cytisus and water-lilies, and lay salt herbs in their cribs." — MARTYN'S TRANSLATION, p. 313. «UJi(iET3T> aiiT In the tenth Eclogue, he speaks of it as grateful to is crudelis amor, nee gramina rivis, ^gi cytiso saturantur apes, nee fronde capellse." CYTISUS. 137 " Cruel love is no more to be satisfied with tears than grass with the streams, the bees with cytisus, or goats with leaves." Many persons suppose the Cytisus of the ancients to be the Cytisus Maranthae, which was removed by Tournefort into another genus, and is now called Tree Medick, or Moon Trefoil (Medicago Arborea). This shrub abounds in the islands of the Archipelago: the Turks make the handles of their sabres of it, and the monks of Patmos their beads. It does not thrive well in this country. The bright blossoms of the Laburnum have not escaped the attention of our poets. Mr. Keats, in two distinct passages of his earliest poetry, each representing the flowery nook most beautiful to his fancy, gives a place to the burnum: " A bush of May-flowers with the bees about them ; Ah, sure no tasteful nook would be without them : And let a lush laburnum oversweep them, And let long grass grow round the roots to keep them Moist, cool, and green ; and shade the violets, That they may bind the moss in leafy nets. * # # * # Where the dark-leaved laburnum's drooping clusters Reflect athwart the stream their yellow lustres, And intertwined the cassia's arms unite With its own drooping buds, but very white." " ** Laburnum, rich In streaming gold." COWPER'S TASK. It is curious to observe how some plants appear to be compounded of others. Thus the Camellia Japonica has been noticed as resembling a bay-tree with roses; the arbutus is like another species of bay, yielding straw- berries ; and the Laburnum seems like a tree made up of large trefoil and garlands of yellow peas. The Geranium kind seems to delight in this species of mimicry. When the Laburnum tree is so situated as to be shaded from the scorching suns of noon, it thrives so much better as to appear, to a superficial observer, a tree of a different kind. 138 . FLORA DOMESTICA. DAHLIA. t OKYMBIKFK.!.. SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA SUPEBFLUA. French, georgine ; Italian, Giorgina. Georgina is its English name, :but it is generally called by the botanical appellation. THE Dahlia was named in honour of Andrew Dahl, a Swedish botanist. There are several species, all natives of the mountainous parts of the Spanish settlements in South America. Two of them, the fertile rayed (Dahlia su- perflua) and the barren rayed (Dahlia Jrustranea), are in common cultivation in our nurseries : a third (Dahlia cro- -cata) was introduced in 1816. The flowers are large and handsome ; mostly red or purple, and the colours beauti- fully vivid. It is a very lofty plant, and the foliage is coarse and rank. It is thought to grow less luxuriantly, and to flower better, if planted in a poor and gravelly soil, in the open ground : they may, however, be obtained in pots. They will bear open air ; and the roots will live a long time out of the earth without injury. The best time to plant them is in April. A recent improvement in the culture of this beautiful plant is to graft the young buds upon the tubers. They do not require much water. This flower, comparatively a stranger in England till lately, from its great beauty has become very popular. It blows about the end of September, or the beginning of October, and when in flower, it makes a brilliant figure in the nursery-gardens, where many are planted together, and of various colours. It makes a fine show in a bouquet too, but will not long survive the gathering. The double flowers are as magnificent as the peony itself. The best account of the Dahlia is to be found in the second part of the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, by R. A. Salisbury, Esq. DAISY. DAISY. BELL1S. COllYMBIFERJE. SYNGENES1A POLYGAMIA SUPEKFLUA. The botanical name is derived from the Latin word bellus, handsome. In Yorkshire called Dog-daisy and Bairn wort- The word Daisy is a compound of day's and eye, Day's-eye ; in which way, indeed, it is written by Ben Jonson. — French, la paquerette ; paquerette vivace ; paquette; marguerite [pearl]; petite marguerite; petite consire: in Languedoc, margarideta. — Italian, margheritena ; margherita; pra- tellina, pratolina [[meadow-flower]]; bellide; fiore di -primavera £spr in gtide- flower .^j WHO can see, or hear the name of the Daisy, the common Field Daisy, without a thousand pleasurable associations ! It is connected with the sports of childhood and with the pleasures of youth. We walk abroad to seek it ; yet it is the very emblem of home. It is a favourite with man, woman, and child : it is the robin of flowers. Turn it all ways, and on every side you will find new beauty. You are attracted by the snowy white leaves, contrasted by the golden tuft in the centre, as it rears its head above the green grass : pluck it, and you find it backed by a delicate star of green, and tipped with a blush-colour, or a bright crimson. " Daisies with their pinky lashes" are among the first darlings of spring. They are in flower almost all the year : closing in the evening and in wet weather, and opening on the return of the sun : " The little dazie, that at evening closes.'' SPENSER. " By1 a daisy, whose leaves spread Shut when Titan goes to bed." G. WITHERS. No flower has been more frequently celebrated by our poets, our best poets ; Chaucer, in particular, expatiates at 140 FLORA DOMESTICA. great length upon it. He tells us that the Queen Alceste, who sacrificed her own life to save that of her husband Admetus, and who was afterwards restored to the world by Hercules, was, for her great goodness, changed into a Daisy. He is never weary of praising this little flower : " Whan that the month of May Is comen, and that I heare the foules sing, And that the floures ginnen for to spring, Farewell my booke, and my devocion. Now have I than eke this condicion, That of all the floures in the mede, Than love I most these floures white and rede, Such that men callen daisies in our town : To them 1 have so great affectioun, As I sayd erst, whan comen in the Maie, That in my bedde there daweth me no daie, That I nam up, and walking in the mede To seen this floure ayenst the sunne spredc, Whan it upriseth early by the morrow, That blissful sight softeneth my sorrow. So glad am I, when that I have presence Of it, to done it all reverence, As she that is of all floures the floure, Fulfilled of all vertue and honoure, And every ilike faire, and fresh of hewe, And ever I love it, and ever ilike newe, And ever shall, until mine herte die, All sweare I not, of this I woll not lie. There loved no wight nothen in this life, And whan that it is eve I renne blithe, As soone as ever the sunne ginneth west, To seen this floure, how it woll go to rest, For feare of night, so hateth she darknesse, Her chere is plainly spred in the brightnesse Of the sunne, for there it woll unclose : * * * # * My busie ghost, that thursteth alway new, To seen this floure so yong, so fresh of hew, Constrained me with so gredy desire, That in my haste I fele yet the fire, That made me rise ere it were day, And this was now the first morowe of Maie, DAISY. 141 With dreadfull herte, and glad devocloff For to been at the resurrection Of this floure, whan that it should unclose. Again the sunne, that rose as redde as rose, That in the brest was of the beast that day J That Angenores daughter ladde away. And doune on knees anon right I me sette, And as I coulde, this fresh floure I grette, Kneeling alway till it inclosed was, Upon the small soft swete grass, That was with floures swete enibrouded ali, Of such sweteness, and odour over all, That for to speak of gomme, herbe, or tree, Comparison may not imaked be, For it surmountcth plainly all odoures, And of riche beaute of floures. ***** And Zephyrus and Flora gentelly Yave to the floures soft and tenderly, Hir swete breth, and made hem for to sprede, As god and goddesse of the flourie mede, In which me thought I might day by daie, Dwellen alway the joly month of Maie, Withouten slepe, withouten meat, or drinke : Adowne full softly I gan to sinke, And leaning on my elbow and my side, The long day I shope me for to abide, For nothing els, and I shall not lie, But for to look upon the daisie, That well by reason men it call may The daisie, or els the eye of the day, The emprise, and floure of floures all ; I pray to God, that faire mote she fall, And all that loven floures for her sake : * And from a ferre come walking in the mede, The god of love, and in his hand a queene, And she was clad in royal habit greene, A fret of golde she had next her heere, And upon that a white croune she bare, With florouns small, and I shall not lie, For all the world right as a daisie Icrouned is, with white leaves lite, So were the florounes of her croune white, 14$ FLORA DOMESTICA. And of a perle fine orientall, Her white croune was imaked all, For which the white croune above the grene Made her like a daisie for to seme, Considred eke her fret of gold above : ***** Quod Loye * * * * ***** Hast thou not a book in thy cheste The great goodnesse of the Queene Alceste That turned was into a daisie, She that for her husband chose to die, And eke to gone to hell rather than he, And Hercules rescued her, parde, And brought her out of hell again to bliss? And I answerde againe, and said, ' Yes, Now I knowe her, and is this good Alceste, The daisie, and mine own hertes rest * ?' " Chaucer makes a perfect plaything of the Daisy. Not contented with calling to our minds its etymology as the eye of day, he seems to delight in twisting it into every possible form ; and, by some name or other, introduces it continually. Commending the showers of April, as bring- ing forward the May flowers, he adds : " And in speciall one called se of the daie, The daisie, a flower white and rede, And in Frenche called La Bel Margarete. O commendable floure, and most in minde ! O floure and gracious of excellence ! O amiable Margarita ! of natife kind" — In another poem, describing an arbour, he says : " With margarett.es growing in ordinaunce To she'we hem selfe as folke went to and fro, That to beholde it was a great plesaunce, And how they were accompanied with mo, Ne momblisnrsse and soneness also Thepoure pensis were not dislogid there, Ne God wote ther place was every where." * See Chaucer's Prologue to the Legend of Good Wojncn. DAISY. 143 He tells us that the Queen Alceste was changed into this flower : that she had as many virtues as there are florets in it. " Cybilla made the daisie, and the flour Icrownid all with white, as man may se, And Mars yave her a corown red, parde, In stede of rubies set among the white." " The daisy scattered on each meade and downe, A golden tufte within a silver croune. Fayre fall that dainty flowre ! and may there be No shepherd graced that doth not honor thee !" W. BROWNE. But the Field Daisy is not an inhabitant of the flower- garden : it were vain to cultivate it there. We have but to walk into the fields, and there is a profusion for us. It is the favourite of the great garden of Nature : " Meadows trim with daisies pied." Dray ton, enumerating a variety of flowers which are woven into garlands by the nymphs to adorn the river Tame, on his bridal-day, tells us that they place " The daisy over all these sundry sweets so thick As Nature doth herself, to imitate her right ; Who seems in that, her pearl, so greatly to delight, That every plain therewith she powdereth." The reader will doubtless remember Burns's Address to a Mountain Daisy, beginning " Wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower." The Scotch commonly call it by the name of Gowan ; a name which they likewise apply to the dandelion, hawk- weed, &c. : " The opening go wan, wet with dew." Wordsworth, with a true poet's delight in the simplest beauties of nature, has addressed several little poems to the Daisy : FLORA DOMESTICA. " In youth from rock to rock I went, From hill to hill, in discontent Of pleasure high and turbulent, Most pleased when most uneasy ; But now my own delights I make, — My thirst at every rill can slake, And gladly Nature's love partake Of thee, sweet daisy ! " When soothed awhile by milder airs, Thee Winter in the garland wears That thinly shades his few grey hairs ; Spring cannot shun thee ; Whole summer fields are thine by right ; And Autumn, melancholy wight, Doth in thy crimson head delight, When rains are on thee. " In shoals and bands, a morrice train, Thou greet'st the traveller in the lane ; If welcomed once, thou count'st it gain ; Thou art not daunted, Nor carest if thou be set at nought ; And oft alone in nooks remote We meet thee, like a pleasant thought, When such are wanted. " Be violets in their secret mews The flowers the wanton Zephyrs choose ; Proud be the rose, with rains and dews Her head impearling ; Thou liv'st with less ambitious aim, Yet hast not gone without thy fame ; Thou art indeed by many a claim The poet's darling. " If to a rock from rains he fly, Or some bright day of April sky, Imprisoned by hot sunshine lie Near the green holly, And wearily at length should fare ; He need but look about, and there Thou art ! — a friend at hand, to scare His melancholy. DAISY. 145 Cf A hundred times, by rock or bower, Ere thus I have lain couched an hour, Have 1 derived from thy sweet power Some apprehension ; . . • Some steady love ; some brief delight ; Some memory that had taken flight ; Some chime of fancy, wrong or right ; Or stray invention. " If stately passions in me burn, And one chance look to thee should turn, I drink out of an humbler urn A lowlier pleasure ; The homely sympathy that heeds The common life our nature breeds ; A wisdom fitted to the needs Of hearts at leisure. " When, smitten by the morning ray, I see thee rise alert and gay, Then, cheerful flower ! my spirits play With kindred gladness : And when, at dusk, by dews opprest Thou sink'st, the image of thy rest Hath often eased my pensive breast Of careful sadness. " And all day long I number yet, All seasons through, another debt, Which I, wherever thou art met, To thee am owing; An instinct call it, a blind sense ; A happy genial influence, Coming one knows not how nor whence, Nor whither going. " Child of the Year ! that round dost run Thy course, bold lover of the sun, And cheerful when the day 's begun As morning leveret, Thy * long-lost praise thou shalt regain ; * See in Chaucer and the elder poets, the honours formerly paid to this flower. 146 FLORA XTGMESTICA. Dear shalt thou be to future men As in old time ; thou, not in vain, Art Nature's favourite." Nor in vain is it a favourite with the poet, who emulates Chaucer himself in doing it honour. At one time he de- scribes it as " A nun demure, of lowly port ; Or sprightly maiden of Love's court, In her simplicity the sport Of all temptations. A queen in crown of rubies The Lance-leaved and Ivy-leaved species are extremely elegant. As there are many kinds of Geranium in esti- mation, and they differ in being more or less hardy, it may be well to subjoin a little table of those most commonly cultivated here, with these distinctions : The Geranium Divaricatum or Divaricated Geranium. Carolinianum Carolina. These two are annual, should be raised in a hot-bed, kept in the open air during the summer, and will then decay. The Maculatum or Spotted-leaved Geranium. Sanguineum Blood-coloured. Pratense Meadow. Phceum Black red-flowered. * Andrews' Monograph, on the Genus Geranium, No. 21. GERANIUM. 175 Striatum Lancastriense Macrorhizum Palustre Sylvaticum Argenteum Nodosum Streaked-flowered. Lancashire-striped . Long-odorous-rooted. Marsh. Sylvan. Silvery-leaved. Knotty. These are hardy perennial kinds, which, unless in very severe winters, will bear the open air : they should be gently watered every evening in the summer ; and three times a week, when not frosty, in the winter. Of the Pelargoniums, demanding winter shelter as directed, are the following : Cortusa-leaved Pelargonium. Botany-bay. Barrington Pelargonium. Beaufort's. Birch-leaved. Two-coloured. Hoary-leaved. Citron-scented. Heart-leaved. Cape Scarlet. The Pelargonium Cortusi-folium Ausirale Barringtonium Beaufortianum Betulinum Bicolor Blattarium Citronium Cordifolium Crenatum Formosum Fragrans Grandiflorum Speciosum Tricolor Tomentosum Elegans Hybridum Heterogamum Zonale Peltatum Inquinans Cucuttatum Penicillatum Glutinosum Angulosum Nummu lifolium Papilionaceu m Echinatum Handsome. Fragrant. Great-flowering. Beautiful. Three-coloured. Downy. Elegant. Bastard. Lady Coventry's. Horse-shoe. Peltated. Scarlet. Hooded. Pencilled. Clammy. Marsh-Mallow-leaved . Coin-leaved. Butterfly. Prickly-stalked. 176 FLORA DOMESTICA. Radula Multifid-leaved. Asperum Rough-leaved. Ternatum Ternate. Graveolens Rose-scented. Vitifolium Vine-leaved, Balm-scented. Capitatum Rose-scented. Balsameum Balsamic. Incisum Gashed. Tetragonum Square-stalked. Gibbosum Gouty. Acetosum Sorrel. Denticulatum Toothed. Quercifolium Oak-leaved. Fulgidum Celandine-leaved. Reniforme Kidney-leaved. Fragile Brittle. These are chiefly natives of the Cape of Good Hope. The Geranium which first became familiar to us, that with plain red flowers, is still, and deservedly, a favourite. It may be brought to grow very large by care and atten- tion, and bears an abundance of blossoms. Cowper speaks of it, in describing the inhabitants of the greenhouse : " Geranium boasts Her crimson honours." Mrs. Charlotte Smith, in her Conversations on Natural History, introduces some lines to a Geranium, which had been carefully nursed. GERMANDER. TEUCRIUM. LABIATE. DIDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA. From Teucer, son of Scamander, and father-in-law of Dardanus, king of Troy. OF the numerous species of Teucrium, it will suffice to select a few of the most desirable ; as, 1. The Many-flowered ; red flowers ; native of Spain. 2. The Canadian ; yellow ; blowing in August and September. 3. The Virginian ; red ; July and August. GLOBE-FLOWER. 177 4. The Betony -leaved; Persian; August to October. 5. The Water-leaved; pink, or pale pur- ple ; Europe ; July and August, fr. The Common,, or Wall; red-purple; Europe, Palestine, and Islands of the Archipelago. 7. The Shining; yellow; Mount Atlas, South of Europe ; June to September. 8. The Pyrenean ; purple and white. 9. The Poley ; yellow or white ; South of Europe ; June to July. The second, third, and fifth kinds will, in mild winters, thrive abroad, even in pots; the fifth must have a very moist soil, and will require more water than the others. The other six kinds must be sheltered from the frosts of winter, and be kept moderately moist. Most of them may be raised from cuttings planted early in April, and shaded till they have taken root. Mr. H. Smith, enumerating a variety of flowers which have their origin in the metamorphosis of lovers, &c. adds, < c that baptized With Phrygian Teucer's name." GLOBE-FLOWER. TROLLIUS. RANUNCULACE^E. POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA. The botanical name is supposed to be of German origin, and to sig- nify a Magic-flower. It is also called Globe- Ranunculus, and Globe Crow-foot, from the coloured lobes of the calyx being always inflected at the tip, and never expanded, so that they constantly form a com- plete globe. — French, le renoncule de montagne. — Italian, trollio. THE European Globe-flower is a native of most parts of Europe, growing in moist shady places. It is very common in the north of England ; in the south it is found only in gardens. In the northern counties, it is called Locker- goulans, which Mr. Martyn supposes to be a corruption of 178 FLORA DOMESTICA. the Lucker-gowan (Cabbage-daisy) of the Scots. Allan Ramsay makes his young laird seek a chaplet of it for his Katy's brow. " This splendid flower," says Linnaeus, " adorns the pavement of the rustics on festival days." It is a bright yellow flower, blowing in May and June. " In Westmore- land these flowers are collected with great festivity, by the youth of both sexes, at the beginning of June ; about which time it is usual to see them return from the woods in an evening, laden with them, to adorn their doors and cottages with wreaths and garlands *." The Globe-flower may be increased by parting the roots in September, when the leaves begin to decay; but they must not be parted very small, nor oftener than every third year. The Siberian Globe-flower has paler flowers, and more open, than those of the European species : this also blows in May and June, and may be increased in the same man- ner ; but it requires a soil yet more moist than that does ; and the best way to keep it flourishing is to cover the earth with moss, and to water it frequently. They both love the shade ; exposure to the sun, and want of water, will soon destroy them. They will bear the open air at all seasons. GLOBULARIA. GLOBULARIEJE. TETRANDRIA MONOGYNIA. So named by Tournefort, from the flowers growing many together in the form of a little globe, or ball. THE Montpelier Globularia — in French, Farbrisseau terrible ; Globulaire turbiih ; but in Languedoc, lou pichot Jenc — is a leafy little shrub, the leaves resembling those of * Martyn's edition of Miller's Gardener's Dictionary. GOAT'S-RUE. 179 the myrtle : the flowers blue. From its medicinal pro- perties it has been named Herb terrible. It flowers from August to November. This plant may be increased by cuttings, which should be taken in April, just before it begins to make new shoots. They are usually put into a hot-bed until they have taken root; but, if kept in the house, they will strike very well without. When rooted, they should be inured by degrees to the open air; but must be housed again towards winter, admitting fresh air when not frosty. The Common Globularia, Globe-daisy, or Blue-daisy, is a native of most other parts of Europe, but not of Eng- land : it is called in France, la boulette. In Gerarde's, and even in Parkinson's time, it was rarely seen in our gardens. The flower is a beautiful blue, and appears in May and June. This species, the Prickly-leaved, the Wedge-leaved, and the Naked-stalked, may be increased by parting the roots in the September of every second year. They like a moist loamy earth, and will bear the open air. The Long-leaved Globularia, and the Oriental, may be increased in the same manner, but in other respects must be treated like the first. They all agree in liking the shade, and a frequent supply of water, but they must not have much at a time. All the kinds have blue flowers. GOATS-RUE. GALEGA. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. French, rue de chevre; lavanese. — Italian, capraggine; ruta ca- praria ; lavanna ; lavanese ; lavamani ; sarracena : in Piedmont, bava- rosce. THE Common Goat's-rue grows naturally in Africa, and in many parts of Europe. It has usually blue flowers ; 180 FLORA DOTMESTICA. but there are varieties with white and with variegated blossoms. It flowers in June. Some give this species the name of Italian Vetch. It will live in the open air, and must be kept moderately moist. The Virginian species has red flowers, is less hardy, and must be housed in the winter, admitting fresh air in mild weather. Most of the species are natives of the East or West Indies, and are therefore hot-house plants. Some of these are very handsome. Among them is one called Gdlega Tinctoria, from which the inhabitants of Ceylon prepare their indigo ; and another called Galega Toxicaria, of which the leaves and branches, pounded and thrown into a river or pond, affect the water in such a manner as to intoxicate the fish, and make them float on the surface as if dead. Most of the larger ones recover after a short time, but the greater part of the small fry perish. On account of its intoxicating qualities it is much cultivated in America. GOLDEN-LOCKS. CHRYSOCOMA. CORYMBIFEILflE. SYNGENESIA POLYGAMIA The botanical name is derived from two Greek words of the above signification. By country-people the English name is corrupted into Goldy-locks. — French, crisocome. — Italian, crisocoma. MOST of these plants are natives of the Cape of Good Hope, and must therefore be housed during the winter season. They should, however, enjoy the fresh air in mild weather, since they require protection from frost only. They may be increased by cuttings, which should be planted in the summer months, shaded from the sun, and kept moist, and they will easily take root. It will forward them to cover them with a hand-glass while rooting. The German Golden-locks — called in French crisocome GOUIID. 181 de Dioscoride, crisocome liniere — is usually propagated by parting the roots, which should be done in autumn, soon after the roots decay, in order that they may have time to establish themselves in their new situations before the winter. This species will live in the open air. It must be sparingly watered. When touched, it gives out a fine aromatic scent. The shrubby kinds are in blossom nearly all the year round. The flowers are yellow in all the species. GOURD. CUCURBITA. CUCURBITACE^E. MONOECIA SYNGENESIA, French, la courge. — Italian, la zucca : at Rome, cucuzza : in the Brescia, suca, co, melona. THE Orange-Gourd, and other small varieties, which can be trained round a stake and kept within bounds, will have a pretty effect in a balcony in the summer. They may be sown towards the close of April, and should be watered every evening in dry summer weather. They are annual plants. The larger species of Gourd are very useful to their countrymen. The Bottle Gourd — named by the French la calebasse ; la gourde; le Jlacon ; la calebasse d'herbe ; and by the Italians la zucca longa ; la mazza d'Ercole [Hercules's club] — which the Arabians call charrah, is, by the poor, boiled in vinegar and eaten. Some- times they make it into a kind of pudding, by filling the shell with rice and meat. In Jamaica the shells are in general use as water cups, and frequently serve the negroes and poorer sort of white people for bottles. The largest variety of this species is cultivated for the sake of the 182 FLOllA DOMESTICA. shells, which will sometimes contain five, six, or seven gallons. The Warted Gourd— called by the French le potiron a verrues > la barbarine — is gathered when half- grown by the Americans, and boiled as a sauce to their meat. The Water Melon — in French, la pasteque ; le melon d^eau ; citronelle ,• concombre cltrin : in Italian, coco- mero ; mellone : in Venice, anguria : in the Brescian, sorgnel— serves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and medi- cine, from the beginning of May to the end of July. They are eaten abundantly. When they are very ripe, their juice, mixed with a little rose-water and sugar, forms the only medicine which the common people take in the most ardent fevers. The Pompion, or Pumpkin, — called in France le poti- ron ; le pepon ,• la citromlle : in Italy, zucca bernoccoluta ; popone ; poponoino — which in Europe is considered hard of digestion, is reckoned in the Eastern countries as the most wholesome of all the Gourds. In North America, China, &c. the Squash Gourd — in French, le pastisson : le bonnet tfelecteur — also is considered as an article of food; and, as it will keep fresh and sweet for several months, is very useful in long voyages. The fruit of the Gourds, when unripe, is generally of a green colour, and, if such a phrase may be allowed, a very green green. " Then gan the shepherd gather into one His straggling goats, and drave them to a foord, Whose caerule stream, rombling in pibble-stone, Crept under moss, as green as any goord." SPENSER'S VIRGIL'S GNAT. *' Sometimes a poet from that bridge might see A nymph reach downwards, holding by a bough With tresses o'er her brow : And with her white back stoop The pushing stream to scoop Jn a green gourd cup, shining sunnily." HUNT'S NYMPHS. GREEK VALE1UAN. Cowper appears in the following passage to have con- founded the Gourd with the cucumber : " To raise the prickly and green-coated gourd, So grateful to the palate, and, when rare, So coveted ; else base and disesteemed, Food for the vulgar merely * ; is an art That toiling ages have but just matured." Thevenot says that, in the island of Delhi, the horses are rubbed with Gourd blossoms to prevent the flies from teasing them : and that it is an excellent remedy, provided the grooms renew it sufficiently often f. GREEK VALERIAN. POLEMONIUM C^RULEUM. POLEMONIACEE. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Jacob's Ladder ; Ladder to Heaven. THIS plant has no affinity to the valerian : it has only some little resemblance in the shape of the leaves. The flowers are pretty, blue or white, and open about the end of May, producing a constant succession throughout the summer. The leaves, too, become daily more luxu- riant, to the very end of autumn. It is a native of Asia * A new species of Gourd has been very lately introduced from Persia under the name of vegetable marrow ; the flesh, when not fully ripe, having a peculiar softness, and, when peeled and boiled, re- sembling the buttery quality of the buerre pears. It is easily culti- vated, and promises to be a great acquisition to our tables. These Gourds are generally brought to market, when too much grown ; pro- bably on account of the profit ; but those who cultivate them in their own gardens pluck them when they are about the size of a hen's egg, or at the most, the egg of a turkey ; and the young fruit is far supe- rior to the old. t Thevenot, Voyage de Levant, Part iii. p. 137. 184 FLORA DOMESTICA. and the North of Europe. The seeds may be sown in spring, in a fresh light soil, not very rich. At Michaelmas they may be transplanted into separate pots, of a middle size : or they may be increased by parting the roots in autumn. The earth should be moderately moist, but never wet; and great care should be taken to keep them free from insects, with which they are often infested. GUELDER-ROSE. VIBURNUM OPULUS. CAPRIFOLIE^. PENTANDRIA TllIGYNIA. Elder-rose; Rose-elder; Snowball-tree.— French, obier, boule de neige : Italian, pallon di neve. THIS elegant shrub is a variety of a species of viburnum called Water-elder, and delights in a moist soil. The name of Snowball-tree is so appropriate as naturally to suggest itself to the mind; and I have more than once heard it remarked by persons who knew it only by its more general title of Guelder-rose, that it should have been called the Snowball-tree. It has, at first sight, the appearance of a little maple- tree that has been pelted with snowballs ; and we almost fear to see them melt away in the sunshine. This beautiful snowball of summer continues, however, to adorn the green leaves, which so finely contrast with its whiteness, for two or three successive months, first appearing towards the end of May. When kept in pots, the Guelder-rose will require water- ing every evening in dry summer weather. Being a native of North America, it will bear our climate very well ; but it will be important, when in blossom, to shelter it from heavy rains, which would be apt partially to thaw these delicate flowers. HAWTHORN. 185 Cowper, who loved his garden, and found new pleasure in transplanting his flowers into his poems, describes the Guelder-rose as " tall, And throwing up into the darkest gloom Of neighbouring cypress, or more sable yew, Her silver globes, light as the foamy surf That the wind severs from the broken wave." Southey speaks of it by its more rustic name of Snow- ball: " I like a shrubbery too, it looks so fresh, And then there 's some variety about it. In spring the lilac, and the snowball flower, And the laburnum, with its golden strings Waving in the wind : and when the autumn comes, The bright red berries of the mountain-ash, With pines enough in winter to look green, And show that something lives." HAWTHOKN. CRAT^EGUS OXYACANTHA. ROSACES. ICOSANDRIA DIGYNIA. French, Taubepine ; Te'pme-blanche • la noble epine ; le senellier. — Italian, bianco-spino ; amperlo ; marruca bianca ; bagaia. — English, Hawthorn, from 4he Anglo-Saxon, hsgthorn ; Whitethorn ; Quick ; May-bush. FEW trees exceed the Common Hawthorn in beauty, during the season of its bloom. Its blossoms have been justly compared to those of the myrtle : they are admirable also for their abundance, and for their exquisite fragrance. This shrub usually flowers in May ; and being the hand- somest then, or perhaps at any time, wild in our fields, has obtained the name of May, or May-bush. The country- people deck their houses and churches with the blossoms on May-day, as they do with holly at Christmas. 186 FLOEA DOMESTICA. ' ' Youth's folk now flocken everywhere, To gather May-buskets and smelling breere ; And home they hasten the posts to dight, And all the kirk-pillars ere day-light, With hawthorne buds, and sweet eglantine, And girlonds of roses, and sops-in-wine." SPENSER'S SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR. At this season our fields and hedges begin to show symptoms of their summer richness; buds are opening around you at every step ; and '" the waving trees Throw their soft shadows on the sunny fields, Where in the music-breathing hedge the thorn, And pearly white May-blossom full of sweets, Hang out the virgin flag of spring, entwined With dripping honeysuckles, whose sweet breath Sinks to the heart — recalling with a sigh Dim recollected feelings of the days Of youth and early love." ATHERSTONE'S LAST DAYS OF HERCULANEUM. There are many species of Hawthorn. India has its Hawthorn : America, China, Siberia, have each their Hawthorn : several are Europeans : but our own British shrub yields to none of them. It is very common in every part of England ; is to be seen in every hedge : " And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale." MILTON, L'ALLEGRO. We must not, however, let our fancies run so riot, as to suppose that the poet here intends that we should con- ceive a beautiful and youthful nymph sitting by the shep- herd's side, to whom he is pouring forth his fond tale of love; for, in very truth, the real image present in the poet's mind was simply that of a shepherd telling his tale, or, in unpoetic language, counting his sheep, as he lies extended in the shade of this tree ; and to those who take HAWTHORN. 187 pleasure in a country life, and rural associations, perhaps this image will appear scarcely less poetical, or less pleasing, than the former interpretation, which many readers give to this passage at first sight. This tree not only delights our senses with its beauty and perfume, and affords a cooling shade in sunny fields, a benevolence for which it has been celebrated by many of our best poets, but it also harbours the little birds which cheer us with their joyous music. The thrush, and many others, feed in winter on its berries, the bright scarlet haws. A decoction of the bark yields a yellow dye: the wood is used for axle-trees and tool-handles. " The root of an old Thorn," says Evelyn, " is excellent for boxes and combs. When planted single, it rises with a stem big enough for the use of the turner ; and the wood is scarcely inferior to box." The Glastonbury variety, commonly called the Glaston- bury Thorn, usually flowers in January or February ; but it is sometimes in blossom on Christmas-day. In many countries the peasants eat the berries of the Hawthorn; and the Kamschatkadales make a wine from them. The Hawthorn will grow many years in a pot or tub, and require no other care than watering it occasionally in dry weather, and removing it into a larger pot as it out- grows the old one. The scent of the May-blossom is proverbially sweet. How much is said in praise both of its beauty and sweet- ness in the following couplet ! f e A bush of May-flowers with the bees about them ; Ah, sure no tasteful nook would be without them." KEATS. Chaucer frequently speaks of the Hawthorn : " There sawe I growing eke the freshe hauthorne In white motley, that so sote doeth ysmell." COMPLAINT or THE BLACK KNIGHT. 188 FLORA DOMESTICA. In the celebration of May-day, in the Court of Love, he says : " And furth goth all the Courte both most and lest To fetche the flouris freshe, and braunch and blome, And namely hauthorne brought both page and grome, With fresh garlandis, party blew and white, And than rejoysin in their grete delight." " Amongst the many buds proclaiming May, (Decking the fields in holiday's array, Striving who shall surpasse in bravery) Marke the faire blooming of the hawthorne-tree ; Who, finely cloathed in a robe of white, Feeds full the wanton eye with May's delight ; Yet for the bravery that she is in Doth neyther handle carde nor wheele to spin, Nor changeth robes but twice, is never scene In other colors than in white or greene. Learn then content, young shepherd, from this tree, Whose greatest wealth is Nature's livery." ee All the trees are quaintly tyred With greene buds of all desired ; And the hauthorne every day Spreads some little show of May. See the primrose sweetly set By the much-loved violet, All the bankes doe sweetly cover As they would invite a lover With his lass, to see their dressing, And to grace them by their pressing." W. BROWNE. " Tis May, the Grace,— -confess'd she stands By branch of hawthorn in her hands : Lo ! near her trip the lightsome dews, Their wings all tinged in iris hues ; With whom the powers of Flora play, And paint with pansies all the way." WART ON. Philips, in his Letter from Copenhagen, beautifully de- scribes the appearance of the Hawthorn in the winter : HAWTHORN. 189 " In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show, While through the ice the crimson berries glow." There is a beautiful address to the Hawthorn in the poems of Ronsard. The following version *, which is from the pen of the Rev. Mr. Cary, is so faithful, and so happy, that the French poet will suffer no injustice if we quote the translation only : " Fair hawthorn flowering, "With green shade bowering Along this lovely shore ; To thy foot around With his long arms wound A wild vine has mantled thee o'er. " In armies twain, Red ants have ta'en Their fortress beneath thy stock : And in clefts of thy trunk Tiny bees have sunk A cell where honey they lock. " In merry spring- tide, When to woo his bride The nightingale comes again, Thy boughs among He warbles his song, That lightens a lover's pain. " 'Mid thy topmost leaves His nest he weaves Of moss and the satin fine, Where his callow brood Shall chirp at their food, Secure from each hand but mine. " Gentle hawthorn, thrive, And, for ever alive, Mayst thou blossom as now in thy prime ; * See " Notices of the Early French Poets," in the London Maga- zine, vol. v. p. 511. 190 FLORA DOMESTICA. By the wind unbroke, And the thunderstroke, Unspoiled by the axe of time." The following lines by another French poet, Olivier de Magny, addressed to Ronsard's servant, present a most de- lightful picture : " And if he with his troops repair Sometimes into the fields, Seek thou the village nigh, and there Choose the best wine it yields. Then by a fountain's grassy side, O'er which some hawthorn bends, Be the full flask by thee supplied, To cheer him and his friends." LONDON MAGAZINE, vol. v. p. 159. HEARTS-EASE. VIOLA TRICOLOR. 1TIOLJE. SYNGENESIA MONOGYNIA. French, herbe de la Trinite ; pens£es [thoughts] . — Italian, flam- toola [little flame] ; viola farfalla [butterfly violet] ; viola segolina [winged violet]; fior della Trinita; suocera e nuora [mother-in-law and daughter-in-law]. The Greeks have named it phlox [a flame.] THIS beautiful flower is a native of Siberia, Japan, and many parts of Europe. Mr. Brooke, speaking of the forests in Sweden, says, " innumerable flowers of the live- liest colours peeped out between the masses of brown rock, enamelled with various kinds of lichens; and huge frag- ments were variegated with beds of the Pansy, or Hearf s- ease, displaying its different hues, relieved by the dark- green of the sweeping pines *."" It is a general favourite, as might be supposed from the infinity of provincial names * Brooke's Sweden, p. 54. HEART'S-EASE. 191 which have been bestowed upon it from its beautiful colours : — Love in Idleness. Jump up and kiss me. Live in Idleness. Look up and kiss me. Call me to you. Kiss me ere I rise. Cull me to you. Kiss me behind the Garden-gate. Three Faces under a Hood. Pink of my John. Herb Trinity. Flower of Jove. And Flamy, because its colours are seen in the flame of wood. It is a species of violet, and is frequently called the Pansy-violet, or Pansy, a corruption of the French name, pensces. The smaller varieties are scentless, but the larger ones have an agreeable odour. Drayton celebrates its perfume by the flowers with which he compares it in this respect ; but then, to be sure, his is an Elysian HeartVease : " The Pansy and the violet, here, As seeming to descend Both from one root, a very pair, For sweetness do contend. " And pointing to a pink to tell Which bears it, it is loth To judge it ; but replies, for smell That it excels them both. " Wherewith displeased they hang their heads, So angry soon they grow, And from their odoriferous beds Their sweets at it they throw." The Heart's-ease has been lauded by many of our poets ; it has been immortalised even by Shakspeare himself ; but no one has been so warm and constant in its praise as Mr. Hunt, who has mentioned it in many of his works. In the Feast of the Poets, he entwines it with the Vine and the Bay, for the wreath bestowed by Apollo upon Mr. T. Moore. In the notes to that little volume, he again speaks 192 FLORA DOMESTICA. of this flower, and I do not know that I can do better than steal a few of its pages to adorn this. " It is pleasant to light upon an universal favourite, whose merits answer one's expectation. We know little or nothing of the common flowers among the ancients; but as violets in general have their due mention among the poets that have come down to us, it is to be con- cluded that the Heart's-ease could not miss its particular admiration, —if indeed it existed among them in its perfection. The modern Latin name for it is^o* Jovis, or Jove's flower, — an appellation rather too worshipful for its little sparkling delicacy, and more suitable to the greatness of an hydrangea or to the diadems of a rhododendron. f Quseque per irriguas quaereada Sisymbria valles Crescunt, nectendis cum myrto nata coronis ; Flosque Jovis varius, folii tricoloris, et ipsi Par viola, nulloque tamen spectatus odore.' RAPINI HORTORUM, lib. i, < With all the beauties in the vallies bred, Wild mint, that's born with myrtle crowns to wed, And Jove's own flower, that shares the violet's pride, Its want of scent with triple charm supplied.' " The name given it by the Italians isjlammola, the little flame ; — at least, this is an appellation with which I have met, and it is quite in the taste of that ardent people. The French are perfectly aimable with theirs :— they call it pensee, a thought, from which comes our word Pansy : — " ' There's rosemary,' says poor Ophelia ; that's for remembrance; —pray you, love, remember ;— -and there is pansies,— that 's for thoughts.' Drayton, in his world of luxuries, the Muse's Elysium, where he fairly stifles you with sweets, has given, under this name of it, a very brilliant image of its effect in a wreath of flowers; — the nymph says, ' Here damask roses, white and red, Out of my lap first take I, Which still shall run along the thread ; My chiefest flow'r this make I. Amongst these roses in a row, Next place I pinks in plenty, These double-daisies then for show ; And will not this be dainty ? HEART'S-EASE. 193 The pretty pansy then I '11 tye, Like stones some chain enchasing ; The next to them, their near ally, The purple violet placing." NYMPHAL, 5th.