FLORA'S LEXICON 



ROOM. Genista. Class 17, Diadelphia. 

 Order : Decandria. We presume that this 

 plant has been made the emblem of neat- 

 ness from the uses to which it is constantly 

 applied. In our country villages, and 

 throughout the country, it is known to every 

 thrifty housewife as affording besoms for 

 sweeping, whence originated the name of " broom" for those 

 domestic cleansers. 



There are many useful species of it. " The broom," says Mr. 

 Martyn, " converts the most barren spot into an odoriferous gar- 

 den." 



NEATNESS. 



On me such beauty summer pours, 

 That I am cover'd 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. 



Hypericum, all bloom, so thick a swarm 

 Of flowers, like flies, clothing her slender rods, 

 That scarce a leaf appears ; mezereon too, 

 Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset 

 With blushing wreaths, investing every spray; 

 Althea, with the purple eye ; the broom, 

 Yellow and bright, as bullion unalloyed 

 Her blossoms. 



COWPER. 



Sweet blooms genista in the myrtle shade. 



Darwin. 



