CANDY-TUFT. 23j 



Id the borders of the flower-garden, or the fore- 

 ground of the shrubbery, than some species of the 

 Iberis, when a number of plants are so congregated 

 in one spot as to form a single cluster, or an irre- 

 gular mass. Of these, we shall first notice the 

 Ever-flowering Candy-tuft, Ibcrls semperflorens, 

 which remains in blossom nearly the whole year, 

 but more particularly so from the end of August to 

 the beginning of June, braving all the inclement 

 seasons with such an apparent negligence of the 

 changes in the weather, that the Persian ladies have, 

 in their floral language, adopted this flower as the 

 representative of indifference. 



The snow itself is scarcely whiter than the petals 

 of this plant ; and therefore it is particularly well 

 adapted to enliven the sombre appearance of ever- 

 green plantations during the winter season, — if not 

 placed near the Laurustinus, which requires no aid 

 of this kind, for that beautiful shrub, like the 

 Iberis, seems awake whilst the rest of vegetable 

 nature sleeps. 



Pliny slightly mentions this plant under the 

 name of Iberis ; it is also the Ifiepi? of Dioscori- 

 des, and is supposed to be so named from Iberia, 

 where it formerly grew abundantly. The English 

 name of Candy-tuft seems to have originated out of 

 the circumstance of the first species of these plants 

 being brought from Candia, from whence, says 



