206 FLORA HISTORICA. 



CENTAURY. Centaurea. 



Natural Order Compound Flowers. Cinarocephal^, 

 Juss. A Genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Frus- 

 tranea Class. 



To cure the bees, dried Roses, Acorn juice, 

 Athenian Thyme and Centauiy conduce, 



Virgil. 



Our botanical gardens possess no less than seventy- 

 two distinct species of this genus of plants, besides 

 varieties, all of which are natives of the Old 

 World, not one having, to our knowledge, been 

 discovered in either of the Indies or America. 

 Like the Common Poppy, the Centaury is the 

 corn-flower of all the European countries, as well 

 as that of Persia, Egypt, Siberia, Tartary, and 

 Barbary ; and although the species of this very 

 extensive genus vary considerably in character, yet 

 they all seem to harmonize with the Red Poppy 

 and the yellow corn as happily as the Bluebottle of 

 our British fields mixes with the gay Poppy in the 

 fields of Ceres. 



The generic name of these plants is derived from 

 Ks'vTai/§os-, a centaur ; and fabulous history adds, 

 that it was so called after Chiron, a centaur, who 



