CENTAURY. 209 



grow in almost any soil, but it succeeds best when 

 sown in the autumn, for those sown in the spring 

 seldom produce so many flowers, and it is a plant 

 that will not bear transplanting. The only care 

 required is to keep the plants free from weeds, and 

 to thin them to a proper distance from each other, 

 as they branch to a considerable distance. 



SWEET SULTAN, or PURPLE SWEET 

 CENTAURY. Centaurea Moschata. 



This honey-scented species of Centaurea is indige- 

 nous to the soil of Persia, and Avas first introduced 

 to this country during the reign of Charles T. 

 Parkinson thus speaks of it in 1629 : '^ As a kinde 

 of these corne-flowers, I must needs adjoyn ano- 

 ther stranger, of much beauty, and but lately ob- 

 tained from Constantinople, where, because, as it 

 is said, the great Turk, as we call him, saw it 

 abroad, liked it, and wore it himself, all his vassals 

 have had it in great regard, and it hath been ob- 

 tained from them by some that have sent it into 

 these parts.'' 



Parkinson adds, *« this flower hath been sent by 

 the name of Amhreboi, which, whether it be a 

 Turkic or Arabian name^ I know not. I have 



