236- FLORA HISTORICA. 



6y enchant. The English name of Cock's Comb, 

 and tlie French Crete de Coq, is given on account 

 of the resemblance wliicli the crested head, or mass 

 of flowers, has to the crest or comb of a cock. 



The flowers of this plant are so numerous and 

 small, and so closely set together on an irregular 

 flattish surface, that it frequently looks more like 

 a piece of rich velvet than a vegetable substance. 

 AVe do not find it placed in floral language, and 

 have therefore given it as the emblem of singula- 

 rity. It is a native of several parts of Asia, and is 

 common in Persia, China, and Japan, where we are 

 informed it is cultivated to such perfection, that the 

 crests or heads of the flowers are frequently a foot 

 in length and breadth. 



This species of Celosia appears to have been 

 known in this country as long back as 1570 ; but 

 from the imperfect manner of forcing plants at that 

 early period of British gardening, we may conclude 

 that the plants were frequently lost without afford- 

 ing seed. The most perfect plant of this kind that 

 has been raised in England, and we presume we 

 may say in Europe, was grown by Thomas Andrew 

 Knight, Esq., and sent by him to the Horticul- 

 tural Society of London in October, 1820, a draw- 

 ing of which is now to be seen in the library of that 

 institution. The flower of this extraordinary plant 

 measured seven inches in height and eighteen inches 



