80 FLORA HISTORICxV. 



In the emblematical language of flowers, the 

 Pseony is given as a representative of bashful 

 shame. 



Antiquity celebrates the virtues of this plant, 

 and places it amongst the wonders of the vege- 

 table creation. Fable gives us its origin, iEscu- 

 lapius its properties, and superstition ranks it 

 amongst miraculous plants, assuring us that de- 

 mons will fly the spot where it is planted, and 

 that even a small piece of the root worn round 

 the neck is sufficient to protect the wearer from 

 all kinds of enchantment. 



It owes its name to Paeon, a famous physician 

 of antiquity, who is said to have cured the 

 wounds which the gods received during the Tro- 

 jan war with the aid of this plant, and from him 

 skilful physicians are sometimes called Pcconii, 

 and on the same account those herbs which are 

 serviceable in medicine, Pceonicv herhce. 



The ancient writers, who transformed simple 

 facts into fabulous histories, for the purpose of 

 deifying favourite mortals, relate that Pseon, who 

 was a pupil of the great ^Esculapius, first re- 

 ceived the Peeony on mount Olympus, from the 

 hands of the mother of Apollo, with which he 

 cured Pluto of a wound he had received from 

 Hercules ; but this cure created so much jealousy 

 in the breast of iEsculapius, that he secretly 



