254 FLORA HISTORICA. 



come to set him downe in his iiuely colours : but 

 to colour it after my best manner this I saie. In 

 his leaues doth consist his beautie ; for in fewe 

 words, euery leafe doth resemble in colours the 

 most faire and beautifull feather of a Parrat, 

 especially those feathers that are mixed with 

 most sundrie colours, as a stripe of red, and a 

 line of yellow, a dashe of white, and a ribbe of 

 greene colour, which I cannot with words set 

 foorth, such is the sundrie mixtures of colours 

 that nature hath bestowed in hir greatest iollitie 

 vpon this flower." , 



This plant, whose variegated leaves remind us 

 of Joseph's coat, is extremely ornamental amongst 

 evergreen shrubs, with which it forms a most 

 agreeable contrast, particularly when planted in 

 clumps of a sufficient size to give effect. This 

 species grows naturally in Persia, China, Japan, 

 as well as at Ceylon, and the Society Isles, ^c, 



Prince's-feather, Aniaranthus Hi/pochondriacus, 

 is a native of Virginia, and has been in this 

 country since the year 1684, and has so far na- 

 turalized itself to this climate as to become a 

 weed. This is also an ornamental plant amongst 

 dwarf shrubs and in open spaces of the shrubbery. 



We learn from Dr. Turner, that one species of 

 Amaranth was cultivated in our gardens previous 



