CENTAURY. 225 



adds, that it was so called after Chiron, a cen- 

 taur, who taught mankind the use of plants and 

 medicinal herbs. It is also related that he cured 

 a wound, which was inflicted by a poisoned 

 arrow of Hercules, by the aid of one of the spe- 

 cies of these plants, from which circumstance it 

 was called Centaury. 



Ancient fable informs us, that the Bluebottle 

 of our corn-fields was called Cyanus, after a 

 youth so named, who was so devoted to corn- 

 flowers, that his chief employment was that of 

 making garlands of them ; and he seldom left 

 the fields so long as his favourite flower was to 

 be found, always dressing himself in the same 

 fine blue colour of the flower he so much ad- 

 mired. Flora was his goddess, and of all her 

 gifts this was the one he most admired. At 

 length, he was found dead in a corn-field, sur- 

 rounded with the Bluebottles he had gathered, 

 soon after which Flora changed his body into 

 this flower, out of gratitude for the veneration 

 he had for her divinity. 



The Bluebottle, Centcmrea Cyanus, has been 

 taken from the fields to the garden, where the 

 art of the florist has multipHed its florets, and 

 varied its colour so much, that it is now become 

 one of the summer favourites of the parterre, 

 flowering from the middle of June to the end of 



Vol. II. Q 



