224 FLORA HISTORrCA. 



CENTAURY. Centaurea. 



Natural Order of Compound Flowers. Cinarocephalce, 

 Juss : a Genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Frus^ 

 tranea Class. 



" To cure the bees, dry'd Roses, Acorn juice, 

 Athenian Thyme and Centaury conduce." 



Virgil, 



Our botanical gardens possess no less than se- 

 venty-two distinct species of this genus of plants, 

 besides varieties, all of which are natives of the 

 Old World, not one having, to our knowledge, 

 been discovered in either of the Indies or Ame- 

 rica. Like the common Poppy, the Centaury is 

 the corn-flower of all the European countries, as 

 well as that of Persia, Egypt, Siberia, Tartary, 

 and Barbary ; and although the species of this 

 very extensive genus vary considerably in cha- 

 racter, yet they all seem to harmonize with the 

 Red Poppy and the yellow corn as happily as the 

 Bluebottle of our British fields mixes with the 

 gay Poppy in the fields of Ceres. 



The generic name of these plants is derived 

 from ILivTOLrjqog, a centaur ; and fabulous history 



