FLORAL EMBLEMS. 209 



MEDICINE. 



Swallow- WORT. — Asdepias. 



*' Well knew he the old Esculapius." 



Chaucer, 



Tradition asserts that the virtues of this 

 plant were discovered by the god of medicine, 

 from which cause the generic name was given, 

 and the emblem devised. 



Dryden says. 



'* He 'scapes the best, who nature to repair. 

 Draws physic from the fields in draughts of vital air." 



