458 The Andromeda Family. [Sess. 



species are widely distributed over the colder regions of 

 Europe, Asia, and America, our own island possessing in its 

 native flora one of the prettiest of them. The genus was 

 named by Linnaeus in allusion to the fabled Princess Andro- 

 meda bound to a rock, and exposed to the attacks of a sea 

 monster ; and it may be interesting to quote a few sentences 

 from his ' Lachesis Lapponica,' as translated by Sir J. E. 

 Smith, to illustrate the fact that the great naturalist was not 

 only a devoted scientist, but a man who could look upon the 

 beautiful with all the enthusiasm of a poet. Speaking of 

 Andromeda polifolia, the species on which the genus was 

 founded, Linnteus says : — 



Andromeda polifolia was in its highest beauty, decorating the marshy- 

 grounds in a most agreeable manner. The flowers are quite blood-red be- 

 fore they expand, biit when full-grown the corolla is of a flesh-colour. 

 Scarcely any painter's art can so happilj' imitate the beauty of a fine female 

 complexion, still less could any artificial colour upon the face itself bear a 

 comparison with this lovely blossom. As I contemplated it, I could not 

 help thinking of Andromeda as described by the poets ; and the more I 

 meditated upon their description, the more they seemed applicable to the 

 little plant before me, so that if these writers had it in view they could 

 scarcely have contrived a more apposite fable. Andromeda is represented 

 by them of most exquisite and unrivalled charms, but these charms remain 

 in perfection only so long as she retains her virgin purity — which is also 

 applicable to the plant now preparing to celebrate its nuptials. The plant 

 is always found on some little turfy hillock in the midst of the swamps, 

 as Andromeda herself was chained to a rock in the sea, which bathed her 

 feet as the fresh water does the roots of this plant. Dragons and veno- 

 mous serpents surround her, as toads and other reptiles frequent the abode 

 of her vegetable resembler, and when they pair in the spring throw mud 

 and dirt over its leaves and branches. As the distressed virgin cast down 

 her blushing face through excessive aflliction, so does this rosy crimson 

 flower hang its head, growing paler and paler till it withers away. Hence 

 as this plant forms a new genus, I have chosen for it the name of Andro- 

 meda. ... At length comes Perseus in the shape of summer, dries up the 

 surrounding water, and destroys the monsters, rendering the damsel a fruit- 

 ful mother, who then carries her head [the capsule] erect. 



Some thirty species of Andromeda have been introduced 

 from time to time to this country, and, with very few ex- 

 ceptions, these have proved hardy enough for cultivation in 

 the open air. They are for the most part evergreen, and 

 produce their lovely, wax-like, bell-shaped blossoms in spring 

 and summer with the greatest profusion. As regards their 



