pPant Is ore, Tsege^lt)/, cmi. Tsijric/, 



The gummy Larch-tree, and the Thapsos there, 

 Woundwort and Maidenweed perfume the air : 

 There the long branches of the long-lived Hart, 

 With Southernwood their odours strong impart, 

 The monsters of the land, the serpents fell, 

 P"ly far away, and shun the hostile swell." 



The Corn-flower is called in Russia Basilek (the flower of Basil), 

 and attached to it is a legend that a handsome young man of this 

 name was enticed away by a nymph named Russalka, allured into 



the fields, and transformed into the Corn-flower. Plants have 



always been a favourite means of testing the faith of lovers ; and 

 the Centaury or Bluet of the cornfields was the flower selecfted by 

 Margaret as the floral oracle from which to learn the truth respedl- 

 ing Faust. 



" There is a flower, a purple flower. 



Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower, 



O'er which love breathed a powerful spell, 



The truth of whispering hope to tell. 



Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell. 



If my lover loves me, and loves me well : 



vSo may the fall of the morning dew 



Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue." 



The Centaury is known as the Hurt-sickle, because it turns the 

 edges of the reapers' sickles : its other familiar names are Blue- 

 bottle, Blue-blow, Bluet, and Corn-flower. It is held by astro- 

 logers to be under Saturn. 



CEREUS. — The crimson-flowered Cereus {Cenus speciosissi- 

 miis, belonging to the natural order CaiHacece, is generally known 

 in England as the Torch Thistle, and is fabled to have been the 

 torch borne by Ceres in the daytime. Cereus flagelliformis is the 

 pink-flowered creeping Cereus, the long round stems of which 

 hang down like cords. Cereus grandiflonis is the night-blowing 

 Cereus, which begins to open its sweet-scented flowers about 

 eight o'clock in the evening ; they are fully blown by eleven, and 

 by four o'clock next morning they are faded and droop quite 

 decayed. The Old Man's Head, or Monkey CacTtus, Cereus senilis, 

 is another member of this family. 



CHAMEL-^A. — The Spurge-Olive or Chamelaea (Cneorum 

 tricoccum) is a humble shrub, whose three-leaved pale-yellow flowers 

 were consecrated to the god Janus. The month of January, placed 

 under the protecflion of Janus, was represented in the guise of an 

 old man, who held in his hand a flower of the Chamelaea. After 

 flowering, the shrub produces three-cornered berries, which are at 

 first green, then red, and finally brown. The plant in England 

 was formerly called the Widow-wail, for what reason we know not, 

 but Gerarde says, "■ quia facit viduas.'' 



CHAMOMILE. — According to Galen, the Egyptians held 

 the Chamomile {Anthemis nohilis) in such reverence, that they con- 

 secrated it to their deities: they had great faith in the plant as a 



