282 pFant "bore, "begel^t)/, dn^ Ist^naf, 



in Judea, there was not any Thorne so common, so pliant, or so fit 

 for to make a crown or garland of, nor any so full of cruell sharpe 

 prickles. It groweth throughout the whole countrey in such abun- 

 dance, that it is there common fuell to burn ; yea, so common with 

 them there as our Gorse, Brakes, and Broome is here with us. 



iosephus {lib. 1, cap. 2 of his Antiquities) saith. That this Thorne 

 ath the most sharp prickles of any other ; wherefore that Christ 

 might bee the more tormented, the Jews rather tooke this than 

 any other." The shrub still abounds in Judea, and has pliable 

 branches armed with sharp spines. (See Thorn.) 



CHRYSANTHEMUM.— The leaf and flower of the Chry- 

 santhemum Indicum were long ago adopted as, and are still, the 

 special emblem and blazon of Mikados of Japan. One of the most 

 popular of the Japanese festivals is that held in honour of the golden 

 Chrysanthemum, or Kiki. The Japanese florists display their 

 Chrysanthemums built up into the forms of their gods or heroes ; 

 thus, in their exhibitions, are to be seen effigies of Benkei, the 

 Hercules of Japan, gorgeously apparelled in white, purple, and 

 yellow Pompons ; the Sun Goddess, decked in golden blooms ; 

 Jimmu Tenno, a popular hero, and endless groups of gods and 

 goddesses, and mythological heroes and heroines. The Chry- 

 santhemum was first introduced into England in 1764 by Miller, 

 who received a Kok fa, or Chrysanthemum Indicum from Nimpu, and 

 cultivated it at the botanical garden at Chelsea. In the seven- 

 teenth century a Chrysanthemum was grown in Dantsic. Three 



Chrysanthemums (the Corn Marigold, the Ox-eyed Daisy, and the 

 Fever-few) are natives of England, but as they bloom in summer 

 when flowers are plentiful, and not in November, as our garden 

 varieties do, it has not been so well worth while to bestow care in 

 raising and improvingthem. The Autumn Chrysanthemums are de- 

 scended from either the Chinese or the Indian varieties, the former 

 of which have white flowers and the latter yellow. The Pompon 

 varieties are derived from the Chusan Paisy, introduced into Eng- 

 land from China by Mr. Fortune in 1846. 1 In their wild state they are 

 all, indeed, even the Japanese forms of the Chinese flowers, much 

 like Daisies, with a yellow disc surrounded by rays of florets, but by 

 cultivation the disc-florets are assimilated to those of the ray, and 

 the flower assumes a homogeneous appearance only faintly suffused 

 with yellow towards the centre. 



CINCHONA. — The Cinchona, or Jesuit's Bark-tree (Cin- 

 chona officinalis), is a native of Peru. The famous bark was intro- 

 duced into Europe through the medium of Ana de Osorio, Countess 

 Cinchon, and Vice-Queen of Peru, after whom the powdered bark 

 was called " Countess's Powder." The use of the bark was first 

 learned from the following circumstances : — Some Cinchona-trees 

 being thrown by the winds into a pool, lay there until the water 

 became so bitter that everyone refused to drink it, till one of the 



