I 



of North America. 133 



The Greeks and the Romans have often defcrlbecl the 

 various phints that were known to them, in fuch dark and 

 obfcure terms, that the botanifts of modern times are fre- 

 quently at a lofs to determine, not merely the fpecies but alfo 

 the genus the ancient writers have mentioned. Willi reipci^V, 

 however, to the plants which 1 have juft mentioned, the dif- 

 ficulty does not feem to be great. Mr. Tournefort has, I 

 think, fliown, in a very fatisfaiilory manner, that the a?gole- 

 thron of Pliny is the chama?rhododendn)s pontica maxima, 

 Mefpili folio, flore luteo of iiis Infliliiliones, a plant fince de- 

 fcribed by Linnseus and by other botanifts by the name of 

 azalea pontica. Mr. Tournefort haslikewife fiiown, that tb.e 

 other plant called by Pliny rhododendros is his chanijerhodu- 

 dcndrus pontica maxima, folio laurocerafi, flore casruleo pur- 

 purafcente ^. This is the rhododendron ponticum of Lin- 

 naius. It is confiderably allied to the azalea pontica. 



Xenophon has recorded the remarkable eftcfts of fome 

 poifonous honev, in his celebrated work called Mcrnorabilia. 



When the army of the-ten thoufand had arrived near Tre- 

 bifond, on the coaft of the Euxine or Black Sea, an accident 

 bcfel the troops, which was a caufe of great confternation. 

 " As there were a great many bee-hives," fays the illuftrious 

 general and hiftorian, " the foldiers did not fpare the honey. 

 They were taken with a vomiting and purging, attended with 

 a delirium, fo that the lead affeiled feemcd like men drunk, 

 and others like mad men, or people on the point of death. 

 The earth was ftrewcd with bodies, as after a battle ; not a 

 perfon, however, died, and the difordcr ceafcd the next day, 

 about the fame hour that it began. On the tiiird and fourth 

 days, the foldiers rofe, but in the condition people are in after 

 taking a ftrongpotionf." 



The fame fact is recorded bv Dlodorus Siculus. 



Mr. Tournefort thinks there is every probability that this 

 poifonous honey was fucked from the flowers of fome fpecies 

 of chama?rhododendros, or rhododendron. lie obfervcs that 

 all the country about Trebifond is full of the fpecies of this 

 plant, and he remarks that Father fvamljert, Theatin midion- 

 ary, agrees that the honey which the bees extradi trom a 

 certain flirub in Colchis or Mingrelia, is dangerous, and 

 caufes vomiting. Lambert calls this fhrub olcandro giallo, 

 or the yellow rofc-laurel, which Mr. Tournefort fays is, 

 without difpulc, his chumaerhododcudros pontica niaximaj- 



* Inftiiutionts, &c. 



\ '1 I life arc ncarlv tlie words of Mr. Tourntfort's fiAnnation. I am 

 fjiiy tliui 1 have not. llit origiaul work of Xcnoj'h'in .ii ;,uiiJ. 



1 3 Mefpili 



