AUTUMN AND AUTUMNAL FLOWERS. 21S 



" Not the fair fruit that on yon branches glows 

 With that ripe red th' autumnal sun bestows." 



And since to these numerous autumnal dyes which nature throws 

 over the plants of our country, we have added the brilliant colours 

 which the sun bestows on the plants of China's flowery vales, and the 

 more gaudy beauties of African shores, together with the vivid tints of 

 the flowers of Columbia's land, we may safely exclaim, in the words of 

 Waller. 



" No, not the bow, which so adorns the skies 

 So glorious is, or boasts so many dyes." 



African Marigold. Tagetes erecta. 

 French Marigold. Tagetes palula. 



" As wands of divination downward draw, 

 And point to beds where sov'reign gold doth grow." 



The generic name of tliese Mexican flowers is said to have been 

 derived from Tages, a grandson of Jupiter, who first tauglit the science 

 of augury and divination to the twelve nations of the Etrurians, wlio 

 from hence became so celebrated for their pretended knowledge of 

 omens and incantations. But as Tages could not liave taught the use 

 of plants peculiar to lands wiiich the gods themselves had not visited, 

 we think the name badly adapted, unless the Spaniards pretend that 

 they were instructed through the arts of Tages to seek for the precious 

 metal in fields covered with these golden flowers, and this will be as 

 readily believed as that the species called French Marigolds became 

 first stained and marked with a dark red by the blood of tlie uniiappy 

 Mexicans whom the insatiable Spaniards slew in their own peaceful 

 fields. 



M. Pirolle tells us, and with a greater degree of probability, that 

 these flowers were called Tagetes from the Greek tage, meaning prin- 

 cipality, which shows the rank these plants lield in the parterre. 



Tlie Tagetes appears to have been introduced into this country as 

 long back as tlie year 1573, and we conclude that they were called 

 French Marigolds from our having first received the seed from France. 

 Gerard says the African Marigold was first obtained " when Charles, 

 tlio first emperor of Rome, made a famous conquest of Tunis ; where- 

 upon it was called Flos Aphricanus, or Flos Tunelensis." But as 

 these plants do not grow naturally in Africa, we may conclude that 

 they were first received in Spain from South America about tlie time 

 Charles returned from the coast of Africa, and in compliment to that 

 monarch for having given liberty to twenty-two thousand Christian 

 slaves, they were called African Marigolds. 



The French call the larger kind Grand CEillet d'Inde, Great Pink 

 of India, and Rose d'Inde, Indian Rose, and Tagetes patula they name 

 Peiit (Eillet d'Inde, the Little Pink of India. 



Thunberg, who visited Japan about the year 1775, for the purpose 

 of making discoveries in botany, tells us tiiat tiiese plants are cultivated 

 by those jealous and cautious islanders ; and Lonreiro notices tiiat the 



