330 PLANTS OF THE POETS. [November, 



BABINGTON. LON». CAT. HOOKER & AENOTT. BENTHAM. 



Geiim intermedium. G. urhanum. a hybrid. a hybrid. 



Geum rivale. G. rivale. G rivale. G. rivale. 



{^To he continued^ 



PLANTS OF THE POETS. 

 (Milton, Camus.) 



" This evening late, by then the chewing flocks 

 Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb 

 Of Knotgrass dew-besprent, and were in fold." 



Is the common Knotgrass {Polygonum auricular e) here in- 

 tended^ or some other Knotgrass ? The distinction savoury 

 does not seen applicable to the common Knotgrass^ a rank tough 

 weed, as we all know^ and called by Shakspeare " hindering 

 Knotgrass.'^ 



The Spirit to the elder Brother speaks of " simples of a thou- 

 sand names/^ of " strange and vigorous faculties/^ known to a 

 shepherd lad, 



" Among the rest a small vmsightly root, 

 But of divme effect, he culled me out ; 

 The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, 

 But in another country, as he said. 

 Bore a bright golden flower, but not in this soil, 

 Unknown and hke esteemed, and the duU swain 

 Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon : 

 And yet more medicmal is it than that Moly 

 That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave ; 

 He called it Hsemony, and gave it me, 

 And bade me keep it as of sovran use 

 'Gainst all enchantments, mildew, blast, or damp. 

 Or ghastly furies' apparition." 



The editor of ' Milton/ the Rev. H. J. Todd, in a note on this 

 passage, says it is not agreed whether Milton's Hcemony is a real 

 or poetical plant. Probably the editor of the ' Phy tologist/ with 

 his great knowledge of plants, both ancient and modern, indi- 

 genous and not indigenous, can inform his readers something of 

 this Hsemony. 



As to Homer's " Moly," there appears to be some question as 

 to what we are to say it was. In book x. of the Odyssey, Mr. 

 Pope translates the lines relating to it, 



