336 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOET. [Book XXI. 



the colour of saffron. In Italy, however, it is the white kind 

 that is the most odoriferous. 



CHAP. 38. THE SUCCESSION IN WHICH FLOWERS BLOSSOM I THE 

 SPRING FLOWERS. THE VIOLET. THE CHAPLET ANEMONE. 

 THE (ENANTHE. THE MELANION. THE HELICHRYSOS. THE 

 GLADIOLUS. THE HYACINTH. 



The first of the flowers that announce the approach of spring 

 is the white 36 violet ; indeed, in warm localities, it is seen 

 peeping out in the winter even. Next to it comes the violet 

 known as the ion, and the purple violet ; then the flame- 

 coloured flower, the name of which is phlox, 37 but only the wild 

 one. The cyclaminum 33 blossoms twice a year, in spring and 

 autumn, standing equally in awe as it does of summer and 

 of winter. The narcissus and the lily, in the parts beyond sea, 

 are a little later than the preceding plants : but in Italy, as 

 we have already 39 stated, they are in blossom with the rose. 

 In Greece, too, the anemone 40 blooms even later ; it is the 

 flower of a wild bulb, and is altogether different from the one 41 

 which we shall have occasion to mention among the medicinal 

 plants. 



Next, after these, come the cenanthe, 42 the melanion, 43 and, 

 among the wild plants, the helichrysos ; 44 then, another kind 

 of anemone, known as the " limonia," 45 and after that the 

 gladiolus, 46 accompanied by the hyacinth. Last of all, among 

 the spring flowers, is the rose, which, with the exception in- 

 deed of the cultivated kinds, is also the first to fade. Among 



36 This has been thought to be the Cheiranthus incanus, Cheiranthus 

 annus, and Leucoium vernum of modern botany ; but Fee is of opinion 

 that it is next to impossible to identify it. See c. 14 of this Book. 



37 See c. 33 of this Book. 38 See B. xxv. c. 67. 



39 In c. 11 of this Book. There is no late variety of the lily known at 

 the present day. 



40 Q r " w ind flower :" the Anemone coronaria of Linna3us. 



41 A ranunculus. See c. 94 of this Book. 



42 Or " vine-blossom." See c. 95 of this Book. 



* 3 Or "black violet," mentioned by Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. 

 c. 7. Pliny may probably mean the purple violet, mentioned by him in 

 c. 14 of this Book. " Melanthium" is another reading. 



44 Not improbably the same as the " holochrysos," mentioned in c. 24 of 

 this Book. 



45 " Meadow" anemone. 



The little sword." See c. 67 of this Book. 



