Chap. 39.] THE SUMMER FLOWEH3. 337 



the others, the flowers which last the longest, are the hya- 

 cinth, the white violet, and the O3nanthe ; but to make this 

 last keep any time in flower, it is necessary to gather it re- 

 peatedly, to prevent it from running to seed. The cenanthe 

 grows in warm localities, and has exactly the smell of the vine 

 when in blossom, to which circumstance it is indebted for 

 its name. 



There are two fabulous stories attached to the hyacinth ; 47 

 according to one of them, it bears the impress of the grief 48 

 which Apollo felt for the j'outh 49 whom he had so tenderly 

 loved ; and we learn from the other, that it derives its name 

 from the blood 60 of Ajax, the veins being so arranged in the 

 flower as to form the Greek letters AI inscribed upon it. 



The helichrysos has a flower resembling gold in appearance, 

 a small leaf, and a fine, slender, but hard, stem. According 

 to the Magi, the person who crowns himself with a chaplet 

 composed of this flower, and takes his unguents from a box 

 of gold, of the kind generally known as " apyron," 51 will 

 be sure to secure esteem and glory among his fellowinen. 

 Such are the flowers of spring. 



CirAP. 39. THE SUMMER FLOWEKS THE LYCHNIS ! THE TIPHYON. 



TWO VAEIKTIES OF THE POTHOS. TWO VARIETIES OF THE OKSJ- 



NUM. THE VINCAPERVINCA OK CHAMJEDAPHNE A PLANT WHICH 



IS AN EVER-GBEEN. 



The summer flowers come next, the lychnis 62 the flower of 



47 There have been conflicting opinions as to the identification of the 

 hyacinth of the ancients. Linnaeus identifies it with the Delphinium 



Turk's-cap lily. From what Pliny says in cc. 39 and 97 of this Book, 

 and in B. xxv. c. 80, it is pretty clear that under the name of hyacinth he 

 has confused the characteristics of two different plants. The hyacinth, 

 too, of Dioscorides, B. iii. c. 5, is a different plant, Fee remarks, being 

 the Hyacinthus comosus of modern botanists. 



48 The Greek AI, "Alas!" which the ancients fancied they saw im- 

 pressed on the leaves. 



49 See Ovid's Met. B. x. 1. 162220. 



*o See Ovid's Met. B. xiii. 1. 397, et seg. 



51 " Unsullied by fire." 



52 Or " light" flower : the Agrostemma coronaria of Linnrens. 

 VOL. IV. Z 



