On his bright face hung her desiring eyes, 



Till fix'd to earth, she strove in vain to rise. 



Her looks their paleness in a flow'r retain'd, 



But here and there, some purple streaks they gain'd. 



Still the lov'd object the fond leaves pursue, 



Still move their root, the moving Sun to view, 



And in the Heliotrope the Nymph is true. 



Eusden's Ovid. 



The Heliotrope is a native of warm climates; growing 

 in India, Peru, the West Indies, South of Europe, kc. With 

 us, it is a green-house plant of the shrubby, and herbaceous 

 kinds, with annual, and biennial roots. Calyx of one leaf, 

 tubular, with five segments, permanent. Corolla of one pe- 

 tal, salver shaped, five cleft, with intermediate teeth: its 

 mouth without valves. Seeds naked. 



HELLEBORE. 

 Helleborus. 



Helleborus, L. The ixiu^oj, ,uix.*s of Dioscorides. 

 The name most probably derived from ,^ stv (Gr.) to kill, and 

 git*, food, or fodder, in allusion to the poisonous qualities for 

 which it has been famous throughout antiquity. (Accord- 

 ing to Bergeret, it is derived from the river Eleborus.) 



The Black Hellebore was used by the ancients to purify 

 their houses, and to hallow their dwellings. By strewing or 

 perfuming their apartments with this plant, they believed that 

 evil spirits would be expelled or driven away. 



By the witches' tow'r 



Where Hellebore and hemlock seem to weave 

 Round its dark vaults a melancholy bow'r, 

 For spirits of the dead at night's enchanted hour. 



Campbell. 



We find it, in the Materia Medica, prescribed for hy- 

 pochondria and mania. Burton notices it in his "Anatomy of 

 Melancholy." 



" Borage and Hellebore fill two scenes, 

 Soveraigne plants to clear the veins 

 Of melancholy, and cheer the heart 

 Of those black fumes which make it smart ; 

 To clear the brain of misty fogs, 

 Which dull our senses, and soul clogs; 

 The best medicine that ere God made 

 For this malady, if well assaid." 



Dainty young thing 

 Of life! Thou vent'rous flower 

 Who growest through the hard, cold bower, 

 Of wintry spring. 



* * * * 



Thy fancied bride 

 The delicate snow-drop keeps 

 Her home with thee; she wakes and sleeps 

 Near thy true side. 



J. R. Prior. 



It should never be allowed a place in the kitchen garden, 



since fatal accidents have arisen from mistaking its root for 

 that of the horse radish. 



The H. Niger, or Christmas rose, blooms in mid-win- 

 ter, and few plants are more elegant. The flower is some- 

 thing like the dog-rose white on first opening, afterwards 

 with a blush of pink, and finally greenish. The foliage a 

 dark and shining green; leaves pedate, luxuriant. The root 

 perennial, externally very dark consisting of a roundish 

 head, about the size of a nutmeg; from which short, articulat- 

 ed bunches arise, sending out numerous corrugated fibres, 

 about the thickness of a straw, from a span to a foot in length, 

 deep brown outside, white or yellow within, and of an acrid 

 nauseous taste. 



Native of the south of Europe. In our gardens a hardy 

 shrub. 



The Hellebore Qfficlnalis, the true Hellebore of the 

 ancients. The roots very like the H. Niger the leaves 

 twice the breadth, and truly pedate. The flower-stalks do 

 not rise above the leaves, but are branched, bearing five or 

 six drooping, concave, white Jlowers, turning purplish as 

 they fade. Corolla deciduous. 



The North American H Trifolius, or small three-leaf- 

 ed Hellebore, with twice ternate leaves, and green flowers, 

 is a very pretty plant. 



The H. Hyemalis, Winter Hellebore, or Yellow Win- 

 ter Aconite, a little herbaceous plant, with a yellow Jlower, 

 whose petals are deciduous: native of Germany, Switzer- 

 land, and France; common in our gardens, and forming a 

 beautiful contrast with the snow drop which blooms about 

 the same time. 



We are told that the powder of Black Hellebore given 

 as snuff, has cured diseases of the eyes; particularly that call- 

 ed Nyctalopia, in which the eyes become periodically dim, 

 usually from sunset till sunrise the next morning. 



Of this plant Juvenal sarcastically observes: 



" Misers need a double dose of Hellebore." 



Bright as the silvery plume, or pearly shell, 

 The snow-white rose, or lily's virgin bell, 

 The fair Helleborus attractive shone, 

 Warm'd every sage, and every shepherd won. 



Darwin. 



HIBISCUS. 

 Venetian Mallow, or Flower of an Hour. 



Hibiscus Trionum. 

 (For Hibiscus, see JHthsea.) 



The specific name Trionum. There is a T^IOVOV in 

 Theophrastus, said to be one of the Mallow tribe; like the 

 Hibiscus in question, whose leaves, having three lobes, are 

 supposed to sanction the present application of this name. 



Bees' Encyclopedia. 



The species constituting the genus Hibiscus, are a nu- 

 merous tribe of the largest and finest plants of the Malva- 

 ceous order. 



The Hibiscus Trionum, beautiful Venetian Mallow, or 

 Flower of an Hour, is a European species, and one of the 

 few that are annual. It is commonly cultivated for the ele- 

 gance of its flowers, which are large, sulphur coloured, with 



