Had he majestic bulk, he'd now be styled 



Jove's flower; and if my skill is not beguiled, 



He was Jove'a flower when Jove was but a child. 



Take him with many flowers, in one, conferr'd, 



He's worthy Jove, e'en now he has a beard. 



Cowley. 

 SYRINGA CAROLINA. 



Philadelphia inodorus. 

 (For Philadelphia, see Mock-Orange.) 



The name Syringa, which Tournefort retained for this 

 shrub, originated in a confusion of ideas. It equally belongs 

 to the Lilac; is of Moorish origin, and supposed to be de- 

 rived from the Greek <rv%iyi } ru^yo;, a pipe; because the 

 young branches of Lilac are used in Africa and the Levant 

 for tobacco pipes. See Lilac. 



Those of Philadelphus are, also, reported to serve the 

 same purpose. 



The P. Inodorus, Carolina, scentless Mock-Orange, 

 rises with a shrubby stalk, sometimes to the height of sixteen 

 feet. Leaves shaped like those of a pear tree, entire, oppo- 

 site, on pretty long foot-stalks. The Flowers are produced 

 at the ends of the branches, large, inodorus, with four white 

 oval petals, spreading open. Calyx large, composed of four 

 acute-pointed leaflets. 



The sweet Syringa yields but in scent 



To the rich orange. Mason. 



THISTLE. 



Carduus. 



Carduus, said to be derived from euro, a technical verb 

 denoting the operation of cleaning wool from its impurities. 



Ainsworth defines caro, to card, to tease or card wool. 



Carduus, is a name given by the ancients to several kinds 

 of prickly plants, particularly to the Teasel, Dipsacus fullo- 

 num, also called Carduus fullonum, or Fuller's Thistle, 

 formerly used in carding wool, as it is still in dressing 

 cloths. 



Thistle, English Diestel, Dutch a prickly weed grow- 

 ing in fields. [See Johnson.] 



Tough Thistle chock'd the fields, and kill'd the corn, 

 And an unthrifty crop of weeds was born. Dryden. 



The roots of Thistle have my hunger fed, 



Two roods of cultur'd barley give me bread, 



A rock my pillow, and green moss my bed. Harte. 



Wide o'er the Thistle lawn, as swells the breeze, 



A whitening shower of vegetable down 



Amusive floats. Thomson. 



In Scotland, the order of St. Andrew, or the Thistle, 

 was instituted by Achaius, one of their kings, to preserve 

 the memory of the famous league, offensive, and defensive, 

 entered into between himself and Charlemagne, king of 

 France. The tressure* of Flew de lys was added to the 



* Treasure, in heraldry, is a kind of border. 

 The arms are a lion, with a border, or tressure, adorned with 

 flower-de-luces. 



Lion, the then royal arms of Scotland, and their king took 

 for his device the Thistle and Rue, which he composed into 

 a collar of his order: his motto " Pour ma Defence." To 

 this collar was hung a jewel, the figure of St. Andrew bear- 

 ing his cross. 



Triumphant be the Thistle still unfurl'd, 

 Dear symbol wild! on freedom's hills it grows, 



Where Fingal stemmed the tyrants of the world, 

 And Roman eagles found unconquered foes. 



Campbell. 



THORN APPLE. 

 Datura. 



Datura, from do dare, daturus, Latin for to give, to 

 bestow, which will give, etc., because it is given as a stimu- 

 lant. This is the only explanation of the name, that the 

 etymologists give of it, at least such is given in the Ency- 

 clopedia. 



The Flora Historica tells us, that the generic name of 

 Datura is the original name by which it was received from 

 the Turks; and that it is called Thorn Apple, from the nature 

 of its fruit, which is prickly. 



De Theis derives Datura from Datorah, or Tatorah, 

 the Arabic name of the plant. 



It appears to have been carried from Peru through the 

 East Indies and Persia to Europe. The seed was brought 

 from Constantinople by Lord Edward Zouch, who gave it 

 to Gerard, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was much 

 used in medicine. It is a powerful narcotic. 



Their powers mysterious let thy knowledge shift, 

 Their useful poisons, and their healing gift. De Lille. 



Skinner suggests that the word thorn probably comes 

 from the Saxon verb tseran, to tear. 



The D. Stramonium, Thorn Apple, or James-Town 

 Weed, is a dangerous plant to be allowed to grow where 

 there are children, as the beauty of its flowers and fruit 

 tempts them to their destruction. There are several beauti- 

 ful varieties of this genus. The D. arborea of Peru is the 

 most splendid of all each flower being often two feet in 

 length, and sometimes 150 open at the same time on the tree. 



The Datura Stramonium is said to have received the 

 name of James-Town Weed from the circumstance of a 

 number of Sailors having been made violently ill from eat- 

 ing the boiled plant at James-Town, in the first settlement 

 of Virginia. 



The flowers of Datura have a calyx of one leaf, infe- 

 rior, tubular, five-angled, five-toothed, partly deciduous. Co- 

 rolla monopetalous, funnel-shaped, plaited. There is a sin- 

 gular provision of nature observed in these flowers, to pro- 

 tect them from the humidity of the night air, the leaves near- 

 est the flowers rise up so as to enclose them and form a com- 

 plete shelter. 



THYME. 

 Thymus. 

 Thymus, from the Greek u , which Schrevelius trans- 



