lates by the Latin verb suffio, and this latter verb Ainsworth 

 explains by the verb to perfume. Ainsworth gives the same 

 etymology of the word thymum or thymus, Thyme. 



To enter into a minute description of this plant, would 

 be certainly time thrown away, both in the writer and the 

 reader. 



T. vulgaris, or garden Thyme, has been known in all 

 time and to all persons. There are many varieties of the 

 genus, too tedious to enumerate. The wild thyme has often 

 been noticed by the Poets: 



No more, my goats, shall I behold you climb 

 The steepy cliffs, or crop the flow'ry thyme. 



Dryderfs Virgil. 

 Guide my way 



Through fair Lyceum's walk, the green retreats 

 Of Academus, and the thymy vale. Akenside. 



TUBEROSE. 



Polyanthes tuberosa. 



Polyanthes, a name given by Linnaeus, and we must 

 therefore accept his own explanation of it, which is 



From two Greek words HOM,-, a town, and Ai/3-o$, ajlow- 

 er, because this plant is generally cultivated, and sold in 

 towns, for the sake of its elegance and fragrance. 



The French know it by the name of Tubereuse the 

 English call it Tuberose both words taken from the La- 

 tin appellation which it first obtained of Hyacinthus tubero- 

 sus. 



Some write it Polyanthes, as Linnsus originally printed 

 the generic name; and suppose the etymology to be from a 

 Greek word jroxug, many. 



Tuberose, originated in the old appellation of Tuberous 

 Hyacinth, Hyacinthus tuberosus, alluding to the tuberous 

 root, and the resemblance of the flower to a Hyacinth. 



It is usually supposed to be a native of the East Indies. 

 More recently, it has been believed to have come from South 

 America. 



The colour of the Jlower is white, sometimes tinged 

 with a blush of pink: its odour rich and delicious, most 

 powerful at night, resembling the flavour of ginger, with great 

 sweetness, several in a terminal, oblong, bracteated spike. 

 No Calyx. Corolla monopetalous, funnel-shaped, incurved; 

 its limb in six equal segments. Leaves scattered, linear- 

 lanceolate, taper-pointed, sheathing, smooth, pale, and rather 

 glaucous. Stem simple, erect, round, leafy, sometimes a 

 yard or more in height. Root perennial, tuberous, somewhat 

 creeping. 



Eternal spring, with smiling verdure here, 

 Warms the mild air, and crowns the youthful year; 

 The tuberose ever breathes, and violets blow. Garth. 



The tube-rose, with her silvery light, 



That in the gardens of Malay 

 Is call'd the mistress of the night, 

 So like a bride, scented and bright, 



She comes out when the sun's away. 



Lalla Rookh. 



TULIP. 



Tulipa. 



Tulipa, an acknowledged barbarous name, said to be of 

 Persian origin, and to signify a turban. Nor is this article 

 of dress, in a Persian of rank, unlike the swelling form of a 

 tulip. 



It is supposed to have been brought from Persia to the 

 Levant. So late as the year 1554, the Turks charged a high 

 price for these flowers, which would not have been the case 

 had the Tulip been then growing spontaneously in that coun- 

 try. Pliny makes no mention of the Tulip, which is corro- 

 borative of this inference. 



Moore alludes to the similarity of the tulip to the tur- 

 ban, in his " Veiled Prophet." 



" What triumph crowds the rich Divan to-day, 

 With turban'd heads, of every hue and race, 

 Bowing before that veil'd and awful face, 

 Like tulip-beds, of different shape and dyes, 

 Bending beneath th' invisible west-wind's sighs." 



Skinner gives the same etymology as the above, and says 

 that the tulip is the " lily of Solomon." 



What in common language is called a bulbous-root, is 

 by Linnsus termed the hybernacle, or winter-lodge of the 

 young plant. As these bulbs in every respect resemble buds, 

 except in their being produced under ground, and include the 

 leaves and flowers in miniature, which are to be expanded in 

 the ensuing spring. By the careful dissection of a tulip root 

 during the winter, cautiously cutting through the concentric 

 coats, longitudinally from the top to the base, and taking them 

 off successively, the whole flower of the next summer's tulip 

 is beautifully seen by the naked eye, with its petals, pistil, 

 and stamens. 



The method of making a tulip variegated, or striped with 

 divers colours, is by transplanting from a rich soil to one mea- 

 gre and sandy. The plant is weakened when this effect is 

 produced, and loses almost half its height. [See Darwin. 



And sure more lovely to behold 



Might nothing meet the wistful eye, 

 Than crimson fading into gold, 



In streaks of fairest symmetry. 



Dr. John Langhorn. Fables of Flora. 



The Tulip has no calyx. Corolla bell-shaped, of six 

 petals, ovate-oblong, concave, erect, deciduous, inferior. 

 Seeds numerous. The common garden tulip is called T. 

 Gesneriana. Native of the country bordering on Mount 

 Caucasus. In a wild state, the petals are crimson, yellow- 

 ish at the base now called the parrot tulip. 



There are three species of this Tulip, the Cappadocia, 

 Turkey, and Gesneriana. The last, named after the great 

 Conrad Gesner, mentioned in the note on Poppy, and it is 

 distinguished from the others, by its pubescent scape, spread- 

 ing sweet-scented corolla, smallness of its size, and early 

 flowering. 



The Tulip is made the emblem by which an oriental 

 lover makes a declaration of love presenting the idea, 



