12 A VEGETABLE PROTOTYPE. 



naming of the Andromeda polifolia. In traversing 

 the uncultivated wilds of Lycksele-Lapland, whi- 

 ther, while yet a young man, Linnaeus was sent by 

 the Royal Society of the University of Upsal on a 

 tour of scientific research, he found this plant in 

 great abundance, decorating the marshy grounds 

 with its delicate blossoms. It is a beautiful little 

 flower, somewhat resembling one of the heaths 

 (Erica Dabcecia) ; the buds are of a blood-red 

 colour before they expand, but when full-blown 

 the corolla is of a flesh colour. In contemplating 

 the delicate blossoms of the chamce daphne, as it 

 was then called, the imaginative mind of the natu- 

 ralist was struck by a fancied resemblance in the 

 appearance and circumstances of this plant to the 

 story of Andromeda, as related by the ancient 

 poets. " A maiden of exquisite beauty, chained to 

 a rock amid the sea, and exposed to monsters and 

 venomous serpents. This lovely little flower," he 

 said, " is her vegetable prototype. Scarcely any 

 painter could so happily imitate the beauty of a 

 fine female complexion, still less could any arti- 

 ficial colour upon the face bear any comparison 

 with this sweet bloom. I find it always fixed 

 upon some turfy hillock amid the swamps, and its 

 roots bathed by their waters. In these marshy and 

 solitary places, toads and venomous reptiles abound ; 

 and just as in the case of Andromeda, Perseus 



