1 88 The Garden of p leaf ant Flowers. 



The Time. 



Some of thefe do flower in Apr ill, fome in May, and fome not vntill lune. 



The Names. 



The names exprefled are the fitted: agreeing vnto them, and therefore it 

 is needlefle againe to repeate them. Many of the rootes of the former or 

 greater kindes, being dryed are fweete, yet fome more then other, and fome 

 haue no fent at all : but aboue all the reft, that with the white flower, called 

 of Florence, is accounted of all to be the fweeteft root, fit to be vfed to make 

 fweete powders, &c. calling it by the name of Orris rootes. 



Iris tuberofa. The Veluet Flowerdeluce. 



Vnto the Family of Flowerdeluces, I muft needes ioyne this peculiar kinde, becaufe 

 of the neare refemblance of the flower, although it differ both in roote and leafe ; left 

 therefore it f hould haue no place, let it take vp a roome here in the end of the Flower- 

 deluces, with this defcription following. It hath many fmall and foure fquare leaues, 

 two foote long and aboue fometimes, of a grayifh greene colour, ftiffe at the firft, but 

 afterwards growing to their full length, they are weak and bend downe to the ground : 

 out of the middle, as it were of one of thefe leaues, breaketh out the ftalke, a foot high 

 and better, with fome leaues thereon, at the toppe whereof, out of a huske rifeth one 

 flower, (I neuer faw more on a ftalke) conlifting of nine leaues, whereof the three that 

 fall downe are of a yellowifh greene colour round about the edges, and in the middle 

 of fo deepe a purple, that it feemeth to be blacke, refembling blacke Veluet : the three 

 arched leaues, that couer the lower leaues to the halfe, are of the fame greenifh colour 

 that the edges and backfide of the lower leaues are : the three vppermoft leaues, if 

 they may be called leaues, or rather fhort peeces like eares, are green alfo, but wherein 

 a glimpfe of purple may be feene in them : after the flower is paft, there followeth a 

 round knob or whitifh feede veflell, hanging downe by a fmall foote-ftalke, from be- 

 tweene the huske, which is diuided as it were into two leaues, wherein is contained 

 round white feede. The roote is bunched or knobbed out into long round rootes, 

 like vnto fingers, two or three from one peece, one diftant from another, and one 

 longer then another, for the moft part of a darkifh gray colour, and reddifh withall on 

 the outride, and fome what yellowifh within. 



The Place. 



It hath beene fent out of Turkic oftentimes (as growing naturally there- 

 abouts) and not knowne to grow naturally any where elfe. 



The Time. 



It flowreth in Aprill or May, fometimes earlier or later, as the Spring 

 falleth out to be milde or fharpe. 



The Names. 



Matthiolus contendeth to make it the true HermodaStylus, rather from 

 the fhew of the rootes, which (as is faid) are like vnto fingers, then from any 

 other good reafon : for the rootes hereof eyther dry or greene, do nothing 

 refemble the true HermodaSlyli that are vfed in Phyficke, as any that know- 

 eth them may ealily perceiue, either in forme or vertue. It is more truely 

 referred to the Flowerdeluces, and becaufe of the tuberous rootes, called 

 Iris tuberofa^ although all the Flowerdeluces in this Chapter haue tuberous 



rootes, 



