JUT. 67 



pinkish or yelloAvish white. Its large clusters 

 of blossoms are composed of a great number 

 of small flowers, and they are to be seen 

 through all the summer months, as late as 

 September. It blooms on the heights of 

 Mount Vesuvius, and enlivens the ashy soil of 

 the barren spot by its cheerful tint. It has 

 been seen too by the British traveller in 

 northern Africa, and awakened reminiscences 

 of the garden plots of his native land. The 

 scent of this species, as well as that of some 

 other kinds, is very fragrant. 



Another species called the Celtic nard, or 

 nard valerian, ( Valeriana Celtica,) has a root far 

 more odorous than this, and which is stronger 

 when the plant is growing on its native 

 Alps than in the moister soil of our garden - 

 ground. It is a native of France, Italy, and 

 Switzerland. Its roots, which are black, are 

 imported from the mountains of Austria into 

 Egypt, whence it has been carried both into 

 Africa and Asia. It is valued by the orientals 

 as a sweet-smellinn^ drua, and much used, 

 especially in Egypt, for perfuming the baths 

 in which the people of that country spend so 

 much of their time. There seems much reason 

 to beUeve that the spikenard of the ancients, as 

 well as the fragi'ant root called by the modern 

 Hindoos nard or Jatamansi, is the root of a j^lant 

 of the Valerian family, and thus this plant is by 

 some writers considered to be the spikenard of 

 Scripture, which Solomon describes as " sending 

 forth a pleasant smell," and which was one of 



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