MAY. 73 



" And there in liveliest green attired, 

 Smiiing like hope, and cheering the glad eye, 

 The meek, unsheltered myrtle sweetly blooms." 



The poet adds, that several houses in Mary- 

 church, and indeed in almost every village 

 on the southern coast of Devon, are profusely 

 bespread with it. 



By the middle of the month, the Peruvian 

 heliotrope {Hcliotr opium Periivianum) shows 

 its delicate lilac flowers, and perfumes the air 

 with its scent — a scent so powerful, that it is 

 i'carcely to be borne in a room. It resembles 

 that of ne\v-made hay, or of cooked fruit. It 

 was termed by the Latins, verrucaria, because 

 its expressed juice, mingled with salt, was used 

 to cure warts. We have other species of helio- 

 trope, but this and the species termed Euro- 

 pean {Heliotropium Europceum) are the most 

 general, and the latter is more hardy than the 

 Peruvian. Its flowers are paler, and it is a 

 native of southern Europe. The ancients 

 named these plants from the sun and " to turn," 

 and the old writers assert, that the blossoms 

 always follow the smi. The heliotropes re- 

 quire protection during winter. 



Our common marigold {Calendula officinalis) 

 is indeed so common, that we almost regard it 

 as a weed in the border, and the gardener 

 eradicates many of the young plants, which 

 have arisen from the readily dispersed seeds of 

 the last summer. Some of the double varieties 

 of the common marigold are very handsome 

 flowers, and so also are the deep orange co- 

 loured blossoms of the starry marigold (Calen- 



c3 



