76 . GARDEN FLOWERS. 



tlerivecl from the French word pensee, (thought,) 

 was also indicative of remembrance. 



And now in this pleasant month we see the 

 difierent mallows assume their tints of deep red 

 or purple, pink or white, and more rarely, of 

 yellow or orange. They are beautiful flowers, 

 and all possess more or less the mucilaginous 

 property which renders some so useful in 

 medicine. They are of easy culture, and some 

 so hardy as to grow on any soil, in any situa- 

 tion. Several of the most handsome species 

 are brought from the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 the fields of southern Europe have supplied us 

 with others. 



The Egyptians, Chinese, and Syrians, are 

 said by travellers to use some kinds of mallow 

 as food. Thus Biddulph, an old writer quoted 

 by Dr. Royle, says, " We saw many poor peo- 

 ple collecting mallows and three-leaved grass, 

 . and asked them what they did with it, and they 

 answered that it was all their food, and that 

 they boiled it and did eat it." The leaves of 

 the common mallow of our road-sides, (Malva 

 sylvestins,) a plant which is found wild from 

 Europe to the north of India, is still used in 

 Hindostan for food. It is well known that at 

 the table of the ancient Romans, some kinds of 

 mallow were served up as vegetables. Not- 

 withstanding, however, that mallows have been, 

 and still are eaten, in many parts of the east, 

 yet, for various reasons, most of those writers 

 v/ho are best acquainted with oriental botany, 

 have arrived at the conclusion, that the plant 



