98 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



We have several other species in the garden, 

 resembling the common kind both in scent and 

 appearance. They are chiefly North American 

 shrubs. Those called the myrtle-leaved and 

 sweet syringa, are both natives of the thickets 

 of New Zealand. The young shoots of one of 

 them were made into a tea by the sailors of 

 Captain Cook's crew, and the infusion taken as 

 a remedy for some of those complaints engen- 

 dered by long voyages. It Avas, while fresh, 

 very pleasant to the taste. The dwarf variety 

 of the mock orange has been found in Carolina. 



The garden persicaria {Polygonum orkntale) 

 is a common flower, with its spike of dark red 

 blooms. From its bearing so well the smoke of 

 cities, it is often called London persicaria. It 

 was brought originally from the garden of the 

 monks of Mount Ararat, where it is cultivated, 

 not only as an ornament to the parterre, but 

 also for its medicinal properties. One or two 

 species of this plant are sown in China for dye- 

 ing cloth of a beautiful blue or green colour. 

 Another sjoecies yields a yellow dye, and one of 

 the strongest astringents of the vegetable king- 

 dom is yielded by some plants of this genus. 

 The roots of several kinds are eaten in Lapland 

 and Tartary; and about the neighbourhood of 

 Manchester the young leaves and shoots of 

 one Avild species, termed patience dock, are 

 boiled and eaten as food. 



The dark blue flowers of the common monks- 

 hood (Aconitum napellus) ought not to be wel- 

 comed in the garden, as persons unacquainted 



