144 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



is Persia or India, is a hardy annual. In Persia 

 the basil is planted on graves, and is a favourite 

 addition to the bouquet. Both in India and on 

 the continent of Europe it is much .used as a 

 culinary aromatic plant. The Hindoos attach 

 a superstitious veneration to some of the species ; 

 they use them in religious ceremonies ; and one 

 kind, known in Calcutta by the name of toolsy, 

 is much cultivated there. The ancient Greeks 

 held the strange superstition that this plant 

 flourished best when planted amid railings and 

 angry words ; and it seems strange, that as both 

 Greeks and Romans so highly prized its fragrance, 

 a malignant custom should have been connected 

 with it. In former days many persons in our 

 own land refused to plant it in their gardens, 

 from the absurd notion that smelling it infected 

 the brain, and that it produced scorpions. This 

 idea was so prevalent, that sir Thomas Browne 

 thought it worthy of his notice, and attempted 

 to refute it in his " Inquiry into Vulgar Errors," 

 where he affirms that the Africans deemed it a 

 remedy against the bite of a scorpion, and that 

 if any one has eaten basil he is safe from dan- 

 ger, should a scorpion inflict a wound. And 

 thus this learned writer displaces one error to 

 advance another. 



Although the stately hollyock (Althcea rosea) 

 is too large a flower for the smaller garden, yet 

 on a large space of groimd it well repays its 

 culture. It IS said to be a native of China, and 

 is undoubtedly of eastern origin. The French 

 tei-m it rose d'outre mer, and it was long known 



