154 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



idea that this plant yielded the true jalap of 

 commerce. The forked marvel of Peru is a 

 smaller flower, of a reddish purple colour. It 

 is called, in the "West Indies, the four o'clock 

 flower, as it opens at that time of the day. 

 The white sweet-scented marvel of Peru ex- 

 pands only at night ; and its odour of musk is so 

 poATOrful, as to be disagreeable to many persons. 



A large number of plants are blooming in 

 the garden, of the genus Centaiirea, with flow- 

 ers many of them something like thistles. 

 Two very common flowers, long included in 

 this genus, but now removed into another, are 

 the purple and yellow sultans. The purple 

 sultan (^Amberboa moschatd) grows wild in 

 corn-fields in the Levant, and is also a native 

 of Persia. Parkinson, who wrote his work in 

 1629, thus mentions it: "As a kind of corne- 

 flowers, I must needs adjoyne another stranger 

 of miich beauty, and but lately obtained from 

 Constantinople ; where, because it is said the 

 great Turk, as we call him, saw it abroad, 

 liked it, and wore it himself, all his vassals 

 have had it in great regard, and it hath been 

 obtained from them, by some that have sent it 

 from these parts." He adds, that it was also 

 called the blackamoor's flower. The tint of 

 this siiltan is purple, white, or flesh-colour, and 

 its odour of musk very strong. The French 

 term it fleur du grand seigjicur. 



The common yellow sultan {Amberboa sua- 

 veohvs) has a much more pleasant fragrance, 

 but differs little, except in colour, from the 



