166 GAJUDEN FLOWERS. 



peculiar to our great poet. Homer had long 

 before told how, at the burial of Achilles, the 

 Thessalians wore it in honour of the warrior, 

 and it appears to have been often worn at fune- 

 rals, in the early ages of Greece. In Sumatra, 

 where this flower grows wild, its purple globes, 

 which seem as if sprinkled with gold, are worn 

 as garlands around the head ; and both in Por- 

 tugal and in Paris, these flowers are mingled 

 with the wreaths made to deck the shrine of the 

 saint, or the tomb of the dead. In the former 

 country, churches are adorned with this flower, 

 and the French term it violette immortelle. The 

 plant, though separated by modern botanists 

 from the amaranth genus, is very nearly allied 

 to it. 



A large number of amaranths are cultivated 

 in this country, one of the most common of 

 which, is the flower called love-lies-bleeding, 

 (^Amarantlms caudatus,) the flower gentle of the 

 old writers. It was known to Gerarde by this 

 name, and also by that of florimor. He says 

 of it, " It has exceeded any skill of mine to 

 describe the excellency and beauty of this rare 

 flower." It has variegated leaves. It grows 

 wild in Persia, China, and India. 



The prince's feather, (Amaranthiis hypochon- 

 driacus,) Avith its long velvet plume-like flowers, 

 is equally common, and blooms also at this 

 season ; and the three- colom-ed amaranth, 

 which blooms from June to September, and is 

 called by the French /e?i/' de jalousie, is a very 

 pretty species. It is a native of the East Indies, 



