MAEiaOLD. 



Tagetes erect a. 



LATER illustration of a very 

 humble marigold has suggested 

 homely thoughts, and the re- 

 sult is a merely gossiping 

 paper ; but the showy flower 

 now before us demands a 

 learned treatise, and we must 

 show that we are equal to the 

 inspiriting theme. We shall 

 therefore dive into the depths 

 of our erudition, and thence 

 rebound to the highest heights 

 of philosophy, in the endeavour 

 to display to the reader the 

 immensity of our knowledge of 

 marigolds. 



A marigold may be re- 

 garded as a golden Mary, but the name has no necessary 

 reference whatever to the Virgin Mary, or to any Mary ; 

 it is a corruption of the old Anglo-Saxon mersc-mear- 

 qealla, the golden marsh flower (caltha), which is still 

 called the " marsh marigold," although it is really a 

 ranunculus. The marigold proper is a composite plant, 

 and far removed from the ranunculus and all its cup 

 G 



