100 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



Centaur Chiron himself. This cannot, however, be our 

 Centaury, since he represents it as a shrub, and speaks of 

 the medicinal virtues of the bark. 



In Lucan's Pharsalia, this is one of the plants burned, 

 to drive away the serpents : 



" Beyond the furthest tents, rich fires they build, 

 That healthy medicinal odours yield : 

 There foreign galbanum dissolving fries, 

 And crackling flames from humble wallwort rise ; 

 There tamarisk, which no green leaf adorns, 

 And there the spicy Syrian costos burns : 

 There centaury supplies the wholesome flame, 

 That from Thessalian Chiron takes its name ; 

 The gummy larch tree, and the thapsos there, 

 Woundwort, and maidenweed, perfume the air : 

 There the large branches of the long-lived hart, 

 With southernwood, their odours strong impart ; 

 The monsters of the land, the serpents fell, 

 Fly far away, and shun the hostile swell." 



BOOK 9. 



CEEEUS. 



CACTUS. 



OPUVTIACE^E. ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



The origin of the name uncertain. French, le cactier. 

 THE Great-flowered Creeping Cereus, called in French 

 le serpent, is a plant of extraordinary magnificence and 

 beauty. Its blossoms open in the evening : they are large 

 and sweet-scented, but ' of very short duration. They 

 begin to open between seven and eight o'clock ; are fully 

 blown by eleven, and by three or four in the morning 

 they fade, and hang down quite decayed. During their 

 short-lived beauty, few flowers can compare with them. 

 The calyx of the flower, when open, is nearly a foot in 

 diameter ; the inside of which, being of a splendid yellow, 

 appears like the rays of a bright star : the outside is of a 



