CHELONE. 103 



Virgil recommends the keepers of bees to sprinkle the 

 fragrant juices of Balm and Honey wort, to entice them 

 home. Cerinthe is one of the most common herbs in the 

 fields of Italy; which induces Virgil to term it ignobile 

 gramen : 



" Hue tu jussos asperge sapores, 

 Trita melisphylla, et cerinthse ignobile gramen." 



Dryden translates melisphylla and cerinthe, melfoil and 

 honeysuckle : 



( f Then melfoil beat, and honeysuckles pound, 

 With these alluring savours strew the ground." 



But we have no plant named Melfoil. Milfoil is so called 

 from its great number of leaves. Rucellai, in his Italian 

 poem, translates the passage thus : 



" E pero sparga quivi il buon sapore 

 De la trita melissa, e Terba vile 

 De la cerinta." 



LE API DEL RUCELLAI. 



And therefore sprinkle here the genial flavour 

 Of the bruised balm and lowly honey wort. 



CHELONE. 



BIGNONIE^E. DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. 



This name is derived from the Greek, and signifies a tortoise. 

 French, galane; tortue, [tortoise]. 



THE White Chelone has been called by Joscelin, in his 

 New England Rarities, the Humming-bird Tree, When 

 planted in the open ground, it spreads its roots to a con- 

 siderable distance; but 4 it rather improves than injures 

 them to confine the roots by putting the plant in a pot ; 

 as the stalks which the root sends up will otherwise be too 

 far distant, and have a straggling appearance. 



The Red Chelone is very similar to the first species, 



