416 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



Pliny says that the Helenium was found in the Isle of 

 Helena, and was formed by her tears : Dioscorides tells the 

 same story. There was an island of that name on the coast 

 of Attica, to which Helen retired after the siege of Troy : 

 it was a native not only of that island, however, but also 

 grew in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, upon which 

 Tournefort observes that Helen's tears seemed to cost her 

 very little : " apparemment que les larmes lui coutoient 

 peu*f 



SWEET-PEA. 



LATHYRUS. 



LEGUMINOS^E. DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 



French, pois oclorans ; pois de senteur [both signifying scented 

 pea] ; pois de fleur [flower pea] ; gesse. Italian, pisello odoroso. 



THE Sweet-pea has several varieties, greatly differing in 

 colour : the common sort, which is blue and dark purple, 

 sometimes with a tinge of red, is a native of Sicily. The 

 more delicate kind, white and blush, or white and deep 

 rose-colour, sometimes with a mixture of pale blue, is a 

 native of the Island of Ceylon, and is called the Painted- 

 lady. 



The Tangier-pea is a native of Barbary, its colours 

 purple and red : it is an annual plant, which grows to the 

 height of four or five feet ; blossoms in June or July, and 

 dies in autumn. 



Although the Sweet-pea is now so common in this 

 country that we seldom see a garden, however small, that 

 cannot boast of possessing it, it is not more than a hundred 



* Tournefort's Levant, vol. ii. p. 36. 



