xn. THE AMARANTH. 205 



decoration at funerals. Homer describes the Thes- 

 salians as wearing chaplets of amaranth ; and Milton, 

 when speaking of the multitude of angels before God 

 casting down their crowns " inwove with amarant and 

 gold," at His feet, says : 



" Immortal amarant, a flower which once 

 In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life, 

 Began to bloom ; but soon, for man's offence, 

 To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows, 

 And flowers aloft, shading the fount of Life, 

 And where the river of bliss through midst of Heaven 

 Rolls over Elysian flowers her amber stream." 



The globe-amaranth belongs to a family whose flowers, 

 notwithstanding their small size individually, produce a 

 striking effect by the great numbers of them that are 

 clustered together. They have properly speaking no 

 corolla, but produce the appearance of blossoms by 

 their coloured sepals and bracts, whose texture is so dry 

 and thin that they do not decay like the other parts of 

 flowers. Upwards of three hundred species are known, 

 growing as herbs or shrubs in tropical and temperate 

 regions. The leaves of many kinds are wholesome food, 

 and are not unfrequently used in their native countries 

 like spinach, to which indeed the family is closely allied 

 botanically. They were eaten as kitchen herbs by the 

 ancient Greeks ; and hence they were appropriately laid 

 upon graves as the food of the dead. Among the most 

 characteristic and best known examples of the family 

 may be mentioned the curious cockscomb of our green- 

 houses, and the princes feather and love-lies-bleeding of 

 our gardens with their crimson velvety tassels. 



