62 



SOLOMON'S SEAL. CONVALLARTA. 

 COMMON SOLOMON'S SEAL. Convallaria multiflora. 



Plate 4, fig. 8. 



In woods in many parts of the kingdom, flowering in May 

 and June. Stem single, from one to two feet high, bending 

 downwards a little at the top, and bare of leaves on the lower 

 part. The leaves are ovate, alternate, all growing upwards. 

 Flowers in the axils of the leaves, like a little round tube or 

 long straight bell, of a yellowish white color, green at the tips, 

 three or four together, and drooping. Root tuberous, berries 

 round, purplish-black. 



O. S. Narrow-Leaved Solomon's Seal, Angular Solomon's Seal, and the 

 LiJy of the Valley, that emblem of innocence and purity. 



" Sweet flower of the valley, wi' blossoms of snow, 



And green leaves that turn the cauld blast frae their stems, 

 Bright emblem of innocence, thy beauties I lo'e, 

 Above the king's coronet circled with gems. 



" There's no tinsel about thee, to make thee mair bright, 



Sweet Lily ! thy loveliness a' is thy ain, 

 And thy bonny bells, dangling sae pure and sae light, 

 Proclaims thee the fairest of Flora's bright train." 



HYACINTH. HYACINTHUS. 



HYACINTH, OR BLUE BELL. Hyacinthus non-scriptus. 

 Plated, Jig. 9. 



The Blue Bell is abundant not only all over our commons, 

 thickets, and woods, but also throughout Europe. Its root is 

 a white bulb leaves strap -shaped flowers bell-shaped, droop- 

 ing downwards, five-cleft, with the points turned back, mostly 

 blue, but now and then white or pink. 



" A Hyacinth lifted its purple bell, 



From the slender leaves around it, 

 It curved its cup in a flowing swell, 



Ad a starry circle crowned it. 

 The deep blue cincture that robed it, seemed 



The gloomiest garb of sorrow, 

 As if on its eye no brightness beamed, 

 And it never in clearer moments dreamed 



Of a fair and calm to-morrow," Percival. 



Poets seem fond of singing the praises of the fragrant and 

 beautifully -colored species, cultivated in gardens and in parlors. 

 Our plant though with little scent is yet a favorite, and in the 



