BOOK XXI. xxxvi. 62-xxxvin. 65 



roots after the spring equinox and dried in the moon- 

 Hght for thirty days ; that after this it glows at 

 night, and that the Magi and the kings of Parthia 

 use the plant to make their vovvs. It is also called, 

 he says, chenamyche," because geese are panic- 

 stricken at the first sight of it, and by others nycta- 

 lops, because it gleams a long distance by night. 



XXXVII. Melilot * grows everywhere, the most ijeuioi. 

 popuUir kind, however, in Attica ; every where more- 

 over the freshly gathered is preferred, and not the 

 white variety but that niost resembUng safFron, and 

 that though in Italy the white is the more fragrant. 



XXXVIII. The first flower to herald the approach var-ons 

 of spring is the white violet,*^ which moreover ^"/w^. 

 in the warmer spots peeps out even in winter. 

 Afterwards comes the violet which is called ion, 



and the mauve one, followed closely by the flame- 

 coloured flower called phlox,'' but only the wild 

 variety. The cyclamen '^ blossoms twice in the year, 

 in spring and in autumn ; it shuns summer and winter. 

 A little later than those mentioned above come, 

 overseas, the narcissus and the Uly, which in Italy, 

 as we have said,/ is after the rose. But in Greece 

 comes later still the anemone. This however is a 

 flower of the wild bulbs, and different from the plant 

 to be spoken of among the medicinal herbs.? It is 

 foUowed by the oenanthe,'' the melanium * and the 

 wild heUochrysus, then the other kind of anemone, 

 which is called the meadow anemone, after which 

 comes the gladiolus,J together with the hyacinth.* 



* Authorities differ about the plants whieh the ancients 

 included under this name. Delphinium, gladiolus and mar- 

 tagon-lily have some varieties which may possibly be referred 

 to by the name hyacinlhus. 



207 



