CENTAURY. 83 



flower, or Sweet-sultan, a native of Persia, and commonly 

 seen growing wild among the corn in the Levant. The 

 colour is purple, flesh-coloured, or white. The scent is 

 very powerful, and to some persons disagreeable. 



There is a variety, called, from the colour of its flowers, 

 Yellow Sweet-sultan*, of which the scent is unquestionably 

 pleasant. The best time to sow Sweet-sultan is in the 

 spring : they will begin to flower in July. One seed will 

 suffice for a six-inch pot : water must be given sparingly, 

 or the roots will be liable to rot. The yellow variety is 

 raised in a hot-bed, and, when grown, requires more ten- 

 der treatment than the rest of the family. They are an- 

 nual plants. 



The perennial kinds may be either increased by seed, 

 as directed, or by parting the roots in autumn : always ob- 

 serving to place such as are newly planted in the shade 

 until they have taken fresh root. These will require 

 shelter in the winter. Centaury has a tendency to strike 

 very deep root, which makes many of them altogether 

 unfit for pots. Unfortunately, the Great Centaury is of 

 this number: I say unfortunately, because this species, 

 which grows naturally on the mountains of Italy, has been 

 rendered classical by Virgil's mention of it in his Georgics, 

 where it is recommended, among other flowers, as a me- 

 dicine for bees when sick. I think Dryden also mentions 

 it somewhere. 



* The centaurea amberboi of the botanists. In French, le barbeau 

 Jaune ; JLeur du grand seigneur; V amberboi. Italian, ciano giallo 

 Turchesco odoroso. 



