Linnean System of Plants. 55 
fallen with it from the clouds? Who does not hail the 
pretty snowdrop? The name of this flower is happily ex- 
pressive of its whiteness, lightness, and pendent grace, and of 
the season of its birth. The botanical appellation is not 
quite so comprehensive, Galanthus (milk-flower) nivalis 
(snowy). ‘To the passing eye the snowdrop appears wholly 
white, because its three outer petals, being longer than the three 
inner, close over them, and conceal a stamp ‘of green on their 
outer side and many fine lines of green within. We e generally 
find that the whitest flowers are more or less tinged with 
a pale green, which seems rather to increase than to detract 
from their whiteness. We may observe this in the snowflake, 
or summer snowdrop, Leucojum (leukos, white, zon, violet) 
zestivalis (of the summer). Notwithstanding that ‘* snow in har- 
vest” is proverbially unwelcome, this is a ceneral favourite, and 
not unfrequently confounded with the true snowdr op of spring: 
there are, however, obvious distinctions between them ; the 
snowdrop Is a solitary flower, the snowflake has three or four 
blossoms in a cluster; the latter has all its petals of equal 
length, and each tipped with a stamp of green, visible on both 
sides. The specific name is scarcely correct, for the plant 
blooms in the month of May. Another elegant little white 
flower appears in the interval between the death of the early 
snowdrop and the birth of the latter, in English termed the 
Star of Bethlehem, but botanically named, “like the others, 
with reference to its whiteness, Or nithégalum (bird’s-milk) 
umbellatum (from its mode of inflorescence). The petals 
spread open in the form of a star, each having on the under 
side a keel of pale green. This plant was so common, from 
the earliest times, in Bethlehem, and all Palestine, that the 
bulbs were an article of food; apparently of the cheapest kind, 
since, in the 2d book of Kings, we find the high price charged 
for a measure of them coupled with the dear rate of an ass’s 
head, to show the extent of a famine in Syria: they are stil] 
eaten there. In this country the plant is rare, though less so 
than the 
** Lone flower, hemm’d in with snows, and white as they.” 
The Narcissus [narke, stupor; effect of smell; ZEncycl. of 
Plants |, which derives its name and birth from the y Buti who 
pined with seJ/-loy., while he thought he loved another, is also 
a native of this country. Though many have fallen ae the 
same mistake, he is the only acknowledged victim to it, of 
whom Fame has preserved the memory. We are told that 
“ Narcissus, drooping on his rill, 
Keeps his odorous beauty still ;” 
E 4 
