28 AsTER HIsTorY 
Probably Aster Amellus was in the mind of the author of the 
Hortulus ascribed to Vergil and printed 1492—but not since ?— 
when writing 
Flores nitescunt discolor gramine, 
Pinguntque terras gemineis honoribus, 
Its flowers shine there with two-colored sprays, 
And paint the turf with twin grace 
Vergilit hortulus. * 
mn 
As the “ Hymmelschliissel’’ of many of the mountain people, 
and one of the chief blue flowers of his own Lombardy, Aster 
Amellus was probably at least a part of that ‘coelestis coloris”’ _ 
of which Jacobus de Manliis wrote, about 1450, interpreting Serap- 
ion as saying of Eryngium, by him blended with Aster Atticus, 
“‘ Serapion ait Ascaracon, id est, centum capita est coelestis coloris.” 
“The leaves of the Hymmelschliissel are not colored white 
[as some say, applying the name to the daisy].’’-—Hieronymus of 
Brunswick, writing 1490-1531. 
The purple and yellow of this herb are to be applied to differ- 
ent parts of the flower; for the leaves are of a purple color, but 
there is a yellow central head in among these leaves in the manner 
of a Chamomile.—Marcellus Vergilius, 1518 (fide Dalechamp, I: 
860). 
Our aster is purple and yellow.—V. Cordus, Fuchs. 
For the middle part of the Aster blossom which I found near 
Jena has a yellow color, around which little purple leaflets are dis- 
posed as we see in the flower of the Chamomile ; by which arrange- 
ment it is both purple and yellow at the same time.— Valerius 
Cordus, 1539. 7 
Our Amello has the middle yellow and that which is around — | 
it clear purple—mezo gialli, ed all’intorno porporei chiari.—Mat- 
thiolt, 1558. 
Duplicem floris colorem etiam Dioscorides innuit . . . Medio 
lutei, comantibus circumquaque foliolis diluta purpura nitentibus. 
—Delechamp, 1587. a 
Yellow in the middle and set round about with small purple 
leaves.—L yte, 1595. 
Faire blew flowers inclining to purple.—Gerarde, 1597. 
* As printed by Koberger, Nuremberg, 1492. 
