Linriean System of Plants. 57 



one to every petal, and the flower has six petals. That ele- 

 gant flower called the crown imperial is a foreign species of 

 this genus. We have one British tulip ; the common yel- 

 low tulip is the only species native of this country. When 

 double, it has somewhat the appearance of a large yellow 

 rose, and is very magnificent. The splendid tulips usually 

 cultivated in gardens are importations from the East, deriv- 

 ing their name from the Turkish turban (called tvlipan) 

 which they are supposed to resemble. From the East, too, 

 we have the hyacinth : one, called the starch hyacinth, is the 

 produce of this country ; its flowers smell like wet starch, and 

 are considered very oppressive. The harebell (formerly 

 called the English hyacinth, but latterly removed to the genus 

 S'cllla) contains a great quantity of starch in the juices of its 

 roots. 



Asparagus is a native plant, growing on the sea-coast ; but 

 the wild and the cultivated asparagus would scarcely be 

 recognised as the same species, culture having increased it to six 

 or eight times its original magnitude. The sprouting shoots of 

 this plant, when grown in a garden, grace the most luxurious 

 tables; but the same part of the wild plant would not be 

 worth the gathering. Some foreign species of asparagus are 

 armed with thorns or prickles : the Cape asparagus, Thun- 

 berg informs us, is called by the inhabitants of the country, 

 *waht en beetje (wait a bit), because its crooked thorns catch 

 their clothes, and check them in passing ; hence also the word 

 asparagus itself, from a Greek word signifying to lacerate. 



The lily of the valley, now so seldom met with, but always 

 admired — 



" Shading, like detected light. 

 Its little green-tipt lamps of white," — 



is one of four British species of Convallaria (a barbarous 

 compound of Greek and Latin, equivalent to our English 

 name) : the others bear the name of Solomon's seal ; it is 

 said, because a transverse section of the roots exhibits cha- 

 racters resembling the impression of a seal. All the species 

 are rare. Gerarde recommends the fresh root, bruised, for 

 the cure of any " bruse, black or blue spots, gotten by fals, 

 or women's wilfulness in stumbling upon their hasty husbands' 

 fists." 



Sweet flag ( J['corus Calamus) is another rare plant, growing 

 in watery places, and chiefly about the rivers in the county of 

 Norfolk. It has been a custom from time immemorial, to 

 strew it in the cathedral and some of the streets of Norwich, 

 on the mayor's day, for the sake of the fragrance which it gives 

 out when trodden upon. Of late years, being less plentiful, 



