162 ГАГ 
GARDENERS 
CHRON TOETS. 
[AUGUST 7, 1875, 
New Garden Plants. 
MEGACLINIUM MELANORRHACHIS, 7. 52. * 
t nd ge of this lit 
of tle botanic gem 
ellen rere t 
yea The pla 
a Wilson 
n sale of Tropical Western Àfrica 
rra Leon obtained i recently 
English correspondent, A Mr. J. Day. 
e to hand fr on ME. “Ball. I 
<a Bull who introduced the plant, 
an anged (that sale. Our species is ver 
near 5з дан velutinum, indl., а very muc 
larger cut with an acuminate rachis, whose mid- 
is ric. Fue details of the flower are 
си difere 
This little ha scarcely 2 inches high, is 
p: 
curious with its shining dark brownish black winged 
and crenate rachis of flowers. These are dark cin- 
namon-coloured, the Mus of Aid baia: column, 
and petals being yellow ful pocket lens 
is of great uc to papers "the charms of the 
lovely plant. m С. Rehh. f. 
THE VERBENA: PAST AND 
7" PRESENT. 
VERBENA is a name of profound antiquily, corre- 
sponding, in this respect, а Violet and Lily. 
derivation is in term older, and which take 
us back to the religious nn al of the ancient Greeks, 
or toa үш iod of not less than twenty-three centuries 
ag n occasions of solemnities in the temples, 
or Miel the altais, the priests among that celebrated 
the Myrtle, the Rosemary, and th 
sometim 
green, such as the Olive. The reason for this practice 
was twofold. Being odori^ lan the pl 
a^counted pleasing to the 
hings 
illustrated, ages — Jewish, and 
Christian—in the use of incense, the outward and 
E = of prayer and thanksgiving. Secondly, 
these retain their verdant complexion 
throughout t tbe year, with the ancient Greeks, as with 
rselves, they were the x ndurance, con- 
UR truth, faithfulness, and everything else of the 
kind that pertains to the best relations which subsist 
between heaven and mankind, An nd which keep the 
religious sentiment alive, the centre and pivot of heis 
last being a profound sense "y сане. 
the defects and errors of the old 
e was events a clear 
principles of religious action, an constitutes 
мел adjustment of outward insignia to inward 
ment. 
"The las pemen of this venerable usage, it is 
hardly dc d i 
remark, is found in the practice 
decking Such with Holly at Chir tis tide, 
g to prevent the pi 
be istian for Ver 
and interesting are these unsuspected relics ol the 
methods and adjuncts of 'primæval worship. We 
little think, when e engaged in them, how many of our 
ceremonies, i 
tiver of Ti corde 
the k and revolutions, , gifted with a kind of im- 
mortaliiy, heirlooms of the first days of ci ion. 
Those who object = introduce PO into Christian 
churches because i the rites of the 
Druids, *'pagans d кам " nh remember 
perhaps, меа “мо 587 introduce uce evergree 
kind w rative materials, sented ones 
in ae das pe copying the custom of th 
anci nt worship ppers in the temples of Zeus га 
А 
t 
Scarcely needful is it to — nor how beau- 
p'a 
p 
pretty and те ыи, which, though n 
connected with of r religion, involves 
the ape ideas as е py peni 
fait , and life. The Bay 
conception ‘of poetry ; the Myrtle is ке 
‘the idea of love, | t be n 
which i is nothing if i f er- 
store of sweetness ; and ‘Ophe elia 
js fal aribus 
| Fari latiori, columna utrinque Lan аре 
n melanorrhachis. 
s that were scentless, though ever- | 
-— 
di Murs or ‘Myrtle, Bay, ап 
| ignorant, is inconce 
exclaims, 
IBI 
** There's Rosemary, that's E remem- 
demonstrated 
um E some physical repre- 
be ges ad with- 
fragrant оета n the sacred connection above 
eT dires because of their ran yal to the 
hey r d the of iepa fai TN 
Le literally е adeta or aliaa her 
he religious ceremonies in which set ere 
em ployed in course of nae came to be pede sio 
in ancient Italy among th S, wil om hiera 
botané was into verbena. The ounds 
ing ch, and the sipbabti 
and pow 
he 
y far more extensively 
ye surprisingly. Hence the curious mutation of the 
of hiera into the v of verbena, an exact coun cf 
s hick is found in Greek 
nce— Ex benas hinc Pes erence 
derived a e cons асын а of what еты for 
2 ox i fion te sprightly and po Ms ed Athe 
t, Men uthor q ed by St. SPa а 
een тему, or £5 biblical penmen). in thecelebrated 
аѕѕаре in І Corinthians, xv. — il nica 
tion rrupt good manners." t this particular | 
instance the earlier poet simply says ** Myrtles " ; th 
хи conv Te is, nevertheless identical, dier being 
ned as best and loveliest of - Me and 
Desai for E: ntir mad ME posti 
of the Augustan era the allusions A van exceedingl 
into chap- 
t to sacrifice on the n of the 
terrible day which ends the story. And in the fourth 
Georgic the pious old Corycian sets Verbena in = 
dex: along with Lilies, Poppies, and Acanthus, 
that he E alwa za have a wi ы Lie de е times ч 
devo In H afte 
ius waiting for £s "sucriie, i is recede as ee ‘bound 
with chaste the epithet bein 
imply ый no a can approach the gods consistently 
o does abstain from all impurities of action, so 
hated IT Bedv and thus come before them with 
clean 
Simi illustrations might be adduced from Cicero 
and other authors, including Plautus, who died about 
whose duty i 
was to see that the sa erbs were ready when 
want d who was crowned with th as 
said to be Verbenatus. The same epithet was ае 
to animals intended for sacrifice, and which had 
bena bound round their n 
is g and pure = first intent becom 
Art is crowded with the сета; 
language becomes ooo о sang; every great 
poet is parodied ost pon rious pictures are made 
n - cct ru : pui. sm lapses into supersti- 
tion— eak and QUNM ag ar AE of the 
noble E sencible. No r, then, that the use of 
sacred herbs became rial to ы purposes of 
erverted and desecr : 
At a very early period we Sans tie erbena loyed |. 
in working ms and in ns. Virgil, in the 
eighth oral, represents die ериш аѕ аз it in 
conjunction Ah frankincense in a s = 
win the love of Daphnis. In Ovid, when 
enc Medea, restores decrepit /Eson to the 
vigour of youth, the дас 15 р ith the 
same, twine 2 her own hands. 
ere e the beginning o of the B vere of 
а соттоп Verbena officinalis as a plan table to 
chef + reputation hh clung 
purposes о 
to i it throughout "n middle ag was extant even 
so late as the eighteenth AR How this Vies 
plant, zy Vervain of modern botany, becam 
possessed of the name is a question now A s 
settle positively. Pliny, when he des the 
Verbena (under which name we naturally supp 
dealing with the be Myrtle 
uestion, to speak . V. officina 
р fro: a "That a plant so 
M ommon V 5e 
tracti PES 
frequently recurren ul po service AE d plant which’ 
es down to the ground every autumn, and is 
алата, iv. EL 165. t —: Hin 
Ub onis cap. 9. 
| Verbena 
in perfection for only ten or twelve weeks, Pretty 
ПШ 
= 
0- 
bab any a instance, either T Tee 
S У alfthe SA or cian different things. Every 
one knows tha vast encyclo spade produced by 
that learned man, wonderful for his time, is quite 
as remarkable for its errors and omissions as for its 
facto. and muse is often unintelligible, The book isa 
че» чейре industry and of Kd 
rely upon its state The 
soir of Pliny, however nid that or "isole in 
zoolog f supreme whatever - 
Ver ave ipods before ш pi sila 
Meta 2 the appellation became identifi 
refe 
cantations, being associated wi 
superstition claimin ng the 
thinking, in all likelihood, in 
(alas, how differ ) 
5 
=] 
et 
p 
EE 
=] 
[n] 
m 
р 
ED 
о n 
o 
“ 
< 
c 
Ru 
> 
Ф 
v 
б 
СНЕ ТИЕ 07 4 
ot eae s y er EDI LU od Е ыч. 
jt n 
asd ed fidi the old French form of the wor 
ver veine,. whi i s 
Verbe 
The poets who came B 
of modern verse, of course could par ы ы wan it up. 
Their chief work was to echo rate, in a 
etre and song, the myths, ‘the Пеана А folko ore _ 
e of the times they 
® 
E PR = 
9 as a pla 
in 
Like ihe Pali tree, athe lion, 
is _was ше when convenien 
f, when we come upon shea masc al 
as indications 0! 
e ony a t them ney 
theless with sincerity, and with belie f int when th 
о те 
talked of Vervain ther ay have 
ипар dim i the true and genuine Verben 
In t , for exam 
Confessio Amantis of Gower. 
(t dom Henry IV. and Henry V.):— 
** Then toke the Feldwodde and Verveyne, 
erbés ben not better twayne, x 
So, later on, in that charming: lait ballad, ihe E 
rabbia of Drayton (temp. James I.) :— 
‘¢ She Nightshade strows, to d M ill, 
Therewith the Vervain and the 
hat positon: witches of € wilh 
e to despight 
Shakspeare ii no mention of Aia vana 
rs in 
or 
Neither is it once alluded to by Milton 
Herbals and А h 
stantly "described and figured as t 
Ver ough Gerard 
diate the ‘tables 
cally, yet even A late the beginning of heat ; 
of George IIl. а man i deed Morley propose x 
cure scrofula by pa Vervain ar the 
Sse sere classical 
Linnzeus very 
name Verbena when condime the 
je moe 
L4 
i 
these 
pale - Morete Tec 
perennials. 
bout the time of the tem тас the life a Lies 
h rious 
Tore: arr 
үс . 
