LETTER LIX. 



OHIOIN AND PROPEKTIES OP CERTAIN PI.AHTS — THEIR COLOURS ONLY 

 COMPARATIVE — EKD, OP >TIIE TOUR, 



Mant controversies have taken place with respect to the 

 heliotrope, the flower whose umbels, of a greyish blue, 

 exhale such a sweet odour of vanilla. 



It is related that the nymph Clytie, the daughter of 

 Oceanus, was abandoned by Apollo, whom she had loved. 

 This threw her into such deep grief that she ceased to eat or 

 to drink, and died with her eyes fixed upon the sun. She 

 was changed into a flower called heliotrope. Now heliotrope 

 signifies, / turn towards the sun. 



Some savants have determined that it was not our helio- 

 trope with the vanilla odour, that was spoken of when 

 alluding to the metamorphoses of Clytie, but of the great 



