2.U THE WILD STOCiv. 



violet sweet - scented Winter-stock (Matthiola incana, 

 Fi_£f. p. 28'l), called in German "Levko'jen", which visitors 

 to the island are so eager to get, but which tortunatelv 

 has established itself on the castle in quite inaccessible 

 places. This plant grows wild here, tor the Mediterranean 

 region is its habitat. It is not named after its former neigh- 

 bour the "Man with the Iron Mask", but after Pietro Andrea 

 Mattiolo of Siena, who called himself Matthiolus and was 

 Imperial Phvsician in \'ienna during the first half of the 

 sixteenth centur\-. He also gained a great reputation as 

 a botanist, particularlv as Commentator on Dioscorides. 

 The Greek "PencoVon", which in (rerman has changed into 

 Levkoje, means white violet. A great number of plants 

 were called b\' the Greeks "violet,s" and these were 

 distinguished Ironi each other b\' means ot additional 

 adjectives. Our \^iolet proper was called b^- Theo- 

 phrastiis "melanion", the dark, while the Stock, Wallflower 

 and the Dame's Molet {Ifespcris) go b^- the name of 

 "Leucoion", light violets. The Romans used the word 

 "\'iola" in the same wa\', adding th« term "purpurea" 

 when the^' meant our A'iolet. 



St. Flonorat is much smaller than her sister isle, but 

 St. Ilonoratus chose it as the site ol his monastery 

 on account of the spring there. Jagged rocks jut up 

 out of the sea near the castle, the^' are called the "monks" 

 and form a natural defence to the island. The force of 

 the sea is broken b\' them when storms from the south 

 drive the waves against the island. There are a tew 

 chapels on the beach, relics ot bv-gone times; fragments 

 of marble pillars and capitals may be found amidst Ah-rtle 



