20 INTRODUCTION 



changed into a flower; when the Naiads sought 

 his body 



" Instead whereof a yellow flower was found, 

 With tufts of white about the button crown'd." 



Hyacinth shared a like fate : the beautiful son 

 of Amyclas, King of Amyclae in Laconia, and 

 Diomede, he was killed through jealousy by 

 Apollo while the two were playing at quoits on 

 the banks of the Eurotas. From his blood the 

 god caused the hyacinth to spring, bearing on its 

 petals the exclamation Ai (woe!). 



Artemisia bears one of the names of Diana, 

 who was specially venerated of young girls, who 

 sacrificed their hair to her before marriage. She 

 was equally renowned for healing and for swift 

 killing, and found the properties of the Artemisia 

 and gave it to her devotees to alleviate menstrual 

 pain. The leaves of this plant are still gathered 

 and dried for this purpose by the peasants in 

 France and Algeria. 



The Telephium is called after Telephus, King 

 of Mysia, son of Hercules and Auge, but any 

 direct connection is, apparently, undiscoverable; 

 and the genus Euphorbia was so called — some 

 aver — by Linnaeus, after Euphorbus, physician 

 to Juba H, King of Mauritania, circa B. C. 19; 

 but Salmasius (1588-1653), a French botanist, 

 mentions the name, so Linnaeus could not have 

 been the sponsor. 



