142 COROLLIFLOR^ 



not bursting, i-seeded, 2 of the cells being empty. Herbaceous 

 plants, with opposite leaves, no stipules, often strong-scented or 

 aromatic, inhabiting temperate countries, especially the north of 

 India, Europe, and South America. Many of the plants of this 

 Order possess properties worthy of notice ; but by far the most re- 

 markable is Nardoslachys jakimansi, the Spikenard of Scripture, and 

 the Nardus of the ancient classical authors. It grows on the hills 

 of Butan, in India, where it is called Dshatamansi. The root-leaves, 

 shooting up from the ground and surrounding the young stem, are 

 torn up along with part of the root, and having been dried in the 

 sun, or by artificial heat, are sold as a drug. Two merchants of 

 Butan, of whom Sir W. Jones caused inquiries to be made, related 

 that the plant shoots up straight from the earth, and that it is then, 

 as to colour, like a green ear of wheat ; that its fragrance is pleasant 

 even while it is green, but that its odorous quality is much strength- 

 ened by merely drying the plant ; that it grows in Butan on the 

 hills, and even on plains in many places ; ajul that in that country 

 it is gathered and prepared for medicinal purposes. In ancient 

 times this drug was conveyed by way of Arabia to Southern Asia, 

 and thus it reached the Hebrews. Judas valued the box of oint- 

 ment with which Mary anointed our Lord's feet at two hundred 

 Denarii (£6. gs. 2d.). By the Romans it was considered so precious 

 that the poet Horace promises to Virgil a whole cadiis, or about 

 three dozen modern bottles of wine, for a small onyx-box full of 

 spikenard. It was a Roman custom in festive banquets, not only 

 to crown the guests with flowers, but also to anoint them with 

 spikenard. Eastern nations procure from the mountains of Austria 

 the Valeriana Celtica and V ■ Saliunca to perfume their baths. Their 

 roots are grubbed up with danger and difficulty by the peasants of 

 Styria and Carinthia from rocks on the bdrders of eternal snow ; 

 they are then tied in bundles and sold at a very low price to mer- 

 chants, who sci.d them by way of Trieste to Turkey and Egy]:)t, 

 where they are retailed at a great profit, and passed onwards to the 

 nations of India and Ethiopia. The seeds of Centranthus rub.er 

 (Red Valerian) were used in former times in the process of embalm- 

 ing the dead ; and some thus employed in the twelfth century, on 

 being removed from the cere-cloth in the present century and 

 planted, have vegetated. The roots of our common Valerian 

 (F. officinalis) are still used in medicine ; their effect on cats is very 

 remarkable, producing a kind of intoxication. The young leaves of 

 Fedia olitoria (Lamb's Lettuce) are eaten as salad, and those of 

 Centranthus ruber (Red Valerian) are in Sicily eaten in the 

 same way. 



I. Centranthus (Spur Valerian). — Corolla 5-cleft, spurred at the 

 base ; stamen I ; fruit crowned with a feathery pappus. (Name in 

 Greek denoting spur-flower.) 



