Hedera, or Edera 



presence of ivy as a sign of a wickedly cold soil. 

 In such ground ivy flourishes, as may be seen in the 

 deep clay of some of our woodlands. It is true that 

 it flourishes as vigorously on limestone and other 

 warm soils. 



Theophrastus says that dry sticks of ivy are the 

 best for lighting a fire, and they are. To obtain the 

 sacred spark of fire the Romans recommend the 

 rubbing of a piece of bay wood on a piece of ivy. 



Flower, September. 



Italian names, Edera and Ellera. 



Helleborus. 



'helleboros . . . graves ' (Ge. iii. 451). 



The plant of which Virgil gives the Greek name 

 had also a Latin name, which Linnaeus gave to 

 the genus. Our species is lyngwort (Veratrum 

 album). Visitors of the Apennines and the Alps 

 are struck by its large plaited leaves and liliaceous 

 spike of flowers or, in August, of seeds, and it some- 

 times figures in our gardens. The poisonous quali- 

 ties of the thick rhizome were well known to the 

 ancients, though Lucretius and Pliny, while admit- 

 ting that this was mortal to man, held that the 

 leaves were fattening to goats. From my own ob- 

 servation I should say that they are always left un- 

 cropped. A decoction of the rhizome was accounted 

 a cure for madness. The recipe for it was possessed 

 by the inhabitants of Anticyra, an island in the 

 Malian gulf. Hence Horace's ' naviget Anticyram ' 



53 



