I s have not explained the the 
Pron ~ the sensitive weet when exposed to external 
vi e. Darwin asks, 
| There are pi — noticed—the red, purple, whi ti 
5 
1 Pay eee | 
or paralys is, 
ing animals from pain or Dos ? 
, like the faint- 
Weak with nice nein the chaste | Mimosa ah % 
id hands; 
=. as — clouds orp st 
m’d s es at the oa shade, 
Rese 
b 
a5 
ei! 
oe 
> 
7 
ES 
o 
Hu 
=| 
i] 
is 
Pp 
i] 
> 
@ 
o 
3 
a 
with freshen’d charms, the rosy light. Darwin. 
There are y species of Mimosa—some, tall trees, others, 
humble plants: vate es of ‘the East and West Indies, etc. 
e Mi a, common Sensitive Plant, isa native - 
prs F ae it is is toteltty shrubby ; 
t fingered; leaflets wery Lqeciet ra! oblong, sey 
parseg A pale nd, illary, stalk ed 
tufts. 
MINT 
MENTHA, 
Class 2.—DIANDRIA. Order,—MONOGYNIA. 
‘at. in: Nat. Ord. Juss 
VawrICiLeaTs LABIAT. 
reeks, 
t Latin name, adopted from the Gree 
A asap ear their EDUosMoOs 
entha, an 
whose MINTHE peers 
(mint cinnamon,) see Dioscorides 41. 
The —— Minthe is fabled to A pena’ changed into this 
herb by Proserpine. 
Our common spear ce M. ee and M. ple — 
mint, are of this genus. Both a 
hilarating, and pollen in all aia uses. 
= Tot heal apr wounds which sever’d hearts ably rent 
with » only ope -s ee 
tee 
aie. 
See also, note on Pennyroyal. 
MISLETOE. 
VISCUM. “ 
Class 2.—pDIoEct a. —TETRANDRIA 
Nat. Ord. Linn. . Ord, Juss, 
AGGREGATR. CAPRIFOLIA. 
Viscum ii te derived 
from the Greek Ikos, altered os the Holians into ay bird- 
Misletoe, or Mistletoe, from the Saxon Mistella, and Danish 
Mistei, bird-li both a cepted to the pati in ew from 
which an indifferent sort of bird-lime 
berry 
tinacionsly t to the 1 beaks of ~ birds as feed upon it, that it 
es requires an effort rid of it, ae for this pur- 
pose they strike their ills ome the ba rk fa tree, , thereby 
| ete, are Amer —only o Seen! the white. The other. 
Nantes, ‘iti, 
The leaves of all are coraceot te thick . roar? about 
- inch or length, between an ovala ape, 
more in 
a pale green color. The bagtebarh vidhelaplotiins, soatelay 
ellow 
nha or ye. 
When bleak winter binds the frozen skies, 
k her foreign honors rise ; 
The lofty trunk th’ adopted branches crown, 
Graced with a yellow offspring not her own. 
oo Eneid. 
This pa arasitic ever-green plant, is — ea 
ra arth 
orn. he th 
and being lifted above it, gained for it an especial reverence 
from the superstitious. In Darwin’s “Loves of the Plants,” 
find borati f this idea. 
“Oh rete i bright habitant of the air, ahents 
itious § wises; from bp: yr el flig 
she springs, 
Shales her white plu golden wings; 
— ‘alae the fields of | Sound ‘ether ro een: 
And seeks amid the clouds nee" Sealing loves !?? 
Druids* held the oak in high and Fey mages venera- 
» W. 
5 
peculiar sanctity attached to it 
_ eved to be a particular favorite of t 
ated to ai who held supremacy over the pada es thus 
decease 
& Jove’s ae or palm, tet Gadi o’er the nit 
And fir, now He +, +, pt th A a ” 
Geo. 6. 1. 
grand —— De by the Pras = ~ sft day w the 
was obse de r 
is- ; 
this done, they \ 1 
feastings. \ 
Virgil rors to these ceremonies, and. to the oak, in the 
following li: 
ys me 
ao 
The proud oak, beneath whose awful Fay 
Religious rites fond Greece devoutly paid. Geo. b. 2, 
At mid-noon, to green a oomy glades 
Where some tall oak u ant syns aged shades; ; 
Or where the ilex-forest, dark and deep, 
Sheds holy horrors o’er the oe steep. Geo. 6. 3. 
cor ee17 a? (in H ery Day Boo! think,) 
of 
etoe, wit vith much ceremony, as a new aed ne among 
the people, after cutting it 
eating a part o of the fruit. This gift was antral ore Con 
it a ble: eee from above, to all who were so fortunate as to 
partake 
