The Heliotrope. 



This flower, though in a different genus, and totally unlike the 

 sunflower, is often confounded with it. To both of them has 

 been ascribed the now obsolete notion of their having the pro- 

 perty of taming to follow the course of the sun in the heavens; 

 a property possessed in a minor degree, undoubtedly, by many 

 flowers, but which arises from mechanical causes mostly, and is 

 by no means universal. We have many species common to our 

 country, but the one represented in our plate is, perhaps, the 

 finest of all. It is much prized as a hot-house plant, both in this 

 country and in Europe. 



The Heliotropium Peruvianum — Peruvian Heliotrope, is 

 an evergreen trailer, a native, as its name denotes, of Peru. 

 The generic name was given by Jussieu, who, while botanizing 

 in the Cordilleras, suddenly inhaled the most exquisite perfumes. 

 He expected to find some brilliantly colored flowers, but per- 

 ceived only some pretty clumps of an agreeable green, bearing 

 flowers of a pale blue color. The clusters are generally com- 

 posed of small, delicate} fragrant flowers, of a faint purple or 

 white, sometimes red or bluish white. On approaching nearer 

 to them, he observed that the flowers turned gently towards the 

 sun, which they appeared to regard with reverential love. Struck 

 with this peculiar disposition of the plant, he gave it the name 

 of Heliotrope,which is derived from two Greek words, signifying 

 to turn with the sun. The learned botanist, delighted with the 

 acquisition, collected a quantity of the seeds and sent them to the 

 Jardin du Roi, at Paris, where it was first cultivated in Europe. 

 The ladies collected it with enthusiasm, placed it in their richest 

 vases — called it the flower of love — and received with indiffer- 

 ence every boquet in which their favorite was not found. It 

 bears sweet, lilac looking flowers, from May to September. The 

 character of the genus is :— calyx tubular, five-toothed ; corol 

 salver-form, cut in five pieces, and toothed in these divisions, 

 with an open throat, The specific character is : — leaves oblong, 



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