in.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 101 



flowers, a whitish leaf, a white hard stem, and 

 a superficial thin root. The description given by 

 Pliny I omit, as it is much the same as those above 

 given, though less exact than that of Dioscorides. 



We may, therefore, admit that Gnaphalium stoechas 

 was at least one of the plants designated by the 

 name of everlasting, and that it corresponded with 

 the Helichrysum of Pliny. The latter, however, 

 must not be confounded with the 'EAetoxpucroy of 

 Theophrastus , or with the Heliochrysos of Pliny d . 

 Both these are wild meadow-plants, flowering in 

 the spring, and Theophrastus associates the one 

 he names with] that species of Anemone which he 

 calls limonia. 



Hence Dumolin with reason conjectures, that 

 it may have been the Caltha palustris of our 

 meadows. 



ST.EHELINA. 



Two frutescent species are noticed by Sibthorp, 

 but neither can be identified with ancient names, 

 although the plant he calls Pteronia chamcepeuce, 

 which other botanists consider as a Stcehelina, may 

 perhaps be the one designated by Dioscorides e by 

 the name of \afjiai7revKr). 



CENTAUREA. 



Amongst the twenty species of Centaury enu- 

 merated by Sibthorp, one only, viz. 0. spinosa, is 



c Lib. vi. c. 7. d Lib. xxi. c. 38. Lib. iv. c. 125. 



