30 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Yet we are all glad to welcome the fair white blooms of the Christmas 

 rose in the dark days of December and January. But the Christmas 

 rose is no more a rose than the primrose or the rock-rose. It is 

 one of the hellebores, Hellehorus niger, a member of the Baimnculus 

 order. 



And then there is the rose of Jericho. This interesting plant is an 

 annual growing in dry sandy places. As the seeds ripen the leaves 

 wither and curl inwards, with the seeds inside. The plant is loosened 

 from the sand and blown about by the wind over the desert sands. 

 Sooner or later it finds a resting place, and on being moistened uncoils 

 and sheds its seed. The rose of Jericho, however, is not a rose, but 

 one of the Crucifercp. 



Eose- apples, again, are the edible fruits of species of Eugenia, and 

 belong to the Myrtle order. The little celandine, otherwise known as 

 pilewort— the flower of which Wordsworth said : 



There is a flower, it shall be mine, 

 It is the little celandine — 



being a Bammculus, is no relation to the real celandine, or swallow- wort, 

 which is one of the Poppy family. 



The daisy proper— the " Day's eye " of Chancer — is of the genus Bellis, 

 while the ox-eye daisy is a Chrysanthemum, and the Michaelmas daisy 

 is an Aster. 



The name "marigold," or gold of Mary, seems to belong most properly 

 to the English marigold, Calendula officinalis, " the marigold that goes to 

 bed wi' the sun " of Shakespsare. It was also known as the pot marigold, 

 the flowers being used for flavouring soups. The name Calendula, Gerard 

 remarks, indicates that " it is to be seen to flower in the calends of almost 

 euerie moneth." French and African marigolds are Tagetes j^atula and 

 Tagetes erecta respectively, and they are both natives of Mexico ! 



The corn marigold is a Chrysanthemum. Its leaves and stalks were 

 much eaten in Gerard's time as a pot herb. The marsh marigold, again, 

 the "winking Mary-buds" of Shakespeare, is one of the Banunculiis 

 order. 



The deadly nightshade is Atropa Belladonna, while the woody 

 nightshade— Keats's "ruby grape of Proserpine" — is a Solanum \ 

 Enchanter's nightshade, on the other hand, belongs to the Evening 

 Primrose family. 



The apple is the fruit of Pyrus Mains, but the word has been used for 

 a large number of fruits of very diverse plants. Perhaps the most curious 

 example of this is the pineapple, which has nothing to do with the pine, 

 and is very far from being an apple. The term " pineapple " was first of all 

 applied to the fruit of the pine tree— the pine cone, in fact. Then the 

 fruit of Ananassa sativa having some resemblance to a fir cone, it was 

 called a pineapple. And now no one thinks of calling the fruit of the 

 pine tree a pineapple. Custard apples are the fruits of species of 

 Anona growing in the East and West Indies. Kangaroo apples, eaten 

 in Tasmania, and Egg apples are the fruits of species of Solanum. 

 Thorn-apples are produced by species of Datura. Apples of Sodom are 

 said to be the fruit of a Solanum. 



