THE ROSEMARY 
345 
of Provence and the Maritime Alps, around 
Grasse, Frejus, Toulon, and Marseilles; thence, 
in the valley of the Rhone, it is found at 
• Villeneuve near Avignon, and at Orange, 
Montelimar, Tournon, and Romans. Nor is 
it confined to the Rhone Valley but spreads 
over parts of Languedoc, Rousillon, the Pyre- 
neesOrientalesanciCentrales,and other regions. 
The botanist Jordan gathered living specimens, 
both wild and cultivated, from every part of 
the Mediterranean region, and his collection, 
comprising 1 50 pot-plants and an equal num- 
ber grown in theopen,containedaboutadozen 
distinct forms. Drawings of these were made 
and perhaps still exist, but I think nothing was 
published concerning them. Studies of this 
kind are full of interest and present little 
difficulty beyond securing correspondents in 
as many parts as possible of the area covered 
by the plant, and the collection with their help 
of the seeds and cuttings desired. The wider 
the area covered, the greater is the certainty 
of gathering distinct forms. 
In following such a study it will be found 
that many tender southern plants push little 
colonies towards the north, where, in sheltered 
places they endure a lower temperature than 
is common to their kind. Compared with 
others in a garden such plants often show a 
greater degree of hardiness, and this proved 
to be so among these forms of Rosemary. The 
nature of the soil also exerts a marked influence 
upon the hardiness of the Rosemary, which, 
in sunny places and in poor dry soil mixed 
with stones, will endure cold much better than 
when in soils that are deep and rich. With 
due attention to this important fact, the plants 
found by Jordan to be the most hardy in a 
sharp winter, were sturdy little plants with 
fair-sized flowers of pale lilac, coming from 
Nyons (Drome), Tournon (Ardeche), and a 
purchased garden form. These have since 
passed into cultivation as Rosmarinus ojf.rigidus . 
The plants from Corsica were fine in growth 
and colour, but proved the most tender of the 
collection. A plant from Bone in Algeria, 
remarkable for the length of its flower-spikes, 
was named longe-racemosus, and two others 
received from Hyeres as major and dijfusus, 
were distinguished by their erect and decum- 
bent habits of growth. Three forms gathered 
1 at La Fontaine-de-Vaucluse differed widely, 
I two of them in habit, as indicated by the 
names erectus and subdijfusus, and the third, 
longifolius^ by its longer leaves. In addition 
to these there were other variations more diffi- 
! cult to put in words, arising from the number 
and sizeof the flowers, their shape, and colour. 
Several colour forms were very distinct, one 
from De Mormoiron in Vaucluse being a 
beautiful pure white, while from St. Tropez 
(Var) came a pale flower with only a trace 
of blue, and from Porto Vecchio (Corsica) 
forms of a rich deep blue very different from 
the pale shade of violet seen on the mainland. 
The flowers being readily fertilised by bees, 
seedlings failed to convey the distinctive 
features of the parents, and it was necessary 
to increase them by cuttings. 
In old writings the Rosemary is known as 
the " Herbe aux couronnes" from its use, 
interwoven with Bay and Myrtle, in the festal 
crowns of the period. Later its virtues were 
sungby the troubadours of the days of chivalry, 
i In some countries it was the custom to place 
I a spray of Rosemary in the hands of bodies 
awaiting burial, and also to plant it upon the 
grave, as is recalled in the old Chanson de 
Malbrough : 
A I'entour de sa tombe 
Romarin Ton planta. 
Sur la plus haute branche 
Le rossignol chanta. 
"To give Rosemary" {dormer du Romarin) is a 
popular French idiom signifying refusal, and 
in matters matrimonial a refusal of marriage, 
a meaning apparently due to some ancient 
custom by which a rejected suitor was dis- 
missed by the gift of a bunch of Rosemary. 
An old writer has left on record that "Rose- 
mary preserves from infection any house in 
which it is freely burned," and it is still held 
in high esteem by herbalists. Suspended over 
the doorway it was supposed to bring luck 
and to preserve from robbery, whilst it was 
I claimed that 6 lbs. of the precious herb, pounded 
in a mortar and then added to the bath, would 
restore youth and beauty to aged persons who 
bathed therein thrice daily. In partsof southern 
Europe it is still worn in the hair by young 
girls on their wedding day, and is used in 
sprinkling holy water on the coffin at funerals. 
Bees are fond of the Rosemary and where 
