also were acquainted with this shnib ; but, as 
Pliny observes, they had not the good fortune to 
give a name to it; for it was in ancient Italy, as it 
is at present throughout Europe, known principal- 
ly by its Greek name. The ancients were well 
acquainted with the poisonous qualities of the 
Rhododendron and Azalea, both of which are 
abundant in Pontus; and the flowers had such an 
influence on the honey of the country, that the 
Romans would not receive it in tribute, but obliged 
the inhabitants of that part of Pontus to pay them 
a double portion of wax in lieu of it. Both the 
Rhododendron and the Azalea were abundant in 
the neighbourhood of Trebisond, in the time of 
Xenophon, and they still are so. Xenophon 
relates, that when the army of 10,000 Greeks, in 
their celebrated reti'eat, approached that city, his 
soldiers, having eaten the honey which they found 
in the environs, were seized with severe sickness, 
followed by a species of delirium, and apparent 
drunkenness.” 
Turner, in his Herbal, seems to have had this 
story in view, when, in 1508, he wrote the follow- 
ing passage. “I have sene thys tre (the Rhodo- 
daphne) in diverse places of Italy ; but I care not 
if it never com into England, seying it in all 
poyntes lyke a Pharesy ; that is, beauteous without, 
and within a ravenous wolf and murderer.” It 
seems probably, however, that it was not the 
Rhododendron ponticum that communicated the 
deleterious properties to the honey used by the 
Greek soldiers, but the Azalea pontica; its delete- 
rious effects having been proved in modern times. 
