SACRED AND CLASSICAL PLANTING. 
493 
the most beautiful ornaments of Grecian archi- 
tecture is said to have been borrowed from 
this plant. 
The Laurestinus was planted around classic 
villas, pretty much in the same way as it is 
now around the mansions of England. " In 
its flowers the morning dew collected and 
glistened in the sun like so many tiny mirrors 
of burnished silver." 
A species of the Dogwood ( Cornus mas.), with 
very showy fruit, which, however, is not often 
seen in England, has to be ranked as a classical 
shrub. The Roman poet classes it " with other 
savage berries of the wood ;" yet, with all its 
faults, it was dedicated to Apollo ; and on that 
mount where Paris adjudged the prize of 
beauty to the goddess Venus, he had a favourite 
grove of these trees, which were cut down by 
the Greeks, an act which greatly displeased 
the presiding god. To appease his anger, a 
festival called Cornus was celebrated in 
honour of this deity at Lacedremonia. The 
common species.(C. sanguined), was alsoknown 
to the Greeks and Romans ; but, so far as is 
known, it was unhonoured. 
The Heath was cultivated by the Greeks 
and Romans, but it is difficult to identify the 
species. Gerard asserts that the Calluna 
vulgaris, the common ling, or heather, is the 
heath " that the ancients took to be the right 
and true heath ;" but his grounds for this 
opinion are not given. 
There is more certainty in including some 
other plants of the order Ericaceas. One of 
them is the common Arbutus, which must 
have grown profusely and vigorously with 
the ancients; for Virgil recommends its young 
shoots as food for goats in winter-time. Its 
rich scarlet fruit is praised in the pagesof Ovid. 
The Rhododendron was, perhaps, rather too 
plentiful, both in Greece and Rome, to be 
taken and nursed with that peculiar care which 
the ancients bestowed on some others. Though 
not so common as we find the furze and broom 
in Britain, the declivities of many of the moun- 
tains were empurpled with it, and the margins 
of rivers stoutly fenced with its branches. 
The Rhododendron was very plentiful around 
the ancient Trapezus, where it is still (bund 
in abundance ; and Xenophon relates, that 
when his army of 10,000 Greeks approached 
that city, his soldiers were seized with violent 
vomiting and purging, from their having 
eaten honey, the produce of bees fed on this 
plant. 
A doubt exists as to whether the common 
Privet is entitled to full classical honours. It 
was, at any rate, known to the Romans ; for 
Pliny prescribes its berries to be given to 
poultry when affected witli certain diseases, 
Biich as tin 1 pip, &c. 
One of the Periwinkles, it is thought, was 
known to the ancient Greeks under the name 
of Klematis, and this conjecture is supported 
by the authority of Sibthorpe. If so, it was 
planted along with the daisy, cowslip, prim- 
rose, and veronica, in patches over the green- 
sward. 
The taste of the Greeks and Romans was 
strongly displayed in their love of fragrant 
and aromatic plants. One of the first was the 
Southernwood {Artemisia Arbotanum), now 
almost neglected in first-rate gardens, and 
found chiefly in those of the humbler classes. 
Its recommendations are, that it is of easy 
culture, highly fragrant, well adapted to grow 
in towns, on account of its resisting the effects 
of smoke, and an evergeen. Thickets of this 
shrub now adorn many of the islands of the 
Archipelago. 
The Lavendar (Lavandula spied), was as- 
sociated with the foregoing, and with the rose, 
myrtle, daphne, and other sweet-smelling 
shrubs. It was sometimes planted in masses 
by itself on sunny hillocks. 
The Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), was 
particularly prized for its delicate odour, and 
medicinally as a stimulant to the nervous sys- 
tem, comforting the brain, and strengthening 
the memory. It still finds a place in the old 
gardens of this country. 
Another plant of the same favoured order is 
the Sage (Salvia officinalis), or perhaps, Salvia 
triloba, which was in great esteem amongst 
the ancients as a medicinal plant. This fact 
may be inferred from the question of the 
Latin poet, " Why should a man die who has 
sage in his garden ?" 
But amongst all the odorous plants which 
the Greeks and Romans loved to crowd into their 
gardens, their chief delight was the Thyme. 
The air even of the towns and cities of Greece 
was sweetened with its odour. " Thyme 
Greece" would have been one of the most 
appropriate titles of that highly-favoured 
country. This plant was brought in great 
quantities from Mount Hymettus to the gar- 
dens of Athens; and it is said the Sievouians 
likewise transplanted it to their gardens from 
the mountains of Peloponnesus. In its native 
babitats it conferred a beautiful feature on 
the country, covering the slopes and crests of 
hills in the same way that the heath docs in 
some districts of the north of Scotland. In 
this plant we have the true reason why the. 
honey of Ilyniettus was celebrated in pre- 
ferei to that produced in any other part of 
the world; and modern bee-keepers would do 
well to take advantage of the hint, — it being a 
generally admitted fact, that the description of 
plants on which bees feed materially affects the 
honey produced by them. The flora of Pontus 
(Azaleas, Rhododendrons, &c.) had such an 
influence ou the honey of the country, that 
