THE ANDROMEDA. 
311 
interesting •circumstances: — Andromeda is 
known in mythology as the daughter of 
Cephalus, king of Ethiopia ; she was bound, 
quite exposed and naked, to a rock, that she 
might be devoured by a sea monster, to 
appease the wrath of Neptune, but was de- 
livered by Perseus, to Avhom she was after- 
wards married, and had many children. 
Linnaeus, in recording his discovery of the 
plant, gives the following reasons for ap- 
plying the name: — "Andromeda polifolia 
was now (June 12) in its highest beauty, 
decorating the marshy grounds in a most 
agreeable manner: the flowers are quite 
blood-red before they expand ; but when 
full grown the corolla is of a flesh colour : 
scarcely any painter's art can so happily 
imitate the beauty of a fine female complexion; 
still less could any artificial colour upon the 
face itself bear comparison with the lovely 
blossom. As I contemplated it, I could not 
help thinking of Andromeda, as described by 
the poets; and the more I meditated upon their 
descriptions, the more applicable they seemed 
to the little plant before me ; so that if these 
writers had it in view, they could scarcely 
have contrived a more apposite fable. Andro- 
meda is represented by them as a virgin of 
most exquisite and unrivalled charms ; but 
these charms remain in perfection only so long 
as she retains her virgin purity, which is also 
applicable to the plant now preparing to cele- 
brate its nuptials. The plant is always fixed 
on some little turfy hillock in the midst of the 
swamps, as Andromeda herself was chained 
to a rock in the sea, which bathed her feet, as 
the fresh water does the roots of this plant. 
Dragons and venemous serpents surrounded 
her, as toads and other reptiles frequent the 
abode of her vegetable resembler, and when 
they pair in the spring throw mud and water 
over its leaves and branches. As the distressed 
virgin casts down her blushing face through 
excessive affliction, so does this rosy coloured 
flower hang its head, growing paler and paler 
till it withers away. At length comes Perseus, 
in the shape of Summer, dries up the sur- 
rounding water and destroys the monsters, 
rendering the damsel a fruitful mother, who 
then carries her head erect." This incident 
shows that the mind of the great naturalist 
was not insensible of vivid and keen imagin- 
ation, even when apparently overwhelmed 
with severe studies. 
Andromedra polifolia, Linnasus (poly- 
leaved Andromeda, or Moorwort). — A low 
evergreen shrub, growing about a foot high; 
the leaves are oblong ; the flowers in small 
clusters at the tips of the shoots, ovate, 
pitcher-shaped, flesh-coloured, or pale red, 
blooming from May to September. A native 
of various parts of the north of Europe and 
North America. There are several varieties, as 
— angustifolia, with narrow leaves; ericoides, 
heath-like; grandiflora, with large flowers; la-> 
tifolia, with broad leaves; minima, with small 
flowers; revoluta, with the margins of the leaves 
bent back ; scotica, a Scotch variety ; and 
stricta, more erect in habit than the others. 
This plant has several common or vulgar 
names, as wild rosemary, poly-mountain, marsh 
holy rose, marsh cistus, moorwort, &c. 
Andromeda rosmarinifolia, Pujrsh (rose- 
