FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF SCRIPTURE. 
377 
lain blue-lilac, of indescribable tint. It is a 
very free flowering plant, blooming through- 
out the summer and autumnal months. 
Viewing the extensive range which it 
occupies in a wild state, one would be pre- 
pared to find it possessing much hardihood of 
constitution, even though it be East Indian. 
It is recorded as growing throughout Bengal, 
in Amboyna, Ceylon, Mergui, Chittagong, 
Sylhet, and in the Madras peninsula. It is 
also widely diffused in alpine regions, and 
hence our success in cultivating it in a low 
temperature. 
The plant is easily cultivated in any light 
rich soil, and propagates with the utmost 
facility by means of cuttings. Probably its 
beautiful tint of colour will be best brought 
out and preserved by affording it some shade 
from intense sun-light. 
We may take the opportunity of again men- 
tioning Torenia concolor (Lindley), as a 
handsome species. It appears to be of a more 
trailing habit than T. asiatica, and its flowers 
are of a uniform violet colour, except the 
throat, which is deeper tinted. Mr. Fortune 
found this growing in marshy ground, on the 
mountains of Hong-Kong, where it bears much 
cold and drought in the winter season, but 
grows and flowers profusely in the hot damp 
months of summer. In this country, it should 
be treated during the growing season as a 
half-stove plant ; and it requires a trellis, 
unless the pot be elevated, and the branches 
are allowed to become dependent. 
FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF SCRIPTURE. 
Under this title we reviewed Lady Cal- 
cott's admirable work, written under great 
bodily infirmity and suffering, but, neverthe- 
less, produced in a way that did great honour 
to the head and the heart of the fair authoress: 
we adopt the same head for a review of the 
noble volumes lately published under the 
title of the " Cyclopaedia of Biblical Litera- 
ture ;"* because, although it touches upon 
every subject mentioned in the sacred book, 
flowers and plants form a considerable portion, 
and belong especially to us. The work has 
been produced with great labour ; the con- 
tributors comprise a host of talented men, 
and the manner in which each subject is 
handled shows a degree of research and labour 
scarcely surpassed by any modern writers. 
In fact, as we are told in the preface — 
" It was no task for one man to gather in 
* A Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature. Edited by 
John Kitto, D.D., F.S.A., Editor of " The Pictorial 
Bible," Author of " The History and Physical Geo- 
graphy of Palestine," &c. &c. Illustrated by nume- 
rous Engravings. In Ttvo Volumes. Adam and 
Charles Black : Edinburgh. 
this great harvest. And as the ground seemed, 
for the most part, common to all Christian 
men, it appeared desirable that assistance 
should be sought from a sufficient number of 
competent Biblical scholars, and others, with- 
out distinction of country or religious party, 
that the field might be the more thoroughly 
swept, and the greater wealth of illustration 
obtained from men of different lines of read- 
ing, and various habits of thought. The 
prompt manner in which the call of the Editor 
for co-operation has been met by the numerous 
eminent Biblical scholars and naturalists, 
whose names appear in the List of Contri- 
butors, has been amongst the highest grati- 
fications arising to him out of this undertaking; 
while the ability, the laborious research, the 
care and the punctuality, with which they 
have discharged the various tasks confided to 
them, demand his warmest acknowledgments." 
Without touching upon theological points, 
which we leave to those who read the work, 
we are bound to say, that a more valuable 
accumulation of facts, touching natural his- 
tory, cannot be found, than are now before 
us. The writers may be all called great men, 
close reasoners, full of sound argument ; and, 
for the most part, they draw conclusions per- 
fectly convincing. We will not pretend that 
we agree with all they say, nor do we alto- 
gether exculpate some of the writers from a 
charge of elaborating too much upon trifles, 
or things of small importance ; but with all 
the imaginary, and a few real faults, it is one 
of the most able productions of modern times. 
The principal portion of the articles on flowers 
and plants, if not the whole of them, are by 
Professor Eoyle. Perhaps no subject has 
given rise to more speculation than the lily, 
mentioned by our Saviour in his sermon on 
the mount : and we are sorry that Professor 
Royle persists in the extraordinary delusion 
that Christ referred to some one species, when 
it is plain to any man of common sense, or 
should be so, that our Saviour applied the 
language to all ; " Behold," says he, " the 
lilies of the field how they grow, they toil not, 
neither do they spin ;" yet, in the teeth of 
this passage we find commentators haggling 
with one another as to which one species could 
have been meant. We have hardly common 
patience with those who fancy they show their 
talent by disputations as unprofitable as they 
are groundless. However, let us do the writer 
justice ; there is a vast deal of information in 
his general articles : take, for instance, that 
on the melon, from which we select a few 
passages that more immediately concern the 
lovers of a garden, while we omit the more 
learned portions that relate to the translation 
of particular words, and the reconciliation 
