]74 THE LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
parts of Eastern Asia; introduced in 1570. The seeds, which are small, black, and shining, like those of 
Love-lies-Bleeding, may be procured in any seed-shop, and the plants raised on a hotbed. The after culture 
is exactly like that of the garden Balsam ; the size and beauty of the cockscomb depending upon the number 
of times it is shifted into different pots before it comes into flower. There is a drawing of a very large Cocks- 
comb in the Library of the Horticultural Society in Regent Street. Thi-s plant, which was raised by the late 
T. A. Knight, Esq., at Downton Castle, was very large, the flower measuring eighteen inches in width, and 
seven in height ; but, in 1834, a much larger was sent to 3Ir. Loudon by Mr. John Pattison, gardener to Joseph 
Trueman, Esq. Grosvenor House, Walthamstow, Esse.x. This enormous Cockscomb, which was perhaps the 
largest ever grown, measured in height two feet four inches ; one of the leaves was one foot long and five inches 
broad : and the flower was very nearly two feet in length, and fifteen inches in breadth. It was also remarkably 
well-grown, with healthy leaves, and a very handsome symmetrical flower ; and, if we recollect rightly, it had, in 
the course of its culture, been shifted successively into eleven difierent pots, each a little larger than the preceding 
one. There are several other aimual species of Celosia : but it is said that they will none of them live but in 
the temperature of a stove. 
GENUS III. 
GOMPHRENA, Ti. Br. THE GLOBE AMARANTH. 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA DIGYNIA. 
Generic Character. — Perianth S-partcd. Stamens 5, connected I 1-ceUed. Style 1. Stigmas 2. Capsule l-seeded and valved.- 
at the base into a sub-cylindrical tube, wliich is larger than the ova- (7<. Sr.) 
rium, but distinct at the apex ; with or without bifid teeth. Anthers | 
GOMPHRENA GLOBOSA, Lin. ; Bot. Mag. t. 2816. 
This is evidently the true Amaranth of the poets ; as its flowers are as they describe, round, of a deep 
purple, and everlasting. Notwithstanding this, the plant when growing has but little beauty to recommend it ; 
the shape of the heads of the flowers resembles that of the heads of common clover, and they are produced on 
long stiff stalks bare of leaves. "When gathered and closely examined, the colour, texture, and structure of the 
flowers will be found very beautiful. The most remarkable quality in the Glohe Amaranth is its long duration. 
The calyx, which constitutes the flower, is indeed of so dry a texture that it seems dead even whUe it is growing, 
and it is to this fine thin membranous texture that the flowers owe their glossiness and beauty. The 
Glohe Amaranth is a native of the East Indies ; and though it was not introduced into England till 1 714, it has 
been long known on the Continent. It appears in every country where it has been known, to have been a 
favourite decoration for funerals. Homer describes the Thessalians as wearing crowns of Amaranths at the 
funeral of Achilles ; and Milton, when speaking of the multitude of angels assembled before the Deity, says, — 
" to the ground 
With solemn adoration down they cast 
Their crowns, in-wove with Amaranth and gold 
Immortal Amaranth, a flower which once 
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, 
Began to bloom, but soon for man's offence 
