2 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
identity with the order Ranunculaceae is shown by the numerous black stamens growing from beneath the 
heap of little green carpels in the centre, and by the distinctness of the carpels, which yet grow close together 
on the end of the flower-stalk, so as to form a head when the petals have fallen. Botanists enumerate seventeen 
different species of Adonis, besides varieties; and ten of these species are said to be annuals. Only two or 
three, however, are cultivated in British gardens ; and all the annual kinds are, probably, only varieties of the 
common Flos Adonis (Adonis autumnalis), as they only differ in the size and colour of the flower, and the height 
of the plant 
1.—ADONIS AUTUMNALIS, Lin. THE AUTUMN-FLOWERING FLOS ADONIS, OR 
PHEASANT’S EYE. 
Engravings. —Smith’s Eng. Bot. t. 308 ; 2nd edit. vol. v. t. 781; conniving (that is, lying close together), scarcely larger than the calyx ; 
Curt. FI. Lond. vol. ii. t. 37 ; and our Jig. 3, in Plate 1. carpels crowned by very short styles, and collected into an ovate 
Specific Character. —Calyx smooth. Petals 6 or 8, concave, I head. Stems branched.—(G. Don.) 
Description, Geography, History, &c. —The common Flos Adonis is a plant about a foot high, with 
numerous very finely cut leaves. These leaves grow in so bushy a manner, that they would almost conceal the 
flowers were it not for their intensely deep blood-red colour, which has obtained for the plant its French 
name of Goutte de sang. These flowers are small, cup-shaped, and produced at the extremities of the stem and 
branches, like little ruby crowns. The plant is found growing wild in corn-fields in every part of Europe, though 
it is by no means so common in England as on the Continent. Its principal British habitat is in Kent, on the 
borders of the Medway, between Rochester and Maidstone. It was cultivated in British gardens before 1597 7 
as Gerard tells us in his Herbal , published in that year, that he brought the seed from the west of England, 
where it was growing wild among the corn, and sowed it in his garden “ for the beautie of the flowres sake.” 
This garden was in Holborn, which was then considered to be in the suburbs of London ! In Gerard’s time the 
Flos Adonis was called Red Mathes, and Red Camomile; but he adds, “ our London women call it Rose-a- 
Rubie.” Parkinson, in his Garden of Pleasant Flowers , published in 1629, mentions that it was then gene¬ 
rally “ brought into gardens for the beauty-sake of the flowerand he adds that some considered it a kind 
of Camomile, and others, a kind of Anemone. The legendary history of the flower tells us that it sprang from 
the blood of Adonis, when he was wounded by the boar, and hence received its Latin name. The plant was 
dedicated to Venus; and, in the language of the flowers, it is considered the emblem of tender grief and 
melancholy recollections. 
Culture. —Though the Flos Adonis, as we have already seen, has been cultivated in our flower-gardens 
for more than two hundred years, it has but little to recommend it as a garden flower. It should, indeed, 
never be cultivated, unless there be abundance of room ; as the smallness of its flowers, and bushiness of its 
finely-cut leaves, give it rather a weedy appearance, and all plants of this kind ought to be carefully avoided 
in small gardens. In suitable situations, however, it is in some respects a desirable plant; as it requires very 
little culture, and -will grow in any common garden soil. It will also grow in any situation that is not too high 
and dry ; and the plants will thrive very well in a shrubbery, or under the drip of trees; though they will 
