418 HEXANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Leucojum. 
cloven at the edge. Flower on a fruit-stalk, pendulous, scentless. Petals 
fleshy. Capsule three-celled, three-valved. FI. Brit. E.) Root bulbous. 
Blossom white, with nine semi-transparent streaks on each petal. Nec¬ 
tary white, with green streaks and a green border on the outside. 
Snowdrop. Fair Maids of February. (Welsh: Eiriawl; Clock 
baban. E.) Orchards, meadows, sides of hedges. At the foot of Mal¬ 
vern Hills, on the right of the road below the camp. Mr. Ballard: where 
no traces of any buildings or gardens are to be found. Near Cirencester, 
Gloucestershire. Mr. Arrowsmith. Banks of the Tees, about Blackwell 
and Conniscliffe, in situations which do not admit of its being the outcast 
of gardens. Mr. Robson. (Near St. John’s Chapel, and at Broad-gate, 
Barnstaple. Polwhele. Heaton wood; and in the most sequestered situa¬ 
tions of Scot’s Wood Dean, Northumberland. Mr. Winch. Hedges at 
Laxfield, in great profusion. Mr. Dawson Turner. Pasture near Kirk- 
stall Abbey, Yorkshire. Rev. W. Wood. Banks of the Skell, near Rip- 
ton, and Mackershaw woods. Rev. J. Dalton. Pentraeth, Anglesey, 
among brush-wood south-east of the church. Welsh Bot. On the side 
of the Ridgeway ; and Astley wood, near Stourport. Purton. In a field 
near Wedgnock Park, towards Warwick. Perry. On the banks of the 
brook near Chudleigh Rock ; and in a field near Moreton, Devon. Rev. 
J. Pike Jones. Banks about Castlemilk, Glasgow. Hopkirk. Arniston 
woods, Edinburgh, covering acres. Maughan, in Hook. Scot. E.) 
P. Feb.—March.* 
LEUCO'JUM.f Bloss. bell-shaped, with six equal divisions, 
thicker at the ends : Summit undivided. 
L. ^sti'vum. Sheath many-flowered: style club-shaped. 
Curt. — (E. Bot . 621 . E.)— Jacq. Austr. 203— Renealm. 100— Clus. i. 170 — 
Cam. Epit. 230 . 3 — Ger. Em. 148 . 4 — Lob. Ic. 122 . 2 — Bod. 230 . 3 . 
* (From the mucilage which the roots yield by boiling, Dr. Darwin supposes a nutri¬ 
tious salep might be prepared. By cultivation, the Snow-drop becomes double ; but 
this metamorphosis does not improve the captivating elegance of the universal favourite, 
the {< herald of the infant Spring,” as exhibited in its native simplicity. Among the 
innumerable poetical effusions which this simple flower has inspired, none is more elegantly 
descriptive than that of the late excellent Mrs. Barbauld : 
“ Already now the Snowdrop does appear. 
The first pale blossom of the unripen’d year; 
As Flora’s breath, by some transforming power. 
Had chang’d an icicle into a flower : 
Its name and hue the scentless plant retains. 
And Winter lingers in its icy veins.” 
This (t morning star of flowers,” pure as the spotless drift from which it seems to take 
its rise, was dedicated by the Romish church to the Purification of the Virgin Mary. 
“ The flower that first in the sweet garden smil’d. 
To virgins sacred,” 
has also been deemed the emblem of Consolation, as by its earliest revival from the death¬ 
like repose of winter, cheering mortal man with the assurance of re-animation : 
“ Then, spirit flower, I’ll pluck thy bell. 
An offering for my breast; 
And when ills come or passions swell, 
Thy prophet flowers each storm shall quell 
And give it promis’d rest.” E.) 
f (From "hevnos, white, and <ov, a violet. E.) 
