Jasmine. 
(AMIABILITY.) 
M ANY florigraphical significations are attached to this 
exquisitely scented flower, but the most reliable works 
adopt it as the representative of amiability. 
The favourite kind is the Spanish jasmine, so called because 
it is believed to have been first introduced into Europe, in 1560, 
by some Spaniards, who brought it from the East Indies. The 
flowers are of a blush-red outside and blush within; they bloom 
at the same time as the Indian, the blossoms of which are of 
a bright yellow, and are very fragrant. The common white 
jasmine is an exceedingly elegant plant, and is not surpassed 
in fragrance or beauty by any of the species. It is this flower 
which Cowper delineates as 
“ The jasmine throwing wide her elegant sweets, 
The deep dark green of whose unvarnished leaf 
Makes more conspicuous and illumines more 
The bright profusion of her scattered stars ” 
The delicate beauty and delicious scent of this flower ren¬ 
dered it a valuable acquisition to the European Flora, and for 
some time it was only possessed by the high and mighty. The 
following romantic story of its becoming more generally known 
is related by Loudon: 
In 1699, the Grand Duke of Tuscany obtained a specimen 
of jasmine of Goa, with large double blossoms and of exquisite 
scent. Greedy of its beauties, he would not allow it to be pro¬ 
pagated ; but his gardener contrived to carry a sprig of it to 
his betrothed on her birthday, and fully explained to her how 
to cultivate it. It grew rapidly, and being much admired, the 
girl was able to sell cuttings of it at a high price. By these 
means she soon amassed enough money to enable her to wed 
