Heliotrope. 
(DEVOTED ATTACHMENT.) 
HIS flower, sweet as its florigraphical meaning, received 
X its usual name of Heliotrope from two Greek words, 
signifying the sun and to turn, because of its having been sup¬ 
posed to turn continually towards the sun, following his course 
round the horizon. In consequence of this belief, the ancients 
ascribed its origin to the death of the hapless Clytie, who 
pined away in hopeless love of the sun-god Apollo. Ovid— 
as translated by Sandy—tells the woful story thus : 
“She with distracted passion pines away; 
Detesteth company; all night, all day 
Disrobed, with her ruffled hair unbound, 
And wet with humour, sits upon the ground : 
For nine long days all sustenance forbears ; 
Her hunger cloyed with dew, her thirst with tears : 
Nor rose; but rivets on the god her eyes, 
And ever turns her face to him that flies. 
At length to earth her stupid body cleaves; 
Her wan complexion turns to bloodless leaves. 
Yet streak’d with red, her perish’d limbs beget 
A flower resembling the pale violet, 
Which with the sun, though rooted fast, doth move, 
And being changed, changeth not her love. ” 
The tale may have been told with more poetical adornments 
than the old translator has given it, but as the incident and 
the moral is what is required, that may be overlooked for once. 
The Peruvian heliotrope is chiefly admired for its unsur¬ 
passed fragrance. Although not a showy plant, it is delicate 
and sweet as the sentiment it interprets. The blossom is very 
small, of a faint purple colour, sometimes inclining to white, 
and sheds an almond-like perfume, or, as some prosaic persons 
say, an odour like that of a cherry pie! This species was 
discovered by Jussieu, the celebrated botanist, whilst bota¬ 
nizing in the Cordilleras. One day when gathering plants, he 
suddenly found himself overpowered by an intense perfume. 
Looking round to see from what gorgeous child of Flora this 
