POETRY OP FLOWERS. 2S 
ANDROMEDA. 
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WILL YOU HELP ME? 
This delicate shrub was called Andromeda by 
the celebrated Linnaeus, after the daughter of 
Cepheus and Cassiope, the .story of whose expo¬ 
sure at the water-side, and rescue from the sea- 
monster by Perseus, forms one of the most 
poetical episodes in the fourth book of Ovid’s 
“ Metamorphoses.” The illustrious Swede gives 
the following reason for applying the classic 
appellation to this pretty pink marsh-flower: 
“As I contemplated it, I could not help thinking 
of Andromeda, as described by the poets—a vir¬ 
gin of most exquisite beauty and unrivalled 
charms. The plant is always fixed in some 
turfy hillock in the midst of the swamps, as 
Andromeda herself was chained to a rock in the 
sea, which bathed her feet as the fresh water 
does the root of the- plant. As the distressed 
virgin cast down her blushing face through ex¬ 
cessive affliction, so does the rosy-colored flower 
hang its head, growing paler and paler till it 
withers away. At length comes Perseus, in the 
shape of summer, dries up the surrounding 
waters and destroys the monster.” 
To German florigraphists this flower typifies 
the question, For whom do you wait? 
