30 FABLES OF FLORA. 
SUNFLOWER AND IVY. 
The Sunflower is the emblem of constancy. 
Its classical origin is as follows. 
1 Clytie, daughter of Oceanus, jealous of Apollo, 
and deeply affected by his inconstancy, pined and 
was changed into a sunflower , still turning to the 
sun, as he pursued his course, as a pledge of her 
continued affection.’ 
So sings Moore: 
‘ The Sunflower turns to her god when he sets, 
The same look which she turned when he rose.’ 
Bernard Barton thus apostrophizes it: 
‘ Uplift, proud Sunflower, to thy favorite orb 
That disk whereon his brightness seems to dwell; 
And, as thou seem’st his radiance to absorb, 
Proclaim thyself the garden’s sentinel.’ 
The Ivy was by the Greeks consecrated to 
Bacchus; and he was generally represented 
crowned with vine and ivy leaves. In Egypt, 
it was consecrated to Osiris. Every one remem¬ 
bers Mrs. Hemans’s beautiful * Lines to the Ivy,’ 
and also the popular song, by Dickens, of the 
‘ Ivy Green.’ 
It is the emblem of woman's constancy , and its 
