140 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
FLOS ADONIS. 
PAINFUL RECOLLECTIONS. 
Adonis was killed, while hunting, by a boar. 
Venus, who, for his sake, had relinquished the 
joys of Cythera, shed tears for the fate of her 
favourite. They were not lost; the earth re¬ 
ceived them, and immediately produced a light, 
delicate plant, covered with flowers resembling 
drops of blood. Bright and transient flowers, 
too faithful emblems of the pleasures of life, ye 
were consecrated by Beauty herself to painful 
recollections! 
That this flower owes its name to the fa¬ 
vourite of Venus is not to he disputed; hut, 
whether the goddess of beauty changed her 
lover into this plant or the anemone it would 
he difficult to decide, since the Linnean system 
of dividing plants into families did not exist 
when the gods and goddesses made love upon 
earth: and, before the time of the Swedish 
botanist, the Adonis was classed among the 
anemones, which it greatly resembles. 
