APPENDIX. 
187 
Lychnis. 
This family of plants comprises several with handsome 
flowers; as the scarlet lychnis, or London pride, the ragged 
robin, &c. The cottony leaves of some varieties have been 
used as substitutes for lamp-wicks. 
Marjoram. Origanum vulgare and majoranum. 
The common wild marjoram is found native here; the 
sweet marjoram, used in cookery, came originally from Portugal. 
This herb is supposed to be the amaracus of the ancient poets. 
Thus Virgil: — 
“ubi mollis amaracus ilium 
Floribus et dulci aspirans complectitur umbra.” 
sEneid, Book I-, l. 698. 
And Catullus: — 
“ Cinge tempora floribus 
Suave olentis amaraci.” 
Mountain Ash. Pyrus aucuparia, and Sorbus americana. 
The Scotch call this brilliant tree the rowan. In some 
places the peasantry use its branches to avert witchcraft. 
The elegant clusters of orange-red berries which succeed the 
white flowers, and the handsome pinnate leaves, render it 
one of the greatest ornaments to a shrubbery. Words¬ 
worth, in the Excursion, speaks of 
