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GENTIAN. 
Gentle Hawthorn, thrive 
And, for ever alive, 
May’st thou blossom as now in thy prime; 
By the wind unbroke, 
And the thunderstroke, 
Unspoil’d by the axe of time. 
THE GENTIAN. 
This genus of plant has received its name in honour of 
Gentius, a King of Illyria, who is said to have discovered 
one of the species of it. He is also supposed to have 
experienced its virtues on his army, as a cure for the 
plague. 
The Gentians are very numerous, and many of them 
eminently beautiful. They are generally very difficult to 
preserve in a garden ; and, being long-rooted, very few are 
adapted for planting in pots. The smaller kinds, however, 
may be so cultivated : as the Swallow-wort-leaved, which 
does not exceed a foot in height, and has large light-blue 
bell-shaped flowers, blowing in July and August. The roots 
only are perennial; the stalks decay annually: and of most 
of the species the flowers appear but once in two or three 
years. The March Gentian has also fine blue flowers, 
though few in number, and blows in August and Septem¬ 
ber. This species grows naturally in England and many 
other parts of Europe. 
