


PERUVIAN HELIOTROPE. 187 
bushes, of a light green, the extremities of 
whose sprays were tipped with flowers of a faint 
blue colour. He went up to these bushes, which 
were about six feet high, and saw that the 
flowers which they bore were all turned towards 
the sun. Struck with this peculiarity, the 
learned botanist gave to the plant the name of 
Heliotrope, and, collecting some of its seeds, he 
sent them to the royal garden at Paris, where 
the Heliotrope was first cultivated in 1740. It 
has since spread to all the countries of Europe, 
and though there is nothing striking in its ap- 
pearance, it has become a general favourite with 
the fair sex, 
An anonymous poet has drawn from this 
flower a signification the very reverse of that 
which we have attached to it: 
There is a flower, whose modest eye 
Is turned with looks of light and love, 
Who breathes her softest, sweetest sigh, 
Whene’er the sun is bright above. 
Let clouds obscure, or darkness veil, 
Her fond idolatry is fled ; 
Her sighs no more their sweets exhale, 
The loving eye is cold and dead. 






























