Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXI. AN ACCOUNT OF FLOWERS. AND THOSE USED FOR CHAPLETS MORE PARTICULARLY., CHAP. 39.—THE SUMMER FLOWERS—THE LYCHNIS: THE TIPHYON. TWO VARIETIES OF THE POTHOS. TWO VARIETIES OF THE ORSI- NUM. THE VINCAPERIVINCA OR CHAMÆDAPHNE

The summer flowers come next, the lychnis¹ the flower of Jove, and another kind of lily,² as also the tiphyon³ and the amaracus, surnamed that of Phrygia. But the most remarkable flower of all is the pothos,⁴ of which there are two varieties, one with the flower of the hyacinth,⁵ and another with a white flower, which is generally found growing about graves, and is better able to stand bad weather. The iris,⁶ also, blossoms in summer. All these flowers pass away, however, and fade; upon which others assume their places in autumn, a third kind of lily,⁷ for instance, saffron, and two varieties of the orsinum⁸—one of them inodorous and the other scented—making their appearance, all of them, as soon as the first autumnal showers fall.

The garland-makers employ the flowers of the thorn⁹ even for making chaplets; the tender shoots, too, of the white thorn are sometimes preserved as a choice morsel¹⁰ to tempt the palate.

Such is the succession of the summer flowers in the parts beyond sea: in Italy, the violet is succeeded by the rose, the lily comes on while the rose is still in flower, the cyanus¹¹ suc- ceeds the rose, and the amaranth the cyanus. As to the vin- capervinca,¹² it is an evergreen, the branches from which run out like so many strings, the leaves surrounding the stem at each of the knots: though more generally used for the purposes of ornamental gardening, it is sometimes employed in chaplets when there is a deficiency of other flowers. From the Greeks this plant has received the name of "chamædaphne."

1 Or "light" flower: the Agrostemma coronaria of Linnæus.

2 Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 7, mentions the "cerinthus" next after the flower of Jove: Pliny seems to have taken it for a kind of lily. This flower has not been identified.

3 Sprengel takes this to be the Lavandula spica, or Lavender.

4 Hardouin identifies this with the Lychnis Chalcedonica, or Cross of Jerusalem, with which opinion Fée seems inclined to coincide. Other commentators incline to the opinion that it is the Jasminum fruticans, a plant in which, beyond its smell, there is nothing at all remarkable. The exotic monocotyledon, known as the "Pothos," has no connection with the plant here mentioned.

5 This, according to some, is the Lychnis Chalcedonica, the next being the Jasminum fruticans.

6 As known to us, all the varieties of the iris blossom in spring.

7 The purple lily, Fée thinks.

8 If this is the correct reading, which is very doubtful, this plant is unknown. M. Jan has suggested that Pliny, in copying from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 7, has read ὀρσινὸς by mistake for ὀρεινός, "moun- tainous," the original meaning being, "Two varieties of saffron, one of them growing on the mountains, the other cultivated;" and this last word being rendered by Pliny "hebes," translated above as meaning "inodorous."

9 The Acanthus, probably. See B. xxii. c. 34, and B. xxiv. c. 66.

10 Forskhal speaks of an acanthus in Arabia, the leaves of which are eaten raw. Fée thinks, that these shoots might be eaten without any in- convenience, but doubts if they would make such a tempting morsel as Pliny describes.

11 Or blue-bell.

12 Linnæus and other authorities identify this with the Clematis of Dioscorides, the Vinca major and minor of modern botany, our periwinkle. Fée, however, is inclined to identify it with the Chamædaphne, or groundlaurel of B. xv. c. 39, the Ruscus racemosus of Linnæus.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar:

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

This text is part of:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View text chunked by:

Table of Contents:

CHAP. 39.—THE SUMMER FLOWERS—THE LYCHNIS: THE TIPHYON. TWO VARIETIES OF THE POTHOS. TWO VARIETIES OF THE ORSI- NUM. THE VINCAPERIVINCA OR CHAMÆDAPHNE—A PLANT WHICH IS AN EVER-GREEN.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.