Latin Texts & Translations

The summer flowers come next, the lychnis ^[Note] the flower of

Jove, and another kind of lily, ^[Note] as also the tiphyon ^[Note] and the amaracus, surnamed that of Phrygia. But the most remarkable flower of all is the pothos, ^[Note] of which there are two varieties, one with the flower of the hyacinth, ^[Note] and another with a white flower, which is generally found growing about graves, and is better able to stand bad weather. The iris, ^[Note] 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, ^[Note] for instance, saffron, and two varieties of the orsinum ^[Note]—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 thorn ^[Note] even for making chaplets; the tender shoots, too, of the white thorn are sometimes preserved as a choice morsel ^[Note] 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 cyanus ^[Note] suc- ceeds the rose, and the amaranth the cyanus. As to the vin-

capervinca, ^[Note] 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."