spots on the petals, supposed to
represent the Greek exclamation of grief _Ai Ai_, and to the hyacinth of
modern times.

Our wild hyacinth, which contributes so much to the beauty of our
woodland scenery during the spring, may be regarded as a transition
species between scilla and hyacinthus, the form and drooping habit of
its flower connecting it with the latter, while the six pieces that form
the two outer circles, being separate to the base, give it the technical
character of the former. It is still called _Hyacinthus non-scriptus_--but
as the true hyacinth equally wants the inscription, the name is
singularly inappropriate. The botanical name of the hyacinth is
_Hyacinthus orientalis_ which applies equally to all the varieties of
colour, size and fulness.--_W. Hinks_.

[070] Old Gerard calls it Blew Harebel or English _Jacint_, from the
French _Jacinthe_.

[071] Inhabitants of the Island of Chios

[072] Supposed by some to be Delphinium Ajacis or Larkspur. But no one
can discover any letters on the Larkspur.

[073] Some _savants_ say that it was not the _sunflower_ into which the
lovelorn lass was transformed, but the _Heliotrope_ with its sweet odour
of vanilla. Heliotrope signifies _I turn towards the sun_. It could not
have been the sun flower, according to some authors because that came
from Peru and Peru was not known to Ovid. But it is difficult to settle
this grave question. As all flowers turn towards the sun, we cannot fix
on any one that is particularly entitled to notice on that account.

[074] Zephyrus.

[075] "A remarkably intelligent young botanist of our acquaintance
asserts it as his firm conviction that many a young lady who would
shrink from being kissed under the mistletoe would not have the same
objection to that ceremony if performed _under the rose_."--_Punch_.

[076] Mary Howitt mentions that amongst the private cultivators of roses
in the neighbourhood of London, the well-known publisher Mr. Henry S.
Bohn is particularly distinguished. In his garden at Twickenham one
thousand varieties of the rose are brought to great perfection. He gives
a sort of floral fete to his friends in the height of the rose season.

[077] The learned dry the flower of the Forget me not and flatten it
down in their herbals, and call it, _Myosotis Scorpioides--Scorpion
shaped mouse's ear_! They have been reproached for this by a brother
savant, Charles Nodier, who was not a learned man only but a man of wit