withered, remain beautiful long time after, as myselfe did see in the handes of Master Wade, one of the clerks of hir Maiestie's Counsell, which was sent him among other things from Padua, in Italie." This species seems to be improperly called Orientale, since it is stated to be a native plant of Africa. It has been long cultivated in Portugal, where it is principally used to ornament the churches in the winter season; but it is of too tender a nature to stand the severity of our winters without the protection of either a frame or a green-house. When planted in the open garden it should be placed in a warm sunny situation, and have a light soil. It is raised from seed, which should be sown in pots in the spring, and placed under a frame to forward them; and it may also be propagated by slips, or cuttings, taken off at a joint, during the summer months. These should be covered with a hand glass, and kept shaded from the sun, and moderately moist until they have taken root, when they may be gradually accustomed to the air, and kept as much as possible in a dry atmosphere. The time of flowering is from May to the end of August. We have obtained nineteen species of Gnaphalium from the Cape of Good Hope, all of which require the protection of the conservatory during the winter months, and to be planted in peat or sandy loam: several of these exotic species are of sufficient beauty to repay this attention. AMARANTH. Amaranthus. Natural Order Miscellanæ, Lin. Amaranthi, Juss. A Genus of the Monoecia Pentandria Class. Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore To whom sweet poets' verse hath given endlesse date. SPENSER. THE Amaranth flower is made the emblem of immortality; and the bards have placed it in the list of funereal flowers, because the father of poetry has described the Thessalians as wearing crowns of Amaranths at the funeral of Achilles. Milton mentions this flower as forming the diadem of angels, and the plant itself seems immortalized by the power of his majestic pen: With solemn adoration down they cast Their crowns inwove with Amaranth and gold; In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, Began to bloom, but soon for man's offence To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows And flowers aloft, shading the font of life, And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven Malherbe, a French poet of the sixteenth century, in an ode to Henry the Fourth, says— Ta louange, dans mes vers, Qu'en celle de l'univers. In Sweden they have Knights of the Amaranth. This order was first instituted in the year 1653, by Christiana, Queen of Sweden, who, upon this occasion, appeared at a fête in a dress completely covered with diamonds, and attended by a suite of sixteen nobles of her court, accompanied by the same number of ladies. At the conclusion of the ball, the Queen stripped herself of the diamonds and distributed them to the company, at the same time presenting the new order of knighthood, consisting of a ribbon and a medal, with an Amaranth in enamel, surrounded with this motto: Dolce nella memoria. Love and friendship are also adorned with Amaranth. In the garland of Julie are these four lines: Je suis la fleur d'amour qu'amarante on appelle, Et qui vient de Julie adorer les beaux yeux. The name of this plant is derived from Αμαραντος, incorruptible, because the flowers of several of the species do not wither when gathered; and hence the poets have frequently named it, and we sometimes find it, as in Milton, an imaginary flower, supposed, according to its name, never to fade. Pope mentions it in his Ode for St. Cecilia's day : By the streams that ever flow, By those happy souls that dwell Or Amaranthine bow'rs. M. Constant Dubos, in a charming idyl, has sung of this flower, the sight of which consoles us for the rigours of winter. After having regretted the rapid flight of flowers and the spring, he says; Je t'aperçois, belle et noble amarante ! Tu viens m'offrir, pour charmer mes douleurs, Ainsi la main de l'amitié constante, Quand tout nous fuit, vient essuyer nos pleurs. Amongst the most familiar of this genus of plants is Amaranthus Caudatus, known by the melancholy name of Love-lies-bleeding, and which the French call Discipline de Religieuse, and Queue de Renard, Fox's Tail. This species, which is a native of the East Indies, was cultivated by Gerard, under the name of Branched Flower Gentle, as long back as the time of Queen Elizabeth. He tells us the seed was given him by Lord Edward Zouche; and he describes the flower, saying, "I can compare the shape thereof to nothing so fitly as to the velvet head of a stagge, compact of such soft matter as is the same, but of a deepe purple colour." The Three-coloured Amaranth, Tricolor, is also a native of the East Indies, which we can trace back in our gardens to the year 1596, under the name of Floramor and Passeuelours; and as this species has always been cultivated more on account of its three-coloured foliage than for its flowers, we cannot forbear extracting the description which Gerard gives of this plant, since he was the first who cultivated it in this country. "It farre exceedeth my skil to describe the beautie and excellencie of this rare plant, called Floramore; and I thinke the pensill of the most curious painter will be at a staie when he shall come to set him downe in his liuely colours: but to colour it after my best manner, this I saie. In his leaues doth consist his beautie; for in fewe words, euery leafe doth resemble in colours the most faire and beautifull feather of a Parrat, especially those feathers that are mixed with most sundrie colours, as a stripe of red, and a line of yellow, a dashe of white, and a ribbe of greene colour, which I cannot with words set foorth, such is the sundrie mixtures of colours that |