LIBER XXI · CAPUT 9
SHRUBS, THE BLOSSOMS OF WHICH ARE USED FOR CHAPLETS
Latine · Mayhoff 1906
Et fere peractis colorum quoque celeberrimis, transit ratio ad eas coronas, quae varietate sola placent. duo earum genera, quando aliae flore constant, aliae folio. florem esse dixerim genistas, namque et his decerpitur lateus; item rhododendron, item zizipha, quae Cappadocia vocantur; his odoratus similisque olearum fioribus. in vepribus nascitur cyclaminum, de quo plura alias. flos eius Colossinus in coronas admittitur.
Folio coronantium milaces et hederae corymbique earum optinent principatum, de quibus in fruticum loco abunde diximus. sunt et alia genera nominibus Grae- cis indicanda, quia nostris maiore ex parte huius nomenclaturae defuit cura; et pleraque eorum in exteris terris nascuntur, nobis tamen consectanda, quoniam de natura sermo, non de Italia est.
Ergo in coronamenta folio venere melotrum, spiraea, origanum, cneorum, quod casiam Hyginus vocat, et, quod cunilaginem, conyza, melissophyllum, quod apiastrum, melilotum, quod sertulam Campanam vocamus. est enim in Campania Italiae laudatissima, Graecis in Sunio, mox Chalcidica et Cretica, ubicumque vero asperis et silvestribus nata. coronas ex ea antiquitus factitatas indicio est nomen sertulae, quod occupavit. odor est croco vicinus et flos, ipsa cana; placet maxime foliis brevissimis atque pinguissimis.
Folio coronat et trifolium. tria eius genera: miny- anthes vocant Graeci, alii asphaltion, maiore folio, quo utuntur coronarii; alterum acuto oxytriphyllon; tertium ex omnibus minutissimum. inter haec nervosi cauliculi quibusdam, ut maratho, hippomaratho, myophono; utuntur et ferulis, corymbis hederae et flore purpureo et in alio genere earum silvestribus rosis simili. sed in his quoque colos tantum delectat, odor autem abest. et cneori duo genera, nigri atque candidi; hoc et odoratum, ramosa ambo. florent post aequinoctium autumnum.
English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57
Having thus passed in review nearly all the best-known colours, we must now give our attention to the chaplets which are pleasing merely on account of the variety of their materials. Of such chaplets there are two kinds, one composed of flowers, the other of leaves. The flowers so employed, I may say, are those of broom —the yellow blossom gathered from it—the rhododendron, and the jujube, also known as the tree of Cappadocia, which bears an odoriferous flower similar to that of the olive. Among the brambles, too, we find the cyclaminum growing, of which we shall have to speak more at length on a future occasion: its flower, which reflects the hues of the purple of Colossæ, is used as an ingredient in chaplets.
The leaves, also, of smilax and ivy are employed in chaplets; indeed, the clusters of these plants are held in the very highest esteem for this purpose: we have already spoken of them at sufficient length when treating of the shrubs. There are also other kinds of shrubs, which can only be indicated by their Greek names, little attention having been paid by the framers of our language to this branch of nomenclature. Most of them grow in foreign countries, it is true; but still, it is our duty to make some mention of them, as it is of Nature in general that we are speaking, and not of Italy in particular.
Thus it is, that we find employed for chaplets, the leaves of the melothron, spiræa, origanum, cneorum, by Hyginus called “cassia,” conyza or cunilago, melissophyllon or apiastrum, and melilote, known to us by the name of “Campanian garland,” the best kind of melilote in Italy being that of Campania, in Greece that of Cape Sunium, and next to that the produce of Chalcidice and Crete: but wherever this plant grows it is only to be found in rugged and wild localities. The name “sertula” or “garland,” which it bears, sufficiently proves that this plant was formerly much used in the composition of chaplets. The smell, as well as the flower, closely resembles that of saffron, though the stem itself is white; the shorter and more fleshy the leaves, the more highly it is esteemed.
The leaves of trefoil also are employed for making chaplets. There are three varieties: the first being called by the Greeks sometimes “minyanthes,” and sometimes “asphaltion;” the leaves of it, which the garland-makers employ, are larger than those of the other kinds. The second variety, known as the “oxytriphyllon,” has a pointed leaf; and the third has the smallest leaf of them all. Among these plants there are some which have a tough, sinewy stem, such as marathron, for instance, hippomarathron, and the myophonum. The umbels, too, of fennel-giant and the purple flowers of the ivy are employed for this purpose; as also another kind of ivy very similar to the wild rose, the colour only of which is attractive, the flower being quite inodorous. There are also two varieties used of the cneorum, the black and the white, this last being odoriferous: they are both of them provided with branches, and they blossom after the autumnal equinox.