Colum. de Cult. Hortor. 253. Cardan in his treatise De Subtilitate having undertaken to assign the cause why certain flowers bend towards the sun, his antagonist, J. C. Scaliger, remarks upon his philosophy as follows:—“De floribus, qui ad Solem convertuntur non pessime ais: tenue humidum ad Solis calorem, se habere, ut corii ad ignem. Cæterum adhuc integra restat quæstio. Rosis enim tenuissimum esse humidum testantur omnia. Non convertuntur tamen. Platonici flores quosdam etiam Lunæ dicunt esse familiares: qui sane huic Sideri, sicut illi suo canant hymnos, sed mortalibus ignotos auribus.” Exercit. 170, § 2. “The cause (of the bowing of the heliotrope) is somewhat obscure; but I take it to be no other, but that the part against which the sun heateth, waxeth more faint and flaccid in the stalk, and thereby less able to support the flower.” Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum § 493. ----- Besides these the ancients usually cultivated in their grounds two species of cistus, one with pale red flowers now called the long rose, the other which about midsummer has on its leaves a sort of fatty dew, of which laudanum is made;[1461] together with the blue eringo,[1462] rocket, cresses, (which were planted in ridges,) bastard parsley, penny-royal, anis,[1463] water-mint, sea-onions, monk’s rhubarb, purslain, a leaf of which placed under the tongue quenched thirst, garden coriander, hellebore, yellow, red, and white, bush origany,[1464] with its pink cones, flame-coloured fox-glove, brank-ursine, or bear’s foot, admired for its vast pyramid of white flowers, chervil, skirwort, the mournful elecampane, giant fennel, dill, mustard and wake-robin, which was sown, Soon as the punic tree, whose numerous grains, When thoroughly ripe, a bright red covering hides, Itself did with its bloody blossoms clothe.[1465] ----- Footnote 1461: Sibth. Flor. Græc. t. 1. tab. 258, seq. Footnote 1462: Colum. x. de Cult. Hortor. 230, sqq. Sch. Aristoph. Nub. 235. Footnote 1463: Theoph. Hist. Plant. i. 72. 2. Footnote 1464: Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 826, 837. Footnote 1465: Colum. x. De Cult. Hortor. 374. English Translation. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 12. 1. ----- Other garden herbs were the cumin, the seed of which was sown with abuse and curses,[1466] the sperage-berry, the dittander, or pepperwort, turnips,[1467] and parsnips, (found wild in Dalmatia,)[1468] with onions, garlic, and leeks.[1469] For these last Megara was famous, as Attica was for honey, which suggested to the Athenians an occasion of compliment to themselves,[1470] it having been a saying among them, that they were as superior to the Megareans as honey is to garlic and leeks. ----- Footnote 1466: Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 3. 3. Cf. Dioscor. iii. 68, seq. Footnote 1467: Athen. iv. 11. Footnote 1468: Athen. ix. 8. Footnote 1469: