The name,[2015] too, of the cyanos[2016] indicates its colour, and so does that of the holochrysos.[2017] None of these flowers were in use in the time of Alexander the Great, for the authors, we find, who flourished at a period immediately after his decease, have made not the slightest mention of them; from which circumstance it is very clear that they only came into fashion at a later period. Still, however, who can entertain any doubt that they were first introduced by the Greeks, from the fact that Italy has only their Greek names by which to designate them? CHAP. 25.—THE PETILIUM: THE BELLIO. But, by Hercules! it is Italy herself that has given its name to the petilium,[2018] an autumnal flower, which springs up in the vicinity of thorny brakes, and recommends itself solely by its colour, which is that of the wild rose. The petals of it are small, and five in number; and it is a remarkable circumstance in this plant, that the head of it droops at first, and it is only after it becomes erect that the petals make their appearance, forming a small corolla of various colours, enclosing a yellow seed. The bellio,[2019] too, is a yellow flower, formed of[2020] fifty-five filaments circularly arranged, in the shape of a chaplet. These are, both of them, meadow flowers, which are mostly of no use whatever, and consequently without names: even the flowers just mentioned are known sometimes by one name, and sometimes by another. CHAP. 26.—THE CHRYSOCOME, OR CHRYSITIS. The chrysocome,[2021] or chrysitis, has no Latin appellation: it is a palm in height, the flowers forming clusters of a golden colour. The root of it is black, and it has a taste both rough and sweet: it is found growing in stony and umbrageous spots. CHAP. 27. (9.)—SHRUBS, THE BLOSSOMS OF WHICH ARE USED FOR CHAPLETS. 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[2022]—the yellow blossom gathered from it—the rhododendron,[2023] and the jujube,[2024] 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:[2025] its flower, which reflects the hues of the purple of Colossæ,[2026] is used as an ingredient in chaplets. CHAP. 28.—SHRUBS, THE LEAVES OF WHICH ARE USED FOR CHAPLETS.