The Tares sown amongst the wheat were probably the seed of the Darnel. When growing, this grass is very like wheat, and it would be quite possible to mistake one for the other until the flowers and fruit are formed. Darnel is one of the very few poisonous grasses. It is said that the poison is produced by a fungus which is found in the grain. When darnel seed is ground up with wheat the bread becomes dangerous, for the poison produces severe headache, vertigo, and giddiness. Other authorities say that it causes in man and rabbits eruptions, fits of trembling, and confusion of sight. It seems not to affect horned cattle, swine, and ducks. As regards those plants which were specially beloved and venerated by the Greeks, there is not very much to say. Moly seems to have been _Allium moly_, one of the onion or garlic family. It is not very remarkable in any way. Amaranth was apparently the garden Love-lies-bleeding, called in France Queue-de-Renard and Discipline-de-Religieuse. The Asphodel which covered the Elysian fields seems to be _Asphodelus ramosus_.[154] This grows in quantities in Apulia, and is said to afford good nourishment for sheep. [154] Figured in Kerner's _Natural History of Plants_. The Myrtle, with which the Athenian magistrates and victors in the Olympic games were crowned, is not really a European plant, though it has a wide range from Asia Minor to Afghanistan. It was sacred to Venus, and had some importance as a medicinal plant and for perfumes. It was even used in cookery and for making myrtle wine, which last is said to be still prepared in some parts of Tuscany. "Narcissus, son of the river Cephisus and of Liriope, daughter of the Ocean, was a young man of great beauty who scorned all the Nymphs of the country, and made to die of languor Echo, because he would not respond to her passion. But one day returning from the chase weary and fatigued, he stopped at the side of a fountain to refresh himself. There having seen his own face in the water, he was so smitten with it and so greatly loved himself that he died of grief. The Gods, touched by his death, changed him into a Daffodil, according to the fable." Such is the account in M. l'Abbé Ladvocat's _Dictionnaire Historique-Portatif_, Paris, 1760. Daffodil means appearing early in the year. The number of races, varieties, and forms of Daffodil, Jonquil, etc., has become innumerable; yet it is doubtful if any are quite so graceful and absolutely charming as the _Narcissus poeticus_, supposed to be the original of the above legend. The Acanthus leaf which was so much used in sculpture seems to have been that of _Acanthus spinosus_. It can still be traced in modern carving, though, of course, it is very much altered and in a rather degenerate form.