Page:Stryker's American Register and Magazine, Volume 6, 1851.djvu/463

Rh in Java and Ceylon. The full tube roses were first raised from seed at Leyden, and have since formed quite an article of traffic. The crown imperial was brought in the sixteenth century from Persia to Constantinople, carried thence to Vienna, and dispersed over Europe. The Persian lily, nearly related to it, was brought from Suza to Constantinople.

The African and French marigolds were supposed to have been brought from Africa in the time of Charles V., but are really native to Peru, in South America.

The Guernsey lily was brought from Japan. A ship returning from Japan was wrecked on the coast of Guernsey, where the bulbs took root, and whence it bears its name.

Of the numerous genus of the ranunculus, there axe said to be more than a thousand different kinds; but the principal part of them, and those most esteemed, were brought from Asia. This emigration took place at the time of the Crusades. They were sent to Constantinople by the officers of the Sultan; from thence they were carried to Marseilles and dispersed over Europe.

The amaryllis formosisima came from South America, whence it was brought by De Tovar, a physician, and there it was subsequently found to be indigenous.

We might continue this list of emigrant flowers to an indefinite extent; and in every country of high civilization the foreign flowers will probably be found the most numerous. In this country we are deeply indebted to the southern portion of this continent. Unless we are mistaken, some of the finest modern flowers exhibited here have come from South America. Of the numerous family of the cacti, the finest have originated in Mexico, Guatemala, and the central provinces. Over a great part of that country they seem to be the dominant plant, covering vast plains of little fertility. On the northern rim of the territory in which this plant is indigenous, it is unseemly and unpretending; but under the warm sun of the tropics it bursts forth into one of the most various, brilliant, and curious flowers which has ever been given to man.

Let us turn from flowers to fruits. The apricot is a native of Armenia.

The plum, although found wild in this country, is supposed to have originated in Asia. One variety (the damascene) took its name from Damascus, the Syrian city.

The peach is a native of Persia, whence it spread over Europe and this country.

The nectarine is also a native of Persia, introduced into England in the sixteenth century.

Cherries are said to come from Cerasus, a city of Pontus, whence Lucullus brought them after the Mithridatic war. They extended