Sweet-scented flowers and fragrant leaves, interesting associations gathered from many sources, with notes on their history and utility, (1895)

W&®X ' whe ; ' x FLORA ODORATAthe mountains of Asia Minor, with Lebanon ; trees of the same stately order, perhaps still more fragrant in the warmer Pacific breezes of the Rocky Mountains and Oregon, where the many great Pines spring from a carpet of fragrant evergreens, and a thousand flowers which fade away after their bloom, and rest in the heat, while the trees overhead distil for ever grateful odour in the sunny air.Myrtle, Rosemary, and Lavender, and all the aromatic bushes and herbs clothing the little capes that jut into the great sea which washes the shores of Greece, Italy, Sicily, and Corsica; garden islands scattered through vast Pacific seas, as stars are scattered in the heavens; enormous tropical forests, little known to man, and from which he gathers here and there the treasures for our orchid-and greenhouses ; great island conservatories like Java and Ceylon and Borneo, rich in spices and lovely plant life: Australian Bush, with traces of plant life as if from another world, but often most delicate in odour even in the fragments of them we see in our greenhouses.It is not only from the fragile flower-vases these sweet odours flow; they breathe through leaf and stem, and the whole being of many trees and bushes, from the stately Gum trees of Australia to the sweet Verbena of Chili.Many must have felt the charm of the strange scent of the Boxbush before Oliver Wendell Holmes told us of its ' breathing the fragrance of eternity, for this is one of the odours which carry us out of time into the abysses of the unbeginning past.'The scent of flowers is often cloying, as of the Tuberose, while that of leaves is often delightful and refreshing, as in the green budding Larch, and in the leaves of Balm and Rosemary, while in many cases fragrance is stored in the wood and permeates down through the roots.To but few it is given to see many of these sweet plants * "What you call advantageous, Solon, is for these men to be crowned in view of all the world, who just before were objects of pity from their wounds: and yet it seems they think themselves happy if in return for all their labours they can get a bunch of Laurel.'-From the Greek of Lucian.ssteneeatientmetenetemetieiennname™ a X11 FLORA ODORATA little thought of, perhaps, from the blossoms that give it being without showy colour, as the fragrant American wild Vine.And among these modest flowers there are none more delicate than the blossoms of the White Willow of Britain and northern Europe, all the more grateful in air coming to us.'O'er the northern moorland, o'er the northern foam.'What is the lesson these sweet flowers have for us?They tell us-if there were no other flowers to tell us-that a garden should be a living thing; its hfe not only fair in form and lovely in colour, but in its breath and essence coming from the Divine.'They tell us that the very common attempt to conform these fair lives into tile or other patterns, to clip or set them out as so much mere colour of the paper-stainer or carpet-maker, is to degrade them, and make our gardens ugly and ridiculous, from the point of view of nature or true art.And many of these treasures for the open garden have been shut out of our thoughts owing to exclusion of almost everything that did not make showy colour and lend itself to carpet or other crude modes of setting flowers to compete with tiles and like modes of ' decoration.'Of the many considerations that should occur in the making of a beautiful garden to live in, this of fragrant plants and flowers is one of the first.And happily among every class of flowers which adorn our open-air gardens, there are odorous things to be found.Apart from the groups of plants in which all, or nearly all, are sweet, as in Roses and Violets, the annual and biennial flowers of our gardens, are rich in fragrance, Stocks, Mignonette, Sweet Peas, Sweet Sultan and Wallflowers, Double Rockets, 'In the calm retreat, Far from the busy haunts of life, Where Flora trains her lovely offspring up To captivate and charm.'In all countries, civilised and savage, in the religious festivals of all creeds, and on all occasions whether of grief or rejoicing, the scented attractions of flowers and plants possess an important significance, and Nature seems to have been most bountiful in her munificence in scattering these odoriferous treasures throughout our world, to give cheerfulness to the earth and happiness to its inhabitants.Every rank of people seem equally to appreciate them as a gratification to the organs of sight and smell.The refreshing odours prevalent in a garden, wherethe richest perfumes shed their aromatic perfections lavishly around, are the spoils from Nature's laboratory, that dispense delicious medicines to sweeten our existence.xV XV1 FLORA ODORATAThere are many common flowers to be found growing in our meadows which diffuse a gentle fragrance most gratifying to the senses: and, much as we are concerned with the odour of those flowers and shrubs which are to be met with in our gardens and greenhouses, the wild forms are a source of the keenest pleasure to all.It is a lamentable fact, as the poet Gray says that : | 'Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.'And why should they be scattered where there are none to enjoy them?After all, some of these simple flowers are the most pleasing; they are closely associated with memories of the past, and furnish a distinctness of reality peculiar to the rich, cool, green, unrivalled meads of Britain.Beyond this, too, many have come gradually to appreciate the simple flowers most, and it is a relief, even in the homes of the wealthy, to return to some of the sweet simplicities of Nature, and nothing affords this refreshing change so agreeably as a few well-chosen common flowers.We cannot, indeed, dispense with the glorious Rose, the fragrant Stephanotis and exquisite Gardenia, the strangely-formed and gorgeouslytinted Orchids, or all the more elaborate floral compositions ; but they can be supplemented by scores, nay hundreds, of others possessing, perhaps, a quieter and less obtrusive beauty, but not less pleasing on that account.There has, in fact, been somewhat of a revolution of late years in this as in other matters relating to taste, such as frequently follows a great elaboration of art, and it is pleasant to observe this return to simpler methods.As national emblems, as gifts in the language of friendship and love, they gleam in original hues and odours; they are even frequently hallowed by associations far sweeter than PMISTORICAL SKETCH xvii their perfume.Perhaps this is because they are the only things which affect our senses precisely as they did in our childhood.The sweetness of the Violet is always the same ; and when you pluck a Rose and drink, as it were, its fragrance, the refreshment is the same to the aged as to the young, ' The red Rose is the red Rose still, and from the Lily's cup An odour fragrant as at first, like frankincense, goes up.' -Mary Howlrt.Lord Bacon, in his excellent essay 'On Gardens,' advised that one portion be devoted to a kind of ' Natural Wildness,' in which there should be 'thickets made only of Sweetbrier and Honeysuckle, carpeted with Primroses, Violets, and Wild ' That Keep ' It was a place Chosen by the sovereign Planter, when he framed All things to man's delightfuluse. . . .Laurel and Myrtle . . . of fragrant leaf, on either side Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub, Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower, Tris all hues, Roses, and Jessamine Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought Mosaic ; underfoot the Violet, Crocus, aud Hyacinth.' and then he adds-' Out of the fertile ground God caused to grow All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste..-MILTON.After the fall of man we have little record of the uses ' That blue flower which, Brahmins say, Blooms nowhere but in Paradise,' must be the blue Champac flower, a great rarity, as the only sort we know (Michelia Champaca) has yellow, intensely'The Hindu maiden as she throws Sweet Champac, Lotus, Jasmine, Rose, Prays for a moment's peace or wealth, Prays for a child's success or health, For a fond husband breathes a prayer, For happiness their loves to share.'--HoRAcEWILSON.XXXIV FLORA ODORATA Now, Western India is, both in Parsee and Hindu, as in English gardens, 'a wilderness of scented Roses.' ' But thou canst heal the broken heart, Which like the plants that throw Their fragrance from the wounded part, Breathes sweetness out of woe.'Both China and Japan harbour many beautifully fragrant ' My lady's fair pew had ben strewn full gay With Primroses, Cowslips, and Violets sweet, With Mints, with Marigolds, and Marjoram.'FESFORICAY SKETCH XXX1X to our minds the sweet surroundings of our youth, which Kirke White so tastefully describes-'That hut is mine; that cottage half embower'd With modest Jessamine, and that sweet spot, Where, ranged in neat array, Grew countless sweets, the Wallflower and the Pink, And the thick Thyme bush-even that is mine: And the old Rose that shades the court Has been my joy from very childhood up.' Again-'IT remember, I remember, A garden long ago ; Tis not laid out in modern style, In curious bed and row.And only sweet old-fashioned flowers Grow freely, gaily, there, And make a mass of glorious bloom, And perfume all the air.' ' Thousands of flowers there are beaming, The verdure smiling, and the hushed waves dreaming ; Each flower is still a brighter hue assuming, Each a fair league, the love-sick air perfuming.'Another important point in connection with our subject into which it may be instructive to peep, is, that it is not yet fully appreciated in England, although well known from experience in the East, that perfumes, vegetable scents, and 'Thou pretty nest of Venus tree, Thy true name it is Yarrow, Now who my bosom friend must be, Pray, tell thou me to-morrow.'A. moschata, an Alpine variety, possesses a musk-like odour.Achimenes tubiflora.-Aspecies of a popular gesneraceous family, producing clusters of tubular flowers, pale yellow in colour, and delicately scented.Native of Central America.Acidanthera bicolor (Magpie Gladiolus).-Native of Abyssinia, flower deliciously sweet-scented, and very useful for cutting.Acocanthera.See Toxicophlza.Acorus Calamus (Sweet Sedge).-Arush-like reed grass with a peculiar scent.It is largely cultivated in some of our fen districts, also on the Continent, and particularly along the shores of the Black Sea; the roots are of service as a commercial commodity.The sweet Calamus is often referred to as being an article in great demand in ancient times in the East, where its virtues were greatly appreciated by the worshippers of the heathen deities.Acradenia.-ATasmanian shrub.4. Franklinii has thick rough leaves that are powerfully fragrant.Acronychia Cunninghami.-AnAustralian evergreen shrub, with both perfumed leaves and flowers ; the former resembling turpentine, the latter like orange-blossoms.