Flos Adonis.

(PAINFUL RECOLLECTIONS.)
THIS emblem of painful
names as a Spanish princess.
has received as many
recollections
To
Gerarde it was known
as May-flower and red camomile but he says, " our London
;

women do call it rose-a-rubie." Red morocco and pheasant's

eye are also amongst its cognomens, but, Adonis flower and
Flos Adonis are the titles by which it is at present recognized.
To the poetical Greeks it was known as the Spring-flower by ;

the French it is termed " drops of blood," or gouttes de sang,

in allusion to the fable which ascribes its origin to the blood of
Adonis. In all probability the flower received its classic name
of Adonis from being confounded with the anemone, which it
resembles. They, however, are not the only blossoms which
lay claim to the same illustrious origin the larkspur has been
:

put forward as an aspirant for this honour, but its claim has
obtained very few advocates. Moschus gives the right to the
rose, as also did Bion, in his well-known "Lament for Adonis,"
of which the words in question are thus rendered by Mrs.
Browning, in her translation of the poem
" She wept tear after tear, with the blood which was shed.
And both turned into flowers for the earth's garden-close
Her —
tears to the wind-flower his blood to the rose."

Some will have that the identical bloom whichever one

it —
it was, and quaint old Gerarde would persuade us that it was
—
the Venice mallow sprang up entirely from the tears shed by
Venus. When doctors differ it is hard to come to an under-
standing, and therefore we will content ourselves with the re-
flection that whatever flower it was that came of such renowned
parentage, this pretty crimson blossom most decidedly deserves
 Flos Adonis. 153

it. In the southern corn-fields of England it is very often seen,

liftingup its deep red cup amongst the green slender leaves
of the barley and wheat long before their grain appears. Like
its namesake the beautiful hunter, it is said to be an enemy to
the corn ; but its bright and transient blossoms fade quickly
— as quickly, let us hope, as the recollections which they
symbolize.
In Leigh Hunt's " Foliage," there is a translation from the
Greek pastoral poet Theocritus, which alludes to the classic
story that this favourite of Venus was allowed to revisit and
spend six months of the year with her on earth, alternately
with six months spent with Proserpine in the lower regions
'
Go, beloved Adonis, go,
Year by year thusto and fro."