Kitap 15
28
And in the sixth book of his History of Plants, Theophrastus says that the narcissus is also called λείριον; but in a subsequent passage he speaks of the narcissus and λείριον as different plants. And Eumachus the Corcyrean, in his treatise on Cutting Roots, says that the narcissus is also called acacallis, and likewise crotalum. But the flower called hemerocalles, or day-beauty, which fades at night but blooms at sunrise, is mentioned by Cratinus in his Effeminate People, where he says— And the dear hemerocalles. Concerning the ground thyme, Theophrastus says—The people gather the wild ground thyme on the mountains and plant it around Sicyon, and the Athenians gather it on Hymettus; and other nations too have mountains fill of this flower, as the Thracians for instance. But Philinus says that it is called zygis. And Amerias the Macedonian, speaking of the lychnis in his treatise on Cutting up Roots, says that it sprang from the baths of Venus, when Venus bathed after having been sleeping with Vulcan. And it is found in the greatest perfection in Cyprus and Lemnos, and also in Stromboli and near mount Eryx, and at Cythera.
28
But the iris, says Theophrastus, blooms in the summer, and is the only one of all the European flowers which has a sweet scent. And it is in the highest beauty in those parts of Illyricum which are at a distance from the sea. But Philinus says that the flowers of the iris are called λύκοι, because they resemble the lips of the wolf (λύκος). And Nicolaus of Damascus, in the hundred and eighth book of his History, says that there is a lake near the Alps, many stadia in circumference, round which there grow every year the most fragrant and beautiful flowers, like those which are called calchæ. Alcman also mentions the calchæ in these lines:— Having a golden-colour'd necklace on Of the bright calchæ, with their tender petals. And Epicharmus, too, speaks of them in his Rustic.
