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Show xSr BOOK I. ~ .. H I S T 0 1,t Y 0 F M E X I C 0. ing of one leaf, but fo large, in length it is full more than eight inches, and its diameter in the upper part three or fotu-. Many hang together from the bran~hes like bells, but not entirely round as their corolla (r ), has .five or fix angles ~quid;fiant from each other. The[e flowers are produced by a pretty little tree, the branches of which form a round top like a dome. Its trunk is tender, its leaves large, angular, and of a pale green colour. The flowers are followed by round fruit a.s large as oranges, which contain an almond. The J ollocxochitl ( s) ,. or flower of the heart, is alfo large, and not lefs eftimable for its beauty than for its odour, whicl is fo powerful, that a fingle flower is fuOicient to fill a whole houfe with ·the moil: pleafing fragrance. It has many petals, which are glutinous, externally white, internally reddi!h or ycllowi!h, and difpofed in fuch a tnanner, that when the flower is open and its petals expanded, it has the appearance of a ftar, but when !hut it refembles in fome meafure a heart, from whence its naflle arofe. The tree which bears it is tolerably large, and its leaves long and rough. The Coatzontecoxochitl, or flower with the viper's head, is of incomparable beauty (t). It is compofed of five petals or leaves, pur.:. ple in the innermoft part, white in the middle, the reft red but elegantly ftained with yellow and white fpots. The plant which bears it has leaves refcmbling thofe of the iris, but longer and larger, its t runk is fmall and fiim; this flower was one of the mofr efi:cemed amongfi: the Mexicans . The Oceloxochitl, or tyger-flower, is large, compofed of three pointed petals, and red, but towards the middle of a mixed white and yellow, reprefenting in fome degree the fpo ts of that wild animal from which it takes its name. The plant has leaves alfo refembling thofe of the iris, and a bulbous root. (r) The coloured le~ves of whic.h . the. flow er is compofeJ arc called petnls by F'abio Co· lonna, and cot·ol/.1 by L1011:CUB1 to ,hf\mglllfil them from the. rea l lea ves. (s) There is another J.o.lloxochitl alfo exceedingly fragrant, but different in form . . (t~ Fl~s ~on~a fpc0ab~h.s, et quam vix quifpiam poffit vcrbia cxprimerc, aut pcnccillo pro d1g t~1tate lnl~tan, a pnnc1ptb~1S Indorum ut natur:c miraculum va ld ~.: cxpetitu s, et in magno h ~~1)ttus pret10. Hernandez H1llor. Nat. N. Hifpani:r, lib. viii. c. !l. Thc LitlCcan Acadc:micians of .R?nw, who. comm c n~ed.on.nnd pul51ilhed this Hill ory of 1Iernnnde7. in 1651 , and faw 1hc tamtmgs of tim tlower, wtth Its colours, executed in Mexico, conceived fuch an idea of its ~au~y that they adopted it ns the et~1blem of thejr very learned academy, denominati11g it l i"ior tlr LmL"a. I The |