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asphodel |
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asphodel (ăs`fədĕl'), name for plants of several genera of the family Lilaceae (lily lily, common name for the Liliaceae, a plant family numbering several thousand species of as many as 300 genera, widely distributed over the earth and particularly abundant in warm temperate and tropical regions. ..... Click the link for more information. family). The true asphodels belong to two small and very similar genera (Asphodelus and Asphodeline) of the Mediterranean region and India. The showy flower spike of the former is usually white; of the latter, yellow. Both are stemless, hardy herbs. The asphodel (or king's spear) of the ancients, sacred to Persephone and associated with the fields of the dead, was Asphodeline lutea; the asphodel of the early French and English poets was a narcissus. The false asphodel is Tofieldia, represented in North America by T. glutinosa and a few other species. The turkeybeard (Xerophyllum asphodeloides) of the Atlantic coastal plains is also called mountain asphodel. Asphodels are classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta (măg'nōlēŏf`ətə) ..... Click the link for more information. , class Liliopsida, order Liliales, family Liliaceae. asphodelAny of several flowering plants belonging to the lily family. This common name is variously applied and thus much misunderstood. The asphodel of the poets is often a narcissus; that of the ancients is either of two genera, Asphodeline or Asphodelus. Asphodels are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white, pink, or yellow flowers. Bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) is a small herbaceous plant that grows in boggy places in Britain. asphodel 1. any of various S European liliaceous plants of the genera Asphodelus and Asphodeline, having clusters of white or yellow flowers 2. any of various other plants, such as the daffodil 3. an unidentified flower of Greek legend, probably a narcissus, said to cover the Elysian fields How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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ONE pleasant day in the latter part of eternity, as the Shades of all the great writers were reposing upon beds of asphodel and moly in the Elysian fields, each happy in hearing from the lips of the others nothing but copious quotation from his own works (for so Jove had kindly bedeviled their ears), there came in among them with triumphant mien a Shade whom none knew. After him I saw huge Orion in a meadow full of asphodel driving the ghosts of the wild beasts that he had killed upon the mountains, and he had a great bronze club in his hand, unbreakable for ever and ever. They know not how much more the half is than the whole, nor what great advantage there is in mallow and asphodel (1). |
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