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ASPHODEL (Asphodelus)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 769 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ASPHODEL (Asphodelus) , a genus of the See also:lily See also:order (See also:Liliaceae), containing seven See also:species in the Mediterranean region. The See also:plants are See also:hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow tufted See also:radical leaves and an elongated See also:stem bearing a handsome spike of See also:white or yellow See also:flowers. Asphodelus albus and A. fastulosus have white flowers and grow from 11 to 2 ft. high; A. ramosus is a larger plant, the large white flowers of which have a reddish-See also:brown See also:line in the See also:middle of each segment. See also:Bog-asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), a member of the same See also:family, is a small See also:herb See also:common in boggy places in See also:Britain, with rigid narrow radical leaves and a stem bearing a raceme of small See also:golden yellow flowers. In See also:Greek See also:legend the asphodel is the most famous of the plants connected with the dead and the underworld. See also:Homer describes it as covering the See also:great meadow (& r4x5SeXos Xeiµuw), the haunt of the dead (Od. xi. 539, 573; See also:xxiv. 13). It was planted on See also:graves, and is often connected with Persephone, who appears crowned with a See also:garland of asphodels. Its See also:general connexion with See also:death is due no doubt to the greyish See also:colour of its leaves and its yellowish flowers, which suggest the gloom of the underworld and the pallor of death. The roots were eaten by the poorer Greeks; hence such See also:food was thought See also:good enough for the shades (cf. See also:Hesiod, See also:Works and Days, 41; See also:Pliny, Nat.

Hist. xxi. 17 [68); See also:

Lucian, De luctu, 19). The asphodel was also supposed to be a remedy for poisonous snake-bites and a specific against sorcery; it was fatal to mice, but preserved pigs from disease. The Libyan nomads made their huts of asphodel stalks (cf. See also:Herod. iv. 190). Specific gravity at 6o° F. . See also:Bitumen soluble in See also:carbon bisulphide See also:Mineral See also:matter (ash) Non-bituminous organic matter . Portion of See also:total bitumen soluble in See also:alcohol Portion of total bitumen soluble in See also:ether Loss at 212° F. „ 400° F. in ten See also:hours Loss at 400° on total bitumen See also:Evolution of sulphuretted hydro- gen at Softening-point Flowing-point . Refined See also:Trinidad. 1.373 61.507% 92.22 % 34'51 „ 1.50 „ 3'983 „ 1.28 „ 8.24 „ it•66 „ 8o•oi „ 81.63 „ 0.65 „ 1.37 7.98 ,, 17.8o „ 12.811 „ 18.308„ 410° F. none at 437° F.

16o° F. „ 113° F. 192° F. „ 150° F. The following is a comparison of Trinidad and See also:

Venezuela (See also:Bermudez) See also:asphalt: Refined Bermudez. 1.071 C. H. N. 6.3o 80.32 0.50 No satisfactory derivation of the word is suggested. The See also:English word " See also:daffodil " is a perversion of asphodel," formerly written " affodil." The d may come from the See also:French fleur d'affadille. It is no See also:part of the word philologically. See Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopodie, s.v.; H.

O. See also:

Lenz, Botanik der See also:alten Griechen and Romer (1859); J. Murr, See also:Die Pflanzenwelt in der griechischen Mythologie (1890).

End of Article: ASPHODEL (Asphodelus)

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