Of Turkie or Ginnie-hen flower.

| 1 Frittillaria. | 2 Frittillaria variegata. | | :--- | :--- | | Checkered Daffodill. | Changeable checkered Daffodill. |

The description.

1 The checkered Daffodill or Ginny hen flower, hath smal narrow grassie leaues; among which riseth vp a stalke of three hands high, hauing at the top one or two flowers, and somtimes three, which consisteth of sixe small leaues, checkered most strangely: wherein nature or rather the Creator of all things hath kept a very woonderfull order, surpassing (as in all other things) the curiest painting that Art can set down. One square is of a greenish yellow color, the other purple, keeping the same order as wel on the backside of the flower as on the inside, although they are blackish in one square, & of a violet colour in another: in so much that euery leafe seemeth to be the feather of a Ginnie hen, whereof it tooke his name. The roote is smal, white, and of the bignesse of halfe a garden beane. 2 The second kinde of checkered Daffodill is like vnto the former in ech respect, sauing that this hath his flower dasht ouer with a light purple, and is somwhat greater than the other: wherein consisteth the difference.

The place.

These rare and beautifull plants grow naturally wilde in the fields about Orleance and Lions in Fraunce, from whence they haue been brought into the most parts of Europe. The curious and painfull Herbarist of Paris Iohn Robin, hath sent me many plants thereof for my garden, where they prosper as in their owne natiue countrey.

The time.

They flower from the beginning of March vnto the end of Aprill. The seede is ripe in Iune.

The names.

The Ginny hen flower is called of Dodonaeus, Flos Meleagris: of L'Obelius, Lilio-narcissus variegatus, for that it hath the flower of a Lillie and the roote of Narcissus: it hath been called Frittillaria, of, the table or boord vpon which men plaie at chesse, which square checkers the flower doth very much resemble, some thinking that it was named Frittillus, whereof there is no certaintie, for Martialis seemeth to call Frittillus, Abacus, or the tables whereat men plaie with dice, in his first booke of his Epigrams written to Galla. > Iam tristis, nucibus puer relictis, > Clamoso reuocatur à magistro: > Et blando malè proditus Frittillo > Arcana modò raptus è popina > AEdilem rogat vdus aleator. Now sad the boye, hauing his nuts forsaken Of clamorous master called vpon a maine, And waxt starke nought by flattering tables traine, And lately from the priuie kitchen taken Being a drunke dice-plaier, Doth aske to be surueiour. In English we may call it Turkie hen, or Ginny hen flower, and also checkerd Daffodill.

The vertues.

Of the faculties of these pleasant flowers there is nothing set downe in the ancient or later writers, but are greatly esteemed for the beautifieng of our gardens, and the bosomes of the beautifull.