Chapter Flint to Florizel of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

... signifies all its vegetable and animal productions.
   Metropolis of Flora. Aranjuez, in Spain, is so called, from its many beautiful gardens.

Flora's Dial A dial formed by flowers which open or close at stated hours.
   I. Dial of flowers which open -
   (a) The first twelve hours.

A.M.	OPENS.
1.	(Scandinavian Sowthistle closes.)
2.	Yellow Goat's-board.
3.	Common Ox-tongue.
4.	Hawkweed; Late-flowering Dandelion; and Wild Succory.
5.	White Water- lily; Naked-stalked Poppy; and Smooth Sowthistle.
6.	Shrubby Hawkweed and Spotted Cat's-ears.
7.	White Water-lily; Garden Lettuce; and African Marigold.
8.	Scarlet Pimpernel; Mouse-ear Hawkweed; and Proliferous Pink.
9.	Field Marigold.
10.	Red Sandwort.
11.	Star of Bethlehem.
Noon.	Ice Plant.

(b) The second twelve hours.

P.M.	OPENS.
1.	Common Purslane.
2.	(Purple Sandwort closes.)
3.	(Dandelion closes.)
4.	(White Spiderwort closes.)
5.	Julap.
6.	Dark Crane's-bill.
7.	(Naked-stalked Poppy closes.)
8.	(Orange Day-lily closes.)
9.	Cactus Opuntia.
10.	Purple Bindweed.
11.	Night-blooming Catch-fly.

Midnight. (Late-flowering Dandelion closes.)
II. Dial of closing flowers -
(a) The first twelve hours.

A.M.	CLOSES.
1.	Scandinavian Sowthistle.
2.	(Yellow Goat's-beard opens.)
3.	(Common Oxtongue opens.)
4.	(Wild Succory opens.)
5.	(Several Sowthistles open.)
6.	(Spotted Cat's-ear opens.)
7.	Night- flowering Catch-fly.
8.	Evening Primrose.
9.	Purple Bindweed.
10.	Yellow Goat's-beard.
11.	Bethlehem Star (la dame d'onze heures.)
Noon.	Field Sowthistle.

(b) The second twelve hours.

P.M.	CLOSES.
1.	Red or Proliferous Pink.
2.	Purple Sandwort.
3.	Dandelion or Field Marigold.
4.	White Spadewort and Field Bindwort.
5.	Common Cat's-ears.
6.	White Water-lily.
7.	Naked-stalked Poppy.
8.	Orange Day- lily and Wild Succory.
9.	Convolvulus Linnæ'us and Chickweed.
10.	Common Nipple-wort.
11.	Smooth Sowthistle.

Midnight. Creeping Mallow and Late Dandelion.

Florence (The German). Dresden.

Florentine Diamond (The). The fourth in size of cut diamonds. It weighs 139 1/2 carats, belonged to Charles, Duke of Burgundy; was picked up by a peasant and sold for half-a-crown.

Florentius A knight who bound himself to marry a "foul and ugly witch," if she would teach him the solution of a riddle on which his life depended. (Gower: Confessio Amantis.)

Florian (St.). Patron saint of mercers, being himself of the same craft.

Floriani A sect of heretics of the second century who maintained that God is the author of evil, and taught the Gnostic doctrine of two principles. Florianus was their founder.

Florid Architecture The latter division of the perpendicular style, often called the Tudor, remarkable for its florid character or profusion of ornament.

Florida (U. S. America). In 1512 Ponce de Leon sailed from France to the West in search of "the Fountain of Youth." He first saw land on Easter Day, and on account of the richness and quantity of flowers, called the new possession "Florida."

Florimel [honey-flower ]. A damsel of great beauty, but so timid that she feared the "smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor," and was abused by everyone. Her form was simulated by a witch out of wax, but the wax image melted, leaving nothing behind except the girdle that was round the waist. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book iii. 4, 8; iv. 11, 12.)

"Florimel loved Marinel, but Proteus cast her into a dungeon, from which, being released by the order of Neptune, she married the man of her choice." - Spenser: Faerie Queene, book iv.

"St. Amand had long since in bitterness repented of a transient infatuation, had long since distinguished the true Florimel from the false." - Sir E. B. Lytton: Pilgrims of the Rhine, iii.

Florimel's Girdle gave to those who could wear it "the virtue of chaste love and wifehood true;" but if any woman not chaste and faithful put it on, it "loosed or tore asunder." It was once the cestus of Venus, made by her husband Vulcan; but