{"topic":"asphodel","count":1,"articles":[{"id":"britannica-11-asphodel","work_id":"britannica-11","title":"Asphodel","normalized_title":"asphodel","slug":"asphodel","aliases":[],"subtitle":"Internet Archive OCR import","body_text":"ASPHODEL (Asphodelus), a genus of the lily order (Liliaceae), containing seven species in the Mediterranean region. The plants are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow tufted radical leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white or yellow flowers. Asphodelus albus and A. fistulosus have white flowers and grow from 15 to 2 ft. high; A . ramosus is a larger plant, the large white flowers of which have a reddishbrown line in the middle of each segment. Bog-asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) , a member of the same family, is a small herb common in boggy places in Britain, with rigid narrow radical leaves and a stem bearing a raceme of small golden yellow flowers. In Greek legend the asphodel is the most famous of the plants connected with the dead and the underworld. Homer describes it as covering the great meadow (<io-<£66eXos \\finuv), the haunt of the dead (Od. xi. 539, 573; xxiv. 13). It was planted on graves, and is often connected with Persephone, who appears crowned with a garland of asphodels. Its general connexion with death is due no doubt to the greyish 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 food was thought good enough for the shades (cf. Hesiod, Works and Days, 41; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxi. 17 [68]; 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. Herod, iv. 190). ASPHYXIA— ASQUITH No satisfactory derivation of the word is suggested. The English word \" daffodil \" is a perversion of \" asphodel,\" formerly written \" aflodil.\" The d may come from the French fleur It is no part of the word philologkally. Sec Pauly-WiHowa. Rtaleiuyclopadit, ».\\.\\ H. O. Lenz, Rotanik der alien Criecken and Rimer (1859); J. Murr, Die Pflontetnvclt in der fnetkistke* Mylhoiogie (1890).","body_html":"<p>ASPHODEL (Asphodelus), a genus of the lily order (Liliaceae), containing seven species in the Mediterranean region. The plants are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow tufted radical leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white or yellow flowers. Asphodelus albus and A. fistulosus have white flowers and grow from 15 to 2 ft. high; A . ramosus is a larger plant, the large white flowers of which have a reddishbrown line in the middle of each segment. Bog-asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) , a member of the same family, is a small herb common in boggy places in Britain, with rigid narrow radical leaves and a stem bearing a raceme of small golden yellow flowers. In Greek legend the asphodel is the most famous of the plants connected with the dead and the underworld. Homer describes it as covering the great meadow (&lt;io-&lt;£66eXos \\finuv), the haunt of the dead (Od. xi. 539, 573; xxiv. 13). It was planted on graves, and is often connected with Persephone, who appears crowned with a garland of asphodels. Its general connexion with death is due no doubt to the greyish colour of its leaves and its yellowish flowers, which suggest the gloom of the underworld and the pallor of death.</p>\n<p>The roots were eaten by the poorer Greeks; hence such food was thought good enough for the shades (cf. Hesiod, Works and Days, 41; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxi. 17 [68]; 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. Herod, iv. 190). ASPHYXIA— ASQUITH No satisfactory derivation of the word is suggested. The English word &quot; daffodil &quot; is a perversion of &quot; asphodel,&quot; formerly written &quot; aflodil.&quot; The d may come from the French fleur It is no part of the word philologkally. Sec Pauly-WiHowa. Rtaleiuyclopadit, ».\\.\\ H. O. Lenz, Rotanik der alien Criecken and Rimer (1859); J. Murr, Die Pflontetnvclt in der fnetkistke* Mylhoiogie (1890).</p>","volume_id":"britannica-11-v2","page_range_label":"Vol. 2, pp. 768-768","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri02chisrich/page/n829/mode/1up","text_source_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabri02chisrich/encyclopaediabri02chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri02chisrich","quality_status":"ocr-imported-page-aligned","parser_version":"ia-djvu-xml-v1","page_refs":[{"page_number":"768","label":"p. 768","image_url":"/source-assets/scans/britannica-11/encyclopaediabri02chisrich/encyclopaediabri02chisrich_0830.jpg","source_image_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabri02chisrich/encyclopaediabri02chisrich_jp2.zip/encyclopaediabri02chisrich_jp2%2Fencyclopaediabri02chisrich_0830.jp2&ext=jpg","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri02chisrich/page/n829/mode/1up"}],"work":{"id":"britannica-11","slug":"britannica-11","title":"Encyclopaedia Britannica","short_title":"Britannica 11th","edition":"11th edition","publisher":"Cambridge University Press","publication_start_year":1910,"publication_end_year":1911,"language":"English","country":"United Kingdom / United States","copyright_status_note":"First published before 1931; treated as public domain in the United States. Verify jurisdiction before redistribution outside the U.S.","source_quality":"mixed-clean-and-ocr","text_source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri","volumes":[{"id":"britannica-11-v1","volume_number":"1","title":"A to Androphagi","year":1910,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri01chisrich","text_source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri01chisrich","page_count":1084},{"id":"britannica-11-v2","volume_number":"2","title":"Andros to Austria","year":1910,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri02chisrich","text_source_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabri02chisrich/encyclopaediabri02chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri02chisrich","page_count":null},{"id":"britannica-11-v9","volume_number":"9","title":"Edwardes to Evangelical Association","year":1910,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabrit09chisrich","text_source_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabrit09chisrich/encyclopaediabrit09chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabrit09chisrich","page_count":null},{"id":"britannica-11-v26","volume_number":"26","title":"Submarine Mines to Tom-Tom","year":1911,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri26chisrich","text_source_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabri26chisrich/encyclopaediabri26chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri26chisrich","page_count":null},{"id":"britannica-11-v27","volume_number":"27","title":"Tonality to Vesuvius","year":1911,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri27chisrich","text_source_url":"https://ia903207.us.archive.org/15/items/encyclopaediabri27chisrich/encyclopaediabri27chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri27chisrich","page_count":null}]}}]}