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Family: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ICACINACEAE
White Pear Family (Le)
icacia, icica, = the native name in Guiana of the genus of South American trees of which Icica altissima is the Cedar-wood and Icica heptaphylla the Incense-wood of Guiana. Icica resin, a fragrant resin obtained from the latter; hence ‘ican’ also ‘icacin’, a crystalline resin obtained from this.
(Ox)
IRIDACEAE (La)
Iris Family (Wf)
Iris, the daughter of Thaumas and Electra; on both her paternal and maternal sides she was descended from Oceanus. She was the personification of the rainbow and more generally of the relationship between heaven and earth, and between gods and men, which the rainbow represents. She was most often shown with wings, dressed in thin silk, which in sunlight had the colours of the rainbow.

So Iris, in her thousand-coloured mantle,
A rainbow through the sky, sought out the place
Under the cloud, the royal home of sleep
The Maiden Goddess
Entered, using her hands to part the dreams,
To clear her way, and the shining of her garments
Brightened the holy home, and the god saw her
And, her instruction given, Iris left him,
For all too soon the magic spell of slumber
Was stealing through her limbs, and she soared upward
Along the rainbow arch she had descended.
From Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Translation by Rolfe Humphries.)

(PG, RW)