Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HE'LI-O-TROPE, n. [Gr. ἡλιος, the sun, and τρεπω, to turn; τροπη, a turning.]

1. Among the ancients, an instrument or machine for showing when the sun arrived at the tropics and the equinoctial line. Encyc.
2. The popular name of certain species of plante belonging to the genus Heliotropium.
3. A mineral, a subspecies of rhomboidal quartz, of a deep green color, peculiarly pleasant to the eye. It is usually variegated with blood red or yellowish dots, and is more or less translucent. Before the blowpipe, it loses its color. It is generally supposed to be chalcedony, colored by green earth or chlorite. Cleaveland. Ure.