ALBERT R. MANN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 AT 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 Isabel Zucker 
 class '26 
 
uS^a "NIVERSITV LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 067 949 028 
 
Cornell University 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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LEGENDS, tf ByRICS. 
 
 EMBRACING THE 
 
 ^oPft-Tsore of tFie pfar^t iHvIi2g4o'T]' 
 
 Br 
 
 RJC&JIRP FOliK^Ki), 9^- 
 
 1884. 
 [^// Jiis^kts Sesenied.'] 
 
PKEFJICE. 
 
 AVING, some few years ago, been associated in 
 the conducft of a journal devoted to horticulture, 
 I amassed for literary purposes much of the 
 material made use of in the present volume. 
 Upon the discontinuance of the journal, I re- 
 solved to classify and arrange the plant lore 
 thus accumulated, with a view to its subsequent publication, and 
 I have since been enabled to enifich the colleiJtion with much Con- 
 tinental and Indian lore (which I believe is quite unknown to the 
 great majority of EngUsh readers) from the vast store to be found 
 in Signor De Gubernatis' volumes on plant tradition, a French 
 edition of which appeared two years ago, under the title of La 
 Mythologie des Plantes. To render the present work comprdiensive 
 and at the same time easy of reference, I have divided the volume 
 into two seflions, the first of which is, in point of fa(5l, a digest of 
 the second; and I have endeavoured to enhance its interest by 
 introducing some few reprodudtions of curious illustrations per- 
 taining to the subjetfls treated of. Whilst preferring no claim for 
 anything beyond the exercise of considerable industry, I would 
 state that great care and attention has been paid to the revision 
 of the work, and that as I am both author and printer of my 
 book, I am debarred in that dual capacity from even palUating 
 my mistakes by describing them as "errors of the press." In 
 tendering my acknowledgments to Prof. De Gubernatis and other 
 authors I have consulted on the various branches of my subjedl, 
 I would draw attention to the annexed list of the principal works 
 to which reference is made in these pages. 
 
 RICHARD FOLKARD, Jun. 
 
 Cricklewood, August, /SS4. 
 
pnacIpaP ©^^orfty S^eferresL to. 
 
 Adams, H. C. ' Flowers ; their Moral, Language, and Poetry ' 
 Albertui Magnus. De Mirabilibus Mundi. 
 Aldravandus. Ornitkohgia. 
 
 Bacon, Lord. ' Syl<va Sybvarum^ and ' Essay on Gardens.' 
 Bauhin, C. De plantis a di'uis sanctisve nomen Aabentibus dSoi) 
 •^ Brand, J. ' Popular Antiquities.' ^ ^ '' 
 
 Bright, H. A. 'A Year in a Lancashire Garden.' 
 Campbell, J. F. ' Tales of the Western Highlands.' 
 ' Choice Notes from Notes and Queries.' 
 
 Coles, W. ' Adam in Eden ' (1657) ; and ' The Art of Simpline ' (i6k6). 
 'The Compleat English Gardener' (1683). r & \ 0/ 
 
 ' The Countryman's Recreation ' (1640). 
 Croter, T. C. ' Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland.' 
 Culpeper, N. ' British Herbal.' 
 Cutts, Re<v. E. ' Decoration of Churches.' 
 Darwin, E. ' The Botanic Garden ': a Poem. 
 Dasent, Sir G. W. ' Popular Tales from the Norse.' 
 Daubeny, C. 'Trees and Shrubs of the Ancients.' 
 Day, Rev. Lai Behari. ' Folk-Tales of Bengal.' 
 
 De Gubernatis, A. La Mythologie des Plautes; ou les Legendes du Regne Fegetal. 
 Dixjm, W. G. ' The Land of the Morning : Japan.' 
 'The Dutch Gardener' (1703). 
 Dyer, Rev. T. F. ' English Folk-lore.' 
 Ennemoser, J. ' History of Magic' 
 
 E-vetyn, J. ' Syl-va : a Discourse of Forest Trees ' f 1662) ; » The French Gar- 
 dener ' (1^8) ; and • Kalendarium Hortense ' (1664). 
 ' The Expert Gardener ' (1640). 
 ' The Fairy Family.' 
 
 Farrer, J. A. ' The Names of Flowers ' (In ' Cornhill Magazine,' Vol. XLV.). 
 Fitzherbarde, Sir Anthony. ' Boke of Husbandry ' (1523). 
 Fleet'wood, Bishop. ' Curiosities of Nature and Art in Husbandry and Gar- 
 dening' (1707). 
 ' Flower Lore' (M'Caw & Co., Belfast). 
 Gerarde, J, ' The Herbal; or. General Historic of Plantes.' Edited by Johnson 
 
 (1633). 
 Grimm, J. ' Teutonic Mythology ' (Translated by Stallybrass.) 
 Henderson, W. ' Folk-lore of the Northern Counties.' 
 Hunt, R. ' Popular Romances of the West of England.' 
 Ingram, J. ' Flora Symbolica.^ 
 Jameson, Mrs. ' Sacred and Legendary Art ' ; Legends of the Monastic Orders'; 
 
 and ' Legends of the Madonna.' 
 Karr, Alphonse. ' A Tour Round my Garden.' 
 Kelly, W. K. ' Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore.' 
 Kent, Miss. 'Flora Domestica; and 'Sylvan Sketches.' 
 
vi. ^?ani. Isore, TsegeT^ty, cmel bijncy. 
 
 King, R. J. ' Sketches and Studies.' 
 
 Kircherus. De Luce et Umbra, Ars Magnetica, &c. 
 
 ' The Language of Flowers ' (Saunders and Otley). 
 
 Liger, Louis. 'The Retired Gardener' (1717). 
 t^ Loudon, J. C. ' Encyclopsedia of Gardening.' 
 
 Loudon, Mrs. ' Companion to the Flower Garden.' 
 
 Macer Floridus. De P'iribus Herbarum (1527). 
 
 Mallet, M. ' Northern Antiquities.' 
 
 Mannkardt, Prof. Baumkultus der Germanen ; Germanische Mythen ; and Ifald- 
 und Feld-Kulte. 
 
 Marmier, X. Legendes des Plantes. 
 
 Marshall, S. ' Plant Symbolism ' (In ' Natural History Notes,' Vol. IL). 
 i^Martyn, Thos. ' Miller's Gardener's and Botanist's Dictionary.' 
 •^Matthiolus. De Plantis (1^85). 
 
 Maundeijile, Sir John. 'Voiageand Travaile' (Edit. 1725). 
 
 Mentzelius, C. Index Nominum Plantarum Multilinguis (1682). 
 
 Moore, T. ' Lalla Rookh.' 
 
 Mailer, Max. ' Selected Essays.' 
 
 Murray, E. C. G. <■ Songs and Legends of Roumania.' 
 
 Netjuton, W. ' Display of Heraldry.' 
 
 Nori. Mjthologie der l^olkssagen. 
 
 Oldenburg, Dr. H. ' Buddha : his Life, Doctrine, and Order.' 
 ^Parkinson, J. ' Paradisi in Sole : Paradisus Terrestris ' (1656). 
 
 Paxton, Sir Joseph. ' Botanical Dictionary.' 
 
 Perci'val, Rev. P. ' The Land of the Veda.' 
 
 Phillips, J. • Flora Historica: 
 
 Pirie, M. ' Flowers, Gnusses, and Shrubs.' 
 
 Plat, Sir Hugh, Knt. ' The Garden of Eden ' (i(5oo). 
 
 Pliny. ' Natural History.' 
 
 Porta, J. B. Phytognomica (1588). 
 
 Pratt, A. ' Flowering Plants and Ferns of Great Britain.' 
 
 Prior, Dr. • Popular Names of British Plants.' 
 
 Ralston,W. R. 'Forest and Field Myths ' (In ' Contemporary Review,' Vol. XXXI.). 
 
 Rapin, R. De Hortorum Cultura (Gardiner's trans., 1665). 
 
 Rawlinsott, Rev. G. ' The Religions of the Ancient World.' 
 
 Reade, W. W. ' The Veil of Isis ; or, the Mysteries of the Druids.' 
 
 Rea, J. ' Flora, Ceres, and Pomona ' (1665). 
 
 Rimmel, E. ' The Book of Perfumes.' 
 
 The ' Royal and Imperial Dream Book.' 
 
 Saixjyer, F. E. ' Sussex Folk-lore and Customs.' 
 
 Shtuay Toe. ' The Burman : his Life and Notions.' 
 
 Thorpe, B. ' Yule-tide Stories.' 
 
 Tighe, fr. ' The Plants ' : a Poem. 
 
 ^""*Known^°^"'" ^™'^' ' ' ' *^""°'*'''''' °^ "''^"'■y i" """^ ' things Not Generally 
 
 ''"TS'fEn'g^firpE='(TS87r'' ''''''''''■' -' '"- ^-"- ^"^ 
 
 Turner, W. ' The Herball.' 
 
 Tusser, Thomas. ' Five Hundred Points of Husbandry ' fir;62^ 
 
 If hite, Re-v. Gilbert. ' Natural History of Selborne.' 
 
 ffiltinson. Sir G. ' The Ancient Egyptians.' 
 
 Zahn, J. Specula Physico-Mathematico-Historica (1696). 
 
TJIBliE OF CORTEDTS. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE WORLD-TREES OF THE ANCIENTS.-The Scandinavian Ash-The Hindu 
 World-Tree— The World-Tree of the Buddhists— The Iranian World-Tree— The Assyrian 
 Sacred Tree— The Mother Tree of the Greeks, Romans, and Teutons i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE TREES OP PARADISE AND THE TREE OF ADAM.— The Terrestrial 
 Paradise— The Paradise of the Persians, Arabians, Hindus, Scandinavians, and Celts— The 
 Mosaic Paradise— Eden and the Walls of its Garden— The Tree of Life— The Tree of 
 Knowledge — The Forbidden Fruit— Adam's Departure from Paradise— Seth's Journey to 
 the Garden of Eden— The Death of Adam— The Seeds of the Tree of Life— Moses and his 
 Rods— King David and the Rods — Solomon and the Cedars of Lebanon— The Tree of 
 Adam and the Tree of the Cross 9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 SACRED PLANTS OF THE ANCIENTS.— The Parsis and the Cypress— The Oak- 
 Sacred Plants and Trees of the Brahmans and Buddhists — Plants Revered by the Burmans 
 — ^The Cedar, Elm, Ash, Rowan, Baobab, Nipa, Dragon Tree, Zamang, and Moriche Palm 
 — The Neiumbo or Sacred Bean — Plants Worshipped by Egyptians — The Lotus, Henna, 
 and Pomegranate — Sacred Plants of the Graeco- Roman Divinities — Plants of the Norse 
 Gods 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 FLORAL CEREMONIES, GARLANDS, AND WREATHS.— The Altars of the 
 Gods-j-FIowers, Fragrant Woods, and Aromatics — Incense — Perfumes — Ceremonies of the 
 Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans — The Roman Triumphs — Festivals of the 
 Terminalia and Floralia—May-day Customs — Well-flowering — Harvest Festivals — Flowers 
 and Weddings— Floral Games of Toulouse and Salency — The Rosidre — Rose Pelting — Battle 
 of Flowers—Japanese New Year's Festival — Wreaths, Chaplets, and Garlands ... 26 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 PLANTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.— The Virgin Mary and her Flowers- 
 Joseph's Plants— The Plants of Bethlehem— Flora of the Flight into Egypt— The Herb of 
 the Madonna — Plants of the Virgin — The Annunciation, Visitation, and Assumption — The 
 Rosary — "The Plants of Christmas — The Garden of Gethsemane — Plants of the Passion — 
 The Crown of Thorns— The Wood of the Cross— Veronica— The Plants of Calvary— The 
 Trees and the Crucifixion— The Tree of Judas— Plants of St. John the Baptist— Plant 
 Divination on St. John's Eve — Flowers of the Saints — The Floral Calendar — Flowers of the 
 Church's Festivals— Decoration of Churches — Gospel Oaks — Memorial Trees — The Glas- 
 tonbury Thorn— St. Joseph's Walnut Tree— St. Martin's Yew 40 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 PLANTS OF THE FAIRIES AND NAIADES.— The Elves and the Oak— Elves of 
 the Forest— The Elf of the Fir-tree— The Rose Elf— Moss or Wood Folk— The Black 
 Dwarfs— The Still Folk— The Procca— English Fairies— The Fairy Steed— Fairy Revels- 
 Elf Grass— Fairy Plants— The Cowslip, or Fairy Cup— The Foxglove, or Lusmore— The 
 Four-leaved Clover— The Fairy Unguent— The Russalkis— Naiades and Water Nymphs— 
 The Fontinalia— Fays of the Well 64 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 SYLVANS, WOOD NYMPHS, AND TREE SPIRITS.— Fauns, Satyrs, Dryads, 
 and Hamadryads— The Laurel Maiden— The Willow Nymph— The Sister of the Flowers 
 —Sacred Groves and their Denizens— The Spirits of the Forest— The Indian Tree Ghosts— 
 The Burmese Nats— The African Wood Spirits— The Waldgeister of the Germans— The 
 Elder-mother— German Tree and Field Spirits 74 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 PLANTS OF THE DEVIL.— Puck's Plant— Pixie-stools— Loki's Plants- The Trolls and 
 the Globe-flower— Accursed and Unlucky Plants— Plants connected with the Black Art— 
 Plant-hauntinit Demons— The Devil and Fruit Trees -Tree Demons on St. Johns Eve- 
 Demons of the Woods and Fields-The Herb of the Devil— Poisonous and Noxious Plants 
 -Ill-omened Plants-The Devil's Key-Plants Inimical to the Devil--The Devil-Chaser- 
 Thc Deadly Upas— The Manchineel— The Oleander— The Jatropha Urens— The Lotos— 
 The Elder-The Phallus Impudicus-The Carrion Flower-The Antchar-The Loco or 
 Rattle Weed— The Aquapura— Deadly Trees of Hispaniola and New Andalusia— Poisonous 
 Plants " 
 
viii. pfant Tsore, h^g^'f^f, dHel Isijrio/', 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 PLANTS OF THE WITCHES.— The Herbs of Hecate, Circe, and Medea— Witch 
 Powder— Witches and Elders— Sylvan Haunts of Witches— Witches' Plant-steeds— Wltrfies 
 Soporifics— The Nightmare Flower- Plants used in Spells— Potions, Philtres, and Hell- 
 broths— The Hag Taper— Witch Ointment— The Witches' Bath— Foreign Witches and their 
 Plants— Plants used for Charms and Spells— Witches' Prescriptions— Herbs of Witchcraft- 
 Plants Antagonistic to Witches 9^ 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 MAGICAL PLANTS.— Plants producing Ecstasies and Visions — Soma — Laurel — The 
 Druids and Mistletoe — Prophetic Oaks — Dream Plants— Plants producing Love and 
 Sympathy— The Sorcerer's Violet— Plants used for Love Divination— Concordia— Dis- 
 cordia— The Calumny Destroyer— The Grief Charmer— The Sallow, Sacred Basil, Eugenia, 
 Onion, Bay, Juniper, Peony, Hypericum, Rowan, Elder, Thorn, Hazel, Holly— The Mystic 
 Fern-seed- Four-leaved Clover— The Mandrake, or Sorcerer's Root— The Metal Melter— 
 The Misleading Plant — Herb of Oblivion — Lotos 'Tree — King Solomon's Magical Herb 
 Baharas — The Nyctilopa and Springwort— Plants influencing Thunder and Lightning — The 
 Selago, orDruid^ Golden Herb — Gold-producing Plants — Plants which disclose Treasures — 
 The Luck Flower— The Key-Flower— Sesame— The Herb that Opens— The Moonwort, or 
 Lunary — The Sferracavallo— Magic Wands and Divining Rods— Moses' Rod . . . 105 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 FABULOUS, WONDROUS, AND MIRACULOUS PLANTS.-Human Trees— 
 Man-bearing Trees— The Wak-Wak, or Tree bearing Human Heads— Chinese and Indian 
 Bird-bearing Tree— Duck-bearing Tree— The Barnacle, or Goose Tree — The Serpent- 
 bearingTree— The Oyster-bearine Tree — The Animal-bearing Tree — The Butterfly-bearing 
 Tree--The Vegetable Lamb— The Lamb-bearing Tree — Marvellous Trees and Plants — 
 Vegetable Monstrosities — Plants bearing Inscriptions and Figures — Miraculous Plants — 
 The Tree of St. Thomas— The Withered Tree of the Sun— The Tree of Tiberias— Father 
 Garnet's Straw xi6 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 PLANTS CONNECTED WITH BIRDS AND ANIMALS.— Seed-sowing Birds- 
 Birds as Almanacks — The Cuckoo and the Cherry Tree — Augury by Cock and Barley — "The 
 Nightingale and the Rose — The Robin and the Thorn — The Missel-Thrush and Mistletoe — 
 The Swallow and Celandine— The Hawk and Hawkweed — Life-giving Herb — The Wood- 
 pecker and the Peony — The ,Spring-wort and the Birds — Choughs and Olives — Herb of the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary — The Eyebright and Birds — Plants named after Birds and Animals . 136 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE DOCTRINE OF PLANT SIGNATURES.— Illustrations and Examples of the 
 Signatures and Characterisms of Plants — The Diseases Cured by Herbs — General Rules 
 of the System of Plant Signatures supposed to Reveal the Occult Powers and Virtues of 
 Vegetables — Plants Identified with the Various Portions of the Human Body — "The Old 
 Herbals and Herbalists — Extraordinary Properties attributed to Herbs 154 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 PLANTS AND THE PLANETS.— When to Pluck Herbs— The Plants of Saturn, Jupiter, 
 Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon — Sun Flowers— The Influence of the Moon 
 
 on Plants — Times and Seasons to Sow and Plant — The Moon and Gardening Operations 
 
 The Moon-Tree— Plants of the Moon-Goddesses — The Man in the Moon .... 164 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 PLANT SYMBOLISM AND LANGUAGE.-Plant Emblems of the Anc!ents-Thc 
 Science of Plant Symbolism— Floral Symbols of the Scriptures — The Passion Flower or 
 Flower of the Five Wounds— Mediseval Plant Symbolism— Floral Emblems of Shakspearc— 
 The Language of Flowers— Floral Vocabulary of the Greeks and Romans— A Dictionary 
 of Flowers — Floral Divination .176 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 FUNERAL PLANTS.— The Ancient Death-Gods— The Elysian Fields— Death Trees- 
 Funereal Trees— Aloe, Yew, Cypress, Bay, Arbor-Vitae, Walnut, Mountain Ash, Tamarisk— 
 The Decorations of Tombs— Flowers at Funerals— Old English Burial Customs— Funeral 
 Pyres— Embalming— Mummies— Plants as Death Portents ,30 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SIX HUNDRED PLANTS, ENGLISH AND 
 FOREIGN, giving their Myths, Legends, Traditions, Folk-Lorc, Symbolism, and History 20s 
 
blx^t of (#ffu;(4>fraiTon/. 
 
 Gathering the SelAgo (drawn by Louis Absolon) .... Cover. 
 The Garden of Eden (Parkinson's Paradisus) . . . Frontispiece. 
 
 Yggdrasill, the Mundane Ash (Finn Magnusen) 2 
 
 Relics of the Crucifixion (Maundevile's Travels) .... 45 
 
 The Tree of Judas Iscariot (MaundevUis Travels) 49 
 
 Iks. 'BARtnA.ci.Y. TVi-EE. ( Aldrovandi Ornithologia) iiS 
 
 The Goose Tree ( Gerard^ s Herbal) 119 
 
 The Barometz, or Vegetable Lamb (Zahn) 121 
 
 The Lamb Tree (Maundevile's Travels) 122 
 
 Dead Sea Fruit (Maundevile's Travels). 125 
 
 The Stone Tree (Gerard^s Herbal) 126 
 
 Arbor Secco, or the Withered Tree (Maundevile's Travels) . . 131 
 
 The Miraculous Tree of Tiberias (MaundeviUs Travels) . , . 132 
 
 Father Garnet's Straw (Apology of Eiid<2mon Joannes) ... 135 
 
 Pious Birds and Olives (Maundevile's Travels) 143 
 
 The Passion Flower of the Jesuits (Parkinson's Paradisus) . . 182 
 
 The Tree of Death (Maundevile's Travels) 190 
 
 The Granadilla, or Passion Flower (Zahn) 487 
 
 The head and tail pieces on pp. xiii., xxiv., i, 8, 20, 21, 26, 40, 64, 74, u6, 136, 1641 
 175, 200, 592, and 610, are reproductions from originals in old h?vbals, &c. 
 
d^ 
 
 part tFie iJlrx^t. 
 
 'W 
 
iNTi^ODacTion. 
 
 HE analogy existing between the vegetable 
 and animal worlds, and the resemblances 
 between human and tree life, have been 
 observed by man from the most remote 
 periods of which we have any records. 
 Primitive man, watching the marvellous 
 changes in trees and plants, which accu- 
 rately marked not only the seasons of the 
 year, but even the periods of time in a day, could not fail to be 
 struck with a feeling of awe at the mysterious invisible power 
 which silently guided such wondrous and incomprehensible opera- 
 tious. Hence it is not astonishing that the early inhabitants of 
 the earth should have invested with supernatural attributes the 
 tree, which in the gloom and chill of Winter stood gaunt, bare, 
 and sterile, but in the early Spring hastened to greet the welcome 
 warmth-giving Sun by investing itself with a brilliant canopy of 
 verdure, and in the scorching heat of Summer afforded a re- 
 freshing shade beneath its leafy boughs. So we find these men 
 of old, who had learnt to reverence the mysteries of vegetation, 
 forming conceptions of vast cosmogonic world- or cloud-trees over- 
 shadqwing the universe ; mystically typifying creation and regene- 
 ration, and yielding the divine ambrosia or food of immortahty, 
 the refreshing and life-inspiring rain, and the mystic fruit which 
 imparted knowledge and wisdom to those who partook of it. So, 
 
xiv. pfant Tsofe, TsegeT^tsy, and Tsijnq/', 
 
 again, we find these nebulous overspreading world-trees connedled 
 with the mysteries of death, and giving shelter to the souls of the 
 departed in the solemn shade of their dense foliage. 
 
 Looking upon vegetation as symbolical of life and generation, 
 man, in course of time, connedted the origin of his species with 
 these shadowy cloud-trees, and hence arose the belief that human- 
 kind first sprang from Ash and Oak-trees, or derived their being from 
 Holda, the cloud-goddess who combined in her person the form of a 
 lovely woman and the trunk of a mighty tree. In after years trees 
 were almost universally regarded either as sentient beings or as 
 constituting the abiding places of spirits whose existence was 
 bound up in the lives of the trees they inhabited. Hence arose the 
 conceptions of Hamadryads, Dryads, Sylvans, Tree-nymphs, Elves, 
 Fairies, and other beneficent spirits who peopled forests and dwelt 
 in individual trees — not only in the Old World, but in the dense 
 woods of North America, where the Mik-amwes, like Puck, has 
 from time immemorial frolicked by moonlight in the forest 
 openings. Hence, also, sprang up the morbid notion of trees 
 being haunted by demons, mischievous imps, ghosts, nats, and evil 
 spirits, whom it was deemed by the ignorant and superstitious 
 necessary to propitiate by sacrifices, offerings, and mysterious rites 
 and dances. Remnants of this superstitious tree-worship are still 
 extant in some European countries. The Irminsul of the Germans 
 and the Central Oak of the Druids were of the same family as 
 the Asherah of the Semitic nations. In England, this primeval ' 
 superstition has its descendants in the village maypole bedizened 
 with ribbons and flowers, and the Jack-in-the-Green with its 
 attendant devotees and whiriing dancers. The modern Christ- 
 mas-tree, too, although but slightly known in Germany at the 
 beginning of the present century, is evidently a remnant of the 
 pagan tree-worship; and it is somewhat remarkable that a similar 
 tree is common among the Burmese, who call it the Padaytha-Un. 
 This Turanian Christmas-tree is made by the inhabitants of towns, 
 who deck its Bamboo twigs with all sorts of presents, and pile its 
 roots with blankets, cloth, earthenware, and other useful articles. 
 The wealthier classes contribute sometimes a Ngway Padaytha, or 
 silver Padaytha, the branches of which are hung with rupees and 
 
^nffoc^uoiton, xv. 
 
 smaller silver coins wrapped in tinsel or coloured paper. These 
 trees are first carried in procession, and afterwards given to 
 monasteries on the occasion of certain festivals or the funerals 
 of Buddhist monks. They represent the wishing-tree, which, 
 according to Burmese mythology, grows in the Northern Island 
 and heaven of the nats or spirits, where it bears on its fairy 
 branches whatever may be wished for. 
 
 The ancient conception of human trees can be traced in the 
 superstitious endeavours of ignorant peasants to get rid of diseases 
 by transferring them to vicarious trees, or rather to the spirits 
 who are supposed to dwell in them; and it is the same idea 
 that impels simple rustics to bury Elder-sticks and Peach-leaves 
 to which they have imparted warts, &c. The recognised analogy 
 between the life of plants and that of man, and the cherished 
 superstition that trees were the homes of living and sentient 
 spirits, undoubtedly influenced the poets of the ancients in 
 forming their conceptions of heroes and heroines metamorphosed 
 into trees and flowers ; and traces of the old belief are to be 
 found in the custom of planting a tree on the birth of an infant ; 
 the tree being thought to symbolise human life in its destiny 
 of growth, producftion of fruit, and multiplication of its species ; 
 and, when fully grown, giving shade, shelter, and protedlion. This 
 pleasant rite is still extant in our country as well as in Germany, 
 France, Italy, and Russia ; and from it has probably arisen a 
 custom now becoming very general of planting a tree to comme- 
 morate any special occasion. Nor is the belief confined to the 
 Old World, for Mr, Leland has quite recently told us that he 
 observed near the tent of a North American Indian two small 
 evergreens, which were most carefully tended. On enquiry he 
 found the reason to be that when a child is born, or is yet young, 
 its parent chooses a shrub, which growing as the child grows, will, 
 during the child's absence, or even in after years, indicate by its 
 appearance whether the human counterpart be ill or well, alive or 
 dead. In one of the Quadi Indian stories it is by means of the 
 sympathetic tree that the hero learns his brother's death. 
 
 In the middle ages, the old belief in trees possessing intelli- 
 gence was utilised by the monks, who have embodied the conception 
 
xvi. pfant Isore, h&g&r^f, anel Isijrio/. 
 
 in many mediaeval legends, wherein trees are represented as bending 
 their boughs and offering their fruits to the Virgin and her Divine 
 Infant. So, again, during the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, 
 trees are said to have opened and concealed the fugitives from 
 Herod's brutal soldiery. Certain trees (notably the Aspen) are 
 reputed to have been accursed and to have shuddered and trembled 
 ever after on account of their connedlion with the tragedy of 
 Calvary ; while others are said to have undergone a similar doom 
 because they were attainted by the suicide of the traitor Judas 
 Iscariot. 
 
 Seeing that the reverence and worship paid to trees by the 
 ignorant and superstitious people was an institution impossible to 
 uproot, the early Christian Church sought to turn it to account, 
 and therefore consecrated old and venerated trees, built shrines 
 beneath their shade, or placed on their trunks crucifixes and 
 images of the Blessed Virgin. Legends connecTting trees with holy 
 personages, miracles, and sacred subjecfts were, in after years, freely 
 disseminated ; one of the most remarkable being the marvellous . 
 history of the Tree of Adam, in which it is sought to connedt the 
 Tree of Paradise with the Tree of Calvary. Evelyn summarises 
 this misty tradition in the following sentence : — " Trees and woods 
 have twice saved the whole world : first, by the Ark, then by the 
 Cross ; making full amends for the evil fruit of the tree in Paradise 
 by that which was borne on the tree in Golgotha." In course of 
 time the flowers and plants which the ancients had dedicated to 
 their pagan deities were transferred by the Christian Church to 
 the shrines of the Virgin and sainted personages ; this is especially 
 noticeable in the plants formerly dedicated to, Venus and Freyja, 
 which, as being the choicest as well as the most popular, became, 
 in honour of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady's plants. Vast numbers 
 of flowers were in course of time appropriated by the Church, 
 and consecrated to her saints and martyrs — the seletftion being 
 governed generally by the fadl that the flower bloomed on or 
 about the day on which the Church celebrated the saint's feast. 
 These appropriations enabled the Roman Catholics to compile a 
 complete calendar of flowers for every day in the year, in which 
 each flower is dedicated to a particular saint, 
 
ion, xvii. 
 
 But if the most beautiful flowers and plants were taken under 
 the protection of the Church, and dedicated to the memory of her 
 holiest and most venerated members, so, also, certain trees, plants, 
 and flowers — which, either on account of their noxious properties, 
 or because of some legendary associations, were under a ban — 
 became relegated to the service of the Devil and his minions. 
 Hence we find a large group of plants associated with enchanters, 
 sorcerers, -wizards, and witches, many of which betray in their 
 nomenclature their Satanic association, and are, even at the pre- 
 sent day, regarded suspiciously as ill-omened and unlucky. These 
 are the plants which, in the dark days of witchcraft and super- 
 stition, were invested with mysterious and magical properties, — the 
 herbs which were employed by hags and witches in their heathenish 
 incantations, and from which they brewed their potions and hell- 
 broths. Thus Ben Jonson, in his fragment, ' The Sad Shepherd,' 
 makes one of his charadlers say, when speaking of a witch : — 
 
 " He knows her shifts and haunts, 
 And all her wiles and turns. The venom'd plants 
 Wherewith she kills ! where the sad Mandrake grows, 
 Whose groans are dreadful ! the dead-numming Nightshade ! 
 The stupefying Hemlock ! Adder's-tongue ! 
 And Martagan ! " 
 
 The association of plants with magic, sorcery, and the black 
 art dates from remote times. The blind Norse god Hodr slew 
 Baldr with a twig of Mistletoe. In the battles recorded in the 
 Vedas as being fought by the gods and the demons, the latter 
 employ poisonous and magical herbs which the gods counteradl 
 with counter-poisons and health-giving plants. Hermes presented 
 to Ulysses the magical Moly wherewith to nullify the effedts of 
 the potions and spells of the enchantress Circe, who was well 
 acquainted with all sorts of magical herbs. The Druids professed 
 to know the secrets of many magical plants which they gathered 
 with mysterious and occult rites. The Vervain, Selago, Mistletoe, 
 Oak, and Rowan were all said by these ancient priests and law- 
 givers to be possessed of supernatural properties ; and remnants 
 of the old belief in their magical powers are still extant. 
 
 In works on the subjedt of plant lore hitherto published m 
 England, scarcely any reference has been made to the labours in 
 
xviii. pfant Isore, IsegeT^t)/, oriel Isi^naf. 
 
 the field of comparative mythology of Max Miiller, Grimm, Kuhn, 
 Mannhardt, De Gubernatis, and other eminent scholars, whose 
 erudite and patient investigations have resulted in the accumulation 
 of a vast amount of valuable information respedting the traditions 
 and superstitions connedted with the plant kingdom. Mr, Kelly's 
 interesting work on Indo-European Tradition, published some 
 years ago, dealt, among other subjedls, with that of plant lore, and 
 drew attention to the analogy existing between the myths and 
 folk-lore of India and Europe relating more especially to plants 
 which were reputed to possess magical properties. Among such 
 plants, peculiar interest attaches to a group which, according 
 to Aryan tradition, sprang from lightning — the embodiment of fire, 
 the great quickening agent: this group embraces the Hazel, 
 the Thorn, the Hindu Sami, the Hindu Palasa, with its European 
 congener the Rowan, and the Mistletoe: the two last-named 
 plants were, as we have seen, employed in Druidic rites. These 
 trees are considered of good omen and as protedtives against 
 sorcery and witchcraft : from all of them wishing-rods (called in 
 German Wunschelmthen) and divining-rods have been wont to be 
 fashioned — magical wands with which, in some countries, cattle are 
 still struck to render them prolific, hidden springs are indicated, 
 and mineral wealth is discovered. Such a rod was thought to be 
 the caduceus of the god Hermes, or Mercury, described by Homer as 
 being a rod of prosperity and wealth. All these rods are cut with a 
 forked end, a shape held to be symbolic of lightning and a rude 
 efiigy of the human form. It is interesting to note that in the 
 Rigveda the human form is expressly attributed to the pieces of 
 Asvattha wood used for kindhng the sacred fire — a purpose 
 fulfilled by the Thorn in the chark or instrument employed for 
 producing fire by the Greeks. Another group of plants also 
 connedled with fire and lightning comprises the Mandrake (the 
 root of which is forked like the human form), the Fern Poly- 
 podium Filix mas (which has large pinnate leaves), the Sesame 
 (called in India Thunderbolt-flower), the Spring-wort, and the 
 Luck-flower. The Mandrake and Fern, like King Solomon's 
 Baharas, are said to shine at night, and to leap about like a Will-o'- 
 the-wisp: indeed, in Thuringia, the Fern is known as Irrkraut, or 
 
JnfrocluGfion, xix. 
 
 Misleading Herb, and in Franche Comte this herb is spoken of as 
 causing belated travellers to become light-headed or thunder-struck. 
 The Mandrkke-root and the Fern-seed have the magical property 
 of granting the desires of their possessors, and in this respedl re- 
 semble the Sesame and Luck-flower, which at their owners' request 
 will disclose treasure-caves, open the sides of mountains, clefts of 
 rocks, or strong doors, and in fadt render useless all locks, bolts, 
 and bars, at will. The Spring-wort, through the agency of a bird, 
 removes obstacles by means of an explosion caused by the eledlricity 
 or lightning of which this plant is an embodiment. Akin to these are 
 plants known in our country as Lunary or Moonwort and Unshoe- 
 the-Horse, and called by the Italians Sferracavallo — plants which 
 possess the property of unshoeing horses and opening locks. A 
 Russian herb, the Rasrivtrava, belongs to the same group : this 
 plant fradlures chains and breaks open locks — virtues also claimed 
 for the Vervain {Eisenkraut), the Primrose (Schlusselhlume), the Fern, 
 and the Hazel. It should be noted of the Mistletoe (which is 
 endowed by nature with branches regularly forked, and has been 
 classified with the lightning -plants), that the Swedes call it 
 " Thunder-besom," and attribute to it the same powers as to the 
 Spring-wort. Like the Fly-Rowan {Flog-wnn) and the Asvattha, 
 it is a parasite, and is thought to spring from seeds dropped by 
 birds upon trees. Just as the Druids ascribed peculiar virtues 
 to a Mistletoe produced by this means on an Oak, so do the 
 Hindus especially esteem an Asvattha which has grown in like 
 manner upon a Sami {Acacia Suma). 
 
 It is satisfa(5tory to find that, although the Devil has had 
 certain plants allotted to him wherewith to work mischief and 
 destrucftion through the agency of demons, sorcerers, and witches, 
 there are yet a great number of plants whose special mission it 
 is to thwart Satanic machinations, to protedt their owners from 
 the dire eSe€is of witchcraft or the Evil Eye, an^ to guard them 
 from the perils of thunder and lightning. In our own country, 
 Houseleek and Stonecrop are thought to fuliil this latter fundtion ; 
 in Westphalia, the Donnerhraut (Orpine) is a thunder protedlive; 
 in the Tyrol, the Alpine Rose guards the house-roof from lightning; 
 and in the Netherlands, the St. John's Wort, gathered before 
 
XX. pfant bore, TsegcT^/, mii. Tsijr'lc/. 
 
 sunrise, is deemed a proteaion against thunderstorms. This last 
 plant is especially hateful to evil spirits, and in days gone by 
 was called Fuga iamonum, dispeller of demons. In Russia, a plant, 
 called the Certagon, or Devil-chaser, is used to exorcise Satan or 
 his fiends if they torment an afflicted mourner ; and in the same 
 country the Prikrit is a herb whose peculiar province it is to 
 destroy calumnies with which mischief-makers may seek to inter- 
 fere with the consummation of lovers' bliss. Ol:her plants induce 
 concord, love, and sympathy, and others again enable the owner 
 to forget sorrow. 
 
 Plants connedled with dreams and visions have not hitherto 
 received much notice; but, nevertheless, popular belief has attri- 
 buted to some few — and notably the Elm, the Four-leaved 
 Clover, and the Russian Son-trava — the subtle power of procuring 
 dreams of a prophetic nature. Numerous plants have been 
 thought by the superstitious to portend certain results to the 
 sleeper when forming the subjetH; of his or her dreams. Many 
 examples of this belief will be found scattered through these pages. 
 
 The legends attached to flowers may be divided into four 
 classes — the mythological, the ecclesiastical, the historical, and the 
 poetical. For the first-named we are chiefly indebted to Ovid, and 
 to the Jesuit Rene Rapin, whose Latin poem De Horiorum Culium 
 contains much curious plant lore current in his time. His legends, 
 like those of Ovid, nearly all relate to the transformation by the 
 gods of luckless nymphs and youths into flowers and trees, which 
 have since borne their names. Most of them refer to the blossoms of 
 bulbous plants, which appear in the early Spring; and, as a rule, 
 white flowers are represented as having originated from tears, and 
 pink or red flowers from blushes or blood. The ecclesiastical 
 legends are principally due to the old Catholic monks, who, while 
 tending their flowers in the quietude and seclusion of monastery gar- 
 dens, doubtless came to associate them with the memory of some 
 favourite saint or martyr, and so allowed their gentle fancy to 
 weave a pious fidtion wherewith to perpetuate the memory of the 
 saint in the name of the flower. For many of the historical le- 
 gends we are also indebted to monastic writers, and they mostly 
 pertain to favourite sons and daughters of the Church. Amongst 
 
^nffo^uclTon. xxi. 
 
 what we have designated poetical legends, must be included the 
 numerous fairy tales in which flowers and plants play a not un- 
 important part, as well as the stories which connedt plants with 
 the doings of Trolls, Elves, Witches, and Demons. Many such 
 legends, both English and foreign, will be found introduced in the 
 following pages. 
 
 It has recently become the fashion to explain the origin of 
 myths and legends by a theory which makes of them mere symbols 
 of the phenomena appertaining to the solar system, or metaphors 
 of the four seasons and the different periods in a day's span. 
 Thus we are told that, in the well-known story of the transforma- 
 tion of Daphne into a Laurel-bush, to enable her to escape the 
 importunities of Apollo (see p. 404), we ought not to conceive the 
 idea of the handsome passionate god pursuing a coy nymph until in 
 despair she calls on the water-gods to change her form, but that, on 
 the contrary, we should regard the whole story as simply an alle- 
 gory implying that " the dawn rushes and trembles through the 
 sky, and fades away at the sudden appearance of the bright sun." 
 So, again, in the myth of Pan and Syrinx (p. 559), in which the 
 Satyr pursues the maiden who is transformed into the Reed from 
 which Pan fashioned his pipes, the meaning intended to be con- 
 veyed is, we are told, that the blustering wind bends and breaks 
 the swaying Rushes, through which it rustles and whistles. Prof. 
 De Gubernatis, in his valuable work La Mythologie des Plantes, gives 
 a number of clever explanations of old legends and myths, in ac- 
 cordance with the ." Solar " theory, which are certainly ingenious, 
 if somewhat monotonous. Let us take, as an example, the German 
 story of the Watcher of the Road, which appears at page 326. In 
 this tale a lovely princess, abandoned for a rival by her attractive 
 husband, pines away, and at last desiring to die if only she can be 
 sure of going somewhere where she may always watch for him, is 
 transformed into the waj^side Endive or Succory. Here is the 
 Professor's explanation :— " DoeS not the fatal rival of the young 
 princess, who cries herself to death on account of her dazzling 
 husband's desertion, and who even in death desires still to gaze on 
 him, symbolise the humid night, which every evening allures the 
 sun to her arms, and thus keeps him from the love of his bride, who 
 
xxii. pPant Tsore, laeg&tfb/, cmS. feijrlo/'. 
 
 awakens every day with the sun, just as does the flower of the 
 Succory?" These scientific elucidations of myths, however dex- 
 terous and poetical they may be, do not appear to us applicable to 
 plant legends, whose chief charm lies in their simplicity and appo- 
 siteness; nor can we imagine why Aryan or other story-tellers 
 should be deemed so destitute of inventive powers as to be obliged 
 to limit all their tales to the description of celestial phenomena. In 
 the Vedas, trees, flowers, and herbs are invoked to cause love, 
 avert evil and danger, and neutralise spells and curses. The 
 ancients must, therefore, have had an exalted idea of their nature 
 and properties, and hence it is not surprising that they should 
 have dedicated them to their deities, and that these deities should 
 have employed them for supernatural purposes. Thus Indra con- 
 quered Vritra and slew demons by means of the Soma ; Hermes 
 presented the all-potent Moly to Ulysses ; and Medea taught Jason 
 how to use certain enchanted herbs ; just as, later in the world's 
 history, Druids exorcised evil spirits with Mistletoe and Vervain, 
 and sorcerers and wise women used St. John's Wort and other 
 plants to ward off demons and thunderbolts. The ancients evi- 
 dently regarded their gods and goddesses as very human, and 
 therefore it would seem unnecessary and unjust so to alter their 
 tales about them as to explain away their obvious meaning. 
 
 Flowers are the companions of man throughout his life — 
 his attendants to his last resting place. They are, as Mr. Ruskin 
 says, precious always " to the child and the girl, the peasant and 
 the manufadturing operative, to the grisette and the nun, the 
 lover and the monk." Nature, in scattering them over the earth's 
 surface, would seem to have designed to cheer and refresh its 
 inhabitants by their varied colouring and fragrance, and to elevate 
 them by their wondrous beauty and delicacy ; from them, as old 
 Parkinson truly wrote, "we may draw matter at all times, not onely 
 to magnifie the Creator that hath given them such diversities of 
 forms, sents, and colours, that the most cunning workman cannot 
 imitate, .... but many good instru(5tions also to our selves ; 
 that as many herbs and flowers, with their fragrant sweet smels 
 do comfort and as it were revive the spirits, and perfume a whole 
 house, even so such men as live vertuously, labouring to do good, 
 
^nfroc^uclion. xxiii. 
 
 and profit the Church, God, and the common wealth by their 
 
 pains or pen, do as it were send forth a pleasing savour of sweet 
 
 instrudtions." The poet Wordsworth reminds us that 
 
 " God made the flowers to beautify 
 The earth, and cheer man's careful mood ; 
 And he is happiest who hath power 
 To gather wisdom from a flower. 
 And wake his heart in every hour 
 To pleasant gratitude." 
 
 In these pages will be found many details as to the use 
 of these beauteous gems of Nature, both by the ancient races 
 of the world and by the people of our own generation; their 
 adaptation to the Church's ceremonial and to popular festivals ; 
 their use as portents, symbols, and emblems ; and their employ- 
 ment as an adornment of the graves of loved ones. Much more 
 could have been written, had space permitted, regarding their 
 value to the architedl and the herald. The Acanthus, Lotus, 
 Trefoil, Lily, Vine, Ivy, Pomegranate, Oak, Palm, Acacia, and 
 many other plants have been reproduced as ornaments by the 
 sculptor, and it is a matter of tradition that to the majestic aspe(5l 
 of an avenue of trees we owe the lengthy aisle and fretted vault of 
 the Gothic order of architedture. In the field of heraldry it is 
 noticeable that many nations, families, and individuals have, in 
 addition to their heraldic badges, adopted plants as special symbols, 
 the circumstances of their adoption forming the groundwork of a 
 vast number of legends : a glance at the index will show that some 
 of these are to be discovered in the present work. Many towns 
 and villages owe their names to trees or plants ; and not a few 
 English families have taken their surnames from members of the 
 vegetable kingdom. In Scotland, the name of Frazer is derived 
 from the Strawberry-leaves {/raises) borne on the family shield of 
 arms, and the Gowans and Primroses also owe their names to 
 plants. The Highland clans are all distinguished by the floral 
 badge or Suieachantas which is worn in the bonnet. For the most 
 part the plants adopted for these badges are evergreens ; and it is 
 said that the deciduous Oak which was selefled by the Stuarts was 
 looked upon as a portent of evil to the royal house. 
 
 The love of human kind for flowers would seem to be shared 
 by many members of the feathered tribe. Poets have sung of the 
 
XXIV. pPatit Isore, Iseg&r^f, dnl. Tsijrie/. 
 
 passion of the Nightingale for the Rose and of the fondness of the 
 Bird of Paradise for the dazzling blooms of the Tropics: the 
 especial liking, however, of one of this race — the Amhlyomis inor- 
 nata — for flowers is worthy of record, inasmuch as this bird-gardener 
 not only ere<5ts for itself a bower, but surrounds it with a mossy 
 sward, on which it continually deposits fresh flowers and fruit of 
 brilliant hue, so arranged as to form an elegant partem. 
 
 We have reached our limit, and can only just notice the old 
 traditions relating to the sympathies and antipathies of plants. 
 The Jesuit Kircher describes the hatred existing between Hemlock 
 and Rue, Reeds and Fern, and Cyclamen and Cabbages as so 
 intense, that one of them cannot live on the same ground with the 
 other. The Walnut, it is believed, dislikes the Oak, the Rowan the 
 Juniper, the White-thorn the Black -thorn ; and there is said to be 
 a mutual aversion between Rosemary, Lavender, the Bay-tree, 
 Thyme, and Marjoram. On the other hand, the Rose is reported to 
 love the Onion and Garlic, and to put forth its sweetest blooms 
 when in propinquity to those plants ; and a bond of fellowship is 
 fabled to exist between a Fig-tree and Rue. Lord Bacon, noticing 
 these traditionary sympathies and antipathies, explains them as 
 simply the outcome of the nature of the plants, and his philosophy 
 is not difficult to be understood by intelligent observers, for, as St. 
 Anthony truly said, the great book of Nature, which contains but 
 three leaves — the Heavens, the Earth, and the Sea — is open for all 
 men alike. 
 
Vhjim WW, LEGENDS, ;iND hJBJQS- 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 iJfte ©)l^ot^^W7e&f of tfte oKneler^f/-. 
 
 T is a proof of the solemnity with which, from the 
 very earliest times, man has invested trees, and 
 of the reverence with which he has ever regarded 
 them, that they are found figuring prominently 
 in the mythology of almost every nation; and 
 despite the fact that in some instances these 
 ancient myths reach us, after the lapse of ages, 
 in distorted and grotesque forms, they would 
 seem to be worthy of preservation, if only as curiosities in plant 
 lore. In some cases the myth relates to a mystic cloud-tree which 
 supplies the gods with irhmortaMruitTin others to a tree which 
 impgrts~"fo""m arikind w isdom an^STTaiowledge ; in others to a tree 
 which is the source and fuuftlaiir~bf alTHfe ; and in others, again, 
 to the actual desc ent of_ manTmignffom~aritKropological or parent 
 trees. In one cosmogony — that of the Iranians — the first human 
 paiF are represented as having grown up as a single tree, the 
 fingers or twigs of each one being folded over the other's ears, till 
 t^e time came when, ripe for separation, they became two sentient 
 beings, and were infused by Ormuzd with distinct human souls. 
 
 But besides these trees, which in some form or other benefit 
 and populate the earth, there are to be found in ancient myths 
 records of illimitable trees that existed in space whilst yet the 
 elements of creation were chaotic, and whose branches over- 
 shadowed the universe. One of the mythical accounts of the 
 creation of the world represents a vast cosmogonic tree rearing its 
 enormous bulk from the midst of an ocean before the formation of 
 the earth had taken place ; and this conception, it may be remarked, 
 
 B 
 
pPant Isore, lae-ger^f, ari3. teyrie/". 
 
 is in consonance with a Vedic tradition that plants were created 
 three ages before the gods. In India the idea of a primordial 
 cosmogonic tree, vast as the world itself, and the generator thereof, 
 is very prevalent ; and in the Scandinavian prose Edda we find the 
 Skalds shadowing forth an all-pervading mundane Ash, called 
 Yggdrasill, beneath whose shade the gods assemble every day in 
 council, and whose branches spread over the whole world, and even 
 reach above heaven, whilst its roots penetrate to the infernal 
 regions. This cloud-tree of the Norsemen is thought to be a 
 S)rmbol of universal nature. 
 
 The accompanying illustration is taken from Finn Magnusen's 
 pictorial representation of the Yggdrasill miyth, and depicts his 
 conception of 
 
 Re Horde ©WorPeL-lTree. 
 
 According to the Eddaic accounts, the^Ash Yggdrasilljs the 
 greatest and best of_all trees. One of its stems springs from the 
 central primordial abyss — from'the subterranean source of matter — 
 runs up through the earth, which it supports, and issuing out of 
 the celestial mountain in the world's centre, called Asgard, spreads 
 its branches over the entire universe. These wide-spread branches 
 are the aethereal or celestial regions ; their leaves, the clouds ; their 
 buds or fruits, the stars. Four harts run across the branches of 
 the tree, and bite the buds : these are the four cardinal winds. 
 Perched upon the top branches is an eagle, and between his eyes 
 sits a hawk : the eagle S3fmbolises the air, the hawk the wind-still 
 aether. A squirrel runs up and down the Ash, and seeks to cause 
 strife between the eagle and Nidhogg, a monster, which is con- 
 stantly gnawing the roots : the squirrel signifies hail and other 
 atmospherical phenomena ; Nidhogg and the serpents that gnaw the 
 roots of the mundane tree are the volcanic agencies which are 
 constantly seeking to destroy earth's foundations. Another stem 
 springs in the warm south over the aethereal Urdar fountain, where 
 the gods sit in judgment. In this fountain swim two swans, the 
 progenitors of aU that species : these swans are, by Finn 
 Magnusen, supposed to t3rpify the sun and moon. Near this 
 fountain dwell three maidens, who fix the lifetime of all men, and 
 are called Norns : every day they draw water from the spring, and 
 with it sprinkle the Ash in order that its branches may not rot 
 and wither away. This water is so holy, that everything placed 
 in the spring becomes as white as the film within an egg-shell. 
 The dew that falls from the tree on the earth men call honey-dew, 
 and it is the food of the bees. The third stem of Yggdrasill takes 
 its rise in the cold and cheerless regions of the north (the land of 
 the Frost Giants), over the source of the ocean, typified by a 
 spring called Mimir's Well, in which wisdom and wit lie hidden. 
 Mimir, the owner of this spring, is full of wisdom because he drinks 
 
ra»«)ifP, tfie Nunc^ane Uree, 
 
 From Finn Magnusens ' EddaUmn: 
 
 [tu face page 
 
Jfie ©yoi-fa—lTFie/ of tfta J\na\enff. 
 
 of its waters. One day Odin came and begged a draught of water 
 from the well, which he obtained, but was obliged to leave one of 
 his eyes as a pledge for it. This myth Finn Magnusen thinks 
 signifies the descent of the sun every evening into the sea (to learn 
 wisdom from Mimir during the night) ; the mead quaffed by Mimir 
 every morning being the ruddy dawn, that, spreading over the sky, 
 exhilarates all nature. 
 
 ITfie Jfincju ©Y\^oi'Pi_-irree. 
 
 The Indian cosmogonic tree is the symbol of vegetation, of 
 universal life, and of immortality. In the sacred Vedic writings it 
 receives the special names of Ilpa, Kalpadruma, Kalpaka-tam, and Kal- 
 pavriksha, on the fruits of which latter tree the first men sustained 
 and nourished life. In its quality of Tree of Paradise, it is called 
 Panjdta ; and as the ambrosial tree — the tree yielding immortal 
 food — it is known as Amiita and Soma. This mystic world-tree of 
 the Hindus, according to the Rigveda, is supernaturally the God 
 Brahma himself; and all the gods are considered as branches of 
 the divine parent stem — the elementary or fragmentary form of 
 Brahma, the vast overspreading tree of the universe. In the Vedas 
 this celestial tree is described as the Pippala (Peepul), and is 
 alluded to as being in turns visited by two beauteous birds — the one 
 feeding itself on the fruit (typifying probably the moon or twilight) ; 
 the other simply hovering, with scintillating plumage, and singing 
 melodiously (typifying perhaps the sun or daybreak). 
 
 Under the name of Ilpa (the Jamhoa, or Rose-apple) the cos- 
 mogonic tree is described as growing in the midst of the lake Ara 
 in Brahma's world, beyond the river that never grows old, from 
 whence are procured the waters of eternal youth. Brahma imparts 
 to it his own perfume, and from it obtains the sap of vitality. To 
 its branches the dead cling and climb, in order that they may enter 
 into the regions of immortality. 
 
 As the Kalpadruma, Kalpaka-taru, and Kalpavriksha, the Indian 
 sacred writings describe a cloud-tree, which, by its shadows, pro- 
 duced day and night before the creation of sun and moon.. This 
 cosmogonic tree, which is of colossal proportions, grows in the 
 midst of flowers and streamlets on a steep mountain. It fulfils all 
 desires, imparts untold bliss, and, what in the eyes of Buddhists 
 constitutes its chief sublimity, it gives knowledge and wisdom to 
 humanity ; in a word it combines within its mystic branches all 
 riches and all knowledge. 
 
 As the Soma, the world-tree becomes in Indian mysticism a 
 tree of Paradise, at once the king of all trees and vegetation, and 
 the god Soma to be adored. It furnishes the divine ambrosia or 
 essence of immortality, concealed sometimes in the clouds, some- 
 times in the billows of the soft and silvery light that proceeds from 
 the great Soma* the great Indu, the moon. Hence this mystic 
 
 B— a 
 
'4 pfant Tsora, Tsege^/, oriel teyricy. 
 
 tree, from the foliage of which drops the life-giving Soma, is 
 sometimes characterised as the Hindu Moon-Tree. Out of this 
 cosmogonic tree the immortals shaped the heaven and the earth. 
 It is the Tree of Intelligence, and grows in the third heaven, oyer 
 which it spreads its mighty branches ; beneath it Yama and the 
 Pitris dwell, and quaif the immortalising Soma with the gods. At 
 its foot grow plants of all healing virtue, incorporations of the 
 Soma. Two birds sit on its top, one of which eats Figs, whilst 
 the other simply watches. Other birds press out the Soma juice 
 from its branches. This ambrosial tree, besides dropping the 
 precious Soma, bears fruit and seed of every kind known in the 
 world. 
 
 Ufie ©Y^oi-fsL-lTFee of tfte Siuc^c^fi^f^. 
 
 The Sacred Tree of Buddha is in the complex theology of his 
 followers represented under different guises : it is cosmogonic, it 
 imparts wisdom, it produces the divine ambrosia or food of im- 
 mortality, it yields the refreshing and life-inspiring rain, and it 
 affords an abiding-place for the souls of the blessed. 
 
 The supernatural and sacred Tree of Buddha, the cloud-tree, 
 the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Wisdom, the Ambrosia-tree, 
 is covered with divine flowers ; it glows and sparkles with the 
 brilliance of all manner of precious stones ; the root, the trunk, the 
 branches, and the leaves are formed of gems of the most glorious 
 description. It grows in soil pure and delightfully even, to which 
 the rich verdure of grass imparts the tints of a peacock's neck. It 
 receives the homage of the gods ; and the arm of Mayi (the mother 
 of Buddha) when she stretches it forth to grasp the bough which 
 bends towards her, shines as the lightning illumines the sky. 
 Beneath this sacred tree, the Tree of Knowledge, Buddha, at whose 
 birth a flash of light pierced through all the world, sat down with 
 the firm resolve not to rise until he had attained the knowledge 
 which " maketh free." Then the Tempter, Mira, advanced with 
 his demoniacal forces : encircling the Sacred Tree, hosts of demons 
 assailed Buddha with fiery darts, amid the whirl of hurricanes, 
 darkness, and the downpour of floods of water, to drive him from 
 the Tree. Buddha, however, maintained his position unmoved ; 
 and at length the demons were compelled to fly. Buddha had 
 conquered, and in defeating the Tempter Mara, and obtaining 
 possession of his Tree of Knowledge, he had also obtained pos- 
 session of deliverance. Prof De Gubernatis, in explaining this 
 myth, charadterises the tree as the cloud-tree : in the clouds the 
 heavenly flame is stored, and it is guarded by the dark demons. 
 In the Vedic hymns, the powers of light and darkness fight their 
 great battle for the clouds, and the ambrosia which they contain ; 
 this is the identical battle of Buddha with the hosts of Mira. In 
 the cloud-battle the ambrosia {amrita) which is in the clouds is 
 won; the enlightenment and deliverance which Buddha wins are 
 
Ef\e ©yorfi_-ir7ie/- of tfte eKridlen?/-, 
 
 also called an ambrosia; and the kingdom of knowledge is the 
 land of immortality. 
 
 There is a tradition current in Thibet that the Tree of Buddha 
 received the name of Tdrdyana, that is to say, The Way of Safety, 
 because it grew, by the side of the river that separates the world 
 from heaven ; and that only by means of its overhanging branches 
 could mankind pass from the earthly to the immortal bank. 
 
 The material tree of Buddha is generally represented either 
 under the form of the Asvattha (the Ficus religiosa), or of the 
 Udumbara (the Ficus glomerata), which appeared at the birth of 
 Buddha ; but in addition to these guises, we find it also associated 
 with the Asoka (Jonesia Asoka), the Palasa [Butea frondosa), the 
 BhcLnuphala {Musa sapientum), and sometimes with the Palmyra 
 Palm {Borassus flahelliformis). 
 
 Under one of these trees the ascetic, Gautama Buddha, one 
 momentous night, went through successively purer and purer 
 stages of abstradlion of consciousness, until the sense of omniscient 
 illumination came over him, and he attained to the knowledge of 
 the sources of mortal suffering. That night which Buddha passed 
 under the Tree of Knowledge on the banks of the river Nairanjand, 
 is the sacred night of the Buddhist world. There is a Peepul-tree 
 {Ficus religiosa) at Buddha G&yk which is regarded as being this 
 particular tree : it is very much decayed, and must have been 
 frequently renewed, as the present tree is standing on a terrace at 
 least thirty feet above the level of the surrounding country. 
 
 Hfte ^ranlai^ ©Y/orfiL-lTFee, 
 
 The world-tree of the Iranians is the Haoma, which is thought 
 to be the same as the Gaokerena of the Zendavesta. This Haoma, 
 the sacred Vine of the Zoroastrians, produces the primal drink of 
 immortality after which it is named. It is the first of all trees, 
 planted in heaven by Ormuzd, in the fountain of life, near 
 another tree called the " impassive " or " inviolable," which' bears 
 the seeds of every kind of vegetable life, Both these trees are 
 sitiiated in a lake called Vouru Kasha, and are guarded by ten fish, 
 who keep a ceaseless watch upon a lizard sent by the evil power, 
 Ahriman, to destroy the sacred Haoma. The " inviolable " tree 
 is also known both as the eagle's and the owl's tree. Either one 
 or the other of these birds (probably the eagle) sits perched on its 
 top. The moment he rises from the tree, a thousand branches 
 shoot forth ; when he settles again he breaks a thousand branches, 
 and causes their seed to fall. Another bird, that is his constant 
 companion, picks up these seeds and carries them to where Tistar 
 draws water, which he then rains down upon the earth with the 
 seeds it contains. These two trees— the Haoma and the eagle's 
 or "inviolable" — would seem originally to have been one. The 
 -lizard sent by Ahriman to destroy the Haoma is known to .the 
 
pFanC Taore, Taegzr^/, dnS. Isijrio/'. 
 
 Indians as a dragon, the spoiler of harvests, and the ravisher 
 of the Apas, or brides of the gods. Peris who navigate the 
 celestial sea. 
 
 Hfte aM/^ijriarj ^acreiL ©Tree. 
 
 In intimate connection with the worship of Assur, the supreme 
 deity of the Assyrians, " the God who created himself," was the 
 Sacred Tree, regarded by the Assyrian race as the personification 
 of life and generation. This tree, which was considered coeval 
 with Assur, the great First Source, was adored in conjunction with 
 the god ; for sculptures have been found representing figures 
 kneeling in adoration before it, and bearing mystic offerings to hang 
 upon its boughs. In these sculptured effigies of the Sacred Tree 
 the simplest form consists of a pair of ram's horns, surmounted by 
 a capital composed of two pairs of rams' horns, separated by 
 horizontal bands, above which is a scroll, and then a flower 
 resembling the Honeysuckle ornament of the Greeks. Sometimes 
 this blossoms, and generally the stem also throws out a number of 
 smaller blossoms, which are occasionally replaced by Fir-cones 
 and Pomegranates. In the most elaborately-portrayed Sacred 
 Trees there is, besides the stem and the blossoms, a network of 
 branches, which forms a sort of arch, and surrounds the tree as it 
 were with a frame. 
 
 The Phoenicians, who were not idolaters, in the ordinary 
 acceptation of the word — inasmuch as they did not worship images 
 of their deities, and regarded the ever-burning fire on their altars 
 as the sole emblem of the Supreme Being, — paid adoration to this 
 Sacred Tree, effigies of which were set up in front of the temples, 
 and had sacrifices offered to them. This mystic tree was known 
 to the Jews as Ashemh. At festive seasons the Phoenicians adorned 
 it with boughs, flowers, and ribands, and regarded it as the central 
 object of their worship, 
 
 Hfie MotRcr ©Trie of tftc <S^te^^, f^omanA, a]J& WeufonA. 
 
 The Greeks appear to have cherished a tradition that the first 
 race of men sprang from a cosmogonic Ash. This cloudAsh 
 became personified in their myth as a daughter of OceanosTnSnecL 
 Meliaj___who married the river-god Inachos, and^^gave bir^to 
 PEbroneus, in whoni the Pelopohnesian legencl recognised the fire- 
 brijger^and the first man. According to Hesychius,' however, 
 rPlioroneus was not the only mortal to whom the Mother Ash gave 
 Krth, for he tells us distinctly that the race of men was " the fruit 
 of the Ash." Hesiod also repeats the same fable in a somewhat 
 different guise, when he relates how Jove created the third or 
 brazen race ojf men out of Ash trees. Homer appears to have been 
 acquainted with this tradition, for he makes Penelope say, when 
 
IFRe ©Yi'orPa— ^ree/ of tRe jKnoienl/. 
 
 addressing Ulysses : " Tell me thy family, from whence thou art ; 
 for^hou art not sprung from the olden tree, or from the rock." 
 Tfie Ash was generally deemed by the Greeks an image of the 
 clouds and the mother of men, — the prevalent idea being that the 
 Meliai^^ nymphs of the Ash, jvere ajrace of cloiud_goddesses, 
 daughters" of sea gods, whose domain was origmalgf tLe cloud sea. 
 -iBut-besides tlie Ash, the Greeks would seem to'Tiave regarded 
 the Oak as a tree from which the human race had sprung, and to 
 have called Oak trees the first mothers. This belief was shared bj 
 the Romans. Thus Virgil speaks 
 
 " Of nymphs and fauns, and savage men, who took 
 Their birth from trunks of trees and stubborn Oak." 
 
 In another passage the great Latin poet, speaking of the ^sculus, 
 a species of Oak, sacred to Jupiter, gives to it attributes which 
 remind us in a very striking manner of Yggdrasill, the cloud-tree 
 of the Norsemen. 
 
 " ^sculus in primis, qua quantum voriice ad auras 
 jEthtrias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit" — Gtorg. ii. 
 
 " High as his topmost boughs to heaven ascend. 
 So low his roots to hell's dominion tend." — Dryden. 
 
 In the ^neid, Book IV., speaking of the Oak as Quercus, 
 Virgil uses the same expression with regard to the roots of Jove's 
 tree descending to the infernal regions. Juvenal, also, in his sixth 
 satire, alluding to the beginning of the world, speaks of the human 
 race as formed of clay or born of the opening Oak, which thus 
 becomes the mystical mother-tree of mankind, and, like a mother, 
 sustained her offspring with food she herself created. Thus Ovid 
 tells us that the simple food of the primal race consisted largely 
 of " Acorns dropping from the tree of Jove ; " and we read in 
 Homer and Hesiod that the Acorn was the common food of the 
 Arcadians. 
 
 The belief of the ancient Greeks and Romans that the 
 progenitors of mankind were born of trees was also common to the 
 Teutons. At the present day, in msmy parts of both North and 
 South Germany, a hollow tree overhanging a pool is designated as 
 the first abode of unborn infants, and little children are taught to 
 believe that babies are fetched by the doctor from cavernous trees 
 or ancient stumps. " Frau Holda's tree " is a common name in 
 Germany for old decayed boles ; and she herself, the cloud-goddess, 
 is described in a Hessian legend as having in front the form of a 
 beautiful woman, and behind that of a hollow tree with rugged 
 
 bark. , . _ , 
 
 But besides Frau Holda's tree the ancient Germans knew a 
 cosmogonic tree, assimilating to the Scandinavian Yggdrasill. The 
 trunk of this Teutonic world-tree was called hrmnsul, a name 
 implying the column of the universe, which supports everything. 
 
pfant Isore, hagerpf, cmel Isiji'io/'. 
 
 A Byzantine legend, which is current in Russia, tells of a vast 
 world-tree of iron, which in the beginning of all things spread its 
 gigantic bulk throughout space. Its root is the power of God ; its 
 head sustains the three worlds, — heaven, with the ocean of air ; the 
 earth, with its seas of water ; and hell, with its sulphurous fumes 
 and glowing flames. 
 
 Rabbinic traditions make the Mosaic Tree of Life, which 
 stood in the centre of the Garden of Eden, a vast world-tree, 
 resembling in many points the Scandinavian Ash Yggdrasill. A 
 description of this world-tree of the Rabbins, however, need not 
 appear in the present chapter, since it will be found on page 13. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ^fte UTeey of paracjix^je al^t) tfte ©Tree 
 
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 MONGST all peoples, and in all ages, there has 
 lingered a belief possessing peculiar powers of 
 fascination, that in some unknown region, remote 
 and unexplored, there existed a glorious and happy 
 land ; a land of sunshine, luxuriance, and plenty, 
 a land of stately trees and beauteous flowers, — 
 a terrestrial Paradise. 
 
 A tradition contained in the sacred books of 
 the Parsis states that at the beginning of the world Ormuzd, the 
 giver of all good, created the primal steer, which contained the 
 germs of all the animals. Ahriman, the evil spirit, then created 
 venomous animals which destroyed the steer: while dying, there 
 sprang out of his right hip the first man, and out of his left hip the 
 first man's soul. From him arose a tree whence came the original 
 human pair, namely Mdskya and Mashydt who were placed in 
 Heden, a delightful spot, where grew if^om (orHaoma), the Tree of Life, 
 the fruit of which gave vigour and immortality. This Paradise was 
 in Iran. The woman being persuaded by Ahriman, in the guise of 
 a serpent, gave her husband fruit to eat, which was destrudlive. 
 
 The Persians also imagined a Paradise on Mount Caucasus. 
 The Arabians conceived an Elysium in the midst of the deserts of 
 Aden. The pagan Scandinavians sang of the Holy City of Asgard, 
 situated in the centre of the world. The Celts believed an earthly 
 Paradise to exist in the enchanted Isle of Avalon — the Island of 
 
 the Blest— 
 
 " Where falls not hail or rain, or any snow, 
 Nor even wind blows loudly ; but it lies 
 Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair, with orchard lawn 
 And bowery hollows. 
 
 The Greeks and Romans pi(5lured to themselves the delightful 
 gardens of the Hesperides; where grew the famous trees that 
 
produced Apples of gold ; and in the early days of Christendom the; 
 poets of the West dreamt of a land in the East (the true Paradise 
 of Adam and Eve, as they believed) in which dwelt in a Palm-tree 
 the golden-breasted Phoenix, — ^the bird of the sun, which was- 
 thought to abide a hundred years in this Elysium of the Arabian 
 deserts, and then to appear in the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, 
 fall upon the blazing altar, and, pouring forth a melodious song from- 
 or through the orifices of its feathers (which thus formed a thousand, 
 organ-pipes), cremate itself, only to rise again from its smoking 
 ashes, and fly back to its home in the Palm-tree of the earthly 
 Paradise. The Russians tell of a terrestrial Paradise to be sought 
 for on the island of Bujan, where grows the vast Oak tree, amidst 
 whose majestic branches the sun nestles to sleep every evening, 
 and from whose summit he rises every morning. 
 
 The Hindu religion shadows forth an Elysium on Mount 
 Meru, on the confines of Cashmere and Thibet. The garden of 
 the great Indian god Indra is a spot of unparalleled beauty. Here 
 are to be found an umbrageous grove or wood, where the gods 
 delight to take their ease; cooling fountains and rivulets; an en- 
 chanting flower-garden, luminous flowers, immortalising fruits, 
 and brilliantly-plumed birds, whose melody charms the gods them- 
 selves. In this Paradise are fine trees, which were the first things 
 that appeared above the surface of the troubled waters at the 
 beginning of the creation ; from these trees drop the immortalising 
 ambrosia. The principal tree is the Parijdta, the flower of which 
 preserves its perfume all the year round, combines in its petals 
 every odour and every flavour, presents to each his favorite colour 
 and most -esteemed perfume, and procures happiness for those who 
 ask it. But beyond this, it is a token of virtue, losing its fireshness 
 in the hands of the wicked, but preserving it with the just and 
 honourable. This wondrous flower will also serve as a torch by 
 night, and will emit the most enchanting sounds, producing the 
 sweetest and most varied melody; it assuages hunger and thirst, 
 cures diseases, and remedies the ravages of old age. 
 
 The Paradise of Mahomet is situated in the seventh heaven. In 
 the centre of it stands the marvellous tree called Tooba,* which is so 
 large that a man mounted on the fleetest horse could not ride 
 round its branches in one hundred years. This tree not only 
 affords the most grateful shade over the whole extent of the 
 Mussulman Paradise ; but its boughs are laden with delicious 
 fruits of a size and taste unknown to mortals, and moreover bend 
 themselves at the wish of the inhabitants of this abode of bliss, 
 to enable them to partake of these delicacies without any trouble. 
 The Koran often speaks of the rivers of Paradise as adding greatly 
 
 • The name of " Tooba." applied to this tree, originated in a misunderstandine of 
 the words Tooba lahum, " it is Tvell with them," or "blessedness awaits them," in 
 Koran iciii,, zS. Some commentators took Tooba ioit the name of a tree. 
 
URe Hree/ of ^dtoR^z alj& tfte ITree of aKc^an^. ti 
 
 to its delights. All these rivers take their rise from the tree 
 Tooba ; some flow, with water, some with milk, some with honey, 
 and others even with wine, the juice of the grape not being for- 
 bidden to the blessed. 
 
 We have seen how the most ancient races conceived and 
 cherished the notion of a Paradise of surpassing beauty, situate in 
 remote and unknown regions, both celestial and terrestrial. It is 
 not, therefore, surprising that the Paradise of the Hebrew race — 
 the Mosaic Eden — should have been pictured as a luxuriant garden, 
 stocked with lovely flowers and odorous herbs, and shaded by 
 majestic trees of every description. 
 
 We are told, in the second chapter of Genesis, that at th6 
 beginning of the world " the Lord God planted a garden eastward 
 in Eden," and that out of this country of Eden a river went out 
 " to water the garden ; and from thence it was parted, and 
 became into four heads." These "heads" or rivers are further on, 
 in the Biblical narrative, named respectively Pison, Gihon, Hid- 
 ,dekel, and Euphrates. Many have been the speculations as to the 
 exact site, geographical features, &c., of Eden, and the Divinely- 
 planted Paradise in its midst, and the subject has been one which 
 has ever been fruitful of controversy and conjecture. Sir John 
 .Maundevile has recorded that the Garden of Eden, or Paradise, 
 was enclosed by a wall. This old Eastern traveller tells us that 
 xdthough, in the course of his wanderings, he had never actually 
 seen the land of Eden, yet wise men had discoursed to him con- 
 cerning it. He says : " Paradise Terrestre, as wise men say, is the 
 highest place of earth — that is, in all the world ; and it is so high, 
 that it toucheth nigh to the circle of the moon. For it is so high 
 that the flood of Noah might never come to it, albeit it did cover 
 all the earth of the world, all about, and aboven and beneathen, 
 save Paradise alone. And this Paradise is enclosed all about with 
 a wall, and men wist not whereof it is ; for the walls be covered all 
 over with moss, as it seemeth. And it seemeth not that the wall is 
 stone of nature. And that wall stretcheth from the South to the 
 North, and it hath not but one entry,, that is closed with fire 
 burning, so that no man that is mortal ne dare not enter. And in 
 the highest place of Paradise,, exactly in the middle, is a well that 
 casts but the four streams which run by divers lands, of which the 
 .first is called Pison, or Ganges, that runs throughout India. And 
 the other is called Nile, or Gyson, which goes through Ethiopia, 
 and after through Egypt. And the other is called Tigris, which 
 runs by Assyria, and by Armenia the Great. And the other is 
 called Euphrates, which runs through Media, Armenia, and Persia. 
 And men there beyond say that all the sweet waters of the world, 
 above and beneath, take their beginning from the well of Paradise, 
 and out of the well all waters come and go." 
 
 Eden (a Hebrew word, signifying " Pleasure ), it is generally 
 'conceded, was the most beauteous and luxuriant portion ot the 
 
12 pPant teore, Is^ger^f, anS. Tsijric/'t 
 
 world ; and the Garden of Eden, the Paradise of Adam and Eve, was 
 the choicest and most exquisite portion of Eden. As regards the 
 situation of this terrestrial Paradise, the Biblical narrative dis^ 
 tinctly states that it was in the East, but various have been the 
 speculations as to the precise locality. Moses, in writing of Eden, 
 probably contemplated the country watered by the Tigris and 
 Euphrates — ^the land of the mighty city of Babylon. Many 
 traditions confirm this view : not only were there a district called 
 Eden, and a town called Paradisus, in Syria, a neighbouring 
 country to Mesopotamia, but in Mesopotamia itself there is a 
 certain region which, as late as the year 1552, was called Eden. 
 Some would localise the Eden of Scripture near Mount Lebanon, in 
 Sjrria ; others between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, to the west 
 of Babylon ; others, again, in the delightful plains of Armenia, or 
 in the highlands of Armenia, where the Tigris and Euphrates have 
 their rise. An opinion very generally held is, that Eden was placed 
 at the junction of several rivers, on a site which is now swallowed 
 up by the Persian Gulf, and that it never existed after the deluge, 
 which effaced this Paradise from the face of a polluted earths 
 Another theory places Eden in a vast central portion of the globe, 
 comprising a large piece of Asia and a portion of Africa, the four 
 rivers being the Ganges, the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Nile. 
 Dr. Wild, of Toronto, is of opinion that the Garden of Paradise 
 embraced what we now call Syria. The land that God gave to 
 Abraham and his seed for ever — ^the Land of Promise, the Holy 
 Land — ^is the very territory that constituted the Garden of Paradise. 
 "Before the flood," says the reverend gentleman, "there was in 
 connection with this garden, to the east of it, a gate and a flaming 
 sword, guarding this gate, and a way to the Tree of Life. On that 
 very spot I believe the Great P}Tramid of Egypt to be built, to 
 mark where the face of God shone forth to man before the Flood ; 
 and the Flood, by changing the land surface through the chang- 
 ing of the ocean bed, changed the centre somewhat, and threw it 
 further south. It is the very centre of the earth now where the 
 
 Pyramid stands and marks the place where the gate 
 
 of Eden was before the Flood." * 
 
 • Besides the localities already mentioned. Paradise has been located on Mount 
 Ararat ; in Persia ; in Ethiopia ; in the land now covered by the Caspian Sea ; in a 
 plain on the summit of Mount Taurus ; in Sumatra; in the Canaries; and in the 
 Island of Ceylon, where there is a mountain called the Peak of Adam, underneath 
 which, according to native tradition, lie buried the remains of the first man, and 
 whereon is shown the gigantic impress of his foot. Goropius Becanus places Paradise 
 near the river Acesines, on the confines of India. TertuUian, Bonaventura, and 
 Durandus affirm that it was under the Equinoctial, while another authority contends 
 that it was situated beneath the North Pole. Virgil places the happy land of the 
 Hyperboreans under the North Pole, and the Arctic Regions were long associated 
 with ideas of enchantment and beauty, chiefly because of the mystery that has 
 always enveloped these remote and unexplored regions. Peter Comestor and Moses 
 Barcephas set Paradise in a region separated from our habitable zone by a long tract 
 of land and sea, and elevated so that it reaches to the sphere of the moon. 
 
Jfte ©Tree/ o^' pafasL^c a"r2t) "tpLe ITFie of 'A^C-"]- 13 
 
 URe Uree of Isife. 
 
 Whatever may have been the site of the land of Eden or 
 Pleasure, Moses, in describing Paradise as its garden (much as we 
 speak of Kent as the Garden of England), doubtless wished to 
 convey the idea of a sanctuary of delight and primal loveliness ; 
 indeed, he tells us that "out of the ground made the Lord God to 
 grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." 
 This Paradise was in the middle of Eden, and in the middle of 
 Paradise was planted the Tree of Life, and, close by, the Tree of 
 Knowledge of Good and Evil. Into this garden the Lord put the 
 man whom He had formed, "to dress and to keep it," in other 
 words to till, plant, and sow. r , , j r 
 
 In the very centre of Paradise, in the midst of the land ot 
 Eden, grew the Tree of Life. Now, what was this tree ? Various 
 have been the conjedlures with regard to its nature. The tradi- 
 tions of the Rabbins make the Tree of Life a supernatural tree, 
 resembling the world- or cloud-trees of the Scandmavians and 
 Hindus, and bearing a striking resemblance to the Tooba of the 
 Mahomedan Paradise. They describe the Tree of Life as being of 
 enormous bulk, towering far above all others, and so vast in its girth, 
 that no man, even if he lived so long, could travel round it m less than 
 five hundred years. From beneath the colossal base of this stupen- 
 dous tree gushed all the waters of the earth, by whose instrumentality 
 nature was everywhere refreshed and invigorated. Regarding 
 these Rabbinic traditions as purely mythical, certain commentators 
 have regarded the Tree of Life as typical only of that life and the 
 continuance of it which our first parents derived from God. Others 
 think that it was called the Tree of Life because it was a memorial, 
 pledge, and seal of the eternal life which, had man continued in 
 obedience, would have been his reward in the Paradise above 
 Others, again, believe that the fruit of it had a certain vital 
 influence to cherish and maintain nian m immortal health and 
 vigour till he should have been translated from the earthly to the 
 
 ^'^T/'^md'^onsiders that the Tree of Life stood on Mount 
 Moriah', the very spot selected, in after years, by Abraham, whereon 
 to offer his son Isaac, the type, and the mount to which Christ 
 was led out to be sacrificed. As Eden occupied the centre of the 
 
 Tfteflo^ on*c"!!S o?S„-s wickedness. ,a. replaced on .he 
 sa,S spS centuries after, by the Cross.-jjonverted by the 
 
 excet 
 
14 pfant bore, TsegeT^/, dnS. btjrt<y. 
 
 that he would be sure to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life, 
 which, from its prominent position " in the midst of the garden," 
 would naturally attract his attention. Like the sacred Soma- 
 tree of Ithe Hindus, the Tree of Life probably yielded heavenly 
 ambrosia, and supplied to Adam food that invigorated and refreshed 
 him with its immortal sustenance. So long as be remained in 
 obedience, he was privileged to partake of this glorious food ; but 
 when, yielding to Eve's solicitations, he disobeyed the Divine 
 command, and partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, he 
 found it had given to him the knowledge of evil — something of 
 which he had hitherto been in happy ignorance. He had sinned ; 
 he was no longer fit to taste the imnjortal ambrosia of the Tree 
 of Life ; he was, therefore, driven forth from Eden, and lest he 
 should be tempted once again to return and partake of the glorious 
 fruit of the immortalising tree, God " placed at the east of the 
 Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned 
 every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life." Henceforth the 
 immortal food was lost to man : he could no longer partake of 
 that mystic fruit which bestowed life and health. Dr. Wild is 
 of opinion that the Tree of Knowledge stood on Mount Zion, 
 the spot afterwards selected by the Almighty for the erection of the 
 Temple ; because, through the Shechinah, men could there obtain 
 knowledge of good and evil. 
 
 Some have claimed that the Banana, the Mttsa paradisiaea, was 
 the Tree of Life, and that another species of the tree, the Musa 
 sapientum, was the Tree of Knowledge; others consider that the 
 Indian sacred Fig-tree, the Ficus religiosa, the Hindu world-tree, 
 was the Tree of Life which grew in the middle of Eden ; and the 
 Bible itself contains internal evidence supporting this idea. In 
 Gen. iii. 8, we read that Adam and Eve, conscious of having 
 sinned, " hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God 
 amongst the trees of the garden." Dr. Wright, however, in his 
 Commentary, remarks that, in the original, the word rendered 
 " trees " is singular — " in the midst of the tree of the garden " — 
 consequently, we may infer that Adam and Eve, frightened by the 
 knowledge of their sin, sought the shelter of the Tree of Life— the 
 tree in the centre of the garden ; the tree which, if it were the 
 Ficus religiosa, would, by its gigantic stature, and the grove-like 
 nature of its growth, afford them agreeable shelter, and prove a 
 favourite retreat. Beneath the shade of this stupendous Fig-tree, 
 the erring pair reflected upon their lost innocence ; and in their 
 conscious shame, plucked the ample foliage of the tree, and made 
 themselves girdles of Fig-leaves. Here they remained hidden 
 beneath the network of boughs which drooped almost to the earth, 
 and thus formed a natural thicket within which they sought to hide 
 themselves from an angry God. 
 
 " A pillared shade 
 High over-arched, with echoing walks between."— A/«V/o«. 
 
URg WTe^; of para^ji-e arjb tRa ITTSe of aNc^an^. 15 
 
 ¥Re UTie of J^tiooife^ge of €;oo5L ar^ S<9iP. 
 The Tree of Knowledge, in the opinion of some commentators, 
 -was so called, not because of any supernatural power it possessed 
 ■of inspirmg those who might eat of it with universal knowledge, as 
 the serpent afterwards suggested, but because by Adam and Eve 
 abstammg from or eating of it after it was prohibited, God would see 
 whether they would prove good or evil in their state of probation. 
 
 The tradition generally accepted as to the fruit which the 
 ■serpent tempted Eve to eat, fixes it as the Apple, but there is no 
 evidence in the Bible that the Tree of Knowledge was an Apple- 
 tree, unless the remark, " I raised thee up under the Apple-tree," 
 ■to be found in Canticles viii., 5, be held to apply to our first parents- 
 Eve is stated to have plucked the forbidden fruit because she sa-w 
 that it was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that 
 the tree which bore it was " to be desired to make one wise." 
 
 According to an Indian legend, it was the fruit of the Banana 
 
 tree (Musa paradisiaca or M. sapientum) that proved so fatal to Adam 
 
 ■and Eve. We read in Gerarde's 'Herbal,' that "the Grecians and 
 
 ■Christians which inhabit Syria, and the Jewes also, suppose it to be 
 
 that tree of -whose fruit Adam did taste." Gerarde himself calls 
 
 it " Adam's Apple-tree," and remarks of the fruit, that " if it be 
 
 cut according to the length oblique, transverse, or any other way 
 
 -whatsoever, may be seen the shape and forme of a crosse, with a 
 
 man fastened thereto. My selfe have scene the fruit, and cut it in 
 
 pieces, which was brought me from Aleppo, in pickle ; the crosse, 
 
 I might perceive, as the forme of a spred-egle in the root of Feme, 
 
 l)ut the man I leave to be sought for by those which have better 
 
 ■eies and judgement than my selfe." Sir John Mandeville gives a 
 
 ■similar account of the cross in the Plantain or " Apple of Paradise." 
 
 In a work by Leon, called ' Africa,' it is stated that the Banana is 
 
 in that country generally identified with the Tree of Adam. " The 
 
 Mahometan priests say that this fruit is that which God forbade 
 
 Adam and Eve to eat ; for immediately they eat they perceived 
 
 their nakedness, and to cover themselves employed the leaves of 
 
 -this tree, which are more suitable tor the purpose than any other." 
 
 To this day the Indian Djainas are by their laws forbidden to eat 
 
 •either Bananas or Figs. Vincenzo, a Roman missionary of the 
 
 seventeenth century, after stating that the Banana fruit in Phoenicia 
 
 Taears the effigy of the Crucifixion, tells us that the Christians of 
 
 -those parts would not on any account cut it with a knife, but always 
 
 troke it with their hands. This Banana, he adds, grows near 
 
 Damascus, and they call it there " Adam's Fig Tree." In the 
 
 Canaries, at the present time. Banana fruit is never cut across with 
 
 a knife, because it then exhibits a representation of the Crucifixion. 
 
 In the island of Ceylon there is a legend that Adam once had a 
 
 ■fruit garden in the vicinity of the torrent of Seetagunga, on the 
 
 •way to the Peak. Pridham, in his history of the island, tells us 
 
l6 pPant bore, bege^/, ani bijncy. 
 
 that from the circumstance that various fruits have been occasionally 
 carried down the stream, both the Moormen and Singalese believe 
 that this garden still exists, although now inaccessible, and that its 
 explorer would never return. Tradition, however, affirms that in 
 the centre of this Ceylon Paradise grows a large Banana-tree, the 
 fruit of which when cut transversely exhibits the figure of a man 
 crucified, and that from the huge leaves of this tree Adam and Eve 
 made themselves coverings. 
 
 Certain commentators are of opinion that the Tree of Know- 
 ledge was a Fig-tree — the Ficus Indica, the Banyan, one of the 
 sacred trees of the Hindus, under the pillared shade of which the 
 god Vishnu was fabled to have been born. In this case the Fig- 
 tree is a tree of ill-omen — a tree watched originally by Satan in the 
 form of a serpent, and whose fruit gave the knowledge of evil. 
 After having tempted and caused Adam to fall by means of its 
 fruit, its leaves were gathered to cover nakedness and shame^ 
 Again, the Fig was the tree which the demons selected as their 
 refuge, if one may judge from the fauni ficarii, whom St. Jerome 
 recognised in certain monsters mentioned by the prophets. The 
 Fig was the only tree accursed by Christ whilst on earth ; and the 
 wild Fig, according to tradition, was the tree upon which the 
 traitor Judas hanged himself, and from that time has always been 
 regarded as under a bane. 
 
 The Citron is held by many to have been the forbidden fruit. 
 Gerarde tells us that this tree was originally called Pomum Assyrium, 
 but that it was known among the Italian people as Pomum Adami; 
 and, writes the old herbalist, " that came by the opinion of the 
 common rude people, who thinke it to be the same Apple which 
 Adam did eate of in Paradise, when he transgressed God'? 
 commandment ; whereupon also the prints of the biting appeare 
 therein as they say ; but others say that this is not the Apple, but 
 that which the Arabians do call Musa or Mosa, whereof Avicen 
 maketh mention : for divers of the J ewes take this for that through 
 "which by eating Adam offended." 
 
 The Pomegranate, Orange, Corn, and Grapes have all been 
 identified as the " forbidden fruit ; " but upon what grounds it is 
 difficult to surmise. 
 
 After their disobedience, Adam and Eve were driven out of 
 Paradise, and, according to Arabian tradition, Adam took with him 
 three things — an ear of Wheat, which is the chief of all kinds of 
 food ; Dates, which are the chief of fruits ; and the Myrtle, which 
 is the chief of sweet-scented flowers. Maimonides mentions a 
 legend, cherished by the Nabatheans, that Adam, when he reached 
 the district about Babylon, had come from India, carrying with 
 him a golden tree in blossom, a leaf that no fire would burn, two 
 leaves, each of which would cover a man, and an enormous leaf 
 plucked from a tree beneath whose branches ten thousand men 
 could find shelter. 
 
ilfie ITTee/ of parail]/-© aT^ tRe ITee of eN^arr], 17 
 
 Ufie ©Tree of ©Nc^an]. 
 
 There is a legend handed down both by Hebrews and Greeks, 
 that when Adam had attained the ripe age of 900 years, he over- 
 taxed his strength in uprooting an enormous bush, and that falHng 
 very sick, and feehng the approach of death, he sent his son Seth 
 to the angel who guarded Paradise, and particularly the way to the 
 Tree of Life, to ask of him some of its ambrosia, or oil of mercy, 
 that he might anoint his limbs therewith, and so regain good health. 
 Seth approached the Tree of Knowledge, of the fruit of which 
 Adam and Eve had once partaken. A youth, radiant as the sun, 
 was seated on its summit, and, addressing Seth, told him that He 
 was the Son of God, that He would one day come down to earth, 
 to deliver it from sin, and that He would then give the oil of mercy 
 to Adam. 
 
 The angel who was guarding the Tree of Life then handed 
 to Seth three small seeds, charging him to place them in his 
 father's mouth, when he should bury him near Mount Tabor, in the 
 valley of Hebron. Seth obeyed the angel's behests. The three 
 seeds took root, and in a short time appeared above the ground, in 
 the form of three rods. One of these saplings was a branch of 
 Olive, the second a Cedar, the third a Cypress. The three rods' 
 did not leave the mouth of Adam, nor was their existence known 
 until the time of Moses, who received from God the order to cut 
 them. Moses obeyed, and with these three rods, which exhaled a 
 perfume of the Promised Land, performed many miracles, cured 
 the sick, drew water from a rock, &c. 
 
 After the death of Moses, the three rods remained unheeded 
 in the Valley of Hebron until the time of King David, who, warned 
 by the Holy Ghost, sought and found them there. Hence they 
 were taken by the King to Jerusalem, where all the leprous, the 
 dumb, the blind, the paralysed, and other sick people presented 
 themselves before the King, beseeching him to give them the 
 salvation of the Cross. King David thereupon touched them with 
 the three rods, and their infirmities instantly vanished. After this 
 the King placed the three rods in a cistern, but to his astonishment 
 upon going the next day for them, he discovered they had all three 
 firmly taken root, that the roots had become inextricably interlaced, 
 and that the three rods were in fact reunited in one stem which 
 had shot up therefrom, and had become a Cedar sapling, — 
 the tree that was eventually to furnish the wood of the Cross. 
 This reunion of the three rods was typical of the Trinity. The 
 young Cedar was subsequently placed in the Temple, but we 
 hear nothing more of it for thirty years, when Solomon, wishmg to 
 complete the Temple, obtained large supplies of Cedars of Lebanon, 
 and as being well adapted for his purpose cut down the Cedar of 
 the Temple. The trunk of this tree, lying with the other timber, 
 was seen by a woman, who sat down on it, and mspired with the 
 
1 8 pPant Isore, TsegeT^t)/, andl feyricy, 
 
 spirit of prophecy cried : " Behold ! the Lord predi(5ls the virtues 
 of the Sacred Cross." The Jews thereupon attacked the woman, 
 and having stoned her, they plunged the sacred wood of the Temple 
 into the piscina pnbatica, of which the water acquired from that 
 moment healing qualities, and which was afterwards called the Pool 
 of Bethesda. In the hope of profaning it the Jews afterwards em- 
 ployed the sacred wood in the construction of the bridge of Siloam, 
 over which everybody unheedingly passed, excepting only the 
 Queen of Sheba, who, prostrating herself, paid homage to it and 
 prophetically cried that of this wood would one day be made the 
 Cross of the Redeemer. 
 
 Thus, although Adam by eating the fruit of the Tree of Know- 
 ledge, came to know that which was evil, and could no longer be per- 
 mitted to partake of the fruit or essence of the Tree of Life, yet, 
 from its seeds, placed in his mouth after death, sprang the tree 
 which produced the Cross of Christ, by means of which he and his 
 race could attain to eternal life. 
 
 According to Prof. Mussafia-,* an authority quoted by De 
 Gubernatis, the origin of this legend of Seth's visit to Paradise is 
 to be found in the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus, where it is 
 stated that the Angel Michael refused to give the oil of mercy to 
 Seth, and told him that Christ would one day visit the earth to 
 anoint all beUevers, and to conduct Adam to the Tree of Mercy. 
 Some of the legends collected by the Professor are very curious. 
 
 An Austrian legend records that the Angel Michael gave to 
 Eve and her son Seth a spray with three leaves, plucked from the 
 Tree of Knowledge, with directions to plant it on the grave of 
 Adam. The spray took root and became a tree, which Solomon 
 placed as an ornament in the Temple of Jerusalem, and which was 
 cast into the piscina pwbatica, where it lay until the day of Christ's 
 condemnation, when it was taken out and fashioned into the Cross 
 on which He suffered. 
 
 A German legend narrates that Eve went with Seth to 
 Paradise, where she encountered the serpent ; but the Angel 
 Michael gave her a branch of Olive, which, planted over the grave 
 of Adam, grew rapidly. After the death of Eve, Seth returned to 
 Paradise, and there met the Angel, who had in his hands a branch 
 to which was suspended the half of the Apple which had been 
 bitten by his mother Eve. The Angel gave this to Seth, at the 
 same time recommending him to take as great care of it as of 
 the Olive planted on Adam's grave, because these two trees would 
 one day become the means of the redemption of mankind. Seth 
 scrupulously watched over the precious branch, and at the hour 
 of his death bequeathed it to the best of men. Thus it came into 
 the hands of Noah, who took it into the Ark with him. After the 
 Deluge, Noah sent forth the dove as a messenger, and it brought 
 
 • Treatise on the Legend of the Sacred Wood. Vienna, 1870. 
 
Ufie ITFee o^ eKelam. ig 
 
 to him a branch of the Olive planted on the tomb of Adam. Noah 
 religiously guarded the two precious branches which were destined 
 to be instrumental in redeeming the human race by furnishing the 
 wood of the Cross. 
 
 A second German legend states that Adam, when at the point 
 of death, sent Seth to Paradise to gather there for him some of the 
 forbidden fruit (probably this is a mistake for " some of the fruit 
 of the Tree of Life "). Seth hesitated, saying as an excuse that 
 he did not know the way. Adam directed him to follow a traft of 
 country entirely bare of vegetation. Arrived safely at Paradise, 
 Seth persuaded the angel to give him, not the Apple, but simply 
 the core of the Apple tasted by Eve. On Seth returning home, 
 he found his father dead ; so extradling from the Apple-core three 
 pips, he placed them in Adam's mouth. From them sprang three 
 plants that Solomon cut down in order to form a cross— the self- 
 same cross afterwards borne by our Saviour, and on which He 
 ■was crucified — and a rod of justice, which, split in the middle, 
 eventually served to hold the superscription written by Pilate, 
 and placed at the head of the Cross. 
 
 A legend, current in the Greek Church, claims the Olive as 
 the Tree of Adam : this, perhaps, is not suprising considering in 
 what high esteem the Greeks have always held the Olive. The 
 legend tells how Seth, going to seek the oil of mercy in Paradise, 
 in consequence of his father's illness, was told by the angel that 
 the time had not arrived. The angel then presented him with 
 three branches — the Olive, Cedar, and Cypress : these Seth was 
 ordered to plant over Adam's grave, and the promise was given 
 him that when they produced oil, Adam should rise restored to 
 health. Seth, following these instructions, plaited the three 
 branches together and planted them over the grave of his father, 
 where they soon became united as one tree. After a time this tree 
 was transplanted, in the first place to Mount Lebanon, and after- 
 wards to the outskirts of Jerusalem, and it is there to this day in the 
 Greek Monastery, having been cut down and the timber placed 
 beneath the altar. From this circumstance the Monastery was 
 called, in Hebrew, the Mother of the Cross. This same wood was 
 revealed to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba, and Solomon therefore 
 ordered it to be used in the foundation of a tower ; but the tower 
 having been rent in twain by an earthquake which occurred at our 
 Saviour's birth, the wood was cast into a pool called the prohatica 
 piscina, to which it imparted wonderful healing qualities.* 
 
 * Sir John Maundevile, who visited Jerusalem about the middle of the fourteenth 
 century, states that to the north of the Temple stood the Church of St. Anne, " oure 
 Ladyes modre: and there was our Lady conceyved. And before that chirche is a 
 cret tree, that began to growe the same nyght. . . . And in that chirche is a 
 welle, in manere of a cisterne, that is clept Probatica Piscina, that hath 5 entreez. 
 Into that welle aungeles were wont to come from Hevene, and bathen hem with mne : 
 and what man that first bathed him aftre the mevynge of the watre, was made hool of 
 what maner sykenes that he hadde." 
 
 C — 3 
 
20 
 
 pfant bore, Tsege^/, cmS teyno/". 
 
 There is another sonaewhat similar Greek legend, in which 
 Abraham takes the place of Adam, and the Pine supersedes the 
 Olive. According to this version, a shepherd met Abraham on the 
 banks of the Jordan, and confessed to him a sin he had committed. 
 Abraham listened, and counselled the erring shepherd to plant 
 three stakes, and to water them carefully until they should bud. 
 After forty days the three stakes had taken the form of a Cypress, a 
 Cedar, and a Pine, having different roots and branches, but one 
 indivisible trunk. This tree grew until the time of Solomon, who 
 wished to make use of it in the construction of the Temple. After 
 several abortive attempts, it was at length made into a seat for 
 visitors to the Temple. The Sibyl Erythrsea (the Queen of Sheba) 
 refused to sit upon it, and exclaimed: " Thrice blessed is this wood, 
 on which shall perish Christ, the King and God." Then Solomon 
 had the wood mounted on a pedestal and adorned with thirty rings 
 or crowns of silver. These thirty rings became the thirty pieces of 
 silver, the price of Judas, the betrayer, and the wood was eventually- 
 used for the Saviour's Cross. 
 

 
 !@! 
 
 
 --^^*.— ^^— *-. 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 )acresL iJree/ ^ pfai^t/ of tKe eKaeie^t/. 
 
 LL the nations of antiquity entertained for certain 
 trees and plants a special reverence, which in many- 
 cases degenerated into a superstitious worship. 
 The myths of all countries contain allusions 
 to sacred or supernatural plants. The Veda 
 mentions the heavenly tree which the lightning 
 strikes down ; the mythology of the Finns speaks 
 i of the celestial Oak which the sun-dwarf uproots ; 
 Yama, the Vedic god of death, sits drinking with companies of 
 the blessed, under a leafy tree, just as in the northern Saga Hel's 
 place is at the foot of the Ash Yggdrasill. 
 
 In the eyes of the ancient Persians the tree, by its changes 
 in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, appeared as the 
 emblem of human existence, whilst at the same time, by the con- 
 tinuity of its life, it was reverently regarded as a symbol of 
 immortality. Hence it came to pass that in Persia trees of unusual 
 qualities were in course of time looked upon as being the abode of 
 holy and even celestial spirits. Such trees became sacred, and 
 were addressed in prayer by the reverential Parsis, though they 
 eschewed the worship of idols, and honoured the sun and moon 
 simply as symbols. Ormuzd, the good spirit, is set forth as giving 
 this command : — " Go, O Zoroaster ! to the living trees, and let 
 thy mouth speak before them these words : I pray to the pure 
 trees, the creatures of Ormuzd." Of all trees, however, the 
 Cypress, with its pyramidal top pointing to the sky, was to the 
 Parsis the most venerated : hence they planted it before their 
 temples and palaces as symbolic of the celestial fire. 
 
 The Oak, the strongest of all trees, has been revered as the 
 emblem of the Supreme Being by almost all the nations of heathen- 
 dom, by the Jewish Patriarchs, and by the children of Israel, who 
 eventually came to esteem the tree sacred, and offered sacrifices 
 beneath its boughs. Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Teutons, and 
 Celts, all considered the Oak as sacred, and the Druids taught the 
 people of Britain to regard this tree with peculiar reverence and 
 
22 Ofant Tsore, begel^/, dni. bijriq/'. 
 
 respect. It is frequently mentioned by the Roman poets as the 
 tree of Jove, to whom it was dedicated ; and near to Chaonia-, a 
 mountamous part of Epirus, was a forest of Oaks, called the 
 Chaonian or Dodonaean Forest, where oracles were given, as some 
 say, by the trees themselves. The world-tree of Romowe, the 
 old centre of the Prussians, was an Oak, and it was reverenced as 
 a tree of great sanctity. 
 
 The Indians adored the treeAsoka, consecrated to Vishnu; and 
 the Banyan, in the belief that Vishnu was born amongst its 
 branches.* 
 
 The Soma-lata {Sarcostemma aphylla), or sacred plant yielding the 
 immortal fluid offered to the gods on the altars of the Brahmans, is 
 regarded with extreme reverence. The name Amrita, or Immortal 
 Tree, is given to the Euphorbia, Panicum Dactylon, Cocculus cordifolius, 
 Pinus Deodara, Emhlica officinalis, Terminalia citrina^ Piper longum, and 
 many others. The Holy Basil {Ocimum sanctum) is looked upon as a 
 sacred plant. The Deodar is the Devaddru or tree-god of the 
 Shastras, alluded to in Vedic hymns as the symbol of majesty and 
 power. 
 
 To Indra, the supreme god of the Vedic Olympus, are dedi- 
 cated the Terminalia Arjuna (the Tree of Indra), the Methonica superha 
 (the Flower of Indra), a species of Pumpkin called Indra-vdrunikd 
 (appertaining to Indra and Varuwa), the Vitex Negundo (the drink of 
 Indra), the Abrus precatorius, and Hemp (the food of Indra). 
 
 To Brahma are sacred the Butea frondosa, the Ficus glemerata, 
 the Mulberry (the seed of Brahma), the Clerodendron Siphonanthust 
 the Hemionitis cordifolia (leaf of Brahma), the Saccharum Munga (with 
 which is formed the sacred girdle of the Brahmans), and the Poa 
 cynosuroides, or Kusa Grass, a species of Vervain, employed in 
 Hindu sacrificial rites, and held in such sanctity as to be acknow- 
 ledged as a god. 
 
 The Peepul or Bo-tree {Ficus religiosa) is held sacred by 
 Buddhists as the Holy Tree and the Tree of Knowledge. 
 
 The Burmese Buddhists surround their Pagodas and religious 
 houses with trees, for which they entertain a high regard. The first 
 holy men dwelt under the shade of forest trees, and from that 
 circumstance, in the Burmese cultus, every Budh is specially con- 
 nected with some tree — as Shin Gautama with the Banyan, under 
 which he attained his full dignity, and the Shorea robusta, under which 
 
 * In the rites appertaining to the great sacrifice in honour of the god Vishnu at 
 the end of March, the following plants were employed, and consequently acquired a 
 sacred character in the eyes of the Indians ; — Sesamum seed, leaves of the Ajvattha, 
 Mango leaves, flowers of the Sami, Kunda flowers, the Lotus flower. Oleander 
 flowers, Nagakesara flowers, powdered Tulasi leaves, powdered Bel leaves, leaves 
 of the Kunda, Barley meal, meal of the Nivara grain (a wild paddy), powder of Sati 
 leaves. Turmeric powder, meal of the Syamaka grain, powdered Ginger, powdered 
 Priyangu seeds. Rice meal, powder of Bel leaves, powder of the leaves of the Amblic 
 Myrobalan, and Kangni seed meaL — An Imperial Assetnblage at Delhi Three Thousand 
 Years Aga. 
 
3ciorei_ ©Tree/- al^ti pfant/- o^ tRe eNrioient/-, 23 
 
 he was born and died — and, as we are told, the last Budh of this 
 world cycle, Areemadehya, will receive his Buddhaship under the 
 Mesua fewea. 
 
 The Burman also regards the Eugenia as a plant of peculiar 
 sanctity — a protective from all harm. The Jamboa, or Rose Apple, 
 is held in much reverence in Thibet, where it is looked upon as the 
 representative of the mystical Amnta, the tree which in Paradise 
 produces the amrita or ambrosia of the gods. 
 
 The Cedar has always been regarded by the Jews as a sacred 
 tree ; and to this day the Maronites, Greeks, and Armenians go 
 up to the Cedars of Lebanon, at the Feast of the Transfiguration, 
 and celebrate Mass at their feet. 
 
 To the ancient inhabitants of Northern Europe the Elm and 
 the Ash were objects of especial veneration. Many sacred trees 
 or pillars, formed of the living trunks of trees, have been found in 
 Germany, called Inninseule, one of which was destroyed by 
 Charlemagne in 772, in Westphalia. 
 
 The Mountain Ash, or Rowan Tree, was, in olden times, an 
 tobject of great veneration in Britain ; and in Evelyn's day was 
 deputed of such sanctity in Wales, that there was not a churchyard 
 that did not contain one. 
 
 The colossal Baobab {Adansonia) is worshipped as a divinity 
 by the negroes of Senegambia. The Nipa or Susa Palm {Nipa 
 fruticans) is the sacred tree of Borneo. The gigantic Dragon 
 Tree [Dracesna, Draco) of Orotava was for centuries the object of 
 deep reverence to the aborigines of the Canary Isles. The 
 Zamang of Guayra, an enormous Mimosa, has from time imme- 
 morial been held sacred in the province of Caracas. The Moriche 
 Palm {Mauritia flexuosa) is considered a deity by the Tamancas, a 
 tribe of Oronoco Indians, and is held sacred by the aboriginal 
 Mexicans. 
 
 The Nelumbo, or Sacred Bean [Nelumbium spedosum), was the 
 Lotus adored by the Ancient Egyptians, who also paid divine 
 honours to the Onion, Garlic, Acacia, Laurel, Peach-tree, Lentils 
 of various sorts, and the Heliotrope. Wormwood was dedicated 
 to Isis, and Antirrhinum, (supposed to be the ancient Cynocephalia^ 
 or Dog's Head) to Osiris. 
 
 The sacred Lotus of the East, the flower of the 
 
 " Old Hindu mythologies, wherein 
 The Lotus, attribute of Ganga— embleming 
 The world's great reproductive power — was held 
 In veneration," 
 
 was the NehmUum spedosum. This mystic flower is a native of 
 Northern Africa, India, China, Japan, Persia, and Asiatic Russia, 
 and in all these countries has, for centuries, maintained its sacred 
 character. It is the Lien-wha of the Chinese, and, according to 
 their theology, enters into the beverage of immortality. 
 
24 
 
 pfant feore, Tsegel^^/, and. Tsijr'icy, 
 
 Henna {Lawsonia alba), the flower of Paradise, is dedicated to 
 Mahomet, who charatfterised it as the " chief of the flowers of this 
 world and the next." 
 
 The Pomegranate-tree was highly reverenced both by the 
 Persians arid the Jews. The fruit was embroidered on the hem of 
 Aaron's sacred robe, and adorned the robes of Persia's ancient 
 Priest-Kings. 
 
 Pine-cones were regarded by the Assyrians as sacred symbols, 
 and as such were used in the decoration of their temples. 
 
 In Teutonic and Scandinavian mythology the Rose is sacred 
 to Hulda, the Flax to Bertha, the Spignel to Baldr, and the Hair 
 Moss {Polytrichum commune) is dedicated to Thor's wife, Sif. Of 
 the divinities after whom the days of the week were named, the 
 Sun has his special flower, the Moon her Daisy, Tyr [Tuesday) the 
 Tys-fiola or March Violet and the Mezereon ; Woden (Wednesday) 
 the Geranium sylvaticum (Odin's Favour) and the Monkshood (Odin's 
 Helm) ; Thor [Thursday) the Monkshood (Thor's Hat) and the 
 Burdock (Thor's Mantle) ; Frigg [Friday) and Freyja, who is often 
 confounded with her, had many plants dedicated to them, which 
 have since been transferred to Venus and the Virgin Mary, and 
 are not now recognised by the name of either of the Scandinavian 
 goddesses. In the North of Europe, however, the Supercilium 
 Veneris is still known as Freyja's Hair, and the perfumed Orchis 
 Gymnadenia conopsea as Frigg's Grass. Sseterne or Saetere [Saturday), 
 the supposed name of an Anglo-Saxon god, is probably but a mere 
 adaptation of the Roman Saturnus. It may, perhaps, be apposite 
 to quote (for what it may be worth) Verstegan's statement that the 
 Saxons represented "Seater" as carrying a pail of water in which 
 were flowers and fruits, whereby " was declared that with kindly 
 raine he would nourish the earth to bring foorth such fruites and 
 flowers." 
 
 In the Grecian and Roman mythology we find numerous trees 
 and flowers dedicated to the principal divinities. Thus, the 
 Alder was dedicated to Neptune. 
 
 Venus. 
 
 Mars. 
 
 Apollo. 
 
 Jupiter Ammon. 
 
 Apollo. 
 
 Pluto. 
 
 Juno, Diana, and Luna. 
 
 Mars. 
 
 Cybele and Neptune. 
 
 Phoebus Apollo. 
 
 Saturn. 
 
 Juno. 
 
 Bacchus. 
 
 Apollo. 
 
 Ash 
 
 
 
 Bay 
 
 
 
 Beech 
 
 
 
 Cornel Cherry 
 
 
 
 Cypress 
 
 
 
 Dittany 
 
 
 
 Dog-grass 
 
 
 
 Fir 
 
 
 
 Heliotrope 
 
 ) 
 
 
 Horsetail 
 
 
 
 Iris 
 
 
 
 Ivy 
 
 
 
 Laurel 
 
 
 
3<iei«e<:} Hfee/ ai^ ^fant/ of tFie J\ncierit/. 25 
 
 Lily _ was dedicated to Tuno. 
 
 Maidenhair , 
 
 
 , „ Pluto and Proserpine. 
 
 Myrtle , 
 
 
 
 , Venus and Mars. 
 
 Narcissus , 
 
 
 
 , Ceres, Pluto, and Proserpine. 
 
 Oak 
 
 
 
 , Jupiter. 
 
 Olive 
 
 
 
 , Minerva. 
 
 Palm 
 
 
 
 , Mercury. 
 
 Pine 
 
 
 
 , Neptune and Pan. 
 
 Pink 
 
 
 
 > , 
 
 upiter. 
 
 Pomegranate , 
 
 
 
 I , 
 
 uno. 
 
 Poplar , 
 
 
 
 1 J 
 
 iercules. 
 
 Poppy 
 
 
 
 , Ceres, Diana, and Somnus. 
 
 Rhamnus , 
 
 
 
 ,, Janus. 
 
 Rocket , 
 
 
 
 ,, Priapus. 
 
 Rose , 
 
 
 
 , Venus. 
 
 Vine , 
 
 
 t 
 
 , Bacchus. 
 
 Willow 
 
 
 ) 
 
 , Ceres. 
 
 To the Furies was consecrated the Juniper ; the Fates wore 
 wreaths of the Narcissus, and the Muses Bay-leaves. 
 
 The Grecian Centaurs, half men, half horses, like their Indian 
 brethren the Gandharvas, understood the properties of herbs, and 
 cultivated them ; but, as a rule, they never willingly divulged to 
 mankind their knowledge of the secrets of the vegetable world. 
 Nevertheless, the Centaur Chiron instructed jEsculapius, Achilles, 
 ^neas, and other heroes in the polite arts. Chiron had a panacea 
 of his own, which is named after him Chironia Centaunum, or 
 Gentiana Centaunum ; and, as a vulnerary, the Ampelos Chironia of 
 Pliny, or Tamus communis. In India, on account of the shape of 
 its leaves, the Ricinus communis is called Gandharvahasta (having the 
 hands of a Gandharva). 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 iJforaP (^ererr|oriIe/, ©Y^reatK/j aT^b 
 (SyarPaneL/, 
 
 HE application of flowers and plants to ceremonial 
 purposes is of the highest antiquity. From the 
 earliest periods, man, after he had discovered 
 
 " What drops the Myrrh and what the balmy Reed," 
 
 offered up on primitive altars, as incense to the 
 Deity, the choicest and most fragrant woods, the 
 aromatic gums from trees, and the subtle essences 
 he obtained from flowers. In the odorous but intoxicating fumes 
 which slowly ascended, in wreaths heavy with fragrance, from the 
 altar, the pious ancients saw the mystic agency by which their prayers 
 would be wafted from earth to the abodes of the gods ; and so, says 
 Mr. Rimmel, "the altars of Zoroaster and of Confucius, the temples 
 of Memphis, and those of Jerusalem, all smoked alike with incense 
 and sweet-scented woods." Nor was the admiration and use of 
 vegetable productions confined to the inhabitants of the old world 
 alone, for the Mexicans, according to the Abb6 Clavigero, have, from 
 time immemorial, studied the cultivation of flowers and odoriferous 
 plants, which they employed in the worship of their gods. 
 
 But the use of flowers and odorous shrubs was not long con- 
 fined by the ancients to their sacred rites ; they soon began to consider 
 them as essential to their domestic life. Thus, the Egyptians, 
 though they offered the finest fruit and the finest flowers to the gods, 
 and employed perfumes at all their sacred festivals, as well as at 
 their daily oblations, were lavish in the use of flowers at their 
 private entertainments, and in all circumstances of their every-day 
 life. At a reception given by an Egyptian noble, it was customary, 
 after the ceremony of anointing, for each guest to be presented 
 with a Lotus-flower when entering the saloon, and this flower the 
 guest continued to hold in his hand. Servants brought necklaces 
 of flowers composed chiefly of the Lotus ; a garland was put round 
 the head, and a single Lotus-bud, or a full-blown flower was so 
 
SJfofaP (sefemoniey. 27 
 
 attached as to hang over the forehead. Many of them, made up 
 into wreaths and devices, were suspended upon stands placed in the 
 room, garlands of Crocus and Saffron encircled the wine cups, and 
 over and under the tables were strewn various flowers. Diodorus 
 informs us that when the Egyptians approached the place of divine 
 worship, they held the flower of the Agrostis in their hand, inti- 
 mating that man proceeded from a well-watered land, and that he 
 required a mojgt rather than a dry aliment ; and it is not improbable 
 that the reason of the great preference given to the Lotus on these 
 occasions was derived from the same notion. 
 
 This fondness of the ancients for flowers was carried to such 
 an extent as to become almost a vice. When Antony supped with 
 Cleopatra, the luxurious Queen of Egypt, the floors of the apart- 
 ments were usually covered with fragrant flowers. When Sarda- 
 napalus, the last of the Assyrian monarchs, was driven to dire 
 extremity by the rapid approach of the conqueror, he chose the 
 death of an Easterp voluptuary : causing a pile of fragrant woods 
 to be lighted, and placing himself on it with his wives and treasures, 
 he soon became insensible, and was sufibcated by the aromatic 
 smoke. When Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king, held high 
 festival at Daphne, in one of the processions which took place, 
 boys bore Frankincense, Myrrh, and Safiiron on golden dishes, two 
 hundred women sprinkled everyone with perfumes out of golden 
 watering-pots, and all -vgho entered the gymnasium to witness the 
 games were anoint^ with some perfume contained in fifteen gold 
 dishes, holding Saffiron, Amaracus, Lilies, Cinnamon, Spikenard, 
 Fenugreek, &c. When the. Roman Emperor Nero sat at banquet in 
 his golden palace, a shower of flowers and perfumes fell upon him ; 
 but Helidgabalus turned these floral luxuries into veritable curses, 
 for it was one of the pleasures of this inhuman being to smother 
 his courtiers with flowers. 
 
 Both Greeks and Romans caried the delicate refinements of 
 the taste for flowers and perfumes to the greatest excess in their 
 costly entertainments ; and it is the opinion of Baccius that at 
 their desserts the number of their flowers far exceeded that of 
 their fruits. The odour of flowers was deemed potent to arouse 
 the fainting appetite ; and their presence was rightly thought to 
 enhance the enjoyment of the guests at their banqueting boards: — 
 
 " The ground is swept, and the triclinium clear, 
 The hands are purified, the goblets, too, 
 Well rinsed ; each guest upon his forehead bears 
 A wreath'd flow'ry crown ; from slender vase 
 A willing youth presents to each in turn 
 A sweet and costly perfume ; while the bowl, 
 Emblem of joy and social mirth, stands by, 
 Filled to the brim ; and then pours out wine 
 Of most delicious flavour, breathing round 
 Fragrance ol flowers, and honey newly made, 
 So grateful to the sense, that none refuse ; 
 While odoriferous. fumes fill all theioom."—XeKOpAants. 
 
In all places where festivals, games, or solemn ceremonials 
 were held, and whenever public rejoicings and gaiety were deemed 
 desirable, flowers were utilised with unsparing hands. 
 
 " Set before your doors 
 The images of all your sleeping fathers. 
 With Laurels crowned ; with Laurels wreath your posts. 
 And strew with flowers the pavement ; let the priest 
 Do present sacrifice ; pour out the wine, 
 And call the gods to join with you in gladness." — Dryden, 
 
 In the triumphal processions of Rome the streets were strewed 
 with flowers, and from the windows, roofs of houses, and scaSblds, 
 the people cast showers of garlands and flowers upon the crowds 
 below and upon the conquerors proudly marching in procession 
 through the city, Macaulay says — 
 
 " On ride they to the Forum, 
 
 While Laurel-boughs and flowers. 
 From house-tops and from windows, 
 ^ Fell on their crests in showers." 
 
 In the processions of the Corybantes, the goddess Cybele, the 
 protectress of cities, was pelted with white Roses. In the annual 
 festivals of the Terminalia, the peasants were all crowned with 
 garlands of flowers ; and at the festival held by the garideners in 
 honour of Vertumnus on August 23rd, wreaths of budding flowers 
 and the first-fruits of their gardens were offered by members of 
 the craft. 
 
 In the sacrifices of both Greeks and Romans, it was customary 
 to place in the hands of victims some sort of floral decoration, and 
 the presiding priests also appeared crowned with flowers. 
 
 " Thus the gay victim with fresh garlands crowned, 
 Pleased with the sacred pipe's enlivening sound. 
 Through gazing crowds in solemn state proceeds. 
 And dressed in fatal pomp, magnificently bleeds." — Phillips. 
 
 The place erected for offisrings was called by the Romans ara, 
 an altar. It was decorated with leaves and grass, adorned with 
 flowers, and bound with woollen fillets : on the occasion of a 
 " triumph " these altars smoked with perfumed incense. 
 
 The Greeks had a Nymph of Flowers whom they called Chloris, 
 and the Romans the goddess Flora, who, among the Sabines and 
 the Phoceans, had been worshipped long before the foundation of 
 the Eternal City. As early as the time of Romulus the Latins 
 mstituted a festival in honour of Flora, which was intended as a 
 public expression of joy at the appearance of the welcome blossoms 
 which were everywhere regarded as the harbingers of fruits. Five 
 hundred and thirteen years after the foundation of Rome the 
 Floralia, or annual floral games, were established; and after the 
 sibyllic books had been consulted, it was finally ordained that the 
 festival should be kept every 20th day of April, that is four days 
 
SPoraP (seremonie/, jd 
 
 before the calends of May— the day on which, in Asia Minor, the 
 festival of the floweirs commences. In Italy, France, and Germany, 
 the festival of the flowers, or the festival of spring, begins about the 
 same date — i.e., towards the end of April — and terminates on the 
 feast of St. John. 
 
 The festival of the Floralia was introduced into Britain by the 
 Romans ; and for centuries all ranks of people went out a-Maying 
 early on the first of the month. The juvenile part of both sexes, 
 in the north, were wont to rise a little after midnight, and walk to 
 some neighbouring wood, accompanied with music and the blowing 
 of horns, 
 
 " To get sweet Setywall [red Valerian], 
 The Honeysuckle, the H^rlock, 
 The Lily and the Lady-smock, 
 To deck their summer hall." 
 
 They also gathered branches from the trees, and adorned them 
 with nosegays and crowns of flowers, returning with their booty 
 homewards, about the rising of the sun, forthwith to decorate their 
 doors and windows with the flowery spoil. The after-part of the 
 day, says an ancient chronicler, was " chiefly spent in dancing 
 round a tall pole, which is called a May-pole ; which, being placed 
 in a convenient part of the village, stands there, as it were, 
 consecrated to the goddess of flowers, without the least violation 
 offered it in the whole circle of the year." 
 
 " Your May-pole deck with flowery coronal ; 
 Sprinkle the flowery coronal with wine ; 
 And in the nimble-footed galliard, all. 
 Shepherd and shepherdess, lively join, 
 Hither from village sweet and hamlet fair, 
 From bordering cot and distant glen repair : 
 Let youth indulge its sport, to old bequeath its care." 
 
 Old John Stowe tells us that on May-day, in the morning, 
 " every man, except impediment, would walk into the sweet 
 meadows and green woods, there to rejoice their spirits with the 
 beauty and savour of sweet flowers, and with the harmony of 
 birds praising God in their kind." In the days of Henry VIII. it 
 was the custom for all classes to observe the May-day festival, and 
 we are told that the king himself rode a-Maying from Greenwich to 
 Shooter's Hill, with his Queen Katherine, accompanied by many 
 lords and ladies. Chaucer relates how on May-day 
 
 " Went forth all the Court both most and least ; 
 To fetch the floures fresh, and branch and blome. 
 And namely Hawthorn brought both page and grome ; 
 And then rejoysen in their great delite, 
 Eke each at other threw the floures bright. 
 The Primrose, Violette, and the Golde, 
 With garlands partly blue and white." 
 
 The young maidens repaired at daybreak to the meadows and 
 hill-sides, for the purpose of gathering the precious May-dew, where- 
 
30 pfant bore, Ts&Q&r^f, aniS Tsi^ric/'. 
 
 with to make themselves fair for the remainder of the year. This 
 old custom is still extant in the north of England and in some 
 districts of Scotland. Robert Fergusson has told how the Scotch 
 lassies swarmed at daybreak on Arthur's Seat : 
 
 " On May-day in a fairy ring, 
 We've seen them round St. Anthon's spring 
 Frae grass the caller dew-draps wring, 
 
 To wet their ein, 
 And water clear as crystal spring. 
 
 To synd them clean." 
 
 In Ross-shire the lassies pluck sprigs of Ivy, with the May- 
 dew on them, that have not been touched by steel. 
 
 It was deemed important that flowers for May garlands and 
 posies should be plucked before the sun rose on May-day morning ; 
 and if perchance, Cuckoo-buds were included in the composition 
 of a wreath, it was destroyed directly the discovery was made, and 
 removed immediately from a posie. 
 
 In the May-day sports on the village green, it was customary 
 to choose as May Queen either the best dancer or the prettiest 
 girl, who, at sundown was crowned with a floral chaplet — 
 
 " See where she sits upon the grassie greene, 
 
 A seemly sight ! 
 Yclad in scarlet, like a mayden queene. 
 
 And ermines white. 
 Upon her head a crimson coronet, ) 
 
 With Daffodils and Damask Roses set : 
 
 Bay-leaves betweene. 
 
 And Primroses greeiie 
 Embellished the sweete Violet. — Spenser. 
 
 The coronation of the rustic queen concluded the out-door 
 festivities of May-day, although her majesty's duties would not 
 appear to have been fulfilled until she reached her home. 
 
 " Then all the rest in sorrow, 
 
 And she in sweet content, ' 
 
 Gave over till the morrow, 
 
 And homeward straight they went ; 
 But she of all the rest 
 
 Was hindered by the way, 
 For every youth that met her 
 
 Must kiss the Queen of May !" 
 
 At Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, there existed, till the beginning 
 of the present century, a ceremony which evidently derived its 
 origin froni the Roman Floralia. On the morning of May-day, a 
 train of youths collected themselves at a place still known as the 
 May-bank. From thence, with wands enwreathed with Cowslips 
 they walked in procession to the may-pole, situated at the west 
 end of the town, and adorned on that morning with every variety of 
 wild flowers. Here, with loud shouts, they struck together their 
 wands, and, scattering around the Cowslips, testified their thankful- 
 ness for the bounteous promise of spring. 
 
iJfomP Csefemonie/". 
 
 Aubrey (MS., 1686), tells us that in his day " at Woodstock in 
 Oxon they every May-eve goe into the parke, and fetch away a 
 number of Haw-thorne-trees, which they set before their dores." 
 In Huntingdonshire, fifty years ago, the village swains were 
 accustomed, at sunrise, to place a branch of May in blossom before 
 the door of anyone they wished to honour. In Tuscany the expres- 
 sion, Appiccare il maio ad una porta, has passed into a proverb, and 
 means to lay siege to a maiden's heart and make love to her. In 
 the vicinity of Valenciennes, branches of Birch or Hornbeam are 
 placed by rural swains at the doors of their sweethearts ; thorny 
 branches at the portals of prudes ; and Elder boughs at the doors 
 of flirts. In the villages of Provence, on May-day, they select a 
 May Queen. Crowned with a wreath, and adorned with garlands 
 of Roses, she is carried through the streets, mounted on a plat- 
 form, her companions soliciting and receiving the offerings of the 
 towns-people. In olden times it was customary even among the 
 French nobility to present May to friends and neighbours, or as it 
 was called, esmayer. Sometimes this presenting of May was 
 regarded as a challenge. The custom of planting a May-tree in 
 French towns subsisted until the 17th century: in 1610, one was 
 planted in the court of the Louvre. In some parts of Spain the 
 name of Maia is given to the May Queen (selected generally as 
 being the handsomest lass of the village), who, decorated with 
 garlands of flowers, leads the dances in which the young people 
 spend the day. The villagers in other provinces declare their love 
 by planting, during the preceding night, a large bough or a sapling, 
 decked with flowers, before the doors of their sweethearts. In 
 Greece, bunches of flowers are suspended over the doors of most 
 houses ; and in the rural districts, the peasants bedeck themselves 
 with flowers, and carry garlands and posies of wild flowers. 
 
 In some parts of Italy, in the May-day rejoicings, a May-tree 
 or a branch in blossom and adorned with fruit and ribbands, plays 
 a conspicuous part : this is called the Maggio, and is probably a 
 reminiscence of the old Grecian Eiresione. 
 
 Of the flowers specially dedicated to May, first and foremost 
 is the Hawthorn blossom. In some parts of England the Convallaria 
 is known as May Lily. The Germans call it Mai hlume, a name 
 they also apply to the Hepatica and Kingcup. In Devon and 
 Cornwall the Lilac is known as May-flower, and much virtue is 
 thought to be attached to a spray of the narrow-leaf Elm gathered 
 on May morning. 
 
 In Asia Minor the annual festival of flowers used to commence 
 on the 28th of April, when the houses and tables were covered 
 with flowers, and every one going into the streets wore a floral 
 crown. In Germany, France, and Italy, the fete of the flowers, or 
 the fete of spring, commences also towards the end of April, and 
 terminates at Midsummer. Athenians, on an early day in spring, 
 every year crowned with flowers all children who had reached theij 
 
32 pPant Tsore, feegeT^O/, ansl Tsijricy, 
 
 third year, and in this way the parents testified their joy that the Httle 
 ones had passed the age rendered critical by the maladies incident 
 to infants. The Roman Catholic priesthood, always alert at appropri- 
 ating popular pagan customs, and adapting them to the service of 
 their church, have perpetuated this old practice. The little children 
 crowned with flowers and habited as angels, who to this day 
 accompany the procession of the Corpus Domini at the beginning 
 of June, are taught to scatter flowers in the road, to symbolise their 
 own spring-time and the spring-time of nature. On this day, along 
 the entire route of the procession at Rome, the ground is thickly 
 strewn with Bay and other fragrant leaves. In the worship of the 
 Madonna, flowers play an important role, and Roman altars are 
 still piled up with fragrant blossoms, and still smoke with perfumed 
 incense. 
 
 After the feast of Whitsuntide, the young Russian maidens 
 repair to the banks of the Neva, and fling in its waters wreaths of 
 flowers, which are tokens of aSection to absent friends. 
 
 In the West of Germany and the greater part of France the 
 ceremony is observed of bringing home on the last harvest wain a 
 tree or bough decorated with flowers and gay ribbons, which is 
 graciously received by the master and planted on or near the house, 
 to remain there till the next harvest brings its successor. Some rite 
 of this sort, Mr. Ralston says, seems to have prevailed all over the 
 North of Europe. " So, in the autumnal harvest thanksgiving feast 
 at Athens, it was customary to carry in sacred procession an Olive- 
 branch wrapped in wool, called Eiresione, to the temple of ApoUo, 
 and there to leave it ; and in addition to this a similar bough was 
 solemnly placed beside the house door of every Athenian who was 
 engaged in fruit culture or agriculture, there to remain until 
 replaced by a similar successor twelve months later." 
 
 ®Y''®ff-^f ocoeri ij^. 
 From the earliest days of the Christian era our Lord's ascension 
 into heaven has been commemorated by various ceremonies, one of 
 which was the perambulation of parish boundaries. At Penkridge, in 
 Staffordshire, as well as at Wolverhampton, long after the Reforma- 
 tion, the inhabitants, during the time of processioning, used to adorn 
 their wells with boughs and flowers ; and this ancient custom is 
 •still practised every year at Tissington, in Derbyshire, where it is 
 known as " well-flowering." There are five wells so decorated, 
 and the mode of dressing or adorning them is this :— the flowers 
 are inserted in moist clay and put upon boards cut in various forms, 
 surrounded with boughs of Laurel and White Thorn, so as to give 
 the appearance of water issuing from small grottoes. The flowers 
 are arranged in various patterns, to give the effect of mosaic 
 work, and are inscribed with texts of Scripture and suitable 
 mottoes. After church, the congregation walk in procession to 
 the wells and decorate them with these boards, as well as with 
 
eJforaP (scfemonieiS). 
 
 3^ 
 
 garlands of flowers, boughs, &c. Flowers were cast into the wells, 
 and from their manner of falling, lads and lasses divined as to 
 the progress of their love affairs. 
 
 " Bring flowers I bring flowers ! to the crystal well. 
 That springs 'neath the Willows in yonder dell. 
 
 And we'll scatter them over the charmed well. 
 And learn our fate from its mystic spell." 
 
 " And she whose flower most tranquilly 
 Glides down the stream our Queen shall be. 
 In a crown we'll wreath 
 Wild flowers thiit breathe ; 
 And the maiden by whom this wreath shall be worn 
 Shall wear it again on her bridal mom." — Merritt. 
 
 Before the Reformation the Celtic population of Scotland, the 
 Hebrides, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall were in the habit of 
 naming wells and springs after different saints and martyrs. 
 Though forbidden by the canons of St. Anselm, many pilgrimages 
 continued to be made to them, and the custom was long retained 
 of throwing nosegays into springs and fountains, and chaplets into 
 wells. Sir Walter Scott tells us that " in Perthshire there are 
 several wells dedicated to St. Fillan, which are still places of 
 pilgrimage and offerings, even among Protestants." 
 
 " Thence to St. Fillan's blessed well. 
 Whose spring can frenzied dreams dispel, 
 And the crazed brain restore." 
 
 Into some of these Highland wells flowers are cast, and occasionally 
 pins, while the surrounding bushes are hung with rags and shreds, 
 in imitation of the old heathen practice. The ceremony of sprinkling 
 rivers with flowers was probably of similar origin. Milton and 
 Dryden both allude to this custom being in vogue as regards 
 the Severn, and this floral rite is described in ' The Fleece ' as 
 
 follows : — 
 
 " With light fantastic toe the nymphs 
 Thither assembled, thither every swain ; 
 And o'er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers, 
 Pale Lilies, Roses, Violets, and Pinks, 
 Mix'd with the greens of Burnet, Mint, and Thyme, 
 And Trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms. 
 Such custom holds along th' irriguous vales, 
 From Wreken's brow to rocky Dolvoryn, 
 Sabrina's early haunt." 
 
 J^nc^aP UPomP (seremonie;^. 
 
 In all countries flowers have from time immemorial been 
 chosen as the happy accompaniment of bridal ceremonies. Among 
 the ancients it was customary to crown newly-married persons 
 with a chaplet of red and white Roses. On arriving at the house 
 of her husband, the Roman bride found woollen fillets round the 
 
-J A pfant bore, hegarpf, onl Tsijrio/. 
 
 door-posts, which were adorned with evergreens and blossoms, and 
 anointed with the fat of wolves to avert enchantment. 
 
 In M. Barthelemi's ' Travels of Young Anacharsis ' the author, 
 describing a marriage ceremony in the Island of Delos, says that 
 the inhabitants of the island assembled at daybreak, crowned 
 with flowers; flowers were strewn in the path of the bride and 
 bridegroom; and the house was garlanded with them. Singers 
 and dancers appeared crowned with Oak, Myrtles, and Hawthorn. 
 The bride and bridegroom were crowned with Poppies, and upon 
 their approach to the temple, a priest received them at the 
 entrance, and presented to each a branch of Ivy — a symbol of the 
 tie which was to unite them for ever.* 
 
 At Indian nuptials, the wedding wreath, the varamala, united 
 bride and bridegroom. At the marriage feasts of the Persians, a 
 little tree is introduced, the branches of which are laden with 
 fruit : the guests endeavour to pluck these without the bridegroom 
 perceiving them ; if successful, the latter has to make them a 
 present ; if, however, a guest fails, he has to give the bridegroom 
 a hundred times the value of the object he sought to remove from 
 the tree. 
 
 In Germany, among the inhabitants of Oldenburg, there exists 
 a curious wedding custom. When the bridegroom quits his 
 father's roof to settle in some other town or village, he has his 
 bed linen embroidered at the corners with flowers surmounted by 
 a tree, on whose branches are perched cock birds : on each side 
 of the tree are embroidered the bridegroom's initials. In many 
 European countries it is customary to plant before the house of a 
 newly-married couple, one or two trees, as a symbol of the good 
 luck wished them by their friends. 
 
 iJforaf (SJame/- a7|Q ©feMv^aP/-, 
 
 Floral games have for many years been held at Toulouse, 
 Barcelona, Tortosi, and other places ; but the formfer are the most 
 famed, both on account of their antiquity and the value of the 
 prizes distributed during the fetes. The ancient city of Toulouse 
 had formerly a great reputation for literature, which had, however, 
 been allowed to decline until the visit of Charles IV. and his bride 
 determined the capitouls or chief magistrates to make an effort to 
 restore its prestige as the centre of Proven9al song. Troubadours 
 there were who, banded together in a society, met in the garden 
 of the Augustine monks to recite their songs, sirvenfes, and ballads ; 
 and in order to foster the latent taste for poetry, the capitouls 
 invited the poets of the Langue d'oc, to compete for a golden 
 Violet to be awarded to the author of the best poem produced on 
 
 • ' Voyage' du feune Anacharsis en dice, vers U miliat du quatriime sikle 
 avant Fere vulgaire.' 
 
iJforaf dieremonien^, -»c 
 
 May 4th, 1324. The competition created the greatest excitement, 
 and great numbers of people met to hear the judges' decision: 
 they awarded the golden Violet to Arnaud Vidal for his poem 
 in honour of the Virgin. In 1355, three prizes were offered— a 
 golden Violet for the best song ; an Eglantine (Spanish Jasmine); 
 for the best sirvente, or finest pastoral ; and a Flor-de-gang (yellow 
 Acacia) for the best ballad. In later years four prizes were 
 competed for, viz., an Amaranth, a Violet, a Pansy, and a Lily. 
 In 1540, Clemence Isaure, a poetess, bequeathed the bulk of her 
 fortune to the civic authorities to be expended in prizes for poetic 
 merits, and in fites to be held on the ist and 3rd of May. She 
 was interred in the church of La Daurade, on the high altar of 
 which are preserved the golden flowers presented to the successful 
 competitors at the Floral Games. The ceremonies of the fites thus 
 revived by Clemence Isaure commenced with the strewing of her 
 tomb with Roses, followed by mass, a sermon, and alms-giving. 
 In 1694, the Jeux Floraux were merged into the Academy of Belles 
 Lettres, which gives prizes, but almost exclusively to French poets. 
 The festival, interrupted by the Revolution, was once more 
 revived in 1806, and is still held annually in the Hotel-de-Ville, 
 Toulouse. 
 
 St. Medard, Bishop of Noyon, in France, instituted in the 
 sixth century a festival at Salency, his birth-place, for adjudging a 
 most interesting prize offered by piety to virtue. This prize 
 consists of a simple crown of Roses bestowed on the girl who is 
 ■acknowledged by all her competitors to be the most amiable, 
 modest, and dutiful.- The founder of this festival had the pleasure 
 of crowning his own sister as the first Rosiere of Salency. This 
 simple institution still survives, and the crown of Roses continues 
 to be awarded to the most virtuous of the maidens of the obscure 
 French village. A similar prize is awarded in the East of London 
 by an active member of the Roman Catholic Church — the ceremony 
 of crowning the Rose Queen being performed annually in the Crystal 
 Palace at Sydenham. 
 
 In the middle ages the Queen of Flowers contributed to a 
 singular popular festival at Treviso, in Italy. In the middle of the 
 city the inhabitants erected a mock castle of upholstery. The most 
 distinguished unmarried females of the place defended the fortress, 
 which was attacked by the youth of the other sex. The missiles 
 with which both parties fought consisted of Roses, Lilies, Narcissi, 
 Violets, Apples, and Nuts, which were hurled at each other by the 
 combatants. Volleys of Rose-water and other perfumes were also 
 discharged by means of syringes. This entertainment attracted 
 thousands of spectators from far and near, and the Emperor 
 Frederick Barbarossa himself accounted it a most pleasmg 
 
 diversion. . .„ • ti ■ 
 
 The custom of pelting with Roses is still common in Persia, 
 where it is practised during the whole season that these flowers are 
 
 D — 2 
 
36 pfant lsof&, Tseg&r^f, dnS. Taqfiq/", 
 
 o 
 
 blooming. A company of young men repair to the places of public 
 entertainment to amuse the guests with music, singing, and dancing, 
 and in their way through the streets they pelt the passengers 
 whom they meet with Roses, and generally receive a small gratuity 
 in return. 
 
 Striking features of the Japanese festival on New Year's Day 
 are the decorations erected in front of nearly every door, of which 
 Mr. Dixon tells us the principal objects are, on the right a Pinus 
 densiflora, on the left a P. Thunbergius, both standing upright : the 
 former is supposed to be of the female and the latter of the male 
 sex, and both symbolise a robust age that has withstood the storms 
 and trials of life. Immediately behind each of the Pines is a 
 Bamboo, the straight stem of which, with the knots marking its 
 growth, indicates hale life and fulness of years. A straw rope of 
 about six feet in length connects the Bamboos seven or more feet 
 from the ground, thus completing the triumphal arch. In the 
 centre of the rope (which is there to ward off evil spirits) is a group 
 in which figures a scarlet lobster, the bent back of which symbolises 
 old age : this is embedded in branches of the Melia Japonica, the 
 older leaves of which still remain after the young ones have burst 
 forth. So may the parents continue to flourish while children and 
 grandchildren spring forth ! Another plant in the central group is 
 the Polypodium dicotomon, a Fern which is regarded as a symbol of 
 conjugal life, because the fronds spring in pairs from the stem. 
 There are also bunches of seaweed, which have local significance, 
 and a lucky bag, filled with roasted Chesnuts, the seeds of the 
 Torveya mcifera, and the dried fruit of the Kaki. 
 
 All the nations of antiquity — Indians, Chinese, Medes, Persians, 
 Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans- 
 were accustomed to deck themselves, their altars, and their dweUings 
 with flowers, and to weave chaplets and garlands of leaves and 
 blossoms. In the Vedic Vishmpurdna, the sage Durvisas (one of 
 the names of Siva, the destroyer), receives of the goddess 5ri (the 
 Indian Venus) a garland of flowers gathered from the trees of 
 heaven. Proceeding on his way, he meets the god Indra, seated on 
 an elephant, and to pay him homage he places on his brow the 
 garland, to which the bees fly in order to suck the ambrosia. The 
 Persians were fond of wearing on their heads crowns made of 
 Myrrh and a sweet-smelling plant called Labyzus. Antiochus 
 Epiphanes, the Syrian king, once held some games at Daphne, to 
 which thousands of guests were invited, who, after being richly 
 feasted, were sent away with crowns of Myrrh and Frankincense. 
 Josephus, in his history of the Jews, has recorded the use of crowns 
 S- u *™^ Moses, and on certain occasions the mitre of the 
 High Priest was adorned with a chaplet of Henbane {Hyoscyamus 
 
aJforaf (ssremonie/'. 37 
 
 niger). Wreaths and chaplets were in common use among the 
 Egyptians at a very early period; and ahhough the Lotus was 
 principally preferred in their formation, many other flowers and 
 leaves were employed — as of the Chrysanthemum, Acinos, Acacia, 
 Strychnos, Persoluta, Anemone, Convolvulus, Olive, Myrtle, 
 Amaraciis, Xeranthemum, Bay-tree, and others. Plutarch says 
 that when Agesilaus visited Egypt, he was so delighted with the 
 chaplets of Papyrus sent him by the King, that he took some home 
 when he returned to Sparta. In India, Greece, and Rome, the 
 sacrificial priests were crowned, and their victims were decorated 
 with garlands of flowers. 
 
 In ancient Greece and Rome the manufacture of garlands and 
 chaplets became quite an art, so great was the estimation in which 
 these adornments were held by these highly-civihsed nations. With 
 them the composition of a garland possessed a deep significance, 
 and warriors, statesmen, and poets alike coveted these simple 
 insignia at the hands of their countrymen. Pliny tells us that the 
 Sicyonians were considered to surpass all other people in the art 
 of arranging the colours of garlands and imparting to them the 
 most agreeable mixture of perfumes. They derived this taste from 
 Glycera, a woman so skilled in the art of arranging chaplets and 
 garlands that she won the affection of Pausias, a celebrated painter, 
 who delighted in copying the wreaths of flowers so deftly arranged 
 by his mistress. Some of these pictures were still in existence when 
 PUny wrote, four hundred and fifty years after they were painted. 
 Cato, in his treatise on gardens, directs specially that they should 
 be planted with such flowers as are adapted for chaplets and 
 wreaths. Phny states that Mnestheus and Callimachus, two 
 renowned Greek physicians, compiled several books on the virtues 
 of chaplets, pointing out those hurtful to the brain, as well as those 
 which had a beneficial influence on the wearer ; for both Greeks 
 and Romans had found, by experience, that certain plants and 
 flowers facihtated the functions of the brain, and assisted materially 
 to neutralise the inebriating qualities of wine. Thus, as Horace tells 
 us, the floral chaplets worn by guests at feasts were tied with the 
 bark of the Linden to prevent intoxication. 
 
 " I tell thee, boy, that I detest 
 The grandeur of a Persian feast; 
 Nor for me the binder's rind 
 Shall no flow'ry chaplet bind. 
 Then search not where the curious Rose, 
 Beyond his season loitering grows ; 
 But beneath the mantling Vme, 
 While I quaff the flowing wine, 
 The Myrtle's wreath shall crown our brows. 
 While you shall wait and I carouse." 
 
 Besides the guests at feasts, the attendants were decorated with 
 wreaths and the%ine-cups and apartments adorned with flowers 
 JromaA anecdote related by Pliny we learn that .t was a frequent 
 
38 pPant bore, TsegeT^/, oHS Tsijrio/. 
 
 custom, common to both Greeks and Romans, to mix the flpwers 
 of their chaplets in their wine, when they pledged the healths of 
 their friends. Cleopatra, to ridicule the mistrust of Antony, who 
 would never eat or drink at her table without causing his taster to 
 test every viand, lest any should be poisoned, commanded a chaplet 
 of flowers to be prepared for the Roman General, the edges of 
 which were dipped in the most deadly poison, whilst that which 
 was woven for her own brow was, as usual, mixed with aromatic 
 spices. At the banquet Antony received his coronet of flowers, 
 and when they had become cheerful through the aid of Bacchus, 
 Cleopatra pledged him in wine, and taking off" the wreath from her 
 head, and rubbing the blossoms into her goblet, drank off the 
 contents. Antony was following her example, but just as he had 
 raised the fatal cup to his lips, the Queen seized his arm, exclaiming, 
 " Cure your jealous fears, and learn that I should not have to seek 
 the means of your destruction, could I live without you." She then 
 ordered a prisoner to be brought before them, who, on drinking the 
 wine from Antony's goblet, instantly expired in their presence. 
 
 The Romans wore garlands at sacred rites, games and 
 festivals, on journeys and in war. When an army was freed from 
 a blockade its deliverer was presented with a crown composed of 
 the Grass growing on the spot. In modern heraldry, this crown of 
 Grass is called the Crown Obsidional, and appertains to the 
 general who has held a fortress against a besieging army and 
 ultimately relieved it from the assailants. To him who had saved 
 the life of a Roman soldier was given a chaplet of' Oak-leaves ; this 
 is the modern heraldic civic crown bestowed on a brave soldier 
 who has saved the life of a comrade or has rescued him after having 
 been taken prisoner by the enemy. The glories of all grand deeds 
 were signalized by the crown of Laurel among both Greeks and 
 Romans. This is the heraldic Crown Triumphant, adjudged in 
 our own times to a general who has achieved a signal victory. 
 The Romans were not allowed by law to appear in festal garlands 
 on ordinary occasions. Hence Caesar valued most highly the 
 privilege accorded him by the Senate of wearing a Laurel crown, 
 because it screened his baldness, which, both by the Romans and 
 Jews, was considered a deformity. This crown was generally 
 composed of the Alexandrian Laurel (Ruscus Hypoglossum) — the 
 Laurel usually depicted on busts and coins. The victors at the 
 athletic games were adjudged crowns differing in their composition 
 according to the place in which they had won their honours. Thus, 
 crowns of 
 
 Olive were given at the Olympic games. 
 
 Beech, Laurel, or Palm „ „ „ „ Pythian „ 
 
 Parsley „ „ „ „ Nemean „ 
 
 Pine „ ,, ,, „ Isthmian „ 
 
 It IS not too much to say that Greeks and Romans employed 
 arlands, wreaths, and festoons of flowers on every possible 
 
SPofaf (seremonle^, ^9 
 
 occasion; they adorned with them the sacrificial victims, the statue 
 of the god to whom sacrifice was offered, and the priest who per- 
 formed the rite. They placed chaplets on the brows of the dead, 
 and strewed their graves with floral wreaths, whilst at their funeral 
 feasts the parents of the departed one encircled their heads with 
 floral crowns. They threw them to the successful actors on the 
 stage. They hung with garlands the gates of their cities on days 
 of rejoicing. They employed floral wreaths at their nuptials. 
 Nearly all the plants composing these wreaths had a symbolical 
 meaning, and they were varied according to the seasons and the 
 circumstances of the wearer. The Hawthorn adorned Grecian 
 brides; but the bridal wreath of the Romans was usually com- 
 posed of Verbena, plucked by the bride herself. Holly wreaths 
 were sent as tokens of good wishes. Chaplets of Parsley and Rue 
 were worn to keep off evil spirits. 
 
 But the employment of garlands has by no means been con- 
 fined to the ancients. At the present day the inhabitants of India 
 make constant use of them. The Brahmin women, who burn 
 themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands, deck their 
 persons with chaplets and garlands, and present wreaths to the 
 young women who attend them at this terrible sacrifice. The 
 young Indian girls adorn themselves with garlands during the 
 festival of Kamadeva, the god of love, which takes place during the 
 last days of spring. In the nuptial ceremonies of India, the garland 
 of flowers is still a feature which possesses a recognised symbolic 
 value. In Northern India garlands of the African Marigold are 
 placed on the trident emblem of Mah^deva, and both male and 
 female worshippers wear chaplets composed of the same sacred 
 flower on his festivals. The Moo-le-hm, a fragrant Jasmine, is 
 employed in China and other Eastern countries in formmg wreaths 
 for the decoration of ladies' hair, and an Olive crown is still the 
 reward of literary merit in China. The Japanese of both sexes 
 are fond of wearing wreaths of fragrant blossoms. 
 
 The Italians have artificers called Festaroh, whose especial 
 office it is to manufacture garlands and festoons of flowers and 
 other decorations for feasts. The maidens of Greece, Germany, 
 and Roumania still bear wreaths of flowers in certain processions 
 which have long been customary in the spring of the year. The 
 Swiss peasants are fond of making garlands, for rural festivities, of 
 the Globe-flower (Trollius Europaus), which grows freely on all the 
 chain of the Alps. In Germany a wreath of Vervain is presented 
 to the newly-married, and in place of the wreath of Orange- 
 blossoms which decorates the brow of the bride in England, France 
 and America, a chaplet of Myrtle is worn. The blossom of the 
 SwTor bitter Orange is most prized for wreaths and favours 
 when the fresh flowers can be procured. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 pPanI/ of tfte (^Hnj-iiari (^Ruro^, 
 
 FTER Rome Pagan became Rome Christian, the 
 priests of the Church of Christ recognised the 
 importance of utihsing the connexion which 
 existed between plants and the old pagan 
 worship, and bringing the floral world into active 
 co-operation with the Christian Church by the 
 institution of a floral symbolism which should be 
 associated not only with the names of saints, but 
 also with the Festivals of the Church. 
 
 But it was more especially upon the Virgin Mary that the 
 early Church bestowed their floral symbolism. Mr. Hepworth Dixon, 
 writing of those quiet days of the Virgin's life, passed purely and 
 tenderly among the flowers of Nazareth, says — " Hearing that 
 the best years of her youth and womanhood were spent, before she 
 yet knew grief, on this sunny hill and side slope, her feet being for 
 ever among the Daisies, Poppies, and Anemones, which grow 
 everywhere about, we have made her the patroness of all our 
 flowers. The Virgin is our Rose of Sharon — our Lily of the 
 Valley. The poetry no less than the piety of Europe has inscribed 
 to her the whole bloom and colouring of the fields and hedges;" 
 
 The choicest flowers were wrested from the classic Juno, 
 Venus, and Diana, and from the Scandinavian Bertha and Freyja, 
 and bestowed upon the Madonna, whilst floral ofierings of every 
 sort were laid upon her shrines. 
 
 Her husband, Joseph, has allotted to him a white Campanula, 
 which in Bolc^na is known as the little Staff of St. Joseph. In 
 Tuscany the name of St. Joseph's staff is given to the Oleander : a 
 legend recounts that the good Joseph possessed originally only an 
 ordinary staff, but that when the angel announced to him that he 
 was destined to be the husband of the Virgin Mary, he became so 
 radiant with joy, that his very staflF flowered in his hand. 
 
 Before our Saviour's birth, the Virgin Mary, strongly desiring 
 to refresh herself with some luscious cherries that were hanging in 
 
pfaafA of tfte >^irgir2 Mar^. 41 
 
 clusters upon the branch of a tree, asked Joseph to gather some for 
 uMj hesitated, and mockingly said—" Let the father of thy 
 
 child present them to you." Instantly the branch of the Cherry- 
 tree inclined itself to the Virgin's hand, and she plucked from it 
 the refreshing fruit. On this account the Cherry has always been 
 dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The Strawberry, also, is specially 
 set apart to the Virgin's use ; and in the Isle of Harris a species 
 of Beans, called MoUuka Beans, are called, after her, the Virgin 
 Mary's Nuts. 
 
 At Bethlehem, the manger in which the Infant Jesus was laid 
 after His birth was filled with Our Lady's Bedstraw (Galium verum). 
 Some few drops of the Virgin's milk fell upon a Thistle, which 
 from that time has had its leaves spotted with white, and is known 
 as Our Lady's Thistle (Carduus Marianus). In Germany the Poly- 
 podium vulgare, which grows in clefts of rocks, is believed to have 
 sprung from the milk of the Virgin (in ancient times from Freyja's 
 milk). The Pulmonaria is also known as Unser Frauen Milch (Our 
 Lady's Milk). ^ 
 
 When, after the birth of Jesus, His parents fled into Egypt, 
 traditions record that in order that the Virgin might conceal herself 
 and the infant Saviour from the assassins sent out by Herod, 
 various trees opened, or stretched their branches and enlarged their 
 leaves. As the Juniper is dedicated to the Virgin, the Italians 
 consider that it was a tree of that species which thus saved the 
 mother and child, and the Juniper is supposed to possess the 
 power of driving away evil spirits and of destroying magical spells. 
 The Palm, the Willow, and the Rosemary have severally been 
 named as having afforded their shelter to the fugitives. On the 
 other hand, the Lupine, according to a tradition still current 
 among the Bolognese, received the maledictions of the Virgin 
 Mary because, during the flight, certain plants of this species, by 
 the noise they made, drew the attention of the soldiers of Herod 
 to the spot where the harassed travellers had halted. 
 
 During the flight into Egypt a legend relates that certain 
 precious bushes sprang up by the fountain where the Virgin 
 washed the swaddling clothes of her Divine babe. These bushes 
 were produced by the drops of water which fell from the clothes, 
 and from which germinated a number of little plants, each yielding 
 precious balm. Wherever the Holy Family rested in their flight 
 sprang up the Rosa Hierosolymitana — the Rosa Maria, or Rose of the 
 Virgin. Near the city of On there was shown for many centuries the 
 sacre5 Fig-tree under which the Holy Family rested. They also, 
 according to Bavarian tradition, rested under a Hazel. 
 
 pfanl"(i) of tfte ^irgii2 Mai-^. 
 
 In Tuscany there grows on walls a rootless little peUitory 
 (Parietaria), with tiny pale-pink flowers and small leaves. They 
 
42 pPant Tsore, Isege^/, and, Tsiijtiaf, 
 
 gather it on the morning of the Feast of the Ascension, and suspend 
 it on the walls of bed-rooms till the day of the Nativity of the Virgin 
 (8th September), from which it derives its name — the Herb of the 
 Madonna. It generally opens its flowers after it has been gathered, 
 retaining sufficient sap to make it do so. This opening of a cut 
 flower is regarded by the peasantry as a token of the special 
 blessing of the Virgin. Should the flower not open, it is taken as 
 an omen of the Divine displeasure. In the province of Bellune, in 
 Italy, the Matricaria Parthmium is called the Herb of the Blessed 
 Mary : this flower was formerly consecrated to Minerva. 
 
 In Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, they give the name of 
 Mariengras (Herb of Mary) to different Ferns, and in those coun- 
 tries Mary often replaces the goddess Freyja, the Venus of the 
 North, in the names of flowers. No doubt the monks of old 
 delighted in bestowing upon the Virgin Mary the floral attributes 
 of Venus, Freyja, Isis, and other goddesses of the heathen ; but, 
 nevertheless, it is not long since that a Catholic writer complained 
 that at the Reformation " the very names of plants were changed 
 in order to divert men's minds from the least recollection of ancient 
 Christian piety ; " and a Protestant writer of the last century, 
 bewailing the ruthless action of the Puritans in giving to the 
 " Queen of Beauty " flowers named after the " Queen of Heaven," 
 says : " Botany, which in ancient times was full of the Blessed 
 Virgin Mary, .... is now as full of the heathen Venus." 
 
 Amongst the titles of honour given to the Virgin in the 
 ' Ballad of Commendation of Our Lady,' in the old editions of 
 Chaucer, we find: " Benigne braunchlet of the Pine tree." 
 
 In England " Lady " in the names of plants generally has 
 allusion to Our Lady, Notre Dame, the Virgin Mary. Our Lady's 
 Mantle {Alchemilla vulgaris) is the M4riu Stakkr of Iceland, which 
 insures repose when placed beneath the pillow. Scandix Pecten was 
 Our Lady's Comb, but in Puritan times was changed into Venus' 
 Comb. The Cardamine praUnsis is Our Lady's Smock ; Neottia spiralis, 
 Our Lady's Tresses ; Armeria vulgaris, Our Lady's Cushion ; Anthyllis 
 vulneraria. Our Lady's Fingers ; Camparmla hyhrida, OurLady's Look- 
 ing-glass ; Cypripedium Calceolus, Our Lady's SHpper ; the Cowslip, 
 Our Lady's Bunch of Keys ; Black Briony, Our Lady's Seal (a 
 name which has been transferred from Solomon's Seal, of which 
 the 'Grete Herbal' states, " It is al one herbe, Solomon's Seale and 
 Our Lady's Seale"). Quaking Grass, Briza media, is Our Ladys 
 Hair; Maidenhair Fern, the Virgin's Hair; Mary-golds {Calendula 
 officinalis) and Mary-buds {Caltha palustris) axe both named a:^er the 
 Virgin Mary. The Campanula and the Digitalis are in France the 
 Gloves of Mary; the Nardus Celtica is by the Germans called 
 ManenUumen ; the White-flowered Wormwood is Unser Frauen Rauch 
 (Smoke of Our Lady) ; Mentha spicata is in French, Menthe de Notre 
 Dame — in German, Unser Frauen Muntz ; the Costus kortensis, the 
 Eupatorium, the Matricaria, the Gallitrichum sativum, the Tanacetum, the 
 
pfaaf(& of ©ur 3<i'«'ioui?' 
 
 Persuana, and a Panetaria are all, according to Bauhin, dedicated 
 to the Virgin Mary. The name of Our Lady's Tears, or Larmes de 
 Satnte Mane, has been given to the Lily of the Valley, as well as to the 
 Lithospermon of Dioscorides, the Satyrium maculatum, and the Satyrium 
 basihcum majus. The Narcissus Italicus is the Lily of Mary. The Toad 
 Flax is in France Lin de Notre Dame, in Germany, UnserFrauen Flacks. 
 The Dead-Nettie is Main de Sainte Marie. Besides the Alchemilla, 
 the Leontopodium, the Drosera, and the Sanicula major are called on 
 the Continent Our Lady's Mantle. Woodroof, Thyme, Groundsel, 
 and St. John's Wort form the bed of Mary. 
 
 In Piedmont they give the name of the Herb of the Blessed 
 Mary to a certain plant that the birds are reputed to carry to their 
 young ones which have been stolen and imprisoned in cages, in 
 order that it shall cause their death and thus deUver them from 
 their slavery. 
 
 The Snowdrop is the Fair Maid of February, as being sacred 
 to the Purification of the Virgin (February 2nd), when her image 
 was removed from the altar and Snowdrops strewed in its place. 
 
 To the Madonna, in her capacity of Queen of Heaven, were 
 dedicated the Almond, the White Iris, the White Lily, and the 
 Narcissus, all appropriate to the Annunciation (March 25th). 
 The Lily and White and Red Roses were assigned to the Visitation 
 of Our Lady (July 2nd) : these flowers are typical of the love and 
 purity of the Virgin Mother. To the Feast of the Assumption 
 (August 1 5th) is assigned the Virgin's Bower (Clematis Flammula); to 
 the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (September 8th) the Amellus (Aster 
 Amellus); and to the Conception (December 8th) the Arbor Vitse. 
 
 St. Dominick instituted the " Devotion of the Rosary " of the 
 Virgin Mary — a series of prayers, to mark the repetition of which a 
 chaplet of beads is employed, which consists of fifteen large and 
 one hundred and fifty small beads ; the former representing the 
 number of Pater Nosters, the latter the number of A ve Marias. As 
 these beads were formerly made of Rose-leaves tightly pressed into 
 round moulds, where real Roses were not strung together, this 
 chaplet was called a Rosary, and was blessed by the Pope or some 
 other holy person before being so used^ 
 
 Valeriana sativa is in France called Herbe de Marie Magdaleine, 
 in Germany Marien Magdalenen Kraut; the Pomegranate is the 
 Pommier de Marie Magdaleine and Marien Magdalenen Apfel. 
 
 ITfie pPanf)& of ©ur ^a'9iou7. 
 
 We have seen that at the birth of Christ, the infant Jesus was 
 laid on a manger containing Galium verum, at Bethlehem, a place 
 commemorated by the Ornithogalum umbellatum, or Star of Beth- 
 lehem, the flowers of which resemble the pictures of the star that 
 indicated the birth of Jesus. Whilst lying in the manger, a spray 
 of the rose-coloured Sainfoin, says a French legend, was found 
 
44 pPant bora, begc'^/, cm3 bijricy, 
 
 among the dried grass and herbs which served for His bed. 
 Suddenly the Sainfoin began to expand its delicate blossoms, and 
 to the astonishment of Mary, formed a wreath around the head of 
 the holy babe. In commemoration of the infant Saviour having 
 laid on a manger, it is customary, in some parts of Italy, to deck 
 mangers at Christmas time with Moss, Sow-Thistle, Cypress, and 
 prickly Holly: boughs of Juniper are also used for Christmas 
 decorations, because tradition affirms that the Virgin and Child 
 found safety amongst its branches when pursued by Herod's mer- 
 cenaries. The Juniper is also believed to have furnished the 
 wood of the Cross on which Jesus was crucified. 
 
 At Christmas, according to an ancient pious tradition, all the 
 plants rejoice. In commemoration of the birth of our Saviour, in 
 countries nearer His birthplace than England, the Apple, Cherry, 
 Carnation, Balm, Rose of Jericho, and Rose of Mariastem (in 
 Alsatia), burst forth into blossom at Christmas, whilst in our own 
 land the day is celebrated by the blossoming of the Glastonbury 
 Thorn, sprung from St. Joseph's staif, and the flowering of the 
 Christmas Rose, or Christ's Herb, known in France as la Rose de 
 Noel, and in Germany as Christwurzel. 
 
 On Good Friday, in remembrance of the Passion of our Lord, 
 all the trees, says the legend, shudder and tremble. The Swedes 
 and Scotch have a tradition that Christ was scourged with a rod 
 of the dwarf Birch, which was once a noble tree, but has ever 
 since remained stunted and lowly. It is called Lang Fredags ris, or 
 Good Friday rod. There is another legend extant, which states 
 that the rod with which Christ was scourged was cut from a 
 Willow, and that the trees of its species have drooped their 
 branches to the earth in grief and shame from that time, and 
 have, consequently, borne the name of Weeping Willows. 
 
 Iffie (sroaji2 of UfiorniS. 
 
 Sir J. Maundevile, who visited the Holy Land in the fourteenth 
 century, has recorded that he had many times seen the identical 
 crown of Thorns worn by Jesus Christ, one half of which was at 
 Constantmople and the other half at Paris, where it was religiously 
 preserved m a vessel of crystal in the King's Chapel. This crown 
 Maundevile says was of " Jonkes of the see, that is to sey, Rushes 
 ot the see, that prykken als scharpely as Thornes;" he further 
 ^T.- t. t.^^ r '^ ^^^^ presented with one of the precious thorns, 
 ^ru^x it ^^, °^ ^"*° *^^ ^^ssel, and that it resembled a 
 White Thorn. The old traveller gives the following circumstantial 
 account of our Lord's trial and condemnation, from which it 
 would appear that Jesus was first crowned with White Thorn, 
 then with Eglantine, and finally with Rushes of the sea. He 
 writes :—" In that nyghte that He was taken, He was ylad into 
 a gardyn; and there He was first examyned righte scharply; 
 
pfanfe o^ tRe dmoifigion. 
 
 45 
 
 and there the Jewes scorned Him, and maden Him a croune 
 of the braunches of Albespyne, that is White Thorn, that grew 
 in the same gardyn, and setten it on His heved, so faste and 
 so sore, that the blood ran doun be many places of His visage, 
 and of His necke, and of His schuldres. And therefore hathe the 
 White Thorn many vertues ; for he that berethe a braunche on 
 him thereofFe, no thondre, ne no maner of tempest may dere him ; 
 ne in the hows that it is inne may non evylle gost entre ne come 
 unto the place that it is inne. And in that same gardyn Seynt Petre 
 denyed oure Lord thryes. Aftreward was oure Lord lad forthe 
 before the bischoppes and the maystres of the lawe, in to another 
 gardyn of Anne ; and there also He was examyned, repreved, and 
 scorned, and crouned eft with a White Thorn, that men clepethe 
 Barbarynes, that grew in that gardyn ; and that hathe also manye 
 vertues. And afterward He was lad into a gardyn of Cayphas, 
 and there He was crouned with Eglentier. And aftre He was lad in 
 to the chambre of Pylate, and there He was examynd and crouned. 
 And the Jewes setten Hym in a chayere and cladde Hym in a 
 mantelle ; and there made thei the croune of Jonkes of the see ; 
 and there thei kneled to Hym, and skorned Hym, seyenge : ' Heyl, 
 King of the Jewes ! ' " 
 
 ISlKciS of tf)e (Initifilion. From Maundevilt'i Travels. 
 
 The illustration represents the Crown of Thorns, worn by our 
 Saviour, his coat without seams, called tunica incmsuUUs; the 
 
46 pfant Ifflore, TsegeTJ&y, cmS bijri<y, 
 
 sponge; the reed by means of which the Jews gave our Lord 
 vinegar and gall ; and one of the nails wherewith He was fastened 
 to the Cross. All these relics Maundevile tells us he saw at Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 Of what particular plant was composed the crown of Thorns 
 which the Roman soldiers plaited and placed on the Saviour's 
 head, has long been a matter of dispute. Gerarde says it was the 
 Paliurus aculeatus, a sharp-spined shrub, which he calls Christ's 
 Thorn ; and the old herbalist quotes Bellonius, who had travelled 
 in the Holy Land, and who stated that this shrubby Thorn was 
 common in Judea, and that it was " The Thorne wherewith they 
 crowned our Saviour Christ." The melancholy distinction has, 
 however, been variously conferred on the Buckthorns, Rhamnus 
 Spina Christi and R. Paliurus ; the Boxthorn, the Barberry, the 
 Bramble, the Rose-briar, the Wild Hyssop, the Acanthus, or 
 Brank-ursine, the Spartium villosum, the Holly (called in Germany, 
 Christdorn), the Acacia, or Nabkha of the Arabians, a thorny plant, 
 very suitable for the purpose, since its flexible twigs could be 
 twisted into a chaplet, and its small but pointed thorns would 
 cause terrible wounds ; and, in France, the Hawthorn — the ipine 
 noble. The West Indian negroes state that Christ's crown was 
 composed of a branch of the Cashew-tree, and that in consequence 
 one of the golden petals of its blossom became black and blood- 
 stained. 
 
 The Reed Mace {Typka latifolia) is generally represented as the 
 reed placed, in mockery, by the soldiers in the Saviour's right 
 hand. 
 
 Ufie ©Y^ooeL of tRe (^toM. 
 
 According to the legend connected with the Tree of Adam, the 
 wood of the Cross on which our Lord was crucified was Cedar — 
 a beam hewn from a tree which incorporated in itself the essence of 
 the Cedar, the Cypress, and the Olive (the vegetable emblems of 
 the Holy Trinity. Curzon, in his ' Monasteries of the Levant,' 
 gives a tradition that the Cedar was cut down by Solomon, and 
 buried on the spot afterwards called the Pool of Bethesda ; that 
 about the time of the Passion of our Blessed Lord the wood 
 floated, and was used by the Jews for the upright posts of the 
 Cross. Another legend makes the Cross of four kinds of wood 
 representing the four quarters of the g:lobe, or all mankind : it is 
 not, however, agreed what those four kinds of wood were, or their 
 respective places in the Cross. Some say they were the Palm, the 
 Cedar, the Olive, and the Cypress ; hence the line — 
 " Ligna cruds Palma, Cedrus, Cupresftis, Oliva.'" 
 In place of the Pahn or the Olive, some claim the mournful honour 
 for the Pme and the Box ; whilst there are others who aver it was 
 made entirely of Oak. Another account states the wood, to have 
 
^Panf;i) of tfte (sfueifi^ion, 47 
 
 been the Aspen, and since that fatal day its leaves have never 
 ceased trembling with horror. 
 
 " Far ofif in Highland wilds 'tis said 
 That of this tree the Cross was made." 
 
 In some parts of England it is believed that the Elder was the 
 unfortunate tree ; and woodmen will look carefully into the faggots 
 before using them for fuel, in case any of this wood should be 
 bound up in them. The gipsies entertain the notion that the Cross 
 was made of Ash ; the Welsh that the Mountain Ash furnished the 
 wood. In the West of England there is a curious tradition that 
 the Cross was made of Mistletoe, which, until the time of our 
 Saviour's death, had been a goodly forest tree, but was condemned 
 henceforth to become a mere parasite. 
 
 » Sir John Maundevile asserts that the Cross was made of Palm, 
 Cedar, Cypress, and Olive, and he gives the following curious 
 account of its manufacture : — " For that pece that wente upright 
 fro the erthe to the heved was of Cypresse ; and the pece that 
 wente overthwart to the wiche his bonds weren nayled was of 
 Palme ; and the stock that stode within the erthe, in the whiche was 
 made the morteys, was of Cedre ; and the table aboven his heved, 
 that was a fote and an half long, on the whiche the title was written, 
 in Ebreu, Grece, and Latyn, that was of Olyve. And the Jewes 
 maden the Cros of theise 4 manere of trees : for thei trowed that 
 cure Lord Jesu Crist scholde han honged on the Cros als longe as 
 the Cros myghten laste. And therfore made thei the foot of the 
 Cros of Cedre : for Cedre may not in erthe ne in watre rote. And 
 therfore thei wolde that it scholde have lasted longe. For thei 
 trowed that the body of Crist scholde have stonken ; therfore thei 
 made that pece that went from the erthe upward, of Cypres : for it 
 is welle smellynge, so that the smelle of His body scholde not greve 
 men that wenten forby. And the overthwart pece was of Palme : 
 for in the Olde Testament it was ordyned that whan on overcomen, 
 He scholde be crowned with Pahne. And the table of the tytle 
 thei maden of Olyve ; for Olyve betokenethe pes. And the storye 
 of Noe wytnessethe whan that the culver broughte the braunche ot 
 Olvve, that betokend pes made betwene God and man. And so 
 trowed the Jewes for to have pes whan Crist was ded : for thei 
 seyd that He made discord and strif amonges hem.' 
 
 ^ianfi^ of tfte dmoifi^lor^. 
 In Brittany the Vervain is known as the Herb of the Cross. 
 John White, writing in 1624, says of it— 
 
 " Hallow'd be thou Vervain, as thou growest in the ground, 
 For in the Mount of Calvary thou first was found. 
 Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ 
 
 t:t^X^Tvf^^t:iTn% Ghost, I take thee fron> the ground." , 
 
48 pfant Tsore, Tsege"^/, onS Tstjriq/". 
 
 In the Flax-fields of Flanders, there grows a plant called the 
 Roodselken, the red spots on the leaves of which betoken the 
 blood which fell on it from the Cross, and which neither rain 
 nor snow has since been able to wash off. In Cheshire a similar 
 legend is attached to the Orchis maculata, which is there called 
 Gethsemane. 
 
 " Those deep un wrought marks. 
 The villager will tell thee, 
 Are the flower's portion from the atoning blood 
 On Calvary shed. Beneath the Cross it grew." 
 
 In Palestine there exists a notion that the red Anemone grew 
 at the foot of the Cross, and hence the flower bears the name of 
 the " Blood-drops of Christ." The Wood Sorrel is introduced in 
 their paintings of the Crucifixion by the early Italian painters, 
 perhaps as symbolizing the Trinity with its triple leaf. 
 
 Whilst wearily bearing His Cross on the way to Calvary, 
 our Lord passed by the door of St. Veronica, who, with womanly 
 compassion, wiped with her kerchief the drops of agony from His 
 brow. The Redeemer's features remained miraculously impressed 
 on the linen, and from that time the flowers of the wayside Speed- 
 well have ever borne a representation of the precious relic. In 
 Brittany it is said that whilst Christ was bearing His Cross a little 
 robin took from His mocking crown one of the thorns, steeped in 
 His blood, which dyed the robin's breast ; henceforth the robin has 
 always been the friend of man. 
 
 "Bearing His cross, while Christ passed forth forlorn, 
 His God-like forehead by the mock crown torn, 
 A little bird took from that crown one thorn, 
 To soothe the dear Redeemer's throbbing head, 
 That bird did what she could ; His blood, 'tis said, 
 Down dropping, dyed her bosom red."— J^ H. Abrahall. 
 
 The early Spanish settlers of South America saw in the Flov 
 de las cinco llagas, the Flower of the Five Wounds, or Passion 
 Flower, a marvellous floral emblem of the mysteries. of Christ's 
 Passion, and the Jesuits eagerly adopted it as likely to prove useful 
 in winning souls to their faith. 
 
 An old legend, probably of monkish origin, recounts the emotions 
 of plants on the death of the Saviour of mankind. 
 
 The Pine of Damascus said :— As a sign of mourning, from 
 this day my fohage will remain sombre, and I will dwell in solitary 
 places. 
 
 The Willow of Babylon.— My branches shall henceforth incline 
 towards the waters of the Euphrates, and there shed the tears of 
 the East. 
 
 .- •^?^,Xi'^^ °^ Sorrento.— My grapes shall be black, and the wine 
 that shall flow from my side shall be called Lacryma Christi. 
 
 The Cypress of Carmel.— I will be the guest of the tombs, and 
 the testimony of grief. 
 
Ufie UTee of ^U(^a/. 
 
 49 
 
 The Yew. — I will be the guardian of graveyards. No bee shall 
 pillage with impunity my poisoned flowers. No bird shall rest on 
 my branches ; for my exhalations shall give forth death. 
 
 The Iris of Susa. — Henceforth I will wear perpetual mourning, 
 in covering with a violet veil my golden chalice. 
 
 The Day Lily. — I will shut every evening my sweet-smelling 
 corolla, and will only re-open it in the morning with the tears of the 
 night. 
 
 In the rnidst of these lamentations of the flowers the Poplar 
 alone held himself upright, cold, and arrogant as a free-thinker. 
 As a punishment for this pride, from that day forth, at the least 
 breath of wind it trembles in all its limbs. Revolutionists have, 
 therefore, made it the Tree of Liberty. ' 
 
 H^e Ufie of ^U(^a)& Sitaat'iot, 
 
 In connection with the Crucifixion of our Lord many trees have 
 had the ill-luck of bearing the name of the traitor Judas — the 
 disciple who, after he had sold his Master, in sheer remorse and 
 despair went and hanged himself on a tree. 
 
 BTte ilttl o£ 3uIIB!!. From Ma-undeviUs Travels. 
 
 The Fig, the Tamarisk, the Wild Carob, the Aspen, the Elder, 
 and the Dog Rose have each in their turn been mentioned as the 
 tree on which the suicide was committed. As regards the Fig, 
 popular tradition afiirms that the tree, after Judas had hung himself 
 on it, never again bore fruit ; that the Fig was the identical Fig-tree 
 cursed by our Lord ; and that all the wild Fig-trees sprang from 
 this accursed tree. According to a Sicilian tradition, however, 
 Tudas did not hang himself on a Fig but on a Tamarisk-tree called 
 Vvma {Tamarix Africam) : this Vmca is now only a shrub, although 
 
50 pfant Tsofe, IsegeifOf, and, Isijric/'. 
 
 formerly it was a noble tree ; at the time of Judas' suicide it was 
 cursed by God, and thenceforth became a shrub, ill-looking, 
 misshapen, and useless. In England, according to Gerarde, the 
 wild Carob is the Judas-tree (Cercis Siliquastrum) : this Arbor Judce 
 was in olden times known as the wild or foolish Cod. By many, 
 however, the Elder has been supposed to be the fatal tree : thus 
 we read in Piers Plowman's ' Vision ' : — 
 
 " Judas he japed 
 With Jewen silver, 
 And sithen on an EUer 
 Hanged hymselve." 
 
 Sir John Maundevile, from whose work the foregoing illustration 
 has been copied, corroborates this view ; for he tells us that in his 
 day there stood in the vicinity of Mount Sion " the tree of Eldre, 
 that Judas henge him self upon, for despeyr." 
 
 A Russian proverb runs : — " There is an accursed tree which 
 trembles without even a breath of wind," in allusion to the Aspen 
 [Populus tremula) ; and in the Ukraine they say that the leaves of 
 this tree have quivered and shaken since the day that Judas hung 
 himself on it. 
 
 Ufte pfanO" of ^f. ^ofii2. 
 
 Popular tradition associates St. John the Baptist with numerous 
 marvels of the plant world. St. John was supposed to have been 
 born at midnight ; and on the eve of his anniversary, precisely at 
 twelve o'clock, the Fern blooms and seeds, and this wondrous seed, 
 gathered at that moment, renders the possessor invisible : thus, in 
 Shakspeare's Henry IV., Gadshill says : " We have the receipt of 
 Fern-seed, we walk invisible." 
 
 The Fairies, commanded by their queen, and the demons, 
 commanded by Satan, engage in fierce combats at this mysterious 
 time, for the possession of the invisible seed. 
 
 In Russia, on St. John's Eve, they seek the flower of th&Paporot 
 {Aspidium Filix mas), which flowers only at the precise moment of 
 midnight, and wiU enable the lucky gatherer, who has watched it 
 flower, to realise all his desires, to discover hidden treasures, and 
 to recover cattle stolen or strayed. In the Ukraine it is thought 
 that the gatherer of the Fern-flower will be endowed with supreme 
 wisdom. 
 
 The Russian peasants also gather, on the night of the Vigil of 
 St. John, the Tirlic, or Gentiam Amarella, a plant much sought after 
 by witches, and only to be gathered by those who have been 
 fortunate enough first to have found the Plakun (Lythrum Salicaria), 
 which must be gathered on the morning of St. John, without using 
 a knife or other instrument in uprooting it. This herb the Russians 
 hold to be very potent against witches, bad spirits, and the evil 
 eye. A cross cut from the root of the Plakun, and worn on the 
 
iffte pPant/ of ^t. ^oftn. 5, 
 
 person, causes the wearer to be feared as much as fire. Another 
 herb which should be gathered on St. John's Eve is the Hieracium 
 Pilosella, called in Germany Johannishlut (blood of St. John) : it 
 brings good-luck, but must be uprooted with a gold coin. 
 
 In many countries, before the break of day on St. John's morn- 
 ing, the dew which has fallen on vegetation is gathered with great 
 care. This dew is justly renowned, for it purifies all the noxious 
 plants and imparts to certain others a fabulous power. By some 
 it is treasured because it is beheved to preserve the eyes from all 
 harm during the succeeding year. In Venetia the dew is reputed 
 to renew the roots of the hair on the baldest of heads. It is 
 collected in a small phial, and a herb called Basilica is placed in it. 
 In Normandy and the Pyrenees it is used as a wash to purify 
 the skin ; in Brittany it is thought that, thus used, it will drive 
 away fever ; and in Italy, Roumania, Sweden, and Iceland it is 
 believed to soften and beautify the complexion. In Egypt the 
 tmcta or miraculous drop falls before sunrise on St. John's Day, 
 and is supposed to have the effect of stopping the plague. In 
 Sicily they gather the Hypericum perforatum, or Herb of St. John, 
 and put it in oil, which is by this means transformed into a balm 
 infallible for the cure of wounds. 
 
 In Spain garlands of flowers are plucked in the early morn 
 of 'St. John's Day, before the dew has been dried by the sun, 
 and a favourite wether is decked with them, the village lasses 
 singing— 
 
 " Come forth, come forth, my maidens, we'll gather Myrtle boughs. 
 And we shall learn from the dews of the Fern if our lads will keep their vows : 
 If the wether be still, as we dance on the hill, and the dew hangs sweet on the 
 
 flowers, 
 Then we'll kiss off the dew, for our lovers are true, and the Baptist's blessing 
 is ours." 
 
 The popvdace of Madrid were long accustomed, on St. John's Eve, 
 to wander about the fields in search of Vervain, from a super- 
 stitious notion that this plant possesses preternatural powers when 
 gathered at twelve o'clock on St. John's Eve. 
 
 In some parts of Russia the country people heat their baths 
 on the Eve of St. John and place in them the herb Kunalnitza 
 {Ranunculus) ; in other parts they place herbs, gathered on the same 
 anniversary, upon the roofs of houses and stables, as a safeguard 
 against evil spirits. The French peasantry rub the udders of their 
 cows with similar herbs, to ensure plenty of milk, and place them 
 over the doorways of cattle sheds and stables. 
 
 On the Eve of St. John, Lilies, Orpine, Fennel, and every 
 variety of Hypericum are hung over doors and windows. Garlands 
 of Vervain and Flax are also suspended inside houses ; but the 
 true St. John's garland is composed of seven elements, namely 
 white Lilies, green Birch, Fennel, Hypericum, Wormwood, and 
 the legs of game birds : these are believed to have immense power 
 
 E — 3 
 
52 Of ant Isofe, Tseger^f, cirisl Tsijriq/', 
 
 against evil spirits. After daybreak on St. John's D9,y it is 
 dangerous to pluck herbs ; the gatherer running the risk of being 
 afflicted with cancer. 
 
 According to Bauhin, the following plants are consecrated to 
 St. John : — First and specially the Hypericum, or perforated St. 
 John's Wort, the fuga dmmonum, or devil's flight, so named from 
 the virtue ascribed to it of frightening away evil spirits, and acting 
 as a charm against witchcraft, enchantment, storms, and thunder. 
 It is also called Tutsan, or All-heal, from its virtues in curing all 
 kinds of wounds ; and Sanguis hominis, because of the blood-red 
 juice of its flowers. 
 
 The leaves of the common St. John's Wort are marked with 
 blood-like spots, which alway appear on the 29th of August, the day 
 on which the Baptist was beheaded. The "Flower of St. John" 
 is the Chrysanthemum (Corn Marigold), or, according to others, the 
 Buphthalmus (Ox-Eye) or the Anacyclus. Grapes of St. John are 
 Currants. The Belt or Girdle of St. John is Wormwood. The 
 Herbs of St. John comprise also Mentha sarracenica or Costus hor- 
 tensis ; Gallithricum sativum or Centrum galli or Orminum sylvestre ; in 
 Picardy Abrotanum (a species of Southernwood) ; and, according to 
 others, the Androsamon (Tutsan), the Scrophularia, and the Crassula 
 major. The scarlet Lychnis Coronaria is said to be lighted up on 
 his day, and was formerly called Candelabrum ingens. A speqies 
 of nut is named after the Saint. The Carob is St. John's Mead, 
 so called because it is supposed to have supplied him with food 
 in the wilderness, and to be the " locusts " mentioned in the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 The festival of St. John would seem to be a favourite time with 
 maidens to practice divination in their love affairs. On the eve of 
 St. John, English girls set up two plants of Orpine on a trencher, 
 one for themselves and the other for their lover ; and they estimate 
 the lover's fidelity by his plant living and turning to theirs, or 
 otherwise. They also gather a Moss-rose so soon as the dew 
 begins to fall, and, taking it indoors, carefully keep it till New 
 Year's Eve, when, if the blossom is faded, it is a sign of the 
 lover's insincerity, but if it still retains its common colour, he 
 is true. On this night, also. Hemp-seed is sown with certain, 
 mystic ceremonies. In Brittany, on the Saint's Vigil, young 
 men wearing bunches of green Wheat-ears, and lasses decked 
 with Flax-blossoms, assernble round one of the old pillar-stones 
 and dance round it, placing their wreath upon it. If it remains 
 fresh for some time after, the lover is to be trusted, but should 
 it wither within a day or two, so will the love prove but transient. 
 In Sweden, on St. John's Eve, young maidens arrange a 
 bouquet composed of nine different flowers, among which the 
 Hypericum, or St. John's Wort, or the Ox-eye Daisy, St. John's 
 Flower, must be conspicuous. The flowers must be gathered 
 from nine different places, and the posy be placed beneath the 
 
sJfocoer/- o^ tfte ^aint/. 53 
 
 maiden's pillow. Then he who she sees in her dreams will be 
 sure soon to arrive.* 
 
 " The village maids mysterious tales relate 
 Of bright Midsummer's sleepless nights ; the Fern 
 That time sheds secret seeds ; and they prepare 
 Untold-of rites, predictive of their fate : 
 Virgins in silent expectation watch 
 Exact at twelve's propitious hour, to view 
 The future lover o'er the threshold pass ; 
 Th' inviting door wide spread, and every charm 
 Performed, while fond hope flutters in the breast, 
 And credulous fancy, painting his known form, 
 Kindles concordant to their ardent ■•«\i\i." —Bidlake, 
 
 In the dark ages the Catholic monks, who cultivated with 
 assiduity all sorts of herbs and flowers in their monastic gardens, 
 came in time to associate them with traditions of the Church, and 
 to look upon them as emblems of particular saints. Aware, also, 
 of the innate love of humanity for flowers, they selected the most 
 popular as symbols of the Church festivals, and in time every 
 flower became connected with some saint of the Calendar, either 
 from blowing about the time of the saint's day, or from being 
 connected with him in some old legend. 
 
 St. Benedict's herbs are the Avens, the Hemlock, and the 
 Valerian, which were assigned to him as being antidotes ; a legend 
 of the saint relating that upon his blessing a cup of poisoned wine, 
 which a monk had presented to him to destroy him, the glass was 
 shivered to pieces. To St. Gerard was dedicated the jEgopodium 
 Podagyaria, because it was customary to invoke the saint against 
 the gout, for which this plant was esteemed a remedy. St. 
 Christopher has given his name to the Baneberry {Actaa spicata), 
 the Osmund Fern (Osmunda regalis), the Fleabane {PuUcaria dysen- 
 terica), and, according to old herbalists, to several other plants, 
 including Betonica officinalis, Vicia Cracca and Septum, Gnaphalium 
 germanicum, Spiraa ulmaria, two species of Wolf's Bane, &c. St. 
 George has numerous plants named after or dedicated to him. 
 In England his flower is the Harebell, but abroad the Peony 
 is generally called after him. His name is also bestowed on 
 the Lilium convallium. The Herb of St. George is the Valeriana 
 ■ saliva ; his root, Dentaria major ; his Violet, Leucoium luteum ; his 
 fruit, Cucumis agrestis. In Asia Minor the tree of St. George is the 
 Carob. The Eryngium was dedicated to St. Francis under the 
 name of St. Francis's Thorn. Bunium fiexuosum, is St. Anthony's 
 
 nut a pig-nut, because he is the patron of pigs; and Senecio 
 
 Jacobaa is St. James's Wort (the saint of horses and colts)— used 
 
 • For further details of the rites of St. John's Eve, see Part II., under the heads 
 "Fern," " Hemp," and " Moss-Rose." 
 
54 pfant Tsore, heger^f, aniel Ts^r'iaf, 
 
 in veterinary practice. The Cowslip is dedicated to St. Peter, 
 as Herb Peter of the old herbals, from some resemblance which it 
 has to his emblem — a bunch of keys. As the patron of fishermen, 
 Crithmum maritimum, which grows on sea-cliffs, was dedicated to 
 this saint, and called in Italian San Pietro, in French Saint 
 Pierre, and m English Samphire. Most of these saintly names 
 were, however, given to the plants because their day of flowering 
 is connected with the festival of the saint. Hence Hypericum 
 quadrangulare is the St. Peter's Wort of the modern floras, from its 
 flowering on the 29th of June. The Daisy, as Herb Margaret, is 
 popularly supposed to be dedicated to " Margaret that was so 
 meek and mild ; " probably from its blossoming about her day, the 
 22nd of February : in reality, however, the flower derived its 
 name from St. Margaret of Cortona. Barbarea vulgaris, growing in 
 the winter, is St. Barbara's Cress, her day being the fourth of 
 December, old style ; and Centaurea solstitialis derives its Latin 
 specific, and its popular name, St. Barnaby's Thistle, from its 
 flourishing on the longest day, the iith of June, old style, which 
 is now the 22nd. Nigella damascena, whose persistent styles spread 
 out like the spokes of a wheel, is named Katharine's flower, after 
 St. Katharine, who suffered martyrdom on a wheel. The Cranesbill 
 is called Herb Robert, in honour of St. Robert, Abbot of Molesme 
 and founder of the Cistercian Order. The Speedwell is St. Paul's 
 Betony. Archangel is a name given to one umbelliferous and 
 three labiate plants. An angel is said to have revealed the virtues 
 of the plants in a dream. The umbelliferous plant, it has been 
 supposed, has been named Angelica, Archangelica, from its being 
 in blossom on the 8th of May, old style, the Archangel St. Michael's 
 Day. Flowering on the fife day of such a powerful angel, the plant 
 was supposed to be particularly useful as a preservative of men 
 and women from evil spirits and witches, and of cattle from 
 elfshot. 
 
 Roses are the special flowers of ■ martyrs, and, according 
 to a tradition, they sprang from the ashes of a saintly maiden of 
 Bethlehem who perished at the stake. Avens {Geum mhanum) the 
 Herha benedicta, or Blessed Herb, is a plant so blessed that no 
 venomous beast will approach within scent of it ; and, according 
 to the author of the Ortus sanitatis, "where the root is in a house 
 the devil can do nothing, and flies from it, wherefore it is blessed 
 above all other herbs." The common Snowdrops are called Fair 
 Maids of February. This name also, like the Saints' names, arises 
 from an ecclesiastical coincidence: their white flowers blossom 
 about the second of February, when maidens, dressed in white, 
 walked in procession at the Feast of the Purification. 
 
 The name of Canterbury Bells was given to the Campanula, in 
 honour of St. Thomas of England, and in allusion probably to the 
 horse-bells of the pilgrims to his shrine. Saxifraga umbrosa is both 
 St. Patrick's cabbage and St. Anne's needlework; Polygonum 
 
SJfocoef;^ o^ ifte IJaint/-. rr 
 
 Persicaria is the Virgin's Pinch ; Polytrichum commune, St. Winifred's 
 Hair ; MyrrUs _ odorata, Sweet Cicely ; Origanum vulgare, Sweet 
 Margery; Oscinium Basilicum, Sweet Basil. Angelica sylvestris, the 
 Root of the Holy Ghost ; Hedge Hyssop, Cranesbill, and St. 
 John's Wort are all surnamed Grace of God ; the Pansy, having 
 three colours on one flower, is called Herb Trinity; the four- 
 leaved Clover is an emblem of the Cross, and all cruciform flowers 
 are deemed of good omen, having been marked with the sign of 
 the Cross. The Hemp Agrirnony is the Holy Rope, after the rope 
 with which Christ was bound ; and the Hollyhock is the Holy 
 Hock (an old word for Mallow). 
 
 The feeling which inspired this identification of flowers and 
 herbs with holy personages and festivals is gracefully expressed by 
 a Franciscan in the following passage : — " Mindful of the Festivals 
 which our Church prescribes, I have sought to make these objects 
 of floral nature the timepieces of my rehgious calendar, and the 
 mementos of the hastening period of my mortality. Thus I 
 can light the taper to our Virgin Mother on the blowing of the 
 white Snowdrop, which opens its flower at the time of Candlemas ; 
 the Lady's Smock and the Daffodil remind me of the Annunciation ; 
 the blue Harebell, of the Festival of St. George ; the Ranunculus, 
 of the Invention of the Cross ; the Scarlet Lychnis, of St. John the 
 Baptist's day ; the white Lily, of the Visitation of our Lady ; and 
 the Virgin's Bower, of the Assumption ; and Michaelmas, Martin- 
 mas, Holy Rood, and Christmas have all their appropriate 
 decorations." In later times we find the Church's Calendar of 
 English flowers embodied in the following hnes : — 
 " The Snowdrop, in purest white arraie, 
 
 First rears her hedde on Candlemass daie : 
 
 While the Crocus hastens to the shrine 
 
 Of Primrose lone on S. Valentine. 
 
 Then comes the Daffodil beside 
 
 Our Ladye's Smock at our Ladye tide, 
 
 Aboute S. George, when blue is worn, 
 
 The blue Harebells the fields adorn ; 
 
 Against the daie of the Holie Cross, 
 
 The Crowfoot gilds the flowrie grasse. 
 
 When S. Bamabie bright smiles night and daie, 
 
 Poor Ragged Robbin blooms in the hay. 
 
 The scarlet Lychnis, the garden's pride, 
 
 Flames at S. John the Baptist's tide ; 
 
 From Visitation to S. Swithen's showers, 
 
 The Lillie white reigns queen of the floures 
 
 And Poppies a sanguine mantle spread. 
 
 For the blood of the dragon S. Margaret shed. 
 
 Then under the wanton Rose agen, 
 
 That blushes for penitent Magdalen, 
 
 Till Lammas Daie, called August's Wheel, 
 
 When the long Com smells of Cammomile. 
 
 When Marie left us here belowe, 
 
 The Virgin's Bower is full in blowe ; 
 
 And yet anon the full Sunflower blew, 
 
 And became a starre for S. Bartholomew. 
 
56 
 
 pPant Tsore, Tsegef^/, anel Tsijricy, 
 
 The Passion-flower long has blowed, 
 To betoken us signs of the holie rood: 
 The Michaelmass Dasie among dede weeds, 
 Blooms for S. Michael's valorous deeds, 
 And seems the last of the floures that stood. 
 Till the feste of S. Simon and S. Jude ; 
 Save Mushrooms and the Fungus race, 
 That grow till All Hallowtide takes place. 
 Soon the evergreen Laurel alone is green, 
 When Catherine crownes all learned menne ; 
 Then Ivy and Holly berries are seen, 
 And Yule clog and wassail come round agen." 
 
 Anthol. Bor. et Aus. 
 
 The Roman Catholics have compiled a complete list of 
 flowers, one for every day in the year, in which each flower has 
 been dedicated to a particular saint, usually for no better 
 reason than because it bloomed about the date of the saint's 
 feast I day. This Saints' Floral Directory is to be found in 
 extenso in Hone's ' Every-day Book.' In the Anglican church 
 the principal Festivals or Red Letter Days have each their 
 appropriate flowers assigned them, as will be seen from the 
 following table : — ■ 
 
 DATE. 
 
 SAINT. 
 
 Nov. 30. 
 
 S. Andrew. 
 
 Dec. 21. 
 
 S. Thomas. 
 
 25. 
 
 Christmas. 
 
 26. 
 
 S. Stephen. 
 
 27. 
 
 S. John Evan. 
 
 28. 
 
 Innocents. 
 
 Jan. I. 
 
 Circumcision. 
 
 6. 
 
 Epiphany. 
 
 25- 
 
 Conversion of"| 
 S. Paul. f 
 
 
 Feb. 2. 
 
 Purification of i 
 B. V. M. 1 
 
 
 24. 
 
 S. Matthias. 
 
 Mar. 25. 
 
 Annunciation ' 
 of B.V. M. / 
 
 
 Apr. 25. 
 
 S. Mark. 
 
 May I. 
 
 S. Philip and ' 
 
 
 S. James. 
 
 June II. 
 
 S. Barnabas. 
 
 24. 
 
 S. John Baptist 
 
 29. 
 
 S. Peter 
 
 July 25. 
 
 S. James 
 
 Aug. 24. 
 
 S. Bartholomew 
 
 Sept. 21. 
 
 S. Matthew 
 
 29. 
 
 S. Michael. 
 
 Oct. 18. 
 
 S. Luke. 
 
 28. 
 
 S. Simon and ' 
 
 
 S. Jude \ 
 
 Nov. I. 
 
 All Saints, 
 
 APPROPRIATE FLOWER. 
 
 S. Andrew's Cross — Ascyrum Crux Andrecs. 
 
 Sparrow Wort — Erica passerina. 
 
 Holly — Ilex bacciflora. 
 
 Purple Heath — Erica purpurea. 
 
 Flame Heath — Erica jlammea. 
 
 Bloody Heath — Erica cruenta. 
 
 Laurustine — Viburnum tinus. 
 
 Screw Moss — Toriula rigida. 
 
 Winter Hellebore — Helleborus hyemalis. 
 
 Snowdrop — Galanthus nivalis. 
 Great Fern — Osmunda regalis. 
 Marigold — Calendula officinalis. ' 
 
 Clarimond Tulip — Tulipa pracox. 
 •Ix&f—Tulipa Gesneri, dedicated to S. Philip. 
 1 Red Campion — Lychnis dioica rubra. 
 
 Red Bachelor's Buttons — Lychnis dioica plena, dedi- 
 . cated to S. James. 
 
 Midsummer Daisy — Chrysanthemum leucanthemum. 
 
 S. John's Wort — Hypericum pulchrum. 
 
 Yellow Rattle — Rhinanthus Galli. 
 
 Herb Christopher — Actcea spicata. 
 
 Sunflower — Helianthus annuus. 
 
 Ciliated Passion-flower. — Passifiora ciliata. 
 
 Michaelmas Daisy — Aster Tradescanti. 
 
 Floccose Aganc—Agaricus floccosus. ' 
 ■ Late Chrysanthemum — Chrysanthemum serotinum. 
 
 Scattered Starwort — Aster passiflorus, dedicated to 
 S. Jude. 
 
 Amaranth. 
 
In old church calendars Christmas Eve is marked " Templa 
 exornantur " — Churches are decked. 
 
 Herrick, in the time of Charles I., thus combines a number 
 of these old customs connected with the decoration of churches — 
 
 " Down with Rosemary and Bays, 
 
 Down with the Mistletoe, 
 
 Instead of Holly now upraise 
 
 The greener Box for show. 
 
 The Holly hitherto did sway; 
 
 Let Box now domineer, 
 Until the dancing Easter Day 
 
 Or Easter's Eve appear. 
 Then youthful Box, which now hath grace 
 
 Your houses to renew, 
 Grown old, surrender must his place 
 
 Unto the crisped Yew. 
 
 When Yew is out, then Birch comes in. 
 
 And many flowers beside, .. 
 Both of a fresh and fragrant kin. 
 
 To honour Whitsuntide. 
 
 Green Rushes then, and sweetest Bents, 
 
 With cooler Oaken boughs. 
 Come in for comely ornaments 
 To re-adorn the house. 
 Thus times do shift ; each thing his turn does hold, 
 New things succeed as former things grow old." 
 
 In the services of the Church every season has its appropriate 
 floral symbol. In olden times on Feast days places of worship 
 were significantly strewed with bitter herbs. On the Feast of 
 Dedication (the first Sunday in October) the Church was decked 
 with boughs and strewn with sweet Rushes; for this purpose jf uncus 
 aromaticus (now known as Acorus Calamus) was used. 
 
 " The Dedication of the Church is yerely had in minde. 
 With worship passing Catholicke, and in a wondrous kmde. 
 From out the steeple hie is hanged a crosse and banner fayre, 
 The pavement of the temple strowde with hearbes of pleasant ayre ; 
 The pulpets and the aulters all that in the Church are scene. 
 And every pewe and pillar great are deckt with boughs of gieene. 
 Ana every pewe * f s, ^^^^^^^^„^^ t^^^s. by Barnate Googe, 1570. 
 
 Tt was customary to strew Rushes on the Church floor on aU 
 Wh daTs Newtonfin his 'Herbal to the Bible' (.587), speaks 
 of " Sedee and Rushes, with which many in the country do use m 
 Summer time to strewe their parlors and Churches, as well for 
 Summer time to r ^^^^^ Wolsey in the pride of 
 
 V ^I'^n^T, W thf S^^^^ of his great hall at Hampton Court 
 his pomp had "le strew S . | j Norwich Cathedral was 
 
 'ZZtjrAc^:^s-cZ^^^^l^,^> and whe, the Ac.us... 
 
58 pParit Isore, Iseg&r^f, drisl lS)ijr'\af, 
 
 scarce, the leaves of the yellow Iris were used. At the church of 
 St. Mary RedclifFe, Bristol, Rushes are strewn every Whitsuntide. 
 The parish of Middleton-Cheney, Northamptonshire, has a bene- 
 faction to provide hay for strewing the Church in summer, the 
 rector providing straw in the winter. In Prussia Holms odoratus is 
 considered Holy Grass, and is used for strewing purposes. The 
 Rush-bearings which are still held in Westmoreland, and were until 
 quite recently general in Cheshire, would appear to be a relic of the 
 custom of the Dedication Feast. At these Rush-bearings young men 
 and women carry garlands in procession through the village to the 
 Church, which they enter and decorate with their floral tributes. 
 Besides giving the Church a fresh strewing every feast day, it was 
 in olden times customary to deck it with boughs and flowers ; and 
 as the flowers used at festivals were originally selected because they 
 happened to be in bloom then, so in time they came to be asso- 
 ciated therewith. 
 
 On Palm Sunday, it was customary for the congregation to 
 carry Palm branches in procession, and deposit them on the altar 
 of the Church to be blessed, after which they were again distributed 
 to the people. Various substitutes for the Eastern Palm were used 
 in England, but the most popular was the Sallow, because its lithe 
 green wands, full of sap, and covered with golden catkins, were at 
 that season of the year the things most full of life and blossom. 
 Yew branches were also employed for Palm, and some Churches 
 were decked with boughs of Box. 
 
 White Broom and white flowers of all descriptions are 
 applicable to the great festival of Easter, as well as purple Pasque 
 flowers and golden Daffodils. The peasants of Bavaria weave 
 garlands of the fragrant Coltsfoot {Nardosmia fragmns) on Easter 
 Day, and cast them into the fire. In Rogation Week processions 
 perambulated the parishes with the Holy Cross and Litanies, to 
 mark the boundaries and to invoke the blessing of God on the 
 crops : on this occasion maidens made themselves garlands and 
 nosegays of the Rogation-flower, Polygala vulgaris, called also the 
 Cross-, Gang-, and Procession-flower. 
 
 On Ascension Day it is customary in Switzerland to suspend 
 wreaths of Edelweiss over porches and windows, — this flower 
 of the Alps being, like the Amaranth, considered an emblem of 
 immortality, and peculiarly appropriate to the festival. 
 
 May Day, in olden times, was the anniversary of all others 
 which was associated with floral ceremonies. In the early morn 
 all ranks of people went out a-Maying, returning laden with Haw- 
 thorn blossoms and May flowers, to decorate churches and houses. 
 Shakspeare notices how, in his day, every one was astir betimes :— 
 
 " 'Tis as much improbable, 
 Unless we swept them from the door with cannons, 
 To scatter 'em, as 'tis to make 'em sleep 
 On May-day morning." 
 
It being also the festival of SS. Philip and James, the feast partook 
 somewhat of a religious character. The people not only turned 
 the streets into leafy avenues, and their door-ways into green 
 arbours, and set up a May-pole decked with ribands and garlands, 
 and an arbour besides for Maid Marian to sit in, to witness the 
 sports, but the floral decorations extended likewise into the Church. 
 We learn from Aubrey that the young maids of every parish 
 carried about garlands of flowers, which they afterwards hung up 
 in their Churches ; and Spenser sings how, at sunrise — 
 
 " Youth's folke now flocken in everywhere 
 To gather R^^-y-buskets and smelling Brere ; 
 And home they hasten the postes to dight 
 And all the Kirke pillours ere day light 
 With Hawthorn buds and sweete Eglantine, 
 And girlonds of Roses, and Soppes-in-wine." 
 
 The beautiful milk-white Hawthorn blossom is essentially tjie 
 flower of the season, but in some parts of England the Lily of the 
 Valley is considered as "The Lily of the May." In Cornwall 
 and Devon Lilac is esteemed the May-flower, and special virtues 
 are attached to sprays of Ivy plucked at day-break with the dew 
 on ithem. In Germany the Kingcup, Lily of the Valley, and 
 Hepatica are severally called Mai-blume. 
 
 Whitsuntide flowers in England are Lilies of the Valley and 
 Guelder Roses, but according to Chaucer (' Romaunt of the Rose ') 
 Love bids his pupil — 
 
 " Have hatte of floures fresh as May, 
 
 Chapelett of Roses of Whit- Sunday, 
 
 For sich array ne costeth but lite." 
 
 The Germans call Broom Pentecost-bloom, and the Peony the 
 Pentecost Rose. The Italians call Whitsunday Pasqua Rosata, 
 Roses being then in flower. 
 
 To Trinity Sunday belong the Herb-Trmity or Pansy and 
 the Trefoil. On St. Barnabas Day, as on St. Paul's Day, the 
 churches were decked with Box, Woodruff', Lavender, and Roses, 
 and the officiating Priests wore garlands of Roses on their heads. 
 
 On Royal Oak Day (May 29th), in celebration of the restora- 
 tion of King Charles II., and to commemorate his concealment in an 
 aged Oak at Boscobel, gilded Oak-leaves and Apples are worn, and 
 Oak-branches are hung over doorways and windows. From this 
 incident in the life of Charles II., the Oak derives its title of Royal. 
 " Blest Charles then to an Oak his safety owes ; 
 The Royal Oak, which now in song shall live, 
 Until it reach to Heaven with its boughs; 
 Boughs that for loyalty shall garlands give." 
 
 On Corpus Christi Day it was formerly the custom in 
 imreformed England to strew the streets through which the pro- 
 cession^assed with flowers, and to decorate the church with Rose 
 and other Tarlands. In North Wales a relic of these ceremonies 
 
6o pfant Tsore, heg&tp/, dni. bijric/-. 
 
 lingered till lately in the practice of strewing herbs and flowers at 
 the doors of houses on the Corpus Christi Eve. In Roman CathoHc 
 countries flowers are strewed along the streets in this festival, and 
 the route of the procession at Rome is covered with Bay and other 
 fragrant leaves. 
 
 On the Vigil of St. John the Baptist, Stowe tells us that in 
 his time every man's door was shadowed with green Birch, long 
 Fennel, St. John's Wort, Orpine, white Lilies, and such like, 
 garnished upon with garlands of beautiful flowers, and also lamps 
 of glass, with oil burning in them all night. Birch is the special 
 tree, as the yellow St. John's Wort (Hypericum) is the special 
 flower, of St. John. In the life of Bishop Home we read that in 
 the Court of Magdalen, Oxford, a sermon used to be preached on 
 this day from the stone pulpit in the corner, and " the quadrangle 
 was furnished round with a large fence of green boughs, that the 
 meeting might more nearly resemble that of John Baptist in the 
 wilderness." 
 
 On All Saints' or All Hallows' Day, Roman Catholics are 
 wont to visit the graves of departed relatives or friends, and place 
 on them wreaths of Ivy, Moss, and red Berries. On the Eve of this 
 day, Hallowe'en (October 31st), many superstitious customs are 
 still practised. In the North young people dive for Apples, and for 
 divining purposes fling Nuts into the fire ; hence the vulgar name of 
 Nut-crack Night. In Scotland young women determine the figure 
 and size of their future husbands by paying a visit to the Kail or 
 Cabbage garden, and " pu'ing the Kailstock " blindfold. They 
 also on this night throw Hazel Nuts in the fire, named for two lovers, 
 judging according as they burn quickly together, or start apart, the 
 course of their love. 
 
 At Christmas tide Holly (the " holy tree "), Rosemary, Laurel, 
 Bay, Arbor Vitae, and Ivy are hung up in churches, and are suitable 
 also for the decoration of houses, with the important addition of 
 Mistletoe (which, on account of its Druidic connection, is interdicted 
 in places of worship) . Ivy should only be placed in outer passages or 
 doorways. At Christmas, which St. Gregory termed the " festival 
 of all festivals," the evergreens with which the churches are 
 ornamented are a fitting emblem of that time when, as God says 
 by the prophet Isaiah, " I will plant in the wilderness the Cedar, 
 the Shittah tree and the Myrtle, and the Oil tree ; I will set in the 
 .desert the Fir tree and the Pine, and the Box tree together (xli., 19). 
 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the Fir tree, the 
 Pine tree, and the Box together, to beautify the place of my 
 sanctuary ; and I wiU make the place of my feet glorious " (Ix., 13). 
 
 ^oitf&? ©afti) a^ Memorlaf @l f&eit. 
 
 There exist in diSerent parts of England several ancient trees, 
 notably Oaks, which are traditionally said to have been called 
 
Sjoi^peP ©aft/. 61 
 
 Gospel trees in consequence of its having been the practice in 
 times long past to read under a tree which grew upon a boundary- 
 line a portion of the Gospel on the annual perambulation of the 
 bounds of the parish on Ascension Day. In Herrick's poem of 
 the ' Hesperides ' occur these lines in allusion to this practice : — 
 
 " Dearest, bnry me 
 Under that holy Oak or Gospel tree, 
 Where, though thou see'st not, thou mayest think upon 
 Me when thou yearly go'st in procession ." 
 
 Many of these old trees were doubtless Druidical, and under their 
 "leafy tabernacles" the pioneers of Christianity had probably 
 preached and expounded the Scriptures to a pagan race. The 
 heathen practice of worshipping the gods in woods and trees 
 continued for many centuries, till the introduction of Christianity ; 
 and the first missionaries sought to adopt every means to elevate 
 the Christian worship to higher authority than that of paganism 
 by acting on the senses of the heathen. St. Augustine, Evelyn 
 tells us, held a kind of council under an Oak in the West of 
 England, concerning the right celebration of Easter and the state 
 of the Anglican church ; " where also it is reported he did a great 
 miracle." On Lord Bolton's estate in the New Forest stands a 
 noble group of twelve Oaks known as the Twelve Apostles : there 
 is another group of Oaks extant known as the Four Evangelists. 
 Beneath the venerable Yews at Fountain Abbey, Yorkshire, the 
 founders of the Abbey held their council in 1 132. 
 
 " Cross Oaks " were so called from their having been planted 
 at the junction of cross roads, and these trees were formerly 
 resorted to by aguish patients, for the purpose of transferring to 
 them their malady. . , . „ 
 
 Venerable and noble trees have m all ages and m all countries 
 been ever regarded with special reverence. From the very earliest 
 times such trees have been consecrated to holy uses. Thus, 
 the Gomerites, or descendants of Noah, were, if tradition be true, 
 accustomed to offer prayers and oblations beneath trees ; and, 
 following the example of his ancestors, the Patriarch Abraham 
 Ditched his tents beneath the Terebinth Oaks of Mamre, erected an 
 altar to the Lord, and performed there sacred and priestly rites. 
 Beneath an Oak, too, the Patriarch entertained the Deity Himself, 
 this tree of Abraham remained till the reign of Constantme the 
 Great who founded a venerable chapel under it, and there 
 Christians Tews, and Arabs held solemn anniversary meetings, 
 believing thitTrom the days of Noah the spot shaded by the tree 
 
 '^' V:!nsZl!yt^u^^^t " on the heights of Ephraim, on the 
 central thoroughfare of Palestine, near the Sanctuary of Bethel 
 cfTnH two famous trees, both in after times called by the same 
 name One was the Oak-tree or Terebinth of Deborah, under 
 whTch was buried, with many tears, the nurse of Jacob 
 
62 pPant Tsore, feege^/, atiel Isijrie/". 
 
 (Gen. XXXV. 8). The other was a solitary Palm, known in after 
 times as the Palm-tree of Deborah. Under this Palm, as Saul 
 afterwards under the Pomegranate-tree of Migron, as St. Louis 
 under the Oak-tree of Vincennes, dwelt that mother in Israel, 
 Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, to whom the sons of Israel came to 
 receive her wise answers." 
 
 Since the time when Solomon cut the Cedars of Lebanon for 
 the purpose of employing them in the erection of the Temple of the 
 Lord, this renowned forest has been greatly shorn of its glories ; 
 but a grove of nearly four hundred trees still exists. Twelve of 
 the most valuable of these trees bear the titles of " The Friends 
 of Solomon," or " The Twelve Apostles." Every year the 
 Maronites, Greeks, and Armenians go up to the Cedars, at the 
 Feast of the Transfiguration, and celebrate mass on a homely stone 
 altar erected at their feet. 
 
 In Evelyn's time there existed, near the tomb of Cyrus, an 
 extraordinary Cypress, which was said to exude drops of blood 
 every Friday. This tree, according to Pietro della Valla, was 
 adorned with many lamps, and fitted for an oratory, and was for 
 ages resorted to by pious pilgrims. 
 
 Thevenot and other Eastern travellers mention a tree which 
 for centuries had been regarded with peculiar reverence. " At 
 Matharee," says Thevenot, " is a large garden surrounded by 
 walls, in which are various trees, and among others, a large 
 Sycamore, or Pharaoh's Fig, very old, which bears fruit every 
 year. They say that the Virgin passing that way with her son Jesus, 
 and being pursued by a number of people, the Fig-tree opened to 
 receive her ; she entered, and it closed her in, until the pebple had 
 passed by, when it re-opened, and that it remained open ever 
 after to the year 1656, when the part of the trunk that had separated 
 itself was broken away." 
 
 Near Kennety Church, in the King's County, Ireland, is an 
 Ash, the trunk of which is nearly 22 feet round, and 17 feet high, 
 before the branches break out, which are of enormous bulk. When 
 a funeral of the lower class passes by, they lay the body down a 
 few minutes, say a prayer, and then throw a stone to increase 
 the heap which has been accumulating round the roots. 
 
 The Breton nobles were long accustomed to offer up a prayer 
 beneath the branches of a venerable Yew which grew in the 
 cloister of Vreton, in Brittany. The tree was regarded with much 
 veneration, as it was said to have originally sprung firom the staff 
 of St. Martin. 
 
 In England, the Glastonbury Thorn was long the object of 
 pious reverence. This tree was supposed to have sprung from the 
 staff of Joseph of Arimathea, to whom the original conversion 
 of this country is attributed in monkish legends. The story runs 
 that when Joseph of Arimathea came to convert the heathen 
 nations he selected Glastonbury as the site for the first Christian 
 
Memoriaf UTeey, 6 
 
 o 
 
 Church, and whilst preaching there on Christmas-day, he struck 
 his staff into the ground, which immediately burst into bud and 
 bloom; eventually it grew into a Thorn-bush, which regularly 
 blossomed every Christmas-day, and became known throughout 
 Christendom as the Glastonbury Thorn. 
 
 " The winter Thorn, which 
 Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of our Lord." 
 
 Like the Thorn of Glastonbury, an Oak, in the New Forest, called 
 the Cadenham Oak, produced its buds always on Christmas Day ; 
 and was, consequently, regarded by the country people as a tree 
 of peculiar sanctity. Another miraculous tree is referred to in 
 CoUinson's ' History of Somerset.' The author, speaking of the 
 Glastonbury Thorn, says that there grew also in the Abbey 
 churchyard, on the north side of St. Joseph's Chapel, a miraculous 
 Walnut-tree, which never budded forth before the Feast of 
 St. Barnabas (that is, the iith of June), and on that very day 
 shot forth leaves, and flourished like its usual species. It is 
 strange to say how much this tree was sought after by the cre- 
 dulous ; and though not an uncommon Walnut', Queen Anne, 
 King James, and many of the nobility of the realm, even when the 
 times of monkish superstition had ceased, gave large sums of 
 money for small cuttings from the original. 
 
F^ 
 
 
 i 
 
 ^^ ■ 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 iSo l' 
 
 1 
 i 
 
 T^& i 
 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Dfani/ of tft.6 iJaine/ al^ti fldacje/. 
 
 ENTURIES before Milton wrote that "Millions of 
 spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen, both 
 when we wake, and when we sleep," our Saxon 
 ancestors, whilst yet they inhabited the forests 
 of Germany, believed in the existence of a 
 diminutive race of beings — ^the "missing link" 
 between men and spirits — to whom they attri- 
 buted extraordinary actions, far exceeding the 
 capabilities of human art. Moreover, we have it on the authority 
 of the father of English poetry that long, long ago, in those 
 wondrous times when giants and dwarfs still deigned to live in the 
 same countries as ordinary human beings, 
 
 " In the olde dayes of King Artour, 
 Of which the Bretons speken gret honour, 
 All was this land fulfilled of faerie; 
 The Elf-quene and hire joly compaynie 
 Danced full oft in many a grene mede. 
 This was the old opinion as I rede. " 
 
 The old Welsh bards were accustomed to sing their belief that 
 King Arthur was not dead, but conveyed away by the fairies into 
 some charmed spot where he should remain awhile, and then 
 return, again to reign with undiminished power. These wondrous 
 inhabitants of Elf-land — ^these Fays, Fairies, Elves, Little Folk, 
 Pixies, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, Dwarfs, Pigmies, Gnomes, and Trolls 
 are all more or less associated with the plant kingdom. They 
 make their habitations in the leafy branches of trees, or dwell in 
 the greater seclusion of their hollow trunks ; they dally and gambol 
 among opening buds and nodding blossoms; they hide among 
 blushing Roses and fragrant shrubs ; they dance amid the Butter- 
 cups, Daisies, and Meadow-Sweet of the grassy meads; and, as 
 Shakspeare says, they " use flowers for their charactery." 
 
 Grimm tells us that in Germany the Elves are fond of 
 inhabiting Oak trees, the holes in the trunks of which are deemed 
 by the people to be utilised by the Fairies as means of entry and 
 
^fanfiS of tRa iJairiaS. gc 
 
 exit. A similar belief is entertained by the Hindus, who consider 
 holes in trees as doors by which the inhabiting spirit passes in 
 and out. German elves are also fond of frequenting Elder-trees. 
 
 The Esthonians believe that during a thunder-storm, and in 
 order to escape from the lightning, the timorous Elves burrow 
 several feet beneath the roots of the trees they inhabit. As a rule 
 these forest Elves are good-natured : if they are not offended, not 
 only will they abstain from harming men, but they will even do 
 them a good turn, and teach them some of the mysteries of nature, 
 of which they possess the secret. 
 
 The Elves were in former days thought to practise works of 
 mercy in the woods, and a certain sympathetic affinity with trees 
 became thus propagated in the popular faith. The country-folk 
 were careful not to offend the trees that were inhabited by Fairies, 
 and they never sought to surprise the Elfin people in their myste- 
 rious retreats, for they dreaded the power of these invisible 
 creatures to cause ill-luck or some unfortunate malady to fall on 
 those against whom they had a spite. Even deaths were sometimes 
 laid at their door. 
 
 A German legend relates that as a peasant woman one day 
 tried to uproot the stump of an old tree in a Fir forest, she became 
 so feeble that at last she could scarcely manage to walk. Suddenly, 
 while endeavouring to crawl to her home, a mysterious-looking 
 man appeared in the path before the poor woman, and upon 
 hearing what was the matter with her, he at once remarked that 
 she had wounded an Elf. If the Elf got well, so would she ; but 
 if the Elf should unfortunately perish, she would also assuredly die. 
 The stump of the old Fir-tree was the abode of an Elf, and in 
 endeavouring to uproot it, the woman had unintentionally injured 
 the little creature. The words of the mysterious personage proved^ 
 too true. The peasant languished for some time, but drooped and 
 died on the same day as the wounded Elf. To this day, in the vast 
 forests of Germany and Russia, instead of uprooting old Firs, the 
 foresters, remembering the Elfish superstition, always chop them 
 
 down above the roots. . . , , r i ^ . x u-i 
 
 In the Indian legend of Savitri, the youthful Satyavant, while 
 felling a tree, perspires inordinately, is overcome with weakness, 
 sinks exhausted, and dies. He had mortally wounded the Elf of 
 the tree. Since the days of Msop it has become a saymg that 
 Death has a weakness for woodmen. 
 
 In our own land. Oaks have always been deemed the favourite 
 abodes of Elves, and wayfarers, upon approaching groves reputed 
 to be haunted by them, used to think it judicious to turn their coats 
 for good luck. Thus Bishop Corbet, in his Iter Boreak, writes :— 
 
 ." William found 
 
 A means for our deliverance : ' Turn your cloakes,' 
 
 Quoth he, ' for Pucke is busy in these Oakes ; 
 
 If ever we at Bosworth will be found, ^_ 
 
 Then turn your cloakes, for this is Fairy ground. 
 
66 Ofant Tsore, Taeg&r^j; and Tsijncy, 
 
 It was believed that the Fairy folk made their homes in the 
 recesses of forests or secluded groves, whence they issued after 
 sunset to gambol in the fields; often startling with their sudden 
 appearance the tired herdsman trudging homeward to his cot, or 
 the goodwife returning from her expedition to market. Thus we 
 read of " Fairy Elves whose midnight revels by a forest side or 
 fountain some belated peasant sees." 
 
 " Would you the Fairy regions see, 
 Hence to the greenwoods run with me ; 
 From mortals safe the livelong night. 
 There countless feats the Fays delight." — Zeftfy. 
 
 In the Isle of Man the Fairies or Elves used to be seen 
 hopping from trees and skipping from bough to bough, whilst 
 wending their way to the Fairy midnight haunts. 
 
 In such esteem were they held by the country folk of Devon 
 and Cornwall, that to ensure their friendship and good oifices, the 
 Fairies, or Pixies, used formerly to have a certain share of the 
 fruit crop set apart for their special consumption. 
 
 Hans Christian Andersen tells of a certain Rose Elf who 
 was instrumental in punishing the murderer of a beautiful young 
 maiden to whom he was attached. The Rose, in olden times, was 
 reputed to be under the especial protection of Elves, Fairies, and 
 Dwarfs, whose sovereign, Laurin, carefully guarded the Rose- 
 garden. 
 
 " Four portals to the garden lead, and when the gates are closed, 
 No living wight dare touch a Rose, 'gainst his strict command opposed. 
 Whoe'er would break the golden gates, or cut the silken thread, 
 Or who would dare to waste the flowers down beneath his tread. 
 Soon for his pride would leave to pledge a foot and hand ; 
 Thus Laurin, King of Dwarfs, rules within his land." 
 
 A curious family of the Elfin tribe were the Moss- or Wood* 
 Folk, who dwelt in the forests of Southern Germany. Their stature 
 was small, and their form weird and uncouth, bearing a strange 
 resemblance to certain trees, with which they flourished and 
 decayed. Describing a Moss-woman, the author of ' The Fairy 
 Family ' says : — 
 
 " ' A Moss-woman ! ' the hay-makers cry. 
 And over the fields in terror they fly. 
 She is loosely clad from neck to foot 
 In a inantle of Moss from the Maple's root, 
 And like Lichen grey on its stem that grows 
 Is the hair that over her mantle flows. 
 Her skin, like the Maple-rind, is hard, 
 Brown and ridgy, and furrowed and scarred; 
 And each feature flat, like the bark we see. 
 Where a bough has been lopped from the bole of a tree. 
 When the newer bark has crept healingly round. 
 And laps o'er the edge of the open wound; 
 Her knotty, root-like feet are bare, 
 And her height is an ell from heel to hair.'' 
 
pPantu^ of tfte ©Jdiriefti. 67 
 
 The Moss- or Wood-Folk also lived in some parts of Scan- 
 dinavia. Thus, we are told that, in the churchyard of Store 
 Hedding, in Zealand, there are the remains of an Oak wood which 
 were trees by day and warriors by night. 
 
 The Black Dwarfs were a race of Scandinavian Elves, 
 inhabiting coast -hills and caves ; the favourite place of their feasts 
 and carousings, however, was under the spreading branches of the 
 Elder-tree, the strong perfume of its large moon-like clusters of 
 flowers being very grateful to them. As has been before pointed 
 out, an unexplained connection of a mysterious character has 
 always existed between this tree and the denizens of Fairy-land. 
 
 The Still-Folk of Central Germany were another tribe of the 
 Fairy Kingdom : they inhabited the interior of hills, in which they 
 had their spacious halls and strong rooms filled with gold, silver, 
 and precious stones — the entrance to which was only obtained by 
 mortals by means of the Luck-flower, or the Key-flower (Schlilssel- 
 llume). They held communication with the outer world, like the 
 Trolls of Scandinavia, through certain springs or wells, which 
 possessed great virtues: not only did they give extraordinary 
 growth and fruitfulness to all trees and shrubs that grew near 
 them, whose roots could drink of their waters, or whose leaves be 
 sprinkled with the dews condensed from their vapours, but for 
 certain human diseases they formed a sovereign remedy. 
 
 In Monmouthshire, in years gone by, there existed a good 
 Fairy, or Procca, who was wont to appear to Welshmen in the 
 guise of a handful of loose dried grass, rolling and gambolling 
 before the wind. 
 
 The English Fays and Fairies, the Pixies of Devon— 
 
 " Fantastic Elves, that leap 
 The slender Hare-cup, climb the Cowslip bells, 
 And seize the wild bee as she lies asleep," 
 according to the old pastoral poets, were wont to bestir them- 
 selves soon after sunset— a time of indistinctness and gloomy 
 grandeur, when the moonbeams gleam fitfully through the wmd- 
 stirred branches of their sylvan retreats, and when sighs and 
 murmurings are indistinctly heard around, which whisper to the 
 listener of unseen beings. But it is at midnight that the whole 
 Fairy kingdom is alive: then it is that the famt music of the 
 blue Harebell is heard ringing out the call to the Elfin meet : 
 
 " 'Tis the hour of Fairy ban and spell. 
 The wood-tick has kept the minutes well, 
 He has counted them all with chck and stroke, 
 Deep on the heart of the forest Oak; 
 And he has awakened the sentry Elve, 
 
 That sleeps with him in the haunted tree, 
 To bid him ring the hour of twelve, 
 And call the Fays to their revelry. 
 
 F — 2 
 
68 pfant Tsore, begeT^/, dnS. hur'iaj: 
 
 " They come from the beds of the Lichen green, 
 They creep from the Mullein's velvet screen, 
 Some on the backs of beetles fly 
 
 From the silver tops of moon-touched trees. 
 Where they swing in their cobweb hammocks high. 
 
 And rocked about in the evening breeze ; 
 Some from the hum-bird's downy nest, 
 
 Had driven him out by Elfin power, 
 And pillowed on plumes of his rainbow crest, 
 
 Had slumbered there till ihe charmed hour ; 
 Some had lain in a scarp of the rock, 
 
 By glittering ising-stars inlaid, 
 And some had opened the ' Four-o'-Clock,' 
 
 And stolen within its purple shade ; 
 And now they throng the moonlight glade. 
 
 Above, below, — on every side, 
 Their little minim forms arrayed. 
 
 In the tricksy pomp of Fairy pride." — Dr. Drakis ' Culprit Fay.^ 
 
 Like the Witches, Fairies dearly love to ride to the trysting- 
 place on an aerial steed. A straw, a blade of Grass, a Fern, a 
 Rush, or a Cabbage-stalk, alike serve the purpose of the little 
 people. Mounted on such simple steeds, each joyous Elf sings — 
 
 " Now I go, now I fly, 
 Malkin, my sweet spirit, and I. 
 O what a dainty pleasure 'tis 
 To ride in the air, 
 When the morn shines fair, 
 And sing and dance, and toy and kiss ! " 
 
 Arrived at the spot selected for the Fairy revels — mayhap, 
 " a bank whereon the wild Thyme blows, where Oxlips and the 
 nodding Violet grows " — the gay throng wend their way to a grassy 
 link or neighbouring pasture, and there the merry Elves trip and 
 pace the dewy green sward with their printless feet, causing those 
 dark green circles that are known to mortals as " Fairy Rings;" 
 
 The Fays that haunt the moonlight dell. 
 The Elves that sleep in the Cowslip's bell. 
 The tricksy Sprites that come and go, 
 
 Swifter than a gleam of light ; 
 Where the murmuring waters flow. 
 
 And the zephyrs of the night, 
 Bending to the flowers that grow, 
 
 Basking in the silver sheen. 
 With their voices soft and low. 
 
 Sing about the rings of green 
 Which the Fairies' twinkling feet. 
 
 In their nightly revels, beat. 
 
 Old William Browne depidts a Fairy trysting-place as being in 
 proximity to one of their sylvan haunts, and moreover gives us an 
 insight into the proceedings of the Fays and their queen at one of 
 their meetings. He says : — 
 
 " Near to this wood there lay a pleasant meade 
 Where Fairies often did their measures treade, 
 Which in the meadows made such circles greene, 
 As if with garlands it had crowned beene. 
 
pfanf(& of tRe SairieiS, 6^ 
 
 Or like tKe circle where the signes we tracke, 
 
 And learned shepheards call't the zodiacke ; 
 
 Within one of these rounds was to be seene 
 
 A hillock rise, where oft the Fairie queene 
 
 At twilight sat, and did command her Elves 
 
 To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves ; 
 
 And further, if by maiden's oversight, 
 
 Within doors water were not brought at night. 
 
 Or if they spread no table, set no bread. 
 
 They should have nips from toe unto the head, 
 
 And for thS maid that had performed each thing. 
 
 She in the water-pail bade leave a ring." 
 
 St. John's Eve was undoubtedly chosen for important com- 
 munication between the distant Elfin groves and the settlements of 
 men, on account of its mildness, brightness, and unequalled beauty. 
 Has not Shakspeare told us, in his ' Midsummer's Night's Dream,' of 
 the doings, on this night, of Oberon, Ariel, Puck, Titania, and her 
 Fairy followers ? — 
 
 " The darling puppets of romance's view ; 
 
 Fairies, and Sprites, and Goblin Elves we call them, 
 
 Famous for patronage of lovers true ; 
 
 No harm they act, neither shall harm befall them. 
 
 So do not thou with crabbed frowns appal them." 
 
 Yet timorous and ill-informed folk, mistrusting the kindly disposi- 
 tion of Elves and Fairies, took precautions for excluding Elfin 
 visitors from their dwellings by hanging over their doors boughs 
 of St. John's Wort, gathered at midnight on St. John's Eye. A 
 more kmdly feeling, however, seems to have prevailed at Christmas 
 time, when boughs of evergreen were everywhere hung in houses in 
 order that the poor frost-bitten Elves of the trees might hide them- 
 selves therein, and thus pass the bleak winter in hospitable shelter. 
 
 In Devonshire the flowers of Stitchwort are known as Pixies. 
 
 Of plants which are specially affected by the Fairies, first 
 mention should be made of the Elf Grass IVeshria ccemlea), known 
 in Germany as Elfenkraut or Elfgras. This is the Grass formmg 
 the Fairy Rings, round which, with aerial footsteps, have danced 
 
 " Ye demi-puppets, that 
 By moonlight do the green sour ringlets make, 
 Whereof the ewe not hites." —SAakspear^s Tempest. 
 
 The Cowslip, or Fairy Cup, Shakspeare tells us forms the 
 couch of Ariel— the " dainty Ariel " who has so sweetly sung o£ 
 his Fairy life — 
 
 " Where the bee sucks, there lurk I ; 
 
 In a Cowslip's bell I lie ; 
 
 There I couch when owls do cry; 
 
 On a bat's back I do fly 
 
 After summer mewily. 
 
 Merrily, merrily, shall I live now 
 
 Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. 
 
yo Ofant Isore, laeger^j; cmE Isiji-iq/. 
 
 The fine small crimson drops in the Cowslip's chalice are said 
 to possess the rare virtue of preserving, and even of restoring, 
 youthful bloom and beauty; for these ruddy spots are fairy 
 favours, and therefore have enchanted value. Shakspeare says of 
 this flower of the Fays : — 
 
 " And I serve the Fairy queen. 
 To dew her orbs upon the green : 
 The Cowslips tall her pensioners be ; 
 In their gold coats spots you see ; 
 Those be rulpies, fairy favours : 
 In those freckles live their savours." 
 
 Another of the flowers made potent use of by the Fairies of 
 Skakspeare is the Pansy — ^that "little Western flower" which 
 Oberon bade Puck procure : — 
 
 " Fetch me that flower, — the herb I showed thee once: 
 The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid, 
 Will make a man or woman madly dote 
 Upon the next live creature that it sees." 
 
 The Anemone, or Wind-flower, is a recognised Fairy blossom. 
 The crimson marks on its petals have been painted there by fairy 
 hands ; and, in wet weather, it affords shelter to benighted Elves, 
 who are glad to seek shelter beneath its down-turned petals. 
 Tulips are greatly esteemed by the Fairy folk, who utilise them as 
 cradles in which to rock the infant Elves to sleep. 
 
 The Fairy Flax {Linum catharticum) is, from its extreme 
 delicacy, selected by the Fays as the substance to be woven for 
 their raiment. The Pyrus Japonica is the Fairies' Fire. Fairy- 
 Butter (Tremella arborea and albidd) is a yellowish gelatinous sub- 
 stance, found upon rotten wood or fallen timber, and which is 
 popularly supposed to be made in the night, and scattered about 
 by the Fairies. The P'izita, an exquisite scarlet Fungus cup, 
 which grows on pieces of broken stick, and is to be found in dry 
 ditches and hedge-sides, is the Fairies' Bath. 
 
 To yellow flowers growing in hedgerows, the Fairies have a 
 special dislike, and will never frequent a place where they abound ; 
 but it is notorious that they are passionately fond of most flowers. 
 It is part of their mission to give to each maturing blossom its 
 proper hue, to guide creepers and climbing plants, and to teach 
 young plants to move with befitting grace. 
 
 ■ But the Foxglove is the especial delight of the Fairy tribe : 
 it- is the Fairy plant pay excellence. When it bends its tall stalks 
 the Foxglove is making its obeisance to its tiny masters, or pre- 
 paring to receive sonie little Elf who wishes to hide himself in 
 the safe retreat afl'orded by its accommodating bells. In Ireland 
 this flower is called Lusmore, or the Great Herb. It is there the 
 iFairy Cap, whilst in Wales it becomes the Goblin's Gloves. 
 
 As the Foxglove is the special flower of the Fairies, so is a 
 four-leaved Clover their peculiar herb. It is believed only to grow 
 
pPant/ of tRe ®^afeY Rijmpft/. 71 
 
 in places frequented by the Elfin tribe, and to be gifted by them 
 with magic power. 
 
 " I'll seek a four-leaved Clover 
 In all the Fairy dells, 
 And if I find the charmed leaf, 
 Oh, how I'll weave my spells 1 " — S. Lover. 
 
 The maiden whose search has been successful for this diminu- 
 tive plant becomes at once joyous and light-hearted, for she knows 
 that she will assuredly see her true love ere the day is over. The 
 four-leaved Clover is the only plant that will enable its wearer to 
 see the Fairies — it is a magic talisman whereby to gain admittance 
 to the Fairy kingdom,* and unless armed with this potent herb, the 
 only other means available to mortals who wish to make the 
 acquaintance of the Fairies is to procure a supply of a certain 
 precious unguent prepared according to the receipt of a celebrated 
 alchymist, which, applied to the visual orbs, is said to enable 
 anyone with a clear conscience to behold without difficulty or 
 danger the most potent Fairy or Spirit he may anywhere encounter. 
 The following is the form of the preparation : — 
 
 " R. A pint of Sallet-oyle, and put it into a vial-glasse ; but 
 first wash it with Rose-water and Marygolde water ; the flowers 
 to be gathered towards the east. Wash it till the oyle come 
 white ; then put it into the glasse, ut supra : and then put thereto 
 the budds of Holyhocke, the flowers of Marygolde, the flowers or 
 toppers of Wild Thyme, the budds of young Hazle : and the 
 Thyme must be gathered neare the side of a hill where Fayries 
 used to be : and take the grasse of a Fayrie throne. Then all 
 these put into the oyle into the glasse : and sette it to dissolve 
 three dayes in the sunne, and then keep it for thy use ; ut supra." — 
 [Ashmolean MSS.] , 
 
 pPanfi) of tfte ®\f/afe7 llijmpft^ al^G 3ay^. 
 
 Certain of the Fairy community frequented the vicinity of 
 pools, and the banks of streams and rivers. Ben Jonson tells of 
 " Span-long Elves that dance about a pool ; " and Stagnelius asks— 
 
 " Say, know'st the Elfin people gay? 
 They dwell on the river s strand ; 
 They spin from the moonbeams their festive garb. 
 With their small and lily hand." 
 
 Of this family are the Russalkis, river nymphs of Southern 
 Russia, who inhabit the alluvial islands studding the winding 
 river, or dwell in detached coppices fringing the banks, or con- 
 struct for themselves homes woven of flowering Reeds and green 
 Willow-boughs. 
 
 The Swedes delight to tell of the Stromkarl, or boy of the 
 stream, a mystic being who haunts brooks and rivulets, and sits 
 
 * See legend in Part II., under the head of " Clover." 
 
72 pfant bore, h&Qzrpf, onS bijriq/". 
 
 on the silvery waves at moonlight, playing his harp to the Elves 
 and Fays who dance on the flowery margin, in obedience to his 
 
 summons — 
 
 " Come queen of the revels — come, form into bands 
 The Elves and the Fairies that follow your train ; 
 Tossing your tresses, and wreathing your hands, 
 Let your dainty feet dance to my wave-wafted strain." 
 
 The Grseco-Latin Naiades, or Water-nymphs, were also of this 
 family : they generally inhabited the country, and resorted to the 
 woods or meadows near the stream over which they presided. 
 It was in some such locality on the Asiatic coast that the ill-fated 
 Hylas was carried ofi' by Isis and the River-nymphs, whilst 
 obtaining water from a fountain. 
 
 " The chiefs composed their wearied limbs to rest, 
 But Hylas sought the springs, by thirst opprest ; 
 At last a fount he found with flow'rets graced : 
 On the green bank above his urn he placed. 
 'Twas at a time when old Ascanius made 
 An entertainment in his watery bed. 
 For all the Nymphs and all the Naiades 
 Inhabitants of neighb'ring plains and seas.'' 
 
 These inferior deities were held in great veneration, and received 
 from their votaries offerings of fruit and flowers ; animal sacrifices 
 were also made to them, with libations of wine, honey, oil, and 
 miUc ; and they were crowned with Sedges and flowers. A remnant 
 of these customs was to be seen in the practice which formerly 
 prevailed in this country of sprinkling rivers with flowers on Holy 
 Thursday. Milton, in his ' Comus,' tells us that, in honour of 
 Sabrina, the Nymph of the Severn — 
 
 "The shepherds at their festivals 
 Carol her good deeds loud in rustic lays, 
 And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream, 
 Of Pansies, Pinks, and gaudy Daffodils." 
 
 A belief in the existence of good spirits who watched and 
 guarded wells, springs and streams, was common to the whole 
 Aryan race. On the 1 3th of October the Romans celebrated at the 
 Porta Fontinalis a festival in honour of the Nymphs who presided 
 over fountains and wells: this was termed the Fontinalia, and 
 during the ceremonies wells and fountains were ornamented with 
 garlands. To this day the old heathen custom of dressing and 
 adorning wells is extant, although saints and martyrs have long 
 since taken the place of the Naiades and Water-nymphs as patrons. 
 In England, well-dressing at Ascension-tide is still practised, and 
 some particulars of the ancient custom will be found in the chapter 
 on Floral Ceremonies, 
 
 "The fountain marge is fairly spread 
 With every incense flower that bloBrs, 
 With flowry Sedge and Moss that grows. 
 For fervid limbs a dewy bed." — Fane. 
 
Pilgrimages are made to many holy wells and springs in the 
 United Kingdom, for the purpose of curing certain diseases by the 
 virtues contained in their waters, or to dress these health-restoring 
 fountains with garlands and posies of flowers. It is not surprising 
 to find Ben Jonson saying that round such " virtuous " wells the 
 Fairies are fond of assembling, and dancing flieir rounds, lightecl 
 by the pale moonshine — 
 
 " By wells and rills, in meadows greene. 
 We nightly dance our hey-day guise ; 
 And to our Fairye king and queene 
 
 We chant our moonlight minstrelsies. " — Percy Scliques. 
 
 In Cornwall pilgrimages are made in May to certain wells 
 situated close to old blasted Oaks, where the frequenters suspend 
 rags to the branches as a preservative against sorcery and a pro- 
 pitiation to the Fairies, who are thought to be fond of repairing at 
 night to the vicinity of the wells. From St. Mungo's Well at 
 Huntly, in Scotland, the people carry away bottles of water, as a 
 talisman against the enmity of the Fairies, who are supposed to 
 hold their revels at the Elfin Croft close by, and are prone to resent 
 the intrusion of mortals. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 \uhanf, ©y/'ooiL RijiTipft/, al^t) ©Tree 
 ^piril/. 
 
 LOSELY allied to the Fairy family, the Well 
 Fays, and the Naiades, are the Sylvans of the 
 Grseco-Roman mythology, which everywhere 
 depicts groves and forests as the dwelling-places 
 and resorts of merry bands of Dryads, Nymphs, 
 Fauns, Satyrs, and other light-hearted frequenters 
 of the woods. Mindful of this, Horace, when 
 extolling the joys and peacefulness of sylvan 
 
 retirement, sings : — 
 
 " Me the cool woods above the rest advance, 
 
 Where the rough Satyrs with the light Nymphs dance.'' 
 
 The Dryads were young and beautiful nymphs who were 
 regarded as semi-goddesses. Deriving their name from the Greek 
 word drus, a tree, they were conceived to dwell in trees, groves, 
 and forests, and, according to tradition, were wont to inflict 
 injuries upon people who dared to injure the trees they inhabited 
 and specially protected. Notwithstanding this, however, they 
 frequently quitted their leafy habitations, to wander at will and 
 mingle with the wood nymphs in their rural sports and dances. 
 They are represented veiled and crowned with flowers. Such a 
 sylvan deity Rinaldo saw in the Enchanted Forest, when 
 
 " An aged Oak beside him cleft and rent. 
 And from his fertile hollow womb forth went 
 (Clad in rare weeds and strange habihment) 
 A fiill-grown Nymph." 
 
 The Hamadryads were only females to the waist, their lower 
 parts merging into the trunks and roots of trees. Their life and 
 power terminated with the existence of the tree over which they 
 presided. These sylvan deities had long flowing hair, and bore in 
 their hands axes wherewith to protect the tree with which they 
 were associated and on the existence of which their own life 
 
®y/oosL riijmpfi/. ye 
 
 depended. The trees of the Hamadryads usually grew in some 
 secluded spot, remote from human habitations and unknown to 
 men, where 
 
 " Much sweet grass grew higher than grew the Reed, 
 And good for slumber, and every holier herb. 
 Narcissus and the low-lying Melilote, 
 And all of goodliest blade and bloom that springs 
 Where, hid by heavier Hyacinth, Violet buds 
 Blossom and bum, and fire of yellower flowers. 
 And light of crescent Lilies and such leaves 
 As fear the Faun's, and know the Dryad's iooi."— Theocritus. 
 
 The rustic deities, called by the Greeks Satyrs, and by the 
 
 Romans, Fauns, had the legs, feet, and ears of goats, and the rest 
 
 of the body human. These Fauns, according to the traditions of 
 
 the Romans, presided over vegetation, and to them the country 
 
 folk gave anything they had a mind to ask — bunches of Grapes, 
 
 ears of Wheat, and all sorts of fruit. The food of the Satyrs was 
 
 believed, by the early Romans, to be the root of the Orchis or 
 
 Satyrion ; its aphrodisiacal qualities exciting them to those 
 
 excesses to which they are stated to have been so strongly addicted. 
 
 A Roumanian legend * tells of a beauteous sylvan nymph called 
 
 the Daughter of the Laurel, who is evidently akin to the Dryads 
 
 and wood nymphs; and Mr. Ralston, in an article on 'Forest 
 
 and Field Myths,' t gives the following variation of the story : — 
 
 " There was once a childless wife who used to lament, saying, 
 
 ' If only I had a child, were it but a Laurel berry ! ' And heaven 
 
 sent her a golden Laurel berry ; but its value was not recognised, 
 
 and it was thrown away. From it sprang a Laurel-tree, which 
 
 gleamed with golden twigs. At it a prince, while following the 
 
 chase, wondered greatly ; and determining to return to it, he 
 
 ordered his cook to prepare a dinner for him beneath its shade. 
 
 He was obeyed. But during the temporary absence of the cook, 
 
 the tree opened, and forth came a fair maiden who strewed a 
 
 handful of salt over the viands, and returned into the tree, which 
 
 immediately closed upon her. The prince returned and scolded 
 
 the cook for over-salting the dinner. The cook declared his 
 
 innocence ; but in vain. The next day just the same occurred. 
 
 So on the third day the prince kept watch. The tree opened, and 
 
 the maiden came forth. But before she could return into the tree, 
 
 the prince caught hold of her and carried her off. After a time she 
 
 escaped from him, ran back to the tree, and called upon it to open. 
 
 But it remained shut. So she had to return to the prince, and after 
 
 a while he deserted her. It was not till after long wandering that 
 
 she found him again, and became his loyal consort." Mr. Ralston 
 
 says that in Hahn's opinion the above story is founded on the 
 
 Hellenic belief in Dryads ; but he himself thinks it belongs to an 
 
 * The legend is given in Part II., under the heading " Laurel." 
 t Contemporary Review, Vol. xxxi., p. 520, 
 
earlier mythological family than the Hellenic, though the Dryad 
 and the Laurel-maiden are undoubtedly kinswomen. " Long 
 before the Dryads and Oreads had received from the sculpturesque 
 Greek mind their perfection of human form and face, trees were 
 credited with woman-like inhabitants, capable of doing good and 
 ill, and with power of their own, apart from those possessed by 
 their supernatural tenants, of banning and blessing. Therefore 
 was it that they were worshipped, and that recourse was had to 
 them for the strengthening of certain rites. Similar ideas and 
 practices still prevail in Asia : survivals of them may yet be found 
 in Europe." 
 
 In Moldavia -there lingers the cherished tradition of Mariora 
 Floriora, the Zina (nymph) of the mountains, the Sister of the 
 Flowers, at whose approach the birds awoke and sung merrily, 
 desirous of anticipating her every wish, and the wild flowers 
 exhaled their choicest perfume, and, bowing gently in the wind, 
 proffered every virtue contained in their blossoms. Yielding one 
 day to the fascinations of a mortal, Mariora Floriora gave herself 
 to him, and forgot her flowers, so that the leaves fell yellow and 
 withered, and the flowers drooped their heads and faded. Then 
 they complained to the Sun that the flower nymph no longer 
 tended them, but rambled over the mountains and meadows 
 absorbed with her mortal lover. So a Zm6u (evil spirit) was sent, 
 who seized her in his arms, and carried her away over the mountain. 
 Now she is never seen ; but when the moon is shining on a serene 
 night, her plaintive murmurs are sometimes heard in the caverns 
 of the mountain. 
 
 The Roman goddess Pomona, we are told by Ovid, came 
 of the family of Dryads, or sylvan deities ; and although " the 
 Nymph frequented not the fluttering stream, nor meads, the 
 subject of a virgin's dream," yet — 
 
 " In garden culture none could her excel, 
 Or form the pliant souk of plants so well. 
 Or to the fruit more gen'rous flavours lend. 
 Or teach the trees with nobler loads to bend." 
 
 As a deity, Pomona presided over gardens and all sorts of fruit-trees, 
 and was honoured with a temple in Rome, and a regular priest, called 
 Flamen Pomomlis, who offered sacrifices to her divinity for the 
 preservation of fruit. In this respect Pomona differed from the 
 other Sylvans, who were only regarded as semi-gods and goddesses. 
 The worship of these sylvan deities, however, by the Greeks and 
 Romans caused them to regard with reverence and respect their 
 nemorous habitations. Hence we find that, like the Egyptians, 
 they were fond of surrounding their temples and fanes with groves 
 and woods, which in time came to be regarded as sacred as the 
 
ii>aore3_ €\^o'9e/■, 77 
 
 temples themselves. Pliny, speaking of groves, says: "These 
 were of old the temples of the gods ; and after that simple but 
 ancient custom, men at this day consecrate the fairest and 
 goodliest trees to some deity or other ; nor do we more adore our 
 glittering shrines of gold and ivory than the groves in which, with 
 profound and awful silence, we worship them." Ancient writers 
 often refer to "vocal forests," — in their sombre and gloomy re- 
 cesses, the frighted wayfarer imagined, as the wind soughed and 
 rustled through the dense foliage, that the tree spirits were hum- 
 ming some sportive lay, or — perchance more frequently — chant- 
 ing weirdly some solemn dirge. The grove which surrounded 
 Jupiter's Temple at Dodona was supposed to be endowed with 
 the gift of prophecy, and oracles were frequently there delivered 
 by the sacred Oaks. 
 
 "Due honours once Dodona's forest had, 
 When oracles were through the Oaks conveyed. 
 When woods instructed prophets to foretel, 
 And the decrees of fate in trees did dwell." 
 
 In course of time each tree of these sacred groves was held to 
 be tenanted, or presided over, either by a god or goddess, or by 
 one of the sylvan semi-deities. Impious was deemed he who 
 dared to profane the sanctity of one of these nemorous retreats, 
 either by damaging or by felling the consecrated trees. Rapin, in 
 his Latin poem on Gardens, says : 
 
 " But let no impious axe profane the woods, 
 Or violate the sacred shades ; the Gods 
 Themselves inhabit there. Some have beheld 
 Where drops of blood from wounded Oaks distili'd ; 
 Have seen the trembling boughs with horror shake ! 
 So great a conscience did the ancients make 
 To cut down Oaks, that it was held a crime 
 In that obscure and superstitious time. 
 When Driopeius Heaven did provoke, 
 By daring to destroy th' .lEmonian Oak, 
 And with it its included Dryad too. 
 Avenging Ceres then her faith did show 
 To the wrong'd nymph," 
 
 When threatened with the woodman's axe, the tutelary genius 
 of the doomed tree would intercede for its life, the very leaves 
 would sigh and groan, the stalwart trunk tremble with horror. 
 Ovid relates how Erisichthon, a Thessalian, who derided Ceres, 
 and cut down the trees in her sacred groves, was, for his impiety, 
 afflicted with perpetual hunger. Of one huge old Oak the poet 
 says — 
 
 "In the cool dusk its unpierc'd verdure spread 
 The Dryads oft their hallow'd dances led." 
 
 But the vindictive Erisichthon bade his hesitating servants fell 
 the venerable tree, and, dissatisfied with their speed, seized an 
 
78 pPant boi*©, teege't^^/, aTiel bLjris/. 
 
 axe, and approached it, declaring that nothing should save the 
 Oak:— 
 
 " He spoke, and as he pois'd a slanting stroke, 
 
 Sighs heav'd and tremblings shook the frighted Oak; 
 
 Its leaves look'd sickly, pale its Acorns grew, 
 
 And its long branches sweat a chilly dew. 
 
 But when his impious hand a wound bestow'd, 
 
 Blood from the mangled bark in currents flow'd. 
 »»»•♦» 
 
 The wonder all amaz'd : yet one more bold, 
 
 The fact dissuading, strove his axe to hold ; 
 
 But the Thessalian, obstinately bent, 
 
 Too proud to change, too harden'd to repent, 
 
 On his kind monitor his eyes, which bum'd 
 
 With rage, and with his eyes his weapon, tum'd ; 
 
 Take the reward (says he) of pious dread ; — 
 
 Then with a blow lopp'd off his parted head. 
 
 No longer check'd, the wretch his crime pursued, 
 ' Doubled his strokes, and sacrilege renew'd ; 
 
 When from the groaning trunk a voice was heard, — 
 
 ' A Dryad I,' by Ceres' love preferred. 
 
 Within the circle of this clasping rind 
 
 Coeval grew, and now in ruin join'd ; 
 
 But instant vengeance shall thy sin pursue, 
 ' And death is cheered with this prophetic view." 
 
 Garth's Ovid. 
 
 @ll>ee ^f'\t\\&, 
 
 Ovid, in his ' Metamorphoses,' has told us how, after Daphne 
 had been changed into a Laurel, the nymph-tree still panted and 
 heaved her heart ; how, when Phaethon's grief-stricken sisters were 
 transformed into Poplars, they continued to shed tears, which were 
 changed into "amber ; how Myrrha, metamorphosed into a tree, still 
 wept, in her bitter grief, the precious drops which retain her name ; 
 how Dryope, similarly transformed, imparted her life to the 
 branches, which glowed with a human heat ; and how the tree into 
 which the nymph Lotis had been changed, shook with sudden 
 horror when its blossoms were plucked and blood welled from the 
 broken stalks. In these poetic conceptions it is easy to see the 
 embodiment of a belief very rife among the Greeks and Romans 
 that trees and shrubs were tenanted in some mysterious manner by 
 spirits. Thus Virgil tells us that when .lEneas had travelled far in 
 search of the abodes of the blest — 
 
 " He came to groves, of happy souls the rest ; 
 To evergreens, the dwellings of the blest." 
 
 Nor was this notion confined simply to the Greeks and 
 Romans, for among the ancients generally there existed a wide- 
 spread belief that trees were either the haunts of disembodied 
 spirits, or contained within their material growth the actual spirits 
 themselves. Evelyn tells us that " the Ethnics do still repute all 
 great trees to be divine, and the habitations of souls departed: 
 
these the Persians call Piv and Imam." The Persians, however, 
 entertaining a profound regard for trees of unusual magnitude, were 
 of opinion that only the spirits of the pure and holy inhabited 
 them. 
 
 In this respect they differed from the Indians, who believed 
 that both good and evil spirits dwelt in trees. Thus we read in 
 the story of a Bmhmadaitya (a Bengal folk-tale), of a certain 
 Banyan-tree haunted by a number of ghosts who wrung the necks 
 of all who were rash enough to approach the tree during the night. 
 And, in the same tale, we are told of a Vakula-tree {Mimusops 
 Elengi) which was the haunt of a Bmhmadaitya, (the ghost of a 
 Brahman who dies unmarried), who was a kindly and well- 
 disposed spirit. In another folk-tale we are introduced to the 
 wife of a Brahman who was attacked by a SanhcUnni, or female 
 ghost, inhabiting a tree near the Brahman's house, and thrust by 
 the vindictive ghost into a hole in the trunk. The Rev. Lai 
 Behari Day explains that Sankchinnis or Sanhhachurnis are female 
 ghosts of white complexion, who usually stand in the dead of night 
 at the foot of trees. Sometimes these tree-spirits appear to leave 
 their usual sylvan abode and enter into human beings, in which 
 case an exorcist is employed, who detects the presence of the 
 spirit by lighting a piece of Turmeric root, which is an infallible 
 test, as no ghost can put up with the smell of burnt Turmeric. 
 
 The Shanars, aborigines of India, believe that disembodied 
 spirits haunt the earth, dwelling in trees, and taking special delight 
 in forests and solitary places. Against the malignant influence of 
 these wandering spirits, protection is sought in charms of various 
 kinds ; the leaves of certain trees being esteemed especially effica- 
 cious. Among the Hindus, if an infant refuse its food, and appear 
 to decline in health, the inference is drawn that an evil spirit has 
 taken possession of it. As this demon is supposed to dwell in 
 some particular tree, the mothers of the northern districts of 
 Bengal frequently destroy the unfortunate infant's life by de- 
 positing it in a basket, and hanging the same on the demon's tree, 
 where it perishes miserably.* 
 
 In Burmah the worship of Nats, or spirits of nature, is very 
 general. Indeed among the Karens, and numerous other tribes, 
 this spirit-worship is their only form of belief. The shrines of 
 these Nats are often, in the form of cages, suspended in Peepul 
 or other trees — by preference the Le'pan tree, from the wood of 
 which coffins are made. When a Burman starts on a journey, he 
 hangs a bunch of Plantains, or a spray of the sacred Eugenia, on 
 the pole of his buffalo cart, to conciliate any spirit he may intrude 
 upon. The lonely hunter in the forest deposits some Rice, and- 
 ties together a few leaves, whenever he comes across some 
 imposing-looking tree, lest there should be a Nat dwelling there. 
 
 • • The Land of the Veda,' by Rev. P. Percival. 
 
8o pPant Tsore, Tsiegerftif, and hijr'icj; 
 
 Should there be none, the tied-back leaves will, at any rate, stand 
 in evidence to the Nat or demon who presides over the forest. 
 Some of the Nats or spirits are known far and wide by special or 
 generic names. There is the Hmin Nat who lives in woods, and 
 shakes those he meets so that they go mad. There is the Akakasoh, 
 who lives in the tops of trees ; Shekkasoh, who lives in the trunk ; 
 and Boomasoh, who dwells contentedly in the roots. The presence 
 of spirits or demons in trees the Burman believes may always be 
 ascertained by the quivering and trembling of the leaves when all 
 around is still. 
 
 Schweinfurth, the African explorer, tells us that, at the 
 present day, among the Bongos and the Niam-Niams, woods and 
 forests are regarded with awe as weird and mysterious places, the 
 abodes of supernatural beings. The malignant spirits who are 
 believed to inhabit the dark and gloomy forests, and who inspire 
 the Bongos with extraordinary terror, have, like the Devil, wizards, 
 and witches, a distinctive name : they are called bitdbohs ; whilst 
 the sylvan spirits inhabiting groves and woods are known as rangas. 
 Under this last designation are comprised owls of different species, 
 bats, and the ndorr, a small ape, with large red eyes and erect ears, 
 which shuns the light of day, and hides itself in the trunks of 
 trees, from whence it comes forth at night. As a protection 
 against the influence of these malignant spirits of the woods, the 
 Bongos have recourse to certain magical roots which are sold to 
 them by their medicine-men. According to those worthies no one 
 can enter into communication with the wood spirits except by 
 means of certain roots, which enable the possessor to exorcise 
 €vil spirits, or give him the power of casting spells. All old 
 people, but especially women, are suspected of having relations, 
 more or less intimate, with the sylvan spirits, and of consulting 
 the malign demons of the woods when they wish to injure 
 any of their neighbours. This belief in evil spirits, which 
 is general among the Bongos and other tribes of Africa, exists 
 also among the Niam-Niams. For the latter, the forest is the 
 abode of invisible beings who are constantly conspiring to injure 
 man ; and in the rustling of the foliage they imagine they hear 
 the mysterious dialogues of the ghostly inhabitants of the 
 woods. 
 
 The ancient German race, in whom there existed a deep 
 reverence for trees, peopled their groves and forests with a whole 
 troup of Waldgeister, both beneficent and malevolent. A striking 
 example is to be seen in the case of the Elder, in which dwells 
 the Hylde-moer (Elder-mother), or Hylde-vinde (Elder-queen), who 
 •avenges all injuries done to the Elder-tree. On this account 
 Elder branches may not be cut until permission has been asked of 
 the Hylde-moer. In Lower Saxony the woodman will, on his 
 bended knee, ask permission of the Elder-tree before cutting it, 
 in these words: " Lady Elder, give me some of thy wood ; then 
 
©fee 3pi''i^^/' 8[ 
 
 will I give thee, also, some of mine when it grows in the forest." 
 This formula is repeated three times. 
 
 Nearly allied to the tree-spirits were the Corn-spirits,* which 
 haunted and protected the green or yellow fields. Mr. Ralston 
 tells us that by the popular fancy they were often symbolised under 
 the form of wolves, or of " buckmen," goat-legged creatures, similar 
 to the classic Satyrs. " When the wind blows the long Grass or 
 waving Corn, German peasants still say, ' The Grass-wolf or 
 ' The Corn-wolf,' is abroad ! In some places the last sheaf of Rye 
 is_ left as a shelter to the Roggenwolf, or Rye-wolf, during the 
 winter's cold ; and in many a summer or autumn festive rite, that 
 being is represented by a rustic, who assumes a wolf-like appear- 
 ance. The Corn-spirit, however, was often symbolised under a 
 human form." 
 
 The belief in the existence of a spirit whose life is bound up 
 in that of the tree it inhabits remains to the present day. There is 
 a wide-spread German belief that if a sick man is passed through 
 a cleft made in a tree, which is immediately afterwards bound up, 
 the man and the tree become mysteriously connected — if the tree 
 flourishes so will the man ; but if it withers he will die. Should, 
 however, the tree survive the man, the soul of the latter will inhabit 
 the tree ; and (according to Pagan tradition) if the tree be felled 
 and used for ship-building, the dead man's ghost becomes the 
 haunting genius of the ship. This strange notion may have had 
 its origin in the classic story of the Argonauts and their famous ship. 
 A beam on the prow of the Argo had been cut by Minerva out of 
 the forest of Dodona, where the trees were thought to be inhabited 
 by oracular spirits : hence the beam retained the power of giving 
 oracles to the voyagers, and warned them that they would never 
 reach their country till Jason had been purified of the murder of 
 Absyrtus. There is a story that tells how, when a musician cut a 
 piece of wood from a tree into which a girl had been metamorphosed 
 by her angry mother, he was startled to see blood oozing from the 
 wound. And when he had shaped it into a bow, and played with 
 it upon his violin before her mother, such a heart-rending wail 
 made itself heard, that the mother was struck with remorse, and 
 bitterly repented of her hasty deed. Mr. Ralston quotes a Czekh 
 story of a Nymph who appeared day by day among men, but 
 always went back to her willow by night. She married a mortal, 
 bare him children, and lived happily with him, till at length he 
 cut down her Willow-tree : that moment his wife died. Out of 
 this Willow was made a cradle, which had the power of instantly 
 lulling to sleep the babe she had left behind her ; and when the 
 babe became a child, it was able to hold converse with its dead 
 mother by means of a pipe, cut from the twigs growmg on the 
 stump, which once had been that mother's abidmg-place. 
 
 * Further Retails will be found in the succeeding chapter. 
 
•^f^»^^l»^^»^«^*^»S8S*^l»^I^S^S^f^t^t^ 
 
 i|S^t^«^«^»^t^8^8S8SS^«^SS^«^^S^»^i^«^^* 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 pfaat/ of tFie ^e^\L 
 
 Vri'ITl'i,.'37E| ^ E have seen, in a former chapter, how intimate has 
 been the association between flowers and the 
 Fairies, Pixies, or Elves, and, therefore, it is not 
 surprising to find that the King of Fairies, Puck, 
 has a plant specially dedicated to him. This is 
 the Lycopeydon, or Puckfist. Dr. Prior points out 
 that in some old works Puck, who has the credit 
 of being partial to coarse practical jokes, is 
 alluded to as no other than the Devil. His very name would seem 
 to be derived from Pogge, a. toad, which in popular opinion was the 
 impersonation of the Devil : hence Toadstools, Pixie-stools, or 
 Paddock-stools, were thought to be but Devil's droppings — ^the 
 work of those Elves 
 
 " Whose pastime 
 Is to make moonlight Mushrooms." 
 
 In Sussex, the Puff-ball is called Puck's Stool, and the needle of 
 the Scandix Pecten is called Pook-needle. 
 
 Loki, the Scandinavian malignant spirit, possesses many of 
 the characteristics of Puck, and is in point of fact the Devil of the 
 old Norse mythology. In Jutland, Polytrichum commune is called 
 Loki's Oats, and the Yellow Rattle is known there as Loki's Purse. 
 The Trolls, a race of gigantic demons, or evil spirits, spoken of in 
 Northern mjrthology, have given their name to the Globe-flower 
 {TrolUns), which is also known as the Troll-flower, probably on 
 account of its acrid and poisonous qualities having suggested its 
 use by these followers of the Devil. 
 
 Speaking generally, trees, plants, and herbs of evil omen may 
 be placed in the category of plants of the Devil, and amongst them 
 must be included such as have the reputation of being accursed, 
 enchanted, unlucky, and sorrowful. The plants dedicated to 
 Hecate, the Grecian goddess of Hell, who presided over magic 
 and enchantments, as well as those made use of by her daughters 
 Medea and Circe, in their sorceries, were all satanic. Circe was 
 specially distinguished for her knowledge of venomous herbs, and 
 in later times the plants used by her were universally employed by 
 
pPai^t/ of tRe ©e'slf. g^ 
 
 witches and sorcerers in their incantations. The spells of wizards, 
 magicians, witches, and others who were acquainted with the 
 secrets appertaining to the black art, were always made in the 
 name of the Devil : hence all herbs and plants employed by them 
 became veritable plants of the Devil. These plants are particu- 
 larised in the chapter on Plants of the Witches. 
 
 The belief that certain trees are haunted by the Devil, or 
 by malignant demons who act as his satellites, is of world-wide 
 extent, and, in connection with tree spirits, the subject has been 
 incidentally touched upon in the previous chapter. A Russian 
 proverb says that "From all pld trees proceeds either an owl or a 
 Devil ; " and in many countries where a tree becomes old and past 
 bearing, its sterility is attributed to a demon. The Albanians 
 believe that trees are haunted by Devils which they call aerko. 
 Certain trees are especially affected by these aerial demons : these 
 are the Fig, the Walnut, the. wild Plum, the Mulberry, the Syca- 
 more, the Pimpernel, the Willow, and in general all fruit trees (but 
 especially the Cherry) when they are old and cease to bear. As 
 regards sterile fruit trees, the behef that they are haunted by Devils 
 is common to many countries. In some parts of England, Black- 
 berries are never picked after Michaelmas-day, when the Devil is 
 supposed to stamp them with his hoof. Mrs. Latham has told us 
 that the watchfulness of the Devil makes it dangerous to go out 
 nutting on a Sunday, and worthy mothers may be heard warning 
 their children against it by assuring them that if they do so, " the 
 Devil will hold down the branches for them." Mr. Sawyer has 
 pointed out that the Sussex saying, " as black as the Devil's nutting 
 bag," is associated with this belief. St. Ouen, writing in the 17th 
 century, cautioned shepherds and others never to let their flocks 
 pass a hollow tree, because by some means or other the Devil 
 was sure to have taken possession of it. 
 
 Moore, in ' The Light of the Haram,' speaks of the Siltim, a 
 demon which is thought to haunt the forests of Persia, and to lurk 
 among the trees in human form. The Indian demons bhiltHs and 
 pigacds axe represented as dwelling in trees. 
 
 In the vicinity of Mount Etna the country people have a very 
 strong aversion to sleep beneath trees on St. John's Eve, lest they 
 should become possessed of an evil spirit ; for according to popular 
 tradition, on that night — the shortest of the year — the demons 
 inhabiting trees and plants quit their leafy habitations, and seek 
 refuge in the first object they come across. 
 
 In Germany, numerous demons are recognised as dwelling 
 in trees ; and, according to Prof. Mannhardt, whole troops of 
 emissaries of the Devil are thought to haunt the fields, and lurk 
 among the crops of Wheat and vegetables. Among the most 
 noticeable of this satanic legion are the Aprilochse, a demon in- 
 festing the fields in April ; Aumsau, or Sow of the Wheatsheaf, 
 a spirit which lies concealed among the Corn ; Baumesel, a goblin 
 
 G — 2 
 
84 pPant Tsore, "bagel^/, anS. Tsyrio/. 
 
 of the trees ; Erntehock, a demon which steals part of the Corn 
 during harvest ; Farre, or the Little Bull, one of a number of 
 spirits infesting the Corn-fields; Gersienwolf, or Barley- wolf, a 
 demon which devours the Barley ; Graswolf, a spirit haunting 
 pastures ; Habergeiss, or Hafeybock, Goat of the Oats ; Halmbock, a 
 goblin whose hiding-place is among straw or the stems of plants ; 
 Heukatze and Heupudel, Hay Cat and Pup, demons infesting Hay ; 
 Kartoffelwolf, or Potato-goblin ; Katzenmann, or Man-Cat, a monstpr 
 dwelling amidst Wheat ; Kleesau, or Sow of the Clover ; Kmutesel, 
 or Ass of the Grass, a spirit especially inimical to Lettuces ; 
 Kornwolf, Kornsau, Kornstier, Komkuh, Kornmutter, Kornkind, and 
 Kornmaid, all demons, spirits, and monsters infesting Corn. 
 
 In some parts of Russia the Devil is invoked through the 
 medium of a herb. On the occasion of a marriage, the peasants 
 put into a bottle of brandy a certain plant called the Herb of the 
 Devil ; the bottle is then ornamented with ribbons and coloured 
 tapers, and armed with this present the father of the intended 
 bride pays a visit to the father of the bridegroom, who offers to 
 ransom this bottled Devil by the payment of five kopecks. " No," 
 says the girl's father, " Our princess wishes more than that." So 
 after further bargaining, a price of fifty kopecks is finally agreed 
 upon. In certain parts of Russia the Tobacco-plant is deemed 
 a diabolic plant. In India the Witches' Herb (Sinapis racemosa) 
 is called Asuri (the she-devil). 
 
 A few plants named after dragons, serpents, or snakes, and 
 many of those which are of a poisonous or noxious nature, must 
 be classed with the plants of the Devil ; such as, for example, the 
 Upas, the Manchineel, the Magnolia, the Oleander, that deadly 
 Persian flower, the Kerzereh, the foetid Stapelia, the Phallus impudicus, 
 the Thief's Plant of the Franche-Comt^ Mountains, which opens 
 all doors ; that satanic plant, the sap of which gives to Witches 
 the power of riding in the air on a broomstick ; and the accursed 
 plant which misleads the traveller, dragging him from one path to 
 another, but always leading him farther and farther away from his 
 goal, until at last he sinks exhausted with fatigue. 
 
 Certain plants and trees have become ill-omened from having 
 received the maledictions of some divine personage. Several were 
 cursed by the Virgin Mary during her flight into Egypt. The 
 tree which yielded the timber of the Cross became for all time 
 "the accursed tree" ; the tree on which Judas hung himself became 
 also a satanic tree. Under this ban have been included the Fig, 
 the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the Dog Rose, the Elder, and the Cercis 
 or Judas Tree. 
 
 Many plants, both in England and on the Continent, have 
 been specially named after the Devil. Thus we find that, on accouut 
 of the foetid odour of the gum or juice obtain from its root, Ferula 
 Assafoetida is known in Germany, Sweden, and Italy as Devil's 
 Dung {atercus Diabolt), although it is employed in Persia and Arabia 
 
pPantj- of tRs 9e>9if. 85 
 
 as a medicine, The Poplar-leaved Fig is the Devil's tree ; the 
 berry of the Deadly Nightshade, the Devil's berry: the plant itself 
 is called Death's Herb, and in olden times its fruit bore the name of 
 Dwale-berry — the word dvale, which is Danish, meaning a deadly 
 trance. An old German name for the Briony was Devil's Cherry. 
 The Germans, also, called the Petty Spurge (Euphorbia Peplus) 
 Teufelsmikh, Devil's Milk; a species of ground Moss, Teufekklaeun, 
 Devil's Claws. The Clematis is the Devil's Thread ; Indigo, Devil's 
 Dye ; and the Mandrake, from the lurid glare its leaves emit during 
 the night-time, the Devil's Candle. In an old work we find the 
 description of a small herb called Clavis Diaboli, which is so 
 poisonous that if cattle eat it they immediately begin to swell, and 
 eventually die, unless by good luck they should happen to catch sight 
 of another plant of the same species, when the poison is dispelled 
 and the animals will recover. We are likewise assured that the 
 seed is so poisonous as to render it unsafe for anyone to walk over 
 a plant of this genus unless his feet have previously been wrapped 
 
 in the leaves. . . ^ i.- 
 
 Scabiosa succisa is generally known as the Devil's- Bit Scabious, 
 a name it obtained from a notion which was formerly very preva- 
 lent that the short blackish root of the plant had originally been 
 bitten short by the Devil out of spite to mankind, because he knew 
 that otherwise it would be good for many profitable uses. This 
 belief was also very general on the Continent, as the plant bears a 
 corresponding name in France, Germany, and Holland. Dr. Pnor 
 quotes a legend recorded by Threlkeld, that " the root was once 
 longer, until the Devil bit away the rest, for spite ; for he needed 
 it not to make him sweat who is always tormented with tear ot 
 the day of judgment." According to the Ortus Samtatis, on the 
 authority of Oribasius, the plant was called Morsus Dtaboh, " because 
 with this root the Devil practised such power, that the mother ot 
 God, out of compassion, took from the Devil the means to do so 
 with it any more ; and in the great vexation that he had that the 
 power was gone from him, he bit it off, so that it grows no more o 
 . this day." Gerarde says : " The great part of the root seemeth to 
 be bitten away : old fantasticke charmers report that the Devil did 
 bL t for envie, because it is an herbe that hath so many good 
 vertues and is ^o beneficial to mankinde." After recounting minor 
 vhrVues the old herbalist remarks that Devil's Bit is potential 
 SSthe stingings of venomous beasts, poisons, and pestilent 
 dfseases and will consume and waste away plague sores, if pounded 
 
 ^"^ ^^^,TSenr6amascena is called Devil-in-the-Bush, from its 
 
 A^JlZTryeerim from a bush of finely-divided involucre. 
 
 Trtnfawn of sS^ Pecten are termed the Devil's Darning 
 
86 pPant Tsoi-e, la&gar^f, dni. biji'is/, 
 
 chievous tendencies. The acrid milk or sap extracted from the 
 Euphorbia has, from its poisonous quahties, obtained the name of 
 Devil's Milk. The poisonous Puff-balls (Lycoperdon) are called 
 Devil's Snuff-boxes, on account of the dust or particles they contain, 
 which have long borne an ill name. Gerarde says that " it is very 
 dangerous for the eies, for it hath been often seene that divers have 
 beene pore-blinde ever after when some small quantitie thereof 
 hath beene blowne into their eies." The Fungus Exidia glandulosa 
 (Witches' Butter) is known in Sweden as the Devil's Butter.. 
 
 Although the Devil extends his authority over so many 
 plants, it is satisfactory to know that the St. John's Wort is a 
 dispeller of demons (Fuga dmmonum), and that there is in Russia 
 a plant called the Devil-chaser. Prof. De Gubernatis tells us 
 that he has received from the Princess Galitzin Prazorova the 
 following particulars of this plant, which is known as Certagon, 
 It grows in meads and woods, is somewhat thorny, and bears a 
 deep-blue flower. It protects infants from fright, and drives away 
 the Devil. Sometimes the plant is boiled in water, and the 
 children are bathed in it. At other times the plant is merely 
 placed in the cradle. If mourners are prostrated with grief and 
 the recollection of the departed one (which is simply a visitation 
 of the Devil) it is only necessary to hold up a sprig of the mystic 
 Certagon, when the excessive grief will be assuaged, and the Devil 
 will be compelled to flee. The best way to exorcise an evil spirit 
 from the dead is to sit on the pall, to chew some seeds of Camphor 
 while combing the hair of the corpse, and finally to wave aloft the 
 Certagon — the Devil-chaser. 
 
 Ro^louA, ©eac^P^, aT^G ^PP-©menei_ pPant/S. 
 
 Prof. De Gubernatis remarks that "there are good and bad 
 herbs, and good and bad plants : the good are the work of Ormuzd, • 
 the bad the work of Ahriman." All these bad herbs, plants, and 
 trees, noxious, poisonous, and deadly — ^the dangerous classes in 
 the vegetable kingdom— are of evil augury, and belong to the . 
 category of Plants of the Devil. 
 
 There are many trees and plants which emit emanations highly 
 injurious, and in some cases fatal to life. Perhaps the most 
 notorious of these is the deadly Upas, which rises in the ' Valley of 
 Death ' m Java, where it is said to blight all neighbouring vegeta- 
 tion, and to cause the very birds that approach it in their flight 
 to drop down lifeless. No animal can live where its baneful 
 influence extends, and no man durst approach its pestilential 
 shade. 
 
 The Strychnos TientS is the plant which yields the Upas Tient6, 
 one of the Javanese poisons ; it contains strychnia, and is as deadly 
 as strychnine itself. The Upas Antiar is another Javanese poison— 
 a. bitter, milky juice, which acts violently on the heart. 
 
pfant/ of 4i?-®meq, g; 
 
 The noxious exudations of the Manchineel-tree are said to 
 cause certain death to those who rashly sleep beneath its foliage. 
 The wonderfully fragrant blossoms of the Magnolia gmndiflorci 
 eniit so strong a perfume that, when inhaled in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of a group in flower, it becomes overpowering. The 
 Indians will never sleep under Magnolia in blossom. 
 
 Linnaeus has mentioned a case in which the odour of the 
 Oleander, or Rose-bay {Nerium Oleander), proved fatal. The foliage 
 and flowers of this shrub will exercise a deadly influence on many 
 quadrupeds: hence it is called in India the Horse-killer, and in 
 Italy, Ass-bane. 
 
 The Elder-tree is reputed to exhale so narcotic a scent when 
 in flower, that it is unwholesome for animals to rest under its shade ; 
 and it is considered unadvisable to plant one of these trees where 
 its exhalations can be wafted into a sleeping apartment. On 
 account of this pungent smell, country people often strike with 
 Elder-boughs the leaves of fruit-trees and vegetables, in order that 
 by being impregnated with the scent of the Elder-berries, they may 
 prove noisome to troublesome insects. 
 
 The Jatropha urens, a native of Brazil, is a plant the properties 
 of which are so noxious that its possession is absolutely fraught 
 with danger. Not many years ago the Curator of Kew Gardens 
 was one day reaching over a plant when its fine bristly stings 
 touched his wrist : the first sensation was a numbness and swelling 
 of the lips ; the action of the poison was on the heart, circulation 
 was stopped, and the unfortunate Curator soon fell unconscious. 
 A doctor was fetched, who administered antidotes effectually; but 
 no gardener could afterwards be got to come within arm's length 
 of the diabolical plant ; and both it and another specimen, subse- 
 quently introduced, shortly afterwards mysteriously disappeared 
 from the house. 
 
 The Nitraria tridentata, which is by some believed to be the 
 Lotos-tree of the ancients, grows in the Desert of Soussa, near 
 Tunis, and is called Damouch by the Arabs, who are fully alive to 
 the semi-intoxicating qualities of its berries, which produce a state 
 of lassitude similar to the infatuating food of the Lotophagi. 
 
 Alex. Pouchkine has given a vivid descripition of the Indian 
 Antchar, thought to be a variety Aconitum ferox. Growing in a wild 
 and sterile desert, this Antchar has its roots and the sickly verdure 
 of its branches steeped in poison. Melted by the mid-day heat, 
 the poison filters through the plant's outer skin in clammy drops : 
 in the evening these become congealed into a transparent gum. 
 Birds turn aside directly they see this deadly plant; the tiger 
 avoids it; a passing puff of wind shakes its foliage, — the wind 
 hurries on tainted and infected ; a shower waters for an instant its 
 drooping leaves, and from its branches forthwith falls a deadly 
 rain on the burning soil. But a man has made a sign : another 
 man obeys. The Antchar must be procured. He departs without 
 
pPant Tsore, Tsegel^ti/, and. Isijric/', 
 
 hesitation ; and on the morrow brings back the deadly gum, and 
 some drooping stalks and leaves, while from his pallid brow the 
 cold sweat falls in streams. He staggers, falls on the mats of 
 the tent, and, poor miserable slave, expires at the feet of his 
 proud master. And the prince steeps his ruthless arrows in 
 the cruel poison ; they are destined to carry destruction to his 
 neighbours across the frontier. 
 
 In Mexico there grows a herb, familiarly known there as the 
 Loco or Rattle Weed, which has such a powerful effect on animals, 
 that horses eating it are driven raving mad. 
 
 In Scotland there is a certain weed that grows in and about 
 the Borgie Well at Cambuslang, near Glasgow, which possesses 
 the awful property of making all who drink of its waters mad. 
 Hence the local saying : 
 
 " A drink of the Borgie, a bite of the weed, 
 Sets a' the Cam'slang folk wrang in the head." 
 
 Some few plants are repellent from the obnoxious smells 
 which they emit : among these are the Phallus impudicus, and many 
 of the Stapelias. One — the Carrion-flower — has an odour so like 
 putrid meat, that flesh flies, attracted by it, deposit their ova in the 
 flowers ; and when the maggots are in due course produced, they 
 perish miserably for lack of food. 
 
 Zahn, in his Specula Physico-Mathematico-Histoyicce (1696) enume- 
 rates several trees and plants which had, in his day, acquired a 
 very sinister reputation. He tells us that — 
 
 " Herrera speaks of a tree, in Granada, called Aquapum, 
 which is so poisonous, that when the Spaniards, at first ignorant 
 of its deadly power, slept under its shade, their members were all 
 swelled, as if they had taken dropsy. The barbarians also, who 
 lingered naked or intoxicated under it, had their skin broken by 
 large swellings, which distended their intestines, and brought them 
 to a miserable death. 
 
 " There is a tree in Hispaniola, bearing Apples of a very fragrant 
 smell, which, if they are tasted, prove hurtful and deadly. If any 
 one abides for a time beneath its shade he loses sight and reason, 
 and cannot be cured save by a long sleep. Similar trees are found 
 111 the island Codega. 
 
 " In the same island, Hispaniola, another kind of tree is found 
 which produces fruit formed like Pears, very pleasant to the sight, 
 and of dehcious odour. If any one lies beneath its shade and falls 
 asleep, his face begins to swell, and he is seized with severe pain 
 iri the head, and with the sorest cold. In the same island another 
 tree is found, whose leaf, if touched, causes at once a tumour of 
 a very painful nature to break out, which can only be checked and 
 healed by frequent washing with sea water. There also grows a 
 plant called Cohobba, which is said to be lymphatic. It intoxicates 
 by its mere smell, and renders fanatical. Cardanus believes this 
 
^fant/ of Si?-®mzn, 89 
 
 plant to be of the Stramonimn [Datura) family, which infuriates 
 those ■who drink it. 
 
 " In New Andalusia very poisonous trees are seen. If one of 
 their leaves were to fall upon a person, he would be killed at once, 
 unless the place be quickly smeared with the spittle of a fasting 
 man. These trees are called pestiferous and pestilent, from the 
 sudden death which they cause, like the plague. 
 
 " In the island of San Juan de Porto Ricco grow certain small 
 fruit-bearing trees which are so pernicious that if a person lies 
 down and sleeps beneath their shade, he is seized with paralysis 
 and cannot move from the place. Should, perchance, a fish taste 
 of their fallen leaves, and a man eat the fish, he either dies at 
 once or at least loses all his hair. 
 
 " On an island near Brazil a very pleasant tree is said to 
 grow, whose leaves are not unlike those of the Laurel. But 
 if any person should touch a leaf of this tree, and then touch 
 his face and eyes with the hand, he is at once deprived of sight 
 and suffers the severest pains in his eyes. Not far distant, 
 however, there grows another tree, whose leaves, if rubbed over 
 the eyes, restore the eyesight, and remove the pains. 
 
 " Kircher relates that a wonderful tree is found in the Philip- 
 pine Islands. Its leaves, facing eastward, are heaUhy, but those 
 facing westward are poisonous. 
 
 " Clusius states that in America there is a kind of Larch, 
 which makes men who sleep under its shade so delirious, that when 
 they are awakened, they are out of their minds and assume straiige 
 attitudes. Some act hke prophets, some like soldiers, some like 
 merchants, everyone for the time being as his natural propensity 
 impels him. 
 
 " In the bishopric of New Spain, called Antequera, around the 
 valley of Guaxaca, a strange poisonous plant is found which, if 
 given to anyone in food or drink, at once causes death. If it is 
 dried and removed anywhere, according to the time from its being 
 cut, it kills. Thus : if it has been cut for a year, so after a year it 
 causes death ; if for a month, then after a month it brings death. _ 
 
 " The inhabitants of Macassar in the island of Celebes obtain 
 from a certain tree growing there a most deadly and virulent poison, 
 in which they dip their weapons. So pestiferous is this poisonous 
 tree, that the earth around it for some distance produces neither 
 grass nor vegetable life of any kind. Although instant death may 
 sometimes be avoided by means of antidotes, yet the victim is 
 doomed to die even after a lapse of two or three years. Married 
 men and Mushroom-eaters are more subject to the action of this 
 poison than other people. ^ _, , . • t-,,- ■ , y a 
 
 " OpUusa, in the island of Elephantine, m Ethiopia, has a liv d 
 and horrid appearance. If persons drink it they become dreadfu ly 
 afraid of serpents— so much so, that they commit suicide. Palm 
 wine, however, is said to counteract its influence. 
 
90 pfant kofe, Tseofe^/, oriel bijricy. 
 
 " The plant called Apium risus is noxious, through causing those 
 who partake of it to die of excessive laughter. Apuleius says that 
 this is more particularly the case when the herb is taken by a 
 person who has not broken his fast. From the fact that the plant 
 was also known as Sardonia arose the expression " sardonic smile." 
 People who taste it do not die at once from laughter, but, as 
 Salustius relates, rather from the contraction of the nerves of the 
 lips and the muscles of the mouth ; but they appear to die by 
 laughing. 
 
 " In Bactria and around the Dnieper, a plant called Gelotophyllis 
 is said to grow, which, if it be drunk with wine and myrrh, produces 
 continuous laughter. A similar result is produced by Arum ^gyp- 
 tiacum, when eaten, and by the flowers or seed of the Datura. 
 
 " Therionarca grows in Cappadocia and Mysia. All wild animals 
 which touch it become torpid, and can only regain animation by 
 being besprinkled with the water voided by hyaenas." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 pPanf/ of tRe ©yifcfte/. 
 
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 ECATE, the Grecian goddess of the infernal 
 regions, presided over magic and enchantment, 
 and may fairly be styled the goddess, queen, and 
 patroiiess of Witches and sorcerers. She was 
 acquainted with the properties of every herb, 
 and imparted this knowledge to her daughters 
 Medea and Circe.* To this trio of. classical 
 Witches were specially consecrated the following 
 herbs: — The Mandrake, the Deadly Nightshade, the Common 
 Nightshade, the Wolf's-bane, the Pontic Azalea, the Cyclamen, 
 the Cypress, Lavender, Hyssop-leaved Mint, the Foley or Moun- 
 tain Germander, the Ethiopian Pepper, the Corn Feverfew, 
 the Cardamom, the Musk Mallow, the Oriental Sesame, the 
 rough Smilax, the, Lion's-foot Cudweed (a love philtre), and 
 Maidenhair, a plant particularly dear to Pluto. Medea was specially 
 cognisant of the qualities of the Meadow Saffron, Safflower, Dyer's 
 Alkanet, the clammy Plantain or Fleawort, the Chrysanthemum, 
 and the brown-berried Juniper. All these plants are, therefore, 
 persistently sought for by Witches, who have not only the power of 
 understanding and appreciating the value of herbs, but know also 
 how to render harmless and innocuous plants baleful and deadly. 
 Thus we find that an Italian Witch, condemned in 1474, was 
 shown to have sown a certain noxious powder amidst the herbage 
 near her dwelling, and the unfortunate cows, stricken at first with 
 the Evil Eye, were at length attacked with a lingering but deadly 
 malady. So, again, in the ' Tempest,' Shakspeare tells us that in 
 the magic rings traced on the grass by the dance of the Elves, the 
 herbage is imbued with a bitterness which is noisome to cattle. 
 These rings, which are often to be met with on the Sussex Downs, 
 are there called Hag-tracks, because they are thought to be caused 
 by hags and Witches who dance there at night. 
 
 It is recorded that, during the period of the Witch persecu- 
 tions, whoever found himself unexpectedly under an Elder-tree 
 
 * Early Greek writers describe Circe as the daughter of Sol and Perseis, and 
 Medea as her niece. 
 
was involuntarily seized with such horror, that he in all probability 
 fell into an ecstatic or hysterical state. Although not one of the 
 trees dedicated to Hecate and her Witch progeny, the Elder 
 appears to have invariably possessed a certain weird attraction 
 for mischievous Elves and Witches, who are fond of seeking the 
 shelter of its pendent boughs, and are wont to bury their satanic 
 offspring, with certain cabalistic ceremonies, beneath its roots. 
 
 These satanic children of Witches are elfish creatures, some- 
 times butterflies, sometimes bumble bees, sometimes caterpillars 
 or worms. They are called good or bad things — Holds or Holdi- 
 kens. The Witches injure cattle with them ; conjure them into 
 the stem of a tree ; and, as we have seen, bury them under the 
 Elder-bushes ; then, as the caterpillars eat the foliage of the tree, 
 the hearts of those people are troubled of whom the Witches think. 
 
 The ill-omened Cercis Siliquastrum, or Judas Tree, is reputed 
 to be specially haunted by Witches, who experience a grim 
 pleasure in assembling around the tree on which the traitorous 
 disciple is said to have hung himself. Perhaps it is they who 
 have spread the tradition that death overtakes anyone who is 
 unfortunate enough to fall into one of these trees. 
 
 The Witches of the Tyrol are reputed to have a great parti- 
 ality for Alder-trees. 
 
 Witches are fond of riding about through the air in the dead 
 of night, and perform long journeys to attend their meetings. 
 Matthison tells us that 
 
 " From the deep mine rush wildly out 
 The troop of Gnomes in hellish rout : 
 Forth to the Witches' club they fly; 
 The Griffins watch as they go by. 
 The horn of Satan grimly sounds ; 
 On Blocksberg's flanks strange din resounds. 
 And Spectres crowd its summit high." 
 
 Their favourite steeds for these midnight excursions are 
 besoms, which are generally to be found ready to hand ; but the 
 large Ragwort (which in Ireland is called the Fairies' Horse) is 
 highly prized for aerial flights. Bulrushes are also employed for 
 locomotive purposes, and other plants are used for equipments, as 
 we read in ' The Witch of Fife ' : — 
 
 " The first leet night, quhan the new moon set, 
 
 Quhan all was dousse and mirk. 
 We saddled our naigis wi' the Moon-fern leif, 
 
 And rode fra Kilmerrin Kirk. 
 Some horses were of the Brume-cane framit. 
 
 And some of the greine Bay-tree, 
 But mine was made of ane Humloke schaw, 
 
 And a stout stallion was he." 
 
 William of Auverne, who wrote in the thirteenth century, states 
 that when the Witches of his time wished to go to the place of 
 
pPant/ of m® ©yifofie;. 93 
 
 rendezvous, they took a Reed or Cane, and, on making 'some 
 magical signs, and uttering certain barbarous words, it became 
 transformed into a horse, which carried them thither with extraor- 
 dinary rapidity. 
 
 If the Witches are married, it becomes necessary to administer 
 to their husbands a potion that shall cause them to slumber and 
 keep them asleep during the Witches' absence in the night. For 
 this purpose the Sleep-Apple, a mossy sort of excrescence on the 
 Wild Rose, and Hawthorn (called in the Edda Sleep-Thorn), are 
 employed, because they will not allow anyone to awake till they 
 are taken away. A very favourite plant made use of by American 
 Witches to produce a similar result, is the Floy de Pesadilla, or Night- 
 mare Flower of Buenos Ayres, a small, dark-green foliaged plant, 
 with lanceolate leaves and clusters of greenish-white flowers, 
 which emit a powerful narcotic smell. From the acrid milky juice 
 pressed from the stem of this plant. Witches obtain a drug which, 
 administered to their victims, keeps them a prey all night to terrible 
 dreams, from which they awake with a dull throbbing sensation 
 in the brain, while a peculiar odour pervades the chamber, causing 
 the air to appear heavy and stifling. 
 
 Ben Jonson, in his ' Masque of Queens,' introduces therein a 
 conventicle of Witches, who, as part of the business which has 
 brought them together, relate their deeds. One of the hags, who 
 has been gathering that mysterious plant of superstition, the 
 Mandragora, croaks : — 
 
 " I last night lay all alone 
 
 On the ground, to hear the Mandrake groan ; 
 And plucked him up, though he grew full low ; 
 And, as I had done, the cock did crow." 
 
 Another, whose sinister proceedings have excited the neigh- 
 bouring watch-dogs, remarks : — 
 
 " And I ha' been plucking plants among 
 Hemlock, Henbane, Adder's-tongue ; 
 Nightshade, Moonwort, Libbard's-bane, 
 And twice by the dogs was like to be ta'en." 
 
 And a third, who has procured a supply of the plants needful 
 for the working of the Witches' spells, says : — 
 
 " Yes, I have brought to help our vows 
 Horned Poppy, Cypress boughs, 
 The Fig-tree wild that grows on tombs, 
 And juice that from the Larch-tree comes." 
 
 One of the principal results of the knowledge possessed by 
 Witches of the properties of herbs was the concoction by them of 
 noxious or deadly potions with which they were enabled to work 
 their impious spells. Ovid tells us how Medea, in compoundmg a 
 poisonous draught, employed Monk's-hood or Wolf's-bane, the 
 
deadly Aconitum, that sprang up from the foam of the savage 
 many-headed Cerberus, the watch-dog of the infernal regions : — 
 
 " Medea to dispatch a dang'rous heir 
 (She Icnew him) did a poisonous draught prepare, 
 Drawn from a drug long while reserved in store. 
 For desp'rate uses, from the Scythian shore. 
 That from the Echidnsean monster's jaws 
 Derived its origin." 
 
 Medea's sister, the Enchantress Circe, having been neglected 
 by a youth for whom she had conceived a passion, turned him, by 
 means of a herb potion, into a brutal shape, for 
 
 "Love refused, converted to disdain. 
 Then, mixing powerful herbs with magic art. 
 She changed his form who could not change his heart." 
 
 So intimate was the acquaintance of this celebrated Witch 
 with the subtle properties of all plants, that by the aid of the 
 noxious juices she extracted from them, she was enabled to exercise 
 marvellous powers of enchantment. At her bidding, 
 
 " Now strange to tell, the plants sweat drops of blood, 
 The trees are tosi'd from forests where they stood ; 
 Blue serpents o er the tainted herl^aije slide, 
 ^ Pale glaring spectres on the sether ride." 
 
 Circe was assiduous in " simpling on the flow'ry hills," and 
 her attendants were taught to despise the ordinary occupations of 
 women: they were unburdened by household cares, 
 
 " But culled, in canisters, disastrous flowers 
 And plants from haunted heaths and Fairy bowers. 
 With brazen sickles reap'd at planetary hours 
 Each dose the goddess weighed with watchful eye; 
 So nice her art in impious pharmacy." 
 
 Old Gerarde tells us that Circe made use in her incantations 
 and witchcrafts of the Mullein or Hag-taper (Veybascum ThaPsus) ; 
 and Gower relates of Medea that she employed the Feldwode, 
 which is probably the same plant, its Anglo-Saxon name being 
 Feldwyrt. 
 
 " Tho toke she Feldwode and Verveine, 
 Of herbes ben nought better tweine." 
 
 The composition of philtres, and the working of spells and 
 incantations to induce love, are amongst the most highly prized 
 ot witches functions, investing them with a power which they 
 delight to wield, and leading to much pecuniary profit. 
 
 In Moore's 'Light of the Haram,' the Enchantress Namouna, 
 who was acquainted with all spells and talismans, instructs 
 Nourmahall to gather at midnight—" the hour that scatters spells 
 on herb and flower"— certain blossoms that, when twined into a 
 wreath, should act as a spell to recall her Selim's love. The 
 
pPanty of tRe ©Y^lfcfic/. 95 
 
 flowers gathered, the Enchantress proceeds to weave the magic 
 chaplet, singing the while — 
 
 " I know where the wing'd visions dwell 
 That around the night-bed play ; 
 I know each herb and floweret's bell. 
 Where they hide their wings by day ; 
 Then hasten we, maid, 
 To twine our braid, 
 To-morrow the dreams and flowers will fade. 
 
 " The image of love, that nightly flies 
 
 To visit the bashful maid ; 
 Steals from the Jasmine flower, that sighs 
 
 Its soul, like her, in the shade. 
 The dream of a future happier hour. 
 
 That alights on misery's brow, 
 Springs out of the silvery Almond flower 
 
 That blooms on a leafless bough. 
 
 " The visions that oft to worldly eyes 
 The glitter of mines unfold, 
 Inhabit the mountain herb that dyes 
 
 The tooth of the fawn like gold. 
 The phantom shapes — oh, touch not them ! — 
 
 That appal the murderer's sight. 
 Lurk in the fleshly Mandrake's stem. 
 That shrieks when pluck'd at night ! 
 " The dream of the injur'd, patient mind. 
 That smiles at the wrongs of men. 
 Is found in the bruis'd and wounded rind 
 Of the Cinnamon, sweetest then. 
 Then hasten we, maid. 
 To twine our braid. 
 To-morrow the dreams and flowers will fade. " 
 
 The chief strength of poor witches lies in the gathering and 
 boiling of herbs. The most esteemed herbs for their purposes 
 are the Betony-root, Henbane, Mandrake, Deadly Nightshade, 
 Origanum, Antirrhinum, female Phlox, Arum, Red and White 
 Celandine, Millefoil, Horned Poppy, Fern, Adder's-tongue, and 
 ground Ivy. Root of Hemlock, " digged in the dark," slips of Yew, 
 " slivered in the moon's eclipse," Cypress, Wild Fig, Larch, Broom, 
 and Thorn are also associated with Witches and their necromancy. 
 The divining Gall-apple of the Oak, the mystic Mistletoe, the 
 Savin, the Moonwort, the Vervain, and the St. John's Wort are 
 considered magical, and therefore form part of the Witches' 
 pharmacopoeia — to be produced as occasion may require, and their 
 juices infused in the hell-broths, philtres, potions, and baleful 
 draughts prepared for their enemies. Cuckoo-flowers are gathered 
 in the meadows on the first of May. Chervil and Pennyroyal are 
 used because they both have the effect of making anyone tasting 
 their juices see double. Often many herbs are boiled together — 
 by preference seven or nine. Three kinds of wood make bewitched 
 water boil. Witch-ointments, to be effective, must contain seven 
 herbs. 
 
96 pPant bofs, TsegellQ/, dni. h^ttaJ•. 
 
 One of the favourite remedies of Scotch Witches is the Wood- 
 bine or Honeysuckle. In effecting their magical cures, they ca.use 
 their patients to pass a certain number of times ' (usually nine) 
 through a "girth" or garland of Woodbine, repeating the while 
 certain incantations and invocations. According to Spenser, 
 Witches in the Spring of every year were accustomed to do 
 penance, and purify themselves by bathing in water wherein 
 Origane and Thyme had been placed : — 
 
 " Till on a day (that day is every Prime, 
 When witches wont do penance for their crime) 
 I chaunst to see her in her proper hew, 
 Bathing herself in Origane and Thyme." 
 
 In Lower Germany, the Honeysuckle is called Alhmnke, the 
 Witch-snare. Long running plants and entangled twigs are called 
 Witch-scapes, and the people believe that a Witch hard pursued 
 could escape by their means. 
 
 On the Walpuygisnacht, the German Witches are wont to 
 gather Fern to render themselves invisible. As a protection 
 against them, the country people, says Aubrey, " fetch a certain 
 Thorn, and stick it at their house door, believing the Witches can 
 then do them no harm." On the way to the orgies of this night, 
 the Oldenburg Witches are reputed to eat up all the red buds of the 
 Ash, so that on St. John's Day the Ash-trees appear denuded of 
 them. 
 
 The German Witches are cunning in the use and abuse of 
 roots : for example, they recommend strongly the Meisterwurzel 
 (root of the master), the Bdrwuvzel (root of the bears), the Eherwwzel 
 (root of the wild boar), and the Hirschwurzel (root of the stag — a 
 name given to the Wild Parsley, to the Black Gentian, and to the 
 Thapsia), as a means of making a horse run for three consecutive 
 days without feeding him. 
 
 On St. John's Eve, the Witches of Russia are busily engaged 
 searching on the mountains for the Gentiana amarella, and on the 
 morning of St. John's Day, for the Lythrum silicaria, without having 
 found which no one can hope to light upon the former herb. These 
 herbs being hostile to Witches, are sought by them only to be 
 destroyed. 
 
 In Franche-Comte they tell of a certain satanic herb, of which 
 the juice gives to Witches the power of riding in the air on a broom- 
 stick when they wish to proceed to their nocturnal meeting. 
 
 pPantii u;i>esL foe (sftaiTnii) al^ ii)pefP<&. 
 
 In mediaeval times the sick poor were accustomed to seek and 
 find the relief and cure of their ailments at the hands of studious, 
 kind-hearted monks, and gentle, sympathetic nuns ; but after the 
 Reformation, the practice of the healing art was relegated either 
 to charitable gentlewomen, who deemed it part of their duty to 
 
pPant/ a&ei— !rj ^-peff/, " ^7 
 
 master the mysteries of simpling, or to the Wise Woman of the 
 village, who frequently combined the professions of midwife and 
 simpler, and collected and dispensed medical herbs. Too often, 
 however, the trade in simples and herbs was carried on by needy 
 and ignorant persons — so-called herbalists, quack doctors, and 
 charlatans, or aged crones, desirous of turning to account the 
 superficial knowledge they possessed of the properties of the 
 plants which grew on the neighbouring hill-sides, or were to be 
 found nearer at hand in the fields and hedgerows. As these 
 simplers and herbalists often made serious mistakes in their treat- 
 ment, and were willing, as a rule, to supply noisome and poisonous 
 herbs to anyone who cared to pay their price, it is not to be 
 wondered at that they were often regarded with dread by their 
 ignorant neighbours, and that eventually they came to be stigma- 
 tised as Wizards and Witches. 
 
 In the preface to " The Brittish Physician," a work issued 
 by one Robert Turner, " botanical student," two hundred years 
 ago, the author, after expatiating on the value of herbs and plants, 
 adds : " but let us not offer sacrifices unto them, and say charms 
 over them, as the Druids of old and other heathens ; and as do 
 some cacochymists, Medean hags, and sorcerers nowadays, who, 
 not contented with the lawful use of the creatures, out of some 
 diabolical intention, search after the more magical and occult 
 vertues of herbs and plants to accomplish some wicked ends ; and 
 for that very cause. King Hezekiah, fearing' lest the herbals of 
 Solomon should come into profane hands, caused them to be 
 burned." The old herbalist was doubtless acquainted with many 
 of the superstitious practices of the " Medean hags " — the Wise 
 Women, old wives, and Witches of the country — to whom he so 
 scathingly refers. These ill-favoured beldames had a panacea for 
 every disease, a charm or a potion for every disorder, a talisman or 
 amulet against every ill. In addition to herbs. Rowan-tree, salt, 
 enchanted flints, south-running water, and doggrel verses were the 
 means employed for effecting a cure ; whilst diseases were supposed 
 to be laid on by forming pictures and images of clay or wax, by 
 placing a dead hand or mutilated member in the house of the 
 intended victim, or by throwing enchanted articles at his door. 
 In reality, however, the mischief was done by means of poisonous 
 herbs or deadly potions, cunningly prepared by the Witch and her 
 confederates. 
 
 One of the most remarkable of the many superstitions incul- 
 cated by these ignorant and designing Witches and quacks, was 
 the notion that diseases could be transferred from human beings to 
 trees. Gilbert White has recorded that at Selborne there stood, 
 in his time, a row of Pollard-Ashes which, when young and flexible, 
 had been severed and held open by wedges, while ruptured children, 
 stripped naked, were pushed through the apertures, under a belief 
 that their infirmity would be thereby cured. Children were also 
 
g8 pfant TsofS, Isegel^/, and. T9ijri<y, 
 
 passed through cleft trees, to cast out all witchcraft, or to neutralise 
 its baleful effects, and to protect them from the influence of Witches ; 
 and sometimes they were passed through the branches of a Maple, 
 in order that they might be long-lived. Sick sheep were made to 
 go through the cleft of a young Oak, with a view of transferring 
 their diseases to the spirit of the tree. People afflicted with ague 
 were directed to repair to the Cross Oaks which grew at the 
 junctions of cross-roads, for the purpose of transferring to them 
 their malady. Aguish patients were ordered to proceed without 
 speaking or crossing water, to a lofty Willow, to make a gash in 
 it, breathe three times into the crevice, close it quickly, and hasten 
 away without looking back : if they did this correctly, the ague 
 was warranted to leave them. A twisted neck or cuts in the body 
 were thought to be cured by twisting a Willow round the affected 
 part. In the West of England, peasants suffering from blackhead 
 were bidden to crawl under an arched Bramble, and if they had 
 the toothache, the prescribed remedy was for them to bite the 
 first Fern that appeared in Spring. In other parts of the country 
 toothache was cured by sticking into the bark of a young tree the 
 decayed tooth after it had been drawn. If a child did not willingly 
 learn to walk, the Wise Woman of the village would direct its 
 troubled mother to make it creep through the long withes of the 
 Blackberry-bush, which were grown down to the earth, and had 
 taken fresh root therein. Sufferers from gout were relieved by the 
 Witch transferring the disorder to some old Pine-tree, or rather to 
 the genius inhabiting it. Many magical arts attended the trans- 
 ference of the disease to the spirit of the vicarious tree, and the 
 operation was generally accompanied by the recital of some 
 formula. Amongst the forms of adjuration was the following com- 
 mencement : " Twig, I bind thee ; fever, now leave me ! " A 
 sufferer from cramp was ordered to stretch himself on a Plum-tree, 
 and say, " Climbing-plant, stand ! Plum-tree, waver." 
 
 If we seek for the origin of this superstitious notion of trans- 
 ferring diseases to trees, we shall find a clue in the works of 
 Prof. Mannhardt, who recounts the names of demons which in 
 Germany are identified with nearly all the maladies of plants, and 
 particularly with those of Wheat and vegetables.* The super- 
 stitious country people, struck with the affinity which exists 
 between the vegetable world and the animal world, came, in course 
 of time, to think that the same demon caused the disease of plants 
 and that of man ; and therefore they conceived that, in order to 
 safeguard mankind, it was only necessary to confine the demon in 
 the plant. Examples of this belief are still to be found in our own 
 country, and similar superstitious observances are common on the 
 Contment. The German peasant creeps through an Oak cleft to 
 cure hernia and certain other disorders ; and the Russian moujik 
 
 * The names of certain of these demons will be found in the previous chapter. 
 
^fant/ ui&esL It^ ^fzffj-, gg 
 
 splits an Ilex in order to perform a similar curative operation. 
 De Gubernatis tells us that the Venetian peasant; when fever- 
 stricken, repairs to a tree, binds up the trunk, and says to it 
 thrice, without taking breath, " I place thee here, I leave thee here, 
 and I shall now depart." Thereupon the fever leaves the patient; 
 but if the tree be a fruit tree, it will from that time cease to yield 
 fruit. In the Netherlands, a countryman who is suffering from the 
 ague will go early in the morning to an old Willow-tree, tie three 
 knots in a branch, and say: "Good morning, old one ! I give thee 
 the cold; good morning, old one." This done, he will turn round 
 quickly, and run off as fast as he can, without looking behind him. 
 But to revert to the superstitious practices of English Witches, 
 Wise Women, and midwives. One of their prescriptions for the 
 ague was as follows : — A piece of the nail of each of the patient's 
 fingers and toes, and a bit of hair from the nape of the neck, being 
 cut whilst the patient was asleep, the whole were wrapped up in 
 paper, and the ague which they represented was put into a hole 
 in an Aspen tree, and left there, when by degrees the ague would 
 quit the patient's body. A very old superstition existed that 
 diseases could be got rid of by burying them : and, indeed, 
 Ratherius relates that, so early as the tenth century, a case of 
 epilepsy was cured by means of a buried Peach-blossom; it is 
 not surprising, therefore, that English Witches should have pro- 
 fessed themselves able to cure certain disorders in this fashion ; 
 and accordingly we find that diseases and the means of their cure 
 were ordered by them to be buried in the earth and in ants' nests. 
 One of the Witches' most reliable sources of obtaining money 
 from their dupes was the concoction of love-philtres for despondent 
 swains and love-sick maidens. In the composition of these potions, 
 the juices of various plants and herbs were utilised ; but these will 
 be found adv.erted to in the chapter on Magical Plants. Fresh 
 Orchis was employed by these cunning and unscrupulous simplers, 
 to beget pure love ; and dried Orchis to check illicit love. Cycla- 
 men was one of the herbs prescribed by aged crones for a love 
 potion, and by midwives it was esteemed a most precious and 
 invaluable herb ; but an expectant mother was cautioned to avoid 
 and dread its presence. If, acting on the advice of the Wise 
 Woman, she ate Quince- and Coriander-seed, her child, it was 
 promised, would assuredly be ingenious and witty ; but, on the 
 contrary, should she chance to partake too bountifully of Onions, 
 Beans, or similar vaporous vegetable food, she was warned that 
 her offspring would be a fool, and possibly even a lunatic. Mothers 
 were also sagely cautioned that to preserve an infant from evil, it 
 was necessary to feed it with Ash-sap directly it was born ; and 
 they were admonished that it should never be weaned while the 
 trees were in blossom, or it would have grey hair. 
 
 As relics of the charms and prescriptions of the old Witches, 
 countless superstitions connected with plants are to be found at the 
 
 H 2 
 
lOO pPant Isore, Tsizger^f, anel feyncy. 
 
 present day rife in all parts of the country. Of these the following 
 are perhaps the principal : — For the cure of diseases : Blue Corn- 
 flowers gathered on Corpus Christi Sunday stop nose-bleeding if 
 they are held in the hand till they are warm. Club Moss is 
 considered good for all diseases of the eyes, and Euphrasy and 
 Rue for dimness of sight. Cork has the power of keeping off 
 the cramp, and so have Horse-chesnuts if carried in the pocket'. 
 Elder-sticks in the pocket of a horseman when riding prevent 
 galling ; and the same, with three, five, or seven knots, if carried 
 in the pocket will ward oif rheumatism. A Potato (stolen, if 
 possible) or a piece of Rowan-wood in the trousers pocket will also 
 cure rheumatism. The roots of Pellitory of Spain and Tarragon, 
 held between the teeth, cure the toothache, and so will splinters of 
 an Oak struck by lightning. Hellebore, Betony, Honesty, and 
 Rue are antidotes against madness. The root of a male Peony, 
 dried and tied to the neck, cures epilepsy and relieves nightmare. 
 Castoreum, Musk, Rue-seed, and Agnus Castus-seed are likewise 
 all remedies for nightmare. Chelidonium placed under the bare 
 feet will cure jaundice. A twig of Myrtle carried about the person 
 is efficacious in cases of tumour in the groin. Green Wormwood 
 placed in the shoes will relieve pains in the stomach of the wearer. 
 Spurge and Laurel-leaves, if broken off upwards, will cause vomit- 
 ing ; if downwards, purging. Plantain laid under the feet removes 
 weariness ; and with Mugwort worn beneath the soles of his feet a 
 man may walk forty miles without tiring. Agnus Castus, if carried in 
 the hand, will prevent weariness ; and when placed in a bed preserves 
 chastity. Henbane, laid between the sheets, also preserves chastity, 
 and will besides kill fleas. Necklaces of Peony-root, worn by children, 
 prevent convulsions. The excrescence found in Rose-bushes, 
 known as " Robin Redbreast's Cushion," when hunground children's 
 necks, will cure whooping-cough. Pansy-leaves, placed in the 
 shoe, or Sage-leaves eaten, will cure ague. The roots of white 
 Briony, bruised and applied to any place, when the bones are 
 broken, help to draw them forth, as also splinters, arrow-heads, and 
 thorns in the flesh. The root of an Iris, if it grow upwards, will 
 attract all thorns from the flesh ; if, on the contrary, it inchnes 
 downwards, it will cure wounds. A piece of Oak, rubbed in silence 
 on the body, on St. John's Day., before the sun rises, heals all open 
 wounds. An Apple is deemed potent against warts, and so is a 
 green Elder-stick, rubbed over them, and then buried in muck, to 
 rot. Sometimes the Elder-stick has a notch cut in it for each 
 wart ; it is then rubbed over the warts, and finally burned. Warts 
 are also cured by pricking them with a Gooseberry-thorn passed 
 through a wedding-ring ; and by rubbing them with a Bean-shell, 
 which IS afterwards secretly taken under an Ash-tree by the 
 operator, who then repeats the words — 
 
 " As this Bean-shell rots away, 
 So my warts shall soon decay." 
 
pfant/" uiiei— in ^peff/-, lOi 
 
 Catmint will cause those of the most gentle and mild dispo- 
 sitions to become fierce and quarrelsome. Crocus-flowers will 
 produce laughter and great joy. Rosemary, worn about the body, 
 strengthens the memory. He who sows seed should be careful not 
 to lay it on a table, otherwise it will not grow. In sowing peas, 
 take some of them in your mouth before the sun goes down, keep 
 them there in silence while you are sowing the rest, and this will 
 preserve them from sparrows. A piece of wood out of a coffin 
 that has been dug up, when laid in a Cabbage-bed, will defend it 
 from caterpillars. A bunch of wild Thyme and Origanum, laid by 
 the milk in a dairy, prevents its being spoiled by thunder : Sun- 
 flowers are also held to be a protection against thunder. A 
 bunch of Nettles laid in the barrel, in brewing, answers the same 
 purpose. Water Pepper, put under the saddle of a tired horse, 
 will refresh him and cause him to travel well again. Basil, if 
 allowed to rot under an earthen jar, will become changed into 
 scorpions, and the frequent smelling of this herb is apt to generate 
 certain animals like scorpions in the brain. The Oak being a pro- 
 phetic tree, a fly in the gall-nut is held to foretell war ; a maggot, 
 dearth ; a spider, pestilence. 
 
 Probably the most frequent visitors to the Witch's cottage 
 were vain and silly maidens, desirous either of procuring some 
 potion which should enhance their rustic charms, or of learning 
 from the lips of the Witch the mysteries of the future. To such 
 credulous applicants the beldame would impart the precious secrets, 
 that Lilies of the Valley, gathered before sunrise, and rubbed over 
 the face, would take away freckles ; and that Wild Tansy, soaked 
 in butter-milk for nine days, and then applied as a wash to the face, 
 would cause the user to look handsome. For those who were 
 anxious to consult her as to their love affairs, or desired to test her 
 powers of divination, the Witch had an abundant stock of charms 
 and amulets, and was prepared with mystic and unerring spells. 
 She would take a root of the Bracken-fern, and, cutting its stem 
 very low down, would show to the inquiring maiden the initial letter 
 of her future husband's name. She knew where to procure two- 
 leaved and four-leaved Clover, and even-leaved Ash, by the aid of 
 which lovers would be forthcoming before the day was over. She 
 could instruct a lass in the mystic rite of Hemp-sowing in the 
 churchyard at midnight on St. Valentine's Eve. She knew and 
 would reveal where Yarrow was to be found growing on a dead 
 man's grave, and would teach country wenches the charmed verse 
 to be repeated when the magic plant should be placed' beneath 
 their pillow. She could superintend the construction of "The 
 Witches' Chain" by three young women, and could provide the 
 necessary Holly, Juniper, and Mistletoe-berries, with an Acorn for 
 the end of each link ; and she would instruct them how to wind this 
 mystic chain around a long thin log of wood, which was to be 
 placed on the fire, accompanied by many magical rites (the secret 
 
I02 pfant hore, Isege'^/, ciHsl h^t'ia/. 
 
 of which she would divulge), and then burnt, with the promised 
 result that just as the last Acorn was consumed, each of the three 
 maidens should see her future husband walk across the room, or 
 if she were doomed to celibacy, then a coffin or some misshapen 
 form. 
 
 The Witch was cunning in the composition of dfaughts which 
 should procure dreams, and the secret of many of these potions is 
 still known and treasured. Thus : fresh Mistletoe-berries (not 
 exceeding nine in number), steeped in a liquid composed of equal 
 proportions of wine, beer, vinegar, and honey, taken as pills on 
 an empty stomach before going to bed, will cause dreams of your 
 future destiny (providing you retire to rest before twelve) either on 
 Christmas-eve or on the first and third of a new moon. Similar 
 dreams may be procured by making a nosegay of various-coloured 
 flowers, one of a sort, a sprig of Rue, and some Yarrow off a grave ; 
 these must be sprinkled with a few drops of the oil of Amber,- 
 applied with the left hand, and bound round the head under the 
 night-cap, when retiring to bed, which must be supplied with clean 
 linen. A prophetic dream is to be procured through the medium 
 of what is known as " Magic Laurel," by carrying oiit the following 
 formula: — Rise between three and four o'clock in the morning of 
 your birthday, with cautious secresy, so as to be observed by no 
 one, and pluck a sprig of Laurel; convey it to your chamber, and 
 hold it over some lighted brimstone for five minutes, which you 
 must carefully note by a watch or dial ; wrap it in a white linen 
 cloth or napkin, together with your own name written on paper, 
 and that of your lover (or if there is more than one, write all the 
 names down), write also the day of the week, the date of the year, 
 and the age of the moon ; then haste and bury it in the ground, 
 where you are sure it will not be disturbed for three days and 
 three nights; then take it up, and place the parcel under your 
 pillow for three nights, and your dreams will be truly prophetic 
 as to your destiny. A dream of fate is to be procured on the third 
 day of the months between September and March by any odd 
 number of young women not exceeding nine, if each string nine 
 Acorns on a separate string (or as many Acorns as there are 
 young women), wrap them round a long stick of wood, and place 
 It m the fire, precisely at midnight. The maidens, keeping perfect 
 silence, must then sit round the fire till all the Acorns are con- 
 sumed, then take out the ashes, and retire to bed directly, 
 repeating — 
 
 " May love and marriage be the theme, 
 To visit me in this night's dream ; 
 Gentle Venus, be my friend, 
 The image of my lover send ; 
 Let me see his form and face, 
 And his occupation trace ; 
 By a symbol or a sign, 
 Cupid, forward my design." 
 
pfant/ of tRe ©YVitofie/-. 
 
 pfanf^ <Anfagoni/&iTo fo ©Y^ifoficmft. 
 
 The Rowan, Mountain Ash, or Care-tree has a great repute 
 among country folk in the cure of ills arising from supernatural as 
 well as natural causes. It is dreaded and shunned by evil spirits ; 
 it renders null the spells of Witches and sorcerers, and has many 
 other marvellous properties. A piece of Rowan wood carried in 
 the pocket of a peasant acts as a charm against ill-wishes, and 
 bunches of Care suspended over the cow's stall and wreathed 
 around her horns will guard her from the effects of the Evil Eye 
 and keep her in health, more especially if her master does not forget 
 to repeat regularly the pious prayer — 
 
 " From Witches and Wizards, and long-tailed Buzzards, 
 And creeping things that run in hedge-bottoms, 
 Good Lord, deliver us ! " 
 
 The Ash, in common with the Rowan-tree, possesses the 
 property of resisting the attacks of Witches, Elves, and other imps 
 of darkness ; on this account Ash-sap is administered to newly- 
 born children, as without some such precaution the Fairies or 
 Witches might change the child, or even steal it. 
 
 " Rowan, Ash, and red thread 
 Keep the Devils frae their speed." 
 
 The Hazel, according to German tradition, is inimical to 
 Witches and enchanters. North says that by means of Hazel- 
 rods Witches can be compelled to restore to animals and plants 
 the fecundity of which by their malign influence they had pre- 
 viously deprived them. 
 
 Elder, gathered on the last day of April, and affixed to the 
 doors and windows of the house, disappoints designing Witches 
 and protects the inhabitants from their diabolical spells. 
 
 Mistletoe, as a distinctly sacred plant, is considered a talisman 
 against witchcraft. A small sprig of this mystic plant worn round 
 the neck is reputed to possess the power of repelling Witches, 
 always provided that the bough from which it was cut has not been 
 allowed to touch the earth after being gathered. Plucked with 
 certain ceremonies on the Eve of St. John, and hung up in 
 windows, it is considered an infallible protection against Witches, 
 evil spirits, and phantoms, as well as against storms and thunder. 
 
 Cyclamen would appear to be considered a preservative from 
 the assaults of witchcraft and evil spirits, if we may judge from 
 the following couplet : — 
 
 " St. John's Wort and fresh Cyclamen she in her chamber kept. 
 From the povper of evil angels to guard him while he slept." 
 
 Vervain and St. John's Wort, carried about the person, will 
 prove a sure preservation against the wiles of Satan and the 
 machinations and sorcery of Witches. 
 
 " Gin you would be leman of mine, 
 Lay aside the St. John's Wort and the Vervain." 
 
io4 pPant Tsore, "heg&f^/, and T^\jrtaf, 
 
 Dill has also the reputation of counteracting the enchantments 
 of Witches and sorcerers — 
 
 "The Verdain and the Dill 
 That hindreth Witches of their will." 
 
 St. John's Wort {Hypericum), the Fuga Damonum of the old 
 ■writers, is a plant detested by Witches, who are scared when in its 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 "St. John's Wort, scaring from the midnight heath 
 The Witch and Goblin with its spicy breath." 
 
 Herb Paris, according to Matthiolus, takes away all €vil done 
 by witchcraft ; Pimpernel is potent to prevent it ; and Angelica 
 worn round the neck will defeat the malignant designs of Witches, 
 who moreover, it is satisfactory to know, detest the Bracken Fern, 
 because if its stem be cut, there will be found therein the mono- 
 gram of Christ. Flowers of a yellow or greenish hue, growing in 
 hedgerows, are also repugant to them. 
 
 In the Tyrol there exists a belief that by binding Rue, Broom, 
 Maidenhair, Agrimony, and ground Ivy, into one bundle, the bearer 
 of the same is enabled to see and know Witches. 
 
DrumnmuinnnnnmuinnniuuinnnnjinfinnjuuinniuiniuuinnnminiuinAJuuuinnnnri 
 
 iUU'MUllL'JUniLr]. 
 
 
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 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Magieaf pfant/. 
 
 N remote ages, the poisonous or medicinal pro- 
 perties of plants were secrets learnt by the most 
 intelligent and observant members of pastoral 
 and nomadic tribes and clans ; and the possessor 
 of these secrets became often both medicine-man 
 and priest, reserving to himself as much as possible 
 the knowledge he had acquired of herbs and 
 their uses, and particularly of those that would 
 produce stupor, delirium, and madness ; for by these means he 
 could produce in himself and others many startling and weird 
 manifestations, which the ignorance of his fellows would cause 
 them to attribute to Divine or supernatural causes. The Zuckungen, 
 or convulsions, ecstacies, temporary madness, and ravings, that 
 formerly played so important a part in the oracular and sacerdotal 
 ceremonies, and which survive even at the present day, had their 
 origin in the tricks played by the ancient medicine-man in order 
 to retain his influence over his superstitious brethren. The 
 exciting and soporific properties of certain herbs and plants, and 
 the peculiar phenomena which, in skilful hands, they could be 
 made to produce in the victim, were well known to the ancient 
 seers and priests, and so were easily foretold ; while the symptoms 
 and effects could be varied accordingly as the plants were dried, 
 powdered, dissolved in water, eaten freshly gathered, or burnt as 
 incense on the altars. The subtle powers of opiates obtained from 
 certain plants were among the secrets carefully preserved by the 
 magi and priests. 
 
 According to Prosper Alpinus, dreams of paradise' and celestial 
 visions were produced among the Egyptians by the use of Opiuni ; 
 and Kaempfer relates that after having partaken pf an opiate in 
 Persia, he fell into an ecstatic state, in which he conceived himself 
 to be flying in the air beyond the clouds, and associating with 
 celestial beings. 
 
 From the juice of the Hemp, the Egyptians have for ages pre- 
 pared an intoxicating extract, called Hashish, which js made up into 
 
lo6 pPant Tsore, Tsegel^Vs <^^ TsijrlG/. 
 
 balls of the size of a Chestnut. Having swallowed some of these, 
 and thereby produced a species of intoxication, they experience 
 ecstatic visions. 
 
 Among the Brahmins, the Soma, a sacred drink prepared from 
 the pungent juice of the Asclepias acida, or Cyanchum viminale, was 
 one of the means used to produce the ecstatic state. Soma juice 
 was employed to complete the phrensied trances of the Indian Yogis 
 or seers : it is said to have the effect of inducing the ecstatic state, 
 in which the votary appears in spirit to soar beyond the terrestrial 
 regions, to become united with Brahma, and to acquire universal 
 lucidity {clairvoyance). Windischmann observes that in the remote 
 past, the mystic Soma was taken as a holy act — a species of sacra- 
 ment ; and that, by this means, the soul of the communicant 
 became united with Brahma. It is frequently said that even 
 Parashpati partook of this celestial beverage, the essence, as it is 
 called, of all nourishment. In the human sacrifices, the Soma-; 
 drink was prepared with magical ceremonies and incantations, by 
 which means the virtues of the inferior and superior worlds were 
 supposed to be incorporared with the potion. 
 
 John Weir speaks of a plant, growing on Mount Lebanon, 
 which places those who taste it in a state of visionary ecstacy ; and 
 Gassendi relates that a fanatical shepherd in Provence prepared 
 himself for the visionary and prophetic state by using Stramonium. 
 
 The Laurel was held specially sacred to Apollo, and the 
 Pythia who delivered the answer of the god to those who consulted 
 the famous oracle at Delphi, before becoming inspired, shook a 
 Laurel-tree that grew close by, and sometimes ate the leaves with 
 which she crowned herself. A Laurel-branch was thought to 
 impart to prophets the faculty of seeing that which was obscure or 
 hidden ; and the tree was believed to possess the property of 
 inducing sleep and visions. Among the ancients it was also 
 thought useful in driving away spectres. Evelyn, remarking on the 
 custom of prophets and soothsayers sleeping upon the boughs and 
 branches of trees, or upon mattresses composed of their leaves, 
 tells us that the Laurel and Agnus Castus were plants " which greatly 
 composed the phansy, and did facilitate true visions, and that the 
 first was specially efficacious to inspire a poetical fury." According 
 to Abulensis, he adds, "such a tradition there goes of Rebekah, the 
 wife of Isaac, in imitation of her father-in-law." And he thinks it 
 probable that from that incident the Delphic Tripos, the Dodonsean 
 Oracle in Epirus, and others of a similar description, took their 
 origin. Probably, when introducing the Jewish fortune-tellers in 
 his sixth satire, Juvenal alludes to the practice of soothsayers and 
 sibyls sleeping on branches and leaves of trees, in the lines— 
 
 "With fear 
 The poor she- Jew begs in my Lady's ear, 
 The grove's high-priestess, heaven's true messenger, 
 Jerusalem's old laws expounds to her." 
 
Magi oaf pfant/. 107 
 
 The Druids, besides being priests, prophets, and legislators, 
 were also physicians ; they were acquainted, too, with the means of 
 producing trances and ecstacies, and as one of their chief medical 
 appliances they made use of the Mistletoe, which they gathered at 
 appointed times with certain solemn ceremonies, and considered it 
 as a special gift of heaven. This plant grew on the Oak, the sacred 
 tree of the Celts and Druids ; it was held in the highest reverence, 
 and both priests and people then regarded it as divine. To this 
 day the Welsh call Pren-awr — the celestial tree — 
 
 " The mystic Mistletoe, 
 Which has no root, and cannot grow 
 Or prosper but by that same tree 
 It clings to.'' 
 
 The sacred Oak itself was thought to possess certain magical 
 properties in evoking the spirit of prophecy : hence we find the 
 altars of the Druids were often erected beneath some venerated 
 Oak-tree in the sombre recesses of the sacred grove ; and it y^s 
 under the shadow of such trees that the ancient Germans offered 
 up their holy sacrifices, and their inspired bards made their pro- 
 phetic utterances. The Greeks had their prophetic Oaks that 
 delivered the oracles of Jupiter in the sacred grove of Dodona — 
 
 " Such honours famed Dodona's grove acquired, 
 As justly due to trees by heaven inspired ; 
 When once her Oaks did fate's decrees reveal, 
 And taught wise men truths future to foretel." — Rapin. 
 
 The Arcadians attributed another magical power to the Oak, 
 for they believed that by stirring water with an Oaken bough rain 
 could be brought from the clouds. 
 
 The Russians are acquainted with a certain herb which they 
 rail Son-trava, or Dream Herb, which has been identified with the 
 Pulsatilla patens. This plant is said to blossom in the month of 
 April, and to put forth an azure-coloured flower ; if this is placed 
 under the piUow, it will induce dreams, and these dreams are said 
 to be fulfilled. In England, a four-leaved Clover similarly treated 
 wiU produce a like result. 
 
 Like the Grecian sorceresses, Medea and Circe, the Vedic 
 magicians were acquainted with numerous plants which would 
 produce love-philtres of the jnost powerful character, if not 
 altogether irresistible. The favourite flowers among the Indians 
 for their composition are the Mango, Champak, Jasmine, Lotus, 
 and Asoka. According to Albertus Magnus, the most powerful 
 flower for producing love is that which he calls Pwvinsa. The 
 secret of this plant had been transmitted by the Chaldeans. The 
 Greeks knew it as Vorax, the Latins as Pwventalis or Provinsa ; and 
 it is probably the same plant now known to the Sicilians as the 
 Pizzu'ngmdu, to which they attribute most subtle properties. Thus 
 the chastest of women will become the victim of the most burning 
 
Io8 pfant Ts)ore, Tsege^/, oriel "Isijf'iof, 
 
 passion for the man who, after pounding the Pizzu'ngurdu, is able to 
 administer it to her in any sort of food. 
 
 Satyrion was a favourite herb with magicians, sorceresses, 
 Witches, and herbalists, who held it to be one of the most power- 
 ful incentives of amatory passions. Kircher relates the case of a 
 youth who, whenever he visited a certain corner of his garden, 
 became so inflamed with passionate longings, that, with the hope of 
 obtaining relief, he mentioned the circumstance to a friend, who, 
 upon examing the spot, found it overgrown with a species of 
 Satyrion, the odour from which had the effect of producing amatory 
 desires. 
 
 The Mandrake, Carrot, Cyclamen, Purslain (Aizoon), Valerian, 
 Navel-wort {Umbilicus Veneris), Wild Poppy {Papaver Argemone), 
 Anemone, Orchis odoratissima, O. cynosorchis, O. tragorchis, O. triorckis, 
 and others of the same family, and Maidenhair Fern {Capillus 
 Veneris) have all of them the property of inspiring love. 
 
 In Italy, Basil is considered potent to inspire love, and its 
 scent is thought to engender sympathy. Maidens think that it 
 will stop errant young men and cause them to love those from 
 whose hands they accept a sprig. In England, in olden times, the 
 leaves of the Periwinkle, when eaten by man and wife, were 
 supposed to cause them to love one another. An old name apper- 
 taining to this plant was that of the " Sorcerer's Violet," which was 
 given to it on account of its frequent use by wizards and quacks 
 in the manufacture of their charms against the Evil Eye and malign 
 spirits. The French knew it as the Violette des Sorciers, and the 
 Italians as Centocchio, or Hundred Eyes. 
 
 In Poland, a plant called Troizicle, which has bluish leaves and 
 red flowers, has the reputation of causing love and forgetfulness of 
 the past, and of enabling him who employs it to go wherever he 
 desires. 
 
 Helmontius speaks of a herb that when held in the palm of 
 the hand until it grows warm, will rapidly acquire the power of 
 detaining the hand of another until it not only grows warm, also, 
 but the owner becomes inflamed with love. He states that by its 
 use he inspired a dog with such love for himself, that he forsook a 
 kmd mistress to follow him, a stranger. This herb is said to be 
 met with everywhere, but unfortunately the name is not given. 
 
 Cumin is thought to possess a mystical power of retention : 
 hence it has found its way into many a love-philtre, as being able 
 to ensure fidelity and constancy in love. 
 
 Among the plants and flowers to which the power of divination 
 has been ascribed, and which are consulted for the most part by 
 rustic maidens in affairs of the heart, are the Centaury, Bluet or 
 Horseknot, the Starwort, the Ox-eye Daisy, the Dandehon, 
 Bachelors Buttons, the Primrose, the Rose, the Poppy, the 
 Hypericum, the Orpine, the Yarrow, the Mugwort, the Thistle, the 
 Knotweed, Plantain, the Stem of the Bracken Fern, Four-leaved 
 
Magi oaf ^?anfj. ^^^ 
 
 and Two-leaved Clover, Even Ash-leaves, Bay or Bay-leaves, 
 Laurel-leaves, Apples and Apple-pips, Nuts, Onions, Beans', 
 Peascods, Corn, Maize, Hemp-seed, &c. 
 
 Albertus Magnus states that Valeria yields a certain juice of 
 amity, efficacious in restoring peace between combatants ; and 
 that the herb Provinsa induces harmony between husband and wife. 
 Gerarde, in his ' Herbal,' rnentions a plant, called Concordia, which 
 he says is Argentina, or Silver-weed {Potentilla anserina) ; and in 
 Piedmont, at the present time, there grows a plant [Palma Christi), 
 locally known as Concordia, which the peasantry use for matrimonial 
 divinations. The root of the plant is said to be divided into two 
 parts, each bearing a resemblance to the human hand, with five 
 fingers : if these hands are found united, marriage is sure ; but if 
 separated, a rupture between the lovers is presaged. There is 
 also, in Italy, a plant known as Discordia, likewise employed for 
 love divinations. In this plant the male flowers are violet, the 
 female white ; the male and female flowers blossom almost always 
 the one after the other — the male turns to the East, the female to 
 the West. 
 
 In the Ukraine, there grows a plant called there Prikrit, which, 
 if gathered between August ijth and October ist, has the property 
 of destroying calumnies spread abroad in order to hinder marriages. 
 In England, the Baccharis, or Ploughman's Spikenard, is reputed 
 to be able to repel calumny. In Russia, a plant called Certagon, 
 the Devil-chaser, is used to exorcise the devil, who is supposed to 
 haunt the grief-stricken husband or wife whom death has robbed 
 of the loved one. This grief-charming plant is also used to drive 
 away fear from infants. The Sallow has many magical properties : 
 no child can be born in safety where it is hung, and no spirit can 
 depart in peace if its foliage be anywhere near. 
 
 The Zunis, a tribe of Mexican Indians, hold in high veneration 
 a certain magical plant called TS-na-isa-li, which they aver grows 
 only on one mountain in the West, and which produces flowers of 
 many colours, the most beautiful in the world, whilst its roots and 
 juices are a panacea for all injuries to the flesh of man. 
 
 The Indian Tulasi, or Sacred Basil {Ocimum sanctum) is pre- 
 eminently a magical herb. By the Hindus it is regarded as a 
 plant of the utmost sanctity, which protects those that cultivate it 
 from all misfortunes, guards them from diseases and injuries, and 
 ensures healthy children. In Burmah, the Eugenia is endowed with 
 similar magical properties, and is regarded by the Burmese with 
 especial reverence. ,, • , 
 
 The Onion, if suspended in a room, possesses the magical 
 powers of attracting and absorbing maladies that would otherwise 
 
 attack the inmates. , r i . n j -n. j. 
 
 In Peru, there is said to grow a wonderful tree called I heomat. 
 If a branch be placed in the hand of a sick person, and he forthwith 
 shows gladness, it is a sign that he will at length recover ; but if 
 
jIO pPant Isore, bege^/", cml bqnar. 
 
 he shows sadness and no sign of joy, that is held to be a certain 
 sign of approaching death. ^ „ , , , , 
 
 In England, the withering of Bay-leaves has long been con- 
 sidered ominous of death : thus Shakspeare writes— 
 
 " 'Tis thought the King is dead ; we will not stay. 
 The Bay-trees in our country are all withered." 
 
 The smoke of the green branches of the Juniper was the 
 incense offered by the ancients to the infernal deities, whilst its 
 berries were burnt at funerals to keep off evil spirits. 
 
 The Peony drives away tempests and dispels enchantments. 
 The St. John's Wort (called of old Fuga damomm) is a preservative 
 against tempests, thunder, and evil spirits, and possesses other 
 magical properties which are duly enumerated in another place. 
 
 The Rowan-tree of all others is gifted with the powers of 
 magic, and is held to be a charm against the Evil Eye, witchcraft, 
 and unholy spells. The Elder, the Thorn, the Hazel, and the 
 Holly, in a similar manner, possess certain properties which entitle 
 them to be classed as magical plants. Garlic is employed by the 
 Greeks, Turks, Chinese, and Japanese, as a safeguard against the 
 dire influences of the Evil Eye. 
 
 The extraordinary attributes of the Fern-seed are duly 
 enumerated in Part II., under the head of Fern, and can be there 
 studied by all who are desirous of investigating its magic powers. 
 
 The Clover, if it has four leaves, is a magical plant, enabling 
 him who carries it on his person to be successful at play, and have 
 the power of detecting the approach of malignant spirits. If placed 
 in the shoe of a lover, the four-leaved Clover will ensure his safe 
 return to the arms and embraces of his sweetheart. 
 
 The Mandrake is one of the most celebrated of magical plants, 
 but for an enumeration of its manifold mystic powers readers must 
 be referred to the description given in Part II., under the head of 
 Mandrake. This plant was formerly called Circeium, a name 
 derived from Circe, the celebrated enchantress. The Germans 
 call it Zauherwurzel (Sorcerer's root), and the young peasant girls 
 of the Fatherland often wear bits of the plant as love charms. 
 
 The marshes of China are said to produce a certain fruit which 
 the natives call Peci. If any one puts with this fruit a copper coin 
 into his mouth, he can diminish it with no less certainty than the 
 fruit itself, and reduce it to an eatable pulp. 
 
 In France, Piedmont, and Switzerland, the country-people tell 
 of a certain Herb of Oblivion which produces loss of memory in 
 anyone putting his foot upon it. This herb also causes wayfarers 
 to lose their way, through the unfortunates forgetting the aspects 
 of the country, even although they were quite familiar to them 
 before treading on the Herb of Forgetfulness. Of a somewhat 
 similar nature must have been the fruit of the Lotos-tree, which 
 caused the heroes of the Odyssey to forget their native countryi 
 
Magicaf pfanfi). 
 
 II I 
 
 King Solomon, whose books on Magic King Hezekiah destroyed 
 lest their contents should do harm, ascribed great magical powers 
 to a root which he called Bahams (or Baara). Josephus, in his 
 History of the Jewish Wars, states that this wonderful root is to 
 be found in the region of Judaea. It is like a flame in colour, and 
 in the evening appears like a glittering light; but upon anyone 
 approaching it with the idea of pulling it up, it appears to fly or 
 dart away, and will avoid its pursuer until it be sprinkled either 
 with menstrual blood or lotium femininum. 
 
 " The Mandrake's charnel leaves at night " 
 
 possess the same characteristic of shining through the gloom, and, 
 on that account, the Arabians call it the Devil's Candle. 
 
 The ancients knew a certain herb called Nyctilopa, which had 
 the property of shining from afar at night : this same herb was also 
 known as Nyctegredum or Chenomychon, and geese were so averse to 
 it, that upon first spying it they would take to instant flight. 
 Perhaps this is the same plant as the Johanniswurzel or Springwort 
 {Euphorbia lathyris), which the peasants of Oberpfalz believe can 
 only be found among the Fern on St. John's Night, and which is 
 stated to be of a yellow colour, and to shine at night as brightly as 
 a candle. Like the Will-o'-the-Wisp, the Johanniswurzel eludes the 
 grasp of man by darting and frisking about. 
 
 Several plants are credited with possessing the power of pre- 
 servation from thunder and lightning. Pliny mentions the Vihro, 
 which he calls Heyha Bntannica, as a plant which, if picked before 
 the first thunderblast of a storm was heard, was deemed a safe- 
 guard against lightning. In the Netherlands, the St. John's Wort, 
 gathered before sunrise, is credited with protective powers against 
 lightning. In Westphalia, the Donnerkraut (the English Orpine, or 
 Live-long) is kept in houses as a preservative from thunder. In 
 England, the Bay is considered a protection from lightning and 
 thunder ; the Beech was long thought to be a safeguard against 
 the effects of lightning ; and Houseleek or Stonecrop, if grown upon 
 a roof, is still regarded as protecting the house from being struck 
 by lightning. The Gnaphalium, an Everlasting-flower, is gathered 
 on the Continent, on Ascension Day, and suspended over door- 
 ways, to fulfil the same function. In Wales, the Stonecrop is 
 cultivated on the roof to keep off disease. 
 
 The Selago, or Golden Herb of the Druids, imparted to the 
 priestess who pressed it with her foot, the knowledge of the 
 language of animals and birds. If she touched it with iron, the 
 sky grew dark, and a misfortune befell the world. 
 
 The old magicians were supposed to have been acquainted 
 with certain plants and herbs from which gold could be extracted 
 or produced. One of these was the Sorb-tree, which was particu- 
 larly esteemed for its invaluable powers ; another was a herb on 
 Mount Libanus, which was said to communicate a golden hue to the 
 
tI2 pPant bore, hegetpf, oniil bijrio/. 
 
 teeth of the goats and other animals that grazed upon it. Niebuhr 
 thinks this may be the herb which the Eastern alchymists em- 
 ployed as a means of making gold. Father Dundini noticed that 
 the animals living on Mount Ida ate a certam herb that imparted 
 a golden hue to the teeth, and which he considered proceeded froni 
 the mines underground. It was an old belief in Germany, by the 
 shores of the Danube, and in Hungary, that the tendrils and leaves 
 of the Vines were plated with gold at certain periods, and that 
 when this was the case, it was a sure sign that gold lay hidden 
 somewhere near. 
 
 Plutarch speaks of. a magical herb called Zaclon, which, when 
 bruised and thrown into wine, would at once change it iiito 
 water. 
 
 Some few plants, like the well-known Sesame of the ' Arabian 
 Nights,' are credited with the power of opening doors and obtaining 
 an entry into subterranean caverns and mountaiii sides. In 
 Germany, there is a very favourite legend of a certain blue Luck- 
 flower which gains for its fortunate finder access to the hidden 
 recesses of a mountain, where untold riches lie heaped before his 
 astonished eyes. Hastily filling his pockets with gold, silver, and 
 gems, he heeds not the presence of a dwarf or Fairy, who, as he 
 unknowingly drops the Luck-flower whilst leaving the treasure- 
 house, cries " Forget not the best of all." Thinking only of the 
 wealth he has pocketed, he unheedingly passes through the portal 
 of the treasure cave, only just in time to save himself from being 
 crushed by the descending door, which closes with an ominous clang, 
 and shuts in for ever the Luck-flower, which can alone open the 
 cave again. 
 
 In Russia, a certain herb, which has the power of opening, is 
 known as the Rasriv-trava. The peasants recognise it in this 
 manner : they cut a good deal of grass about the spot where the 
 Rasriv-trava is thought to grow, and throw the whole of it into the 
 river; thereupon this magic plant will not only remain on the 
 surface of the water, but it will float against the current. The 
 herb, however, is extraordinarily rare, and can only be found by 
 one who also possesses the herb Plakun and the Fern Paporotnik. 
 The Fern, like the Hazel, discovers treasures, and therefore 
 possesses the power of opening said to belong to the Rasriv-trava, 
 but the latter is the only plant that can open the locks of subter- 
 ranean entrances to the infernal regions, which are always guarded 
 by demons. It also has the special property of being able to reduce 
 to powder any metal whatsoever. 
 
 The Primrose is in Germany regarded as a Schliisselblume, or 
 Key-flower, and is supposed to provide the means of obtaining 
 ingress to the many legendary treasure-caverns and subterranean 
 passages under hill and mountain sides dating back from the remote 
 times when the Goddess Bertha was wont to entice children to 
 enter her enchanted halls by offering them pale Primroses. 
 
®''»i'^i'i7 Sm*^' 113 
 
 The Mistletoe, in addition to its miraculous medicinal virtues, 
 possesses the^ower of opening all locks ; and a similar property is 
 by some ascribed to Artemisia, the Mandrake, and the Vervain. 
 
 The Moonwort, or Lesser Lunary {Botrychium Lunana) — the 
 Martagon of ancient wizards, the Lunavia minor of the alchymists — 
 will open the locks of doors if placed in proper fashion in the key- 
 hole. It is, according to some authorities, the Sfervacavallo of the 
 Italians, and is gifted with the power of unshoeing horses whilst at 
 pasture. 
 
 Grimm is of opinion that the Sfevmcavallo is the Euphorbia 
 lathyris, the mystic Spring-wort, which, like the Luck-flower, 
 possesses the wondrous power of opening hidden doors, rocks, and 
 secret entrances to treasure caves, but which is only to be obtained 
 through the medium of a green or black woodpecker under condi- 
 tions which will be found duly recorded in Part II., under the head 
 of Springwort. 
 
 The Mouse-ear is called Herba clavomm because it prevents the 
 blacksmith from hurting horses when he is shoeing them. 
 
 Maglo ©Y^anc^nS* a'tjG ©i'siniij^ S^o^^i^' 
 
 At so remote a period as the Vedic age we find allusions to 
 magic wands or rods. In the Vedas, the Hindu finds instrudtions 
 for cutting the mystic Sami branch and the Arani. This operation 
 was to be performed so that the Eastern and Western sun shone 
 through the fork of the rod, or it would prove of no avail. The 
 Chinese still abide by these venerable instrudlions in the cutting of 
 their magic wands, which are usually cut from the Peach or some 
 other fruit tree on the night preceding the new year, which always 
 commences with the first new moon after the Winter solstice. The 
 employment of magic wands and staffs was in vogue among the 
 Chaldseans and Egyptians, who imparted the knowledge of this 
 system of divination to the Hebrews dwelling among them. Thus 
 we find the prophet Hosea saying, " My people ask counsel at 
 their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them." Rhabdomancy, 
 or divination by means of a rod, was pradtised by the ancient 
 Greeks and Romans, and the art was known in England at the 
 time of Agricola, though now it- is almost forgotten. In China 
 and Eastern lands, the art still flourishes, and various kinds of 
 plants and trees are employed ; the principal being, however, the 
 Hazel, Osier, and Blackthorn. The Druids were accustomed to 
 cut their divining-rods from the Apple-tree. In competent hands, 
 the Golden Rod is said to point to hidden springs of water, as well 
 as to hidden treasures of gold and silver. 
 
 " Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod, 
 Gathered with vows and sacrifice, 
 That, borne aloft, will strangely nod 
 To hidden treasure where it lies." — Shepherd (1600). 
 
1 14 pPant Tsore, Tsege^/, oHS tetjric^. 
 
 In Cornwall, the divining-rod is still employed by miners to 
 discover the presence of mineral wealth ; in Lancashire and Cum- 
 berland, the belief in the powers of the magic wand is widely 
 spread ; and in Wiltshire, it is used for detecting water. The 
 Virgula divinatoria is also frequently in requisition both in Italy and 
 France. Experts will tell you that, in order to ensure success, 
 certain mystic rites must be performed at the cutting of the 
 rod: this must be done after sunset and before sunrise, and 
 only on certain special nights, among which are those of Good 
 Friday, Epiphany, Shrove- Tuesday, and St. John's Day, the first 
 night of a new moon, or that preceding it. In cutting the divining- 
 rod, the operator must face the East, so that it shall be one which 
 catches the first rays of the morning sun, or it will be valueless. 
 These conditions, it will be found, are similar to those contained in 
 the Hindu Vedas, and still enforced by the Chinese. Some English 
 experts are of opinion that a twig of an Apple-tree may be used 
 as successfully as a Hazel wand — but it must be of twelve months' 
 growth. The seventh son of a seventh son is considered to be the 
 most fitting person to use the rod. In operating, the small ends, 
 being crooked, are to be held in the hands in a position flat or 
 parallel to the horizon, and the upper part at an elevation having 
 an angle to it of about seventy degrees. The rod must be grasped 
 strongly and steadily, and then . the operator walks over the 
 ground : when he crosses a lode, its bending is supposed to indi- 
 cate the presence thereof. According to Vallemont, the author of 
 a treatise on the divining-rod, published towards the end of the 
 seventeenth century, its use was not merely confined to indicate 
 metal or water, but it was also employed in tracking criminals ; 
 and an extraordinary story is told of a Frenchman who, guided 
 by his rod, "pursued a murderer, by land, for a distance exceeding 
 forty-five leagues, besides thirty leagues more by water." 
 
 From an article in the ' Quarterly Review,' No. 44, the state- 
 ments in which were vouched by the Editor, it would seem that a 
 Lady Noel possessed the faculty of using the divining-rod. In 
 operating, this lady " took a thin forked Hazel-twig, about sixteen 
 inches long, and held it by the end, the joint pointing downwards. 
 When she came to the place where the water was under the 
 ground, the twig immediately bent; and the motion was more or 
 less rapid as she approached or withdrew from the spring. When 
 just over it, the twig turned so quick as to snap, breaking near the 
 fingers, which, by pressing it, were indented and heated, and 
 almost blistered ; a degree of agitation was also visible in her face. 
 The exercise of the faculty is independent of any volition." 
 
 In Germany, the divining-rod is often called the wishing-rod, 
 and as it is by preference cut from the Blackthorn, that tree is 
 known also as the Wishing Thorn. In Prussia, the Hazel rod must 
 be cut in Spring to have its magical qualities thoroughly deve- 
 loped. When the first thunderstorm is seen to be approaching, 
 
®i^i'^i'i7 ^°^f' 115 
 
 a cross is made with the rod over every heap of grain, in order 
 that the Corn so distinguished may keep good for many a month. 
 In Bohemia, the magic rod is thought to cure fever ; it is necessary, 
 however, when purchasing one, not to raise an objection to the 
 price. In Ireland, if anyone dreams of buried money, there is a 
 prescribed formula to be employed when digging for it — a portion 
 of which is the marking upon a Hazel wand three crosses, and the 
 recital of certain words, of a blasphemous character, over it. 
 
 Sir Thomas Browne tells us that, in his time, the divining-rod 
 was called Moses' Rod ; and he thinks, with Agricola, that this rod is 
 of Pagan origin: — " The ground whereof were the magical rods in 
 poets, that of Pallas in Homer, that of Mercury that charmed 
 Argus, and that of Circe which transformed the followers of 
 Ulysses. Too boldy usurping the name of Moses' Rod, from which 
 notwithstanding, and that of Aaron, were probably occasioned the 
 fables of all the rest. For that of Moses must needs be famous, 
 unto the Egyptians, and that of Aaron unto many other nations 
 as being preserved in the Ark until the destruction of the Temple 
 built by Solomon." The Rabbis tell us that the rod of Moses 
 was, originally, carved by Adam out of a tree which grew in the 
 Garden of Eden ; that Noah, who took it into the Ark with him, 
 bequeathed it to Shem ; that it descended to Abraham ; that Isaac 
 gave it to Jacob ; that, during his sojourn in Egypt, he gave it to 
 Joseph ; and that finally it became the property of Moses. 
 
 I — 2 
 
1 
 
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 ^^^l^^^^il 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 iJa€uPou/, ©y/'oac^rou/, al^b MIracufou/ 
 
 E have seen how, among the ancient races of the 
 earth, traditions existed which connected, the 
 origin of man with certain trees. In the Bunde- 
 hesh, man is represented as having first appeared 
 on earth under the form of the plant Reiva 
 {Rheum ribes). In the Iranian account of man's 
 creation, the primal couple are stated to have 
 first grown up as a single tree, and at muturity 
 to have been separated and endowed with a distinct existence by 
 Ormuzd. In the Scandinavian Edda, men are represented as 
 having sprung from the Ash and Poplar. The Greeks traced the 
 origin of the human race to the maternal Ash ; and the Romans 
 regarded the Oak as the progenitor of all mankind. The con- 
 ception of human trees was present in the mind of the Prophet 
 Isaiah, when he predicted that from the stem of Jesse should come 
 forth a rod, and from his roots, a branch. The same idea is pre- 
 served in the genealogical trees of modern heraldry ; and the marked 
 analogy between man and trees has doubtless given rise to the 
 custom of planting trees at the birth of children. The old Romans 
 were wont to plant a tree at the birth of a son, and to judge of the 
 prosperity'of the child by the growth and thriving of the tree. It 
 is said in the life of Virgil, that the Poplar planted at his birth 
 flourished exceedingly, and far outstripped all its contemporaries. 
 De Gubernatis records that, as a rule, in Germany, they plant 
 Apple-trees for boys, and Pear-trees for girls. In Polynesia, at 
 the birth of an infant, a Cocoa-nut tree is planted, the nodes of 
 which are supposed to indicate the number of years promised to 
 the little stranger. 
 
 According to a legend that Hamilton found current in Central 
 India, the Khatties had this strange origin. When the five sons 
 of Pkndu (the heroes whose exploits are told in the Mahdbha- 
 
SaSuPou/ pfant/-. j.jjr 
 
 rata) had become simple tenders of flocks, Kama, their illegitimate 
 brother, wishing to deprive them of these their last resource, prayed 
 the gods to assist him: then he struck the earth with his staff, 
 which was fashioned from the branch of a tree. The staff instantly 
 opened, and out of it sprang a man, who said that his name was 
 Khat, a word which signifies " begotten of wood." Kama employed 
 this tree-man to steal the coveted cattle, and the Khatties claim to 
 be descended from this strange forefather. 
 
 The traditions of trees that brought forth human beings, and 
 of trees that were in themselves partly human, are current among 
 most of the Aryan and Semitic races, and are also to be found 
 among the Sioux Indians. These traditions (which have been pre- 
 viously noticed in Chapter VII.) have probably given rise to 
 others, which represent certain trees as bearing for fruit human 
 beings and the members of human beings. 
 
 In the fourteenth century, an Italian voyager, Odoricus du 
 Frioul, on arriving at Malabar, heard the natives speaking of trees 
 which, instead of fruit, bore men and women : these creatures were 
 scarcely a yard high, and their nether extremities were attached to 
 the tree's trunk, like branches. Their bodies were fresh and radiant 
 when the wind blew, but on its dropping, they became gradually 
 withered and dried up. 
 
 In the first book of the Mahdbhdrata, reference is made, in the 
 legend of Garuda, to an enormous Indian Fig-tree (Ficus religiosa), 
 from the branches of which are suspended certain devotees of 
 dwarfed proportions, called Vdlakhilyas. 
 
 Among the Arabs, there exists a tradition of an island in the 
 Southern Ocean called Wak-Wak, which is so-named because certain 
 trees growing thereon produce fruit having the form of a human 
 head, which cries Wak ! Wah ! 
 
 Among the Chinese, the myth of men being descended from 
 trees is reversed, for we find a legend current in the Flowery Land 
 that, in the beginning, the herbs and plants sprang from the hairs 
 of a cosmic giant. 
 
 The Chinese, however, preserve the tradition of a certain lake 
 by whose margin grew great quantities of trees, the leaves of which 
 when developed became changed into birds. In India, similar 
 trees are referred to in many of the popular tales : thus, in ' The 
 Rose of Bakavali " mention is made of a garden of Pomegranate- 
 trees, the fruit of which resembled earthenware vases. When 
 these were plucked and opened, out hopped birds of beautiful 
 plumage, which immediately flew away. 
 
 Pope Pius II., in his work on Asia and Europe, published 
 towards the end of the fifteenth century, states that in Scotland 
 there grew on the banks of a river a tree which produced fruits 
 resembling ducks ; these fruits, when matured, fell either on the 
 river bank or into the water : those which fell on the ground 
 pqf ished instantly ; those which fell into the water became turned 
 
Ii8 pfant l9ore, Tscge^/, cmS Tsypicy, 
 
 at once into ducks, acquired plumage, and then flew off. His 
 Holiness remarks that he had been unable to obtain any proof of 
 this wondrous tree existing in Scotland, but that it was to be found 
 growing in the Orkney Isles. 
 
 As early as the thirteenth century, Albertus Magnus expressed 
 his disbelief in the stories of birds propagated from trees, yet there 
 were not wanting writers who professed to have been eye-witnesses 
 of the marvels they recounted respecting Bernicle or Claik Geese. 
 Some of these witnesses, however, asserted that the birds grew on 
 living trees, while others traced them to timber rotted in the sea, or 
 boughs of trees which had fallen therein. Boece, who favoured 
 the latter theory, writes that " because the rude and ignorant 
 people saw oft-times the fruit that fell off the trees (which stood 
 near the sea) converted within a short time into geese, they believed 
 that yir-geese grew upon the trees, hanging by their nebbis [bills] 
 such like as Apples and other fruits hangs by their stalks, but 
 their opinion is nought to be sustained. For as soon as their Apples 
 or fruit falls off the tree into the sea-flood, they grow first worm- 
 eaten, and by short process of time are altered into geese." 
 Munster, in his ' Cosmographie,' remembers that in Scotland " are 
 found trees which produce fruit rolled up in leaves, and this, in 
 due time, falling into water, which it overhangs, is converted into a 
 living bird, and hence the tree is called the Goose-tree. The same 
 tree grows in the island of Pomona. Lest you should imagine that 
 this is a fidlion devised by modern writers, I may mention that all 
 cosmographists, particularly Saxo Grammaticus, take notice of this 
 tree." Prof. Rennie says that Montbeillard seems inclined to 
 derive the name of Pomona from its being the orchard of these 
 goose-bearing trees. Fulgosus depidts the trees themselves as 
 resembling Willows, "as those who had seen them in Ireland and 
 Scotland " had informed him. To these particulars, Bauhin adds 
 that, if the leaves of this tree fall upon the land, they become birds; 
 but if into the water, then they are transmuted into fishes. 
 
 Maundevile speaks of the Barnacle-tree as a thing known and 
 proved in his time. He tells us, in his book, that he narrated to 
 the somewhat sceptical inhabitants of Caldilhe how that " in oure 
 centre weren trees that beren a fruyt that becomen briddes fleiynge : 
 and thei that fallen on the erthe dyen anon : and thei ben right 
 gode to mannes mete." 
 
 Aldrovandus gives a woodcut of these trees, in which the 
 foliage resembles that of Myrtles, while the strange fruit is large 
 and heart-shaped. 
 
 Gerarde also gives a figure of what he calls the " Goose-tree, 
 Barnacle-tree, or the tree bearing geese," a reproduction of which 
 is annexed. And although he speaks of the goose as springing 
 from decayed wood, &c., the very fact of his introducing the tree 
 into the catalogue of his ' Herbal,' shows that he was, at least, 
 divided between the above-named opinions. " What our eyes 
 
[to face page ii8. 
 
 fie SiamaoPe of SJooii&e ©free. 
 
 c . • ^ '■'- 
 
 ;.■ ^—.-■ja. 
 
3a6ufou/ pfant/. 
 
 119 
 
 ctn A ^• ^ ^^^' -^""^ ^^""^ ^""^ h^'^ds have touched, we 
 tt. P^l f V T5^'^ '\^ ''"^^l i«l^"d i" Lancashire, eked 
 the Pile of Foulders, wherein are found broken pieces of old 
 ships, some whereof have been thrown thither by shipwracke, 
 and also the trunks and bodies, with the branches of old and 
 rotten trees cast up there likewise; whereon is found a certain 
 spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certaine shells, in 
 shape like to those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a 
 whitish colour, wherein is contained a thing in forme like a lace of 
 silke finely woven, as it were, together, of a whitish colour; 
 °u^Iu ^^'^eof IS fastned unto the inside of the shell, even as 
 the hsh of oisters and muskles are; the other end is made fast unto 
 the belly of a rude mags, or lumpe, which, in time, commeth to the 
 shape and forme of a bird. When it is perfectly formed, the shell 
 
 Cie Oaow tUta. From Gerardtfs Hertal. 
 
 gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid 
 lace or string; next come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as 
 it groweth greater it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it 
 IS all come forth, and hangeth onely by the bill; in short space 
 after it commeth to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it 
 gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a mallard 
 and lesser than a goose, having blacke legs and bill or beake, and 
 feathers blacke and white, spotted in such manner as is our magpie ; 
 called in some places a pie-annet, which the people of Lancashire 
 call by no other name than tree-goose ; which place aforesaid, and 
 all those parts adjoyning, do so much abound therewith, that one of 
 the best is bought for threepence. For the truth hereof, if any 
 doubt, may it please them to repaire unto me, and I shall satisfie 
 them by the testimonie of good witnesses. 
 
I20 pPant Tsore, Tseger^j, dnR 'bijrro/. 
 
 Martin assures us that he had seen many of these fowjs in the 
 shells, sticking to the trees by the bill, but acknowledges that he 
 had never descried any of them with life upon the tree, though the 
 natives [of the Orkney Isles] had seen them move in the heat 
 of the sun. 
 
 In the ' Cosmographiae of Albioun,' Boece (to whom we have 
 before referred) considered the nature of the seas acting on old 
 wood more relevant to the creation of barnacle or claik geese than 
 anything else. " For," he says, " all trees that arecassin into the seas, 
 by process of time appears at first worm-eaten, and in the small 
 holes or bores thereof grows small worms. First they show their 
 head and neck, and last of all they show their feet and wings. 
 Finally, when they are come to the just measure and quantity of 
 geese, they fly in the air, as other fowls wont, as was notably 
 proven in the year of God one thousand four hundred and eighty 
 in the sight of many people beside the castle of Pitslego." He then 
 goes on to describe how a tree having been cast up by the sea, and 
 spHt by saws, was found full of these geese, in different stages of 
 their growth, some being "perfect shapen fowls;" and how the 
 people, " haying ylk day this tree in more admiration," at length 
 deposited it in the kirk of St. Andrew's, near Tyre." 
 
 Among the more uninformed of the Scotch peasantry, there 
 still exists a belief that the Soland goose, or gannet, and not the 
 bernicle, grows by the bill on the cliffs of Bass, of Ailsa, and of 
 St. Kilda. 
 
 Giraldus traces the origin of these birds to the gelatinous drops 
 of turpentine which appear on the branches of Fir-trees. 
 
 " A tree that bears oysters is a very extraordinary thing," 
 remarks Bishop Fleetwood in his ' Curiosities of Agriculture and 
 Gardening ' (1707), " but the Dominican Du Tertre, in his Natural 
 History of Antego, assures us that he saw, at Guadaloupa, oysters 
 growing on the branches of trees. These are his very words. The 
 oysters are not larger than the little English oysters, that is to say, 
 about the size of a crown piece. They stick to the branches that 
 hang in the water of a tree called Parduvier. No doubt the seed of 
 the oysters, which is shed in the tree when they spawn, cleaves to 
 those branches, so that the oysters form themselves there, and grow 
 bigger in process of time, and by their weight bend down the 
 branches into the sea, and then are refreshed twice a day by the 
 flux and reflux, of it." 
 
 The Oyster-bearing Tree, however, is not the only marvel of 
 which the good Bishop has left a record : he tells us that near the 
 island Cimbalon there lies another, where grows a tree whose 
 leaves, as they fall off, change into animals : they are no sooner 
 on the ground, than they begin to walk like a hen, upon two little 
 legs. Pigafetta says that he kept one of these leaves eight days in a 
 porringer ; that it took itself to walking as soon as he touched it ; 
 and that it lived only upon the air." Scaliger, speaking of these 
 
TO FACE PAGE 121.] 
 
 Ufe Sarometz, or >^egefa6Pe bam6. 
 
 From Zahris ' Speculir Physico-MatJiematico-Historica: 
 
@Ja6uPou/ ^?antf, j 2 1 
 
 very leaves, remarks, as though he had been an eye-witness, that 
 they walk, a.nd march away without further ado if anyone attempts 
 to touch them. Bauhin, after describing these wonderful leaves 
 as being very like Mulberry-leaves, but with two short and 
 pointed feet on each side, remarks upon the great prodigy of the 
 leaf of a tree being changed into an animal, obtaining sense, and 
 being capable of progressive motion. 
 
 Kircher records that in his time a tree was said to exist in Chili, 
 the leaves of which produced worms ; upon arriving at maturity, 
 these worms crawled to the edge of the leaf, and thence fell to the 
 earth, where after a time they became changed into serpents, which 
 over-ran the whole land. Kircher endeavours to explain this 
 story of the serpent-bearing tree by giving, as a reason for the 
 phenomenon, that the tree attached to itself, through its roots, 
 moisture pregnant with the seed of serpents. Through the action 
 pf the sun's rays, and the moisture of the tree, this serpent-spawn 
 degenerates into worms, which by contacSl with the earth become 
 converted into living serpents. 
 
 The same authority states that in the Molucca islands, but 
 more particularly in Ternate, not far from the castle of the same 
 name, there grew a plant which he describes as having small 
 leaves. To this plant the natives gave the name of Catopa, because 
 when its leaves fall off they at once become changed into butterflies. 
 Do(5lor Darwin, in his botanical poem called ' The Loves of 
 the Plants,' thus apostrophises an extraordinary animal-bearing 
 plant : — 
 
 " Cradled in snow and fanned by Arctic air. 
 
 Shines, gentle Barometz ! thy golden hair ; 
 
 Rooted in earth, each cloven hoof descends, 
 
 And round and round her flexile neck she bends ; 
 
 Crops the gray coral-moss and hoary Thyme, 
 
 Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime. 
 
 Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam, 
 
 Or seems to bleat, a vegetable Lamb." 
 
 In the curious frontispiece to Parkinson's ' Paradisus,' which 
 will be found reproduced at the commencement of this work, it will 
 be noticed that the Barometz, or Vegetable Lamb, is represented 
 as one of the plants growing in Eden. In Z2hTx's Specula Physico- 
 Mathematico-HistonctB (1696) is given a figure of this plant, accom- 
 panied by a description, of which the following is a translation : — 
 
 " Very wonderful is the Tartarian shrub or plant which the 
 natives call Boromez, i.e., Lamb. It grows like a lamb to about the 
 height of three feet. It resembles a lamb in feet, in hoofs, in ears, 
 and in the whole head, save the horns. For horns, it possesses 
 tufts of haii;, resembling a horn in appearance. It is covered with 
 the thinnest bark, which is taken off and used by the inhabitants 
 for the protection of their heads. They say that the inner pulp 
 resembles -lobster-flesh, and that blood flows from it when it is 
 wounded. Its root projects and rises to the umbilicus. What 
 
122 
 
 pfant Tsofs, Isegel^/, cm^ Tsqrio/, 
 
 renders the wonder more remarkable is the fact that, when the 
 Boromez is surrounded by abundant herbage, it lives as long as a 
 lamb, in pleasant pastures ; but when they become exhausted, it 
 wastes away and perishes. It is said that wolves have a liking for 
 it, while other carnivorous animals have not." 
 
 Scaliger, in his Exoterka Exercitationes, gives a similar descrip- 
 tion, adding that it is riot the fruit, the Melon, but the whole plant, 
 that resembles a lamb. This does not tally with the account 
 given by Odorico da Pordenone, an Indian traveller, who, before 
 the Barometz had been heard of in Europe, appears to have been 
 informed that a plant grew on some island in the Caspian Sea 
 which bore Melon-like fruit resembling a lamb ; and this tree is 
 described and figured by Sir John Maundevile, who, in speaking of 
 the countries and isles beyond Cathay, says that when travelling 
 towards Bacharye " men passen be a Kyngdom that men clepen 
 Caldilhe ; that is a fuUe fair Contree. And there growethe a maner 
 of fruyt as thoughe it waren Gowrdes ; and whan thei ben rype, 
 men kutten hem a to, and men fynden with inne, a lytylle Best, in 
 flessche, in bon, and blode, as though it were a lytylle Lomb, with 
 outen woUe. And men eten bothe the Frut and the Best ; and that 
 is a gret marveylle. Of that Frute I have eten ; alle thoughe it 
 were wonderfuUe ; but that I knowe wel that God is marveyllous 
 in his werkes." 
 
 Srt)( Haintl Ciec. From MaufideoMt Traveb. 
 
 Maundevile, who in his book has left a record of so many 
 marvellous things which he either saw or was told of during his 
 
©V^oncjrou/ pPant/-, 12-3 
 
 Eastern travels, mentions a certain Indian island in the land of 
 Prester John, where grew wild trees which produced Apples of 
 such potent virtue that the islanders lived by the mere smell of 
 them: moreover if they went on a journey, the men " beren the 
 Apples with hem : for yif thei hadde lost the savour of the Apples 
 thei scholde dyen anon." In another island in the same country, 
 Sir John was told were the Trees of the Sun 'and of the Moon that 
 spake to King Alexander, and warned him of his death. More- 
 over, it was commonly reported that " the folk that kepen the trees, 
 and eten of the frute and of the bawme that growethe there, lyven 
 wel 400 yere or 500 yere, be vertue of the fruit and of the bawme." 
 In Egypt the old traveller heard of the Apple-tree of Adam, " that 
 hav a byte at on of the sydes ; " there also he saw Pharaoh's 
 Figs, which grew upon trees without leaves ; and there also he tells 
 us are gardens that have trees and herbs in them which bear fruit 
 seven times in the year. 
 
 One of the most celebrated of fabulous trees is that which 
 grew in the garden of the Hesperides, and produced the golden 
 Apples which Hercules, with the assistance of Atlas, was able to 
 carry off. Another classic tree is that bearing the golden branch of 
 Virgil, which is by some identified with the Mistletoe. Among other 
 celebrated mythical trees may be named the prophetic Oaks of the 
 Dodonsean grove ; the Singing Tree of the ' Arabian Nights,' every 
 leaf of which was a mouth and joined in concert ; and the Poet's 
 Tree referred to by Moore, in ' Lalla Rookh,' which grows over 
 the tomb of Tan-Sein, a musician of incomparable skill at the 
 court of Akbar, and of which it is said that whoever chews a leaf 
 will have extraordinary melody of voice. 
 
 ©Y/'on^rouil) pfant^. 
 
 In Bishop Fleetwood's curious work, to which reference has 
 already been made, we find many extraordinary trees and plants 
 described, some of which are perhaps worthy of a brief notice. 
 He tells us of a wonderful metal-sapped tree known as the 
 Mesonsidereos, which grows in Java, and even there is very scarce. 
 Instead of pith, this tree has an iron wire that comes out of the 
 root, and rises to the top of the tree. " But the best of all is, that 
 whoever carries about him a piece of this ferruginous pith is 
 invulnerable to any sword or iron whatever." In Hirnaim de Typho 
 this tree is said to produce fruit impenetrable by iron. 
 
 There are some trees that must have fire to nourish them. 
 Methodius states that he saw on the top of the mountain 
 Gheschidago (the Olympus of the ancients), near the city of 
 Bursa, in Natolia, a lofty tree, whose roots were spread amidst 
 the fire that issues from the vents of the earth ; but whose leafy 
 and luxuriant boughs spread their shade around, in scorn of the 
 flames in the midst of which it grew. 
 
124 pPant Tsore, Is&g&t^f, oriR Isijric/", 
 
 This vegetable salamander finds its equal in a plant described 
 by Nieuhoff as growing in rocky and stony places in the kingdom 
 of Tanju, in Tartary. This extraordinary plant cannot be either 
 ignited or consumed by fire ; for although it becomes hot, and on 
 account of the heat becomes glowing red in the fire, yet so soon 
 as heat is removed, it grows cold, and regains its former appear- 
 ance : in water, however, this plant is wont to become quite putrid. 
 
 Of a nature somewhat akin to these fire-loving plants must be 
 the Japanese Palm, described by A. Montanus. This tree is said 
 to shun moisture to such an extent, that if its trunk be in the least 
 wet, it at once pines away and perishes as though it had been 
 poisoned. However, if this arid tree be taken up by the roots, 
 throughly dried in the sun, and re-planted with sand and iron 
 filings around it, it will once more flourish, and become covered 
 with new branches and leaves, provided that so soon as it has 
 been re-planted, the old leaves are cut off with an iron instrument 
 and fastened to the trunk. 
 
 The Bishop remarks that " one of the most wonderful plants 
 is that which so mollifies the bones, that when we have eaten of 
 it we cannot stand upon our legs. An ox who has tasted of it 
 cannot go ; his bones grow so pliant, that you may bend his legs 
 like a twig of Ozier. The remedy is to make him swallow some 
 of the bones of an animal who died from eating of that herb : 'tis 
 certain death, and cannot be otherwise, for the teeth grow soft 
 immediately, and 'tis impossible even to eat again." " There is a 
 plant that produces a totally opposite effedt. It hardens the bones 
 to a wondrous degree. A man who has chewed some of it, will 
 have his teeth so hard as to be able to reduce flints and pebbles 
 into impalpable powder." 
 
 Maundevile describes some wonderful Balm-trees that in his 
 time grew near Cairo, in a field wherein were seven wells " that 
 oure Lord Jesu Christ made with on of His feet, whan He wente 
 to pleyen with other children." The balm obtained from these 
 trees was considered so precious, that no one but the appointed 
 tenders was allowed to approach them. Christians alone were 
 permitted to till the ground in which they grew, as if Saracens 
 were employed, the trees would not yield ; and moreover it was 
 necessary that men should " kutten the braunches with a scharp 
 flyntston or with a scharp bon, whanne men wil go to kutte hem : 
 For who so kutte hem with iren, it wolde destroye his vertue and 
 his nature." 
 
 The old knight has left a record of his impressions of the 
 country near the shores of the Dead Sea, and has given a sketch of 
 those Apple-trees of which Byron wrote — 
 
 " Like to the Apples on the Dead Sea's shore, 
 AU ashes to the taste.'' 
 
 These trees producing Dead Sea fruit he tells us bore "fulle faire 
 Apples, and faire of colour to behold ; but whoso brekethe hem or 
 
©VVoncJi'our pfanty-. 
 
 125 
 
 cuttethe hem in two, he schalle fynd with in hem Coles and Cyndres, 
 m tokene that, be wratthe of God, the cytees and the lend weren 
 brente and sonken in to Helle." 
 
 Beau Sea Jfruil. From MaundeviU's Travels. 
 
 In Zahn's Specula Physico-Mathematico-Historica we read of a 
 peculiar Mexican tree, called Tetlatia or Goo, which causes both men 
 and animals to lose their hair if they rub themselves against its 
 trunk or sleep beneath its branches. Then we are told of a tree 
 growing in Sofala, Africa, which yields no leaf during the whole year, 
 but if a branch be cut off and placed in water, it grows green in ten 
 hours, and produces abundance of leaves. Again, we read of the 
 Zeihas, immense trees " in the new Kingdom of Granada," which 
 fifteen men could scarcely encompass with their arms ; and which, 
 wonderful to relate, cast all their leaves every twelve hours, and 
 soon afterwards acquire other leaves in their place. 
 
 A certain tree is described as growing in America, which bears 
 flowers like a heart, consisting of many white leaves, which are 
 red within, and give forth a wonderfully sweet fragrance : these 
 flowers are said to comfort and refresh the heart in a remarkable 
 manner. A curious account is given of a plant, which Nieren- 
 bergius states grows in Bengal, which attradl:s wood so forcibly, 
 that it apparently seizes it from the hands of men. A similar 
 plant is said to exist in the island of Zeilan, which, if placed 
 between two pieces of wood, each distant twenty paces from it, 
 will draw them together and unite them. . 
 
 Respecting the Boriza, a plant also known as the Lunaria or 
 Lunar Herb, Zahn states that it is so called because it increases and 
 decreases according to the changes of the moon : for when the moon 
 is one day old, this plant has one leaf, and increases the number of 
 leaves in proportion to the moon's age until it is fifteen days old; 
 
126 
 
 pPant bore, hegat^f, dnS. h^r'taf. 
 
 then, as the moon decreases, its leaves one by one fall oflf. In the 
 no-moon period, being deprived of all its leaves, it hides itself. Just 
 as the Boriza is influenced by the moon, so are certain shrubs under 
 the sway of the sun. These shrubs are described as growing up 
 daily from the sand until noon, when they gradually diminish, and 
 finally return to the earth at sunset. 
 
 Gerarde tells us that among the wonders of England, worthy 
 of great admiration, is a kind of wood, called Stony Wood, 
 alterable into the hardness of a stone by the action of water. 
 This strange alteration of Nature, he adds, is to be seen in sundry 
 parts of England and Wales ; and then he relates how he himself 
 " being at Rougby (about such time as our fantasticke people did 
 with great concourse and multitudes repaire and run headlong 
 unto the" sacred wells of Newnam Regis, in the edge of Warwick- 
 shire, as unto the water of life, which could cure all diseases)," 
 went from thence unto these wells, "where I found growing ouer 
 the same a faire Ashe-tree, whose boughs did hang ouer the spring 
 of water, whereof some that were seare and rotten, and some that 
 of purpose were broken off, fell into the water and were all turned 
 into stones. Of these boughes or parts of the tree I brought into 
 London, which when I had broken in pieces, therein might be 
 scene that the pith and all the rest was turned into stones, still 
 remaining the same shape and fashion that they were of before 
 they were in the water." 
 
 EtlJ stone Em. From Gerard^t Herbal. 
 
 In Hainam, a Chinese island, grows a certain tree known as 
 the Fig of Paradise. Its growth is peculiar : from the centre of a 
 cluster of six or seven leaves springs a branch with no leaves, but 
 
®\f/on<\roaf pPant/. 127 
 
 a profusion of fruit resembling Figs. The leaves of this tree are 
 so large and so far apart, that a man could easily wrap himself up 
 in them ; hence it is supposed that our first parents, after losing 
 their innocence, clothed themselves with the leaves of a tree of 
 this species. 
 
 The island of Ferro, one of the Canaries, is said to be with- 
 out rivers, fountains, and wells. However, it has a peculiar tree, 
 as Metellus mentions, surrounded by walls like a fountain. It 
 resembles the Nut-tree ; and from its leaves there drops water 
 which is drinkable by cattle and men. A certain courtesan of the 
 island, when it was first subdued, made it known to the Spaniards. 
 Her perfidy, however, is said to have been discovered and punished 
 with death by her own people. 
 
 Bishop Fleetwood gives the following description, by Her- 
 mannus Nicolaus, of what he calls the Distillatory Plant : — " Great 
 are the works of the Lord, says the wise man ; we cannot consider 
 them without ravishment. The Distillatory Plant is one of these 
 prodigies of nature, which we cannot behold without being struck 
 with admiration. And what most surprises me is the delicious 
 nectar, with which it has often supplied me in so "great abundance 
 to refresh me when I was thirsty to death and unsufferably weary. 
 . . . But the greatest wonder of it is the little purse, or if you 
 will, a small vessel, as long and as big as the little finger, that is 
 at the end of each leaf. It opens and shuts with a little lid that 
 is fastened to the top of it. These little purses are full of a cool, 
 sweet, clear cordial and very agreeable water. The kindness this 
 liquor has done me when I have been parched up with thirst, 
 makes me always think of it with pleasure. One plant yields 
 enough to refresh and quench the thirst of a man who is very 
 dry. The plant attracts by its roots the moisture of the earth, 
 which the sun by his heat rarifies and raises up through the stem 
 and the branches into the leaves, where it filtrates itself to drop 
 into the little recipients that are at the end of them. This delicious 
 sap remains in these little vessels till it be drawn out; and it 
 must be observed that they continue close shut till the hquor be 
 weU concocted and digested, and open of themselves when the 
 iuice is good to drink. 'Tis of wonderful virtue to extingmsh 
 speedily the heats of burning fevers. Outwardly applied, it heals 
 ring-worms, St. Anthony's Fire, and inflammations." 
 
 SPanf/S feearli^ Snttar'if'HonS) af^ SfigureiD.- 
 Gerarde has told us that in the root of the Brake Fern, the 
 figure of a spread-eagle may be traced; and Maundevile has 
 alserted that the fruit of the Banana, cut it how you wiU, exhibits 
 a representation of the Holy Cross. L. Sarins in his Chronicles 
 ?o the year 1559, records that, in Wales, an Ash was uproo ed 
 during a tempest, and in its massive trunk, rent asunder by the 
 
128 pfant Tsore, Tsegei^tyj dnS. bijric/'. 
 
 violence of the storm, a cross was plainly depicted, about a foot 
 long. This cross remained for many years visible in the shattered 
 trunk of the Ash, and was regarded with superstitious awe by the 
 Catholics as having been Divinely sent to reprove the oiEcious 
 zeal of Queen Elizabeth in banishing sacred images from the 
 Churches. 
 
 In Zahn's work is an account — " resting on the sworn tes^ 
 timony of the worthiest men," and on the authority of an arch- 
 bishop — of the holy name Jesu found in a Beech that had been 
 felled near Treves. The youth, who was engaged in chopping up 
 this tree, observed while doing so, a cloud or film surrounding the 
 pith of the wood. Astonished at the sight, he called his uncle 
 Hermann, who noticed at once the sacred name in a yellow colour, 
 changing to black. Hermann carried the wood home to his wife, 
 who had long been an invalid, and she, regarding it as a precious 
 relic, received much comfort, and finally, in answer to daily 
 prayer, her strength was restored, After this, the wood was pre- 
 sented to the Elector Maximilian Henry, who was so struck with 
 the phenomenon, that he had it placed in a rich silver covering, 
 and publicly exposed as a sacred relic in a church; and on the 
 spot where the tree was cut, he caused a chapel to be eredled, to 
 preserve the name of Jesu in everlasting remembrance. 
 
 In the same work, we are told that in a certain root, called 
 Ophoides, a serpent is clearly represented; that the root of Astragalus 
 depicts the stars ; that in the trunk of the Quiacus, a dog's head 
 was found delineated, together with the perfedtfigureof a bird; that 
 the trunk of a tree, when cut, displayed on its inner surface eight 
 Danish words ; that in a Beech cut down by a joiner, was found the 
 marvellous representation of a thief hanging on a gibbet ; and that 
 in another piece of wood adhering to the former was depidled a 
 ladder such as was used in those days by public executioners : 
 these figures were distindtly delineated in a black tint. In 1628, iii 
 the wood of a fruit-tree that had been cut down near Haarlem, 
 in Holland, the images of bishops, tortoises, and many other things 
 were seen ; and one Schefferus, a physician, has recorded that near 
 the same place, a piece of wood was found in which there was 
 given " a wonderful representation by Nature of a most orderly 
 star with six rays." Evelyn, in his ' Sylva,' speaks of a tree found 
 in Holland, which, being cleft, exhibited the figures of a chalice, 
 a priest's alb, his stole, and several other pontifical vestments. Of 
 this sort, he adds, was an Oxfordshire Elm, " a block of which 
 wood being cleft, there came out a piece so exactly resembhng a 
 shoulder of veal, that it was worthy to be reckoned among the 
 curiosities of this nature." Evelyn also notices a certain dining- 
 table made of an old Ash, whereon was figured in the wood fish, 
 inen, and beasts. In the root of a white Briony was discovered 
 the perfecSt image of a human being : this curious root was pre- 
 served m the Museum at Bologna. Many examples of human 
 
MifOoufou/ pfanl/. 129 
 
 figures in the roots of Mandrakes have been known, and Aldro- 
 vandus tell us that he was presented with a Mandrake-root, in 
 which the image was perfect. 
 
 >^egeta€ife MoniitroiiiHieii. 
 
 It is related that, in the year 1670, there was exposed for 
 sale, in the public market of Vratislavia, an extraordinary wild 
 Bugloss, which, on account of the curiosity of the spectators and 
 the different superstitious speculations of the crowd, was regarded 
 not only as something monstrous but also as marvellous. This 
 Bugloss was a little tortuous and 25 inches in length. Its breadth 
 was 4 inches. It possessed a huge and very broad stem, the fibres 
 of which ran parallel to each other in a diredt line. It bore 
 flowers in the greatest abundance, and had at least one root. 
 
 Aldrovandus, in his Liber de Monstris, describes Grapes with 
 beards, which were seen in the year 1541 in Germany, in the 
 province of Albersweiler. They were sent as a present, first to 
 Louis, Duke of Bavaria, and then to King Ferdinand and other 
 princes. 
 
 Zahn figures, in his work, a Pear of unusual size which was 
 gathered from a tree growing in the Royal Garden at Stuttgart, 
 towards the close of June, 1644. This Pear strongly resembled 
 a human face, with the features distinctly delineated, and at the 
 end, forming a sort of crown, were eight small leaves and two 
 young shoots with a blossom at the apex of each. This curious and 
 unique vegetable monstrosity was presented to his Serene Highness 
 the Prince of Wurtemburg. 
 
 In the same book is given a description of a monstrous 
 Rape — ^bearing a striking resemblance to the figure of a nian 
 seated, and exhibiting perfectly body, arms, and head, on which 
 the sprouting foliage took the place of hair. This Rape grew m the 
 garden of a nobleman in the province of Weiden, in the year 1628. 
 
 Mention is made of a Daucus which was planted and became 
 unusually large in size. Some pronounced it to be a Parsnip, 
 having a yellow root, and thin leaves. This Parsnip had an 
 immense root, like a human hand, which, from its peculiar growth, 
 had the appearance of grasping the Daucus itself. 
 
 In Zahn's book are recorded many other vegetable marvels: 
 amongst them is the case of a Reed growing in the belly of an 
 elephant; a ear of Wheat in the nose of an Italian woman; Oats 
 in the stomach of a soldier; and various grains found m wounds 
 and ulcers, in different parts of the human body. 
 
 Miraoufoui^ Uraei^ ar^ pfanfe. 
 There are some few plants which have at different times been 
 prominently brought into notice by their intimate association^with 
 
130 pfant Tsora, begeTjCi/, anal teijptqy. 
 
 miracles. Such a one was the branch of the Almond-tree forming 
 the rod of Aaron, which, when placed by Moses in the Tabernacle, 
 miraculously budded and blossomed in the night, as a sign that its 
 owner should be chosen for High Priest. Such, again, was the 
 staff of Joseph of Arimathea, which, when driven, one Christmas- 
 day, into the ground at Glastonbury, took root and produced a 
 Thorn-tree, which always blossomed on that day. Such, again, 
 was the staff of St. Martin, from which sprang up a goodly Yew, in 
 the cloister of Vreton, in Brittany ; and such was the staff of St. 
 Serf, which, thrown by him across the sea from Inchkeith to Culross, 
 straightway took root and became an Apple-tree. 
 
 In the same category must be included the tree miraculously 
 secured by St. Thomas, the apostle of the Indians, and from which 
 he was enabled to construct a church, inasmuch as when the saw- 
 dust emitted by the tree when being sawn was sown, trees sprang up 
 therefrom. The tree (represented as being a species of Kalpadmma) 
 was hewn on the Peak of Adam, in Ceylon, by two servants of St. 
 Thomas, and dragged by him into the sea, where he appears to 
 have left it with the command, '• Vade, expecta nos in portu civitatis 
 Mirapolis." .... When it reached its destination, this tree 
 had grown to such an enormous bulk, that although the king and 
 his army of ten thousand troops, with many elephants, did their 
 utmost to secure it and drag it on shore, they were unable to move 
 it. Mortified at his failure, the king descried the holy Apostle 
 Thomas approaching, riding upon an ass. The holy Apostle was 
 accompanied by his two servants, and by two great lions. 
 "Forbear," said he, addressing the king: "Touch not the wood, 
 for it is mine." " How can you prove it is yours?" enquired the 
 king. Then Thomas, loosing his girdle, threw it to the two 
 servants, and bade them tie it around the tree ; this they speedily 
 did, and, with the assistance of the lions, dragged the huge trunk 
 ashore. The king was astonished and convinced by the miracle, 
 and at once offered to Thomas as much land whereon to erect a 
 church to his God as he cared to ride round on his ass. So with 
 the aid of the miraculous tree the Apostle Thomas set to work to 
 build his church. When his workmen were hungry he took some 
 of the sawdust of the tree, and converted it into Rice ; when they 
 demanded payment, he broke off a small piece of the wood, which 
 instantly became changed into money. 
 
 Popular tradition has everywhere preserved the remembrance 
 of a certam Arbor secco, which, according to Marco Polo, Frate 
 Odorico, and the Book of Sidrach, existed in the East. This Arhor 
 secco of the Christians is the veritable Tree of the Sun of the 
 ancient pagans. Marco Polo calls the tree the Withered Tree of 
 the Sun, and places it in the confines of Persia ; Odorico, near 
 Sauris. According to Maundevile, the tree had existed at Mamre 
 from the beginning of the world. It was an Oak, and had been 
 held in special veneration since the time of Abraham. The SaracenS 
 
MiraeuPouf pPant/. 
 
 131 
 
 called It Dtrpe, and the people of the country, the Withered Tree 
 because from the date of the Passion of oir Lord, it has been 
 
 ""•S^/if ^'A" ■ ."^'^ '■^'"^''^ "° "°*" ^ P"°^e of the West shall come 
 with the Christians to conquer the Holy Land: then "he shaHe 
 dosynge a masse undir that dry tree, and than the tree shale 
 
 Sr , *«.^°rfd, represents the Withered Tree in the middle of 
 ft fi It" . K^^^ iP^^'', s'l'^mised that this Withered Tree is no 
 o her than that alluded to by the Prophet Ezekiel (xvii., 24) : " And 
 all the trees of he field shall know that I the Lord have brought 
 down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the 
 green tree. ^ 
 
 artnt SfCCO, or irije BJEitljttel) STwe. From MaundevUe's Travels. 
 
 Sulpicius Severus relates that an abbot, in order to test the 
 patience of a novice, planted in the ground a branch of Styrax 
 that he chanced to have in his hand, and commanded the Novice 
 to water it every day with water to be obtained from the Nile, 
 which was two miles from the monastery. For two years the 
 novice obeyed his superior's injunction faithfully, going every day 
 to the banks of the river, and carrying back on his shoulder a 
 supply of Nile water wherewith to water the apparently lifeless 
 branch. At length, however, his steadfastness was rewarded, 
 for in the third year the branch miraculously shot out very fine 
 leaves, and afterwards produced flowers. The historian adds that 
 he saw in the monastery some slips of the same tree, which they 
 took delight to cultivate as a memento of what the Almighty had 
 been pleased to do to reward the obedience of his servant. 
 
 Another miraculous tree is alluded to in .Fleetwood's ' Curiosi- 
 ties,' where, on the authority of Philostratus, the author describes 
 a certain talking Elm of Ethiopia, which, during a discussion held 
 
 K— 2 
 
132 
 
 ppant Isore, Isegefjb/, anei Isqrio/. 
 
 under its branches between ApoUonius and Thespesio, chief of 
 the Gymnosophists, reverently " bowed itself down and saluted 
 Apollonius, giving him the title of Wise, with a distinct but weak 
 and shriU voice, like a woman." 
 
 The blind man to whom our Saviour restored his sight said, a^ 
 first, " I see men walking as if they were trees ! " one Anastasius of 
 Nice, however, has recorded that, oppositely, he had seen trees 
 walk as if they were men. Bishop Fleetwood remarks that this 
 Anastasius, bemg persuaded that by miraculous means our neigh- 
 bours' trees may be brought into our own field, relates that a heretic 
 of Zizicum, of the sect of the Pneumatomachians, had, by the virtue 
 of his art, brought near to his own house a great Olive-tree 
 belonging to one of his neighbours, that he and his disciples might 
 have the benefit of the freshness of the shade to protect them from 
 the heat of the sun. By this art, also, it was that the plantation 
 of Olives, belonging to Vectidius, changed its place. 
 
 Mauudevile has preserved a record of a tree of miraculous 
 origin, that in his time grew in the city of Tiberias, . The old 
 knight writes : — " In that cytee a man cast an brennynge [a 
 burning] dart in wratthe after oure Lord, and the hed smote in to 
 the eerthe, and wex grene, and it growed to a gret tree ; and yit it 
 growethe, and the bark there of is alle lyke coles." 
 
 ^itaculousi Cnt at Ci&niae. From Maundtvil^s Travtb. 
 
 Among flowers, the Rose — ^the especial flower of martyrdom — 
 has been the most connected with miracles. Maundevile gives it a 
 miraculous origin, alleging that at Bethlehem the faggots lighted to 
 bum an innocent maiden were, owing to her earnest prayers, 
 extinguished and miraculously changed into bushes which bore the 
 
Miraoufou/ pfani/. j,. 
 
 first Roses, iDOth white and red. According to monastic tradition, 
 the martyr-saint Dorothea sent a basket of Roses miraculously to 
 the notary Theophilus, from the garden of Paradise. The Romish 
 legend of St. Cecilia relates that after Valerian, her husband, had 
 been converted and baptised by St. Urban, he returned to his home, 
 and heard, as he entered it, the most enchanting music. On 
 reaching his wife's apartment, he beheld an angel standing near 
 her, who held in his hand two crowns of Roses gathered in 
 Paradise, immortal in their freshness and perfume, but invisible to 
 the eyes of unbelievers.- With these the angel encircled the 
 brows of Cecilia and Valerian, and promised that the eyes of 
 Tiburtius, Valerian's brother, should be opened to the truth. 
 Then he vanished. Soon afterwards Tiburtius entered the chamber, 
 and perceiving the fragrance of the celestial Roses, but not seeing 
 them, and knowing that it was not the season for flowers, he was 
 astonished, yielded, to the fervid appeal of St. Cecilia, and became 
 a Christian. 
 
 St. Elizabeth, of Hungary, is always represented with Roses 
 in her lap or hand, in allusion to a legend which relates that this 
 saint, the type of female charity, one day, in the depth of winter, 
 left her husband's castle, carrying in the skirts of her robe a supply 
 of provisions for a certain poor family ; and as she was descending 
 the frozen and slippery path, her husband, returning from the 
 chase, met her bending under the weight of her charitable burden. 
 "What dost thou here, my Elizabeth?" he asked: "let us see 
 what thou art carrying away." Then she, confused and blushing 
 to be so discovered, pressed her mantle to her bosom; but he 
 insisted, and opening her robe, he beheld only red and white Roses, 
 more beautiful and fragrant than any that grow on this earth, even 
 at summer-tide, and it was now the depth of winter! Turning to 
 embrace his wife, he was so overawed by the supernatural glory 
 exhibited on her face, that he dared not touch her; but, bidding her 
 proceed on her mission,, he took one of the Roses of Paradise from 
 her lap, and placed it reverently in his breast. 
 
 Trithemius narrates that Albertus Magnus, m the depths of 
 winter, gave to King William on the festival of Epiphany a most 
 elegant banquet in the little garden of his Monastery. Suddenly, 
 although the monastery itself was covered with snow, the atmo- 
 sphere in the garden became balmy, the trees became covered with 
 leaves, and even produced ripe fruit— each tree after its kind. A 
 Vine sent forth a sweet odour and produced fresh grapes in abun- 
 dance, to the amazement of everyone. Flocks of birds of all kinds 
 were attracted to the spot, and, rejoicing at the sumnier-like 
 temperature, burst into song. At length, the wonderfiil entertain- 
 ment came to an end, the tables were removed and the servants 
 all retired from the grounds. Then the singing of the birds ceased, 
 the green of the trees, shrubs, and grasses speedily faded and 
 Withered, the flowers disooped and perished, the masses of snow 
 
134 pfant Isore, begerjti/, anal bijricy, 
 
 •which had so strangely disappeared now covered everything, and 
 a piercing cold of great intensity obliged the king and his fellow- 
 guests to seek shelter and warmth within the Monastery walls. 
 Greatly astonished and moved at what he had seen, King William 
 called Albertus to him, and promised to grant him whatever he 
 might request. Albertus asked for land in the State of Utrecht, 
 whereon to erect a Monastery of his own order. His request was 
 granted, and he also obtained from the King many other favours. 
 
 It is recorded that on the same day that Alexander de' Medici, 
 the Duke of Florence, was treacherously killed, in the Villa of 
 Cosmo de' Medici, an abundance of all kinds of flowers burst into 
 bloom, although quite out of the flowering season ; and on that 
 day the Cosmian gardens alone appeared gay with flowers, as 
 though Spring had come. 
 
 sJatftei ^arnefA ^ftaco. 
 
 At the commencement of the present chapter on extraordinary 
 and miraculous plants, allusion was made to certain trees which 
 were reputed to have borne as fruit human heads. A fitting con- 
 clusion to this list of wonders would appear to be an account of a 
 wondrous ear of Straw, which, in the year 1606, was stated 
 miraculously to have borne in effigy the head of Father Garnet, 
 who was executed for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. It 
 would seem that, after the execution of Garnet and his companion 
 Oldcorne, tales of miracles performed in vindication of their 
 innocence, and in honour of their martyrdom, were circulated by 
 the Jesuits. But the miracle most insisted upon as a supernatural 
 confirmation of the Jesuit's innocence and martyrdom, was the 
 story of Father Garnet's Straw. The originator of this miracje 
 was supposed to be one John Wilkinson, a young Catholic, who, 
 at the time of Garnet's trial and execution, was about to pass over 
 into France, to commence his studies at the Jesuits' college at 
 St. Omers. Some time after his arrival there, Wilkinson was 
 attacked by a dangerous disease, from which there was no hope 
 of recovery; and while in this state he gave utterance to the story, 
 which Eudaemon-J Cannes relates in his own words. Having 
 described his strong impression that he should "witness some imme- 
 diate testimony from God in favour of the innocence of His saint," 
 his attendance at the execution, and its details, he proceeds thus : — 
 "Garnet's limbs having been divided into fpur parts, and placed 
 together with the head in a basket, in order that they might be exhi- 
 bited according to law in some conspicuous place, the crowd began 
 to disperse, I then agam approached close to the scaffold, and 
 stood between the cart and the place of execution ; and as I lingered 
 in that situation, still burning with the desire of bearing away 
 some relique, that miraculous ear of Straw, since so highly cele- 
 brated, came. I know not how, into my hand. A considerable 
 
Fc^l. 
 
 Ftg^- 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 135.] 
 
 From the * Apolozv of Eudamon-yoannes' 
 
3aifte7 ®[arnefy ^fraco. j^r 
 
 quantity of dry Straw had been thrown with Garnet's head and 
 quarters from the scaffold into the basket ; but whether this ear 
 came into my hand from the scaffold or from the basket, I cannot 
 . venture to affirm : this only I can truly say, that a Straw of this 
 kind was thrown towards me before it had touched the ground. 
 This Straw I afterwards delivered to Mrs. N., a matron of singular 
 Catholic piety, who inclosed it in a bottle, which being rather 
 shorter than the Straw, it became slightly bent. A few days after- 
 wards, Mrs. N. showed the Straw in the bottle to a certain noble 
 person, her intimate acquaintance, who, looking at it attentively, 
 at length said, ' I can see nothing in it but a man's face.' At this, 
 Mrs. N. and I, being astonished at the unexpected exclamation, 
 again and again examined the ear of Straw, and distinctly per- 
 ceived in it a human countenance, which others, also coming in as 
 casual spectators, or expressly called by us as witnesses, also 
 beheld at that time. This is, as God knoweth, the true history of 
 Father Garnet's Straw." 
 
 In process of time, the fame of the prodigy encouraged those 
 who had an interest in upholding it to add considerably to the 
 miracle as it was at first promulgated. Wilkinson and the first 
 observers of the marvel merely represented that the appearance 'of 
 a face was shown on so diminutive a scale, upon the husk or 
 sheath of a single grain, as scarcely to be visible unless specifically 
 pointed out. Fig. i in the accompanying plate accurately depiifts 
 the miracle as it was at first displayed, 
 
 But a much more imposing image was afterwards discovered. 
 Two faces appeared upon the middle part of the Straw, both 
 surrounded with rays of glory ; the head of the principal figure, 
 which represented Garnet, was encircled with a martyr's crown, 
 and the face of a cherub appeared in the midst of his beard. In 
 this improved state of the miracle, the story was circulated in 
 England, and excited the most profound and universal attention ; 
 and thus depicted, the miraculous Straw became generally known 
 throughout the Christian world. Fig. 2 in the sketch exactly 
 represents the prodigy in its improved state : it is taken from the 
 frontispiece to the ' Apology of Eudsemon-Joannes.' 
 
 So great was the scandal occasioned by this story of Father 
 Garnet's miraculous Straw, that Archbishop Bancroft was commis- 
 sioned by the Privy Council to institute an inquiry, and, if possible, 
 to detect and punish the perpetration of what he considered a gross 
 imposture ; but although a great many persons were examined, no 
 distinct evidence of imposition could be obtained. It was proved, 
 however, that the face might have been Umned on the Straw by 
 Wilkinson, or under his direction, during the mterval which oc- 
 curred between the time of Garnet's death and the discovery of the 
 miraculous head. At all events, the inquiry had the desired ^ffect 
 of staying public curiosity in England ; and upon this the Privy 
 Council took no further proceedings against any of the parties. 
 
!U'lTi'i'J,Ti'iJ 
 
 '■* Wf**^'^*'Ci 
 ^ kl (S R Mi 
 ■^ t^n M £7] 
 
 i- 
 
 :r.T.Y.Y.T.T.T.t.T.f1 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 pfanty dioaneefesL aoltft. S^IrEy a^Tt) 
 oKnimaf/. 
 
 HE association of trees and birds has been the 
 theme of the most ancient writers. The Skalds 
 have sung how an Eagle sat in stately majesty 
 on the topmost branch of Yggdrasill, whilst the 
 keen-eyed Hawk hovered around. The Vedas 
 record how the Pippala of the Hindu Paradise 
 was daily visited by two beauteous birds, one of 
 which fed from its celestial food, whilst its com- 
 panion poured forth delicious melody from its reed-like throat. 
 On the summit of the mystic Soma-tree were perched two birds, 
 the one engaged in expressing the immortalising Soma-juice, the 
 other feeding on the Figs which hung from the branches of the 
 sacred tree. A bird, bearing in its beak a twig plucked from its 
 favourite tree, admonished the patriarch Noah that the waters of 
 the flood were subsiding from the deluged world. 
 
 In olden times there appears to have been a notion that in 
 some cases plants could not be germinated excepting through the 
 direct intervention of birds. Thus Bacon tells us of a tradition, 
 current in his day, that a bird, called a Missel-bird, fed upon a 
 seed which, being unable to digest, she evacuated whole; and that 
 this seed, falling upon boughs of trees, put forth the Mistletoe. A 
 similar story is told by Tavernier of the Nutmeg. " It isn oserv- 
 able," he says, " that the Nutmeg-tree is never planted : this has 
 been attested to me by several persons who have resided many 
 years in the islands of Bonda. I have been assured that when the 
 nuts are ripe, there come certain birds from the islands that lie 
 towards the South, who swallow them down whole, and evacuate 
 them whole likewise, without ever having digested them. These 
 nuts being then covered with a viscous and glutinous matter, 
 
^ianff ani. SiirS/". '137 
 
 ■when they fall on the ground, take root, vegetate, and produce a 
 tree, which would not grow from them if they were planted like 
 other trees." 
 
 The Druids, dwelling as they did in groves and forests, 
 frequented by birds and animals, were adepts at interpreting the 
 meaning of their adlions and sounds. A knowledge of the language 
 of the bird and animal kingdoms was deemed by them a marvellous 
 gift, which was only to be imparted to the priestess who should be 
 fortunate enough to tread under foot the mystic Selago, or Golden 
 Herb. 
 
 At a time when men had no almanack to warn them of the 
 changing of the seasons, no calendar to guide them in the planting 
 of their fields and gardens, the arrival and departure of birds 
 helped to diredt them in the cultivation of plants. So we find 
 •Ecclesiastes preached " a bird of the air shall carry the voice," 
 and in modern times the popular saying arose of " a little bird 
 has told me." 
 
 This notion of the birds imparting knowledge is prettily 
 rendered by Hans Christian Andersen, in his story of the Fir-tree, 
 where the sapling wonders what is done with the trees taken out of 
 the wood at Christmas time. " Ah, we know — we know," twittered 
 the Sparrows ; "for we have looked in at the windows in yonder 
 town." 
 
 Dr. Solander tells us that the peasants of Upland remark that 
 " When you see the Wheatear you may sow your grain," for in this 
 country there is seldom any severe frost after the Wheatear 
 appears; and the shepherds of Salisbury Plain say:— 
 
 " When Dotterel do 6rst appear, 
 It shows that frost is very near ; 
 But when the Dotterel do go, 
 Then you may look for heavy snow." 
 
 Aristophanes makes one of his characters say that in former 
 times the Kite ruled the Greeks; his meaning being that in 
 ancient days the Kite was looked upon as the sign of Sprmg and 
 of the necessity of commencing active work in field and garden ; 
 and again " The Crow points out the time for sowmg when she 
 flies croaking to Libya." In another place he notices that the 
 Cuckoo in like manner governed Phcenicia and Egypt, because 
 when it cried Kokku, Kokku, it was considered time to reap the 
 
 Wheat and Barley fields. r .u c • *-j 
 
 - our own country, this welcome harbinger of the Springtide 
 has been associated with a number of vernal plants: we have the 
 Cuckoo Flower (Lychnis Flos cuculi), Cuckoo's Bread or Meat, and 
 Cickoo's Sorrel (Oxdis Acetosdla), Cuckoo Grass [Lazula campestns), 
 W Shakspeare's " Cuckoo Buds of yellow hue," which are thought 
 fo be the buds of the Crowfoot (Ramnculus). The association in 
 the popular rhyme of the Cuckoo with the Cherry-tree is explained 
 by Tn old superstition that before it ceases its song, the Cuckoo 
 
138 pPant bora, Tsegef^ti/, orTS bijricy. 
 
 must eat three good meals of Cherries. In Sussex, the White- 
 thorn is called the Cuckoo's Bread-and-Cheese Tree, and an old 
 proverb runs — 
 
 " When the Cuckoo comes to the bare Thorn, 
 Then sell your Cow and buy your Com." 
 
 Mr. Parish has remarked that it is singular this name should be 
 given to the Whitethorn, as among all Aryan nations the tree is 
 associated with lightning, and the Cuckoo .is connected with the 
 lightning gods Jupiter and Thor. 
 
 Pliny relates that the Halcyon, or Kingfisher, at breeding-time, 
 foretold calm and settled weather. The belief in the wisdom of 
 birds obtained such an ascendancy over men's minds, that we find 
 at length no affair of moment was entered upon without consulting 
 them. Thus came in augury, by which was meant a forewarning 
 of future events derived from prophetic birds. One of these systems 
 of divinations, for the purpose of discovering some secret or future 
 event was effected by means of a Cock and grains of Barley, in 
 the following manner : the twenty-four letters of the alphabet 
 having been written in the dust, upon each letter was laid a grain 
 of Barley, and a Cock, over which previous incantations had been 
 uttered, was let loose among them; those letters off which it 
 pecked the Barley, being joined together, were then believed to 
 declare the word of which they were in search. The magician 
 Jamblichus, desirous to find out who should succeed Valens in the 
 imperial purple, made use of this divination, but the Cock only 
 picked up four grains, viz., those which lay upon the (Greek) 
 letters th. e. o. d., so that it was uncertain whether Theodosius, 
 Theodotus, Theodorus, or Theodectes, was the person designed 
 by the Fates. Valens, when informed of the matter, was so terribly 
 enraged, that he put several persons to death simply because 
 their names began with these letters. When, however, he pro- 
 ceeded to make search after the magicians themselves, Jamblichus 
 put an end to his majesty's life by a dose of poison, and he was 
 succeeded by Theodosius in the empire of the East. 
 
 The loves of the Nightingale and the Rose have formed a 
 favourite topic of Eastern poets. In a fragment by the celebrated 
 Persian poet Attar, entitled Bulbul Nameh (the Book of the 
 Nightingale), all the birds appear before Solomon, and charge the 
 Nightingale with disturbing their rest by the broken and plaintive 
 strains which he warbles forth in a sort of frenzy and intoxication. 
 The Nightingale is summoned, questioned, and acquitted by the 
 wise king, because the bird assures him that his vehement love for 
 the Rose drives him to distraction, and causes him to break forth 
 into those languishing and touching complaints which are laid to 
 his charge. Thus the Persians believe that the Nightingale in 
 Spring flutters around the Rose-bushes, uttering incessant com- 
 plaints, till, overpowered by the strong scent, he drops stupefied to 
 the ground. The impassioned bird makes his appearance in Eastern 
 
^ianff anS S^'irS./. 139 
 
 climes at the season when the Rose begins to blow : hence the 
 legend that the beauteous flower bursts forth from its bud at the 
 song of its ravished adorer. The Persian poet Jami says, "The 
 Nightingales warbled their enchanting notes and rent the thin veils 
 of the Rose-bud and the Rose ; " and Moore has sung — 
 
 " Oh sooner shall the Rose of May 
 Mistake her own sweet Nightingale, 
 And to some meaner minstrel's lay 
 Open her bosom's glowing veil. 
 Than love shall ever doubt a tone — 
 A breath — of the beloved one ! " 
 
 And in another place, the author of ' Lalla Kookh ' asks — 
 
 " Though rich the spot 
 
 With every flower the earth hath got. 
 What is it to the Nightingale, 
 
 If there his darling Rose is not ? " 
 
 Lord Byron has alluded to this pretty conceit in the ' Giaour,' 
 
 when he sings — 
 
 " The Rose o'er crag or vale, 
 Sultana of the Nightingale, 
 
 The maid for whom his melody, 
 His thousand songs are heard on high. 
 Blooms blushing to her lover's tale, 
 His queen, the garden queen, his Rose, 
 Unbent by winds, unchiU'd by snows." 
 
 From the verses of the poet Jami may be learnt how the first 
 Rose appeared in Gulistan at the time when the flowers, dissatisfied 
 with the reign of the torpid Lotus, who would slumber at night, 
 lernanded a new sovereign from Allah. At .first the Rose queen 
 waT snowy white, and guarded by a protedting circlet of Thorns; 
 hut the rmoTous Nightingale fell into such a transport of love over 
 he charts and so fecklessly pressed his ravished heart agamst the 
 cruel Th^r^s, that his blood trickling into the lovely blossoms 
 bosom: dyed it crimson; and, in corroboration of this, the poet 
 H^mands -' Are not the petals white at the extremity where the 
 io^r l^tti; bird's blood could not reach?" Perhaps this Eastern 
 
 thus refers to this curious idea— 
 
 " Griefs sharpest Thorn hard-pressing on my breast, 
 I share with wakeful melodjr to cheer 
 The sullen gloom, sweet Philomel 1 like thee, 
 And call the stars to listen." 
 And in Thomson's ' Hymn to May,' we find this allusion :- 
 "The lowly Nightingale, ^_ 
 
 A Thorn her pillow, trills her doleful tale. 
 
14© pPanC bore, h&ger^f, dn3. bijrio/. 
 
 In a sonnet by Sir Philip Sydney, afterwards set to music by 
 Bateson, we read — 
 
 " The Nightingale, as soon as April bringeth 
 Unto her rested sense a perfect waking, 
 When late bare earth, proud of nejv clothing, springeth, 
 
 Sings out her woes, a Thorn her song-book making, 
 And mournfully bewailing. 
 
 Her throat in tunes expresseth. 
 While grief her heart oppresseth, 
 For Tereus o'er her chaste will prevailing.'' 
 
 Shakspeare notices the story in the following quaint lines — 
 
 " Everything did banish moan, 
 Save the Nightingale alone ; 
 She, poor bird, as all forlorn, 
 Leaned her breast up till a Thorn, 
 And then sung the doleful ditty. 
 That to hear it was great pity." 
 
 In Yorkshire, there is a tradition of Hops having been planted ^ 
 many years ago, near Doncaster, and of the Nightingale making its 
 first appearance there about the same time. The popular idea was, 
 that between the bird and the plant some mysterious connecting 
 link existed. Be this as it may, both the Hops and the Nightingale 
 disappeared long ago. 
 
 It is not alone the Nightingale that has a legendary connedtion 
 with a Thorn. Another favourite denizen of our groves may also 
 lay claim to this distindtion, inasmuch as, according to a tradition 
 current in Brittany, its red breast was originally produced by the 
 laceration of an historic Thorn. In this story it is said that, 
 • whilst our Saviour was bearing His cross on the way to Calvary, 
 a little bird, struck with compassion at His sufferings, flew suddenly 
 to Him, and plucked from His bleeding brow one of the cruel 
 thorns of His mocking crown, steeped in His blood. In bearing 
 it away in its beak, drops of the Divine blood fell upon the little 
 bird's breast, and dyed its plumage red; so that ever since the 
 Red-breast has been treated as the friend of man, and is studiously 
 protected by him from harm. 
 
 Whether or no this legend of the origin of our little friend's red 
 breast formerly influenced mankind in its favour, it is certain that 
 the Robin has always been regarded with tenderness. Popular 
 tradition, even earlier than the date of the story of the Children in 
 4he Wood, has made him our sexton with the aid of plants : — 
 
 " No burial this pretty pair 
 Of any man receives. 
 Till Robin Redbreast, painfully, 
 Did cover them with leaves. 
 
 It is noted in Gray's Shakspeare that, according to the oldest 
 traditions, if the Robin finds the dead body of a human being, he 
 will cover the face at least with Moss and leaves. 
 
 " Cov'ring with Moss the dead's unclosed eye 
 The little Redbreast teacheth <:ha.ritie."—Z>rayion'f •Qwl.' 
 
^?anff an3. ^iri/. 141 
 
 The Wren is also credited with employing plants for acts of 
 similar charity. In Reed's old plays, we read — 
 
 " Call for the Robin Redbreast and the Wren, 
 Since o'er shady groves they hover, 
 And with leaves and flow'rs do cover 
 The friendless bodies of unburied men." 
 
 A writer in one of our popular periodicals* gives another 
 quaint quotation expressive of the tradition, from Stafford's ' Niobe 
 dissolved into a Nilus': "On her (the Nightingale) smiles Robin in 
 his redde livvrie ; who sits as a coroner on the murthred man ; and 
 seeing his body naked, plays the sorrie tailour to make him a 
 Mossy rayment." 
 
 The Missel or Missel-Thrush is sometimes called the Mistletoe- 
 Thrush, because it feeds upon Mistletoe berries. Lord Bacon, in 
 Sylva Sylvarum, refers (as already noted) to an old belief that the 
 seeds of Mistletoe will not vegetate unless . they have passed 
 through the stomach of this bird. 
 
 The Peony is said to cure epilepsy, if certain ceremonies are 
 duly observed. A patient, however, must on no account taste the 
 root, if a Woodpecker should happen to be in sight, or he will 
 be certain to be stricken with blindness. 
 
 Among the many magical properties ascribed to the Spreng- 
 wurzel (Spring- wort), or, as it is sometime called, the Blasting-root, 
 is its power to reveal treasures. But this it can only do through 
 the instrumentality of a bird, which is usually a green or black 
 Woodpecker (according to Pliny, also the Raven ; in Switzerlan^d, 
 the Hoopoe; in the Tyrol, the Swallow)... , Th order to become 
 possessed of a root of this magical plant, arrangements must be 
 made with much care and circumspedtion,. and the bird closely 
 watched. When the old bird has temporarily left its nest, access 
 to it must be stopped up by plugging the hole with wood. The 
 bird, finding this, will fly away in search of the Spring-wort, and 
 returning, will open the nest by touching the obstruction with the 
 mystic root. Meanwhile a fire or a red cloth must be spread out 
 closely, which will so startle the bird, that it will let the root fall 
 from its bills, and it can thus be secured. Pliny relates of the 
 Woodpecker, that the hen bird brings up her young in holes, and 
 if the entrance be plugged up, no matter how securely, the old bird 
 is able to force out the plug with an explosion, caused by the plant. 
 Aubrey confounds the Moonwort with the Springwort. He says :— 
 " Sir Benet Hoskins, Baronet, told me that his keeper at his parke 
 at Morehampton, in Herefordshire, did, for experiment's sake, 
 drive an iron naile thwert the hole of the Woodpecker's nest, there 
 being a tradition that the damme will bring some leafe to open it. 
 He layed at the bottome of the tree a cleane sheet, and before 
 many hours passed, the naile came out, and he found a leafe lying by 
 it on the sheete. They say the Moonewort will doe such things." 
 • • All the Year Round,' Vol. xiii. 
 
142 pPant Tsoi-a, begeljb/, cinel Tsijrie/, 
 
 Tradition tells us of a certain magical herb called Chora, 
 which was also known as the Herba Meropis, or plant of the Merops, 
 a bird which the Germans were familiar with under the name of 
 ■Bomheckel or Baumhacker (Woodpecker). This bird builds its nest 
 in high trees, but should anyone cover the young brood with 
 something which prevents the parent bird from visiting the nest, it 
 flies off in search of a herb. This is brought in the Merops' beak, 
 and held over the obstacle till it falls off or gives way. 
 
 In Swabia, the Springwort is regarded as a plant embodying 
 electricity or lightning ; but the Hoopoe takes the place of the 
 Woodpecker in employing the herb for blasting and removing 
 offensive obstacles. The Swabians, however, instead of a red 
 cloth, place a pail of water, or kindle a fire, as the Hoopoe, 
 wishing to destroy the Springwort, after using it, drops it either 
 into fire or water. It is related of the Hoopoe, that one of these 
 birds had a nest in an old wall in which there was a crevice. The 
 proprietor, noticing the cleft in the wall, had it stopped up with 
 plaster during the Hoopoe's absence, so that when the poor bird 
 returned to feed her young, she found that it was impossible to get 
 to her nest. Thereupon she flew off in quest of a plant called Poa, 
 thought to be Sainfoin or Lucerne, and, having found a spray, 
 returned and applied it to the plaster, which instantly fell from the 
 crevice, and allowed the Hoopoe ingress to her nest. Twice again 
 did the owner plaster up the rent in his wall, and twice again did 
 the persistent and sagacious bird apply the magic Poa with suc- 
 cessful results. 
 
 In Piedmont there grows a little plant which, as stated in a 
 previous chapter, bears the name of the Herb of the Blessed Mary. 
 This plant is known to the birds as being fatal when eaten : hence, 
 when their young are stolen from them and imprisoned in cages, 
 the parent birds, in order that death may release them from their 
 life of bondage, gather a spray of this herb and carry it in their 
 beaks to their imprisoned children. 
 
 The connection between the Dove and the Olive has been set 
 forth for all time in the Bible narrative of Noah and the Flood; 
 but it would seem from Sir John Maundevile's account of the 
 Church of St. Katherine, which existed at his time in the vicinity 
 of Mount Sinai, that Ravens, Choughs, and Crows have emulated 
 the example of the Dove, and carried Olive-branches to God- 
 fearmg people. This Church of St. Katherine, we are told, marks 
 the spot where God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning 
 bush, and in it there were many lamps kept burning : the reason 
 of this Maundevile thus explains: — "For thei han of Oyle of 
 Olyves ynow bothe for to brenne in here lampes, and to ete also : 
 And that plentee have thei be the Myracle of God. For the 
 Ravenes and Crowes and the Choughes, and other Foules of the 
 Contree assemblen hem there every Yeer ones, and fleen thider as 
 in pilgrymage : and everyche of hem bringethe a Braunche of the 
 
Pant/ afja SSirS/. 
 
 H3 
 
 Bayes or of Olive, in here iDekes, in stede of Offryng, and leven 
 hem there ; of the whiche the monkes maken gret plentee of Oyle ; 
 and this is a gret Marvaylle." 
 
 jpious JSirta antJ ffilibea. From Maundevile's Travels. 
 
 The ancients entertained a strong belief that birds were gifted 
 with the knowledge of herbs, and that just as the Woodpecker and 
 Hoopoe sought out the Springwort, wherewith to remove obstruc- 
 tions so other birds made use of certain herbs which they knew 
 possessed valuable medicinal or curative properties ; thus Aristotle, 
 PUnv Dioscorides, and the old herbalists and botanical writers, all 
 concur in stating that Swallows were in the habit of plucking 
 Celandine fChelidonium) , and applying it to the eyes of their young, 
 because, as Gerarde tells us, "With this herbe the dams restore 
 sieht to their young ones when their eies be put out. W. Coles, 
 fullv accepting the fact as beyond cavil, thus moralizes upon it :— 
 .< It is known to such as have skill of nature what wonderful care 
 she takes of the smallest creatures, giving to them a knowledge of 
 medicine to help themselves, if haply diseases annoy them. The 
 SwaUow cureth her dim eyes with Celandipe; the Wesell knoweth 
 will hi virtue of Herb Grace; the Dove the Verven; the Dogge 
 Shargeth his mawe with a kind of Grasse; . . and too 
 
 u!n^Twere to reckon up all the medicines which the beestes are 
 Swn To use b; Natures direction only." . The same wrher, in his 
 fSm and Eden,' tells us that the Eupkmsta, or Eyehnght, derived 
 itsSlish name from the fact of its being used by Linnets and 
 
 othS bids to clear their sight. Says he: "Divers authors write 
 otner Dims Lu ^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^f tjjjs 
 
 ti'^^rZtv^^nTof^-yo--^ ones' sight. The purple and 
 herbtortherepair s ./ upon the flowers of Eyebnght 
 
 rery muS re'mEhl Leases of L eyes, or bloodshot." • 
 
144 pPanC Tsora, }s&QelfQf, cmS bijrioy. 
 
 Apuleius tells us that the Eagle, when he wishes to soar high 
 and scan far and wide, plucks a wild Lettuce, and expressing the 
 juice, rubs with it his eyes, which in consequence become wonder- 
 fully clear and far-seeing. The Hawk, for a similar purpose, was 
 thought to employ the Hawk-bit, or Hawk-weed (Hieracmm), 
 Pigeons and Doves, not to be behind their traditional enemy, dis- 
 covered that Vervain possessed the power of curing dimness of 
 vision, and were not slow to use it with that object : hence the plant 
 obtained the' name of Pigeon's-grass. Geese were thought to 
 " help their diseases " with Galium aparine, called on that account 
 Goose-grass ; and they are said to sometimes feed on the Potentilla, 
 anserina, or Goose Tansy. On the other hand, they were so averse 
 to the herb known to the ancients as Chenomychon, that they took 
 to flight the moment they spied it. 
 
 There is an old tradition of a certain life-giving herb, which 
 was known to birds, and a story is told of how one day an old man 
 watched two birds fighting till one was overcome. In an almost 
 exhausted state it went and ate of a certain herb, and then returned 
 to the onslaught. When the old man had observed this occur several 
 times, he went and plucked the herb which had proved so valuable to 
 the little bird ; and when at last it came once more in search of the 
 life-giving plant, and found it gone, it uttered a shrill cry, and fell 
 down dead. The name of the herb is not given ; but the story has 
 such a strong family likeness to that narrated by Forestus, in which 
 the Goat's Rue is introduced, that, probably, Galega is the life- 
 giving herb referred to. The story told by Forestus is as follows : 
 
 A certain old man once taking a walk by the bank of a river, saw 
 a Lizard fighting with a Viper ; so he quietly lay down on the 
 ground, that he might the better witness the fight without being 
 seen by the combatants. The Lizard, being the inferior in point 
 of strength, was speedily wounded by a very powerful stroke from 
 the Viper — so much so, that it lay on the turf as if dying. But 
 shortly recovering itself, it crept through the rather long Grass, 
 without being noticed by the Viper, along the bank of the river, 
 to a certain herb (Goat's Rue), growing there nigh at hand. The 
 Lizard, having devoured it, regained at once its former strength, 
 and returning to the Viper, attacked it in the same way as before, 
 but was wounded again from receiving another deadly blow from 
 the Viper. Once more the Lizard secretly made for the herb, 
 to regain its strength, and being revived, it again engaged with 
 its dangerous enemy — but in vain; for it experienced the same 
 fate as before. Looking on, the old man wondered at the plant 
 not less than at the battle; and in order to try if the herb pos- 
 sessed other hidden powers, he pulled it up secretly, while the 
 Lizard was engaged afresh with the Viper. The Lizard having 
 been again wounded, returned towards the herb, but not being 
 able to find it in its accustomed place, it sank exhausted and 
 died. 
 
|)?arit; aljt) sKaimafy. 14c 
 
 Numerous plants have had the names of birds given to them, 
 either from certain pecuharities in their struflure resembling birds, 
 or because they form acceptable food for the feathered race. Thus 
 the Cock's Comb is so called from the shape of its calyx; the 
 Cock's Foot, from the form of its spike; and the Cock's Head (the 
 Sainfoin), from the shape of the legume. The Crane's Bill and the 
 Heron's Bill both derive their names from the form of their 
 respective seed vessels. The Guinea Hen [Fntillana mdeagris) has 
 been so called from its petals being spotted like this bird. The 
 Pheasant's Eye {Adonis autumnalis) owes its name to its bright red 
 corolla and dark centre ; the Sparrow Tongue (the Knot-grass) to 
 its small acute leaves ; and the Lark's Spur, Heel, Toe, or Claw 
 (Delphinium) to its projecting nectary. Chickweed and Duckweed 
 have been so called from being favourite food for poultry. The 
 Crow has given its name to a greater number of plants than any 
 other bird. The Ranunculus is the Coronopus or Crow Foot of 
 Dioscorides, the Geranium pratense is the Crowfoot Crane's Bill, the 
 Lotus corniculatus is called Crow Toes, the Daffodil and the Blue-bell 
 both bear the name of Crow Bells, the Empetrum nigrum is the Crow 
 Berry, Allium vineale is Crow Garlick, Scilla nutans, Crow Leeks, 
 and the Scandix Pecten, Crow Needles. The Hen has a few plants 
 named after it, the greater and lesser Hen Bits {Lamium amplexicauk 
 and Veronica hedertfolia) ; the Hen's Foot (Caucalis daucoides), so 
 called from the resemblance of its leaves to a hen's claw ; and 
 Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), which seems to have derived its name 
 from the baneful effects its seeds have upon poultry. 
 
 Sfantii) oonneofeiL coitfi. o^nimafil). 
 
 The Ass has named after it the Ass Tarsley (JEtkusa Cynapium), 
 and the Ass's Foot, the Coltsfoot, Tussilago Farfara. William Coles 
 says that " if the Asse be oppressed with melancholy, he eates of 
 the Herbe Asplenion or Miltwaste, and eases himself of the swelling 
 of the spleen." D. C. Franciscus PauUini has given, in an old 
 work, an account of three Asses he met in Westphalia, which 
 were in the habit of intoxicating themselves by eating white 
 Henbane and Nightshade. These four-footed drunkards, when 
 in their cups, strayed to a pond, where they pulled themselves 
 together with a dip and a draught of water. The same author 
 relates another story. A miller of Thuringia had brought meal 
 with his nine Asses into the next district. Having accepted the 
 hospitality of some boon companions, he left his long-eared friends 
 to wander around the place and to feed from the hedgerows and 
 public roads. There they chanced to find a quantity of Thistles 
 that had been cut, and other food mixed with Hemlock, and at 
 once devoured the spoil greedily and confidently. At dusk, the 
 miller, rising to depart, was easily detained by his associates, who 
 cried out that the road was short, and that the moon, which had 
 
146 pPant Isope, Is&g&r^f, cmil la^fiaf. 
 
 risen, would light him better than any torch. Meanwhile, the Asses, 
 feeling the Hemlock's power in their bodies, fell down on the public 
 road, being deprived of all motion and sensation. At length, about 
 midnight, the miller came to his Asses, and thinking them to be 
 asleep, lashed them vigorously. But they remained motionless, 
 and apparently dead. The miller, much frightened, now besought 
 assistance from the country-folks, but they were all of one opinion, 
 that the Asses were dead, and that they should be skinned the next 
 day, when the cause of such a sudden death could be inquired into. 
 " Come," said he, " if they are dead, why should I worry myself 
 • about them — let them lie. We can do no good. Come, my friends, 
 let us return into the inn — to-morrow you will be my witnesses." 
 Meanwhile the skinners were called; and, after looking at the 
 Asses, one of them said, " Do you wish, miller, that we should take 
 their skins off ; or would you be disposed, if we restored the beasts 
 to life, to give us a handsome reward ? You see they are quite in 
 our power. Say what you wish, and it shall be done, miller." 
 " Here is my hand," replied the miller, " and I pledge my word 
 that I will give you what you wish, if you restore them to life." 
 The skinner, smiling, caught hold of the whip, and lashing the 
 beasts with all his might, roused all from their lethargic condition. 
 The rustics were confounded. " O! you foolish fellows," said he, 
 "look at this herb (showing them some Hemlock), how profusely it 
 grows in this neighbourhood. Do you not know that Hemlock 
 causes Asses to fall into a profound sleep ? " The rustics, flocking 
 together under a Lime-tree, as rustics do, made there and then a 
 law that whosoever should discover, in field or garden, or anywhere 
 else, that noxious plant, he should pluck it quickly, in order that 
 men and beasts might be injured by it no more. 
 
 The Bear has given its name to several English plants. The 
 Primula Auricula, on account of the shape of its leaves, is called Bear's 
 Ears; the Helleborus fastidus, for a similar reason, is known as Bears 
 Foot ; Meum athamanticum is Bear's-wort ; Allium ursinum, Bear's 
 Garlic; and Arctostaphylos uva ursi. Bear's Berry, or Bear's Bil- 
 berry ; the three last plants being favourite food of Bears. The 
 Acanthus used at one time to be called Bear's Breech, but the 
 name has for some unaccountable reason been transferred to the 
 Cow Parsnip, Heracleum Sphowdylium. In Italy the name of Branca 
 orsina is given to the Acanthus. This plant was considered by 
 Dioscorides a cure for burns. Pliny says that Bear's grease had 
 the same property. De Gubernatis states that two Indian plants, 
 the Argyreia argentea and the Batatas paniculata, bear Sanscrit 
 names signifying " Odour pleasing to Bears." 
 
 The Bull has given its name to some few plants. Tussilago 
 Farfara, generally called Coltsfoot, is also known as Bull's- Foot ; 
 Centaurea nigra _ is Bull's-weed; Verbascum Thapsus is Bullock's 
 Lungwort, having been so denominated on account of its curative 
 powers, suggested, on the Doctrine of Signatures, by the similarity 
 
pPani/ at^t) <An\m.a?j, 1^7, 
 
 of Its leaf to the shape of a dewlap. The purple and the pale 
 spadices of Arum maculatum are sometimes called Bulls and Cows. 
 The Great Daisy is Ox-Eye; the Primula elatior, Ox-Lip; the 
 Helminthia echioides, Ox-Tongue; and the HelUhorus fcetidus, Ox- 
 Heel. The Antirrhinum and Arum maculatum are, from their re- 
 semblance in shape, respectively known as Calf's Snout and Calf's 
 Foot. 
 
 Cats have several representative plants. From its soft flower- 
 heads, the Gnaphalium dioicum is called Cat's Foot ; from the shape 
 of its leaves, the Hypochmris matulata is known as Cat's Ear ; the 
 Ground Ivy, also from the shape of its leaves, is Cat's Paw; two 
 plants are known as Cat's Tail, viz., Typha latifolia and Phleum 
 pratense. Euphorbia helioscopia, on account of its milky juice, is Cat's 
 Milk; and, lastly, Nepeta cataria is denominated Cat-Mint, because, 
 as Gerarde informs us in his ' Herbal,' " Cats are very much delighted 
 herewith : for the smell of it is so pleasant unto them, that they rub 
 themselves upon it, and wallow or tumble in it, and also feed on 
 the branches very greedily." We are also told by another old 
 writer that Cats are amazingly delighted with the root of the 
 plant Valerian; so much so, that, enticed by its smell, they at 
 once run up to it, lick it, kiss it, jump on it, roll themselves over it, 
 and exhibit almost uncontrollable signs of joy and gladness. There 
 is an old rhyme on the liking of Cats for the plant Marum, which 
 runs as follows: — 
 
 " If you set it, 
 
 The Cats will eat it ; 
 
 If you sow it, 
 
 The Cats will know it." 
 
 The Cow has given its name to a whole series of plants: its 
 Berry is Vaccinium Vitis idaa, its Cress, Lepidium campestre, its 
 Parsley or Weed, Chcerophyllum sylvestre, its Parsnip, Herachum 
 Sphondylium, its Wheat, Melampyrum. The Quaking Grass, Briza 
 media, is known as Cow Quake, from an idea that cattle are fond 
 of it ; and the Water Hemlock (Cicuta virosa\ has the opprobrious 
 epithet of Cow Bane applied to it, from its supposed baneful 
 effect upon oxen. The Primula veris is the Cowslip. 
 
 In Norway is to be found the herb Ossifrage — a kind of Reed 
 which is said to have the remarkable power of softening the bones 
 of animals; so much so, that if oxen eat it, their bones become 
 so soft that not only are the poor beasts rendered incapable of 
 walking, but they can even be rolled into any shape. They are not 
 said to die however. Fortunately they can be cured, if the bones 
 are exhibited to them of another animal killed by the eating of 
 this plant. It is most wonderful, however, that the inhabitants 
 make a medicine for cementing bones from this very herb. 
 
 There are several plants dedicated to man's faithful friend. 
 Dog's Bane (Apocymm) is a very curious plant: its bell-shaped 
 flowers entangle flies who visit the flower for its honey-juice, so 
 
 L — 2 
 
148 pPant bore, begeTjti/, arTa bijrrc/-. 
 
 that in August, when full blown, the corolla is full of their dead 
 bodies. Although harmless to some persons, yet it is noxious to 
 others, poisoning and creating swellings and inflammations on 
 certain people who have only trod on it. Gerarde describes it as 
 a deadly and dangerous plant, especially to four-footed beasts; 
 "for, as Dioscorides writes, the leaves hereof, mixed with bread, 
 and given, kill dogs, wolves, foxes, and leopards." Dog's Cha- 
 momile (Matricaria Chamomila) is a spurious or wild kind of 
 Chamomile. Dog Grass {Triticum caninum) is so called because 
 Dogs take it medicinally as an aperient. Dog's Mercury (or Dog's 
 Cole) is a poisonous kind, so named to distinguish it from English 
 Mercury. Dog's Nettle is Gakopsis Tetrahit. Dog's Orach [Chenopo- 
 dium Vulvaria), is a stinking kind. Dog's Parsley {Mthusa Cynapium), 
 a deleterious weed, also called Fool's Parsley and Lesser Hemlock. 
 Dog Rose {Rosa canina) is the common wilding or Canker Rose ; the 
 ancients supposed the root to cure the bite of a mad Dog, it having 
 been recommended by an oracle for that purpose ; hence the Romans 
 called it Canina; and Pliny relates that a soldier who had been 
 bitten by a mad Dog, was healed with the root of this shrub, 
 which had been indicated to his mother in a dream. Dog's Tail 
 Grass {Cynosurus cristatus) derives its name from its spike being 
 fringed on one side only. Dog Violet [Viola canina) is so-called con- 
 temptuously because scentless. Dog's Tongue, or Hound's Tongue 
 (Cynoglossum officinale) derived its name from the softness of its leaf, 
 and was reputed to have the magical property of preventing the 
 barking of Dogs if laid under a person's feet. Dog Wood (Cornus 
 sanguinea) is the wild Cornel; and Dog Berries the fruit of that 
 herb, which was also formerly called Hound's Tree. Dr. Prior 
 thinks that this name has been misundertood, and that it is 
 derived from the old English word dagge, or dagger, which was 
 applied to the wood because it was used for skewers by butchers. 
 The ancient Greeks knew a plant (supposed to be a species of 
 Antirrhinum) which they called Cynocephalia (Dog's Head), as well 
 as Osiris ; and to this plant Pliny ascribes extraordinary properties. 
 As a rule, the word " Dog," when applied to any plant, implies 
 contempt. 
 
 After the Fox has been named, from its shape, the Alopecurus 
 pratensis, Fox-Tail-grass ; and the Digitalis has been given the name 
 of Fox-Glove. 
 
 The Goat has its Weed {^gopodium Podagraria), and has given 
 its name to the Tragopogon pratensis, which, on account of its long, 
 coarse pappus, is called Goat's Beard. Caprifolium, or Goat's Leaf, 
 is a specific name of the Honeysuckle, given to it by the old 
 herbalists, because the leaf, or more properly the stem, climbs and 
 wanders over high places where Goats are not afraid to tread. 
 
 A species of Sow Thistle, the Sonchus oleraceus, is called the 
 Hare's Palace, from a superstitious notion that the Hare derives 
 shelter and courage from it. Gerarde calls it the Hare's Lettuce, 
 
a name given to it by Apuleius, because, when the Hare is fainting 
 with heat or fatigue, she recruits her failing strength with it. Dr. 
 Prior gives the following extracts from old authors respedling this 
 curious tradition. Anthony Askam says, " yf a Hare eate of this 
 herbe in somer, whep he is mad, he shal be hole." Topsell also 
 tells us in his ' Natural History,' p. 209, that " when Hares are , 
 overcome with heat, they eat of an herb called Laduca leporina, that 
 is, the Hare's-lettuce, Hare's-house, Hare's-palace ; and there is 
 no disease in this beast, the cure whereof she does not seek for in 
 this herb." This plant is sometimes called Hare's Thistle. Bupleu- 
 rum rotundifoUum is termed Hare's Ear, from the shape of its leaves, 
 as is also Erysimum onentale. TrifoUum arvense is Hare's Foot, from 
 the soft grey down which surrounds the blossoms resembling the 
 delicate fur of the Hare's foot. Both Lagurus oraius, and the 
 flowering Rush, Enophorum vaginatum, axe called Hare's Tail, from 
 the soft downy inflorescence. 
 
 Melilotus officinalis is Hart's Clover; Scolopendrium vulgare, Hart's 
 Tongue ; Plantago Coronopus, Hart's Horn ; Scirpus ccespitosus, Deer's 
 or Hart's Hair; Rhamnus catharticus, Hart's or Buck Thorn {Spina 
 cervina); and Tordylium maximum, Hart Wort, so called because, 
 as Dioscorides tells us, the juice of the leaves was given to Roes 
 in order that they might speedily be delivered of their young. 
 According to Pliny, the Roman matrons used to employ it for the 
 same purpose, having been "taught by Hindes that eate it to 
 speade their delivery, as Aristotle did declare it before." The 
 Raspberry is still sometimes called by its ancient name of Hind- 
 berry • and the Teucrium Scorodonia is known as Hind-heal, from an 
 old tradition that it cures Deer when bitten by venomous serpents. 
 The Dittany is said to have the same extraordinary effect on 
 wounded Harts as upon Goats (see Dittany, Part H.). 
 
 Numerous indeed are the plants named after the Horse, either 
 on account of the use they are put to, the shape of their foliage, 
 &c., their large size, or the coarseness of their texture. /«« a 
 Hdenium is Horse-heal, a name attached to the plant by a doub e 
 blunder of Inula for hinnula, a Colt, and Helemum,ior heal or heel, 
 employed to heal Horses of sore heels, &c. Victa Faba is the 
 Horse Bean; Teucrium Chamcedrys, the Germander, is called Horse 
 Chire, from its springing up after Horse-droppmgs. Mdampyrum 
 svhaticum is the Horse Flower, so called from a verbal error. The 
 AEndrian Laurel was formerly called Horse Tongue Tussdago 
 f^Tiror. the shape of its leaf, is termed Horse Hoof. Centauna 
 niJa is Horse Knob. Another name for Colt s Foot is Horse 
 Foot and we have Horse Thistle, Mint, Mushroom, Parsley, 
 Thvme and Radish. The Dutch Rush, Equisetum, is called Horse 
 fSa name descriptive of its shape; Hippocrcpis conosa is known 
 as the nTrse-shoe Vetch, from the shape of the legumes; and 
 list ihe^nanthe Phdlandrium is the Horse Bane, because, in 
 SwS^n ft iTsupposed to give Horses the palsy. In Mexico, the 
 
150 pPant bore, Tsege^/, oni. bijrio/. 
 
 Rattle Grass is said to instantly kill Horses who unfortunately 
 eat it. The Indians call the Oleander Horse's Death, and they 
 name several plants after different parts of the Horse. In con- 
 nedlion with Horses, we must not forget to mention the Moonwort, 
 which draws the nails out of the Horses' shoes, and of which 
 Culpeper writes: "Moonwort is an herb which they say will open 
 locks and unshoe such Horses as tread upon it; this some laugh 
 to scorn, and those no small fools neither; but country people that 
 I know, call it Unshoe-the-Horse. Besides, I have heard com- 
 manders say that, on White Down, in Devonshire, near Tiverton, 
 there were found thirty horse-shoes, pulled off from the Earl of 
 Essex's horses, being then drawn up in a body, many of them 
 being newly shod, and no reason known, which caused much 
 admiration, and the herb described usually grows upon heaths." 
 In Italy, the herb Sferracavallo is deemed to have the power of un- 
 shoeing Horses out at pasture. The Mouse-ear, or Herba clavomm, 
 is reputed to prevent blacksmiths hurting horses when being shod. 
 The Scythians are said to have known a plant, called Hippice, 
 which, when given to a Horse, would enable him to travel for some 
 considerable time without suffering either from hunger or thirst* 
 Perhaps this is the Water Pepper, which, according to English 
 tradition, has the same effect if placed under the saddle. 
 
 The humble Hedgehog has suggested the name of Hedgehog 
 Parsley for Caucalis daucoides, on account of its prickly burs. 
 
 In a previous chapter, a full description has been given of 
 the Barometz, that mysterious plant of Tartary, immortalised by 
 Darwin as the Vegetable Lamb. From the shape of its leaf, the 
 Plantago media has gained the name of Lamb's "Tongue ; from its 
 downy flowers, the Anthyllis vulneraria is called Lamb's Toe ; 
 either from its being a favourite food of Lambs, or because it 
 appears at the lambing season, the Valerianella olitoria is known 
 as Lamb's Lettuce; and the Atriplex patula is called Lamb's 
 Quarters. 
 
 The Leopard has given its name to the deadly Doronicum 
 Pardalianches (from the Greek Pardalis, a Leopard, and ancho, to 
 strangle) ; hence our name of Leopard's Bane, because it was 
 reputed to cause the death of any animal that ate it, and it was 
 therefore formerly mixed with flesh to destroy Leopards. 
 
 The Lion, according to Gerarde, claimed several plants. The 
 Alchemilla vulgaris, from its leaf resembling his foot, was called 
 Lion's Foot or Paw; a plant, called Leontopetalon by the Greeks, 
 was known in England as Lion's Turnip or Lion's Leaf; and two 
 kinds of Cudweed, Leontopodium and L. parvum, bore the name of 
 Lion's Cudweed, from their flower-heads resembling a Lion's foot. 
 The Leontopodium has been identified with the Gnaphalium Alpinum, 
 the Filago stellata, the Edelweiss of the Germans, and the Perliere 
 des Alpes of the French. De Gubernatis points out that, inasmuch 
 as the Lion represents the Sun, the plants bearing the Lion's name 
 
pPant/ aT^ sAnltnaf/, 151 
 
 are essentially plants of the Sun. This is particularly noticeable in 
 the case of the Dandelion {Dent de Lion) or Lion's Tooth. In 
 Geneva, Switzerland, children form a chain of these flowers, and 
 holding it in their hands, dance in a circle ; a German name for it 
 it is Sonneswirbel (Solstice), as well as Solsequium heliotropium. The 
 Romans saw in the flower of the Helianthus a resemblance to a 
 Lion's mouth. In the Orohanche or Broom Rape (the Sonnenwwz, 
 Root of the Sun, of the Germans) some have seen the resemblance 
 to a Lion's mouth and foot ; it was called the Lion's Pulse or 
 Lion's Herb, and was considered an antidote to poison. 
 
 The tiny Mouse, like the majestic Lion, is represented in the 
 vegetable kingdom by several plants. From the shape of the 
 leaves, Hieracium Pilosella is known as Mouse Ear, Cerastium vulgare, 
 Mouse Ear Chickweed, and Myosotis palustris, or Forget-Me-Not, 
 Mouse Ear Scorpion Grass. Myoswus minimus, from the shape of 
 its slender seed-spike, is called Mouse Tail ; and Alopecurus agrestis, 
 Mouse Tail Grass. Hordeum marinum is Mouse Barley. 
 
 Swine plants are numerous. We have the Swine Bane, Sow 
 Bane, or Pig Weed {Chenopodium mhrum), a herb which, according 
 to Parkinson, was " found certain to kill Swine." The Pig Nut 
 {Bunium flexuosiim) is so called from its tubers being a favourite food 
 of Pigs. Sow Bread {Cyclamen Europcmm) has obtained its name 
 for a similar reason ; and Swine's Grass {Polygonum aviculare) is so 
 called because Swine are believed to be fond of it. Hyoseris minima 
 is Swine Succory, and Senehiera Coronopus, Swine's Cress. For 
 possession of the Dandelion, the Pig enters the lists with the Lion, 
 and claims the flower as the Swine's Snout, on account of the form 
 of its receptacle. According to Du Bartas, Swine, when affected 
 with the spleen, seek reUef by eating the Spleenwort or Miltwaste 
 {Asplenium Ceterach), 
 
 " The Finger- Fern, which being given to Swine, 
 It makes their milt to melt away in fine." 
 
 De Gubernatis states that the god Indra is thought to have 
 taken the form of a Goat, and he gives a long list of Indian plants 
 named after Sheep and Goats. The Ram, He-Goat, and Lamb, 
 called Mesha, also give their names, in Sanscrit, to different 
 plants In England, Rumex A cetosella is Sheep s Sorrel, Chcerophyllum 
 Umulum Sheep's Fa.rs\ey, Jasione Montana Sheep's-Bit-Scabious, and 
 Hydrocotyle vulgaris, or White Rot, Sheep's Bane, from its character 
 
 of P^^°"gS i^gfP^lthough a denizen of the woods, only claims 
 one plant Hordeum maritimum, which, from the shape of its flower- 
 snike has obtained the name of Squirrel Tail. 
 ^ The Elephant has a whole series of Indian trees and plants 
 dedicated to him, which are enumerated by De Gubernatis; the 
 it^fsuaveokns is called the Elephant's Tree .-^ and certain 
 Cucumbers, Pumpkins, and Gourds are named after hin,. 
 
152 pPant Tsors, IsegztfOf, and Taijriq/. 
 
 The Wolf, in India, gives its name to the Colypea hernandifolia, 
 and Wolf's Eye is a designation given to the Ipomcea Turpethum. 
 Among the Germans, the Wolf becomes, under the several names of 
 Graswolf, Komwolf, Roggenwolf, and Kartoffelwolf, a demon haunting 
 fields and crops. In our own country, the Euphorbia, from its acrid, 
 milky juice, is called Wolf's Milk; the Lycopodium davatum is the 
 Wolf's Claw, and the Aconitum Lycoctonum is Wolf's Bane, a name 
 it obtained in olden times when hunters were in the habit of 
 poisoning with the juice of this plant the baits of flesh they laid for 
 Wolves. 
 
 There are several plants bearing, in some form or other, 
 the appellation of Dragon. The common Dragon (Arum Dracunculus) 
 is, as its name implies, a species of Arum, which sends up a straight 
 stalk about three feet high, curiously spotted like the belly of a 
 serpent. The flower of the Dragon plant has such a strong scent 
 of carrion, that few persons can endure it, and it is consequently 
 usually banished from gardens. Gerarde describes three kinds of 
 Dragons, under the names of Great Dragon, Small Dragon, and 
 Water Dragon : these plants all have homoeopathic qualities, inas- 
 much as although they are by name at least vegetable reptiles, 
 yet, according to Dioscorides, all who have rubbed the leaves or 
 roots upon their hands, will not be bitten by Vipers. Pliny also 
 says that Serpents will not come near anyone who carries a portion 
 of a Dragon plant with him, and that it was a common practice in 
 his day to keep about the person a piece of the root of this herb. 
 Gerarde tells us that " the distilled water has vertue against the 
 pestilence or any pestilentiall fever or poyson, being drunke bloud 
 warme with the best treacle or mithridate." He also says that the 
 smell of the flowers is injurious to women who are about to become 
 mothers. The Green Dragon {Arum Dracontium), a native of China, 
 Japan, and America, possesses a root which is prescribed as a very 
 strong emmenagogue. There is a species of Dragon which grows 
 in the morasses about Magellan's Strait, whose flowers exhibit the 
 appearance of an ulcer, and exhale so strong an odour of putrid 
 flesh, that flesh-flies resort to it to deposit their eggs. Another 
 Dragon plant is the Dracontium polyphyllum, a native of Surinam 
 and Japan, where they prepare a medicine from the acrid roots, 
 which they call Konjakf, and esteem as a great emmenagogue : it is 
 used there to procure abortion. Dracontium fcetidum, Fetid Dragon, 
 or Skunk-weed, flourishes in the swamps of North America, and 
 has obtained its nickname from its rank smell, resembling that of 
 a Skunk or Pole-cat. Dragon's Head {Dracocephalum) is a name 
 applied to several plants. The Moldavian Dragon's Head is often 
 called Moldavian or Turk's Balm. The Virginian Dragon's Head 
 is named by the French, La Catakptique, from its use in palsy and 
 kindred diseases. The Canary Dragon's Head, a native of the 
 Canary Islands, is called (improperly) Balm of Gilead, from its 
 fine odour when rubbed. The old writers called it Camphorosma 
 
pPant/- al^ «AnimaP/-. jc. 
 
 ^nd Cedronella, and ascribed to it, as to other Dragon plants the 
 faculty of being a remedy for the bites and sting! of venomous 
 beasts, as well as for the bites of mad Dogs. The T™on 
 (Ariefmsta Dmcunculus),'' the Httle Dragon," is the Dragon plant of 
 Germany and the northern nations, and the Herbe m Dragon of ihl 
 French. The ancient herbalists affirmed that the seed of the Flax 
 fu t I a Radish-root or Sea Onion, and so set, would bring forth 
 the herb Tarrag:on. The Snake Weed was called by the ancients 
 
 ^n^T ^S ^q"^' P'^^^""' ^^^ '^^ Sneezewort, Dragon of th^ 
 Woods. The Snap-dragon appears to have been so named merely 
 trom the shape of its corolla, but in many places it is said to have 
 chlrmY^^*"^ 'Influence, and to possess the power of destroying 
 
 Snakes are represented by the Fritillaria Meleagris, which is 
 called Snake s Head, on account of its petals being marked like 
 Snakes scales. The Sea Grass {Ophiums incurvatus) is known as 
 bnake s Tail, and the Bistort {Polygonum Bistorta) is Snake Weed. 
 
 Vipers have the Echium vulgare dedicated to them under the 
 name of Viper's Bugloss, a plant supposed to cure the bite of 
 these reptiles; and the Scorzonera edulis, or Viper's Grass, a herb 
 also considered good for healing wounds caused by Vipers. 
 
 The Scorpion finds a vegetable representative in the MyosoHs, 
 or Scorpion Grass, so named from its spike resembling a Scorpion's 
 Tail. 
 
 It is not surprising to find that Toads and Frogs, living as 
 they do among the herbage, should have several plants named 
 after them. The Toad, according to popular superstition, was the 
 impersonation of the Devil, and therefore it was only fit that 
 poisonous and unwholesome Fungi should be called Toad Stools, 
 the more so as there was a very general belief that Toads were in 
 the habit of sittting on them : — 
 
 " The griesly Todestol grown there nought I see, 
 And loathed paddocks lording on the same." — Spenser. 
 
 Growing in damp places, haunted by Toads croaking and piping 
 to one another, the Equisetum limosum, with its straight, fistulous 
 stalks, has obtained the name of Toad Pipe. The Linaria vulgaris, 
 from its narrow Flax-like leaves, is known as Toad Flax, from a 
 curious mistake of the old herbalists who confounded the Latin 
 words bubo and bufo. 
 
 Frogs claim as their especial plants the Frog Bit {Morsus rana), 
 so called because Frogs are supposed to eat it ; Frog's Lettuce 
 (Potamogeton densus) ; Frog Grass {Salicornia herbacea) ; and Frog 
 Foot, a name originally assigned to the Vervain (the leaf of which 
 somewhat resembles a Frog's foot); but now transferred to the 
 Duck Meat, Lemna. 
 
 Bees are recognised in the Delphinium grandiflorum, or Bee 
 Larkspur ; the Gakopsis Tetrahit, or Bee Nettle ; the Opkrys apifera, 
 or Bee Orchis ; and the Daucus Carofa, or Bee's Nest. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Ifte Qoetrlae of pfant ^Ignafure/, 
 
 ILLIAM COLES, in his ' Art of Simpling ' (a 
 work published in the year 1656), abandoning for 
 awhile practical instruction, moralises thus: — 
 " Though sin and Sathan have plunged mankinde 
 into an Ocean of Infirmities, yet the mercy of 
 God, which is over all His workes, maketh 
 Grasse to grow upon the Mountaines, and Herbes 
 for the use of men ; and hath not only stamped 
 upon them a distinct forme, but also given them particular Signa- 
 tures, whereby a man may read, even in legible characters, the use 
 of them." This ancient Doctrine of Signatures was an ingenious 
 system elaborated for discovering from certain marks or appear- 
 ances on the various portion of a plant's structure, the supposed 
 medicinal virtue attached to it. A good illustration is to be found 
 in the following passage, translated from P. Lauremberg's 
 Apparatus Plantarum : — " The seed of Garlic is black ; it obscures 
 the eyes with blackness and darkness. This is to be understood 
 of healthy eyes, but those which are dull through vicious humidity, 
 from these Garlic drives this viciousness away. The tunic of Garlic 
 is ruddy; it expels blood. It has a hollow stalk, and it helps 
 afFedlions of the wind-pipe." 
 
 Many curious details of the system of Plant Signatures are to 
 be found in the works of Porta, Grollius, Schroder, and Kircher : 
 these authorities tell us that there are given, not only in animals, 
 but also in vegetables, certain sure marks, signs, and indications 
 from which their virtues and powers can be inferred by the 
 sagacious and painstaking student. Kircher is of opinion that the 
 Egyptians derived their first knowledge of the elements of medicine 
 from these signs, which they had patiently and closely studied ; 
 and in one of his works he enunciates his views in the following 
 passage : — " Since one and all of the members of the human body, 
 under the wise arrangement of Nature, agree or differ with the 
 several objedls in the world of creation, by a certain sympathy or 
 antipath)^ of nature, it follows that there has been implanted by 
 the providence of Nature, both in the several members and in 
 
HRe ©ootfine of ^Pant Signature/, 155 
 
 natural obje<5ls, a reciprocal instinifl, which impels them to seek 
 after those things which are similar and consequently beneficial 
 to themselves, and to avoid and shun those things which are 
 antagonistic or hurtful. Hence has emanated that more recondite 
 part of medicine which compares the Signatures or Charadlerisms 
 of natural things with the members of the human body, and ' by 
 magnetically applying like to like produces marvellous effects in the 
 preservation of human health. In this way, the occult properties 
 of plants — first of those that are endowed with life, and secondly 
 of those destitute of life — are indicated by resemblances; for all 
 exhibit to man, by their Signatures and Charaifterisms, both their 
 powers, by which they can heal, and the diseases in which they are 
 useful. Not only by their parts (as the root, stem, leaf, flower, 
 fruit, and seed), but also by their adlions and qualities (such as 
 their retaining or shedding their leaves, their offspring, number, 
 beauty or deformity, form, and colour), they indicate what kind of 
 service they can render to man, and what are the particular 
 members of the human body to which they are specially appro- 
 priate." 
 
 As examples of the praflical working of the system of Plant 
 Signatures, Kircher tells us that if the root of the Chelidonium be 
 placed in white wine, it is rendered yellow, resembling bilious 
 humour, and thus discloses a sure and infallible remedy against 
 yellow jaundice. He remarks that he had learned this by personal 
 experience, having advised spme persons suffering from that 
 malady to try Chelidonium as a cure ; and that as a result they 
 were freed from the disease. Persons liable to apoplexy are said 
 to have a hne resembling an anchor traced in their hands. The 
 plant Acorns has a similar mark in its leaves, and is a highly- 
 approved remedy for apoplexy. So again, a certain line or mark 
 is to be found in the hands of persons suffering from colic, similar 
 in characfler to an outline found traced in the foliage of the 
 Malohathmm, a plant which will afford relief to patients suffering 
 from the disorder. Hellebore, which emits a most disagreeable 
 odour, possesses the property of absorbing offensive smells and 
 expelling them. Dracontium, or Great Dragon, a plant which bears 
 a resemblance to a dragon, is a most efi^edlual preservation against 
 serpents ; Pliny averring that serpents Vill not come near anyone 
 carrying this plant. . t^ 0. • r c- 
 
 Other examples of the application of the Dodlrine of Signa- 
 tures are not difficult to be found among the quamtly-named plants 
 enumerated in English herbals. The Lung-wort {Pulmonana), 
 spotted with tubercular scars, was a specific for consumption. 
 The Bullock's Lung-wort (Verbascum Thapsis), so called from the 
 resemblance of its leaf to a dewlap, was employed as a cure for the 
 pneumonia of bullocks. The Liver-wort {MarcUnUa polymorpha), 
 Fiver-ihaped in its green fructification, was a specific for bilious com- 
 plaints The Blood-root {Tormmtilla),v^h.ich derives its name from 
 
156 pfant Tsore, bege^Jby, aril Tsi^ricy, 
 
 the red colour of its roots, was adopted as a cure for the bloody 
 flux. The throat-like corolla of the Throat-wort {Campanula Trache- 
 lium), better known as the Canterbury Bell, caused it to be ad- 
 ministered for bronchitis. Tutsan (Hypericum androsamum) was 
 used to stop bleeding, because the juice of its ripe capsule is of a 
 claret colour. Brunella (now spelt Prunella) was called Brown-wort, 
 having brownish leaves and purple-blue flowers, and was in con- 
 sequence supposed to cure a kind of quinsy, called in German die 
 braune. This plant has a corolla, the profile of which is suggestive 
 of a bill-hook, and therefore it was called Carpenter's-herb, and 
 supposed to heal the wounds infli<5led by edg:e-tools. Pimpinella 
 Saxifraga, Alchemilla arvensis, and the genus Saxifraga, plants which 
 split rocks by growing in their cracks, have been named " Break- 
 stones," and were administered in cases of calculus. Clary was 
 transformed into Clear-eye, Godes-eie, Seebright, and Oculus Christi, 
 and eye-salves were consequently made of it. Burstwort was 
 thought efficacious in ruptures. The Scorpion-grass, or Forget- 
 Me-Not {Myosotis), whose flower-spike is somewhat suggestive of a 
 scorpion's tail, was an antidote to the sting of that or other 
 venomous creatures. The Briony, which bears in its root a mark 
 significative of a dropsical man's feet, was adopted as a cure for 
 dropsy. The Moon-daisy averted lunacy ; and the Birth-wort, 
 Fig-wort, Kidney-vetch, Nipple-wort, and Spleen-wort were all 
 appropriated as their names suggest, on account of fancied 
 resemblances. The Toad-flax (Linaria), it may here be pointed 
 out, owes its name to a curious mistake on the part of some 
 believer in the Doctrine of Signatures. According to Dodoens, 
 it was useful in the treatment of a complaint called buboes, 
 and received its Latin name, Buhonium. A confusion between 
 the words huho and hufo (Latin for toad) gave rise to its present 
 name of Toad-flax ; and soon arose legends of sick or wounded 
 toads seeking this plant and curing themselves with its leaves. 
 
 The general rules that guided the founders of the system of 
 Plant Signatures, which were supposed to reveal the occult powers 
 and virtues of vegetables, would seem to have been as under : — 
 
 Vegetables, as herbs and plants, or their fruit, seed, flowers, 
 &c., which resemble some human member in figure, colour, quality, 
 and consistence, were considered to be most adapted to that 
 member, and to possess medical properties specially applicable 
 to it. 
 
 All herbs or plants that in flowers or juice bear a resemblance 
 to one or other of the four humours, viz., blood, yellow bile, phlegm, 
 and black bile, were deemed suitable for treating the same 
 humour, by increasing or expelling it. 
 
 All yellow-hued plants, if they were eatable, were thought to 
 increase yellow bile. In this category were included Orach, 
 Melons, Crocus, yellow Turnips, and all other yellow plants which 
 have a sweet flavour. 
 
URe ©ootrine of ^fant ^'S"'^'^'^''®/' 157 
 
 Plants or herbs of a dull blackish colour, or of a brownish or 
 a spotted hue, were held to be serviceable in the treatment of 
 black bile. Some of them had a tendency to increase it, while 
 others assisted in carrying it off. Thus, Smilax, Mandragora, 
 many kinds of Parsley, Nightshade, and Poppies, having partly 
 black, ash-coloured, and spotted flowers, intermixed with pale 
 tints, by causing bad dreams, excite giddiness, vertigo, and 
 epilepsy. Napellus, also, indicates in a most marked manner its 
 poisonous and virulent nature, for its flower represents the skull 
 of a dead man. 
 
 Plants which bear white flowers and have thick juice, which 
 often grow in moist and extremely humid places, and which resemble 
 phlegm or rheum, were thought to increase the very humours they 
 represented. Others of a drier temperament were thought to correct 
 and purify the same. Milky plants, as Tithymallus, Polygala, Sonchus, 
 and Britalzar Mgyptiaca, were supposed to increase and accumulate 
 milk in nurses. 
 
 Some plants of a red colour were believed to increase blood ; 
 some to correct and purify it ; and others to benefit hemorrhoidal 
 and dysenteric affections from a similarity of colour. 
 
 Plants of a mixed colour, as they unite in themselves a 
 diversity of temperaments, were thought to produce a diversity of 
 effects ; whence two-coloured herbs were believed to possess and 
 exercise a double virtue. On this principle, diverse colours were 
 said to cure diverse humours in the human body; for example, 
 TripoUum, Panacaa, and Triphera were considered beneficial for all 
 humours. 
 
 Plants whose decoction and infusion, as well as colour and 
 consistence, were like some humour of the human body, were 
 declared to be appropriate for the purpose of evacuating that 
 humour by attraction, or increasing it by incorporation. 
 
 Certain plants were deemed to represent some disease or 
 morbid condition, and were judged to be helpful in its cure. Thus 
 those were administered in cases of calculus which represented 
 stones, such as Milium solis, the root of the White Saxifrage, the 
 shells of Nuts, and Nuts themselves. Spotted plants and herbs 
 were thought to eradicate spots, and scaly plants to remove 
 scales. Perforated herbs were selected for the cure of wounds and 
 perforations of the body. Plants which exude gums and resins 
 were considered available for the treatment of pus and matter. 
 Swelling plants were thought good for tumours ; those that permit 
 the cutting or puncturing of the stem were employed for closing up 
 wounds; Ind those that shed bark and skin were thought adapted 
 for the cleansing of the skin. , ., • , ,• ■<.■ ■„ fu^;. 
 
 Accordingly as plants and herbs exhibited peculiarities in the r 
 actions so were they supposed to operate on man. Thus, sterUe 
 plaZ^uchTs Lettuce, Fern, Willow, Savin, and many others were 
 Ked to conduce to the procuring of stenhty in men; whilst 
 
158 
 
 pPant Isore, Tsege^/, cmS Igyfiq/*, 
 
 salacious and fecund plants were considered to confer fecundity. 
 On the same principle, long-lived and evergreen plants were said 
 to procure vigour for the human body. 
 
 Helvetius has left a list of classified herbs and plants which 
 in his time were considered by experts in herbcraft to exhibit 
 peculiar marks and Signatures by which they could be identified 
 with the several parts and members of the human body. This 
 may be said to have formed the basis of the system embraced 
 in the Dodtrine of Plant Signatures, and as it epitomises the 
 results of the protradled and laborious researches of the old 
 herbalists, who may fairly be said to have laid the foundations of 
 our present system of Botany, it has been thought worth while to 
 give an abbreviation of it. 
 
 The Head. 
 
 The Hair. 
 The Eyes. 
 
 The Ears. 
 
 The Tongue. 
 
 The Teeth. 
 The Heart. 
 
 The Lungs. 
 
 The Liver. 
 
 The Bladder, 
 
 Antirrhinum, Crocus, Geranium, Walnuts, Lily 
 of the Valley, Marjoram, Poppy, Violet, Rose, 
 Lime-blossom, the genus Brassica, &c. 
 
 Asparagus, Goat's-beard, Fennel, Nigella, Flax, 
 Tree Musk, the Vine, and Vine-roots, &c. 
 
 The flowers of Acacia, Euphrasy, Daisy, Bean, 
 Hyacinth, Geranium, Mallow, Narcissus, Hya- 
 cinth, Ranunculus, Cornflower, &c. 
 
 Bear's Ear {Auricula ursi), Mountain Bindweed, Cy- 
 clamenDoronicum, Gentian, rough Viper's Bugloss, 
 Hypericum, Organy, Egyptian Beans, &c. 
 
 Horse - tongue {Hippoglossum), Adder's - tongue 
 OpMoglossum), Hound's-tongue {Cynoglossum), 
 Hart's-tongue, Frog-bit, Grass of Parnassus, 
 Prunella, Salvia, Sempervivum, &c. 
 
 The leaves of Fir and Juniper, Sunflower-seed, 
 Toothed Moss {Muscus denticulatus). Toothed 
 Violet (Dentaria), Dandelion {Dens Leonis), &c. 
 
 Borage, Motherwort {Cardiaca), Malaca Beans 
 {Anacardium), Strawberries, Pomegranate-blos- 
 som, Hepatica, Violet, Peony, Rose, Iris, 
 Egyptian Lotus, &c. 
 
 Lung-wort, {Pulmomria), Beet, the stalks of Anise, 
 Garden Teasel, Cresses, Fennel, Curled Lettuce, 
 Scabious, Rhubarb, Valerian, the Sea Moss 
 Muscus marinus virens latif alius, &c. 
 
 Noble Livernvort {Hepatica tyifoUa), Ground Liver- 
 wort {Hepatica terrestris), Garden Endive, Portu- 
 laca. Aloe, Our Lady's Thistle (^Cardms Maria), 
 Gentian, Lettuce, Alpine Sanicle, &c. 
 
 Bladder-wort, Winter Cherry, Black Hellebore, 
 Nasturtium, Persicaria, Leaves of Senna, root 
 of True Rhubarb, broad-leaved Tithymallus, 
 Botrys, &c. 
 
ffijfte ©oofrine o^ ^Pant Signature/. 
 
 159 
 
 The Spleen, 
 
 The Stomach. 
 The Kidneys. 
 
 The Intestines, 
 &c. 
 
 The Hands, 
 Fingers, and 
 Nerves. 
 
 Spleenwort or Ceterach {Asplenium), Agrimony, 
 Shepherd's Purse, Dandelion, Devil's Bit 
 Scabious, Fern, Broom, Hawk-weed, Turnip, 
 Treacle Mustard, &c. 
 
 Roots of Acorus, Cyclamen, Elecampane, Iris, 
 and Galingale, Earth-nut, Parsnip, Radish, 
 Chives, Ginger, &c. 
 
 Kidney-wort, Agnus Castus, seeds of Broom, 
 Bombax, Jasmine, and Lupine, Beans, Cur- 
 rants, Ground Ivy, root of Leopard's Bane, &c. 
 
 Navel-wort, Chickweed, Briony, Dodder, Bitter- 
 sweet (Nightshade), Fenugreek, Nasturtium, 
 Honeysuckle, Chamomile-flowers, Alpine Sa- 
 nicle, roots of Polypody, &c. 
 
 Agnus Castus, Garlick, Briony, Shepherd's Purse, • 
 Fig, Geranium, Ash-bark, Cinquefoil [Hepta- 
 phyllum), TotmeniiWa., Water Hellebore, Lupine, 
 Melon, Ophrys, Hoary Clover, Satyrion, Plan- 
 tain, Currants, Sanicle, Soap-wort, Wolf's Bane, 
 Swallow-wort, Vitis Idaa, Asiatic Ranunculus, 
 . with gummy root, &c. 
 
 The Docflrine of Signatures did not exclusively apply to the 
 medicinal virtues of herbs and plants : for example, Hound's-tongue 
 Cynoglossum officinale, named from the shape and softness of its leaf, 
 was (if we may believe William Coles) thought to " tye the tongues 
 of hounds, so that they shall not bark at you, if it be laid under the 
 bottom of your feet, as Miraldus writeth." Garlic (from the Anglo- 
 Saxon words gdr, a spear, and hdc, a plant) was, from its acute 
 tapering leaves, marked out as the war plant of the warriors and 
 poets of the North. The heavenly blue of the flower of the Ger- 
 mander Speedwell won for it the Welsh appellation of the Eye of 
 Christ. Even abstract virtues were to be learnt by an attentive 
 study of the Signatures of certain plants, according to the diflum of 
 that loyal and godly herbalist Robert Turner, who naively tells us 
 that " God hath imprinted upon the Plants, Herbs, and Flowers, 
 as it were in Hieroglyphicks, the very Signature of their Vertues; 
 as the learned GroUius and others well observe : as the Nutmeg, 
 being cut, resembles the Brain; the Papaver enaUcum, or red 
 Poppy Flower, resembleth at its bottom the setling of the 
 Blood in the Plurisie; and how excellent is that Flower m 
 Diseases of the Plurisie, and Surfeits hath sufficiently been expe- 
 rienced In the Heliotrope and Marigold subjects may learn their 
 duty to their Sovereign: which his Sacred Majesty King Charles 
 the First mentions in his Princely Meditations, walking in a 
 Garden in the Isle of Wight, in the following words, viz. :— 
 
 " ' The Marigold observes the Sun 
 
 More than my subjects me have done,' &c." 
 
l6o pfant bore, ^aegarpj, ansl T9i)pio/-. 
 
 That great naturalist, John Ray, whilst expressing his disbelief 
 of the Doctrine of Plant Signatures as a whole, admitted that 
 there were tangible grounds for the formation of the system. He 
 wrote: — "Howbeit, I will not deny but that the noxious and ma- 
 lignant plants do, many of them, discover something of their 
 nature by the sad and melancholick visage of their leaves, flowers, 
 or fruits. And that I may not leave that head wholly untouched, 
 one observation I shall add, relating to the virtues of plants, in 
 which I think is something of truth ; that is, that there are, by the 
 wise dispensation of Providence, such species of plants produced 
 in every country, as are made proper and convenient for the meat 
 and medicine of the men and animals that are bred and inhabit 
 therein. Insomuch that Solenander writes that, from the frequency 
 of the plants that spring up naturally in any region, he could easily 
 gather what endemical diseases the inhabitants thereof are subject 
 to. So in Denmark, Friesland, and Holland, where the scurvy 
 usually reigns, the proper remedy thereof, Scurvy-grass, doth 
 plentifully grow." 
 
 It is impossible to make an attentive examination of the old 
 Herbals without being astonished at the extraordinary number and 
 nature of the ills which their authors professed to cure by means 
 of plants and simples. Every conceivable disease and ailment 
 appears to be enumerated, and each has a number of specifics 
 allotted for its treatment and cure. The contents of these ancient 
 works, indeed, are apt to heat the imagination, and to cause one 
 to form a conception- that the merrie England of our forefathers 
 was a land swarming with wild beasts, so venomous in their 
 nature, and ferocious in their proclivities, that the unfortunate 
 inhabitants were constantly being grievously maimed and wounded 
 by their malicious "bitings." Be this as it may, however, it is 
 evident that the old herbalists deemed themselves fully equal to 
 any emergency. Leopards, Wolves, and venomous beasts of all 
 kinds, as well as Dragons, Serpents, Vipers, and Scorpions, could 
 all, by means of herbs, be driven away, kept at bay, or killed, and 
 the venom of their bites be quickly and effectually cured. Such 
 simple things as the stings of Hornets, Wasps, and Bees, were of 
 course easily extracted by men who professed themselves able and 
 willing to draw out arrow-heads from wounds, or remove broken 
 bones, glue them together, and cover them when bare of flesh. They 
 could provide counterpoisons against deadly medicines, poisoned 
 arrows, noxious herbs, and the bitings and stingings of venomous 
 creatures; they could cure the bites of sea Dragons and rnad 
 Dogs, and could keep Dogs from growing great. They could cause 
 troublesome and dangerous dreams, and they could cure nightmare. 
 They could drive away dulness and melancholy, and consume 
 
©Pi- .KefeaP/- af^ JTerSaP^l/. i6i 
 
 proud and superfluous flesh. They could preserve the eyesight, 
 " helpe blacke eies comming by blowes," and take away redness 
 and yellowness. They could prevent the hair falling off', and 
 restore it to the bald pate, and knew how to turn it yellow, red, or 
 black. They could cause hens to lay plentifully, and refresh a 
 weary horse. They could cure lunatics, relieve madness, and 
 purge melancholy; to say nothing of counteracting witchcraft an 
 the malignant influence of the mysterious Evil Eye. They could 
 destroy warts, remove freckles, and beautify young wenches' faces. 
 In fine, the herbalist of old was one 
 
 " Who knew the cause of everie maladie. 
 Were it of colde or hole, or moist or drie." 
 
 A remarkable charadleristic of the herbarists (as they were 
 called of yore) was a habit of ascribing extraordinary and fabulous 
 properties to the herbs and plants whose merits they descanted 
 upon. Just as the Druids taught the people of their time to call 
 the sacred Mistletoe the " All-heal," and to look upon it as a 
 panacea for all bodily ailments, so did the herbalists, in the pages 
 of their ponderous tomes, set forth the marvellous virtues of 
 Betony, Agrimony, Angelica, Garlic, Fennel, Sage, Rue, and 
 other favourite medicinal plants. Johannes de Mediolano, a 
 doctor, of the Academy of Salerno, once wrote of Rue, that it 
 diminishes the force of love in man, and, on the contrary, increases 
 the flame in women. When eaten raw, it both clears the sight 
 and the perceptions of the mind, and when cooked it destroys fleas. 
 The English herbalists called it Herb Grace and Serving-men's 
 Joy, because of the multiplicity of ailments that it was warranted 
 to cure ; Mithridates used the herb as a counterpoison to preserve 
 himself against infe<5tion ; and Gerarde, records that Serpents are 
 driven away at the smell of Rue if it be burned, and that " when 
 the Weesell is to fight with the Serpent, shee armeth herselfe by 
 eating Rue against the might of the Serpent." The virtues of 
 Rue, however, are cast into the shade by those of Sage. Says 
 witty Alphonse Karr — " Rue is nothing in comparison with Sage. 
 Sage preserves the human race; and the whole school of Salerno, 
 after a long enumeration of the virtues of Sage, seriously exclaims : 
 ' How can it happen that a man who has Sage in his garden yet 
 ends by dying ? ' " Perhaps this exclamation was the foundation of 
 the English proverb — 
 
 "He that eats Sage in May 
 Shall live for aye." 
 
 Regarding the wondrous curative properties of Betony, Antonius 
 Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, wrote a volume setting 
 forth the excellencies of the herb, which he demonstrated would 
 cure no less than forty-seven different disorders ; and in England 
 an old advice to the sufferer is, " Sell your coat, and buy Betony." 
 Agrimony is another herb whose praises were loudly proclaimed by 
 
l62 pfant 'bore, Tsegel^O/", cmi. h\jr\af, 
 
 the herbalists ; it formed an ingredient in most of the old-fashioned 
 herb teas, and Drayton speaks of it as " All-heal, and so named of 
 right." Of Angelica, or Holy Ghost, Parkinson writes that it is 
 "so goode an herbe that there is no part thereof but is of much 
 use." Fennel, in addition to its uses as a medicine, was recom- 
 mended by old writers, when boiled in wine, as a counterpoison for 
 use by such as had been bitten by those terrible reptiles, serpents, 
 and scorpions that seem to have so exercised the ancient her- 
 balists. Treacle-Mustard, or Triacle, was also highly esteemed as 
 a cure for " all those that were bitten or stung by venomous 
 beasts, or had drunk poison, or were infedted with pestilence : 
 it formed one of seventy-three ingredients in making " Venice 
 treacle" — a famous vermifuge and antipoison in the Middle Ages. 
 The Vervain, or Holy Herb, was credited with almost supernatural 
 healing powers. English Mercury was called All-good ; and other 
 herbs obtained the names of All-heal, Clown's All-heal, Self-heal, 
 Poor-man's Treacle, Poor-man's Parmacetty, the Blessed Herb, 
 Grace of God, Master-Wort, Ploughman's Spikenard, &c., on 
 account of the numerous virtues which the herbalists had dis- 
 covered in them. One of these old worthies (the compiler of a 
 Herbal, and a believer in astrology) has, indeed, stated in rhyme, 
 his conviction that there was no disease but what would yield to 
 the virtues of herbs and the skill of the herbalist. " In his book," 
 he confidently says — 
 
 " He hath a method plain devised, 
 All parts of it, so curiously comprised ; 
 That vulgar men, vphich have but skill to read, 
 May be their own physicians at need ; 
 The better sort are hereby taught, how all 
 Things springing from earth's bowels safely shall 
 By love or hatred (as the Stars dispose) 
 Each sickness cure, that in the body grows. " 
 
 The poet Michael Drayton has drawn the portrait of an 
 ancient simpler, and has given a list of the remedies of which 
 he made the most frequent use; the lines are to be found in his 
 ' Polyolbion,' and as they contain examples of herbs selecfled under 
 the system of the Dodtrine of Plant Signatures, they may be 
 appropriately introduced at the conclusion of this chapter : 
 
 " But, absolutely free. 
 His happy time he spends the works of God to see, 
 In those so sundry herbs vehich there in plenty grow, 
 Whose sundry strange effects he only seeks to know ; 
 And in a little maund, being made of Osiers small, 
 Which serveth him to do full many a thing withal, 
 He very choicely sorts his simples, got abroad ; 
 Here finds he on an Oak rheum-purging Polypode ; 
 And in some open place that to the sun doth lie. 
 He Fumitory gets, and Eyebright for the eye ; 
 The Yarrow wherewithal he stays the wound-made gore, 
 The healing Tutsan then, and Plantaine for a sore ; 
 
©fsl— eKeffeafy a^ (JTerftaPij'ty. 163 
 
 And hard by them, again, he holy Vervain finds, 
 Which he about his head that hath the megrim binds ; 
 The wonder-working Dill he gets not far from these, 
 Which curious women use in many a nice disease ; 
 For them that are with Newts, or Snakes, or Adders stung 
 He seeketh out a herb, that is called Adder's-tongue ; 
 As Nature it ordain'd its own like hurt to cure, 
 And sportive did herself to niceties inure. 
 Valerian then he crops, and purposely doth stamp 
 To apply unto the place that s haled with the cramp ; 
 The Chickweed cures the heat that in the face doth rise, 
 For physic some again he inwardly applies ; 
 For comforting the spleen and liver, gets for juice 
 Pale Horehound. which he holds of most especial use. 
 And for the labouring wretch that's troubled with a cough, 
 Or stopping of the breath by phlegm that's hard and tough, 
 Campana here he crops, approved wondrous good ; 
 Or Comfrey unto him that s bruised, spitting blood ; 
 And for the falling ill by Five-leafe doth restore, 
 And melancholy cures by sovereign Hellebore : 
 Of these most helpful herbs yet tell we but a few 
 To those unnumbered sort of simples here that grew, 
 What justly to set down even Dodon short doth fall. 
 Nor skilful Gerarde yet shall ever find them all." 
 
 M 2 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
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 WO centuries ago there existed a very general 
 belief that every plant was under the direct 
 influence of a particular Planet, and therefore 
 that all the details connected with its cultivation 
 and utilisation were to be condudled with a 
 stridl regard to this supposition. Aubrey has 
 recorded his opinion, that if a plant "be not 
 gathered according to the rules of astrology, it 
 
 hath little or no virtue in it ; " and the Jesuit Rapin, in his Latin . 
 
 poem on ' Gardens,' says, with respecfi: to flowers — 
 
 " This frequent charge I give, whene'er you sow 
 The flow ry kind, be studious first to know 
 The monthly tables, and with heedful eye 
 Survey the lofty volumes of the sky ; 
 Observe the tokens of foreboding Stars, 
 What store of wind and rain the Moon prepares ; 
 What weather Eurus or moist Auster blows, 
 What both in east and west the Sun foreshows; 
 What aid from Helice the trees obtain. 
 What from Bootes with his tardy wain ; 
 Whether the wat'ry Pleiades with show'rs 
 Kindly refresh alone, or drown the floVrs ; 
 For Stars neglected fatal oft we find. 
 The Gods to their dominion have assign'd 
 The products of our earth and labours of mankind." 
 
 Michael Drayton, in whose time the doctrine of planetary 
 influence on plants was generally accepted, says, in reference to 
 the longevity of antediluvian men : — 
 
 " Besides, in medicine simples had the power 
 That none need then the planetary hour 
 To helpe their working, they so juiceful were." 
 
 Culpeper, who was a profound behever in astrology, has 
 given at the commencement of his ' British Herbal and Family 
 Physician,' a list of some five hundred plants, and the names of 
 the Planets which govern them; and in his directions as to the 
 plucking of leaves for medical purposes, the old herbahst and 
 
pfant/ al^ tfte pPanet/-, 165 
 
 physician remarks: — "Such as are astrologers (and indeed none 
 else are fit to make physicians) such I advise : let the planet that 
 governs the herb be angular, and the stronger the better; if they 
 can, in herbs of Saturn, let Saturn be in the ascendant; in the 
 herb of Mars, let Mars be in the mid-heaven, for in those houses 
 they delight ; let the Moon apply to them by good aspect, and let 
 her not be in the houses of her enemies ; if you cannot well stay 
 till she apply to them, let her apply to a Planet of the same 
 triplicity ; if you cannot meet that time neither, let her be with a 
 fixed Star of their nature." 
 
 The classification of Plants under the planets Saturn, Jupiter, 
 Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon, appears to have 
 been made according to the Signatures or outward appearances of 
 the plants themselves. The Stalks, stems, branches, roots, foliage, 
 flowers, odour, taste, native places, death, and medical virtues, 
 were also considered ; and, according to the character of the plant 
 thus deduced, it was placed under the government of the parti- 
 cular Planet with which it was considered to be most in con- 
 sonance. 
 
 Plants allotted to Saturn had their Leaves: hairy, hard, dry, 
 parched, coarse, and of ill-favoured appearance. Flowers : Unpre- 
 possessing, gloomy, dull, greenish, faded or dirty white, pale red, 
 invariably hirsute, prickly, and disagreeable. Roots: Spreading 
 widely in the earth and rambling around in discursive fashion. 
 Odour: Foetid, putrid, muddy. 
 
 Jupiter. — Leaves : Smooth, even, slightly cut and pointed, the 
 veins not prominent, and the lines not strongly marked. Colour, 
 greyish blue-green. Flowers : Graceful, pleasing, bright, succulent, 
 transparent, ruddy, flesh-colour, blue, yellow. Roots : Rather small, 
 with short hairy filaments, spread about in the ground. Odour : 
 Highly subtle, grateful to the brain ; the kernels comforting ; easily 
 
 fermented. • ^ j j 
 
 Maks.— Leaves : Hard, long, somewhat heavy, pomted and 
 pendulous, harsh and hot to the tongue, not of good appearance. 
 Flowers : Of a colour between yellow, vermilion, or blue, green, 
 purple, red, changing quickly, abundance of flowers and seeds. 
 Roots : Highly fibrous and creeping underground. Odour : Oppres- 
 sive to the brain, potent, sharp, acrid. ' 
 
 Venus —Leaves: Large, handsome, bright, rich green or 
 roseate, soft, plentiful. Flowers : Pleasing to the eyes, white, blue, 
 rosy, charming, fine, abundant. Roots : Of early growth, but not 
 deeply fixed. Quickly and freely produced. Odour: Subtle, 
 delightful, pungent, refreshing to the brain. , . ^ ^, _^ 
 Mercury. —Leaves: Different kinds, but pleasing to the eye. 
 Flowers: Of various descriptions and colours, refreshing, agreeable, 
 and pleasant. Roots: Abiding deep in the earth, and spreading 
 far and wide. Odour: Highly subtle and penetrating, refreshing 
 to the heart and brain. 
 
1 66 pfant hore, laec^erpf, dni. bijriq/-. 
 
 The Sun. — Leaves: Succulent, with stout stalks, deeply veined, 
 pleasant green or tawny, with reddish stalks.. Flowers : Yellow and 
 gold, or purple, handsome, glittering, and radiant. Roots : Strong, 
 deeply fixed in the earth, but not laterally. Odour: Agreeable, 
 acceptable, and pungent, strong, restorative to brain and eyes. 
 
 The Moon. — Leaves: Pale, highly succulent, pith thick, firm, 
 strongly-developed veins, bottle-green. Flowers: Pale yellow or 
 greenish, watery, mellifluous, but uninteresting and without beauty. 
 Roots: Penetrating easily through water and earth, not durable, 
 and easily decayed, spreading neither thickly nor deeply. Odour: 
 Disagreeable, almost none, without pungency, redolent of the 
 earth, rain, or soft savour of honey. 
 
 According to Indian mythology, herbs are placed under the 
 special protection of Mitra, the Sun. De Gubernatis tells us that 
 there are several Indian plants named after the great luminary. In 
 the Grecian Pantheon, the Solar-god, Apollo, possessed a know- 
 ledge of all the herbs. It was to Phoebus, the Sun-god, that poor 
 Clytie lost her heart, and, when changed into a flower, held firmly 
 by the root, she still turned to the Sun she loved, " and, changed 
 herself, still kept her love unchanged." As to the particular 
 Sunflower, Turnsole, Heliotrope, or Solsequium that is the floral 
 embodiment of the love-sick nymph, readers must be referred to 
 the disquisition under the heading " Sunflower." De Gubernatis 
 gives it as his opinion, that Clytie's flower is the Helianthemum 
 roseum of De Candolle. In a previous chapter, certain plants have 
 been noticed which were supposed by the ancients to have been 
 specially under the domination of the Sun and Moon. According 
 to the didtum of wizards and wise folk, plants possessing magical 
 properties must as a general rule be gathered, if not by moonlight, 
 yet at any rate before sunrise, for the first appearance of the Sun's 
 rays immediately dispels all enchantment, and drives back the 
 spirits to their subterranean abodes. 
 
 We are told in Deuteronomy xxxiii., 14, that precious things 
 are put forth by the Moon, but precious fruits by the Sun ; and it is 
 certainly very remarkable that, although mankind in all ages have 
 regarded, and even worshipped, the Sun as being the supreme and 
 ruling luminary, from whose glorious life-giving rays, vegetation 
 of all kinds drew its very existence, yet that an idea should have 
 sprung up, and taken root widely and deeply, that the growth and 
 decay of plants were associated intimately with the waxing and 
 waning of the Moon. We have seen how the plant kingdom was 
 parcelled out by the astrologers, and consigned to the care of 
 different Planets; but, despite this, the Moon was held to have a 
 singular and predominant influence over vegetation, and it was 
 supposed that there existed a sympathy between growing and 
 declining nature and the Moon's wax and wane. Bacon seems to 
 have considered that even the "braine of man waxeth moister and 
 fuller upon the Full of the Moone;"'and, therefore, he continues, 
 
pfant/ a'!^ tfte pPanet/. 157 
 
 "It were good for those that have moist braines, and are great 
 drinkers, to take fume of Lignum, Aloes, Rose-Mary, Frankincense, 
 &c., about the Full of the Moone." He also tells us, in his Natural 
 History, that "the influences of the Moon are four: the drawing 
 forth of heat, the inducing of putrefaction, the moisture, and the 
 exciting of the motions of spirits." 
 
 In respe(5l to this last influence, he goes on to say, " You must 
 note that the growth of hedges, herbs, haire, &c., is caused from 
 the Moone, by exciting of the spirits as well as by increase of the 
 moisture.^ But for spirits in particular the great instance is 
 lunacies." This lunar influence which Bacon speaks of was, as 
 already pointed out, fully recognised in olden times, and a belief 
 was even current that the Moon specially watched over vegetation, 
 and that when she was propitious — that is, during her growth — 
 she produced medicinal herbs ; when she was not propitious — that 
 is to say, during her wane — she imbued herbs with poisons ; her 
 humidity being, perhaps, more injurious than otherwise. 
 
 In old almanacks we find the supremacy of the Moon over 
 the plant kingdom fully admitted, albeit in a jargon which is rather 
 puzzling. Thus, in the ' Husbandman's Pradlice or Prognostication 
 for Ever,' the reader is advised "to set, sow seeds, graft, and 
 plant, the Moone being in Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorne, and all 
 kinds of Come in Cancer, to graft in March, at the Moone's increase, 
 she being in Taurus or Capricorne." Again, in Mr. Wing's 
 Almanack for 1661, occurs the following passage : — " It is a com- 
 mon observation in astrology, and confirmed by experience, that 
 what Corn or tree soever are set or sown when the Sun or Moon 
 is eclipsed, and the infortunate planets predominate, seldom or 
 never come to good. And again he saith thus : — It is a common 
 and certain observation also, that if any corn, seed, or plant be 
 either set or sown within six hours either before or after the full 
 Moon in Summer, or before or after the new Moon in Winter, 
 having joined with the cosmical rising of Arcturus and Orion, the 
 Hsedi and the Siculi, it is subject to blasting and canker." 
 
 As an illustration of the predominance given to the Moon 
 over the other planets in matters pertaining to plant culture, it is 
 worth noticing that, although Culpeper, in his ' Herbal,' places the 
 Apple under Venus, yet the Devonshire farmers have from time 
 immemorial made it a rule to gather their Apples for storing at 
 the wane of the Moon; the reason being that, during the Moon's 
 increase, it is thought that the Apples are full, and will not there- 
 fore keep. It is said that if timber be felled when the Moon is on 
 the increase, it will decay ; and that it should always be cut when 
 the Moon is on the wane. No reason can be assigned for this; 
 yet the belief is common in many countries, and what is still more 
 strange, professional woodcutters, whose occupation is to fell 
 timber, aver, as the a(5lual result of their observation, that the belief 
 is well founded. It was formerly interwoven in the Forest Code 
 
1 68 pPant Tsore, Tsecje^/, and feijrio/-. 
 
 of France, and, unless expunged by recent alterations, is so still. 
 The same opinion obtains in the German forests, and is said to 
 be held in those of Brazil and Yucatan. The theory given to 
 account for this supposed fact is, that as the Moon grows, the sap 
 rises, and the wood is therefore less dense than when the Moon 
 is waning, because at that time the sap declines. The belief in the 
 Moon's influence as regards timber extends to Vegetables, and was 
 at one time universal in England, although, at the present day, the 
 theory is less generally entertained in our country than abroad, 
 where they act upon the maxim that root crops should be planted 
 when the Moon is decreasing, and plants such as Beans, Peas, 
 and others, which bear the crops on their branches, between new 
 and full Moon. Throug'hout Germany, the rule is that Rye should 
 be sown as the Moon waxes ; but Barley, Wheat, and Peas, when 
 it wanes. 
 
 The wax and wane of the belief in lunar influence on plant- 
 life among our own countrymen may be readily traced by reference 
 to old books on husbandry and gardening. 
 
 In ' The Boke of Husbandry,' by Mayster Fitzherbarde, 
 published in 1523, we read with respeft to the sowing of Peas, that 
 " moste generally to begyn sone after Candelmasse is good season, 
 so that they be sowen ere the begynnynge of Marche, or sone 
 upon. And specially let them be sowen in the olde of the Mone. 
 For the opinion of old husbandes is, that they shoulde be better 
 codde, and sooner be rype." 
 
 Tusser, in his ' Five Hundred Points of Husbandry,' pub- 
 lished in 1562, says, in his quaint verse — 
 
 " Sowe Peason and Beans in the wane of the Moone, 
 Who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone ; 
 That they with the planet may rest and rise, 
 And flourish with bearing, most plentiful wise." 
 
 Commenting on that " Point," the ed,itor of an edition of 
 Tusser's poem printed in 1744, says : " It must be granted the 
 Moon is an excellent clock, and if not the cause of many sur- 
 prising accidents, gives a just indication of them, whereof this 
 Pease and Beans may be one instance ; for Pease and Beans 
 sown during the increase do run more to hawm or straw, and 
 during the declension more to cod, according to the common 
 consent of countrymen." Again, as regards grafting, old Tusser 
 writes : — 
 
 " In March is good graffing, the skilful do know, 
 So long as the wind in the East do not blow, 
 From Moone being changed, til past be the prime, 
 For graffing and cropping is very good time." 
 
 The editor remarks : " The Prime is the first three days after 
 the New Moon, in which time, or at farthest during the first 
 quarter, our author confines his graffing, probably because the 
 
Tsunar (^nffuence oi^ pfanty. i6g 
 
 first three days are usually attended with rain." He confesses, 
 however, he cannot explain the following couplet : — 
 
 " The Moone in the wane gather fruit for to last, 
 But winter fruit gather when Michel is past." 
 
 In the ' Garden of Eden,' an old gardening book compiled 
 and issued by Sir Hugh Plat, Knt., in the year 1600, constant 
 allusions are made to the necessity of studying the Moon's phases 
 in gardening and grafting operations. The worthy knight con- 
 sidered that the Moon would exercise her powers in making single 
 flowers double if only she were respectfully courted. His counsel 
 on this point is as follows: — "Remove a plant of Stock Gilli- 
 flowers when it is a little woodded, and not too greene, and water 
 it presently. Doe this three dayes after the full, and remove it 
 twice more before the change. Doe this in barren ground ; and 
 likewise, three dayes after the next full Moone, remove again ; 
 and then remove once more before the change. Then at the 
 third full Moon, viz., eight dayes after, remove againe, and set 
 it in very rich ground, and this will make it to bring forth a 
 double flower ; but if your Stock Gilliflowers once spindle, then 
 you may not remove them. Also you must make Tulippes 
 double in this manner. Some think by cutting them at every 
 full Moone before they beare to make them at length to beare 
 double." 
 
 In 'The Countryman's Recreation' (1640) the author fully 
 recognises the obligation of gardeners to study the Moon in all 
 their principal operations. Says he : " From the first day of the 
 new Moone unto the xiii. day thereof is good for to plant, or 
 graife, or sow, and for great need some doe take unto the xvii. or 
 xviii. day thereof, and not after, neither graffe nor sow, but as is 
 afore-mentioned, a day or two afore the change, the best signes 
 are Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorne." And as regards the treatment 
 of fruit trees, he tells us that " trees which come of Nuttes " should 
 be set in the Autumn " in the change or increase of the Moone ; " 
 certain grafting manipulations are to be executed " in the increase 
 of the Moone and not lightly after; " fruit, if it is desired of good 
 colour and untouched by frost, ought to be gathered " when the 
 time is faire and dry, and the Moone in her decreasmg ; " whilst 
 " if ye will cut or gather Grapes, to have them good, and to have 
 good wine thereof, ye shall cut them in the full, or soone after the 
 full of the Moone, when she is in Cancer, m Leo, m Scorpio, 
 and in Aquarius, the Moone being on the waine and under the 
 
 In ' The Expert Gardener ' (1640) — a work stated to be " faith- 
 fully collected out of sundry Dutch and French authors "--a 
 chanter is entirely devoted to the times and seasons which should 
 he selected " to sow and replant all manner of seeds," with special 
 reference to the phases of the Moon. As showing how very 
 
170 pfant Tsbre, TaecjeT^^/, cmel l9ijri<y, 
 
 general must have been the belief in the influence of the Moon on 
 vegetation at that time, the following extract is given ; — 
 
 A short Instruction -very profitable and necessary for all those that delight in 
 Gardening, to knonu the Times and Seasons nuben it is good to sotu and 
 'replant all manner of Seeds. 
 
 Cabbages must be sowne in February, March, or April, at the waning of the 
 Moone. and replanted also in the decrease thereof. 
 
 Cabbage Lettuce, in February, March, or July, in an old Moone. 
 
 Onions and Leeks must be sowne in February or March, at the waning of the 
 Moone. 
 
 Beets must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone. 
 
 Coleworts white and greene in February, or March, in an old Moone, it is good 
 to replant them. 
 
 Parsneps must be sowne in February, April, or June, also in an old Moone. 
 
 Radish must be sowne in February, March, or June, in a new Moone, 
 
 Pompions must be sowne in February, March, or June, also in a new Moone. 
 
 Cucumbers and Mellons must be sowne in February, March, or June, in an old 
 Moone. 
 
 Spinage must be sowne in February or March, in an old Moone. 
 
 Parsley must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone. 
 
 Fennel and Annisseed must be sowne in February or March, in a full Moone. 
 
 White Cycory must be sowne in February, March, July, or August, in a full 
 Moone. 
 
 Carduus Benedictus must be sowne in February, March, or May, when the 
 Moone is old. 
 
 Basil must be sowne in March, when the Moone is old. 
 
 Purslane must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone. 
 
 Margeram, Violets, and Time must be sowne in February, March, or April, in a 
 new Moone. 
 
 Floure-gentle, Rosemary, and Lavender, must be sowne in February or April, in a 
 new Moone. 
 
 Rocket and Garden Cresses must be sowne in February, in a new Moone. 
 
 Savell must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone. 
 
 Saffron must be sowne in March, when the Moone is old. 
 
 Coriander and Borage must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone. 
 
 Hartshome and Samphire must be sowne in February, March, or April, when 
 the Moone is old. 
 
 Gilly-floures, Harts-ease, and Wall-floures, must be sowne in March or April, 
 when the Moone is old. 
 
 Cardons and Artochokes must be sowne in April or March, when the Moone 
 is old. 
 
 Chickweed must be sowne in in February or March, in the full of the Moone. 
 
 Burnet must be sowne in February or March, when the Moone is old. 
 
 Double Marigolds must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone. 
 
 Isop and Savorie must be sowne in March when the Moone is old. 
 
 White Poppey must be sowne in February or March, in a new Moone. 
 
 Palma Christi must be sowne in February, in a new Moone. 
 
 Sparages and Sperage is to be sowne in February, when the Moone is old. 
 
 Larks-foot must be sowne in February, when the Moone is old. 
 
 Note that at all times and seasons, Lettuce, Raddish, Spinage and Parsneps may 
 be sowne. 
 
 Note, also, from cold are to be kept Coleworts, Cabbage, Lettuce, Basill, 
 Cardons, Artochokes, and Colefloures. 
 
 In 'The English Gardener' (1683) and ' The Dutch Gardener' 
 (1703) many instrudions are given as to the manner of treating 
 
Isunav ^nfPuenoc orj ^fant4>. 171 
 
 plants with special regard to the phases of the Moon; and Rapin, 
 in his poem on Gardens, has the following lines: — 
 
 " If you with flow'rs would stock the pregnant earth, 
 Mark well the Moon propitious to their birth : 
 For earth the silent midnight queen obeys, 
 And waits her course, who, clad in silver rays, 
 Th' eternal round of times and seasons guides. 
 Controls the air, and o'er the winds presides. 
 Four days expir'd you have your time to sow. 
 Till to the full th' increasing Moon shall grow ; 
 This past, your labour you in vain bestow : 
 Nor let the gard'ner dare to plant a flow'r 
 While on his work the heav'ns ill-boding low'r ; 
 When Moons forbid, forbidding Moons obey, 
 And hasten when the Stars inviting beams display." 
 
 John Evelyn, in his ' Sylva, or a Discourse on Forest Trees,' 
 first published in 1662, remarks on the attention paid by woodmen 
 to the Moon's influence on trees. He says: " Then for the age of 
 the Moon, it has religiously been observed; and that Diana's 
 presidency in sylvis was not so much celebrated to credit the 
 fi(fi;ions of the poets, as for the dominion of that moist planet and 
 her influence over timber. For my part, I am not so much inclined 
 to these criticisms, that I should ahogether govern a felling at the 
 pleasure of this mutable lady; however, there is doubtless some 
 regard to be had — 
 
 ' Nor is't in vain signs' fall and rise to note.' 
 
 The old rules are these: Fell in the decrease, or four days 
 after the conjunction of the two great luminaries; sowe the last 
 quarter of it; or (as Pliny) in the very article of the change, if 
 possible; which hapning (saith he) in the last day of the Wmter 
 solstice, that timber will prove immortal. At least should it be 
 from the twentieth to the thirtieth day, according to Columella; 
 Cato four days after the full, as far better for the growth; nay. 
 Oak 'in the Summer: but all vimineous trees, silente lund, such as 
 Sallows, Birch, Poplar, &c. Vegetius, for ship timber, from the 
 fifteenth to the twenty-fifth, the Moon as before. In his ' French 
 Gardener,' a translation from the French, Evelyn makes a few 
 allusions to the Moon's influence on gardening and grafting 
 coerations, and in his Kahndarium Hortense we find him acknow- 
 ledging its supremacy more than once ; but he had doubtless 
 begun to lose faith in the scrupulous direcSlions bequeathed by the 
 Romans. In his introduftion to the ' Kalendar he says:--'' We 
 are yet far from imposing (by any thing we have here alledged 
 concerning these menstrual periods) those nice and hypercritical 
 pundtillos which some. astrologers, and such as pursue these rules 
 seern to oblige our gard'ners to; as if forsooth all were lost, and 
 our pa^ns to no purpose, unless the sowing and the planting, the 
 ffJntfnd the pruning, were performed in such and such an exadl 
 ""^uA oAteMoZ In hacauUm runs discipUna non desideratur 
 
172 pfant bore, hzg&r^f, oHS bijric/. 
 
 ejusmodi scrupulositas. [Columella] . There are indeed some certain 
 seasons and suspecta tempora, which the prudent gard'ner ought 
 carefully (as much as in him lies) to prevent : but as to the rest, 
 let it suffice that he diligently follow the observations which (by 
 great industry) we have colledted together, and here present him." 
 The opinion of John Evelyn, thus expressed, doubtless shook 
 the faith of gardeners in the efficacy of lunar influence on plants, 
 and, as a rule, we find no mention of the Moon in the instructions, 
 contained in the gardening books pubUshed after his death. It 
 is true that Charles Evelyn, in ' The Pleasure and Profit of 
 Gardening Improved' (1717) directs that Stock Gilliflower seeds 
 should be sown at the full of the Moon in April, and makes several 
 other references to the influence of the Moon on these plants ; but 
 this is an exception to the general rule, and in 'The Retired 
 Gardener,' a translation from the French of Louis Liger, printed 
 in 1 7 17, the ancient belief in the Moon's supremacy in the plant 
 kingdom received its death-blow. The work referred to was 
 published under the direction of London and Wise, Court Nursery- 
 men to Queen Anne, and in the first portion of it, which is arranged 
 in the form of a conversation between a gentleman and his 
 gardener, occurs the following passage : — 
 
 Gent. — " I have heard several old gardeners say that vigorous trees ought to be 
 prun'd in the Wane, and those that are more sparing of their shoots in the Increase. 
 Their reason is, that the pruning by no means promotes the fruit if it be not done in 
 the Wane. They add that the reason why some trees are so long before they bear 
 fruit is, because they v^ere planted or grafted either in the Increase or Full of the 
 Moon.' 
 
 Card. — " Most of the old gardeners virere of that opinion, and there are some 
 who continue still to be misled by the same error. But 'tis certain that they bear no 
 ground for such an imagination, as I have observ'd, having succeeded in my gardening 
 without such a superstitious observation of the Moon. However, I don't urge this 
 upon my own authority, but refer my self to M. de la Quintinie, who deserves more 
 to be believed than my self. These are his words : — 
 
 ' I solemnly declare [saith he] that after a diligent observation of the Moon's 
 changes for thirty years together, and an enquiry whether they had any influence on 
 gardening, the affirmation of which has been so long established among us, I per- 
 ceiv'd that it was no weightier than old wives' tales, and that it has been advanc'd by 
 unexperienc'd gardeners.' 
 
 "And a little after: 'I have therefore follow'd what appear'd most reasonable, 
 and rejected what was otherwise. In short, graft in what time of the Moon you 
 please, if your graft be good, and grafted in a proper stock, provided you do it like an 
 artist, you will be sure to succeed .... In the same manner [continues he] sow what 
 sorts of grain you please, and plant as you please, in any Quarter of the Moon, I'll 
 answer for your success ; the first and last day of the Moon being equally favourable.' 
 This is the opinion of a man who must be allow'd to have been the most experienc'd 
 in this age." 
 
 pPanf^ of tfte Mooi^. 
 
 The Germans call Mondveilchen (Violet of the Moon), the 
 Lunaria annua, the Leucoion, also known as the Flower of the Cow, 
 that is to say, of the cow lo, one of the names of the Moon. The 
 old classic legend relates that this daughter of Inachus, because she 
 
^Pant/" of tfte Mooi^. 1 73 
 
 was beloved by Jupiter, fell under the jealous displeasure of Juno, 
 and was much persecuted by her. Jupiter therefore changed his 
 beautiful mistress into the cow lo, and at his request, Tellus (the 
 Earth) caused a certain herb {Salutaris, the herb of Isis) to spring 
 up, in order to provide for the metamorphosed nymph suitable 
 nourishment. In the Vedic writings, the Moon is represented as 
 slaying monsters and serpents, and it is curious to note that the 
 Moonwort (Lunaria), Southernwood [Artemisia), and Selenite (from 
 Selene, a name of the Moon), are all supposed to have the power of 
 repelling serpents. Plutarch, in his work on rivers, tells us that 
 near the river Trachea grew a herb called Selenite, from the foliage 
 of which trickled a frothy liquid with which the herdsmen anointed 
 their feet in the Spring m order to render them impervious to the 
 bites of serpents. This foam, says De Gubernatis, reminds one of 
 the dew which is found in the morning sprinkled over herbs and 
 plants, and which the ancient Greeks regarded as a gift of the 
 nymphs who accompanied the goddess Artemis, or Diana, the lunar 
 
 deity. 
 
 Numerous Indian plants are named after the Moon, the 
 principal being the Cardamine ; the Cocculus cordifolius (the Moon's 
 Laughter) ; a species of Solanum called the Flower of the Moon ; 
 the Asclepias acida, the Somalatd, the plant that produces Soma; 
 Sandal-wood (beloved of the Moon) ; Camphor (named after the 
 Moon) ; the Convolvulus Turpethum, called the Half-Moon ; and 
 many other plants named after Soma, a lunar synonym. 
 
 In a Hindu poem, the Moon is called the fructifier of vegetation 
 and the guardian of the celestial ambrosia, and it is not surprising 
 therefore to find that in India the mystic Moon-tree, the Soma, the 
 tree which produces the divine and immortalising ambrosia is 
 worshipped as the lunar god. Soma, the moon-god, produces the 
 revivifying dew of the early morn ; Soma, the Moon-tree, the ex- 
 hilarating ambrosia. The Moon is cold and humid : it is from her 
 the plants receive their sap, says Prof. De Gubernatis, "and thanks 
 to the Moon that they multiply, and that vegetation prospers. 
 There is nothing very wonderful, therefore, if the movements of the 
 Moon preside in a general way over agricultural operations, and if 
 it exercises a special influence on the health and accouchements ot 
 women who are said to represent Water, the humid element. 
 The Roman goddess Lucina (the Moon) presided over accouchements, 
 and had under her care the Dittany and the Mugwort [or Mother- 
 wort] (Artemisia, from Artemis, the lunar goddess), considered, 
 like the Vedic Soma, to be the queen or mother of the herbs. 
 
 Thus Macer says of it : — 
 
 " Herharum mairem justum puto ponere prima ; 
 Pracipue morbis muliebribm ilia medetur." 
 
 This influence of the Moon over the female portion of the 
 human race has led to a class of plants being associated either 
 
174 pfant Isorc, teege^/, dHsl Tsijrio/", 
 
 direcTlly with the luminary or with the goddesses who were formerly 
 thought to impersonate or embody it. Thus we find the Chry- 
 santhemum leucanthemum named the Moon Daisy, because its shape 
 resembles the pictures of a full moon, the type of a class of plants 
 which Dr. Prior points out, " on the Dodtrine of Signatures, were 
 exhibited in uterine complaints, and dedicated in pagan times to 
 the goddess of the Moon and regulator of monthly periods, 
 Artemis, whom Horsley (on Hosea ix., lo) would identify with Isis, 
 the goddess of the Egyptians, with Juno Lucina, and with Eileithuia, 
 a deity who had special charge over the functions of women — an 
 office in Roman Catholic mythology assigned to Mary Magdalene 
 and Margaret." The Costmary, or Maudeline-wort {Balsamita vul- 
 garis) ; the Maghet, or May-weed {Pyrethmm Parthenium) ; the Mather, 
 or Maydweed {Anthemis Cotula); the Daisy, or Marguerite {Bdlis 
 pennnis) ; the Achillea Matricaria, &c., are all plants which come 
 under the category of lunar herbs in their connection with feminine 
 complaints. 
 
 Ufie Mar^ ii^ tfte Moon. 
 Chaucer describes the Moon as Lady Cynthia : — 
 
 " Her gite was gray and full of spottis blake. 
 And on her brest a chorle paintid ful even 
 Bearing a bush of Thornis on his bake 
 Which for his theft might climb no ner the haven." 
 
 Allusion is here made to the Man in the Moon, bearing a 
 Thorn-bush on his shoulders — one of the most widely-diffused 
 superstitions still extant. It is curious that, in several legends 
 respecting this inhabitant of the Moon, he is represented as having 
 been engaged, when on earth, in gardening operations. Kuhn 
 relates a tradition in the Havel country. One Christmas Eve, a 
 peasant felt a great desire to eat a Cabbage; and, having none 
 himself, he slipped stealthily into his neighbour's garden to cut 
 some. Just as he had filled his basket, the Christ Child rode past 
 on his white horse, and said: "Because thou hast stolen in the 
 holy night, thou shalt immediately sit in the Moon with thy basket 
 of Cabbage." At Paderhorn, in Westphalia, the crime committed 
 was not theft, but hindering people from attending church on 
 Easter-Day, by placing a Thorn-bush in the field-gate through 
 which they had to pass. In the neighbourhood of Wittingen, the 
 man is said to have been exiled to the Moon because he tied up 
 his brooms on Maunday Thursday; and at Deilinghofen, of having 
 mown the Grass in his meadows on Sunday. A Swabian mother 
 at Derendingen will tell her child that a man was once working 
 in his vineyard on Sunday, and after having pruned aU his Vines, 
 he made a bundle of the shoots he had just cut off, laid it in his 
 basket, and went home. According to one version, the Vine-shoots 
 were stolen from a neighbour's Vineyard. When taxed either with 
 
JRe Mai2 irj tfte Moot^. 175 
 
 Sabbath-breaking or with the theft, the culprit loudly protested 
 his innocence, and at length exclaimed : " If I have committed this 
 crime, may I be sent to the Moon ! " After his death this fate 
 duly befell him, and there he remains to this day. The Black 
 Forest peasants relate that a certain man stole a bundle of wood 
 on Sunday because he thought on that day he should be un- 
 molested by the foresters. However, on leaving the forest, he met 
 a stranger, who was no other than the Almighty himself. After 
 reproving the thief for not keeping the Sabbath-day holy, God said 
 he must be punished, but he might choose whether he would be 
 banished to the Sun or to the Moon. The man chose the latter, 
 declaring he would rather freeze in the Moon than burn in the 
 Sun ; and so the Broom-man came into the Moon with his faggot 
 on his back. At Hemer, in Westphalia, the legend runs that a 
 man was engaged in fencing his garden on Good Friday, and had 
 just poised a bundle of Thorns on his fork when he was at once 
 transported to the Moon. Some of the Hemer peasants, however, 
 declare that the Moon is not only inhabited by a man with a 
 Thorn-bush and pitchf6rk, but also by his wife, who is churning, 
 and was exiled to the Moon for using a churn on Sunday. Accord- 
 ing to other traditions, the figure in the Moon is that of Isaac 
 bearing the faggot on his shoulders for his own sacrifice on Mount 
 Moriah ; or Cain with a bundle of Briars ; or a tipsy man who for 
 his audacity in threatening the Moon with a Bramble he held in 
 his hand, was drawn up to this planet, and has remained there to 
 the present day. 
 
^$^$$«$^$¥$$$¥«.«*i!?¥««*««*««^««»«««*«*««*»«««S« 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 pfaat ^iJ'T^'&of^f'T] cil^t) language. 
 
 HE antiquity of floral emblems probably dates 
 from the time when the human heart first beat 
 with the gentle emotions of affedlion or throbbed 
 with the wild pulsations of love. Then it was 
 that man sought to express through the instru- 
 mentality of flowers his love of purity and 
 beauty, or to typify through their aid the ardour 
 of his passionate desires; for the symbolism of 
 flowers, it has been conjectured, was first conceived as a parable 
 speaking to the eye and thence teaching the heart. 
 
 Driven, in his struggle for existence, to learn the properties 
 of plants in order to obtain wholesome food, man found that 
 with the beauty of their form and colour they spoke lovingly 
 to him. They could be touched, tasted, handled, planted, sown, 
 and reaped : they were useful, easily converted into simple articles 
 of clothing, or bent, twisted, and cut into weapons and tools. 
 Flowers became a language to man very early, and according 
 to their poisonous, soothing, or nutritious qualities, or on account 
 of some peculiarities in their growth or shape which seemed to 
 tell upon the mysteries of life, birth, and death, he gave them 
 names which thenceforth became words and symbols to him of 
 these phenomena. 
 
 Glimpses of the ancient poetical plant symbolism have been 
 found amid the ruins of temples, graven on the sides of rocks, and 
 inscribed on the walls of mighty caves where the early nations of 
 India, Assyria, Chaldaea, and Egypt knelt in adoration. The 
 Chinese from time immemorial have known a comprehensive 
 system of floral signs and emblems, and the Japanese have ever 
 possessed a mode of communicating by symbolic flowers. Persian 
 literature abounds in chaste and poetical allegories, which demon- 
 strate the antiquity of floral symbolism in that far Eastern land : 
 thus we are told that Sadi the poet, when a slave, presented to his 
 tyrant master a Rose accompanied with this pathetic appeal : — 
 " Do good to thy servant whilst thou hast the power, for the season 
 of power is often as transient as the duration of this beautiful 
 
pfant ^^mSoPj^o^. 177 
 
 flower." The beauty of the symbol melted the heart of his lord, 
 and the slave obtained his liberty. 
 
 The Hindu racs are passionately fond of flowers, and their 
 ancient Sanscrit books and poems are full of allusions to their 
 beauty and symbolic chara^er. With them, the flower of the field 
 is venerated as a symbol of fecundity. In their mythology, at the 
 beginning of all things there appeared in the waters the expanded 
 Lotus -blossom, the emblematic flower of life and light ; the Sun, 
 Moon, and Stars are flowers in the celestial garden ; the Sun's 
 ray is a full-blown Rose, which springs from the waters and feeds 
 the sacrificial fire ; the Lightning is a garland of flowers thrown by 
 Narada. Pushpa (flower), or Pushpaka, (flowery), is the epithet 
 applied to the luminous car of the god Kuvera, which was seized 
 by Rivana, the royal monster of Lanki, and recaptured by the 
 demi-god Rima, the incarnation of Vishnu. The bow of Kama, 
 the Indian Cupid, darts forth flowers in the guise of arrows. The 
 Indian poetic lover gathers from the flowers a great number of 
 chaste and beautiful symbols. The following description of a 
 young maiden struck down by illness is a fair example of this : — 
 "All of a sudden the blighting glance of unpropitious fortune 
 having fallen on that Rose-cheeked Cypress, she laid her head on 
 the pillow of sickness ; and in the flower-garden of her beauty, 
 in place of the Damask Rose, sprang up the branch of the Saffron. 
 Her fresh Jasmine, from the violence of the burning illness, lost its 
 moisture, and her Hyacinth, full of curls, lost all its endurance 
 from the fever that consumed her." 
 
 It was with the classic Greeks, however, that floral symbolism 
 reached its zenith : not only did the Hellenic race entertain an ex- 
 traordinary passion for flowers, but with consummate skill they 
 devised a code of floral types and emblems adapted to all phases 
 of public and private life. As Loudon writes, when speaking of the 
 emblematic use made by the Greeks of flowers : — " Not only were 
 they then, as now, the ornament of a beauty, and of the altars of the 
 gods, but the youths crowned themselves with them in the f^tes, 
 the priests in religious ceremonies, and the guests in convivial 
 meetings. Garlands of flowers were suspended from the gates 
 of the city in the times of rejoicing . . . the philosophers 
 wore crowns of flowers, and the warriors ornamented their fore- 
 heads with them in times of triumph." The Romans, although they 
 adopted most of the floral symbolic lore of their Hellenic prede- 
 cessors, and in the case of emblematic garlands were particularly 
 refined, were still evidently not so passionately fond of floral 
 symbolism as were the Greeks ; and with the decadence of the 
 Empire, the attractive art gradually fell into oblivion. 
 
 The science of plant symbolism may, if we accept the views 
 of Miss Marshall, a writer on the subjedl,* be classified into five 
 
 * ' Plant Symbolism,' in ' Natural History Notes,' Vol. II. 
 
178 pPant Isore, IsegeT^ti/, dJnii. bijfio/. 
 
 divisions. These are, firstly, plants which are s3nnbols, pure and 
 simple, of the Great Unknown God, or Heaven Father; and em- 
 brace those, the form, colour, or other peculiarities of which led the 
 priests, the early thinkers to the community, the medicine-men, 
 magicians, and others, to associate them with ideas of the far- 
 distant, unknown, incomprehensible, and overwhelming — the de- 
 stru<flive forces of Nature. Such plants were used as hieroglyphics 
 for these ideas, and became symbols of the Deity or Supreme 
 Power. To these visible symbols belong plants such as the Lily, 
 Onion, flowers of heavenly blue colour (symbolising the blue sky), 
 and leaves threefold or triangular, symbolising God the Creator, 
 Preserver, and Destroyer. 
 
 Secondly, the plants symbolising or suggesting portions or 
 organs of the human body, internal and external, which to the 
 earliest of mankind, and certainly to the Egyptian embalmers, 
 were organs of mystery and importance; such is the heart, the 
 first to beat in the foetal, and the last to cease pulsating in the 
 adult organism, &c. To this sedlion belong heart-shaped leaves 
 and petals ; and where, as in the Shamrock, there is united the 
 threefold emblem and the heart-shaped leaf, there is a doubly 
 sacred idea united with the form. To this sedlion belong also 
 plants and fruits siich as the Fig, Pomegranate, &c. 
 
 The third sedlion comprises plants that were consecrated 
 or set apart as secret and sacred, because those who pos- 
 sessed the knowledge of their powers made use of them to awe 
 the ignorant people of their race. These plants were supposed to 
 be under the control of the good or evil powers. They were the 
 narcotics, the stupefying or the exciting vegetable drugs. The 
 sacred incense in all temples was compounded of these, and 
 their use has been, and still is, common to all countries; and as 
 some of these compounds produced extraordinary or deadly 
 effects, as the very dust of the burnt incense, when mixed with 
 water, and drunk, brought on a violent and agonising death, while 
 the fumes might merely produce delightful and enticing ecstacy, 
 making men and women eloquent and seemingly inspired, the 
 knowledge was wisely kept secret from the people, and severe 
 penalties — sometimes even death — awaited those who illegally 
 imitated, compounded, or used these drugs. To this sedlion 
 belong the plants used to make the Chinese and Japanese joss, 
 as well as Opium, Tobacco, Stramonium, and various opiates now 
 well known. 
 
 The fourth sedlion comprises those plants which in all countries 
 have been observed to bear some resemblance to parts of the 
 human body. Such plants were valued and utilised as heaven- 
 sent guides in the treatment of the ills flesh is heir to ; and they 
 are the herbs whose popular names among the inhabitants of 
 every land have become " familiar in their mouths as household 
 words." To such belong the Birth-wort, Kidney-wort, Lung- 
 
pfarit ^H'Ti^ofi/'n^' 179 
 
 wort, Liver-wort, Pile-wort, Nit-grass, Tooth-cress, Heart-clover, 
 and many others known to the ancient herbalists. It was their 
 endeavours to find out whether or no the curious forms, spots, and 
 markings of such plants really indicated their curative powers, that 
 led to the properties of other herbs being discovered, and a sug- 
 gestive nomenclature being adopted for them, such as is found in 
 the names Eyebright, Flea-bane, Canker -weed. Hunger - grass, 
 Stone-break, &c. 
 
 Lastly, in the fifth sedtion of symbolical plants we come to 
 those which point to a time when symbols were expressed by 
 letters, such as appear on the .Martagon Lily — the true poetical 
 Hyacinth of the Greeks — on the petals of which are traced the 
 woeful AI, AI, — the expression of the grief of Phoebus at the death 
 of the fair Adonis. 
 
 " In the flower he weaved 
 
 The sad impression of his sighs ; which bears 
 
 Ai, At, displayed in funeral characters." 
 
 In this sedlion also are included plants which exhibit in some 
 portion of their structure typical markings, such as the Astragalus, 
 which in its root depidls the stars ; the Banana, whose fruit, when 
 cut, exhibits a representation of the lioly Cross ; and the Bracken 
 Fern, whose stem, when sliced, exhibits traces of letters which are 
 sometimes used for the purposes of love divination. In Ireland, 
 however, the Pteris aquUina is called the Fern of God, because the 
 people imagine that if the stem be cut into three sections, on the 
 first of these sedtions will be seen the letter G, on the second O, 
 and on the third D — forming the sacred word God. 
 
 In the science of plant symbols, not only the names, but the 
 forms, perfumes, and properties of plants have to be considered, as 
 well as the numerical arrangements of their parts. Thus of all sacred 
 symbolical plants, those consisting of petals or calyx-sepals, or 
 leaves, divided into the number Five, were formerly held m peculiar 
 reverence, because among the races of antiquity five was for ages a 
 sacred number. The reason of this is thus explained by Bunsen :— 
 " It is well known," he says, " that the numeral o»«, the undivided, 
 the eternal, is placed in antithesis to all other numerals. The 
 figure four included the perfefl ten, as i+24-3-f4= 10. So four- 
 represents the All of the universe. Now if we put these together, 
 4+1 will be the sign of the whole God-Universe." Three is a 
 number sacred to the most ancient as well as modern worship. 
 Pythagoras called it the perfeft number, expressive of " beginning, 
 middle, and end," and therefore he made it a symbol of deity. 
 Three therefore plays its rdle in plant symbology. Thus the 
 Emblica officinalis, one of the sacred plants of India, was once the 
 exclusive property of the priests, who kept its medicinal virtues 
 ^Prref it was held in peculiar reverence because of its flowers 
 Dossessing a six-parted calyx; three stamens, combined; three 
 dkhoSmous styles; a fleshy fruit, tncoccous and s,x_-seeded ; 
 
r8o pPant Tsofe, kegeT^t)/, cmsl btji-Io/. 
 
 these being all the sacred or double number oi Three. In later days, 
 the Shamrock or Trefoil, and the Pansy, or Herb Trinity, were re- 
 garded as Symbolising the Trinity. Cruciform flowers are, at the 
 present day, all regarded as of good omen, having been marked 
 with the Sign of the Cross, and thus symbolising Redemption. 
 
 The presence of flowers as symbols and language on the 
 monuments of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, India, and other countries 
 of the past, and the graceful floral adornments sculptured on 
 the temples of the Grseco-Roman period, demonstrate how great 
 a part flower and plant symbolism played in the early history of 
 mankind. The Jews, learning the art from the Egyptians, pre- 
 served it in their midst, and introduced plant emblems in their 
 Tabernacle, in their Temple, and on the garments of the priests. 
 Flowers with golden rays became symbols of the Sun ; and as the 
 Sun was the giver of life and warmth, the bringer of fertility, tha 
 symbolic flowers stood as symbol-words for these great gifts ; and 
 gradually all the mysterious phenomena conne(5led with birth, 
 reproduction, and fecundity, were represented in plant, flower, end 
 fruit symbolism; for not only were flowers early used as a pictorial 
 language, but the priests made use of fruits, herbs, shrubs, and 
 trees to symbolise light, life, warmth, and generation. Let us take 
 a few examples : — When in the Spring, church altars and fonts are 
 piously adorned with white Lilies, which are, in some countries, 
 carried about, worn, and presented by ladies to each other in the 
 month of May, few of them, we may be sure, imagine that they 
 are perpetuating the plant symbolism of the Sun-worship of 
 ancient Egypt. Miss Marshall tells us that " in Catholic countries 
 the yellow anthers are carefully removed; their white filaments 
 alone are left, not, as folks think, that the flower may remain pure 
 white, but that the fecundating or male organs being removed, the 
 Lilies may be true flower symbols or visible words for pure 
 virgins ; for the white dawn as yet unwedded to the day — for the 
 pure cold Spring as yet yielding no blossoms and Summer fruits." 
 
 Of the flowers consecrated to their deities by the symbol- 
 worshipper of India and Egypt, the most prominent is the sacred 
 Lotus, whose leaf was the "emblem and cradle of creative might." 
 It was anciently revered in Egypt as it is now in Hindustan, 
 Thibet, and Nepaul, where the people believe it was in the con- 
 secrated bosom of this plant that Brahma was born, and that 
 Osiris delights to float. From its peculiar organisation the Lotus 
 is virtually self-productive: hence it became the symbol of the 
 reproductive power of all nature, and was worshipped as a symbol 
 of the All-Creative Power. The same floral symbol occurs wherever 
 in the northern hemisphere symbolic religion has prevailed. The 
 sacred images of the Tartars, Japanese, and Indians are almost 
 all represented as resting upon Lotus-leaves. The Chinese divinity, 
 Puzza, is seated in a Lotus, and the Japanese god is represented 
 sitting in a Water-Lily. The Onion^was formerly held in the 
 
pfant ^^m^o?l|■rrl. ,8i 
 
 highest esteem as a religious symbol in the mysterious solemnities 
 and divinations of the Egyptians and Hindus. In the first place, 
 its delicate red veins and fibres rendered it an object of venera- 
 tion, as typifying the blood, at the shedding of which the Hindu 
 shudders. Secondly, it was regarded as an astronomical emblem, 
 for on cutting through it, there appeared beneath the external coat 
 a. succession of orbs, one within another, in regular order, after 
 the manner of revolving spheres. The Rose has been made a 
 symbolic flower in every age. In the East, it is the emblem of 
 virtue and loveliness. The Egyptians made it a symbol of silence ; 
 the Romans regarded it as typical of festivity. In modern times 
 it is considered the appropriate symbol of beauty and love, — ^the 
 half-expanded bud representing the first dawn of the sublime 
 passion, and the full-blown flower the maturity of perfedt love. 
 The Asphodel, likcthe Hyacinth of the ancients, was regarded as 
 an emblem of grief and sorrow. The Myrtle, from its being 
 dedicated to Venus, was sacred as a symbol of love and beauty. 
 White flowers were held to be typical of light and innocence, and 
 were consecrated to virgins. Sombre and dark-foliaged plants 
 were held to be typical of disaster and death. 
 
 The floral symbols of the Scriptures are worthy of notice. 
 From the circumstance of Elijah having been sheltered from the 
 persecutions of King Ahab by the Juniper, that tree has become a 
 symbol of succour or an asylunu The Almond was an emblem of 
 haste and vigilance to the Hebrew writers; with Eastern poets, 
 however, it was regarded as a symbol of hope. Throughout the 
 East, the Aloe is regarded as a religious symbol, and is greatly 
 venerated. It is expressive of grief and bitterness, and is religiously 
 planted by the Mahommedans at the extremity of every grave. 
 Burckhardt says that they call it by the Arabic name Saber, signi- 
 fying patience — a singularly appropriate name ; for as the plant is 
 evergreen, it whispers to those who mourn for the loved ones 
 they have lost, patience in their affliction. The Clover is another 
 sacred plant symbol. St. Patrick chose it as an emblem of the 
 Trinity when engaged in converting the Irish, who have ever since, 
 in the Shamrock, regarded it as a representative pla.nt. The 
 Druids thought very highly of the Trefoil because its leaf symbo- 
 lised the three departments of nature — ^the earth, the sea, and the 
 heaven. 
 
 But of all plant symbols, none can equal m beauty or sanctity 
 the Passion Flower, the lovely blossom of which, when first met 
 with by the Spanish conquerors of the New World, suggested to 
 their enthusiastic imagination the story of our Saviour's Passion. 
 The Jesuits professed to find in the several parts of the Maracot 
 the crown of thorns, the scourge, the pillar, the sponge, the nails, 
 and the five wounds, and they issued drawings representmg the 
 flower with its inflorescence distorted to suit their statements 
 regarding its almost miraculous chara^er. Jphn . P.arkmson, m 
 
l82 
 
 pfant Isore, Is&cfer^f, orTS T3ijpi<y. 
 
 his Paradisus Terrestris (1629), gives a good figure of the Virginian 
 species of the plant, as well as an engraving of " The Jesuites 
 Figure of the Maracoc — Granadillus Frutex Indicus Christi Passionis 
 Imago." But, as a good Protestant, he feels bound to enter his 
 protest against the superstitious regard paid to the flower by the 
 Roman Catholics, and so he writes : " Some superstitious Jesuites 
 would fain make men believe that in the flower of this plant are to 
 
 Ctlt ]3Beeilill>aoi)]R of tlic 3rauitf . From Parkintrn's Paradisus. 
 
 be seen all the markes of our Saviour's Passion : and therefore call 
 it Flos Passionis : and to that end have caused figures to be drawn 
 and printed, with all the parts proportioned out, as thornes, nailes, 
 spear, whip, pillar, &c., in it, and as true as the sea burns, which 
 you may well perceive by the true figure taken to the life of the 
 plant, compared with the figure set forth by the Jesuites, which I 
 ^ave placed here likewise for everyone to see : but these be their 
 advantageous lies (which with them are tolerable, or rather pious 
 
^Pant ^^m^o?lfrrl. 183 
 
 and meritorious) wherewith they use to instrudt their people ; but 
 I dare say, God never willed His priests to instru(5t His people with 
 lies: for they come from the Devill, the author of them." 
 
 In early times, it was customary in Europe to employ parti- 
 cular colours for the purpose of indicating ideas and feelings, and 
 in France where the symbolical meaning of colours was formed 
 into a regular system, much importance was attached to the art of 
 symbolising by the selecflion of particular colours for dresses, 
 ornaments, &c. In this way, flowers of various hues became the 
 apt media of conveying ideas and feelings ; and in the ages of 
 chivalry the enamoured knight often indicated his passion by 
 wearing a single blossom or posy of many-hued flowers. In the 
 romance of Perceforet, a hat adorned with Roses is celebrated as a 
 favourite gift of love ; and in Amadis de Gaule, the captive Oriana 
 is represented as throwing to her lover a Rose wet with tears, as 
 the sweetest pledge of her unalterable faith. Red was recognised 
 as the colour of love, and therefore the Rose, on account of its 
 tint, was a favourite emblem. Of the various allegorical meanings 
 which were in the Middle Ages attached to this lovely flower, 
 a description will be found in the celebrated Romaunt de la Rose, 
 which was commenced in the year 1620 by Guillaume de Lorris, 
 and finished forty years later by Jean de Meung. 
 
 In France, during the Middle Ages, flowers were much em- 
 ployed as emblems of love and friendship. At the banquet given in 
 celebration of the marriage of Charles the Bold, Duke of Bur- 
 gundy, with the English Princess, Margaret, several ingenious auto- 
 mata were introduced, one being a large unicorn, bearing on its 
 back a leopard, which held in one claw the standard of England, 
 and on the other a Daisy, or Marguerite. The unicorn having gone 
 round all the tables, halted before the Duke ; and one of the 
 maitres d'hdtel, taking the Daisy from the leopard's claw, presented 
 it, with a complimentary address, to the royal bridegroom. 
 
 In the same country, an act of homage, unique m its kind, was 
 paid to a lady in the early part of the seventeenth century. The 
 Duke of Montausier, on obtaining the promise of the hand of 
 Mademoiselle de Rambouillet, sent to her, according to custom, 
 every morning till that fixed for the nuptials, a bouquet composed 
 of the finest flowers of the season. But this was not all : on the 
 morning of New Year's Day, 1634-the day appointed for the 
 marriage— he laid upon her dressing-table a magnificently-bound 
 folio volume, on the parchment leaves of which the most skilful 
 artists of the day had painted from nature a series of the choicest 
 flowers cultivated at that time in Europe. The first poets of 
 Paris contributed the poetical illustrations, which were written by 
 the cleverest penmen under the different flowers. The most 
 celebrated of these madrigals, composed by Chapelain on the 
 Crown Imperial, represented that superb Aower as having sprung 
 from the blood of Gustavus Adolphus, who fell in the battle of 
 
t84 pfant bore, Tsegel^b/, orisl bijne/. 
 
 Liitzen ; and thus paid, in the name of the Swedish hero, a delicate 
 compliment to the bride, who was a professed admirer of his 
 character. According to a statement published some years since, 
 this magnificent volume, which was called, after the name of the 
 lady, the Garland of Julia, was disposed of, in 1784, at the sale of 
 the Duke de la Valliere's effects, for fifteen thousand five hundred 
 and ten Hvres (about ;£65o), and was brought to England. 
 
 The floral emblems of Shakspeare are evidence of the great 
 poet's fondness for flowers and his delicate appreciation of their 
 uses and similitudes. In ' A Winter's Tale,' Perdita is made to 
 present appropriate flowers to her visitors, symbolical of their 
 various ages ; but the most remarkable of Shakspeare's floral 
 symbols occur where poor Ophelia is wearing, in her madness, 
 "fantastic garlands of wild flowers "—denoting the bewildered 
 state of her faculties. 
 
 The order of these flowers runs thus, with the meaning of each 
 term beneath : — 
 
 Crow Flowers, Nettles. Daisies. Long Purples. 
 
 Fayre Mayde. Stung to the Her Virgin Under the cold 
 
 Quick. Bloom. hand of Death . 
 
 " A fair maid, stung to the quick ; her virgin bloom under the cold hand of 
 death." 
 
 Probably no wreath could have been selected more truly 
 typifying the sorrows of this beautiful victim of disappointed love 
 and filial sorrow. 
 
 The most noted code of floral signs, used as a language by the 
 Turkish and Greek women in the Levant, and by the African 
 females on the coast of Barbary, was introduced into Western 
 Europe by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and La Mortraie, the 
 companion in exile of Charles XII., and obtained in France and- 
 England much popularity as the " Turkish Language of Flowers." 
 This language is said to be much employed in the Turkish harems, 
 where the women pradlise it, either for the sake of mere diversion 
 in their seclusion, or for carrying on secret communication. 
 
 In France and Germany, the language of flowers has taken deep 
 root, and in our own country the poetic symbolisms of Shakspeare, 
 Chaucer, Herrick, Drayton, and others of the earlier bards, laid the 
 groundwork for the very complete system of floral emblemism, or lan- 
 guage of flowers, which we now possess. ' A great many works have 
 been published, containing floral codes, or didlionaries : most of 
 these, however, possess but little merit as expositions of old 
 symbols or traditions, and have been compiled principally from 
 modern sources. 
 
 An ancient floral vocabulary, taken from Dierbach's Flora 
 Mythologica der Griechen und Romer, and an approved modern 
 English ' Dicftionary of Flowers,' are appended, in order to make 
 this portion of our subjedl: complete. 
 
Hfie Tsanguage of Sfocuefy, 
 
 185 
 
 
 eKneient sJfomf ^oeaSufa 
 
 'H- 
 
 Absinth 
 
 . The Bitterness and Tor- 
 
 Honeysuckle .. 
 
 Bond of Affection. 
 
 
 ments of Love. 
 
 Hyacinth 
 
 Amenity. 
 
 Acacia ... 
 
 . Love, pure and platonic. 
 
 Hydrangea 
 
 Coldness. 
 
 Acanthus 
 
 . Love of Fine Arts. 
 
 T ■ 
 
 Ins 
 
 Indifference. 
 
 Althea ... 
 
 . Exquisite Sweetness. 
 
 Ivy 
 
 Attachment. 
 
 Amaranth 
 
 . Fidelityand Constancy. 
 
 Jasmine 
 
 Amiability. 
 
 Anemone 
 
 . Abandonment. 
 
 Jonquil 
 
 Amorous Languor. 
 
 Angelica 
 
 . Gentle Melancholy. 
 
 Jujube-tree 
 
 Relief 
 
 Argentine 
 
 . Ingenuity. 
 
 Larkspur 
 
 Open Heart. 
 
 Aster ... 
 
 . Elegance. 
 
 Laurel 
 
 Victory and Glory. 
 
 Balsam... 
 
 . Impatience. 
 
 Lavender 
 
 Silence. 
 
 Basil ... 
 
 . Poverty. 
 
 Lilac 
 
 First Troubles of Love. 
 
 Betony... 
 
 . Emotion and Surprise. 
 
 Lily 
 
 . Purity and Majesty. 
 
 Bindweed 
 
 . Coquetry. 
 
 Maidenhair .. 
 
 Bond of Love. 
 
 Bluet ... 
 
 . Clearness and Light. 
 
 Marjoram 
 
 . Consolation. 
 
 Box 
 
 . Firmness and Stoicism. 
 
 Marvel of Peru. . 
 
 . Flame of Love. 
 
 Bramble 
 
 . Injustice and Envy. 
 
 Mallow 
 
 . Maternal Tenderness 
 
 Burdock 
 
 . Importunity. 
 
 Mint 
 
 Wisdom and Virtue. 
 
 Buttercup 
 
 . Sarcasm. 
 
 Milfoil 
 
 Cure and Recovery. 
 
 Calendula 
 
 . Anxiety. 
 
 Moonwort 
 
 . Bad Payment. 
 
 Camellia. 
 
 . Constancy and Stead- 
 
 Myrtle 
 
 . Love. 
 
 
 fastness. 
 
 Narcissus 
 
 Self-esteem and Fatuity 
 
 Carrot ... 
 
 . Good Character. 
 
 Nettle 
 
 Cruelty. 
 
 Cinquefoil 
 
 . Maternal Love. 
 
 Olive 
 
 Peace. 
 
 Colchicum 
 
 . Bad Character. 
 
 Orange- tree ■ .. 
 
 Vir^nity, Generosity. 
 
 Cypress 
 
 , Mourning and Grief. 
 
 Peony 
 
 Shame. 
 
 Dahlia ... 
 
 . Sterile Abundance. 
 
 Periwinkle 
 
 Unalterable Friendship. 
 
 Daisy (Easter). 
 
 . Candour and Innocence 
 
 Pineapple 
 
 . Perfection. 
 
 Dandelion 
 
 . Oracle, 
 
 Pink ... 
 
 . Pure and Ardent Love. 
 
 Darnel 
 
 . Vice. 
 
 Poppy 
 
 Sleep. 
 
 Digitalis 
 
 . Work. 
 
 Privet 
 
 . Youth. 
 
 Dittany 
 
 . Discretion. 
 
 Rose 
 
 Beauty and Love. 
 
 Elder ... 
 
 . Humility. 
 
 Rosemary 
 
 . Power of Re-kindling 
 
 Ephemeris 
 
 . Transient Happiness. 
 
 
 extinct Energy. 
 
 Everlasting Flwr. Constancy. 
 
 Rue 
 
 . Fecundity of Fields. 
 
 Fennel ... 
 
 . Merit. 
 
 Sage 
 
 . Esteem. 
 
 Fern 
 
 . Confidence. 
 
 Sensitive-plant.. 
 
 . Modesty. 
 
 Forget-me-not. 
 
 Foxglove 
 
 Fuchsia 
 
 . Faithful Remembrance. 
 
 Solanum . 
 
 Prodigality. 
 
 . Adulation. 
 
 Spindle-tree .. 
 
 Ineffaceable Memory. 
 
 . Amiability. 
 
 Strawberry 
 
 Intoxication, Delight. 
 
 Fumitory 
 Geranium . 
 
 . Hatred. 
 
 Thyme 
 
 . Spontaneous Emotion. 
 
 . Folly. • 
 
 Trefoil 
 
 Uncertainty. 
 
 Hawthorn 
 
 . Sweet Hope. 
 
 Tulip 
 
 . Grandeur. 
 
 Heliotrope 
 Hellebore . 
 
 . Eternal Love.. 
 
 . Wit. 
 
 Valerian 
 Vervain 
 
 . Readiness. 
 
 . Pure Affection. 
 
 Hemlock 
 
 . Perfidy. 
 
 Viburnum 
 
 . Coolness. 
 
 Holly ... 
 
 . Defence. 
 
 Violet 
 
 . Modesty. 
 
 
 eK ©icfionar^ 
 
 ^ of SPoojey. 
 
 Acacia ... ... Friendship. 
 
 Rose ... Elegance. 
 Acanthus ... The Arts. 
 Achillea millefolia War. . 
 Adonis. Flos ... Painful. Recollections. 
 Acrimony ... Thankfulness. 
 
 Almond-tree .. 
 
 Aloe 
 
 Amaranth 
 Amaryllis 
 Anemone . , . 
 Field. .. 
 
 Indiscretion. 
 . Grief. 
 . Immortality. 
 . Piide. 
 . Forsaken, 
 . . Sickness. 
 
i86 
 
 pPant l9ore, IsegeT^ti/, cmR teijricy. 
 
 Angelica 
 
 Angrec 
 
 Apple-blossom.., 
 
 Ash-tree 
 
 Asphodel 
 
 Aster, China ... 
 
 BalmofGilead... 
 
 Gentle ... 
 
 Balsam 
 
 Barberry 
 
 Basil 
 
 Beech 
 
 Bilberry 
 
 Bladder-nut ... 
 
 Borage... 
 
 Box-tree ... 
 
 Bramble 
 
 Broom ... 
 
 Buckbean 
 
 Bugloss 
 
 Bulrush 
 
 Burdock 
 
 Buttercup 
 
 Cactus, Virginia Horror. 
 
 Canterbury Bell Constancy. 
 
 Inspiration. 
 
 Royalty. 
 
 Preference. 
 
 Grandeur. 
 
 My regrets follow you 
 
 to the grave. 
 Variety. 
 After-Thought. 
 Cure. 
 Joking. 
 Impatience. 
 Sourness of Temper. 
 Hate. 
 Prosperity. 
 Treachery. 
 
 Frivolous Amusement. 
 Bluntness. 
 Stoicism. 
 Envy. 
 
 Humility and Neatness 
 Calm Repose. 
 Falsehood. 
 Indiscretion. 
 Touch me not. 
 Ingratitude. 
 
 Catchfly 
 
 Champignon 
 
 Cherry-tree 
 
 Chesnut-tree 
 
 Chicory 
 
 Cinquefoil 
 
 Circsea... 
 
 Clematis 
 
 Clotbur... 
 
 Clove- tree 
 
 Columbine 
 
 Snare 
 
 Suspicion. 
 
 Good Education. 
 
 Do me Justice. 
 
 Frugality. 
 
 Beloved Daughter. 
 
 Spell. 
 
 Artifice. 
 
 Rudeness. 
 
 Dignity. 
 
 Folly. 
 
 Convolvulus (night) Night. 
 Coriander ... Hidden Merit, 
 
 C/om , 
 
 Corn-bottle 
 Cornel Cherry... 
 Cowslip, Amer. 
 
 Cress 
 
 Crown Imperial, 
 Cuscuta 
 
 Cypress 
 Daffodil 
 Daisy ... 
 
 Garden 
 
 Wild 
 
 Dandelion 
 
 Riches. 
 
 Delicacy. 
 
 Durability. 
 
 You are my Divinity. 
 
 Resolution. 
 
 Power. 
 
 Meanness. 
 
 Mourning. 
 
 Self Love. 
 
 Innocence. 
 
 I share your sentiments. 
 
 I will think of it. 
 
 The Riistic Oracle, 
 
 Day Lily, Yellow Coquetry. 
 
 Dittany Childbirth. 
 
 Dock Patience. 
 
 Dodder Meanness, 
 
 Ebony-tree ... Blackness. 
 Eglantine ... Poetry. 
 
 Fennel ... 
 
 Fig 
 
 Fir-tree 
 
 Flax 
 
 Flower-de-Luce. 
 Forget-Me-Not. . 
 Fraxinella 
 Fuller's Teasel.. 
 Geranium 
 
 Strength. 
 
 Longevity. 
 
 Elevations. 
 
 I feel your kindness. 
 
 Flame. 
 
 Forget me not. 
 
 Fire. 
 
 Misanthropy. 
 
 Deceit. 
 
 Oak-leaved. True Friendship. 
 
 Silver-leaved Recall. 
 
 Pencilled-leaf Ingenuity. 
 
 Rose- 
 
 scented ... 
 
 Scarlet 
 
 Sorrowful... 
 
 Wild 
 
 Grass ... ... 
 
 Hawthorn 
 
 Hazel 
 
 Heart's Ease ... 
 
 Heath 
 
 Hehotrope, Peru. 
 
 vian ... 
 Hellenium 
 Hepatica 
 
 Holly 
 
 Hollyhock 
 Honeysuckle ... 
 
 Hop 
 
 Hornbeam 
 
 Horse-Chesnut .. 
 
 Hortensia 
 
 Hyacinth 
 
 Ice-plant 
 
 Ipomoea 
 
 Iris 
 
 Ivy 
 
 Jasmine ,,. 
 
 Carolina ... 
 
 Jonquil 
 
 Juniper 
 
 Larch ... 
 Larkspur 
 
 Laurel 
 
 Laurustinus ... 
 Lavender 
 Leaves, Dead ... 
 
 Lilac 
 
 White ... 
 
 Lily 
 
 Preference. 
 
 Stupidity. 
 
 Melancholy Mind. 
 
 Steadfast Piety. 
 
 Utility. 
 
 Hope. 
 
 Peace, Reconciliation. 
 
 Think of me. 
 
 Solitude. 
 
 Devoted Attachment. 
 
 Tears. 
 
 Confidence. 
 
 Foresight. 
 
 Ambition. 
 
 Generous and Devoted 
 
 Affection. 
 Injustice. 
 Ornament 
 Luxury. 
 You are cold. 
 Game, Play. 
 Your looks freeze me. 
 I attach myself to you. 
 
 Friendship. 
 
 Amiability. 
 
 Separation. 
 
 Desire. 
 
 Protection. 
 
 Boldness. 
 
 Lightness. 
 
 Glory. 
 
 I die if neglected. 
 
 Mistrust. 
 
 Sadness, Melancholy. 
 
 First Emotions of Love. 
 
 Youth. 
 
 Majesty. 
 Lily of the Valley Return of Happiness. 
 Linden-tree ... Conjugal Love. 
 Liverwort ... Confidence. 
 London Pride... Frivolity, 
 
 Lotus Eloquence. 
 
 Lucem Life. 
 
 Madder ... Calumny, 
 
JRc bangaage of iJPocoer/-. 
 
 187 
 
 Maidenhair 
 Mallow ... 
 
 Manchineel-tree 
 
 Maple 
 
 Mandrake ... 
 Marigold 
 
 Prophetic. 
 
 andCypress 
 
 Marvel of Peru. 
 Meadow Saffron. 
 Mezereon 
 
 Mignonette 
 
 Milkwort ... 
 Mistletoe 
 
 Moon wort 
 Moss ... 
 Mulberry-tree, 
 
 Black 
 
 . White ... 
 
 Musk-plant 
 Myrobalan 
 
 Myrtle 
 
 Narcissus 
 
 Nettle 
 
 Nightshade, 
 
 Bitter-sweet... 
 
 Enchanter's 
 
 Nosegay 
 
 Oak 
 
 Olive 
 
 Ophrys, Spider. 
 Orange Flower. 
 
 Tree 
 
 Orchis Bee 
 
 Palm 
 
 Parsley 
 
 Passion Flower. 
 
 Peony 
 
 Peppermint ... 
 
 Periwinkle 
 
 Pineapple 
 
 Pink 
 
 Yellow ... 
 
 Plane-tree 
 Plum-tree 
 
 Wild ... 
 
 Poplar, black ... 
 
 White ... 
 
 Poppy 
 
 White ... 
 
 Potato 
 
 Primrose 
 
 Evening ... 
 
 Privet 
 
 Quince 
 
 Secrecy. 
 
 BeneGcence. 
 
 Falsehood. 
 
 Resehre. 
 
 Rarity. 
 
 Grief. 
 
 Prediction. 
 
 Despair. 
 
 Timidity. 
 
 My best days are past. 
 
 Coquetry. Desire to 
 please. 
 
 Your qualities surpass 
 your charms. 
 
 Hermitage. 
 
 I surmount all diffi- 
 culties. 
 
 Forgetfulness. 
 
 Maternal Love. 
 
 I shall not survive you. 
 
 Wisdom. 
 
 Weakness. 
 
 Privation. 
 
 Love. 
 
 Self Love. 
 
 Cruelty. 
 
 Truth. 
 
 Spell. 
 
 Gallantry. 
 
 Hospitality. 
 
 Peace. 
 
 Skill. 
 
 Chastity. 
 
 Generosity. 
 
 Error. 
 
 Victory. 
 
 Festivity. 
 
 Faith. 
 
 Shame, Bashfulness, 
 
 Warmth of Feeling. 
 
 Tender Recollections. 
 
 You are perfect. 
 
 Pure Love. 
 
 Disdain. 
 
 Genius. 
 
 Keep your promises. 
 
 Independence. 
 
 Courage. . 
 
 Time. 
 
 Consolation. 
 
 Sleep. 
 
 My bane, my antidote. 
 
 Beneficence. 
 
 Childhood. 
 
 Inconstancy. 
 
 Prohibition. 
 
 Temptation. 
 
 Ranunculus ... 
 
 Reeds 
 
 Rose 
 
 lOo-leaved 
 
 Monthly... 
 
 Musk 
 
 Single ... 
 
 White ... 
 
 Withered.. 
 
 Yellow ... 
 
 Rosebud 
 
 White ... 
 
 Rosemary 
 
 Rue, Wild ... 
 
 Rush 
 
 Saffron 
 
 Sage 
 
 Sainfoin, Shaking 
 St. John's Wort 
 Sardonia 
 Sensitive-plant . . 
 Snapdragon ... 
 Snowdrop 
 Sorrel, Wood ... 
 Speedwell 
 Spindle-tree ... 
 
 Star of Bethle- 
 hem 
 
 Stock 
 
 Ten Week 
 
 Stone Crop 
 Straw, Broken... 
 
 Whole ... 
 
 Strawberry 
 Sunflower 
 Sweet Sultan ... 
 Sweet WiUiam... 
 Sycamore 
 Syringa 
 Tansy, Wild ... 
 
 Tendrils of 
 
 Creepers 
 
 Thistle 
 
 Thorn Apple ... 
 
 Thrift 
 
 Thyme 
 
 Tremella Nostoc 
 
 TrufSe 
 
 Tuberose 
 
 Tulip 
 
 Tussil^e,Sweet- 
 
 scented 
 Valerian ... 
 
 You are radiant with 
 
 charms. 
 Music. 
 Love. 
 Grace. 
 
 Beauty ever new. 
 Capricious Beauty. 
 Simplicity. 
 Silence. 
 
 Fleeting Beauty. 
 Infidelity. 
 A Young Girl. 
 A Heart unacquainted 
 
 with Love. 
 Your presence revives 
 
 me. 
 Morals. 
 Docility. 
 Beware of excess. 
 Esteem. 
 Agitation. 
 Superstition. 
 Irony. 
 Chastity. 
 Presumption. 
 Hope. 
 
 Joy- 
 Fidelity. 
 
 Your charms are en- 
 graven on my heart. 
 
 Purity. 
 
 Lasting Beauty. 
 Promptness. 
 Tranquillity. 
 Rupture of a Contract. 
 Union. 
 Perfection. 
 False Riches. 
 Happiness. 
 Finesse. 
 Curiosity. 
 Fraternal Love. 
 I declare war against 
 you. 
 
 Ties. 
 
 Surliness, 
 
 Deceitful Charms. 
 
 Sympathy. 
 
 Activity. 
 
 Resistance. *■ 
 
 Surprise. 
 
 Dangerous Pleasures. 
 
 Declaration of Love. 
 
 Justice shall be done to 
 
 you. 
 An Accommodating 
 
 Disposition. 
 
i88 
 
 pfant bore, laegerpf, cmi. bijno/". 
 
 Violet, White ... Innocence, Candour. 
 Wallflower ... Fidelity in Misfortune. 
 Walnut ... Stratagem. 
 Whortleberry ... Treachery. 
 Willow,Weeping Mourning. 
 Wormwood ... Absence. 
 Yew Sorrow. 
 
 Valerian, Greek Rupture. 
 Venus' Looking- 
 glass... ' ... Flattery. 
 Veronica ... Fidelity; 
 Vervain ... Enchantment. 
 
 Vine Intoxication. 
 
 Violet Modesty. 
 
 In the chapter on Magic Plants will be found a list of plants 
 used by maidens and their lovers for the purposes of divination ; 
 and in Part II., under the respedlive headings of the plants thus 
 alluded to, will be found described the several modes of divination. 
 This pradtice of love divination, it will be seen, is not altogether 
 unconnected with the symbolical meaning or language of flowers, 
 and therefore it is here again adverted to. 
 
 In many countries it is customary to pluck oif the petals of the 
 Marigold, or some other flower of a similar nature, while certain 
 words are repeated, for the purpose of divining the charadler of an 
 individual. Gothe, in his tragedy of ' Faust,' has touched upon 
 this rustic superstition, and makes Margaret pluck oflf the leaves of 
 a flower, at the same time alternately repeating the words — " He 
 loves me," — "He loves me not." On coming to the last leaf, she 
 joyously exclaims — "He love me!" — and Faust says: "Let this 
 flower pronounce the decree of heaven ! " 
 
 " And with scarlet Poppies around, like a bower, 
 The maiden found her mystic flower. 
 ' Now, gentle flower, 1 pray thee tell 
 If my lover loves me, and loves me well ; 
 So may the fall of the morning dew 
 Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue. 
 Now must I number the leaves for my lot — 
 He loves me not — ^loves me — ^he loves me not — 
 He loves me — ah ! yes, thou last leaf, yes — 
 I'll pluck thee not for that last sweet guess ! 
 He loves me ! ' — ' Yes,' a dear voice sighed, 
 And her lover stands by Margaret's side. " — Miss Landon. 
 
 In some places, the following mode of floral divination is 
 resorted to. The lover, male or female, who wishes to ascertain 
 the charadter of the beloved one, draws by lot one of the following 
 flowers, the syinbolical meaning attached to which will give the 
 information desired : — 
 
 I. — Ranunculus ... 
 2.— Wild Pink ... 
 
 3 — Auricula 
 
 4 — Blue Cornflower 
 S.— Wild Orach ... 
 
 6. — Daisy 
 
 7.— Tulip 
 
 8; — Jonquil 
 
 9 . — Orange-flower 
 
 10. — Rose 
 
 II. — Amaranth 
 12.— Stock 
 
 .. Enterprising, 
 
 .. Silly. ^ 
 
 .. Base. 
 
 .. Loquacious, 
 
 .. Lazy. 
 
 ... Gentle. 
 
 .. Ostentatious. 
 
 .. Obstinate. 
 
 .. Hasty. 
 
 .. Submissive, 
 
 .. Arbitrary. 
 
 ... Avaricious. 
 
 13. — Spanish 
 
 14. — Asphodel 
 
 15 — Tricolour 
 
 16. — Tuberose 
 
 17. — Jasmine 
 
 18.— Heart's Ease 
 
 19.— Lily 
 
 20. — Fritillary 
 
 21. — Snapdragon 
 
 22. — Carnation 
 
 23. — Marigold 
 
 24, — Everksting Flower 
 
 Passionate. 
 
 Languishing. 
 
 Selfish. 
 
 Ambitious. 
 
 Cheerful. 
 
 Delicate. 
 
 Sincere. 
 
 Coquettish. 
 
 Presumptuous 
 
 Capricious. 
 
 Jealous. 
 
 Constant. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 iJuneraP Uree/ al^b pPant/*, 
 
 nHE association of certain trees and plants with 
 death and its gloomy surroundings dates from 
 a period remote and shadowy in its antiquity. 
 Allusions to it are found in the most ancient 
 writings and records, and through one of these 
 (the Sanscrit Mahdbhdrata) we learn that Pita 
 Mahk, the great Creator, after^having created the 
 world, reposed under the tree Salmali, the leaves 
 of which the winds cannot stir. One of the Sanscrit names applied 
 to this tree is Kantakadrumn, Tree of Thorns; and on account of the 
 great size and strength of its spines, it is stated to have been 
 placed as a tree of punishment in the infernal regions, and to 
 have been known as the Tree of Yama (the Hindu god of death). 
 Yama is also spoken of as the dispenser of the ambrosia of immor- 
 tality, which flows from the fruit of the celestial tree in Paradise 
 (Ficuslndica), and which is known in India as the'tree dear to Yama. 
 As king of the spirits of the departed, Yama dwells near the tree. 
 Hel, the Scandinavian goddess of death, has her abode among the 
 roots of Yggdrasill, by the side of one of the fountains. Mimir, who, 
 according to Scandinavian mythology, gives his name to the foun- 
 tain of life, is also a king of the dead. The ancients entertained the 
 belief that, on the road traversed by the souls of the departed, 
 there grew a certain tree, the fruit of which was the symbol of 
 eternal life. In the Elysian Fields, where dwelt the spirits of the 
 virtuous in the gloomy regions reigned over by Pluto, whole plains 
 were covered with Asphodel, flowers which were placed by the 
 Greeks and Romans on the graves of the departed as symbolic of 
 the future life. In France, at the beginning of the Christian era, 
 the faithful, with some mystical idea, were wont to scatter on the 
 bottom of coffins, beneath the corpses, seeds of various plants — 
 probably to typify life from the dead. 
 
 The belief in a future existence doubtless led to the custom 
 of planting trees on toitibs, especially the Cypress, which was 
 regarded as typical both of life and death. The tree growing over 
 the grave, one can easily imagine, was looked upon by the ancient 
 races as an emblem of the soul of the departed become immortal. 
 Evelyn remarks, on this point, that trees and perennial plants 
 are the most natural and instrudtive hieroglyphics of our expedted 
 resurrecflion and immortality, and that they conduce to the medi- 
 
igo 
 
 pfant 'bore, Tsegel^/, oriel Tsijriq/". 
 
 tation of the living, and the removal of their cogitations from the 
 sphere of vanity and worldliness. This observant writer des- 
 cants upon the prediledlion exhibited by the early inhabitants of 
 the world for burial beneath trees, and points out that the vener- 
 able Deborah was interred under an Oak at Bethel, and that the 
 bones of Saul and his three sons were buried under the Oak at 
 Jabesh-Gilead. He tells us also that one use made by the ancients 
 of sacred groves was to place in their nemorous shades the bodies 
 of their dead : and that he had read of some nations whose people 
 were wont to hang, not only malefatftors, but also their departed 
 friends, and those whom they most esteemed, upon trees, as being 
 so much nearer to heaven, and dedicated to God ; believing it far 
 more honourable than to be buried in the earth. He adds that 
 " the same is affirmed of other septentrional people ;" and points 
 out that Propertius seems to allude to some such custom in the 
 following lines : — 
 
 " The gods forbid my bones in the high road 
 
 Should lie, by every wand'ring vulgar trod ; 
 
 Thus buried lovers are to scorn expos'd, 
 
 My tomb in some bye-arbor be inclos'd." 
 
 The ancients were wont to hang their criminals either to 
 barren trees, or to those dedicated to the infernal gods ; and we 
 find that in Maundevile's time the practice of hanging corpses on 
 trees existed in the Indies, or, at any rate, on an island which he 
 describes as being called CafFolos. He gives a sketch of a tree, 
 probably a Palm, with a man suspended from it, and remarks that 
 " Men of that Contree, whan here Frendes ben seke, thei hangen 
 hem upon Trees ; and seyn, that it is bettre that briddes, that ben 
 Angeles of God, eten hem, than the foul Wormes of the Erthe." 
 
 BTjie ffrn of ID(atl). From Maunaeviie's Travels. 
 
iJuneraf Wtezj. i-gi 
 
 We have, in a previous chapter, seen that among the Bengalese 
 there still exists the pradtice of hanging sickly infants in baskets 
 upon trees, and leaving them there to die. Certain of the wild 
 tribes of India — the Puharris, for example — when burying their 
 infants, place them in earthen pots, and strew leaves over them: 
 these pots they deposit at the foot of trees, sometimes covering 
 them over with brushwood. Similar burial is given to those who 
 die of measles or small-pox : the corpse is placed at the foot of a 
 tree, and left in the underwood or heather, covered with leaves 
 and branches. In about a year the parents repair to the grave- ' 
 tree, and there, beneath its boughs, take part in a funeral feast. 
 
 Grotius states that the Greeks and Romans believed that 
 spirits and ghosts of men delighted to wander and appear in the 
 sombre depths of groves devoted to the sepulture of the departed, 
 and on this account Plato gave permission for trees to be planted 
 over graves — as Evelyn states, "to obumbrate and refresh' them." 
 Since then the custom of planting trees in places devoted to the 
 burial of the dead has become universal, and the trees thus selected 
 have in consequence come to be regarded as funereal. 
 
 As a general rule, the trees to which this funereal signification 
 has been attached are those of a pendent or weeping charadler, 
 and those which are distinguished by their dark and sombre foliage, 
 black berries and fruits, and melancholy-looking blossoms. Others 
 again have been planted in God's acre on account of the symbolical 
 meaning attached to their form or nature. Thus, whilst the Aloe, 
 the Yew, and the Cypress are suggestive of life, from their perpetual 
 verdure, they typify in floral symbology respe<5lively grief, sorrow, 
 and mourning. The Bay is an emblem of the resurredtion, inas- 
 much as, according to Sir Thomas Browne, when to all outward 
 appearance it is dead and withered, it will unexpedledly revive 
 from the root, and its dry leaves resume their pristine vitality. 
 Evergreen trees and shrubs, whose growth is like a pyramid or 
 spire, the apex of which points heavenward, are deemed em- 
 blematic of eternity, and as such are fitly classed among funereal 
 trees : the Arbor Vitse and the Cypress are examples. The weeping 
 Birch and Willow and the Australian Casuarina, with their foliage 
 mournfully bending to the earth, fitly find their place in church- 
 yards as personifications of woe. 
 
 The Yew-tree has been considered an emblem of mournmg 
 from a very early period. The Greeks adopted the idea from the 
 Egyptians, the Romans from the Greeks, and the Britons from the 
 Romans. ' From long habits of association, the Yew acquired a 
 sacred chara(5ter, and therefore was considered as the best and 
 most appropriate ornament of consecrated ground. Hence in 
 Endand it became the custom to plant Yews m churchyards, 
 despite the ghastly superstition attached to these trees, that they 
 nrevuDon the dead who lie beneath their sombre shade. More- 
 over our forefathers were particularly careful m preservmg this 
 
funereal tree, whose branches it was at one time usual to carry- 
 in solemn procession to the grave, and afterwards to deposit 
 therein under the bodies of departed friends. The custom of 
 planting Yew trees singly in churchyards is also one of consider- 
 able antiquity. Statins, in his sixth Thebaid, calls it the solitary 
 Yew. Leyden thus apostrophises this funeral tree : — 
 
 " Now more I love thee, melancholy Yew, 
 Whose still green leaves in silence wave 
 Above the peasant's rude unhonoured grave, 
 Which oft thou moistenest with the morning dew. 
 To thee the sad, to thee the weary ily ; 
 They rest in peace beneath thy sacred gloom. 
 Thou sole companion of the lonely tomb ; 
 No leaves but thine in pity o'er them sish : 
 Lo I now to fancy's gaze thou seem'st to spread 
 Thy shadowy boughs to shroud me with the dead." 
 
 The Mountain Ash is to be found in most Welsh churchyards, 
 where it has been planted, not as a funeral tree, but as a defence 
 against evil spirits. In Montgomeryshire, it is customary to rest 
 the corpse on its way to the churchyard under one of these trees 
 of good omen. 
 
 William Cullen Bryant, the American poet, has left us a 
 graceful description of an English churchyard : — 
 
 "Erewhile on England's pleasant shores, our sires 
 Left not their churchyards unadorned with shades 
 Or blossoms ; and, indulgent to the strong 
 And natural dread of man's last home — the grave I 
 Its frost and silence, they disposed around. 
 Too sadly on life's close, the forms and hues 
 Of vegetable beauty. Then the Yew, 
 Green even amid the snows of Winter, told 
 Of immortality ; and gracefully 
 The Willow, a perpetual mourner, drooped ; 
 And there the gadding Woodbine crept about ; 
 And there the ancient Ivy." 
 
 The Walnut-tree, of which it is said that the shadow brings 
 death, is in some countries considered a funeral tree. In India 
 they call the Tamarisk, Yamadutika (Messenger of Yama, the 
 Indian god of death), and the Bombax Heptaphyllum, Yamadmma, the 
 tree of Yama. 
 
 The Elm and the Oak, although not striaiy funeral trees, are 
 connedted with the grave by reason of their wood being used in 
 ■the construction of coffins, at the present day, just as Cypress 
 and Cedar wood used to be employed by the ancients. 
 
 " And well the abounding Elm may grow 
 
 In field and hedge so rife ; 
 In forest, copse, and wooded park, 
 
 And 'mid the city's strife ; 
 For every hour that passes by 
 
 Shall end a human life." — /faoif. 
 
iJuncpaf ^Pant/. 193 
 
 Brambles are used to bind down graves. Ivy, as an ever- 
 green and a symbol of friendship, is planted to run over the last 
 resting-place of those we love. 
 
 In Persia, it is the Basil-tuft that waves its fragrant blossoms 
 over tombs and graves. In Tripoli, Roses, Myrtle, Orange, and 
 Jasmine are planted round tombs; and a large bouquet of flowers 
 IS usually fastened at the head of the coffins of females. Upon 
 the death of a Moorish lady of quality every place is filled with 
 fresh flowers and burning perfumes, and at the head of the body 
 is placed a large bouquet. The mausoleum of the royal family is 
 filled with immense wreaths of fresh flowers, and generally tombs 
 are dressed with festoons of choice blossoms. The Chinese plant 
 Roses, a species of Lycoris, and the Anemone on their graves. 
 The Indians attribute a funereal characfler to the fragrant flowers 
 of the sacred Champak {Michelia Champaca). 
 
 The ancients planted the Asphodel around the tombs of the 
 deceased, in the belief that the seeds of this plant, and those, of 
 the Mallow, afforded nourishment to the dead. 
 
 The Greeks employed the Rose to decorate the tombs of the 
 dead, and the floral decorations were frequently renewed, under 
 the belief that this bush was potent to protedl the remains of the 
 depa:rted one. Anacreon alludes to this pradlice in one of his 
 odes : — 
 
 " Wlien pain afflicts and sickness grieves,. 
 Its juice the drooping heart relieves ; 
 And after death its odours shed 
 A pleasing fragrance o'er the dead." 
 
 The Romans, also, were so partial to the Rose, that we find, 
 by old inscriptions at Ravenna and Milan, that codicils in the 
 wills of the deceased diredled that their tombs should be planted 
 with the queen of flowers — a praiftice said to have been introduced 
 by them into England. Camden speaks of the churchyards in his 
 time as thickly planted with Rose-trees ; Aubrey notices a custom 
 at Ockley, in Surrey, of planting Roses on the graves of lovers ; 
 and Evelyn, who lived at Wotton Place, not far distant, mentions 
 the same pra(5tice. In Wales, White Roses mark the graves of the 
 voung and of unmarried females; whilst Red Roses are placed 
 over anyone distinguished for benevolence of charader. 
 
 AH nations at different periods seem to have delighted to deck 
 the graves of their departed relatives with garlands of flowers- 
 emblems at once of beauty and quick fading into death. 
 
 " With fairest flovrers 
 While summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, 
 I'll sweeten thy sad grave. Thou shalt not lack 
 The flower that's like thy face, pale Primrose ; nor 
 The azured Hare-bell, like thy veins ; no, nor 
 The leaf of Eglantine, which, not to slander, 
 Out-sweetened not thy breath." 
 
 ■ Shakspmre ( Cymbeline, Act IV ). 
 
 O 
 
194 pPant bore, Tsege^/, airiisl byrlcy. 
 
 The flowers strewed over graves by the Greeks were the 
 Amaranth, Myrtle, and Polyanthus. The pradtice was reprobated 
 by the primitive Christians; but in Prudentius's time they had 
 adopted it, and it is expressly mentioned both by St. Ambrose and 
 St. Jerome. The flowers so used were deemed typical of the 
 dead: to the young were assigned the blossoms of Spring and 
 Summer : to middle-age, aromatic herbs and branches of primeval 
 trees. 
 
 Amaranthus was employed by the Thessalians to decorate the 
 grave of Achilles ; and Electra is represented as uttering the 
 complaint that the tomb of her father Agamenon had not been 
 adorned with Myrtle : — 
 
 " With no libations, nor with Myrtle boughs, 
 Were my dear father's manes gratified." 
 
 Virgil, when recounting the sorrow of Anchises at the loss of 
 Marcellus, causes him to exclaim :— 
 
 "Full canisters of fragrant Lilies bring, 
 Mix'd with the purple Roses of the Spring. 
 Let me with fun'ral flowers his body strew." 
 
 In Germany, and in the German Cantons of Switzerland, the 
 custom of decking graves is very common. The Dianthus is a 
 favourite flower for this purpose in Upper Germany. In the 
 beautiful little churchyard at Schwytz, almost every grave is 
 entirely covered with Pinks. 
 
 The cemetery of P&re la Chaise, near Paris, exhibits proofs of 
 the extent to which the custom of decking graves is preserved 
 even by a metropolitan population and among persons of some 
 rank. Numerous shops in the neighbourhood of this cemetery are 
 filled with garlands of Immortelles or Everlasting Flowers, which are 
 purchased on fete days and anniversaries, and placed on the graves. 
 The branches of Box, or Bois heni, which are used in the place of 
 Palms and Palm-leaves, are frequently stuck over graves in France. 
 
 ' ' Fair flowers in sweet succession should arise 
 Through the long, blooming year, above the grave ; 
 Spring breezes will breathe gentlier o'er the turf. 
 And summer glance with mildest, meekest beam. 
 To cherish piety's dear offerings. There 
 Rich sounds of Autumn ever shall be heard, — 
 Mysterious, solemn music, waked by winds 
 To hymn the closing year ! And when the touch 
 Of sullen Winter blights the last, last gem. 
 That bloomed around the tomb— O ! there should be 
 The polished and enduring Laurel — there 
 The green and glittering Ivy, and all plants. 
 All hues and forms, delicious, that adorn 
 The brumal reign, and often waken hopes 
 Refreshing. Let eternal verdure clothe 
 The silent fields where rest the honoured dead. 
 While mute affection comes, and lingers round 
 With slow soft step, and pensive pause, and sigh, 
 All 'b.o\j."—Carrington, 
 
iJunefaf pfanl/. 195 
 
 In Egypt, Basil is scattered over the tombs by the women, 
 who repair to the sepulchres of the dead twice or thrice every 
 week, to pray and weep over the departed. In Italy, the Peri- 
 winkle, called by the peasantry fiov di morto, or Death's flower, 
 is used to deck their children who die in infancy. In Norway, 
 branchlets of Juniper and Fir are used at funerals, and exhibited 
 in houses in order to prote(5l the inhabitants from the visitation 
 of evil spirits. The Freemasons of America scatter sprays of 
 Acacia {Rohinia) on the coffins of brethren. In Switzerland, a 
 funeral wreath for a young maiden is composed of Hawthorn, 
 M5n:tle, and Orange-blossom. In the South of France, chaplets of 
 white Roses and Orange-blossom are placed in the co£S.ns of the 
 young. 
 
 The Greeks and Romans crowned the dead with flowers, and 
 the mourners wore them at the funeral ceremonies. It should be 
 mentioned that the Romans did not generally bury their dead 
 before the time of the Antonines. The bodies of the dead were 
 burnt, and the ashes placed in an urn. 
 
 The funeral pyre of the ancients consisted of Cypress, Yew, 
 Fir, and other trees and shrubs. The friends of the deceased stood 
 by during the cremation, throwing incense on the fire and libations 
 of wine. The bones and ashes were afterwards colledted, cleansed, 
 mixed with precious ointments, and enclosed in funeral urns. 
 Agamemnon is described by Homer in the ' Odyssey,' as informing 
 Achilles how this ceremony had been performed upon him: — 
 
 " But when the flames your body had consumed, 
 With oils and odours we your bones perfumed, 
 And wash'd with unmixed wine." 
 
 Virgil, in describing the self-sacrifice, by fire, of Dido, speaks thus 
 of the necessary preparations : — 
 
 " The fatal pile they rear 
 
 Within the secret court, exposed in air. 
 
 The cloven Holms and Pines are heaped on high ; 
 
 And garlands m the hollow spaces lie. 
 
 Sad Cypress, Vervain, Yew, compose the wreath, 
 
 And every baleful flower denoting death." 
 
 The repast set apart by custom for the dead consisted of 
 Lettuces and Beans. It was customary among the ancients to 
 off'er Poppies as a propitiation to the manes of the dead. The 
 Romans celebrated festivals in honour of the spirits of the departed, 
 called Lemuria, where Beans were cast into the fire on the altar. 
 The people also threw black Beans on the graves of the deceased, 
 or burnt them, as the smell was supposed to be disagreeable to the 
 manes. In Italy, at the present day, it is customary to eat Beans 
 and to distribute them among the poor on the anniversary ot a 
 
 ^^ The praaice of embalming the bodies of their dead, which 
 was universal among the ancient Egyptians, had its ongm^^ccord- 
 
196 pfant bore, begcr^/, oiTi. bqrr<y. 
 
 ing to Diodorus, in the desire of the wealthy to be able to con- 
 template, in the midst of luxurious appointments, the features of 
 their ancestors. Several times a year the mummies were brought 
 out of the splendid chambers where they were kept ; incense was 
 burnt over them, and sweet-scented oil was poured over their heads, 
 and carefully wiped off by a priest called in expressly to officiate. 
 Herodotus has given us a description of the Egyptian method of 
 embalming: — The brains having first been extradled through the 
 nostrils by means of a curved iron probe, the head was filled with 
 drugs. Then, with a sharp Ethiopian stone, an incision was made 
 in the side, through which the intestines were drawn out ; and the 
 cavity was filled with powdered Myrrh, Cassia, and other per- 
 fumes. Frankincense excepted. Thus prepared, the body was sewn 
 up, kept in natron (sesquicarbonate of soda) for seventy days, and 
 then swathed in fine linen, smeared with gum, and finally placed 
 in a wooden case made in the shape of a man. This was the best 
 and most expensive style of embalming. A cheaper mode con- 
 sisted in injecting oil of Cedar into the body, without removing 
 the intestines, whilst for the poorer classes the body was merely 
 cleansed ; subjecting it in both cases to a natron bath, which com- 
 pletely dried the flesh. The Jews borrowed the practice of 
 embalming from the Egyptians ; for St. Mark records that, after 
 the death of our Saviour, Nicodemus "brought a mixture of Myrrh 
 and Aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the 
 body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the 
 manner of Jews is to bury." 
 
 ©fi_ Qi^fj/'f eJunemf (Ba^fony, 
 
 In England, there, long prevailed an old custom of carrying 
 garlands before the bier of youthful beauty, which were afterwards 
 strewed over her grave. In ' Hamlet,' the Queen, scattering 
 flowers over the grave of Ophelia, says : — 
 
 " Sweets to the sweet Farewell ! 
 I hoped thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, 
 And not have strewed thy grave." 
 
 The practice of planting and scattering flowers over graves is 
 noticed by Gay, who says: — 
 
 " Upon her grave the Rosemary they threw, 
 The Daisy, Butter-flower, and Endive blue." 
 
 Rosemary was considered as an emblem of faithful remembrance. 
 Thus Ophelia says: " There's Rosemary for you, that's for remem- 
 brance; pray you, love, remember." Probably this was the reason 
 that the plant was carried by the followers at a funeral in former 
 days: a custom noticed by the poet in the following lines: — 
 
 " To show their love, the neighbours far and near 
 Follow'd with wistful look the damsel's bier ; 
 Sprigg'd Rosemary the lads and lasses bore, 
 While dismally the parson walked before." 
 
Suneraf pfanj/. 197 
 
 It is still customary in some parts of England to distribute Rose- 
 mary among the company at a funeral, who frequently throw 
 sprigs of it into the grave. 
 
 Wordsworth introduces in one of his smaller poems an allusion 
 to a pra(5tice which still prevails in the North of England : — 
 
 " The basin of Box- wood, just six months before. 
 Had stood on the table at Timothy's door ; 
 A coffin through Timothy's threshold had passed, 
 One child did it bear, and that child was his last." 
 
 It is stated in a note that — " In several parts of the North of 
 England, when a funeral takes place, a basin full of sprigs of Box- 
 wood is placed at the door of the house from which the coffin is 
 taken up ; and each person who attends the funeral ordinarily takes 
 a sprig of this Box-wood, and throws it into the grave of the 
 deceased." Pepys mentions a churchyard near Southampton, 
 where, in the year 1662, the graves were all sown with Sage. 
 
 Unfortunate lovers had garlands of Yew, Willow, and Rose- 
 mary laid on their biers ; thus we read in the ' Maid's Tragedy ' : — 
 
 " Lay a garland on my hearse 
 
 Of the dismal Yew ; 
 Meiidens, Willow branches bear ; 
 
 Say that I died true. 
 My love was false, but I was firm 
 
 From my hour of birth. 
 Upon my buried body lie 
 
 Lightly gentle earth." 
 
 It was an old English custom, at the funeral of a virgin, for 
 a young woman to precede the coffin in the procession, carrying on 
 her head a variegated garland of flowers and sweet herbs. Six 
 young girls surrounded the bier, and strewed flowers along the 
 streets to the place of burial. It was also formerly customary to 
 carry garlands of sweet flowers at the funeral of dear friends and 
 relatives, and not only to strew them on the coffin, but to plant them 
 permanently on the grave. This pleasing practice, which gave 
 the churchyard a picturesque appearance, owed its origin to the 
 ancient belief that Paradise is planted with fragrant and beautiful 
 
 flowers a conception which is alluded to in the legend of Sir 
 
 Owain, where the celestial Paradise, which is reached by the 
 blessed after their passage through purgatory, is thus described: — 
 
 •' Fair were her erbeis with floures ; 
 Rose and Lili divers colours, 
 Primros and Parvink, 
 Mint, Feverfoy, and Eglenterre, 
 Columbia and Mother-wer, 
 Than ani man may bithenke 
 It berth erbes of other maner, 
 Than ani in erth groweth here. 
 Though that is best of priis ; 
 Evermorelthai grene springeth. 
 For Winter no sooner it us doyetb^ 
 And sweeter than licorice." 
 
In South Wales, the custom of planting and ornamenting 
 graves is noticed by Brand in his ' Popular Antiquities,' as being 
 very common. He tells us that, in Glamorgan, many churchyards 
 have something like the splendour of a rich and various parterre. 
 Besides this, it is usual to strew the graves with flowers and 
 evergreens (within the church as well as out of it) at least thrice a 
 year, on the same principle of delicate respect as the stones are 
 whitened. No flowers or evergreens are permitted to be planted on 
 graves but such as are sweet-scented: the Pink and Polyanthus, 
 Sweet Williams, Gilliflowers and Carnations, Mignonette, Thyme, 
 Hyssop, Camomile, and Rosemary make up the pious decoration 
 of this consecrated garden. Turnesoles, Peonies, the African 
 Marigold, the Anemone, and some other flowers, though beautiful, 
 should never be planted on graves, because they are not sweet- 
 scented. 
 
 The prejudice against old maids and old bachelors subsists 
 among the Welsh in a very marked degree, so that their graves 
 have not unfrequently been planted, by some satirical neighbours, 
 not only with Rue, but with Thistles, Nettles, Henbane, and other 
 noxious weeds. 
 
 In Glamorganshire, the old custom is still retained of strewing 
 the bed whereon a corpse rests with fragrant flowers. In the 
 South of England a chaplet of white Roses is borne before the 
 corpse of a maiden by a young girl nearest in age and resemblance 
 to the deceased, and afterwards hung up over her accustomed seat 
 at church. 
 
 pPanf;S a& 5e)eatR porfenCdi. 
 
 Though scarcely to be characflerised as " funereal," there are 
 some plants which have obtained a sinister reputation as either 
 predicting death themselves, or being associated in some manner 
 with fatal portents. Mannhardt tells us of a gloomy Swiss tradi- 
 tion, dating from the fifteenth century, which relates that the three 
 children of a bootmaker of Basle having each in their garden a 
 favourite tree, carefully studied the inflorescence during Lent. As 
 the result of their close observation, the two sisters, Adelaide and 
 Catherine, saw from the characteristics of the blossoms that they 
 were predestined to enter a convent; whilst the boy Jean atten- 
 tively watched the development of a red Rose, which predi(5led 
 his entry into the Church and his subsequent martyrdom : as a 
 matter of fact, it is said he was martyred at Prague by the 
 Hussites. 
 
 The Greeks regarded Parsley as a funereal herb, and were fond 
 of strewing the tombs of their dead with it : hence it came in time 
 to be thought a plant of evil augury, and those who were on the 
 point of death were commonly spoken of as being in need of 
 Parsley. Something of this association of Parsley with death is 
 
pfant/- aS> ©eatft ^otfent/, ign 
 
 still to be found in Devonshire, where a belief exists that to 
 transplant Parsley is an offence against the guardian spirit who 
 watches over the Parsley-beds, surely to be punished, either by 
 misfortune or death, on the offender himself or some member of his 
 family within a year. 
 
 In the Siebenburgen of Saxony, the belief exists that at the 
 moment when an infant dies in the house, Death passes like a 
 shadow into the garden, and there plucks a flower. 
 
 In Italy, the red Rose is considered to be an emblem of an 
 early death, and it is thought to be an evil omen if its leaves are 
 perchance scattered on the ground. An apt illustration of this 
 belief is found in the tragic story of poor Miss Ray, who was 
 murdered at the Piazza entrance of Covent Garden Theatre, by a 
 man named Hackman, on April 7th, 1779. Just prior to starting 
 with her friend Mrs. Lewis for the theatre, a beautiful Rose fell 
 from her bosom to the ground. She stooped to regain it, but at 
 her touch the red leaves scattered themselves on the carpet, 
 leaving the bare stalk in her hand. The unfortunate girl, who had 
 been depressed in spirits before, was evidently affedted by the 
 incident, and said nervously, " I trust I am not to consider this as 
 an evil omen ! " Soon rallying, however, she cheerfully asked 
 Mrs. Lewis to be sure and meet her after the theatre — a request 
 the fulfilment of which was pr(»/ented by her untimely fate 
 
 Shakspeare has recorded that the withering of the Bay was 
 looked upon as a certain omen of death ; and it is an old fancy 
 that if a Fir-tree be struck, withered, or burnt with lightning, the 
 owner will soon after be seized with a mortal illness. 
 
 Herrick, in his ' Hesperides,' alludes to the Daffodil as being 
 under certain circumstances a death portent. 
 
 "When a Daffodill I see 
 Hanging down her head t'wards me. 
 Guess I may what I must be ; 
 First, I shall decline my head ; 
 Secondly, il shall be dead ; 
 Lastly, safely buried." 
 
 In Northamptonshire, a belief exists that if an Apple-tree 
 blooms after the fruit is ripe, it surely portends death :— 
 
 " A bloom upon the Apple-tree when the Apples are ripe. 
 Is a sure termination to somebody's life." 
 
 In Devonshire, it is considered very unlucky to plant a bed 
 of Lilies of the Valley, as the person who does this will in all 
 probability die before twelve months have expired ; and in the 
 same county, a plentiful season for Hazel-nuts is believed to por- 
 tend unusual mortality : hence the saying— 
 
 " Many Nits [Nuts], 
 Many pits [graves]." 
 
200 
 
 pPant Igore, T^eger^f, orisl Ts^r'tof, 
 
 Sloes are also sometimes associated with this portent, as 
 another version of the rhyme runs — 
 
 " Many Slones [Sloes], many groans, 
 Many Nits, many pits. ' 
 
 It is thought very unlucky in Sussex to use green brooms in 
 May, and an old saying is current in the same county that — 
 
 " If you sweep the house with Broom in May, 
 You'll sweep the head of that house away." 
 
 In West Sussex, there exists the strange idea that if anyone 
 eats a Blackberry after Old Michaelmas Day (0(5lober loth), death 
 or disaster will alight either on the eater or his kinsfolk before the 
 year is out. 
 
 In some parts of England a superstition exists that if in a row 
 of Beans one should chance to come up white, instead of green, a 
 death will occur in the family within the year. 
 
 In certain English counties there is a superstitious dread that 
 if a drill go from one end of the field to the other without de- 
 positing any seed, some person on the farm will die either before 
 the year is out or before the crop then sown is reaped. 
 
 There is a very ancient belief that if every vestige of the 
 Christmas decorations is not removed from the church before 
 Candlemas Day (February 2nd), there will be a death during the 
 year in the family occupying the pew where perchance a leaf or 
 a berry has been left. Herrick has alluded to this superstitious 
 notion in bis ' Hesperides': — 
 
 " Down with the Rosemary, and so 
 Down with the Bales and Mistletoe ; 
 Down with the Holly, Ivy, all 
 Wherewith ye dress the Christmas hall ; 
 That so the superstitious find 
 Not one least branch left thar behind 
 For look, how many leaves there be 
 Neglected there (maids, trust to me) 
 So many goblins you shall see." 
 
dt 
 
 part tfie ^ecoTTb, 
 
 ^ 
 
EDCyCliOPJIEDl^ OF piyinTs. 
 
 ACACIA. — In the deserts of Arabia the finest tree is the 
 Acacia Seyal, which is reputed to be the Shittah tree of the Old 
 Testament. The timber of this tree was termed Shittim, translated 
 by some as " incorruptible wood." In Exodus xxv. it is recorded 
 that the Ark of the Lord was made of Shittim wood, overlaid 
 within and without with pure gold, and having a crown of gold 
 iround about it ; and in chapter xxvi. we read that the staves were 
 made of the same wood, as were also the boards of the Tabernacle 
 and the woodwork of the Altar on which the offerings were 
 presented. From this same Acacia is obtained a fragrant and 
 highly-prized gum which is employed as incense in religious cere- 
 monials. Tradition affirms that this Acacia — the Nahkha of the 
 
 Arabians — was the tree from which was fabricated the Saviour's 
 crown of thorns. It has many small sharp spines, and the leaves 
 resemble those of the Ivy with which the Roman Emperors were 
 
 crowned, thus making the mockery bitterly complete. The 
 
 Buddhists make use of the wood of the Sami {Acacia Suma) to light 
 the fire on their altars : this is done bj7 striking it with the Asvattha, or 
 Peepul — the adt symbolising generation. This Acacia is one of the 
 sacred trees of India, and yields an astringent or preservative 
 
 substance. The tree usually known in England by the name of 
 
 Acacia is the Rohinia pseudo-Acacia, or Locust-tree of America, 
 named by Linnaeus after the two Robins, herbalists to Henri IV., 
 who introduced it into France in 1640. This tree would appear to 
 have somewhat of a funeral chara<5ler, since we find the American 
 Freemasons make a praeflice of dropping twigs of it on the coffins 
 of brethren. A sprig of Acacia is one of the emblems specially 
 
 revered by Freemasons. " It is curious," says Mr. Reade, in 
 
 ' The Veil of Isis,' " that Houzza, which Mahomet esteemed an idol — 
 Houzza so honoured in the Arabian works of Ghatfan, Koreisch, 
 Renanih^ and Salem— should be simply the Acacia. Thence was 
 
2o6 pPant bore, begeTj&T, cini btjrio/. 
 
 derived the word Huzza! in our language, which was probably at 
 
 first a religious exclamation like the Evohe ! of the Bacchantes." 
 
 The English newspapers lately gave an account of a singular 
 species of American Acacia, stated to be growing at Virginia, 
 Nevada, and exhibiting all the chara(5leristics of a sensitive plant. 
 At the commencement of 1883 the Acacia was reported to be about 
 eight feet high, and growing rapidly. When the sun sets, its leaves 
 fold together and the ends of the twigs coil up like a pig-tail; and 
 if the latter are handled, there is evident uneasiness throughout the 
 plant. Its highest state of agitation was reached when the tree 
 was removed from the pot in which it was matured into a larger 
 one. To use the gardener's expression, it went very mad. It had 
 scarcely been planted in its new quarters before the leaves began 
 to stand up in all directions, like the hair on the tail of an angry 
 cat, and soon the whole plant was in a quiver. At the same time 
 it gave out a most sickening and pungent odour, resembling that of 
 a rattlesnake when teased. The smell so filled the house, that it 
 was necessary to open all the doors and windows, and it was a full 
 hour before the plant calmed down and folded its leaves in peace. 
 
 ACANTHUS. — The Acanthus was a favourite plant amongst 
 both the Greeks and Romans, who employed it for decorative pur- 
 poses : its leaves form the principal adornment of the Corinthian 
 capital, which was invented by Callimachus. How the idea was sug- 
 gested to the architect is told us by Vitruvius. A young Corinthian 
 damsel fell ill and died. After her interment, her nurse gathered her 
 trinkets and ornaments into a basket, and lest they should be in- 
 jured by the weather, she covered the basket with a tile, and 
 placed it near her young mistress's tomb over the root of an Acan- 
 thus, the stalks and leaves of which burst forth in the Spring, and 
 spreading themselves on the outside of the basket, were bent back 
 again at the top by the corner of the tile. Callimachus happening 
 to pass by, was charmed with the beauty and novelty of this ac- 
 cidental arrangement, and took from it the idea of the Corinthian 
 chapter. Both Greeks and Romans made use of the Acanthus 
 mollis in the form of garlands, with which they adorned their build- 
 ings, their furniture, and even their clothing. Theocritus speaks 
 of a prize cup as having " a crust of soft Acanthus." Virgil nar- 
 rates that the plant formed the basis of a design embroidered on 
 the mantle of Helen of Troy ; and tells us that the handles of Al- 
 cimedon's cup were enwreathed with what he elsewhere terms 
 
 " Smiling Acanthus." Old English names for this plant were 
 
 Brank-ursine and Bear's-breech. Acanthus is stated by astro- 
 logers to be under the dominion of the Moon. 
 
 ACHYRANTHES.— The Apamarga, an Indian variety of this 
 plant, has given the name to the sacrificial rite called Apdmdrga Homa, 
 because at daybreak they oifer a handful of flour made from the 
 seeds of the Apamarga {Achyranfhes aspera). According to a legend 
 
pfant bore, bcgeTjb/, orTE byrlo/. 207 
 
 quoted by De Gubernatis, Indra had slain Vriitra and other 
 demons, when he encountered the demon Namuchi and wrestled 
 with him. Vanquished, he made peace with Namuchi on the 
 understanding that he should never kill anything with a solid body, 
 nor with a liquid body, neither by night nor by day. So Indra 
 gathered a vegetable, which is neither solid nor liquid, and comes 
 during the daybreak, when the night is past, but the day has 
 not yet come. Then with the vegetable he attacked the monster 
 Namuchi, who complained of this treachery. From the head of 
 Namuchi sprang the plant Apdmdrga. Indra afterwards destroyed 
 all the monsters by means of this plant. As may be supposed after 
 such a marvellous origin, the plant was soon looked upon as a 
 powerful talisman. According to the Atharvaveda, it should be 
 held in the hand, and invoked against the malady Kshetriya, and 
 against witches, monsters, and nightmares. They call it the Victor, 
 having in itself the strength of a thousand, destroying the effects 
 of maledidtions, and especially of those inimical to generation, 
 which produce hunger, thirst, and poverty. It is also called the 
 Lord of salutary plants, son of Vibhindant, having received all its 
 power from Iridra himself. The Hindus believe that the plant is 
 a security against the bites of scorpions. 
 
 Aconite. — See Monkshood. 
 
 ACORUS. — This aromatic Reed, or Sweet Flag, is absurdly 
 said to have been called Acorus, from the Greek korl, pupil, 
 because it was esteemed good for diseases of the eye. The sacred 
 oil of the Jews — the "oil of holy ointment" — used to anpint the 
 tabernacle, the ark of the testimony, the altar of burnt offerings, 
 the altar of incense, the candlesticks, and all the sacred vessels, 
 has the oil of Acorus as one of its ingredients. It is the " Sweet 
 
 Calamus " mentioned in Exodus xxx. The Acorus is a plant of 
 
 the Moon. 
 
 ADDER'S TONGUE. — The Adder's Tongue, or to give it its 
 old Latin name, Christ's Spear {Ophioglossumvulgatum),via.a formerly 
 much prized as a remedy for wounds. Gerarde declared that 
 boiled in olive oil it produced " a most excellent greene oyle, or 
 rather a balsam for greene wounds comparable to oyle of St. John's 
 wort, if it doth not far surpasse it." A preparation called the 
 " green oil of charity " is still in request ; and Adder's Spear oint- 
 ment (a compound of Adder's Tongue Fern, Plantain, and sundry 
 herbs) is well known in country places as a vulnerary. In olden 
 times an Adder's Tongue was reputed to be a wondrous cure for 
 tumours, if plucked at the falling of the Moon, and applied with 
 
 the accompaniment of an incantation. Witches highly esteemed 
 
 Adder's Tongue as a plant to be employed in their spells. Astro- 
 logers class it as a herb of the Moon. 
 
 Affadyl.— See Narcissus. 
 
208 pPant Tsore, begeljG/, cmS btjfio/. 
 
 AGNUS CASTUS.— The "Chaste Tree" {Vitex Agnus 
 Casfus), a species of Willow, derives its name from the Greek hagnos, 
 and Latin castus, both meaning chaste. The name was given to 
 it, according to Pliny, from the custom of the Athenian matrons to 
 strew their beds with it during the festival of the Thesmophora, 
 held in honour of Ceres, when the strictest chastity was enjoined. 
 At the same festival young girls adorned themselves with blossoms 
 of the shrub and slept on its leaves in order to guard their innocence 
 
 and purity. Agnus Castus was consecrated to ^sculapius, and 
 
 also, in the isle of Samos, to Juno. Prometheus was crowned with 
 it. At Grecian weddings, the bride and groom carried crowns of 
 
 it. It was also employed as a preservative against poisoning. 
 
 The seed of this shrub in later years acquired the name of Piper 
 Monachorum, and in explanation it is said that, following the example 
 of the matrons of Athens, who had discovered that the odour of 
 branches of Agnus Castus combatted unchaste thoughts and desires, 
 certain Christian monks made themselves girdles of the flexible 
 boughs of the tree, by wearing which they professed to expel from 
 
 their hearts all passions that love could excite. Some of the old 
 
 herbalists affirm that the seeds of Agnus Castus had" a very power- 
 ful effect in arresting generation. Gerarde says " Agnus Castus is 
 a singular medicine and remedy for such as would willingly live 
 chaste, for it withstandeth all uncleanness or desire to the flesh, 
 consuming and drying up the seed of generation, in what sort 
 soever it bee taken, whether in pouder onely, or the decoction 
 drunke, or whether the leaves be carried about the body ; for which 
 cause it was called castus, that is to say, chaste, cleane, and pure." 
 The leaves, burnt or strewn about, were reputed to drive away 
 serpents; and, according to Dioscorides, a branch of the shrub, 
 
 carried in the hand, would keep wayfarers from weariness. 
 
 Agnus Castus is held to be under the dominion of Mars in Capricorn. 
 
 Albespyne. — See Hawthorn. 
 
 AGRIMONY. — The Agrimony or Egrimony {Agrimonia Eupa- 
 toria) was a herb much in vogue among the old herbalists, who 
 attributed extraordinary virtues to it. Dioscorides prescribes it as 
 a cure for the bitings and stingings of serpents. Gerarde says it 
 is " good for them that have naughty livers," and in fact it was at 
 one time known as Liver-wort. Culpeper tells us that it will 
 draw forth "thorns and splinters of wood, nails, or any other 
 such thing gotten into the flesh," and recommends it further as " a 
 most admirable remedy for such whose lives are annoyed either by 
 heat or cold." Sore throat, gout, ague, colic, ear-ache, cancers, and 
 ulcers are among the numerous complaints the herbalists professed 
 to cure by means of syrups and salves made of Agrimony, a plant 
 which has formed an ingredient in most of the herb teas which 
 
 have been from time to time introduced. The astrological 
 
 government and virtues of Agrimony appear to the uninitiated 
 
pPant boi'e, begeTlt)/, dnS. bijric/. 209 
 
 somewhat complicated. If we may believe Culpeper, it is a herb 
 under Jupiter and the sign Cancer, and strengthens those parts 
 under the planet and sign, and removes diseases in them by 
 sympathy; and those under Saturn, Mars, and Mercury by anti- 
 pathy, if they happen in any part of the body governed by 
 
 Jupiter, or under the signs Cancer, Sagittarius, or Pisces. 
 
 Michael Drayton, in his ' Muse's Elysium,' thus refers to Agrimony, 
 among other herbs dear to simplers : — 
 
 " Next these here Egrimony is, 
 
 That helps the serpent s biting ; 
 The blessed Betony by this, 
 Whose cures deserving writing. 
 
 "This AU-heal, and so named of right, 
 New wounds so quickly healing ; 
 A thousand more I could recite 
 Most worthy of revealing." 
 
 ALDER. — The origin of the Alder is to be found in the 
 following lines from Rapin's poem on Gardens : — 
 
 " Of watery race Alders and Willows spread 
 O'er silver brooks their melancholy shade, 
 Which heretofore (thus tales have been believed) 
 Were two poor men, who by their fishing lived ; 
 Till on a day when Pales' feast was held, 
 And all the town with pious mirth was filled, 
 This impious pair alone her rites despised. 
 Pursued their care, till she their crime chastised : 
 While from the banks they gazed upon the flood, 
 The angry goddess fixed them where they stood. 
 Transformed to sets, and just examples made 
 To such as slight devotion for their trade. 
 At length, well watered by the bounteous stream, 
 They gained a root, and spreading trees became ; 
 Yet pale their leaves, as conscious how they fell. 
 Which croaking frogs with vile reproaches tell." 
 
 In Germany, Alders have often a funereal and almost diabolic 
 characfter. It is a popular belief that they commence to weep, to 
 supplicate, and to shed drops of blood if there is any talk of cutting 
 them down.^ — A legend of the Tyrol narrates how a boy who had 
 climbed a tree, overlooked the ghastly doings of certain witches 
 beneath its boughs. They tore in pieces the corpse of a woman, 
 and threw the portions in the air. The boy caught one, and kept 
 it by him. The witches, on counting the pieces afterwards found 
 that one was missing, and so replaced it by a scrap of Alder- wood, 
 
 when instantaneously the dead came to life again. Of the wood 
 
 of the Alder, Virgil tells us, the first boats were made: — Tunc Alms 
 
 primum fluvii sensere cavatas. ^^The Alder, or Aller, is said to be a 
 
 tree of Venus, under the celestial signs of either Cancer or Pisces. 
 
 Alecost.— See Costmary. 
 
 Alehoof, Ground-Ivy.— See Ivy. 
 
2IO pfant Tsore, Tsegel^O/j cmS teijrie/', 
 
 ALMOND. — According to an ancient tradition mentioned by 
 Servius, the origin of the Almond-tree is to be traced to Phyllis, a 
 beautiful Thracian queen, who became enamoured of Demophoon, 
 the son of Theseus and Phsedra, and was wedded to him. Demo- 
 phoon, who, whilst returning from the Trojan war, had been cast 
 by a storm on the coast of Thrace soon after his marriage with the 
 Queen, was recalled to Athens by his father's death. He promised 
 faithfully to return to his royal bride at the expiration of a month, 
 but failed to do so, and Phyllis, distradled at his continued absence, 
 after several futile visits to the sea-shore, expired of grief, and was 
 transformed into an Almond-tree, which is called Phylla. by the 
 Greeks. Some time after this metamorphosis the truant consort 
 returned, and upon hearing of the untimely fate of Phyllis, he ran 
 and clasped the tree in remorseful embrace. Loving even in death, 
 his beautiful queen seems to have acknowledged his repentance, 
 for the Almond-tree into which she had been transformed, although 
 at that time stripped of its leaves, suddenly shot forth and 
 blossomed, as if eager to show how unchangeable was poor 
 Phyllis's love. A second account of the origin of the Almond- 
 tree states that it sprang from the blood of the monster Agdistis, 
 the offspring of Jupiter. This fable further narrates that the 
 daughter of the river Sangarius fell in love with the beautiful tree, 
 
 and after gathering its fruit, gave birth to a son named Atys. 
 
 A third account relates how lo, daughter of King Midas, was for- 
 saken by Atys, whom she loved ; and how Agdistis, on the death 
 of Atys, mutilated his body, from which sprang the bitter Almond- 
 tree, the emblem of grief. Virgil made the flowering of Ae 
 
 Almond a presage of the crop of Wheat. 
 
 " With many a bud if flowering Almonds bloom, 
 And arch their gay festoons that breathe perfume. 
 So shall thy harvest like profusion yield, 
 And cloudless suns mature the fertile field." 
 
 The Hebrew word Shakad, from which the Almond derives its 
 name, means to make haste, or to awake early, given to the tree 
 on account of its hasty growth and early maturity. Aaron's rod, 
 which budded and brought forth fruit in the Tabernacle during one 
 day, was of an Almond-tree: " It budded and brought forth 
 buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded Almonds." (Numbers 
 xvii., 8). Among the Hebrews, the Almond-tree was regarded as 
 the symbol of haste and vigilance, because of the suddenness of its 
 blossoming, which announced the Spring. The Mahommedans con- 
 sider its flowers typical of hope, because they bloom on the bare 
 
 branches. Romanists assign the blossoming Almond-tree to the 
 
 Madonna, as Queen of Heaven. In Tuscany, and other coun- 
 tries, a branch of the Almond-tree is employed to discover 
 hidden treasures. It is carried to the place where the treasure is 
 supposed to be concealed, and, according to popular superstition, 
 its point will turn towards the exact spot. In the nuptial ce- 
 
pfant Isore, Tsegcljti/, oriel Tsiji-iq/", 21 1 
 
 remonies of the Czechs, Almonds are distributed amongst the 
 
 wedding guests. Pliny considered Almonds a most powerful 
 
 remedy against inebriation, and Plutarch relates an anecdote of a 
 notorious wine-bibber, who, by his habitual use of bitter Almonds, 
 
 used to escape being intoxicated. The Almond-tree is under 
 
 Jupiter. To dream of eating Almonds portends, a journey : if they 
 taste sweet, it will be a prosperous one; if bitter, the contrary. 
 
 ALOE. — The Hebrews appear to have entertained a great 
 respect for the Aloe (Akaloth). In the Bible it is frequently re- 
 ferred to in commendatory terms, and its use as a perfume is of 
 very great antiquity. King David, in the Psalms, says: " All thy 
 garments smell of Myrrh, and Aloes, and Cassia." Solomon, in 
 the Canticles, mentions Aloes as one of the chief spices ; and in 
 Proverbs (vii., 17) refers to it as a scent. Aloes is one of the spices 
 mentioned by St. John as having been brought by Nicodemus to 
 
 embalm the body of our Lord. There are two trees which yield 
 
 this fragrant wood, viz., Aloexylum Agallockum, a native of the 
 mountains of Hindostan, and Aquilaria Malaccensis, which grows in 
 Malacca: the wood of these aromatic trees forms the principal 
 ingredient in the scented sticks burned by the Hindus and Chinese 
 in their temples. The heart of the Chinese Aloe, or Wood Aloes, 
 is called Calambac, or Tambac-wood, which is reckoned in the 
 Indies more precious than gold itself : it is used as a perfume ; as 
 a specific for persons affected with fainting fits or with the palsy ; 
 and as a setting for the most costly jewels. Both the name and 
 the plant of the aromatic Aloe are of Indian origin, and it must 
 not be confounded with the common Aloes, most of which have 
 
 an offensive smell and a bitter taste. In Wood's Zoography 
 
 we read: "The Mahommedans respect the Aloe as a plant of a 
 superior nature. In Egypt, it may be said to bear some share in 
 their religious ceremonies, since whoever returns from a pilgrimage 
 to Mecca hangs it over his street door as a proof of his having per- 
 formed that holy j ourney. The superstitious Egyptians believe that 
 this plant hinders evil spirits and apparitions from entermg the 
 house, and on this account whoever walks the streets in Cairo will 
 
 find it over the doors of both Christians and Jews." The Arabic 
 
 name of the Aloe, Saber, signifies patience, and in Mecca at the end 
 of most graves, facing the epitaph, is planted an Aloe, as an 
 allusion to the patience required by those awaitmg the arrival of 
 the great day of resurrection. Most Eastern poets, however, 
 speak of the Aloe as the symbol of bitterness ; and the Romans 
 seem to have been well acquainted with this qualification, judging 
 from the allusion to it in Juvenal :— " Plus Aloes quammelhs habere" 
 " As bitter as Aloes " is a proverbial saying of considerable anti- 
 auitv derived doubtless from the acrid taste of the medicines 
 obtained from the plant, and made principally from the pulp of 
 the fleshy leaf of the Succotrine Aloe, the leaves of which have a 
 
 remarkable efficacy in curing scalds and burns. Not only, howr 
 
 p — 2 
 
2r2 pfant Tsore, "Isegar^j, «irii. Tsi^ric/. 
 
 ever, for its medicinal properties is the Aloe esteemed, for in some 
 countries, particularly Mexico, the poor derive from it almost 
 every necessary of life. The ancient manuscripts of Mexico are 
 chiefly inscribed upon paper made from the fibres of the piti, or 
 pith. Of the points of the leaves of the Aloe are made nails, 
 darts, and awls, and with these last the Indians pierce holes in 
 their ears when they propose to honour the Devil with some 
 peculiar testimonies of their devotion. 
 
 ALYSSUM. — This plant was regarded by the Neapolitans 
 as possessing magic qualities, and was suspended in their houses 
 as a charm against the Evil Eye. Its name Alyssum is derived 
 from the Greek a, not, and lussa, madness. In England, the 
 plant was called Alisson and Madwort, because, as Gerarde says, 
 it is "a present remedie for them that are bitten of a mad dog." 
 
 AMARANTH. — In Spenser's ' Fairy Queen ' is to be found 
 the following allusion to the mythological origin of the Amaranth : — 
 
 " And all about grew every sort of flower, 
 To which sad lovers were transformed of yore ; 
 Fresh Hyacinthus, Phoebus' paramour, 
 Foolish Narciss, that likes the watery shore : 
 Sad Amaranthus, made a flower but late, 
 Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore 
 Me seems I see Aminta's wretched fate. 
 To whom sweet poets' verse hath given endless date." 
 
 The Amaranth was a sacred plant among the Greeks and Romans : 
 from the former it received its name, which means " never-fading," 
 on account of the lasting nature of its blossoms. Hence it is 
 considered the emblem of immortality. The Amaranth was also 
 classed among the funeral flowers. Homer describes the Thessa- 
 lians as wearing crowns of Amaranth at the funeral of Achilles ; and 
 Thessalus decorated the tomb of the same hero with Amaranth- 
 blossoms. Philostratus records the custom of adorning tombs with 
 flowers, and Artemidorus tells us that the Greeks were accustomed 
 to hang wreaths of Amaranth in most of the temples of their 
 divinities: and they regarded the Amaranth as the symbol of 
 friendship. Milton crowns with Amaranth the angelic host 
 assembled before the Deity : — 
 
 " With solemn adorations down they cast 
 
 Their crowns, inwove with Amaranth and gold — 
 
 Immortal Amaranth, a flower which once 
 
 In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, 
 
 Began to bloom, but soon for man's ofience 
 
 To heaven removed, where first it grew." 
 The same poet, as well as Spenser, classes the Amaranth amongst 
 
 "those flowers that sad embroidery wear." In Sumatra, the 
 
 people of the Batta country lead in times of peace a purely 
 pastoral life, and are accustomed to play on a kind of flute 
 
 crowned with garlands of Amaranth and other flowers. At the 
 
 the Floral Games at Toulouse, a golden Amaranth was awarded 
 
pfant "bofe, Is&g&rpj, ani. Tsijriq/-, 213 
 
 for the best lyric composition. In modern times, the Amaranth 
 
 has given its name to an order instituted by Queen Christiana of 
 Sweden, in the year 1633, at an entertainment given in honour of 
 Don Antonio Pimentel, the Spanish Ambassador. On this occasion 
 she appeared in a dress covered with diamonds, attended by a suite 
 nobles and ladies. At the conclusion of the ball she stripped her 
 attire of the diamonds, and distributed them among the company, 
 at the same time presenting the new order of knighthood, con- 
 sisting of a ribbon and medal, with an Amaranth in enamel, 
 
 encircled with the motto Dolce nella memoria. In Roman Catholic 
 
 countries, more especially in 'Portugal, the species of the flower 
 known as the Globe Amaranth, Prince's Feathers, and Cock's 
 Comb, are much cultivated for church decoration at Christmas time 
 and during the Winter. The Amaranth is also selecfled as one of the 
 
 flowers peculiarly appropriate to Ascension Day. The species 
 
 of Amaranth which we know as Love-lies-bleeding, has, in France, 
 
 the singular name of Discipline des religieuses, the Nun's Scourge. 
 
 The Amaranth was formerly known as Flower Gentle, Flower 
 Velure, Floramor, and Velvet Flower. It is said to be under Saturn, 
 and to be an excellent qualifier of the unruly actions of Venus. 
 
 AMBROSIA. — The Ambrosia-tree, or tree bearing immortal 
 food, is one of the most popular guises of the Hindu world-trees. 
 The Paradise of Indra had five trees, under the refreshing shade 
 of which the gods reclined and enjoyed life-inspiring draughts of 
 Ambrosia or Amrita. The chief of these trees was the Pdrijdta 
 (usually identified with the Erythrina Indica), and this was deemed 
 
 the Ambrosia-tree. The Greeks knew a herb which they named 
 
 Ambrosia, the food of immortals, and it was so called by the 
 ancients because they believed that a continued use of it rendered 
 men long-lived, just as the ambrosia of the gods preserved their 
 immortality. The Moors to this day entertain a belief in the 
 existence of such a plant. The old English name given to this 
 herb was Ambrose, which was applied to the Chenopodium Botrys; 
 but the ancients seem to have applied the name of Ambrosia to the 
 the Field Parsley, the Wild Sage, and the Chenopodium ambrosioides. 
 The plant known as Ambrosia at the present day belongs to the 
 Wormwood family. 
 
 AMELLUS. — This plant is believed to be a species of Star- 
 wort. Virgil, in the Fourth Book of his Georgics, states that at 
 Rome it was employed to decorate the altars of the gods. Gerarde 
 says that the Starwort having a blue or purple flower is that 
 referred to by Virgil as the Amellus in the following Unes : — 
 " In meads there is a flower Amello named. 
 
 By him that seeks it easy to be found, 
 
 For that it seems by many branches framed 
 
 Into a little wood : like gold the ground 
 
 Thereof appears ; but leaves that it beset 
 
 Shine in the colour of the Violet." 
 
2 14 Ofant Isore, Isegc^/, and Isijr'taj; 
 
 AMORPHOPHALLUS.— The gigantic Aroid, Amoyphophal- 
 lus campanulatus, or Carrion Plant of Java, is regarded with repug- 
 nance as a plant of ill-omen. Previous to the sudden bursting, about 
 sunset, of the spathe containing the spadix, there is an accumulation 
 of heat therein. When it opens, it exhales an offensive odour that 
 is quite overpowering, and so much resembles that of carrion, that 
 flies cover the club of the spadix with their eggs. 
 
 ANDHAS. — The luminous plant of the Vedic Soma. The 
 plant is also called in general Arjuni, that is to say. Shining. 
 From Andhas it is supposed the Greek word anthos was derived. 
 
 ANDROMEDA. — This shrub owes its classical appellation 
 to Linnaeus, who gave it the name of Andromeda after the 
 daughter of Cepheus and Cassiope. Ovid, in his ' Metamor- 
 phoses,' has sung how, lashed to a rock, she was exposed to a sea 
 monster, sent by Neptune to ravage her father's country, and how 
 she was at last rescued by Perseus, and became his bride. 
 Linnaeus thus explains why he gave the Marsh Cistus the name of 
 the classical princess:— "As I contemplated it, I could not help 
 thinking of Andromeda, as described by the poets— a virgin of 
 most exquisite beauty and unrivalled charms. The plant is always 
 fixed in some turfy hillock in the midst of the swamps, as Andro- 
 meda herself was chained to a rock in the sea, which bathed her 
 feet as the fresh water does the root of the plant. As the distressed 
 virgin cast down her blushing face through excessive afHiction, so 
 does the rosy-coloured flower hang its head, growing paler and 
 paler till it withers away. At length comes Perseus, in the shape 
 of Summer, dries up the surrounding waters, and destroys the 
 monster." The leaves of this family of plants have noxious pro- 
 perties, and the very honey is said to be poisonous. 
 
 ANEMONE.— The origin of the Anemone, according to 
 Ovid, is to be found in the death of Adonis, the favourite of Venus. 
 Desperately wounded by a boar to which he had given chase, the 
 ill-fated youth lay expirmg on the blood-stained grass, when he was 
 found by Venus, who, overcome with grief, determined that her 
 fallen lover should hereafter live as a flower. 
 
 " Then on the blood sweet nectar she bestows jj 
 The scented blood in little bubbles rose; 
 Little as rainy drops, which flutt'ring fly, 
 Borne by the winds, along a lowering sky. 
 Short time ensued till where the blood was shed 
 A flower began to rear its purple head. 
 Such as on Punic Apples is revealed, 
 Or in the filmy rind but half concealed, 
 Still here the fate of lovely forms we see, 
 So sudden fades the sweet Anemone. 
 The feeble stems to stormy blasts a prey. 
 Their sickly beauties droop and pine away. 
 The winds forbid the flowers to flourish long, 
 Which owe to winds their names in Grecian song."— Con^reve. 
 
pPant bore, begerjti/, orisl bi^rlc/, 215 
 
 The Greek poet, Bion, in his epitaph on Adonis, makes the 
 Anemone the offspring of the tears of the sorrowing Venus. 
 " Alas the Paphian ! fair Adonis slain ! 
 
 Tears plenteous as his blood she pours amain, 
 
 But gentle flowers are bom and bloom around 
 
 From every drop that falls upon the ground. 
 
 Where streams his blood, there blushing springs the R^e, 
 
 And where a tear has dropped, a Wind-flower blows.'' 
 
 Rapin, in his poem, gives a somewhat similar version of the origin 
 of the Anemone. He says : — 
 
 " For while what's mortal from his blood s)k freed, 
 And showers of tears on the pale body^ed. 
 Lovely Anemones in order rose. 
 And veiled with purple palls the cajise of all her woes." 
 
 In Wiffen's translation of the Spanish poet Garcilaso, we find 
 the red colour only of the Aneijjone attributed to the blood of 
 Adonis : — 
 
 " His sunbeam-tinted tresses drooped unbound. 
 
 Sweeping the eaxth with neghgence uncouth; 
 
 The white Anemones that near him blew 
 
 Felt his red Wood, and red for ever grew." 
 
 Rapin recounts anpther story, according to which the Anemone 
 was originally a aymph beloved by Zephyr. This is, perhaps, 
 an explanation of the name of the flower, which is derived from 
 A nemos, the jrind. 
 
 " Flora, with envy stung, as tales relate. 
 Condemned a virgin to this change of fate ; 
 From Grecian nymphs her beauty bore the prize, 
 Beauty the worst of crimes in jealous eyes ; 
 For as with careless steps she trod the plain, 
 Courting the winds to fill her flowing train, 
 Suspicious Flora feared she soon would prove 
 Her rival in her husband Zephyr's love. 
 So the fair victim fell, whose beauty's light 
 Had been more lasting, had it been less bright: 
 She, though transformed, as charming as before, 
 The fairest maid is now the fairest flower." 
 
 The English name of Wind-flower seems to have been given to the 
 Anemone because some of the species flourish in open places exposed 
 to the wind, before the blasts of which they shiver and tremble 
 in the early Spring. Pliny asserts that the flower never blooms 
 
 except when the winds blow. With the Egyptians, the Anemone 
 
 was the emblem of sickness. According to Pliny, the magicians 
 and wise men in olden times were wont to attribute extraordinary 
 powers to the plant, and ordained that everyone should gather the 
 first Anemone he or she saw in the year, the while repeating, with 
 due solemnity — " I gather thee for a remedy against disease." The 
 flower was then reverently wrapped in scarlet cloth, and kept 
 undisturbed, unless the gatherer became indisposed, when it was 
 tied either around the neck or arm of the patient. This supersti- 
 
2l6 pPant Tsors, teegeljb/, and. Tsijpicy, 
 
 tion extended to England, as is shown by the following lines in a 
 ballad :— 
 
 " The first Spring-blown Anemone she in his doublet wove, 
 To keep him safe from pestilence wherever he should rove." 
 
 The Anemone was held sacred to Venus, and the flower was highly- 
 esteemed by the Romans, who formed it into wreaths for the 
 
 head. In some countries, people have a strong prejudice against 
 
 the flowers of the field Anemone : they believe the air to be so 
 tainted by them, that those who inhale it often incur severe illness. 
 Shakspeare has given to the Anemone the magical power of pro- 
 ducing love. In ' A Midsummer Night's Dream ' (Act 2), Oberon 
 bids Puck place an Anemone-flower on the eyes of Titania, who, 
 on her awakening, will then fall in love with the first objedt she 
 
 sees. A once famed Parisian florist, named Bachelier, having 
 
 procured some rare Anemones from the East, would not part with 
 a root, either for love or money. For ten years he contrived to 
 keep the treasures to himself, until a wily senator paid him a visit, 
 and, walking round the garden, observed that the cherished 
 Anemones were in seed. Letting his robe fall upon the plants as 
 if by accident, he so swept off a number of the little feathery 
 seeds, which his servant, following close upon his heels, brushed 
 off his master's robe and secretly appropriated ; and before long 
 the niggardly florist had the mortification of seeing his highly- 
 prized "strain" in the possession of his neighbours and rivals. 
 
 The Anemone is held to be under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 ANGELICA.— The strong and widely-diffused behef in the 
 manifold virtues of this plant is sufficient to account for its angelic 
 name, although Fuchsius was of opinion that it was called Angelica 
 either from the sweet scent of its root, or its value as a remedy 
 against poisons and the plague. Its old German name of Root 
 of the Holy Ghost is still retained in some northern countries. The 
 Laplanders believe that the use of it strengthens life, and they 
 therefore chew it as they would do Tobacco ; they also employ it 
 to crown their poets, who fancy themselves inspired by its odour. 
 — ■ — Parkinson says that " it is so goode an herbe that there is 
 no part thereof but is of much use." Du Bartas wrote — 
 
 " Contagious aire ingendering pestilence 
 
 Infects not those that in their mouths have ta'en 
 
 Angelica, that happy counterbane 
 
 Sent down from heav'n by some celestial scout, 
 
 As well the name and nature both avowt. " 
 
 Sylvester' t trans., 1 641. 
 Angelica was (popularly believed to remove the effecfts of intoxi- 
 cation ; according to Fuchsius, its roots, worn suspended round the 
 neck, would guard the wearer against the baneful power of witches 
 and enchantments ; and Gerarde tells us that a piece of the root 
 held in the mouth, or chewed, will drive away pestilential air, and 
 that the plant, besides being a singular remedy against poisons, 
 
pPant Tsore, teegeT^/, cmi. T^i^rio/, 217 
 
 the plague, and pestilent diseases in general, cures the biting of 
 mad dogs and all other venomous beasts. Regarding its astro- 
 logical government, Culpeper observes that it is a " herb of the 
 Sun in Leo. Let it be gathered when he is there, the moon 
 applying to his good aspe^; let it be gathered either in his hour, 
 or in the hour of Jupiter; let Sol be angular." 
 
 ANTHYLLIS.— The English names of this plant are Kidney 
 Vetch, Lamb Toe, Lady's Fingers, Silver Bush, and Jupiter's Beard 
 (from the thick woolly down which covers the calyxes of a species 
 growing in the South of Europe). It was formerly employed as a 
 vulnerary, and was recommended by Gesner as useful in staunch- 
 ing the effusion of blood : hence its old English names of Staunch 
 and Wound-Wort. Clare says of it : — 
 
 " The yellow Lambtoe I have often got 
 Sweet creeping o'er the banks in sunny time." 
 
 ANTIRRHINUM.— Columella alludes to this flower as 
 " the stern and furious lion's gaping mouth." Its English names 
 are Snap Dragon, Lion's Snap, Toad's Mouth, Dog's Mouth, and 
 
 Calfs Snout. In many rural distridts the Snap Dragon is 
 
 believed to possess supernatural powers, and to be able to destroy 
 charms. It was formerly supposed that when suspended about the 
 person, this plant was a protedlion from witchcraft, and that 
 it caused a maiden so wearing it to appear " gracious in the sight 
 of people." 
 
 APPLE. — Whether the Apple, the Orange, the Pomegranate, 
 the Fig, the Banana, or the Grape was the adlual fruit of the 
 Tree of Knowledge, which tempted Eve in Paradise, will possibly 
 never be settled; but it is certain that not only is the Apple 
 mystical above all the fruits of the earth, but it is the supreme 
 fruit. To it has been given the Latin name Pomona, which is the 
 generic name of fruit, just as Pomona is the goddess of all the 
 fruit trees. 
 
 The Scandinavian goddess Iduna is in a measure identified 
 with the Tree of Immortality, which was an Apple-tree. Iduna 
 religiously guarded in a box the Apples which the gods, when 
 they felt old age approaching, had only to taste the juice of to 
 become young again. The evil genius, Loki, having been instru- 
 mental in the abdudtion of Iduna and her renovating Apples, the 
 gods became old and infirm, and were unable properly to govern 
 the world ; they, therefore, threatened Loki with condign punish- 
 ment unless he succeeded in bringing back Iduna and her mystic 
 Apples : this he fortunately succeeded in doing. 
 
 The golden Apples which Juno presented to Jupiter on the 
 day of their nuptials were placed under the watchful care of a 
 fearful dragon, in the garden of the Hesperides ; and the obtaining 
 of some of these Apples was one of the twelve labours of Hercules. 
 By stooping to pick up three of these golden Apples presented by 
 
21 8 pPant Isore, "h&gzrfCi/, an^ Tsijric/', 
 
 Venus to Hippomenes, Atalanta lost her race, but gained him as 
 a husband. The fatal Apple — inscribed detur pulchriori — thrown 
 by the malevolent Discordia into the assembly of the gods, and 
 which Paris adjudged to Venus, caused the ruin of Troy and 
 infinite misfortune to the Greeks. 
 
 The Apple was sacred to Venus, who is often represented with 
 the fruit in her hand. The Thebans worshipped Hercules, under 
 the name of Melius, and offered Apples at his altar, the custom 
 having, according to tradition, originated as follows : — The river 
 Asopus being once so swollen as to prevent some youths from 
 bringing across it a sheep destined to be sacrificed to Hercules, 
 one of them recollected that the Apple was called by the same 
 name — Mfilon. In this emergency, therefore, it was determined to 
 offer an Apple, with four little sticks stuck in it to resemble legs, 
 as a substitute for a sheep ; and it being deemed that the sacrifice 
 was acceptable, the Apple was thenceforth devoted to Hercules. 
 The god Apollo was sometimes represented with an Apple in his 
 hand. 
 
 The Celtic " Isle of the Blest," the " fair Avalon," is the 
 " Island of Apples," 
 
 " Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, 
 Nor ever wind blows loudly, but it lies 
 Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns, 
 And bowery hollows crowned with Summer sea." 
 
 It has been attempted to localise the Island of Apples either at 
 Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, or at Aiguilon, in Brittany. A 
 Gaelic legend which asserts the claims of an island in Loch Awe 
 to be identified as the Isle of the Blest, changes the mystic Apples 
 into the fruit of the Pyrus cordata, a species of wild Pear, indigenous 
 both to the Scotch island and to Aiguilon. 
 
 The Druids highly reverenced the Apple-tree, partly on account 
 of its fruit, but chiefly because they believed that the Mistletoe 
 thrived on it and on the Oak only. In consequence of its reputed 
 sandlity, therefore, the Apple was largely cultivated by the early 
 Britons, and Glastonbury was known as the " Apple Orchard," 
 from the quantity of fruit grown there previous to the Roman 
 invasion. The Druids were wont to cut their divining-rods from 
 the Apple-tree. 
 
 The Saxons highly prized the Apple, and in mafly towns estab- 
 lished a separate market for the fruit. The following sentence 
 from their Coronation Benedi<5lion shows with what importance it 
 was regarded : — " May the Almighty Wess thee with the blessing of 
 heaven above, and the mountains and the valleys, with the bless- 
 ings of the deep below, with the blessing of Grapes and Apples. 
 Bless, O Lord, the courage of this Prince, and prosper the work 
 of his hands ; and by Thy blessing may this land be filled with 
 Apples, with the fruit and dew of heaven, from the top of the 
 
pPant Tsore, bsgef^/, oni. bijnc/, 219 
 
 ancient mountains, from the Apples of the eternal hills, from the 
 fruits of the earth and its fulness." 
 
 The old Saxon chronicles relate that before the battle of 
 Senlac, King Harold pitched his camp beside the "hoar Apple- 
 tree " — evidently a well-known objedl, that had doubtless preserved 
 its quondam sacred chara(5ter. Saint Serf, when on his way to 
 Fife, threw his staff across the sea, from Inch Keith to Culross, 
 and this staff, we are told, straightway took root and became the 
 Apple-tree called Morglas. 
 
 Many ancient rites and ceremonies conneifted with this mystic 
 tree are still pradtised in certain parts of the country, whilst others 
 have of late become obsolete. In remote districfls, the farmers and 
 peasantry in Herefordshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall still preserve 
 the ancient customs of saluting the Apple-trees on Christmas Eve. 
 In some places, the parishioners walk in procession visiting the 
 principal orchards in the parish. In each orchard one tree is 
 selected as the representative of the rest; this is saluted with a 
 certain form of words, which have in them the air of an incantation, 
 and then the tree is either sprinkled with cider, or a bowl of cider 
 is dashed against it, to ensure its bearing plentifully the ensuing 
 year. In other places, the farmer and his servants only assemble 
 on the occasion, and after immersing cakes in cider, they hang 
 them on the Apple-trees. They then sprinkle the trees with cider, 
 and encircling the largest, they chant the following toast three 
 times :— 
 
 " Here's to thee, old Apple-tree, 
 Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow ; 
 And whence thou may'st bear Apples enow. 
 Hats full I caps full! 
 Bushel, bushel, sacks full ! 
 And my pockets full, too t 
 
 Huzza 1 Huzza ! " 
 
 After this the men dance round the tree, and retire to the farm- 
 house to conclude, with copious draughts of cider, these solemn 
 rites, which are undoubtedly relics of paganism. 
 
 In Sussex, the custom of " worsling " or wassailing Apple- 
 trees still exists. Formerly it took place, according to the locality, 
 some time between Christmas Eve and Twelfth Day. The most 
 popular wassail rhyme was similar to the above, but others were 
 sung by the " howlers." At Chailey this verse is used: — 
 
 «' Stand fast root, bear well top. 
 Pray that God send us a good howling crop. 
 Every twig, Apples big. 
 Every bough. Apples enow. 
 Hats full, caps full, 
 Full quarters, sacks full.'' 
 
 In West Sussex, during Christmas, the farmers' labourers assemble 
 for the purpose of wassailing the Apple-trees. A trumpeter sounds 
 
220 pPant Tsore, teege^/, anel Tsijrio/, 
 
 blasts on a bullock's horn, and the party proceed to the orchard, where 
 they encircle a tree or group of trees, and chant sonorously — 
 
 " Stand fast at root, bear well top, 
 Every twig, bear Apple big, 
 Every bough, bear Apple enow." 
 
 A loud shout completes the ceremony, which is repeated till all the 
 trees in the orchard have been encircled; after which the men 
 proceed to the homestead, and sing at the owner's door a song 
 common for the occasion. They are then admitted, and partake 
 of his hospitality. 
 
 At West Wickham, in Kent, a curious custom used to prevail 
 in Rogation week. The young men went into the orchards, and, 
 encircling each tree, said : — 
 
 " Stand fast, root, bear well, top, 
 God send us a youling sop ; 
 Every twig, Apple big ; 
 Every bough, Apple enow." 
 
 Cider was formerly not the only drink concodted from the 
 Apple; another famous potation was called " Lambswool," or 
 more corredlly, lamasbol, the derivation of the word being the 
 Celtic Idmaesahhal — the day of Apple fruit. This appellation was 
 given to the first day of November, dedicated in olden times to 
 the titular saint of fruit and seeds. The Lambswool was composed 
 of ale and roasted Apples, flavoured with sugar and spice; and a 
 bowl of this beverage was drunk, with some ceremony, on the last 
 night of Odlober. Roasted Apples formed an important item in 
 the composition of the famed wassail-bowl. Shakspeare probably 
 alludes to this beverage in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' where 
 we find the mischievous Puck saying, 
 
 "Sometimes I lurk in a gossip's bowl. 
 In very likeness of a roasted Crab." 
 
 In Sussex, the wassail-bowl was formerly made at Christmas 
 time; it was compounded of ale, sugar, Nutmeg, and roasted 
 Apples, the latter being called Lambswool. On St. Clement's day, 
 in East Sussex, the custom exists of going round from house to 
 house asking for Apples and beer: this is called Clemmening. 
 A similar custom prevails on St. Catherine's Day, when the 
 children sing a rhyme commencing — 
 
 " Cattern' and Clemen' be here, here, here, 
 Give us your Apples and give us your beer." 
 
 In Lowland Scotland, there is an old charm still pra(5lised by 
 village maidens on Hallow-e'en. It is to go alone into a room, 
 and eat an Apple in front of a looking-glass, when the face of the 
 future husband will appear looking over the maid's shoulder. 
 
 In Scotland, on Hallow-e'en, Apples are thrown into a tub of 
 water, and you endeavour to catch one in your mouth as they bob 
 around in provoking fashion. When you have caught one, you 
 
pPant bore, Tsegel^/, ani. bijrlc/. 221 
 
 peel It carefully, and pass the long strip of peel thrice sunwise round 
 your head, after which you throw it over your shoulder, and it 
 falls to the ground in the shape of the initial letter of your true 
 love's name. 
 
 _ In some places, on this mystic night, a stick is suspended 
 horizontally from the ceiling, with a candle at one end and an Apple 
 at the other. While it is made to revolve rapidly, the revellers 
 successively leap up, and endeavour to grasp the Apple with their 
 teeth (the hands must not be used) ; if they fail, the candle gene- 
 rally swings round in time to salute them disagreeably. Another 
 amusement is to dive for Apples in a tub of water. 
 
 In Sussex, on this eve, every person present fastens an Apple 
 on a string, and hangs and twirls it before the fire. The owner of 
 the Apple that first falls off is declared to be upon the point of 
 marriage ; and as they fall successively, the order in which the rest 
 of the party will attain to matrimonial honours is clearly indicated, 
 single blessedness being the lot of the one whose Apple is the last 
 to drop. 
 
 The custom of throwing the peel of an Apple over the head, 
 marriage or celibacy being foretold by its remaining whole or 
 breaking, is well known, as is also that of finding in a peel so cast 
 the initial of the coming sweetheart. 
 
 Mr. Dyer, in his ' English Folk-lore,' details a form of divina- 
 tion by means of an Apple-pip. "In Lancashire," he says, "in 
 order to ascertain the abode of a lover, the anxious inquirer moves 
 round in a circle, at the same time squeezing an Apple-pippin be- 
 tween his finger and thumb. This, on being subjefted to pressure, 
 flies from the rind, in the supposed diredlion of the lover's residence. 
 Meanwhile, the following rhyme is repeated : — 
 
 ' Pippin, pippin, paradise, 
 Tell me where tny true love lies ; 
 East, west, north, and south, 
 Pilling brig or Coclcer mouth.' " 
 
 It was formerly customary for Apples to be blessed by priests 
 on July 25th ; and in the manual of the Church of Sarum is pre- 
 served an especial form for this purpose. In Derbyshire, there is a 
 saying that if the sun shines through the trees on Christmas Day, 
 it ensures a good crop. In Northamptonshire, if the Apple-tree 
 should bloom after the fruit is ripe, it is regarded as a sure omen of 
 death. In the Apple-growing districts, there is an old saying that if 
 it rains on St. Swithin's Day, it is the Saint christening the Apples. 
 
 De Gubernatis, in his Mythologie ies Plantes, gives several 
 curious customs connedted with the Apple, which are still extant 
 in foreign countries. In Serbia, when a maiden accepts from her 
 lover an Apple, she is engaged. In Hungary, a betrothed maiden, 
 after having received from her lover the " engaged" ring, presents 
 him with an Apple, the special symbol of all nuptial gifts. Young 
 .Greek girls never cease to invoke, upon marriage, the golden 
 
222 pfant teore, teegfet^G/, cmS laijf'ia/. 
 
 Apple. In Sicily, when a young man is in love, he presents the 
 obje(5l of his affedtions with a love Apple. At Mount San Giuliano, 
 in Sicily, on St. John's Day, every young girl throws from the 
 window of her room an Apple into the street, and watches to see 
 who picks it up : should a woman do so, it is a sign that the maiden 
 will not be married during the year ; if the Apple is only looked at 
 and not touched, it signifies that the maiden, after her marriage, 
 will soon become a widow : if the first person passing is a priest, 
 the young girl will die a virgin. In Montenegro, the mother-in- 
 law presents an Apple to the young bride, who must try and 
 throw it on the roof of her husband's house: if the Apple falls on 
 the roof, the marriage will be blest, that is to say there will be 
 children. At Taranto, in Southern Italy, at the wedding breakfast, 
 when the Apples are introduced, each guest takes one, and having 
 pierced it with a knife, places a piece of silver money in the 
 incision : then all the Apples are offered to the young bride, who 
 bites each, and takes out the money. 
 
 In a Roumanian legend, the infant Jesus, in the arms of the 
 blessed Virgin, becomes restiessT^fll not go to sleep, ^rul begins 
 to cry.^'The Virgin, to calm the Holy Child, gives Him t yo) Apples. 
 The infant throws one upwards, and it becomes the Moon ; He 
 then throws the second, and it becomes the Sun. After this exploit, 
 the Virgin Mary addresses Him and foretells that He will become 
 the Lord of Heaven. 
 
 In old pictures of St. Dorothea, the virgin martyr is repre- 
 sented with a basket containing Apples and Roses : this is in 
 allusion to the legend of her death, which tells that as Dorothea 
 was being led forth to martyrdom, Theophilus, a lawyer, mockingly 
 bade her send him fruits and flowers from Paradise. Dorothea, in- 
 clining her head, said, " Thy request, O Theophilus, is granted ! " 
 Whereat he laughed aloud with his companions, but she went on 
 cheerfully to death. Arrived at the place of execution, she knelt 
 down and prayed ; and suddenly there appeared at her side a 
 beautiful boy, with hair bright as sunbeams. In his hand he held 
 a basket containing three Apples and three fresh-gathered and 
 fragrant Roses. She said to him, " Carry these to Theophilus, 
 and say that Dorothea hath sent them, and that I go before him 
 to the garden whence they came, and await him there." With 
 these words she bent her neck, and received the death-stroke. 
 Meantime, the angelic boy sought Theophilus, and placed before 
 him the basket of celestial fruit and flowers, saying, " Dorothea 
 sends thee these," and vanished. Struck by the marvellous inci- 
 dent, Theophilus tasted of the heavenly fruit, and commenced a 
 new life, following in Dorothea's footsteps, and eventually obtaining 
 the crown of martyrdom. 
 
 Mr. Dyer quotes the following from 'Notes and Queries': — 
 " In South-east Devon and the neighbourhood, a curious legend is, 
 we learn, current among the farmers respecting St. Dunstan and 
 
pfant bore, begfe7|ti/, cmsl bijriq/-. 223 
 
 the Apple-trees. It is said that he bought up a quantity of Barley, 
 and therewith made beer. The Devil, knowing that the Saint 
 would naturally desire to get a good sale for his beer, which he 
 had just brewed, went to him and said, that if he would sell him- 
 self to him, then he (the Devil) would go and blight the Apple-trees, 
 so that there should be no cider, and, consequently there would be 
 a far greater demand for beer. St. Dunstan, naturally wishing to 
 drive a brisk trade in his beer, accepted the offer at once ; but 
 stipulated that the trees should be blighted in three days, which 
 days fell on the 17th, i8th, and 19th of May. In the almanacs, 
 the 19th is marked as St. Dunstan's Day, and, as about this time 
 the Apple-trees are in blossom, many anxious allusions are gene- 
 rally made to St. Dunstan ; and should, as is sometimes the case, 
 a sharp frost nip the Apple-blossoms, they believe they know who 
 has been at the bottom of the mischief. There seems to be several 
 versions of this legendary superstition. According to some, on a 
 certain night in June, three powerful witches pass through the air, 
 and if they drop certain charms on the blossoming orchards, the crops 
 will be blighted. In other parts of the country, this is known as 
 ' Frankum's Night,' and the story is, that long ago, on this night, 
 one Frankum made ' a sacrifice ' in his orchard, with the object 
 of getting a specially fine crop. His spells were answered by a 
 blight ; and the night is thus regarded as most critical." 
 
 In a Polish legend, derived doubtless from the myth of the 
 Hesperides, the hawk takes the place of the dragon. A young 
 princess, through magic, is shut up in a golden castle situated on 
 a mountain of ice: before the castle she finds an Apple-tree 
 bearing golden Apples. No one is able to come to this castle. 
 Whenever a cavalier ascends the side of the ice mountain in order 
 to release the princess, the hawk darts down and blinds his horse, 
 and both horse and rider are precipitated down the abyss. At 
 length the appointed hero arrives, slays the hawk, gathers the 
 golden Apples, and delivers the princess. 
 
 According to a Hanoverian legend, a yoimg girl descends to 
 the infernal regions by means of a staircase, which she discovers 
 under an Apple-tree growing at the back of the house. She sees a 
 garden, where the sun seems to shine more brightly than on earth ; 
 the trees are blossoming or are loaded with fruit. The damsel fills 
 her apron with Apples, which become golden when she returns 
 to earth. 
 
 In the popular tales of all countries, the Apple is represented 
 as the magical fruit par excellence. The Celtic priests held the 
 Apple sacred, and in Gaelic, Norse, German, and Italian stories it 
 is constantly introduced as a mysterious and enchanted fruit. Mr. 
 Campbell, in the introduction to his Tales of the West Highlands, 
 points out that when the hero wishes to pass from Islay to Ireland, 
 he pulls out sixteen Apples and throws them into the sea one after 
 another, and he steps from one to the other. When' the giant's 
 
224 pPanC Tsore, hzQ&r^f, cfriS hijt'ia/. 
 
 daughter runs away with the king's son, she cuts an Apple into 
 a mystical number of small bits, and each bit talks. When she 
 kills the giant, she puts an Apple under the hoof of the magic filly, 
 and he dies, for his life is the Apple, and it is crushed. When the 
 byre is cleansed, it is so clean, that a golden Apple would run from 
 end to end and never raise a stain. There is a Gruagach who 
 has a golden Apple, which is thrown at all comers, who, if they 
 fail to catch it, die. When it is caught and thrown back by the 
 hero, Gruagach an Ubhail, dies. There is a certain game called 
 cluich an ubhail — the Apple play — which seems to have been a 
 deadly game. When the king's daughter transports the soldier to 
 the green island on the magic table-cloth, he finds magic Apples 
 which transform him, and others which cure him, and by which he 
 transforms the cruel princess, and recovers his magic treasures. 
 When the two eldest idle king's sons go out to herd the giant's 
 cattle, they find an Apple-tree whose fruit moves up and down as 
 they vainly strive to pluck it ; in fact, in all Gaelic stories, the 
 Apple when introduced has something marvellous about it. 
 
 So, in the German, in the ' Man of Iron,' a princess throws a 
 golden Apple as a prize, which the hero catches three times, and 
 carries off, and wins. In ' Snow White,' where the poisoned comb 
 occurs, there is a poisoned magic Apple also. In the ' Old Griffin,' 
 the rich princess is cured by rosy-cheeked Apples. In the ' White 
 Snake,' a servant who understands the voice of birds, helps 
 creatures in distress, gets them aid, and procures golden Apples 
 from three ravens which fly over the sea to the end of the world, 
 where stands the tree of life. When he had got the Apple, he and 
 the princess eat it and marry. Again, in the 'Wonderful Hares,' a 
 golden Apple is the gift for which the finder is to gain a princess ; 
 and that Apple grew on a tree, the sole one of its kind. 
 
 In Norse it is the same: the princess on the glass mountain 
 held three golden Apples in her lap, and he who could ride up the 
 hill and carry oflf the Apples was to win the prize ; and the princess 
 rolled them down to the hero, and they rolled into his shoe. The 
 good girl plucked the Apples from the tree which spoke to her 
 when she went down the well to the underground world ; but the 
 ill-tempered step-sister thrashed down the fruit; and when the 
 time of trial came, the Appl^-tree played its part and protected the 
 poor girl. 
 
 In a French ta.le, a singing Apple is one of the marvels which 
 Princess Belle Etoile and her brothers and her cousin bring from 
 the end of the world. In an Italian story, a lady when she has lost 
 her husband goes off to the Atlantic Ocean with three golden Apples ; 
 and the mermaid who has swallowed the husband shows first his 
 head, then his body to the waist, and then to the knees, each time 
 for a golden Apple. Then, finally, in the ' Arabian Nights,' there 
 is a long story, called the Three Apples, which turns upon the theft 
 of one, which w*s considered to have been of priceless value. 
 
|)fanC Tsore, T3egeT|t3/, ani. TSijrio/. 225 
 
 The Apple-blossom is considered to be an emblem of preference. 
 To dream of Apples betokens long life, success in trade, and a 
 lov«r's faithfulness. 
 
 APPLE OF SODOM. — The Solanum Sodomeum is a purple 
 Egg-plant of which the fruit is naturally large and handsome. It 
 is, however, subje(5l to the attacks of an inse(5t (a species of Cynips), 
 which pundlures the rind, and converts the interior of the fruit into 
 a substance like ashes, while the outside remains fair and beautiful. 
 It is found on the desolate shores of the Dead Sea, on the site of 
 those cities of the plain the dreadful judgment on which is recorded 
 in sacred history. Hence the fruit, called the Apple of Sodom, 
 has acquired a sinister reputation, and is regarded as the symbol 
 of sin. Its first appearance, it is said, is always attended with a 
 bitter north-east wind, and therefore ships for the Black Sea take care 
 to sail before the harbinger of bad weather comes forth. The fruit 
 is reputed to be poisonous. Josephus, the Jewish historian, speaks 
 of them as having "a fair colour, as if they were fit to be eaten; 
 but if you pluck them with your hand, they vanish into smoke and 
 ashes." Milton, describing an Apple which added new torments 
 to the fallen angels, compares it to the Apples of Sodom: — 
 
 " Greedily they pluck'd 
 The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew 
 Near that bituminous lake where Sodota flamed. 
 This mere delusion, not the touch but taste 
 Deceived ; they fondly thinking to allay 
 Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit 
 Chewed bitter ashes." 
 
 Henry Teonge, who visited the country round the Dead Sea in 
 1675, describes it as being "all over full of stones which looke just 
 like burnt syndurs, and on some low shrubbs there grow small 
 round things which are called Apples, but no witt like them. They 
 are somewhat fayre to looke at, but touch them and they smoulder 
 
 all to black ashes, like soote both for looks and smell." The name 
 
 Apple of Sodom is also given to a kind of Gall-nut, which is found 
 growing on various species of dwarf Oaks on the banks of the 
 
 Jordan. Dead Sea Apples is a term applied to the Bussorah 
 
 Gall-nut, which is formed on the Oak Quercus infectoria by an insedl, 
 and being of a bright ruddy purple, but filled with a gritty powder, 
 they are suggestive of the deceptive Apple of Sodom. 
 " Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye. 
 But turn to ashes on the lips." 
 
 Apple of Paradise, or Adam's Apple. — See Banana. 
 
 Apple, Love. — See Solanum. 
 
 Apple, Mad. — See Solanum. 
 
 APRICOT. — According to Columella, the Persians sent the 
 Peach to Egypt to poison the inhabitants ; and a species of Apricot 
 is called by the people of Barbary, Matza Franca, 01? the " Killer of 
 
 Q 
 
226 pPant Isore, IsegeT^/, ani. '\s^r\af. 
 
 Christians." The Persians call the Apricot of Iran, the " Seed of 
 the Sun." The ancients appear to have regarded it as a pro- 
 phetical or oracular tree. It was in the solitude of a grove of 
 
 Apricot-trees that Confucius, the venerated Chinese sage, com- 
 pleted his commentaries on the King or ancient books of China, 
 and beneath this shade he eredted an altar, and solemnly thanked 
 Heaven for having permitted him to accomplish his cherished 
 
 task. The name has undergone curious transformations: it is 
 
 traceable to the Latin pracoqua, early ; the fruit .being supposed 
 by the Romans to be an early Peach. The Arabs (although living 
 near the region of which the tree is a native) took the Latin name, 
 and twisted it into al burquq ; the Spaniards altered its Moorish 
 name into alhancoque; the Italians reproduced it as alhicoces; the 
 French from them got abricot; and we, in England, although taking 
 the name from the French, first called it Ahyicock, or Aprecoch, and 
 
 finally Apricot. The Apricot is under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 To dream of this fruit denotes health, a speedy marriage, and 
 every success in life. 
 
 ARBOR YITJE,. — This tree, otherwise known as Thuja, is 
 called by Pliny, Thya (from thyon, a sacrifice). The resin of the 
 Eastern variety is, in certain localities, frequently used instead of 
 incense at sacrifices. How the tree acquired the name of Arbor 
 Vita is not known, unless from some supposed virtue of its berries. 
 Gerarde, who had only seen the Canadian variety, says of it that, 
 of all the trees from that country, the Arbor Vita, or Thya, was 
 " the most principall, and best agreeing unto the nature of man, 
 as an excellent cordial, and of a very pleasant smell." He also 
 tells us that it was sometimes called Cedrus Lycia, and that it is not 
 to be confounded with the Tree of Life mentioned in Genesis. 
 
 ARBUTUS.— The Arbutus, or Strawberry-tree {Arbutus 
 unedo), was held sacred by the Romans. It was one of the attri- 
 butes of Cardea, a sister of Apollo, who was beloved by Janus, 
 guardian of gates and avenues. With a rod of Arbutus — virga 
 Janalis — Cardea drove away witches and protedled little children 
 when ill or bewitched. The Romans employed the Arbutus, with 
 other symbolic trees and flowers, at the Palilia, a festival held in 
 honour of the pastoral goddess Pales. It was a Roman custom to 
 deposit branches of the Arbutus on coffins, and Virgil tells us that 
 Arbutus rods and Oak twigs formed the bier of young Pallas, the 
 son of Evander. Horace, in his Odes, has celebrated the shade 
 afforded by the Arbutus. Ovid speaks of the tree as "the Arbutus 
 heavy with its ruby fruit," and tells us that, in the Golden Age, 
 the fruit afforded food to man. This fruit is called unedo, and 
 Pliny is stated to have given it that name became it was so bitter 
 
 that he who ate one would eat no more. The Oriental Arbutus, 
 
 or Andrachne, bears fruit resembling a scarlet Strawberry in size 
 and flavour. In Greece, it has the reputation of so affedling 
 
pPant Tsore, haQer^f, anil biji'io/. 227 
 
 serpents who feed upon it, that they speedily cease to be veno- 
 mous. The water distilled from the leaves and blossom of the 
 Arbutus was accounted a very powerful agent against the plague 
 and poisons. 
 
 ARCHANGEL.— The name of Archangel is applied to the 
 Angelica archangelica ; the Red Archangel, Stachys sylvatka ; the 
 White Archangel, Lamium album; and the Yellow Archangel, 
 L. Galeohdolon. Nemnich says, the plant originally obtained its 
 name from its having been revealed by an angel, in a dream. 
 Parkinson considers it was so called on account of its heavenly 
 virtues. Gerarde remarks of it, that "the flowers are baked with 
 sugar, as Roses are, which is called Sugar Roset : as also the dis- 
 tilled water of them, which is used to make the heart merry, to 
 make a good colour in the face, and to refresh the vitall spirits." 
 
 ARECA. — The Areca Catechu is one of the sacred plants of 
 India, producing the perfumed Areca Nuts, favourite masticatories 
 of the Indian races. So highly is this nut esteemed by the natives, 
 that they would rather forego meat and drink than their precious 
 Areca Nuts, which they cut into narrow pieces, and roll up with a 
 little lime in the leaves of the Pepper, and chew. The Areca Palm 
 is known in Hindostan as Supyari, and in Japan as Jamhi. The 
 Hindus adorn their gods with these Nuts, and forbid respedlable 
 women to deck either their heads or bosoms with them. Accord- 
 ing to Indian tradition, Devadamani, subduer of the gods, once 
 appeared at the court of King Vikramaditya, to play with him, 
 clothed in a robe the colour of the sky, having in his hand and in his 
 mouth an Areca Nut enveloped in a leaf of the Kalpa-tree. This 
 probably explains the Indian custom of presenting an Areca Nut 
 to guests, which is eaten with the leaf of the Betel. In China, a 
 similar custom prevails, but the Nut given there is the Betel Nut. 
 
 ARISTOLOCHIA.— The old EngHsh name of this plant 
 was Birth-wort, derived from its reputed remedial powers in partu- 
 rition — purobably first suggested by the shape of the corolla — 
 whence also its Greek name, from aristos, best, and locheia, delivery. 
 According to Pliny, if the expe(5lant mother desired to have a son, 
 
 she employed Aristolochia, with the flesh of an ox. Certain of 
 
 the species are renowned, in some European countries, for having 
 a wonderful influence over fishes and serpents. A. Serpentaria is 
 reputed to be so offensive to the serpent tribe, that they will not 
 only shun the place where it grows, but will even flee from any 
 traveller who carries a piece of the plant in his hand. The snake 
 jugglers of Egypt are believed to stupefy these reptiles by means 
 of a deco(5tion distilled from the plant, and it is asserted that a few 
 drops introduced into the mouth of a serpent will so intoxicate it 
 
 as to render it insensible and harmless. Apuleius recommends 
 
 the use of Aristolochia against the Evil Eye. The Birth-wort is 
 
 under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 Q— 2 
 
2 28 pPant Tsore, begel^/, ani. Tsijric/'. 
 
 ARKA. — This is the Indian nanie of the Caloiropis gigantea, also 
 called Arkapatra and Arkaparna (the lightning-leaved), the leaves of 
 which present the cuneiform symbols of lightning. Arka, says De 
 Gubernatis, is also the name of the Sun, and this explains why the 
 Brahmins employed the leaf of the Caloiropis on the occasion of 
 sacrificing to the Sun. In each part of the Arka it is stated that a 
 portion of the human body can be distinguished. Notwith- 
 standing its grand name, and its beautiful appearance, people have 
 a dread of approaching it, lest it should strike them blind. The 
 origin of this superstition is to be found in the word Ayha, which 
 means both the sun and the lightning. 
 
 ARTEMISIA. — The genus of plants known as Artemisia 
 was so called after the goddess Artemis (who was regarded by the 
 Romans as identical with Diana, or the Moon), by reason of some 
 of its species being used in bringing on precocious puberty. On 
 this account, also, it is one of the plants specially under the 
 influence of the Moon. — (See Southernwood and Wormwood). 
 
 ARUNDHATI. — This is the Brahminical name of a climbing 
 plant of good omen, and to which, according to De Gubernatis, 
 the Atharvaveda attributes magical properties against diseases of 
 the skin. It gives milk to sterile cows, it heals wounds, it delivers 
 men from sickness, it protedls those who drink its juices. It is the 
 sister of the water and of the gods ; the night is its mother ; the 
 mist, the horse of Yama, its father ; Aryaman its grandfather. It 
 descends from the mouth of the horse of Yama. 
 
 ARUM. — The Germans call the Arum Aronswurzel, and 
 entertain the notion that where this flourishes, the spirits of the 
 wood rejoice. The majestic Ethiopian species of the Arum {Calla- 
 jEthiopica) is commonly called the Horn-flower, from the shape of 
 its large white calyx. In tropical climates, the plant is a deadly 
 poison. The Arum of English hedgerows, a flower of a very much 
 humbler character, is known by a variety of quaint names, 
 viz., Aaron, Cuckoo-pint, Cuckoo-pintle, Wake Robin, Friar's 
 Cowl, Priest's-pintle, Lords-and-Ladies, Cows-and-Calves, Ramp, 
 Starchwort, and, in Worcestershire, Bloody Men's Fingers (from 
 the red berries that surround the spadix). These blood-red spots 
 have caused the plant to received in Cheshire the name of Geth- 
 semane, because it is said to have been growing at the foot of the 
 Cross, and to have received some drops of our Saviour's blood. 
 
 "Those deep inwrought marks. 
 The villagers will tell thee, 
 Are the flower's portion from the atoning blood 
 On Calvary shed. Beneath the Cross it grew." 
 
 This flower, the Arum maculatum, is the English Passion-flower: its 
 berries are highly poisonous, and every part of the plant is acrid ; 
 yet the root contains a farinaceous substance, which, when properly 
 prepared, and its acrid juice expressed, is good for food, and is 
 
pfant Isofe, bege'^/, ani. Isiji-io/. 229 
 
 indeed sold under the name of Portland Sago. Starch has been 
 
 made from the root, and the French use it in compounding the 
 cosmetic known as Cypress powder. A drachm weight of the 
 spotted Wake Robin, either fresh or dry, was formerly considered 
 as a sure remedy for poison and the plague. The juice of the herb 
 swallowed, to the quantity of a spoonful, had the same effedt. 
 Beaten up with Ox-dung, the berries or roots were believed to ease 
 the pains of gout. Arum is under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 ASOKA. — The Saraca Indica, or Jonesia Asoka, is one of the 
 sacred plants of India, which has from remotest ages been conse- 
 crated to their temple decoration, probably on account of the 
 beauty of its orange-red blossoms and the delicacy of its perfume, 
 which in the months of March and April is exhaled throughout the 
 night. The tree is the symbol of love, and dedicated to Kama, 
 the Indian god of love. Like the Agnus Castus, it is reported to 
 have a certain charm in preserving chastity : thus Sita, the wife of 
 Ra.ma, when abdudted by the monster RS.vana, escapes from the 
 caresses of the monster and finds refuge in a grove of Asokas. In 
 the legend of Buddha, when Maya is conscious of having conceived 
 the Bodhisattva, under the guise of an elephant, she retires to a 
 wood of Asoka trees, and then sends for her husband. The Hindus 
 entertain the superstition that a single touch of the foot of a pretty 
 woman is sufficient to cause the Asoka to flourish. The word 
 asoka signifies that which is deprived of grief, and Asoka, or the 
 tree without grief, is also one of the names of the Bodhidruma, the 
 sacred tree of Buddha. 
 
 ASPEN. — A legend referring to the tremulous motion of 
 this tree {Populus tremula — see Poplar) is to the following efiecft -.-^ 
 "At the awful hour of the Passion, when the Saviour of the world 
 felt deserted in His agony, when earth, shaken with horror, rang_ 
 the parting knell for Deity, and universal nature groaned : then, 
 from the loftiest tree to the lowliest flower, all felt a sudden thrill, 
 and trembling bowed their heads, all save the Aspen, which said!:- 
 'Why should we weep and tremble? The trees and flowers are 
 pure and never sinned ! ' Ere it ceased to speak, an involuntary 
 trembling seized its every leaf, and the word went forth that it 
 should never rest, but tremble on until the Day of Judgment." An 
 old saying affirmed that the leaves of the Aspen were made from 
 women's tongues, which never ceased wagging; and allusion is,> 
 made to this in the following rhyme by Hannay, 1,622.:— 
 " The quaking Aspen, light and thin, 
 In the air quick passage gives ;, 
 Resembling still 
 The trembling ill 
 Of tempers of womankind, 
 Which never rest. 
 But still are jjrest 
 To. wave with every wind." 
 
230 pPant Isofe, TsegeT^t)/, anil "ki^r'iaf. 
 
 The Bretons have a legend that the Saviour's cross was made of 
 Aspen wood ; and that the ceaseless trembling of the leaves of this 
 tree marks the shuddering of sympathetic horror. The Germans 
 preserve an ancient tradition that, during their flight into Egypt, the 
 Holy Family came to a dense forest, in which, but for an angelic 
 guide, they must have lost their way. As they entered this wilder- 
 ness, all the trees bowed themselves down in reverence to the 
 infant God ; only the Aspen, in her exceeding pride and arrogance, 
 refused to acknowledge Him, and stood upright. Then the Holy 
 Child pronounced a curse against her, as He in after life cursed 
 the barren Fig-tree; and at the sound of His words the Aspen 
 began to tremble through all her leaves, and has not ceased to 
 tremble to this day. Mr. Henderson, in his ' Folk-lore of the 
 Northern Counties,' states that this tradition has been embodied 
 in a little poem, which may be thus translated : — 
 
 " Once as our Saviour walked with men below, 
 His path of mercy through a forest lay ; 
 And mark how all the drooping branches show, 
 What homage best a silent tree may pay ! 
 " Only the Aspen stands erect and free, 
 
 Scorning to join the voiceless worship pure ; 
 But see ! He casts one look upon the tree, 
 Struck to the heart she trembles evermore ! " 
 
 The Kirghises, who have become almost Mussulmans, have never- 
 theless preserved a profound veneration for the sacred Aspen. 
 
 Astrologers hold that the Aspen is a lunar tree. 
 
 ASPHODEL. — The Asphodel is the flower which flourished 
 in the Elysian Fields. Orpheus, in Pope's ' Ode on St. Cecilia's 
 Day,' conjures the infernal deities^ — 
 
 " By the streams that ever flow; 
 By the fragrant winds that blow 
 
 O'er the Elysian flowers ; 
 By those happy souls who dwell 
 In yellow meads of Asphodel, 
 
 Or Amaranthine bowers." 
 
 Homer tells us that, having crossed the Styx, the shades passed 
 over a long prairie of Asphodel; and Lucian makes old Charon 
 say : — " I know why Mercury keeps us waiting so long. Down 
 here with us there is nothing to be had but Asphodel, and libations 
 and oblations, and that in the midst of mist and darkness : but up 
 in heaven it is all bright and clear, and plenty of ambrosia there, 
 and nedtar without stint." The fine flowers of this plant of the 
 infernal regions produced grains which were believed by the 
 ancients to afford nourishment to the dead. Accordingly we find 
 that the Greeks planted Asphodel and Mallows round graves. 
 The edible roots of the Asphodel were also wont to be laid as 
 offerings in the tombs of the departed, and, according to Hesiod, 
 they served as food for the poor. The Asphodel was held sacred 
 to Bacchus, probably because he visited the infernal regions, and 
 
pfant Tsore, ^S)&g&'r^f, anel feijnq/*. 231 
 
 rescued his mother Semele from the kingdom of the departed. 
 Wreaths of the Asphodel were worn by Bacchus, Proserpine, 
 Diana, and Semele. Asphodels were among the flowers forming 
 the couch of Jupiter and Juno, and Milton has named them as put 
 to the same use by Adam and Eve. 
 
 " Flowers were the couch, 
 Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel, 
 And Hyacinth, earth's freshest, softest lap." 
 
 Dr. Prior says that the Asphodel root was, under the name of cibo 
 yegio (food for a king), highly esteemed in the middle ages, but, 
 however improved by cultivation, it is likely to have been trouble- 
 some by its diuretic qualities, and has probably on that account 
 gone out of fashion. Rapin, in his poem, refers to the Asphodel as 
 forming an article of food — 
 
 " And rising Asphodel forsakes her bed. 
 On whose sweet root our rustic fathers fed." 
 
 ASTER. — The old English name of the Aster is Star-wort. 
 Rapin says of this flower — 
 
 " The Attic star, so named in Grecian use. 
 But called Amellus by the Mantuan Muse 
 In meadows reigns near some cool streamlet's side. 
 Or marshy vales where winding currents glide. 
 Wreaths of this gilded flower the shepherds twine, 
 When grapes now ripe in clusters load the vine." 
 
 The Aster is thus identified with the Amellus, of the Greek and 
 Latin poets, and, according to Virgil, the altars of the. gods were 
 often adorned with wreaths of these flowers. In his Fourth Georgic 
 the poet prescribes the root of the Italian Star-wort {Aster Amellus) 
 for sickly bees. (See Amellus). The leaves of the Attic Star-wort 
 (when burnt) had the reputation of driving away serpents. In 
 Germany, the Star-wort is used by lovers as an oracle, to decide 
 whether their love is returned or not. The person consulting it 
 
 repeats the words — 
 
 " Er Uebt mich von Herzen 
 Mit Schmentm, 
 
 Ja — odej- Nein" 
 
 At the recurrence of the words ja and ntin a leaf is pulled out, 
 and the answer depends on which of these words is pronounced as 
 the last of the leaves is plucked. Gothe introduces this rustic 
 superstition in his tragedy of ' Faust,' where the luckless heroine 
 consults the floral oracle as to the affeaion entertaiqed for her by 
 Faust. The French call the Italian Star-wort, or Amellus, VCEil 
 
 de Christ, and the China Aster la Reine Marguerite The Aster is 
 
 considered to be a herb of Venus. 
 
 ^Sfj. This tree (Fraxinus excelsior), called, on account of its 
 
 elegance, the Venus of the forest, and from its utility, the husband- 
 man's tree, was regarded by the ancient Greeks, Romans, and 
 Scandinavians as a sacred tree, and as one of good omen. In the 
 
232 pPant Tsore, feege?^^/, driel Tsijr'iaf, 
 
 Teutonic mythology, the Ash is the most venerated of trees, and 
 the Scandinavian Edda, the sacred book of the Northmen, furnishes 
 a detailed account of the mystic Ash Yggdrasill, or mundane tree, 
 beneath whose shade was the chief or holiest seat of the gods, 
 where they assembled every day in council. (See Yggdrasill.) 
 According to the old Norse tradition, it was out of the wood of the 
 Ash that man was first formed ; and the Greeks entertained a similar 
 belief, for we find Hesiod deriving his brazen race of men from it. 
 The goddess Nemesis was sometimes represented with an Ashen 
 wand. Cupid, before he learnt to use the more potent Cypress, 
 employed Ash for the wood of his arrows. At the Nuptials of 
 Peleus and Thetis, Chiron appeared with a branch of Ash, from 
 which was made the lance of Peleus, which afterwards became 
 the spear of Achilles. Rapin writes of this tree — 
 
 " But on fair levels and a gentle soil 
 The noble Ash rewards the planter's toil 
 Noble e'er since Achilles from her side 
 Took the dire spear by which brave Hector died ; 
 Whose word resembling much the hero's mind, 
 Will sooner break than bend— a stubborn kind." 
 
 There exists an old superstition, that a serpent will rather 
 creep into the fire than over a twig of the Ash-tree, founded upon 
 the statements of Pliny with respedl to the magical powers of the 
 Ash against serpents. It was said that serpents always avoided 
 the shade of the Ash ; so that if a fire and a serpent were placed 
 within a circle of Ash-leaves, the serpent, to avoid the Ash, would 
 even run into the midst of the fire. Cowley, enumerating various 
 prodigies, says : — 
 
 " On the wild Ash's tops, the bats and owls, 
 With, aU night, ominous and baleful fowls. 
 Sate brooding, while the screeches of these droves 
 Profaned and violated all the groves. 
 
 ♦ *•♦** 
 
 But that which gave more wonder than the rest. 
 Within an Ash a serpent built her nest. 
 And laid her eggs ; when once to come beneath 
 The very shadow of an Ash was death." 
 
 There exists a popular belief in Cornwall, that no kind of 
 snake is ever found near the " Ashen-tree," and that a branch of 
 the Ash will prevent a snake from coming near a person. There 
 is a legend that a child, who was in the habit of receiving its portion 
 of bread and milk at the cottage door, was found to be in the habit 
 of sharing its food with one of the poisonous adders. The reptile 
 came regularly every morning, and the child, pleased with the 
 beauty of his companion, encouraged the visits. So the babe and 
 the adder thus became close friends. Eventually this became 
 known to the mother (who, being a labourer in the fields, was com- 
 pelled to leave her child all day), and she found it to be a matter 
 of great difficulty to keep the snake from the child whenever it 
 
pfant Tsore, Ts>e.Qz7^f, ani. Isi^riq/-, 233 
 
 was left alone. She therefore adopted the precaution of binding 
 an Ashen-twig about its body. The adder no longer came near 
 the child; but, from that day forward, the poor little one pined 
 away, and eventually died, as all around said, through grief at 
 having lost the companion by whom it had been fascinated. 
 
 On the subjecft of the serpent's antipathy to the Ash, we find 
 Gerarde writing as follows : — " The leaves of this tree are of so 
 great vertue against serpents, that they dare not so much as touch 
 the morning and evening shadowes of the tree, but shun them afar 
 off, as Pliny reports {lib. 16, c. 13). He also afifiirmeth that the 
 serpent being penned in with boughes laid round about, will 
 sooner run into the fire, if any be there, than come neare the 
 boughes of the Ash ; and that the Ash floureth before the serpents 
 appeare, and doth not cast its leaves before they be gon againe. 
 We write (saith he) upon experience, that if the serpent be set 
 within a circle of fire and the branches, the serpent will sooner 
 run into the fire than into the boughes. It is a wonderfuU 
 courtesie in nature, that the Ash should floure before the serpents 
 appeare, and not cast his leaves before they be gon againe." 
 Other old writers affirm that the leaves, either taken inwardly, or 
 applied outwardly, are singularly good against the biting of snakes 
 or venomous beasts ; and that the water distilled from them, and 
 taken every morning fasting, is thought to abate corpulence. The - 
 ashes of the Ash and Juniper are stated to cure leprosy. 
 
 The pendent winged seeds, called spinners or keys, were 
 believed to have the same effecfl as the leaves : in country places 
 there is to this day an opinion current, that when these keys are 
 abundant, a severe Winter will follow. A bunch of Ash-keys is 
 still thought efficacious as a protedlion against witchcraft. 
 
 In marshy situations, the roots of the Ash will run a long way 
 at a considerable depth, thus adling as sub-drains : hence the 
 proverb, in some parts of the country, " May your foot-fall be by 
 the root of the Ash." In the Spring, when the Ash and Oak are 
 coming into leaf, Kentish folk exclaim :— " Oak, smoke ; Ash, 
 squash." If the Oak comes out first, they believe the Summer 
 will prove hot ; if the Ash, it will be wet. 
 
 " If the Oak's before the Ash, 
 
 You will only get a splash ; 
 
 If the Ash precedes the Oak, 
 
 You will surely have a soak." 
 
 Gilbert White tells us of a superstitious custom, still extant, 
 which he thinks was derived from the Saxons, who practised it 
 before their conversion to Christianity. Ash-trees, when young 
 and flexible, were severed, and held open by wedges, while ruptured 
 children, stripped naked, were pushed through the apertures, 
 under a persuasion that they would be cured of their infirmity. 
 The operation over, the tree was plastered up with loam, and 
 carefully swathed. If the severed parts coalesced in due course, 
 
234 pfant Tsore, TsegeT^^y, ani. Tsiji-ic/, 
 
 the babe was sure to be cured; but if not, the operation would 
 probably be inefFedtual. The same writer relates another extra- 
 ordinary custom among rustics : they bore a deep hole in an Ash- 
 tree, and imprison a live shrew mouse therein : the tree then becomes 
 a Shrew-Ash, whose twigs or branches, gently applied to the limbs 
 of cattle, will immediately relieve the cramp, lameness, and pain 
 supposed to attack the animal wherever a shrew mouse has crept 
 over it. 
 
 Lightfoot says that, in the Highlands, at the birth of an infant, 
 the nurse takes a green Ash stick, one end of which she puts into 
 the fire ; and, while it is burning, receives in a spoon the sap that 
 oozes from the other, which she administers to the child as its first 
 food: this custom is thought to be derived from the old Aryan 
 pradlice of feeding young children with the honey-like juice of the 
 Fraxinus Ornus. The sap of the Ash, tapped on certain days, is 
 drunk in Germany as a remedy for the bites of serpents. 
 
 In Northumberland, there is a belief that if the first parings 
 of an infant's nails are buried under an Ash, the child will turn 
 out a "top singer." In Staffordshire, the common people believe 
 that it is very dangerous to break a bough from the Ash. In 
 Leicestershire, the Ash is employed as a charm for warts. In the 
 month of April or May, the sufferer is taken to an Ash-tree : the 
 operator (who is provided with a paper of new pins') takes a pin, 
 and having first struck it through the bark, presses it through the 
 wart until it produces pain; the pin is then taken out and stuck 
 into the tree, where it is left. Each wart is similarly treated, a 
 separate pin being used for each. The warts will disappear in a 
 few weeks. It is a wide-spread custom to stroke with a twig from 
 an Ash-tree, under the roots of which a horse-shoe has been buried, 
 any animal which is supposed to have been bewitched. 
 
 An Ashen herding stick is preferred by Scotch boys to any other, 
 because in throwing it at their cattle it is sure not to strike in 
 a vital part, and so kill or injure the animal, a contingency which 
 may occur, it seems, with other sticks. It is worthy of note that 
 the lituus of the Roman Augur — a staff with a crook at one end — 
 was formed of an Ash-tree bough, the crook being sometimes pro- 
 duced naturally, but more often by artificial means. 
 
 In many parts of England, the finding of an even Ash-leaf is 
 considered to be an augury of good luck ; hence the old saying, so 
 dear to tender maids — 
 
 " If you find an even Ash or a four-leaved Clover, 
 Rest assured you'll see your true-love ere the day is over." 
 
 In Cornwall, this charm is frequently made use of for in- 
 voking good luck : — 
 
 " Even Ash I thee do pluck. 
 
 Hoping thus to meet good luck. 
 If no good luck I get from thee, 
 I stall wish thee on the tree. 
 
pPant Isoce, teegeT^/, anS. Isi^ricy. 235 
 
 In Henderson's 'Northern Folk-lore,'- occur the following lines 
 regarding the virtues of even Ash-leaves : — 
 
 " The even Ash-leaf in my left hand, 
 
 The fii-st man I meet shall be my husband. 
 
 The even Ash-leaf In my glove, 
 
 The first I meet shall be my love. 
 
 The even Ash-leaf for my breast, 
 
 The first man I meet's whom I love best. 
 
 The even Ash-leaf in my hand. 
 
 The first I meet shall be my man.") 
 " Even Ash, even Ash, I pluck thee. 
 
 This night my true love for to see ; 
 
 Neither in his rick nor in his rear. 
 
 But in the clothes he does every day wear." 
 
 It is a tradition among the gipsies that the cross our Saviour 
 was crucified upon was made of Ash. 
 
 In Devonshire, it is customary to burn an Ashen faggot at 
 Christmastide, in commemoration of the fact that the Divine 
 Infant at Bethlehem was first washed and dressed by a fire of 
 Ash-wood. 
 
 The Yule-clog or -log which ancient custom prescribes to be 
 burnt on Christmas Eve, used to be of Ash; thus we read in an 
 old poem : — 
 
 " Thy welcome Eve, loved Christmas, now arrived, 
 The parish bells their tuneful peals resound. 
 And mirth and gladness every breast pervade. 
 The ponderous Ashen-faggot, from the yard. 
 The jolly farmer to his crowded hall 
 Conveys with speed ; where, on the rising flames 
 (Already fed with store of massy brands), 
 It blazes soon ; nine bandages it bears. 
 And, as they each disjoin (so custom wills), 
 A mighty jug of sparkling cider's brought 
 With brandy mixt, to elevate the guests." 
 Spenser speaks of the Ash as being "for nothing ill," but the tree 
 has always been regarded as a special attracftor of lightning, and 
 there is a very old couplet, which says: — 
 
 " Avoid an Ash, 
 It courts the flash." 
 
 Its charatfter as an embodiment of fire is manifested in a remarkable 
 Swedish legend given in Grimm's 'German Mythology.' Some 
 seafaring people, it is said, received an Ash-tree from a giant, 
 with direcftions to set it upon the altar of a church he wished to 
 destroy. Instead, however, of carrying out his instructions, they 
 placed the Ash on the mound over a grave, which to their astonish- 
 ment instantly burst into flames. 
 
 There is an old belief that to prevent pearls from being 
 discoloured, it is sufficient to keep them shut up with a piece of 
 Ash-root. 
 
 Astrologers appear to be divided m their opinions as to 
 whether the Ash is under the dominion of the Sun or of Jupiter. 
 
236 pPant Tsors, "hegeT^f, ani. Isijricy. 
 
 ASVATTHA. — The Indian Veda prescribes that for the 
 purpose of kindling the sacred fire, the wood of an Asvattha 
 {Ficus religiosa), growing upon a Sami {Mimosa Suma), should be 
 employed. The idea of a marriage suggested by such a union 
 of the two trees is also developed in the Vedas with much minute- 
 ness of detail. The process by which, in the Hindu temples, 
 fire is obtained from wood resembles churning. It consists in 
 drilling one piece of wood (the Asvattha, symbolising the male 
 element) into another (the Sami, representing the female element). 
 This is efFedted by pulling a string tied to it, with a jerk, with 
 one hand, while the other is slackened, and so alternately until the 
 wood takes fire. The fire is received on cotton or flax held in 
 the hand of an assistant Brahman. This Indian fire-generator is 
 known as the " chark." (See also Sami and Peepul). 
 
 AURICULA. — The old Latin name of this plant was Auri- 
 cula ursi, from the shape of the leaves resembling a bear's ear. It 
 is thought to be the A lisma of Dioscorides. Matthiolus and Pena call 
 it Sanicula Alpina, from its potency in healing wounds. Old her- 
 balists have also named it Paralytica on account of its being 
 esteemed a remedy for the palsy. Gerarde calls it Bear's-ear, or 
 Mountain Cowslip, and tells us that the root was in great request 
 among Alpine hunters, for the effecft it produced in strengthening 
 the head and preventing giddiness and swimming of the brain over- 
 taking them on high elevations. The plant is reputed to be some- 
 what carnivorous, and cultivators place juicy pieces of meat about 
 
 the roots, so that they may absorb the blood. In Germany, the 
 
 Auricula is considered emblematical of love of home. 
 
 AVAKA. — The Avaka or Sipdla is an India aquatic plant, 
 which plays an important part in their funeral ceremonies. It is 
 placed in a cavity made, according to their custom, to the north- 
 east of the sacred fire Ahavaniya, and it is believed that the soul 
 of the deceased person passes into this cavity, and thence ascends 
 with the smoke to heaven. The Avaha or Sipala forms the food 
 of the Gandharvas, who preside over the India waters. 
 
 AvENS. — See Herb Bennett. 
 
 AZALEA. — This handsome shrub is narcotic and poisonous 
 in all its parts. Xenophon, in his narrative of the ' Retreat of the 
 Ten Thousand,' in Asia, after the death of Cyrus, tells how his 
 soldiers became temporarily stupefied and delirious, as if intoxi- 
 cated, after partaking of the honey of Trebizond on the Black Sea. 
 The baneful properties of this honey arose from the poisonous 
 nature of the blossoms of the Azalea Pontica, from which the bees 
 had coUedted it. 
 
 BACCHARIS. — This plant is the Inula Conyza, and was 
 called Baccharis after the god Bacchus, to whom it was dedicated. 
 
pfant Tsops, Tsegel^/, anel Isiijploy, 237 
 
 Virgil speaks of Baccharis as being used for making garlands, and 
 recommends it as a plant which is efficacious as a charm for re- 
 pelling calumny — 
 
 ' ' Bacchan Jrontem 
 Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro!' 
 
 Its EngHsh name is the Ploughman's Spikenard; and it was highly 
 esteemed by the old herbalists on account of the sweet and 
 aromatic qualities of its root, from which the ancients compounded 
 an ointment which was also known as Baccharis. 
 
 Bachelor's Buttons. — See Ranunculus. 
 
 BALBAGA. — The Indian Grass, Eleusim Indica, had, accord- 
 ing to De Gubernatis, the Vedic name of Balbaja: and, as a 
 sacred herb, was employed in Indian religious festivals for litter, 
 in ceremonials connecfted with the worship of the sacred Cow. 
 
 BALDMONEY. — According to Gerarde, the Gentian was 
 formerly called Baldmoyne and Baldmoney; but Dr. Prior con- 
 siders that the name appertains to Meum athamanticum, and that it 
 is a corruption of the Latin valde bona, very good. The Grete 
 Herball, speaking of Sistra, he says, gives the following explana- 
 tion: — "Sistra is Dyll, some call it Mew; but that is not so. 
 Howbeit they be very like in properties and vertue, and be put 
 eche for other; but Sistra is of more vertue then Mew, and the 
 leaves be lyke an herbe called Valde Bona, and beareth smaller 
 sprigges as Spiknarde. It groweth on hye hylles " (See Feldwode). 
 
 BALIS.' — This herb was believed by the ancients to possess 
 the property of restoring the dead to life. By its means ^sculapius 
 himself was said to have been once resuscitated ; and Pliny reports 
 that, according to the Greek historian Xanthus, a little dog, killed 
 by a serpent, was brought back to life by this wonderfid herb Balis. 
 
 BALSAM. — The seed vessel of this plant contains five cells. 
 When maturity approaches, each of these divisions curls up at the 
 slighest touch, and darts out its seeds by a spontaneous movement : 
 hence its generic name Impatiens, and its English appellation Noli 
 me tangere — Touch me not. Gerarde calls it the Balsam Apple, or 
 Apple of Jerusalem, and tells us that its old Latin name was Pomum 
 Mirahile, or Marvellous Apple. He also states that the plant was 
 highly esteemed for its property of alleviating the pains of mater- 
 nity, and that it was considered a valuable agent to remove sterility 
 
 the patient first bathing and then anointing herself with an oil 
 
 compounded with the fruit. The Turks represent ardent love 
 
 by this flower. Balsam is under the planetary influence of 
 
 Jupiter. 
 
 BALM. — The Melissa, or Garden Balm, was renowned among 
 the Arabian physicians, by whom it was recommended for hypochon- 
 dria and affecftions of the heart, and according to Paracelsus the 
 primtim eiis Melissa promised a complete renovation of man. Drunk 
 
238 pPant teore, Tsegel^/, ariol bijricy. 
 
 in wine, it was believed to be efficacious against the bitings of 
 venomous beasts and mad dogs. A variety called Smith's or Car- 
 penter's Balm, or Bawm, was noted as a vulnerary, and Pliny 
 describes it of magical virtue. Gerarde remarks, "though it 
 be but tied to his sword that hath given the wound, it stancheth 
 the blood." On account of its being a favourite plant of the bees, 
 it was one of the herbs diredled by the ancients to be placed in 
 the hive, to render it agreeable to the swarm : hence it was called 
 
 Apiastrutn. The astrologers claimed the herb both for Jupiter 
 
 and the Sun. In connedlion with the Garden Balm, Aubrey 
 
 relates a legend of the Wandering Jew, the scene of which he 
 places in the Staffordshire moors. When on the weary way to 
 Golgotha, Jesus Christ, fainting and sinking beneath the burden 
 of the cross, asked the Jew Ahasuerus for a cup of water to 
 cool his parched throat, he spurned the supplication, and bade 
 him speed on faster. "I go," said the Saviour, "but thou shalt 
 thirst and tarry till I come." And ever since that hour, by day 
 and night, through the long centuries, he has been doomed to 
 wander about the earth, ever craving for water, and ever expedling 
 the Day of Judgment, which alone shall end his frightful pilgrimage. 
 One Whitsun evening, overcome with thirst, he knocked at the 
 door of a Staffordshire cottager, and craved of him a cup of small 
 beer. The cottager, who was wasted with a lingering consumption, 
 asked him in and gave him the desired refreshment. After finishing 
 the beer, Ahasuerus asked his host the nature of the disease he 
 was suffering from, and being told that the do(5lors had given him 
 up, said, " Friend, I will tell thee what thou shalt do; and by the 
 help and power of Almighty God above, thou shalt be well. To- 
 morrow, when thou risest up, go into thy garden, and gather there 
 three Balm-leaves, and put them into a cup of thy small beer. 
 Drink as often as you need, and when the cup is empty, fill it again, 
 and put in fresh Balm-leaves every fourth day, and thou shalt see, 
 through our Lord's great goodness and mercy, that before twelve 
 days shall be past, thy disease shall be cured and thy body altered." 
 So saying, and declining to eat, he departed and was never seen 
 again. But the cottager gathered his Balm-leaves, followed the 
 prescription of the Wandering Jew, and before twelve days were 
 passed was a new man. 
 
 BALM OF GILEAD.— The mountains of Gilead, in the 
 east of the Holy Land, were covered with fragrant shrubs, the 
 most plentiful being the Amyris, which yielded the celebrated Balm 
 of Gilead, a precious gum which, at a very early period, the 
 Ishmaelites or Arabian carriers trafficked in. It was to a party of 
 these merchants that Joseph was sold by his brethren as they came 
 from Gilead, with their camels, bearing spicery, and Balm, and 
 M5n:rh, going to carry it down to Egypt (Gen. xxxvii., 25). There 
 were three produ<5lions from this tree, all highly esteemed by the 
 ancients, viz. : Xylobalsamum, a decoHionoi the new twigs; theCarpo- 
 
pfant Tsorc, Isegel^t)/, ansl T3ijri<y. 239 
 
 «, an expression of the native fruit ; and the Opobalsamum, 
 or juice, the finest kind, composed of the greenish liquor found in 
 the kernel of the fruit. The principal quantity of Balm has, how- 
 ever, always been produced by excision. The juice is received in 
 a small earthen bottle, and every day's produce is poured into a 
 larger, which is kept closely corked. So marvellous were the pro- 
 perties of this Balm considered, that in order to test its quality, 
 the operator dipped his finger in the juice, and then set fire to it, 
 expelling fully to remain scathless if the Balm was of average 
 strength. The Balm of Gilead has always had a wonderful repu- 
 tation as a cosmetic among ladies. The manner of applying it in 
 the East is thus given by a traveller in Abyssinia: — "You first 
 go into the tepid bath, till the pores are sufficiently opened ; you 
 then anoint yourself with a small quantity, and as much as the 
 vessels will absorb : never-fading youth and beauty are said to be the 
 consequences." By the Arabs, it is employed as a stomachic and 
 antiseptic, and is believed by them to prevent any infection of the 
 
 plague. Tradition relates that there is an aspic that guards the 
 
 Balm-tree, and will allow no one to approach. Fortunately, how- 
 ever, it has a weakness — it cannot endure the sound of a musical 
 instrument. As soon as it hears the approaching torment, it 
 thrusts its tail into one of its ears, and rubs the other against the 
 ground, till it is filled with mud. While it is. lying in this helpless 
 condition, the Balm-gatherers go round to the other side of the 
 
 tree, and hurry away with their spoil. Maundevile says that 
 
 the true Balm-trees only grew in Egypt (near Cairo), and in India. 
 The Egyptian trees were tended solely by Christians, as they 
 refused to bear if the husbandmen were Saracens. It was neces- 
 sary, also, to cut the branches with a sharp flint-stone or bone, for 
 if touched with iron, the Balm lost its incomparable virtue. The 
 Indian Balm-trees grew " in that desert where the trees of the 
 Sun and of the Moon spake to King Alexander," and warned him 
 of his death. The fruit of these Balm-trees possessed such 
 marvellous properties, that the people of the country, who were in 
 the habit of partaking of it, lived four or five hundred years in 
 consequence. 
 
 BAMBOO. — The Bambusa Arundinacea is one of the sacred 
 plants of India : it is the tree of shelter, audience, and friendship. 
 As jungle fires were thought to be caused by the stems of Bamboos 
 rubbing together, the tree derived from that fact a mystic and holy 
 
 character, as an emblem of the sacred fire. Indian anchorites 
 
 carry a long Bamboo staff' with seven nodes, as a mark of their 
 calling. At Indian weddings, the bride and bridegroom, as part of 
 the nuptial ceremony, get into two Bamboo baskets, placed side by 
 side, and remain standing therein for some specified time. The 
 savage Indian tribe called Garrows possess neither temples nor 
 altars, but they set up a pillar of Bamboo before their huts, and 
 decorate it with flowers and tufts of cotton, and sacrifice before it to 
 
240 pPant T9ore, feege^/, and. Tsijrie/, 
 
 their deity. In various parts of India there is a superstitious belief 
 that the flowering and seeding of various species of Bamboo is a 
 
 sure prognostication of an approaching famine. Europeans have 
 
 noticed, as an invariable rule, in Canara, that when the Bamboos 
 flower and seed, fever prevails. At the foot oif the Ghauts, and 
 round Yellaptir, it has been observed that when the Bamboos 
 flowered and seeded, fever made its appearance, few persons es- 
 caping it. During blossom, the fever closely resembles hay fever 
 
 at home, but the type becomes more severe as the seeds fall. The 
 
 poor, homeless fishermen of China, to supply themselves with vege- 
 tables, have invented a system of culture which may move with 
 them, and they thus transport their gardens wherever they may go. 
 This they do by construdting rafts of Bamboo, which are well 
 woven with weeds and strong grass, and then launched on the 
 water and covere'd with earth. These floating gardens are made 
 fast to the stern of their junks and boats, and towed after them. 
 
 BANANA. — The Banana {Musa sapientum) and the Plantain 
 {M. paradisiaca) axe so closely related, as to be generally spoken 
 of together. The Banana has been well designated the king of 
 all fruit, and the greatest boon bestowed by Providence on the 
 inhabitants of hot countries. According to Gerarde, who calls it 
 in his Herbal, Adam's Apple Tree, it was supposed in his time by 
 the Grecians and Christians inhabiting Syria, as well as by the 
 Jews, to be that tree of whose fruit Adam partook at Eve's solici- 
 tation — the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, planted by the 
 Lord Himself in the midst of the Garden of Eden. It has also 
 been supposed that the Grapes brought by the Israelites' spies to 
 Moses out of the Holy Land, were in reality the fruit of the 
 
 Banana-tree. In the Canary Islands, the Banana is never cut 
 
 across with a knife because it then exhibits a representation of the 
 Crucifixion. Gerarde refers to this mark, remarking that the fruit 
 " pleaseth and entiseth a man to eate liberally thereof, by a 
 certaine entising sweetnesse it yields; in which fruit, if it be cut 
 according to the length, oblique, transverse, or any other way, 
 whatsoever, may be scene the shape and forme of a crosse, with 
 a man fastened thereto. My selfe have seene the fruit, and cut it 
 in pieces, which was brought me from Aleppo, in pickle : the crosse, 
 I might perceive, as the form of a spred-Egle in the root of Feme ; 
 but the man I leave to be sought for by those which have better 
 
 eies and judgement than my selfe." A certain secft of Brahmans, 
 
 called Yogis, place all their food in the leaves of the Plantain, or 
 Apple of Paradise, and other large leaves; these they use dry, 
 never green, for they say that the green leaves have a soul in 
 them ; and so it would be sinful. 
 
 BANYAN TREE.— The Indian Fig-tree {Ficus Indica), of 
 which one of the Sanscrit names is Bahupada, or the Tree of 
 Many Feet, is one of the sacred trees of India, and is remarkable 
 
pfant kore, kegel^/, cmi. bijriey, 241 
 
 for its vast size and the singularity of its growth : it throws out 
 from its lateral branches shoots which, as soon as they reach the 
 earth, take root, till, in course of time, a single tree extends itself 
 to a considerable grove. Pliny described the Banyan with great 
 ccuracy, and Milton has rendered his description almost literally : 
 
 "Branching so broad along, that in the ground 
 The bending twigs take root, and daughters grow 
 About the mother tree ; a pillared shade, 
 High overarched, with echoing walks between. 
 There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat, 
 Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds 
 At loop-holes cut through thickest shade." 
 
 The Banyan rarely vegetates on the ground, but usually in the 
 crown of Palms, where the seed has been deposited by birds. 
 Roots are sent down to the ground, which embrace, and eventually 
 kill, the Nurse-Palm. Hence, the Hindus have given the Banyan the 
 name of Vaibddha (the breaker), and invoke it in order that it may 
 
 at the same time break the heads of enemies. In the Indian 
 
 mythology, the Banyan is often confounded with the Bo-tree, and 
 hence it is given a place in heaven, where an enormous tree is said 
 to grow on the summit of the mountain Supirsva, to the south of 
 the celestial mountain Meru, where it occupies a vast space. 
 Beneath the pillared shade of the Banyan, the god Vishnu was 
 born. His mother had sought its shelter, but she was sad and 
 fearful lest the terrible Kansa should put to death her seventh 
 babe, Vishnu, as he had already done her first six. Yasodi, to 
 console the weeping mother, gave up her own infant daughter, 
 who was at once killed by Kansa's servants ; but Vishnu was saved. 
 It is, says De Gubernatis, at the foot of a gigantic Banyan, a 
 Bhdndira, near Mount Govardhana, that the Buddhist Vishnu plays 
 with his companions, and, by his presence, illuminates everything 
 around him. The Banyan of the Vedas is represented as being 
 peopled with Indian parroquets, who eat its fruit, which, how- 
 ever, does not exceed a Hazel-nut in size. The Chinese Buddhists 
 represent that Buddha sits under a Banyan-tree, turned towards 
 the East, to receive the homage of the god Brahma. Like the 
 sacred Bo-tree, the Banyan is regarded not only as the Tree of 
 Knowledge, but also as the tree of Indian seers and ascetic devotees. 
 Wherever a Bo-tree or a Banyan has stood, the place where it 
 
 formerly flourished is always held sacred. There is in India a 
 
 Banyan-tree that is the object of particular veneration. It grows 
 on the banks of the Nerbudda, not far from Surat, and is the 
 largest and oldest Banyan in the country. According to tra- 
 dition, it was planted by the Seer Kabira, and is supposed to be 
 three thousand years old. It is said to be the identical tree visited 
 by Nearchus, one of the officers of Alexander the Great. The 
 Hindus never cut it or touch it with steel, for fear of offending the 
 god concealed in its sacred foliage. De Gubernatis quotes the 
 
 R 
 
242 pPant bore, IsegeT^tJ/j cHtsI hqfiaf. 
 
 following description of this sacred tree given by Pietro Delia Valle 
 at the commencement of the seventeenth century : — " On one side 
 of the town, on a large open space, one sees towering a magnificent 
 tree, similar to those which I had noticed near Hormuz, and which 
 were called Lul, but here were known as Ber. The peasants of 
 this country have a profound veneration for this tree, both on 
 account of its grandeur and its antiquity : they make pilgrimages 
 to it, and honour it with their superstitious ceremonies, believing 
 that the goddess P4rvati, the wife of Mahideva, to whom it is dedi- 
 cated, has it under her protedlion. In the trunk of this tree, at a 
 little distance from the ground, they have roughly carved what is 
 supposed to be the head of an idol, but which no one can recognise 
 as bearing any semblance to a human being ; however, like the 
 Romans, they paint the face of the idol red, and adorn it with 
 flowers, and with leaves of a tree which they call here Pan, but in 
 other parts of India Betel. These flowers and leaves ought to be 
 always fresh, and so they are often changed. The pilgrims who 
 come to visit the tree receive as a pious souvenir the dried leaves 
 which have been replaced by fresh ones. The idol has eyes of 
 gold and silver, and is decorated with jewellery offered by pious 
 persons who have attributed to it the miraculous cure of oph- 
 thalmic complaints they have suffered from They 
 
 take the greatest care of the tree, of every branch, nay, of every 
 leaf, and will not permit either man or beast to damage or profane 
 it. Other Banyan or Pagod trees have obtained great eminence. 
 One near Mangee, near Patna, spread over a diameter of three 
 hundred and seventy feet, and it required nine hundred and 
 twenty feet to surround the fifty or sixty stems by which the tree 
 was supported. Another covered an area of one thousand seven 
 hundred square yards ; and many of almost equal dimensions are 
 
 found in different parts of India and Cochin-China." In the 
 
 Atharvaveda mention is made of an all-powerful amulet, which 
 is a reduction, on a small scale, of a Banyan-tree, possessing a 
 thousand stems, to each of which is attributed a special magical 
 property. 
 
 BAOBAB. — The leviathan Baobab {Adansonia) is an object 
 of reverential worship to the negroes of Senegal, where it is 
 asserted that some of these trees exist which are five thousand 
 years old. It is reputed to be the largest tree in the world, and 
 may readily be taken at a distance for a grove : its trunk is often 
 one hundred feet in circumference ; but its height is not so won- 
 derful as its enormous lateral bulk. The central branch rises 
 perpendicularly, the others spread out in all diredtions, and attain 
 a length of sixty feet, touching the ground at their extremities, 
 and equalling in bulk the noblest trees. The wood is spongy and 
 soon decays, leaving the trunks hollow. In these hollow trunks 
 the negroes suspend the dead bodies of those who are refused the 
 honour of burial; and in this position the bodies are preserved 
 
pPant bofe, teegel^/, ariil h\jr'\Qf. 243 
 
 without any process of embalming. The magnificent snowy 
 blossoms are regarded with peculiar reverence at the instant they 
 open into bloom. The leaves are used medicinally, and as a con- 
 diment; dried and powdered, they constitute Lalo, a favourite 
 article with the Africans, who mix it daily with their food, to pre- 
 vent undue perspiration; a fibre is obtained from the bark that is 
 so strong as to have given rise in Bengal to the saying, "As 
 secure as an elephant bound with a Baobab rope." The gourd-like 
 fruit, called Monkey-bread and Ethiopian Sour Gourd, is also 
 eaten, and is prized for its febrifugal qualities. 
 
 BARBERRY. — The Barberry (B«yJms vulgaris) was formerly 
 called the Pipperidge-bush, and was regarded with superstitious 
 dislike by farmers, who believed that it injured Wheat crops, 
 even if growing a hundred yards off, by imparting to the Corn the 
 
 fungus which causes rust. In Italy, the Barberry is looked upon 
 
 as the Holy Thorn, or the plant wh'ich furnished the crown of 
 Thorns used at our Lord's crucifixion : it seems to be so regarded 
 because its Thorns grow together in sets of three at each joint of 
 the branch. The Barberry is under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 BARLEY. — Barley is a symbol of riches and abundance. 
 The God Indra is called " He who ripens Barley," and in many of 
 their religious ceremonies the Indians introduce this cereal, viz., 
 at the birth of an infant, at weddings, at funerals, and at certain 
 
 of their sacrificial rites. Barley is claimed by astrologers as 
 
 a notable plant of Saturn. 
 
 BAROMETZ.— The Barometz, or Scythian Lamb {Poly- 
 podium Barometz), is a name given to a Fern growing in Tartary, 
 the root of which, says Prof. Martyn, from the variety of its form, 
 is easily made by art to take the form of a lamb (called by the 
 Tartars Borametz), " or rather that of a rufous dog, which the common 
 names in China and Cochin-China imply, namely, Cau-tich and Kew- 
 tsie." The description given of this strange Fern represents the root 
 as rising above the ground in an oblong form, covered all over with 
 hairs : towards one end it frequently becomes narrower and then 
 thicker, so as to give somewhat of the shape of a head and neck, 
 and it has sometimes two pendulous hairy excrescences resembling 
 ears ; at the other end a short shoot extends out into a tail. Four 
 fronds are chosen in a suitable position, and are cut off to a proper 
 length, to represent the legs : and thus a vegetable lamb is pro- 
 duced. Loureiro affirms that the root, when fresh cut, yields a 
 juice closely resembling the blood of animals. — j-Kircher has given 
 a figure of the Tartarian Lamb, in which the lamb is represented as 
 
 the fruit of some plant on the top of a stalk. Parkinson, in the 
 
 frontispiece to his Paradisus Terrestris, has depicHied this Lamb-plant 
 as growing in the Garden of Eden, where it appears to be browsing 
 on the surrounding herbage. Scaliger has given a detailed ac- 
 count of the Barometz, which he calls "a wondrous plant indeed 
 
244 pPant feore, TsegeT^t)/, cxTLeL Tai^f'icf. 
 
 among the Tartars." After remarking that Zavolha is the most 
 considerable of the Tartar hordes, he proceeds : — " In that province 
 they sow a seed not unlike the seed of a Melon, except that it is not 
 so long. There comes from it a plant which they call Borametz, 
 that is to say, a lamb ; and, indeed, the fruit of that plant has 
 exacflly the shape of a lamb. We see distindlly all the exterior 
 parts — the body, the feet, the hoofs, the head, and the ears ; there 
 wants, indeed, nothing but the horns, instead of which it has a sort 
 of wool that imitates them not amiss. The Tartars fleece it, and 
 make themselves caps of the skin. The pulp that is within the 
 fruit is very much like the flesh of crabs. Cut it, and the blood 
 gushes out, as from a wounded animal. This lamb feeds itself upon 
 all the grass that grows around it, and when it has eaten it all up, 
 it dries and dies away. But what perfedls the similitude between 
 the Borametz and a lamb is that the wolves are very greedy of this 
 
 fruit, which no other animals ever care for." The elder Darwin, 
 
 in his poem on ' The Loves of the Plants,' makes the following 
 allusion to the Barometz : — 
 
 " Cradled in snow and fanned by Arctic air. 
 Shines, gentle Barometz ! thy golden hair ; 
 Rooted in earth, each cloven hoof descends, 
 And round and round her flexile neck she bends ; 
 Crops the gray coral Moss and hoary Thyme, 
 Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime. 
 Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam. 
 Or seems to bleat, a vegetable LambT 
 
 BASIL. — The English name of the Ocymum hasilicum is derived 
 from the Greek hasilikon, royal, probably from its having been used 
 
 in some royal unguent, bath, or medicine. Holy Basil, or Tulasi 
 
 {Ocymum sanctum), is by the Hindus regarded as a most sacred herb, 
 and they have given one of its names to a sacred grove of their 
 Parnassus, on the banks of the Yamuna. This holy herb is grown 
 in pots near every temple and dwelling of devout Hindus. It is 
 sacred to Vishnu, Kushna, and Lakshmi, but all the gods are 
 interested in it. Narada, the celestial sage, has sung the praises 
 of the immortal plant, which is perfeiftion itself, and which, whilst 
 protedling from every misfortune those who cultivate it, sandlifies 
 and guides them to heaven. For this double san(ftity it is reared 
 in every Hindu house, where it is daily watered and worshipped 
 by all the members of the household. Perhaps, also, it was on 
 account of its virtues in disinfedling and vivifying malarious air 
 that it first became inseparable from Hindu houses in India as the 
 protedting spirit or Lar of the family. The pious Hindus invoke 
 the divine herb for the protedtion of every part of the body, for 
 life and for death, and in every adtion of life ; but above all in its 
 capacity of ensuring children to those who desire to have them. 
 Among the appellations given to the Tulasi axe — " propitious," 
 " perfiimed," " multi-leaved," " devil-destroying," &c. The root is 
 made into beads, which are worn round the neck and arms of the 
 
pPant Tsofe, IsegeT^/, ami. '\a^naj; 245 
 
 votaries of Vishnu, who carry also a rosary made of the seeds of 
 the Holy Basil or the Sacred Lotus. De Gubernatis has given 
 some interesting details of the Tulasi cultus: — " Under the mystery 
 of this herb," he says, "created with ambrosia, is shrouded without 
 doubt the god-creator himself. The worship of the herb Tulasi is 
 strongly recommended in the last part of the Padmapwdna, con- 
 secrated to Vishnu ; but it is, perhaps, no less adored by the 
 votaries of Siva ; Krishna, the popular incarnation of the god 
 Vishnu, has also adopted this herb for his worship ; from thence 
 its names of Krishna and Krisknatulasi. Siti, the epic personifica- 
 tion of the goddess Lakshml, was transformed, according to the 
 Rdmdyana, into the Tulasi, from whence the name of Sitdhvayd 
 given to the herb." Because of the belief that the Tulasi opens 
 the gates of heaven to the pious worshipper, Prof. De Gubernatis 
 tells us that " when an Indian dies, they place on his breast a leaf 
 of Tulasi; when he is dead, they wash the head of the corpse with 
 water, in which have been dropped, during the prayer of the priest, 
 some Flax seeds and Tulasi leaves. According to the Kriydyogasdras 
 (xxiii.), in religiously planting and cultivating the Tulasi, the Hindu 
 obtains the privilege of ascending to the Palace of Vishnu, sur- 
 rounded by ten millions of parents. It is a good omen for a house 
 if it has been built on a spot where the Tulasi grows well. Vishnu 
 renders unhappy for life and for eternity infidels who wilfully, or 
 the imprudent who inadvertently, uproot the herb Tulasi: no 
 happiness, no health, no children for such ! This sacred plant 
 cannot be gathered excepting with a good and pious intention, and 
 above all, for the worship of Vishnu or of Krishna, at the same 
 time offering up this prayer: — 'Mother Tulasi, be thou propitious. 
 If I gather you with care, be merciful unto me, O Tulasi, mother 
 
 of the world, I beseech you.'" Like the Lotus, the Basil is not 
 
 only venerated as a plant sacred to the gods, but it is also wor- 
 shipped as a deity itself. Hence we find the herb specially 
 invoked, as the goddess Tulasi, for the protection of every part of 
 the human frame, from the head to the feet. It is also supposed; 
 that the heart of Vishnu, the husband of the Tulast, is profoundly 
 agitated and tormented whenever the least sprig is broken of a 
 
 plant of Tulasi, his wife. In Malabar, sweet Basil is cultivated, 
 
 as a sacred plant, under the name of CoUo, and kept in a little 
 
 shrine placed before the house. In the Deccan villages, the fair, 
 
 Brahminee mother may be seen early every morning,^ after having 
 first ground the corn for the day's bread and performed her simple 
 toilet, walking with glad steps and waving hands round> and round 
 the pot of Holy Basil, planted on the four-horned altar built up 
 before each house, invoking the blessings of heaven on her husband 
 and his children. The herb is planted largely on the river banks, 
 where the natives bathe, as well as at the entrance to their temples. 
 They believe that the deities love this herb, and that the god- 
 Ganavedi abides in it continually. When travelling, if. they can-- 
 
246 pfant bore, Tsege^/, dnS. byrlcy. 
 
 not obtain the herb, they draw the form of the plant on the ground 
 
 with its root. It is difficult to understand why so sacred and so 
 
 fragrant a herb as Sweet Basil should have become the symbol of 
 Hatred, unless it be because the ancients sometimes represented 
 Poverty by the figure of a female clothed in rags, and seated by a 
 plant of Basil. The ancient Greeks thought that when Basil was 
 sown, the act should be accompanied by abuse, without which it 
 would not flourish. Pliny also records that it throve best when 
 sown with cursing and railing. This explains the French saying, 
 
 " Semer h Basilic," equivalent to slandering. The plant has a 
 
 decided funereal sjrmbolism. In Persia, where it is called Rayhan, 
 
 " the Basil-tuft, that waves 
 Its fragrant blossom over graves," 
 
 is usually found in cemeteries. In Egypt, the same plant is 
 scattered over the tombs by the women who go twice or oftener 
 a week to pray and weep at the sepulchres of the dead. In Crete, 
 the Basil is considered a S5rmbol of the Evil One, although it is to 
 be found on every window-ledge. It is unfortunate to dream of 
 Basil, for it is supposed to betoken grief and misfortune. It was 
 probably these sinister and funereal associations of the plant that 
 induced Boccaccio to make the unhappy Isabella conceal her 
 murdered lover's head by planting Basil in the pot that contained 
 it ; although it is surmised that the author of the ' Decameron ' 
 obtained the idea from Grecian sources. It is, however, satis- 
 factory to find that in Italy the Basil is utilised for other than 
 funereal purposes. De Gubernatis tells us that in some districts 
 pieces of Basil are worn by maidens in their bosoms or at their 
 waists, and by married women in their hair : they believe also that 
 the perfume of Basil engenders sympathy, from which comes its 
 familiar name, Bacia-nicola, — Kiss me, Nicholas ! Rarely does the 
 young peasant girl pay a visit to her sweetheart without affixing 
 behind her ear a sprig of Basil, which she takes special care not to 
 part with, as that would be a token of scorn. In Turkey, they call 
 BsLsil, Antorino. In Moldavia, the Basil is regarded as an enchanted 
 flower, whose spells can stop the wandering youth upon his 
 way, and make him love the maiden from whose hand he shall 
 accept a sprig. — -In the East, Basil seeds are employed to 
 counteract:, the poison of serpents ; in India the leaves are used for 
 the same purpose, as well as for the ciure of several diseases. 
 Gerarde says that " they of Afiricke do also affirme that they who 
 are stung of the scorpion, ajid have eaten of it, shall feele no paine 
 at all." Orisabius likewise asserts that the plant is an antidote to 
 the sting of those insedts ; but, on the other hand, Hollerius de- 
 clares that it propagates scorpions, and that to his knowledge an 
 acquaintance of his, through only smelling it, had a scorpion bred 
 
 in his brain. Lord Bacon, in his Natural History, states that if 
 
 Basil is exposed too much to the sun, it changes into Wild Thyme, 
 
pfant bofe, beger^/, cml bijriq/-. 247 
 
 although the two herbs seem to have small affinity. Culoeoer 
 quamtly remarks: "Something is the matter; this herb and Rue 
 will never grow together— no, nor near one another ; and we know 
 the Rue is as great an enemy to poison as any that grows " 
 Gerarde, however tells us that the smell of Basil is good for the 
 
 heart and for the head. The plant is a paradox :-sacred and 
 
 revered, yet dedicated to the Evil One ; of happy augury, vet 
 funereal; dear to women and lovers, yet emblem of hatred- prooa- 
 
 gator of scorpions, yet the antidote to their stings Astrologers 
 
 rule that Basil is a herb of Mars, and under the Scorpion, and 
 therefore called Basilicon. 
 
 BAUHINIA.— The leaves of the Bauhinia or Ebony-tree 
 are two-lobed, or twin— a character, which suggested to Plumier 
 the happy idea of naming the genus after the two famous brothers 
 John and Caspar Bauhin, botanists of the sixteenth century. ' 
 
 BEANS. — Among the ancients, there appears to have been a 
 superstitious aversion to Beans as an article of food, arising from 
 the resemblance of the fruit to a portion of the human body. The 
 Egyptians, among whom the Sacred Bean was an object of' actual 
 worship, would not partake of it as food, probably on that account • 
 because by so doing they would be fearful of eating what they 
 considered was human, and of consuming a soul. By some nations 
 
 the seed was consecrated to the gods. The eating of Beans was 
 
 interdicted to the Jewish High Priest on the Day of Atonement 
 
 from its decided tendency to bring on sleep. The goddess Ceres 
 
 when bestowing her gifts upon mankind, expressly excluded Beans! 
 The unhappy Orpheus refused to eat them; Amphiaraus, the 
 diviner, in order to preserve a clear vision, always abstained from 
 them; the Flamines, Roman priests, instituted by Numa, would 
 neither touch nor mention them; and the Grecian philosopher 
 Pythagoras, who lived only on the purest and most innocuous food» 
 invariably declined to partake of Beans of any description, giving 
 as his reason that, in the Bean, he recognised blood, and conse- 
 quently an animal, which, as a vegetarian, he could not consume. 
 According to tradition, the great philosopher, being pursued by his. 
 enemies, was overtaken and killed, solely because, having in his. 
 flight reached a field of Beans, he would not cross it for fear of 
 trampling upon living beings, the souls of the dead, who had entered 
 temporarily, into the vegetable existence. Cicero considered that 
 the antipathy to Beans as an article of food arose from their being 
 considered impure, inasmuch as they corrupted the blood, dis- 
 tended the stomach, and excited the passions. Hippocrates con- 
 sidered them unwholesome and injurious to the eyesight. They 
 were also believed to cause bad dreams, and, moreover, if seen 
 
 in dreams, were deemed to portend evil. One of the Greek 
 
 words for Bean is Puanos, and at the festival of Puanepsia, held 
 in the month of October, at Athens, in honour of Apollo, Beans 
 
248 pPant feore, Isege?^/, - driS. Tsijnc/. 
 
 and Pulse, we are told, were sodden. The Romans offered Beans 
 to their goddess Carna on the occasion of her festival in the month 
 
 of June. The Lemures,or evil spirits of those who had lived bad 
 
 lives, according to a Roman superstition, were in the habit, during 
 the night-time, of approaching houses, and then throwing Beans 
 against them. The Romans celebrated festivals in their honour in 
 the month of May, when the people were accustomed to throw 
 black Beans on the graves of the deceased, or to burn them, as 
 the smell was supposed to be disagreeable to the manes. This 
 association of Beans with the dead is still preserved in some parts 
 of Italy, where, on the anniversary of a death, it is customary to 
 eat Beans and to distribute them to the poor. Black Beans were 
 considered to be male, and white female, the latter being the 
 
 inferior. De Gubernatis relates several curious customs con- 
 
 nedted with Beans. In Tuscany, the fire of St. John is lighted in 
 a Bean-field, so that it shall burn quickly. In Sicily, on Mid- 
 summer Eve, Beans are eaten with some little ceremony, and the 
 good St. John is thanked for having obtained the blessings of a 
 bountiful harvest from God. At Modica, in Sicily, on Odlober ist, 
 a maiden in love will sow two Beans in the same pot. The one 
 represents herself, the other the youth she loves. If both Beans 
 shoot forth before the feast of St. Raphael, then marriage will 
 come to pass ; but if only one of the Beans sprouts, there will be 
 betrayal on the part of the other. In Sicily and Tuscany, girls who 
 desire a husband learn their fate by means of Beans, in this 
 fashion: — They put into a bag three Beans — one whole, another 
 without the eye, a third without the rind. Then, after shaking 
 them up, they draw one from the bag. The whole Bean signifies a 
 rich husband ; the Bean without an eye signifies a sickly husband ; 
 
 and the Bean without rind a husband without a penny. The 
 
 French have a legend, of one Pipette, who, like our Jack, reaches 
 the sky by means of a Bean-stalk. In France, some parts of Italy, 
 and Russia, on Twelfth Night, children eat a cake in which has 
 been baked a white Bean and a black Bean. The children to 
 whose lot fall the portions of cake containing the Beans become 
 
 the King and Queen of the evening. An old English charm to 
 
 cure warts is to take the shell of a broad Bean, and rub the affedled 
 part with the inside thereof; the shell is then to be buried, and no 
 one is to be told about the matter; then, as the shell withers away, 
 so will the wart gradually disappear. It is fi popular tradition that 
 during the flowering of the Bean more cases of lunacy occur that 
 at any other season. In Leap Year, it is a common notion that 
 broad Beans grow the wrong way, i.e., the seed is set in the pods 
 in quite the contrary way to what it is in other years. The reason 
 given is that, because it is the ladies' year, the Beans always lie the 
 wrong way — in reference to the privilege possessed by the fair sex 
 of courting in Leap Year. Theze is a saying in Leicestershire, that 
 if you wish for awful dreams or desire to go crazy, you have only 
 
pPant Isofe, Isegel^/, aasL Isijricy, 249 
 
 to sleep in a Bean-field all night. Beans are under the dominion 
 
 of Venus. To dream of them under any circumstances means 
 trouble of some kind. 
 
 BEDSTRAW^.— Our Lady's Bedstraw {Galium verum) filled 
 the manger on which the infant Jesus was laid. In a painting of 
 the Nativity by N. Poussin, this straw is introduced. From its 
 soft puffy stems and golden flowers, this grass was in bygone times 
 used for bedding, even by ladies of rank, — whence the expression of 
 
 their being " in the straw." Galium was formerly employed to 
 
 curdle the milk in cheese-making, and was also used before the 
 introdu(S1:ion of Annatto, to give a rich colour to Cheshire cheese. 
 The old herbalists affirmed that the root stirred up amorous desires, 
 if. drunk in wine, and that the flowers would produce the same 
 effedt if smelt long enough. Robert Turner says : " It challenges 
 the preheminence above Maywort, for preventing the sore weari- 
 ness of travellers : the decodlion of the herb and flowers, used 
 warm, is excellent good to bath the surbated feet of footmen and 
 lackies in hot weather, and also to lissome and moUifie the stiffness 
 
 and weariness of their joynts and sinews." In France, Galium is 
 
 considered to be a remedy in cases of epilepsy. Lady's Bed- 
 straw is under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 BEECH. — Vieing with the Ash in stateliness and grandeur 
 of outline, the Beech {Fagus) is worthily given by Rapin the second 
 place among trees. 
 
 " Mixt with huge Oaks, as next in rank and state, 
 Their kindred Beech and Cerris claim a seat." 
 
 According to Lucian, the oracles of Jupiter at Dodona were de- 
 livered not only through the medium of the sacred Oaks in the 
 prophetic grove surrounding the temple, but also by Beeches 
 which grew there. A large part, if not the whole, of the Greek ship 
 Argo was built of Fagus, or Beech timber, and as certain beams in 
 the vessel gave oracles to the Argonauts, and warned them against 
 the approach of calamities, it is probable that some, at least, of 
 these prophetic beams were hewn from the Dodonasan Beeches. 
 It was from the top of two Beech-trees that Minerva and Apollo, 
 in the form of vultures, selected to watch the fight between the 
 
 Greeks and the Trojans. The connedlion of the tree with the 
 
 god Bacchus appears to have been confined to its employment in 
 the manufacture of bowls for wine in the happy time when "No 
 wars did men molest, and only Beechen bowls were m request." 
 Cowley alludes to this in the words— 
 
 " He sings the Bacchus, patron of the Vine, 
 The Beechen bowl foams with a flood of wine.'' 
 
 Virgil notices the use of its smooth and green bark for receivmg in- 
 scriptions from the " sylvan pen of lovers ;" and Ovid, in his epistle 
 from CEnone to Paris, refers to the same custom, gracefully noting 
 
250 pPant Tsore, Is&gzr^/, ani. feiji'icy. 
 
 that the name of the fair one would grow and spread with the 
 growth of the tree : — 
 
 " The Beeches, faithful guardians of your flame, 
 Bear on their wounded trunks CEnone's name, 
 And as their trunks, so still the letters grow ; 
 Spread on, and fair aloft my titles sho(v." 
 
 According to a French tradition, a blacksmith, who was one day 
 beating a bar of red-hot iron on his anvil, raised such a shower of 
 sparks, that some of them reached the eyes of God himself, who 
 forthwith, in His wrath, condemned the man to become a bear, 
 with the condition that he might climb at his pleasure all the trees 
 excepting the Beech. Changed into a bear, the man was for ever 
 afterwards cogitating how to uproot the tree. In this legend, the 
 Beech, which is generally considered a tree of good augury, be- 
 comes a specially favoured or privileged tree. Pliny wrote that it 
 should not be cut for fuel. Gerarde says of it : " The wood is hard 
 and firme, which being brought into the house there follows hard 
 travail of child and miserable deaths, as it is reported ; and there- 
 fore it is to be forborne, and not used as fire wood." The Beech- 
 tree is believed to be exempt from the action of lightning, and it 
 is well known that Indians will seek its shelter during a thunder- 
 storm. It is the Danish symbol. Astrologers rule the Beech to 
 
 be under the dominion of Saturn. 
 
 B E LI N U N CI A .—Under the appellation of K6d, or Ceridwen , 
 the Druids worshipped the Moon, who was believed to exercise a 
 peculiar influence on storms, diseases, and certain plants. They 
 consecrated a herb to her, called Belinuncia, in the poisonous sap of 
 which they dipped their arrows, to render them as deadly as those 
 malignant rays of the Moon which were deemed to shed both 
 death and madness upon men. 
 
 BEL-TREE.— The ^gle Marmelos, Bilva (Sanscrit), or Bel- 
 tree, is held sacred in India. Belonging to the same natural order 
 as the Orange, its leaves, which are divided into three separate 
 leaflets, are dedicated to the Hindu Trinity, and Indians are accus- 
 tomed to carry one of them folded in the turban or sash, in order 
 to propitiate Siva, and ensure safety from accidents. The wood 
 
 is used to form the sacrificial pillars. The Hindu women of the 
 
 Punjab throw flowers into a sacred river, by means of which they 
 can foretell whether or not they are to survive their husbands : but 
 a much more ingenious rite is pradlised by the Newars of Nepaul. 
 To obviate the terrible hardships to a young Hindu girl of 
 becoming a widow, she is, in the first instance, married to a Bel- 
 fruit, which is then cast into a sacred river. Should her future 
 husband prove distasteful to her, this rite enables her to obtain a 
 divorce ; and should the husband die, she can still claim the title of 
 wife to the sacred Bel-fruit, which is immortal; so that she is 
 always a wife and never a widow. 
 
pPant Tsofe, TsegeTj&y, ciHii Tsijne/. 251 
 
 Bell-flower. — See Blue-bell, and Campanula. 
 
 BETEL. — According to Indian traditions, the Betel was 
 brought from heaven by Arjuna, who, during his journey to 
 Paradise, stole a little bough of the sacred tree, which, upon his 
 return to earth, he carefully planted. In remembrance of this 
 celestial origin of the tree, and of the manner of its introduction to 
 earth, Indians who desire to plant the Betel invariably steal a 
 
 few young shoots. The Betel, or Pepper-tree {Piper hetle), is 
 
 most highly esteemed by the Indian races, who attribute to its 
 leaves no less than thirty properties or virtues, the possession of 
 which, even by a plant of heavenly origin, can scarcely be credited. 
 It is the leaf of the Betel which serves to enclose a few slices of 
 the Areca Nut (sometimes erroneously called the Betel Nut) ; and 
 these, together with a little Chunam or shell-lime, are what the 
 natives universally chew to sweeten the breath and strengthen the 
 stomach. The poor, indeed, employ it to keep off the pangs of 
 hunger. In certain parts of the East, it is not considered polite 
 to speak to a superior without some of the Betel and Areca com- 
 pound in the mouth. At Indian marriage ceremonies, the bride 
 and bridegroom exchange between themselves the same Areca 
 
 Nut, with its accompanying Betel-leaf. In Borneo, a favoured 
 
 lover may enter the house of the loved one's parents, at night, and 
 awaken her, to sit and eat Betel Nut and the finest of Sirih-leaves 
 from his garden. 
 
 BETONY. — The ' Medicinal Betony,' as Clare calls it, is 
 B«^o««V«o^«««/m, and of all. the simples praised by old herbalists, 
 both English and foreign, none (the Vervain excepted) was awarded 
 a higher place than Wood Betony. Turner, in his 'Brittish 
 Physician ' (1687); writes : — " It would seem a miracle to tell what 
 experience I have had of it. This herb is hot and dry, almost to 
 the second degree, a plant of Jupiter in Aries, and is appropriated 
 to the head and eyes, for the infirmities whereof it is excellent, as 
 also for the breast and lungs ; being boiled in milk, and drunk, it 
 takes away pains in the head and eyes. Prohatum. Some write it 
 will cure those that are possessed with devils, or frantic, being 
 stamped and applied to the forehead." He gives a list of between 
 twenty or thirty complaints which Betony will cure, and then says, 
 " I shall conclude with the words I found in an old manuscript 
 under the virtues of it : ' More than all this have been proved of 
 Betony.' " Gerarde gives a similar list, and adds, that Betony is 
 «' a remedy against the bitings of mad dogs and venomous serpents, 
 being drunk, and also applied to the hurts, and is most singular 
 against poyson." There is an old sapng that, when a person is ill, 
 
 he should sell his coat, and buy Betony. The Romans were well 
 
 acquainted with the medicinal properties of this herb. Pliny wrote 
 of the marvellous results obtained from its use, and also affirmed 
 that serpents would kill one another if surrounded by a ring com- 
 
252 pfant Isore, fecgeT^^y, cmsl T3ijn<y. 
 
 posed of Betonica. Antonius Musa, physician to Augustus, wrote 
 a treatise on the excellencies of Betonica, which he affirmed would 
 cure forty-seven different ailments. Franzius went so far as to 
 assert that the wild beasts of the forest, aware of its surpassing 
 virtues, availed themselves of its efficacy when they were wounded. 
 
 At a time when a belief in witchcraft was rife in England, it 
 
 was generally understood that the house where Herba Betonica was 
 sown, was free from ajl mischief. In Yorkshire, the Water Betony 
 was formerly called Bishop's Leaves. In Italy, at the present day, 
 there are several proverbs relating to the virtues of Betony, one of 
 which is, " May you have more virtues than Betony; " and another, 
 " Known as well as Betony." 
 
 BIGNONIA. — One of the native names of the Bignonia 
 Indica, or Indian Trumpet-flower, is KdmadMi, or the Messenger of 
 Love. Under the name of Patala, the Bignonia suaveolens is specially 
 consecrated by the Indians to the god Brahma. The name of 
 Patala, however, is given in the Sanscrit to Durgi, the wife of 
 Siva, probably on account of the colour of her idols, which assimi- 
 late to the colour of the flowers of the Bignonia. 
 
 BILBERRY.— The origin of the Bilberry or Whortleberry 
 [Vaccinium Myrtillus), according to the mythology of the ancients, is 
 as follows : — CEnomaus, father of the lovely Hippodamia, chose for 
 his attendant the young MyrtiUus, son of Mercury. Proud of his 
 skill, he stipulated that all his daughter's suitors should compete 
 for the prize in a chariot race with him. Pelops, who was eager 
 to obtain the beautiful Hippodamia, promised Myrtillus a large 
 reward if he would take out the linch-'pin of his master's chariot. 
 Myrtillus was not proof againt the oiFer : in consequence, the 
 chariot was overturned, and CEnomaus mortally injured ; but as he 
 expired, he implored Pelops to avenge him, which he did by throw- 
 ing the treacherous attendant into the sea. The waters having 
 borne back his body to the shore. Mercury changed it to the shrub 
 called after his name, Myrtillus, a name formerly given to the plant 
 producing the Myrtle-berry, a fruit largely imported in the middle 
 ages, and used in medicine and cookery — of the same genus as the 
 English Bilberry, which is often found growing on the sea-shore. 
 The Scotch name of this shrub is Blaeberry, the praises of which 
 are often sung in Northern ballads. 
 
 " Will ye go, lassie, go to the braes of Balquhidder, 
 Whare the Blaeberries grow 'mong the bonny blooming Heather?" 
 
 Bilberries are held by the astrologers to be under Jupiter. (See 
 also Whortleberry.) 
 
 BIRCH. — According to Scandinavian mythology, the Birch 
 {Betula alba) was consecrated to the god Thor, and symbolised the 
 return of Spring. The Greeks and Romans had not much know- 
 ledge of the tree, but the latter seem to have regarded it with a 
 feeling of dread in consequence of the fasces of the magistracy being • 
 
pPant Tsore, begeT^/, cmE Tsijrla/. 253 
 
 composed of it, as now, says Evelyn, " are the gentler rods of our 
 tyrannical pedagogues for lighter faults." According to Pliny, the 
 celebrated books which Numa Pompilius composed seven hundred 
 years before Christ, and which were buried with him, were written 
 
 on the bark of thd Birch-tree. It is in the northern countries of 
 
 Europe that the Birch flourishes, and it is there the tree is held in 
 the highest esteem. The Russians have a proverb that the Birch 
 excels in four qualities : — It gives light to the world (with Birch- 
 boughs torches are made) ; it stifles cries (from Birch they extradt 
 a lubricant which they apply to the wheels of carriages) ; it cleanses 
 (in Russian baths, to promote perspiration, they scourge the body 
 with branches of Birch) ; it cures diseases (by incision they obtain 
 a liquor stated to have all the virtues of the spirit of salt, and from 
 which a wine is distilled, excellent as a cordial and useful in cases 
 of consumption. Moreover, in Russia, the oil of the Birch is used 
 as a vermifuge and a balsam in the cure of wounds. In facft, to 
 the peasants of the North, the Birch is as beneficent as is the 
 Palm to the Indians. No wonder, then, that the Russians are very 
 fond of the Birch, and surround their dwellings with it ; believing, 
 
 as they do, that this tree is never struck by lightning. On the 
 
 Day of Pentecost, it is a custom among young Russian maidens to 
 suspend garlands on the trees they love best, and they are careful 
 to tie round the stems of the Birch-trees a little red ribbon as a 
 charm to cause them to flourish and to protedl them from the 
 Evil Eye. De Gubernatis quotes from a Russian author named 
 Afanassief, who tells us of a Birch that showed its appreciation 
 of the kindly attentions of a young girl in decking its stem, by 
 prote(5ling her from the persecutions of a witch, who had become 
 her step-mother ; and the same author makes mention of a certain 
 white Birch, which grew in the island of Buian, on the topmost 
 of whose branches it was currently believed the Mother of God 
 
 might be seen sitting. Grohmann, a German writer, recounts 
 
 the legend of a young shepherdess, who was spinning in the midst 
 of a forest of Birch-trees, when suddenly the Wild Woman of the 
 forest accosted her. The Wild Woman was dressed in white, and 
 had a garland of flowers upon her head : she persuaded the shep- 
 herdess to dance with her, and for three days kept up the dance 
 until sunset, but so lightly that the grass under her feet was neither 
 trampled upon nor bent. At the conclusion of the dance, all the 
 yarn was spun, and the Wild Woman was so satisfied, that 
 she filled the pocket of the little shepherdess with Birch-leaves, 
 
 which soon turned into golden money. Professor Mannhardt, 
 
 says De Gubernatis, divulges to us the means employed by the 
 Russian peasants to evoke the Lieschi, or Geni of the forest. They 
 cut down some very young Birch-trees, and arrange them in a circle 
 in such a manner that the points shall be turned towards the 
 middle • they enter this circle, and then they call up the spirit, who 
 forthwith makes his appearance. They place him on the stump of 
 
254 pfant Tsore, "Iseg&r^f, oriS l3\jr\aj; 
 
 one of the felled trees, with his face turned towards the East. They 
 kiss his hand, and, whilst looking between his legs, they utter these 
 words : — " Uncle Lieschi, show yourself to us, not as a grey wolf, 
 not as a fierce fire, but as I myself appear." Then the leaves of 
 the Aspen quiver and tremble, and the Lieschi shows himself in 
 human form, and is quite disposed to render no matter what service 
 to him who has conjured him — provided only that he will promise 
 him his soul. De Gubernatis relates one other anecdote re- 
 specting the Birch, which he says to the Esthonian is the living per- 
 sonification of his country. It is related that an Esthonian peasant 
 noticed a stranger asleep beneath a tree at the moment when it was 
 struck by lightning. He awoke him. The stranger, thanking him for 
 his good offices, said : " When, far from your native country, and 
 feeling sorrowful and home-sick, you shall see a crooked Birch, 
 strike and ask of it : ' Is the crooked one at home ? ' " One day the 
 peasant, wlio had become a soldier, and was serving in Finland, 
 felt dispirited and unhappy, for he could not help thinking of his 
 home and the little ones he had left behind. Suddenly he sees the 
 crooked Birch ! He strikes it, and asks : " Is the crooked one at 
 home ? " Forthwith the mysterious stranger appears, and, calling 
 to one of his spirits, bids him instantly transport the soldier to 
 
 his native country, with his knapsack full of silver. The Swedes 
 
 have a superstition that our Saviour was scourged with a rod of the 
 dwarf Birch, which was formerly a well-grown tree, but has ever 
 since that day been doomed to hide its miserable and stunted head. 
 
 It is called Lang Fredags Ris, or Good Friday rod. In France, 
 
 it was in mediaeval times the custom to preserve a bough of the 
 Birch as a sacred objedt. In the country distridls around Valen- 
 ciennes, it is an old custom for lover a to hang a bough of Birch or 
 Hornbeam over the doorway of his lady-love. In Haute Bretagne, 
 as a charm to strengthen a weakly infant, they place in its cot 
 Birch-leaves, which have been previously dried in an oven. 
 There is an old English proverb, " Birchen twigs break no bones," 
 which has reference to the exceedingly slender branches of the 
 
 tree. In lormer days, churches were decked with boughs of the 
 
 Birch, and Gerarde tell us that " it serveth well to the decking up 
 of houses and banqueting-rooms, for places of pleasure, and for 
 beautifying of streets in the crosse and gang [procession] weeke, 
 and such like." According to Herrick, it was customary to use 
 Birch and fresh flowers for decorative purposes at Whitsuntide: — 
 
 " When Yew Is out, then Birch comes in, 
 And many flowers besides ; 
 Both of a fresh and fragrant kinne, 
 To honour Whitsontide. " 
 
 The Scotch Highlanders think very highly of the Birch, and turn 
 it to all sorts of uses. With Burns, the budding Birch was a prime 
 favourite in the Spring-time. The Scotch proverb, which says of 
 a very poor man that he is " Bare as a Birk at Yule e'en," probably 
 
pfant l9oi'e, 'heQzr^j, ani. bijrio/. 255 
 
 refers to an old custom of stripping the bark of the tree prior to 
 converting it into the yule log. The tree known in the Highlands 
 as the Drooping Birk is often grown in churchyards, where, as 
 Scott says, " Weeps the Birch of silver bark with long dishevell'd 
 hair." In Scottish ballads, the Birch is associated with the dead, 
 and more especially with the wraiths or spirits of those who appear 
 to be living after death. The following is a good example : — 
 
 " 1 dreamed a dreary dream last nicht ; 
 God keep us a' frae sorrow ! 
 I dreamed I pu'd the Birk sae green 
 Wi' my true love on Yarrow. 
 " I'll redde your dream, my sister dear, 
 I'll tell you a' your sorrow ; 
 You pu'd the Birk wi' your true love ; 
 He's killed, he's killed on Yarrow-" 
 
 The Birch-tree is held to be under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 Bitter-sweet. — See Solanum. 
 
 BITTER VETCH.— The Orobus, or Bitter Vetch, is sup- 
 posed to represent the herb mentioned in a passage in Pulci, which 
 relates how an enchanter preserves two knights from starvation, 
 during a long journey, by giving them a herb which, being held in 
 the mouth, answers all the purposes of food. The Scotch High- 
 landers have a great esteem for the tubercles of the Orobus root 
 (which they call Corr or Cormeille) ; they use them as masticatories, 
 to flavour their liquor. They also affirm that by the use of them 
 they are enabled to repel hunger and thirst for a considerable time. 
 In times of scarcity, the roots have served as a substitute for bread, 
 and many think that the Bitter Vetch is the Chara, mentioned by 
 Caesar, as affording food to his famished soldiers at the siege of 
 Dyrrhachium. The seeds, ground and tempered with wine, were 
 applied to heal the bitings of dogs and venomous beasts. 
 
 Black-thorn. — See Thorn. 
 
 Blaeberry.— See Bilberry and Whortleberry. 
 
 BLUE-BELL. — The Blue-bells of Scotland have long since 
 become household words. The flower {Campanula latifolia) is the 
 finest and most stately of the species, and although conimon 
 enough on its native hills, is scarce in England. It is associated 
 with the feast of St. George. (See Campanula.) 
 
 Blue-bottle and Bluet. — See Centaury. 
 
 Bo-tree.— See Peepul. 
 
 BORAGE. — In former days. Borage {Borago officinalis) was 
 noted as one of the four "cordial flowers" most deserving of 
 esteem for cheering the spirits— the other three being the Rose, 
 Violet and Alkanet. Pliny called Borage Euphrosynum, because it 
 made men merry and joyful: and to the same purport is the old 
 
256 pfant laote, TseQel^j; cmel Tsiji'ia/', 
 
 Latin rhyme, "Ego Borago gaudia semper ago." All the old herba- 
 lists praise the plant for its exhilarating eflfecfts, and agree with 
 Pliny that when put into wine the leaves and flowers of Borage 
 make men and women glad and merry, driving away all sadness, 
 dulness, and melancholy. The "cool tankard" of our forefathers 
 was a beverage composed of the young shoots and blossoms of 
 Borage mingled with wine, water, lemon, and sugar. Lord Bacon 
 was of opinion that "if in the must of wine or wort of beer, while 
 it worketh, before it be tunned, the Burrage stay a short time, and 
 be changed with fresh, it will make a sovereign drink for melan- 
 choly passion." Borage, astrologers tell us, is one of Jupiter's 
 
 cordials. 
 
 BOX. — The evergreen Box [Buxus semperviva) was specially 
 consecrated by the Greeks to Pluto, the protedtor of all evergreen 
 trees, as being symbolical of the life which continues through 
 
 the winter in the infernal regions, and in the other world. 
 
 A curious superstition existed among the ancients in regard 
 to the Box : although it very much resembles the Myrtle, which 
 was held sacred to Venus, yet they carefully refrained from 
 dedicating the Box to that goddess, because they were afraid that 
 through such an offering they would lose their virility. They 
 also, according to Bacon, entertained the belief that the Box pro- 
 duced honey, and that in Trebizonde the honey issuing from this 
 tree was so noxious, that it drove men mad. Corsican honey was 
 supposed to owe its ill repute to the fadl that the bees fed upon Box. 
 The Box is referred to by the Prophet Isaiah in his description of 
 the glory of the latter days of the Church : " The glory of Lebanon 
 shall come unto thee, the Fir-tree, the Pine-tree, and the Box-tree 
 together, to beautify the place of my sandluary." It is thought, 
 also, to be the Ashur-wood of the Scriptures, and to be referred to 
 by Ezekiel when, in describing the splendour of Tyre, he alludes 
 to the benches of the rowers as made of Ashur wood, inlaid with 
 ivory. That the ancients were accustomed to inlay Box-wood with 
 ivory we know from Virgil and other writers, who allude to this 
 
 pradlice. The Jews employ branches of Box in eredling their 
 
 tents at the Feast of Tabernacles. Boughs of Box were used 
 
 formerly for decorative purposes, instead of the Willow, on Palm 
 Sundays. According to Herrick, it was once a time-honoured 
 custom on Candlemas Day to replace the Christmas evergreens with 
 sprigs of Box, which were kept up till Easter Eve, when they gave 
 place to Yew. 
 
 " Down with the Rosemary and Bays, 
 
 Down with the Mistletoe ; 
 
 Instead of Holly now upraise 
 
 The greener Box for show." 
 
 Box-boughs were also in olden times regularly gathered at Whit- 
 suntide for decking the large open fire-places then in vogue. 
 
 In several parts of the North orf England, when a funeral takes 
 
pPant Isore, Tsege^/, onS. Isijncy. 257 
 
 place, a basin full of sprigs of Box is placed at the door of the 
 house from which the coffin is taken up, and each mourner is 
 expe(5led to take a sprig, and afterwards cast it on the grave of the 
 
 deceased. In Turkey, it is a practice with widows, who go weekly 
 
 to pray at their husbands' tomb, to plant a sprig of Box at the head 
 of the grave. The monastery of St. Christine, in the Pyrenees, 
 assumes the arms of the Knights of St. Christine, viz., a white 
 pigeon with a tross in its beak, to which is attached the following 
 legend : — The workmen who were employed to build the monastery 
 had the greatest difficulty in finding a suitable foundation. After 
 several ineffedtual attempts, they one morning perceived a white 
 pigeon flying with a cross in its beak. They pursued the bird, 
 which perched on a Box-tree", but though it flew away on their near 
 approach, they found in the branches the cross which it had left : 
 this they took as a good omen, and proceeded 'successfully to lay 
 the foundation on the spot where the Box-tree had stood, and com- 
 pleted the edifice. To dream of Box denotes long life and pros- 
 perity, also a happy marriage. 
 
 BRACKEN FERN. — There was formerly a proverb re- 
 spedling the Pteris aquilina, or common Brake Fern, popular in 
 
 the country : — 
 
 " When the Fern is as high as a spoon, 
 You may sleep an hour at noon ; 
 When the Fern is as high as a ladle, 
 You may sleep as long as your're able ; 
 When the Fern begins to look red. 
 Then milk is good with brown bread." 
 
 In Ireland, the Bracken Fern is called the Fern of God, from an 
 old belief that if the stem be cut into three pieces, there will be 
 seen on the first slice the letter G, on the second O, and on the 
 third D, — ^the whole forming the sacred word God. There is still 
 a superstition in England, probably derived from some holy father, 
 that in the cut stem of the Bracken Fern may be traced the sacred 
 letters I.H.S. In Kent, and some other counties, these letters 
 are deciphered as J.C. In other parts of the country, the marks 
 are supposed to delineate an Oak, and to have first grown there in 
 memory of the tree in which King Charles sought shelter durmg 
 
 his flight. An old legend is yet told, that James, the unfortunate 
 
 Duke of Monmouth, after the battle of Sedgemoor, was able to lie 
 concealed for some days beneath the dense Bracken Ferns; but 
 one day emerging from his retreat, he sat down and began cuttmg 
 some of the Fern-stems which had sheltered him. Whdst domg this, 
 he was seen by some peasants, who noticed the flash of a diamond 
 rinff on one of his fingers. When, therefore, a reward was offered 
 soon afterwards for the Duke's capture, they recalled the circum- 
 stance and sought for him where he lay concealed among the Brakes. 
 f^Sedled with this figure of an Oak in the Bracken-stem, 
 there is a saying, that if you cut the Bracken slantwise, you U see a 
 
258 pfant Isore, Ts)egel2&/> anil Tsijricy' 
 
 pidture of an Oak-tree ; the more perfedl, the luckier your chance 
 will be. In Germany, the figure portrayed in the stem is popularly 
 recognised as the Russian Double Eagle. Of still more ancient 
 origin, however, is the opinion that the figure in the Brake Fern- 
 stem is that of an eagle, from whence it derived its name of Eagle 
 Fern. In Henderson's ' Folk Lore of the Northern Counties,' we 
 read that witches detest the Bracken Fern because it bears on 
 its root the letter C, the initial of the holy name of Christ, which 
 may be plainly seen on cutting the root horizontally. It has, 
 however, been suggested that the letter intended is not the English 
 C, but the Greek j(^, the initial letter of the word Christos, which 
 resembles closely the marks on the root of the Bracken. These 
 marks, however, have been also stated to represent Adam and 
 Eve standing on either side of the Tree of Knowledge, and King 
 Charles in the Oak. In some parts, lads and lasses try to discover 
 in the Bracken-stem the initials of their future wife or husband. 
 
 Astrologers state that the Bracken Fern is under the dominion 
 
 of Mercury. 
 
 BRAMBLE, or BLACKBERRY. — The Bramble or 
 Blackberry-bush {Rubus fruiicosus) is said to be the burning bush, in 
 the midst of which Jehovah appeared to Moses. It is the subject 
 of the oldest apologue extant. We read in Judges ix., 8 — 15, how 
 Jotham, when bitterly reproaching the men of Shechem for their 
 ingratitude to his father's house, narrated to them, after the 
 Oriental fashion, the parable of the trees choosing a king, in which 
 their choice eventually fell upon the Bramble. According to some 
 accounts, it was the Bramble that supplied the Thorns which were 
 plaited into a crown, and worn by our Saviour just prior to the 
 
 Crucifixion. On St. Simon and St. Jude's Day (October 28th) 
 
 tradition avers that Satan sets his foot on the Bramble, after which 
 day not a single edible Blackberry can be found. In Sussex, they 
 say that, after Old Michaelmas Day (loth Odtober), the Devil goes 
 round the county and spits on the Blackberries. In Scotland, 
 it is thought that, late in the Autumn, the Devil thows his cloak 
 over the Blackberries, and renders them unwholesome. In Ireland, 
 there is an old saying, that " at Michaelmas the Devil put his foot 
 on the Blackberries;" and in some parts of that country the 
 peasants will tell their children, after Michaelmas Day, not to eat 
 the Gnan-mhuine (Blackberries) ; and they attribute the decay in 
 them, which about that time commences, to the operation of the 
 Phooka, a mischievous goblin, sometimes assuming the form of a 
 
 bat or bird, at other times appearing as a horse or goat. The 
 
 ancients deemed both the fruit and flowers of the Bramble effica- 
 cious against the bites of serpents; and it was at one time 
 beheved that so astringent were the qualities of this bush, that 
 even its young shoots, when eaten as a salad, would fasten teeth 
 that were loose. Gerarde, however, for that purpose recom- 
 mends a deco(51:ion of the leaves, mixed with honey, alum, and a 
 
pPant Tsofc, Isieger^f, anil Tsijriq/-. 259 
 
 little wine, and adds that the leaves "heale the eies that hang 
 
 out." In Cornwall, Bramble-leaves, wetted with spring water, 
 
 are employed as a charm for a scald or burn. The moistened 
 leaves are applied to the burn whilst the patient repeats the fol- 
 lowing formula : — 
 
 " There came three angels out of the East, 
 One brought fire, and two brought frost ; 
 Out fire and in frost ; 
 
 In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 Araen." 
 
 A similar incantation to the above is used as a charm for inflam- 
 matory disease. The formula is repeated three times to each one 
 of nine Bramble-leaves immersed in spring water, passes being 
 meanwhile made with the leaves from the diseased part. A cure 
 for rheumatism is to crawl under a Bramble, which has formed a 
 second root in the ground ; and to charm away boils, the sufferer 
 should pass nine times, against the Sun, under a Bramble-bush 
 growing at both ends. In Devon^ire, a curious charm for the 
 cure of blackhead or pinsoles consisted in creeping under an 
 arched Bramble. The person affecTted by this troublesome malady 
 has to cr^ep on hands and knees under or through a Bramble 
 three times, with the Sun — that is, from east to west. The Bramble 
 must be of peculiar growth, forming an arch rooting at both ends, 
 and if possible reaching into two proprietors' lands; so that a 
 Bramble is by preference selecfted, of which the original root is in 
 the hedge of one owner, and the end of the branch forming the 
 
 arch is rooted in the meadow of another. The Bramble has 
 
 funereal associations, and its young shoots have long been used to 
 bind down the sods on newly-made graves in village churchyards. 
 Jeremy Taylor, when commenting on mortality, says, referring 
 to this custom: " The Summer gives green turf and Brambles to 
 
 bind upon our graves." The Moat of Moybolgue, in the County 
 
 of Cavan, is a sacred place in Ireland, where St. Patrick ministered. 
 According to a legend. Honor Garrigan, one Sunday during the 
 saint's lifetime, rode up the hill to church; but espying a bunch of 
 ripe Blackberries, she dismounted in order to gather them. Her 
 servant lad remonstrated upon the wickedness of her breaking 
 her fast before receiving the Holy Communion, but in vain ; his 
 mistress ate the Blackberries, and then her hunger increased to 
 famine pitch, and she ate the boy and then the horse. St. Patrick, 
 alarmed by the cries of his congregation, who were afraid the 
 wicked woman would devour them also, shot her with his bow aiid 
 
 arrow her body separating into four sections, which were buried in 
 
 a field outside the churchyard; St. Patrick prophesying to the 
 terrified crowd that she would lie quiet till nine times nme of the 
 name of Garrigan should cross the stream which separated the 
 roads from the churchyard. When that took place, she would rise 
 again and devour all before her; and that would be the way sh? 
 
26o pPant Tsore, IsegeT^b/, anil Tsi^ricy. 
 
 would be destroyed. The water of the stream has ever since been 
 
 held sacred, and effects miraculous cures. The Bramble is said 
 
 to be a plant of Mars. To dream of passing through places 
 covered with Brambles-, portends troubles; if they prick you, 
 secret enemies will do you an injury with your friends; if they 
 draw blood, expedt heavy losses in trade. To dream of passing 
 through Brambles unhurt, denotes a triumph over enemies. 
 
 Breakstone. — See Saxifrage. 
 
 BROOM. — The English royal line of Plantagenet undoubtedly 
 derived its name from the Broom [Planta genista), the Gen of the 
 Celts, the GenU of the French, and from time immemorial the badge 
 of Brittany. According to Skinner, the house of Anjou derived the 
 name of Plantagenet from Fulke, the first earl of that name, who, it 
 is said, having killed his brother in order that he might enjoy his 
 principality, afterwards, touched by remorse, undertook a pilgrimage 
 to Jerusalem as a work of atonement ; and being there soundly 
 scourged with Broom-twigs, which grew plentifully on the spot, 
 he ever after took the surname of Plantagenet, and bore the GenU 
 as his personal cognisance, which was retained by his noble pos- 
 terity. Another legend, however, relates that this badge was first 
 adopted by Gefroi, Earl of Anjou, the father of Henry II., and 
 husband of Matilda, Empress of Germany. Passing on his way 
 to the battle-field through a rocky pathway, on either side of which 
 bushes of yellow Broom clung firmly to the boulders, or upheld 
 the crumbling earth, Gefroi broke off a branch and fixed it as a 
 plume in his cap, saying, " Thus shall this golden plant ever be my 
 cognisance — rooted firmly among rocks, and yet upholding that 
 which is ready to fall." He afterwards took the name of Planta- 
 genet {Planta genista) and transmitted it to his princely posterity. 
 His son Henry was called the Royal Sprig of Genista, and the Broom 
 continued to be the family device down to the last of the Planta- 
 genets, Richard III. It may be seen on the great seal of Richard I., 
 
 its first official heraldic appearance. In 1234, St. Louis of 
 
 France established a new order of Knighthood, called I'Ordre du 
 Genest, on the occasion of his marriage with Queen Marguerite. 
 The Knights of the Genest wore a chain composed of blossoms of 
 the Genit (Broom) in gold alternately with white enamelled Fleurs de 
 Lis, from which was suspended a gold cross with the motto "Deus 
 exaltat humiles." One hundred Knights of the Order of the Genest 
 acted as a body-guard to the King. The order was long held in 
 
 high esteem, and one of its recipients was Richard II. The Broom 
 
 may well be symbohc of humility, for, according to a Sicilian 
 legend, it was accursed for having made such a noise in the garden 
 of Gethsemane during the time that Jesus Christ was praying there, 
 that His persecutors were thus enabled to surprise Him. Hemmed 
 in by His enemies, Jesus, turning towards the traitorous shrub, 
 pronounced on it this maledidlion : " May you always make as 
 
pfant Tsore, TsegeTja/, arS Tsi^fiq/-. 261 
 
 much noise when you are being burnt." In England, the Broom 
 
 has always been held as one of the plants beloved by witches. In 
 Germany, the Broom is the plant seledled for decorations on Whit- 
 Sunday : it is also used as a charm. When a limb has been 
 amputated, the charmer takes a twig from a Broom, and after 
 pressing the wound together with it, wraps it in the bloody linen, 
 and lays it in a dry place, saying : 
 
 " The wounds of our Lord Christ 
 They are not bound ; 
 But these Vfounds they are bound 
 
 In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 In Tuscany, on the day of the FSie-Dieu, it is often employed. In 
 England, it is considered that if the Broom has plenty of blossoms, 
 it is the sign of a plentiful grain harvest. In Suffolk and Sussex, 
 there is a saying that — 
 
 " If you sweep the house with blossomed Broom in May, 
 You are sure to sweep the head of the house away." 
 
 By the old herbalists the Broom was considered a panacea for a 
 multiplicity of disorders, and Gerarde tells us that no less a per- 
 sonage than " that worthy Prince of famous memory, Henry VIII.,' 
 of England, was wont to drink the distilled water of Broome-floures, 
 
 against surfets and diseases thereof arising." Broom is under 
 
 the planetary influence of Mars. 
 
 BRION Y. — The poisonous fruit or berries of the Black Briony 
 (Tamus) are supposed to remove sunburns, freckles, bruises, black 
 eyes, and other blemishes of the skin. Another name of this wild 
 Vine is Our Lady's Seal. The root of the White Briony may be made 
 to grow in any shape by placing it when young in an earthenware 
 mould. In olden times, designing people by this means obtained 
 roots of frightful forms, which they exhibited as curiosities, or sold 
 as charms. The anodyne necklace, which was a profitable affair 
 for one Doctor Turner in the early part of the present century, con- 
 sisted of beads made of white Briony-root : it was believed to assist 
 
 in cutting the teeth of infants, around whose neck it was hung. 
 
 Briony is under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 BUCKTHORN. — Of one variety of Buckthorn {Rhamnus 
 palimrus) it is said that Christ's Crown of Thorns was composed. 
 Of another variety (R. Frangula) the Mongols make their idols, se- 
 
 ledting the wood on account of its rich hue. The Buckthorn is 
 
 under the dominion of Saturn. 
 
 BUGLOSS. — The Bugloss {Anchusa) has been made the em- 
 blem of Falsehood, because the roots of one of its species (A. 
 tinctma) are used in making rouge for the face. In the wilds of 
 America, the Indians paint their bodies red with the root of a 
 Bugloss (Anchusa Virginica) indigenous to their country. Galen 
 notices the use of the Bugloss as a cosmetic in his time, and the 
 rouge made from the roots of this plant is said to be the most 
 
262 pfant Tsore, Isege^/, anel feiji're/'. 
 
 ancient of all the paints prepared for the face. Pliny says that the 
 
 Anchusa was used by the Romans for colouring and dyeing ; and 
 adds, that if a person who has chewed this plant should spit in the 
 
 mouth of a venomous creature, he would kill it. The Viper's 
 
 Bugloss (Echium vulgare) derives its name from its seed being like 
 the head of a viper, and, according to Matthiolus, was celebrated 
 for curing its bites. Nicander also speaks of the Viper's Bugloss as 
 one of those plants which cure the biting of serpents, and es- 
 pecially of the viper, and that drive serpents away. Dioscorides, 
 as quoted by Gerarde, writes, " The root drunk with wine is good 
 for those that be bitten with serpents, and it keepeth such from 
 being stung as have drunk of it before : the leaves and seeds do the 
 same." Bugloss is reputed to be under the dominion of Jupiter. 
 
 BULRUSH. — King Midas, having preferred the singing of 
 Marsyas, the satyr, to that of Apollo, the god clapped upon him 
 a pair of ass's ears. The king's barber saw them, and, unable to 
 keep the secret, buried it at the foot of a cluster of Bulrushes. 
 These Reeds, shaken by the wind, continually murmured, "King 
 Midas has ass's ears." Both the Scirpus lacustris and Typha latifoUa 
 (the Reed Mace) are popularly known as the Bulrush (a corruption 
 of Pole Rush or Pool Rush). The Typha is depidted by Rubens, and 
 the earlier Italian painters, as the Reed put into the hands of Jesus 
 Christ upon His crucifixion. The same Reed is, on certain days, 
 put into the hands of the Roman Catholic statues of our Saviour. 
 Gerarde calls this Reed Cat's-tail, and points out that Aristophanes 
 makes mention of it in his ' Comedy of Frogs,' " where he bringeth 
 them forth, one talking with another, being very glad that they 
 had spent the whole day in skipping and leaping among Galingale 
 
 and Cat's-tail." The Bulrushes, among which the infant Moses 
 
 was placed on the banks of the Nile, were Reeds not unlike the 
 Typha. The ark in which he was laid was probably a small canoe 
 constructed with the same Reed — the Papyrus Nilotica, which, 
 according to Egyptian belief, was a protedtion from crocodiles. 
 Gerarde says: "It is thought by men of great learning and under- 
 standing in the Scriptures, and set downe by them for truth, that this 
 plant is the same Reed mentioned in the second chapter of Exodus, 
 whereof was made that basket or cradle, which was daubed within 
 and without with slime of that country, called Bitumen Judaicum, 
 wherein Moses was put, being committed to the water, when Pharaoh 
 gave commandment that all the male children of the Hebrews should 
 
 be drowned." Boats and canoes formed of the Papyrus are 
 
 common in Abyssinia. In South America, a similar kind of Bulrush 
 
 is used for a like purpose -The Bulrush is under the dominion 
 
 of Saturn. 
 
 BURDOCK. — Everyone is acquainted with the prickly burs 
 of the Arctium Lappa, or Burdock, which, by means of their 
 hooks, are apt to cling so tenaciously to the passer-by. There 
 
pPant Tsofe, Tsege'^/, anel Tsijficy. 263 
 
 exists an old belief among country lads, that they can catch bats 
 by throwing these burs at them. The plant is also known by the 
 names of Great-bur, Hur-bur, and Clot-bur, and has an ancient 
 
 reputation for curing rheumatism. It was under the great leaf of 
 
 a Burdock that the original Hop-o'-my-Thumb, of nursery-rhyme 
 celebrity, sought refuge from a storm, and was, unfortunately, 
 
 swallowed, enclosed in the leaf, by a passing hungry cow. In 
 
 Albania, there is a superstitious belief that, if a man has been 
 influenced by the demons of the forest, the evil spirit must be 
 exorcised by the priest; a portion of the ceremony consisting of 
 the steeping of bread in wine, and spreading it on the broad leaves 
 
 of a Burdock. Venus is the planet under whose rule astrologers 
 
 place Burdock. 
 
 BURITI. — The Buriti Palm (Mauntia vmifem) attains, in 
 Brazil, gigantic proportions, and its rich red and yellow fruit, "like 
 quilted cannon balls," hang in bunches five feet long. From it 
 flour, wine, and butter are made, whilst the fibre of the leaves, 
 supplies thread for weaving, &c. Another species, M. flexwosa, 
 flourishes in the valleys and swamps of South America, where the 
 native Indians regard it with great reverence, living almost entirely 
 on its produdls; and, what is very remarkable, building their 
 houses high up amongst its leaves, where they live during the. 
 floods. 
 
 BURNET. — The Burnet Saxifrage {Pimpimlla Saxifmga) 
 appears to be considered a magical plant in Hungary, where it is, 
 called Chahairje, or Chaba's Salve, from an old tradition that King 
 Chaba discovered it, and cured the wounds of fifteen thousand of 
 
 his soldiers after a sanguinary battle fought against his brother. 
 
 In a work on astrology, purported to be written by King Solomon,, 
 and translated from the Hebrew by Irod Grego, it is stated that 
 the magician's sword ought to be steeped in the blood of a mole, 
 
 and in the juice of Pimpinella. In Piedmont, the Pimpinella 
 
 is thought to possess the property of increasing the beauty of 
 women. Burnet is a herb of the Sun. 
 
 BUTCHER'S BROOM.— A species, of Butcher's, Broom„ 
 Ruscus hypoglossum, was the Alexandrian Laurel of the R,omans, who 
 formed of this shrub the so-called Laurel crowns worn by distin- 
 guished personages. It is the Laurel generally depicted on busts,, 
 
 coins, &c. The name of Butcher's Broom was given to this plant 
 
 because in olden times butchers were in the habit of sweeping their 
 blocks with hand brooms made of its green shoots. In Italy, 
 branches of the plant, tied together, are commonly employed as 
 besoms for sweeping houses ; and hucksters place boughs of it round 
 bacon and cheese to defend them from the mice. The Ruscus 
 acukatus, besides its ordinary name of Butcher's Broom, is called 
 Knee-holme, Knee-pulver, Knee-holly, Pettigree, and sometimes 
 Jews' Myrtle, because it is sold to the Jews for use during the Feast of 
 
264 pfant Isore, Tsege^/, ar3 'teijrio/. 
 
 the Tabernacles. In combination with Horse-radish, the plant, boiled 
 for a deco<5lion, is said to be serviceable in cases of dropsy ; and its 
 
 boughs are often used in this country for flogging chilblains. 
 
 Butcher's Broom has been used and claimed by the Earls of Suther- 
 land as the distinguishing badge of their followers and clan. The 
 present Duke retains it, and every Sutherland volunteer still wears 
 
 a sprig of Butcher's Broom in his bonnet on field days. 
 
 Butcher's Broom is under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 Buttercups. — See Ranunculus. 
 
 CABBAGE. — A Grecian legend recounts that the Cabbage 
 (Brassica) sprang from the tears of Lycurgus, Prince of Thrace, 
 whom Dionysus had bound to a Vine-stock as a punishment for 
 the destru(5tion of Vines of which the Prince had been guilty. 
 Perhaps this ancient legend may account for the belief that the 
 Cabbage, like the Laurel, is inimical to the Vine ; and it may also 
 have given rise to the employment by the Egyptians and the 
 Greeks of this vegetable as a most powerful remedy for the intoxi- 
 cation produced by the fruit of the Vine. Bacon, in his Sylva Syl- 
 varum, says: "So the Colewort (Cabbage) is not an enemy (though 
 that were anciently received) to the Vine onely ; but it is an enemy 
 to any other plant, because it draweth strongly the fattest juyce 
 of the earth." He also tells us that " it is reported that the shrub 
 called Our Ladle's Seal (which is a kinde of Briony) and Coleworts, 
 set neare together, one or both will die." Gerarde says that the 
 Greeks called the Cabbage Amethustos, "not onely because it 
 driveth away drunkennesse, but also for that it is like in colour to the 
 
 pretious stone called the Amethyst." The ancient lonians, in 
 
 their oaths, invoked the Cabbage. Nicander calls the Cabbage a 
 
 sacred plant. In Scotland, young women determine the figure 
 
 and size of their future husbands by drawing Cabbages, blind- 
 folded, on Hallowe'en. In some country places, the housewife 
 
 considers it a lucky omen if her Cabbages grow " double," i.e., with 
 two shoots from one root ; or " lucker," that is, with the leaves spread- 
 ing open. A Cabbage stalk or stump is a favourite steed upon 
 
 which the "good people," or fairies, are wont to travel in the air. Mr. 
 Croker, in his ' Fairy Legends of Ireland,' relates that at Dundaniel, 
 a village near Cork, in a pleasant outlet called Blackrock, there 
 lived not many years ago a gardener named Crowley, who was 
 considered by his neighbours as under fairy control, and suffered 
 from what they termed " the falling sickness" resulting firom the 
 fatigue attendant on the journeys which he was compelled to take ; 
 being forced to travel night after night with the good people on one 
 
 of his own Cabbage-stumps. The Italian expressions, "Go among 
 
 the Cabbages," and "Go hide among the Cabbages," mean to die. 
 In the North, however, children are told that " Baby was fetched out 
 of the Cabbage-bed." In Jersey, the Palm Cabbage is much culti- 
 vated, and reaches a considerable height. In La Vendue, the Caesa- 
 
pfant bore, TsegeT^y, ani. Tsijrlo/. 265 
 
 rean Cow Cabbage grows sixteen feet high. Possibly these gigantic 
 Cabbages may have given rise to the nursery tales of some of the 
 continental states, in which the young hero emulates the exploits of 
 the English Jack and his Bean-stalk, by means of a little Cabbage, 
 which grows larger and larger, and finally, becoming colossal, 
 
 reaches the skies. In England, there is a nursery legend 
 
 which relates how the three daughters of a widow were one day 
 sent into the kitchen garden to protetft the Cabbages from the 
 ravages of a grey horse which was continually stealing them. 
 Watching their opportunity, they caught him by the mane and 
 would not be shaken off; so the grey horse trotted away to a 
 neighbouring hill, dragging the three girls after him. Arrived at 
 the hill, he commanded it to open, and the widows' daughters found 
 
 themselves in an enchanted palace. A tradition in the Havel 
 
 country, North Germany, relates that one Christmas Eve a peasant 
 felt a great desire to eat Cabbage, and having none himself, he 
 slipped into a neighbour's garden to cut some. Just as he had 
 filled his basket, the Christ Child rode past on his white horse, and 
 said: "Because thou hast stolen on the holy night, thou shalt 
 immediately sit in the moon with thy basket of Cabbage." The 
 culprit was immediately wafted up to the moon, and there, as the 
 man in the moon, he is still undergoing his penalty for stealing 
 
 Cabbages on Christmas Eve. To dream of cutting Cabbages 
 
 denotes jealousy on the part of wife, husband, or lover, as the case 
 may be. To dream of anyone else cutting them portends an 
 attempt by some person to create jealousy in the loved one's mind. 
 To dream of eating Cabbage implies sickness to loved ones and loss 
 of money. Cabbages are plants of the Moon. 
 
 CACTUS. — The Cadti are for the most part natives of South 
 America, where their weird and grotesque columns or stems, devoid 
 of leaves, dot with green the arid plains of New Barcelona or the 
 dark hillsides of Mexico and California. They often attain the 
 height of fifty feet, and live to such an age as to have gained the 
 name of " imperishable statues." Standing for centuries, they 
 have been seledted to mark national boundaries, as for instance, 
 between the English and French possessions in the Island of St. 
 Christopher, West Indies, and they are also employed as hedges to 
 lanes and roadways. In the arid plains of Mexico and Brazil, the 
 Ca(5ti serve as reservoirs of moisture, and not Only the natives, by 
 probing the fleshy stems with their long forest knives, supply them- 
 selves with a cool and refreshing juice, but even the parched cattle 
 contrive to break through the skin with their hoofs, and then to 
 suck the liquid they contain. The splendid colours of the Ca<5tus 
 
 flowers are in vivid contrast with the ugly and ungainly stems. 
 
 There are sundry local legends and superstitions about these plants 
 of the desert. A certain one poisons every white spot on a horse, but 
 not one of any other colour. Another, eaten by horses, makes them 
 lazy and imbecile. The number of known genera is eighteen, 
 
266 pPant Tsore, IScge^/, dhsl Tsijrio/. 
 
 and there are are six hundred species, two of which are specially 
 cultivated, viz., Opuntia Cochinellifera (Nopal plant), largely grown 
 in Mexico, as the food plant of the Cochineal insect (Coccus Ca£ti), 
 which produces a beautiful crimson dye ; and C. vulgaris, or Prickly 
 Pear, which is cultivated for its grateful Gooseberry-like fruits in 
 
 barren rocky parts of North Africa and Southern Europe. 
 
 Peruvian sorcerers make rag dolls, and stick the thorns of Cadtus 
 in them, or hide these thorns in holes under or about houses, or in 
 the wool of beds and cushions, that those they wish to harm may be 
 crippled, maddened, or suffocated. 
 
 Calf's-snout. — See Antirrhinum. 
 
 CAMELLIA. — The flower of the beauteous Rose of Japan 
 (Camellia Japonica) has been well described as — 
 
 " The chaste Camellia's pure and spotless bloom. 
 That boasts no fragrance and conceals no Thorn. " 
 
 The tree was introduced into Europe in 1639, and is named after 
 G. J. Kamel, or Camellus, a Moravian Jesuit, and traveller in Asia, 
 who, returning to Spain from the Isle of Luzon, sought an audience 
 of Queen Maria Theresa, and presented her with a mother-o'- 
 pearl vase, in which grew a small shrub with glossy green leaves, 
 bearing two flowers of dazzling whiteness. Plucking the fair 
 bloom, she ran to the king's chamber, which he was pacing in one 
 of his periodical fits of melancholy. " Behold the new flower of 
 the Philippines," she cried, as her husband welcomed her with a 
 fond embrace; "I have kept the best for you; the other you shall 
 present to-night to Rosalez, who plays so well in Cinna, at the 
 Theatre del Principe." Ferdinand pronounced the flower of which 
 his wife was so enraptured to be "beautiful but scentless," but 
 spite of the latter defect, the plant was assiduously cultivated in 
 the hothouses of El Buen Retiro, and called after the giver, the 
 
 Camellia. In Japan, the Camellia is a large and lofty tree, greatly 
 
 esteemed by the natives for the beauty of its flowers and evergreen 
 foliage, and grown everywhere in their groves and gardens: it is 
 also a native of China, and figures frequently in Chinese paintings. 
 The Camellia Sasanqua, the Cha-Hwa of the Chinese, has fragrant 
 flowers, and its dried leaves are prized for the scent obtained from 
 them ; a decodtion is used by the ladies of China and Japan as a 
 
 hair-wash. This shrub so resembles the Tea-plant, both in leaf 
 
 and blossom, that they are not readily distinguished: the leaves 
 .are mixed with Tea to render its odour more grateful. 
 
 CAMPANULA.— One of the chief favourites in the family 
 of Campanulaceffi, or Bell-flowers, is Campanula Speculum, or 
 Venus's Looking-glass, The English name was given to this little 
 plant probably because its brilliant corollas appear to refle<5l the 
 sun's rays, although some authorities state that it is so called from 
 the glossiness of the seeds. Still another derivation is the resem- 
 
pfant Isore, TsegeT^/, oHS. h^t'\af, 267 
 
 blance of the flower's round-shaped bloom to the form of the mirror 
 of the ancients, which was always circular; and the plant being 
 graceful and extremely pretty, it was appropriated to the Goddess 
 of Beauty. The classics, however, ignore all these derivations, 
 and give us the following account of the origin of the 
 
 " Floral bough that swingeth 
 And tolls its perfume on the passing air." 
 
 In one of her rambles on earth, Venus accidentally dropped a 
 certain mirror which she was carrying, and which possessed the 
 quality of beautifying whatever it refledted. A shepherd picked it 
 up ; but no sooner had he gazed upon its wondrous refledting surface, 
 than he forgot forthwith his favourite nymph, and it is to be pre- 
 sumed himself as well; for, like another Narcissus, he became 
 enamoured of his own visage, and could do nothing but admire his 
 own charms. Cupid, who had discovered his mother's loss, and 
 found out how matters stood with the foolish shepherd, became 
 fearful of the consequences of such a silly error; he, therefore, 
 broke the magic mirror, and transformed the glittering fragments 
 into those bright little flowers, which have ever since been called 
 
 Venus's Looking-glass. Miller mentions seventy-eight kinds of 
 
 Campanula, the best known of which are the Canterbury-bells, 
 Coventry-bells, the Heath-bell, and the Giant Throat-wort, a flower 
 mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in his poem of 'Rokeby': — 
 
 " He laid him down, 
 Where purple Heath profusely strown, 
 And Throat-wort, with its azure bell, 
 And Moss, and Thyme, his cushion swell." 
 
 (See also Canterbury Bells). 
 
 CAMPHOR. — The Camphire or Camphor-tree {Laurus Cam- 
 phora) is principally found in China and Japan. Camphor is 
 obtained by boiling the wood of this tree, in which the gum 
 exists, ready formed. The Arabians at a very early period were 
 acquainted with the virtues of the Camphor-trees of Sumatra and 
 Borneo, the produce of which is known as Native Camphor. 
 
 Campion. — See Lychnis, and Ragged Robin. 
 
 CANDY-TUFT. — The Iberis, or, as we call it in English, 
 Candy -tuft (from Candia, whence we first received the plant), is 
 singularly devoid of any poetical or traditional lore. Old Gerarde 
 tells us that Lord Edward Zouche sent him some seeds which he 
 sowed in his garden, and reared in due course. He calls it Candie 
 Mustard, Thlaspi Candia, the latter being one of the names by which 
 the plant was known in France. In that country, more importance 
 seems to have been attached to the flower, or, at any rate, more 
 notice was taken of it by poets and literati, for we find that one of 
 the species was distinguished as being the emblem of architedture, 
 from the fact that its flowers are disposed in stories from the base 
 to the summit of the :stalk, resembling in some little degree the 
 
268 pPant Tsore, TsegeT^O/j '^'^^ Isijricy, 
 
 open columns of one of the most delicate orders of archite(flure. 
 Rapin, the French Jesuit poet, alludes to this flower in his poem 
 on Gardens, and briefly gives the mythology of Thlaspis in the 
 following lines : — 
 
 " Now, on high stems will Matricaria rear 
 Her silver blooms, and with her will appear 
 Thlaspis, a Cretan youth, who won the fair: 
 Happy if more auspicious Hymen's rites 
 Had with pure flames adorned their nuptial lights." 
 
 CANNA. — The Burmese esteem as sacred the Bohdda Tha- 
 ranat (Canna Indica, or Indian Shot), so named from its seeds, which 
 are used for the beads of the rosary. The flowers are red, or some- 
 times white. The Burman believes that it sprang from Buddha's 
 blood ; and the legend relates that his evil-minded brother-in-law 
 and cousin Dewadat, enraged that he was not allowed to have a se- 
 parate assembly of his own, went to the top of a hill, and rolled 
 down a huge stone, intending to destroy the most excellent payah. 
 But the boulder burst into a thousand pieces, and only one little 
 piece bruised Buddha's toe, and drew a few drops of blood, whence 
 sprang the sacred flower, the Bohdda Tharanat. The renowned 
 physician Zaywaku healed the great teacher's wound in a single 
 day. The earth soon afterwards opened and swallowed up the 
 sacrilegious Dewadat. 
 
 CANTERBURY BELLS.— The Nettle-leaved Bell-flower, 
 Campanula Trachelium, was so called by Gerarde from growing 
 plentifully in the low woods about Canterbury, and possibly in 
 allusion to its resemblance to the hand-bells which were placed on 
 poles, and rung by pilgrims when proceeding to the shrine of 
 Thomas a Becket — St. Thomas, of England. There is, however, 
 a tradition extant that the name of Canterbury Bells was given to 
 the Campanula in memory of St. Augustine. 
 
 CARDAMINE. — The faint sweet Cuckoo-flower, common m 
 meadows and by brook sides, is the Cardamine pratensis. It was so 
 called, says Gerarde, because it flowers in April and May, "when 
 the cuckoo doth begin to sing her pleasant notes without stammer- 
 ing." The flower is also called Lady's Smock, and Our Lady's 
 Smock, from the resemblance of its pale flowers to little smocks 
 hung out to dry, as they used to be once a year, at that season 
 especially. Shakspeare alludes to it in these lines : — 
 
 " When Daisies pied and Violets blue. 
 And Lady-smocks all silver white. 
 And Cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, 
 
 Do paint the meadows with delight. 
 When shepherd's pipe on oaten straws, 
 And maidens bleach their Summer smocks," &c. 
 
 The Cuckoo-buds here alluded to are supposed to be a species of 
 Ranunculus; and, perhaps, as the Cardamine pratensis is rather a 
 pale blue than a silver-white flower, Shakspeare alluded in these 
 
pfant Tsore, TsageT^t)/, ani. Isijricy. 269 
 
 lines to C. amara, whose brilliantly- white blossoms might well be 
 taken for linen laid out to bleach. The plant derives its name 
 Cardamine from its taste of Cardamoms. It is also called Meadow 
 Cress. For some reason, if this flower was found introduced into 
 a May-day garland, it was torn to pieces immediately on discovery. 
 Our Lady's Smock is associated by the Catholics with the Day of 
 the Annunciation. The Cardamine is a herb of the Moon. 
 
 CARDINAL-FLOWER.— Of the extensive Lobelia family 
 the L. Cardinalis, or Cardinal's Flower, is, perhaps, the most beauti- 
 ful. Its blossoms are of so brilliant a scarlet, as to have reminded 
 the originator of its name of the scarlet cloth of Rome, while its 
 shape is not altogether dissimilar to the hat of the Romish digni- 
 tary. Alphonse Karr, remarking on the vivid hue of the Cardinal's 
 Flower, says that even the Verbena will pale before it. 
 
 CARLINE THISTLE. — The white and red Carline 
 Thistles {Carlina vulgaris) derive their name from Charlemagne, 
 regarding whom the legend relates that once — "a horrible pesti- 
 lence broke out in his army, and carried off many thousand men, 
 which greatly troubled the pious Emperor. Wherefore, he prayed 
 earnestly to God ; and in his sleep there appeared to him an angel, 
 who shot an arrow from the cross-bow, telling him to mark the 
 plant upon which it fell, for that with that plant he might cure his 
 army of the pestilence. And so it really happened." The plant 
 upon which the arrow alighted was the Carline Thistle, and, as 
 Gerarde tells us, Charlemagne's army was, through the benefit of 
 
 the root delivered and preserved from the plague. The Carline 
 
 Thistle is under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 CARNATION. — The Carnation {Dianihus caryophyllus) is 
 generally supposed to have obtained its name from the flesh-colour 
 of its flowers; but it was more corredtly spelt by old writers, 
 Coronation, as representing the Vetonica coronaria of the early 
 herbalists, and so called from its flowers being used in the classic 
 corona or chaplets. Thus Spenser, in his ' Shepherd's Calendar '^ 
 says- " Bring Coronations and Sops-in-wme, worn of paramours. 
 From Chaucer we learn that the flower was formerly called the 
 Clove Gilliflower, and that it was cultivated in English gardens in 
 Edward the Third's reign. In those days, it was used to give a 
 spicy flavour to wine and ale, and from hence obtained its name 
 of Sop-in-wine : — 
 
 " Her springen herbes, grete and smale, 
 
 The Licoris and the Setewales, 
 
 And many a Clove Gilofre, 
 
 to put in ale. 
 
 Whether it be moist or stale." 
 
 The name GilHflower (formerly spelt Gyllofer and Gilofre) is a cor- 
 ruotion of the Latin Cayyophyllum, a Clove (Greek, Karuophullon); and 
 has reference to the spicy odour of the flower, which was used as a 
 
270 pPant Tsofe, T9eg§^/, ani. li3L|ric^, 
 
 substitute for the costly Indian Cloves in flavouring dainty dishes 
 as well as liquors. The Gilliflower was also thought to possess 
 medicinal properties. Gerarde assures us, that " The conserve 
 made of the flowers of the Clove Gilloflower and sugar is exceeding 
 cordiall, and woonderfuUy above measure doth comfort the heart, 
 being eaten now and then." It was, also, thought good against 
 
 pestilential fevers. A red Carnation distinguishes several of 
 
 the Italian painters. Benvenuto Tisio was called " II Garofalo," 
 from his having painted a Gilliflower in the corner of his pidlures. 
 
 The Carnation is under the dominion of Jupiter. (See also 
 
 Gilliflower). 
 
 CAROB. — The Carob-tree, or St. John's Bread [Ceratonia 
 Siliqua) flourishes in the East, and ia Palestine (to quote from 
 Gerarde) there is " such plenty of it, that it is left unto swine and 
 other wilde beasts to feed upon, as our Acorns and Beech-mast." 
 Hence it has long been supposed by many that the shells of the 
 Carob-pod were the husks which the Prodigal Son was fain to feed 
 upon, although they were what " the swine did eat ; and no man 
 
 gave unto him' (Luke xv., 16). In Germany, as in England, 
 
 the Carob obtained the name of St. John's Bread, from the popular 
 belief that the Baptist fed upon it whilst in the wilderness. Gerarde 
 says: "This is of some called Saint John's Bread, and thought 
 to be that which is translated Locusts, whereon Saint John did 
 feed when he was in the wildernesse, besides the wilde honey 
 whereof he did also eat ; but there is small certainty of this ; but it 
 is most certain that the people of that country doe feed on these 
 cods." By others it has been supposed that the Locusts on which 
 John the Baptist fed were the tender shoots of plants, and that the 
 wild honey was the pulp in the pod of the Carob, whence it derived 
 
 the name of St. John's Bread. According to a Sicilian tradition, 
 
 the Carob is a tree of ill-repute, because it was on one of this 
 
 species that the traitor Judas Iscariot hung himself. In Syria 
 
 and Asia Minor, the Carob, venerated alike by Christian and 
 Mussulman, is dedicated to St. George, whose shrines are always 
 eredted beneath the shadow of its boughs. 
 
 CARROT. — The wild Carrot {Daucus Carota) is also called 
 Bird's-nest or Bee's-nest, because, in its seeding state, the umbel 
 
 resembles a nest. In the reign of James the First, ladies adorned 
 
 their head-dresses with Carrot -leaves, the light feathery verdure of 
 which was considered a pleasing substitute for the plumage of birds. 
 
 The ancient Greeks called the Carrot Phileon, because of its 
 
 connexion with amatory affairs. We read in Gerarde in what this 
 consisted. He remarks that the Carrot " serveth for love matters ; 
 and Orpheus, as Pliny writeth, said that the use hereof winneth 
 love ; which things be written of wilde Carrot, the root whereof is 
 more effedtual than that of the garden." According to Galen, the 
 root of the wild Carrot possessed the power of exciting the passions. 
 
pfant Tsxite, Isegel^/, ai-iil Tsijricy. 271 
 
 The seed was administered to women under the belief that it 
 
 induced and helped conception. To dream of Carrots signifies 
 
 profit and strength to them that are at law for an inheritance, for 
 we pluck them out of the ground with our hand, branches, strings, 
 and veins. Carrots are held to be under Mercury. 
 
 CASHE'W. — The nuts of the Cashew [Anacardium occidentale) 
 are supposed by the Indians to excite the passions. The negroes of 
 the West Indies say a branch of the Cashew-tree supplied the 
 crown of Thorns used at our Saviour's crucifixion, and that, in con- 
 sequence, one of the bright golden petals of the flower became 
 black and blood-stained. 
 
 CASSAVA. — The South American Cassava {Jatyopha Manihot) 
 is also known as the edible-rooted physic-nut, and in Brazil it bears 
 the name of Mandioc. There are two kinds of Cassavas — the bitter 
 and the sweet. From the roots of both bread is made, the tubers 
 being first peeled and then ground into farina, and a poisonous 
 juice expressed. Should this juice be drunk by cattle or poultry, 
 they will become speedily much swollen, and die in convulsions ; 
 but if the same liquid is boiled with meat, and seasoned, it forms a 
 favourite soup, called by the Brazilians Casserepo. The juice is 
 used by the Indians for the poisoning of arrows : it is sometimes 
 fermented, and converted into an intoxicating liquor in great favour 
 with the Indians and negroes. Tapioca is a kind of starch pre- 
 pared from the farina of Cassava roots. 
 
 CASSIA. — The Cassia mentioned by Moses in Exodus 
 XXX., 24 (called in Hebrew Kidda, the bark), was a sweet spice 
 commanded to be used in the composition of the holy oil employed 
 in the consecration of the sacred vessels of the Tabernacle. It is 
 supposed to have been the bark of an aromatic tree, known by the 
 ancients as Costus, preparations of the bark and root of which were 
 sometimes burnt on the pagan altars. There were three sorts of 
 Costus — the Arabian, the Indian, and the Syrian ; the root of the 
 first of these was most esteemed for its aromatic properties : it had 
 a fragrant smell similar to the perfume of Orris or Violets, and was 
 called Costus dukis or odoratus. 
 
 CASSIA-TREE. — The Cassia, or Senna-tree, belongs to a 
 genus numerous in species, which are generally diffused in warm 
 countries : among them is the Moon-tree of the Chinese, and this 
 Cassia is considered by them to be the first of all medicaments. 
 They have a saying, " The Cassia can be eaten, therefore it is 
 cut down," which probably explains their belief that in the middle 
 of the Moon there grows a Cassia-tree, at the foot of which is a 
 man who is endeavouring continually to fell it. This man is one 
 Kang Wou, a native of Si-ho. Whilst under the tuition of a Geni, 
 he committed a grave fault, for which he was condemned from 
 henceforth to cut down the Cassia-tree. They call the Moon, 
 therefore, the Kue'ilan, or the disk of the Cassia. The Chinese give 
 
272 pfant Tsore, Tsege^/, arii. Isijrfcy. 
 
 other reasons for associating the Cassia with the Moon. They say 
 that it is the only tree producing flowers with four petals which are 
 yellow — the colour of a metal, an element appertaining to the West, 
 the region where the Moon appears to rise. Then the Cassia-flower 
 opens in Autumn, a period when sacrifices are offisred to the Moon ; 
 and it has, like the Moon, four phases of existence. During the 
 seventh Moon (August) it blossoms. At the fourth Moon (May) its 
 inflorescence ceases. During the fifth and sixth Moon (June and 
 July) its buds are put forth, and after these have opened into 
 leaf, the tree again bears flowers. Anglo-Indians call the Cassia 
 Fistula, or Umultuss-tree, the Indian Laburnum : its long cylin- 
 drical pods are imported into England, and a sugary substance ex- 
 tradled from the pulp between the seeds is commonly used as a 
 laxative. Gerarde says this pulp of Cassia Fistula, when extradted 
 with Violet water, is a most sweet and pleasant medicine, and may 
 be given without danger to all weak people of what age and sex 
 soever. Lord Bacon writes in his Natural History : — " It is re- 
 ported by one of the ancients, that Cassia, when it is gathered, is 
 put into the skins of beasts, newly flayed, and that the skins cor- 
 rupting, and breeding wormes, the wormes doe devoure the pith 
 and marrow it, and so make of it hollow ; but meddle not with the 
 barke, because to them it is bitter." 
 
 CATCH-FLY.— The Silene, or Catch-fly, received its Enghsh 
 name from its glutinous stalk, from which flies, happening to light 
 upon it, cannot disengage themselves. Gerarde gives the plant the 
 additional name of Limewort, and adds, that in his time they were 
 grown in London gardens, " rather for toies of pleasure than any 
 virtues they are possessed with." 
 
 CAT MINT. — Gerarde, probably copying from Dodoens, 
 says of Cat Mint or Cat Nep, that " cats are very much delighted 
 herewith, for the smell of it is so pleasant unto them, that they rub 
 themselves upon it, and swallow or tumble in it, and also feed on 
 the branches very greedily." There is an old proverb respecting 
 this herb — 
 
 " If you set it, the cats will eat it; 
 If you sow it, the cats won't know it." 
 
 According to Hoffman, the root of the Cat Mint, if chewed, will 
 make the most gentle person fierce and quarrelsome ; and there is a 
 legend of a certain hangman who could never find courage to 
 execute his task until he had chewed this aromatic root. Nep or 
 Cat Mint is considered a herb of Venus. 
 
 CEDAR.— Numerous are the allusions made in the Bible to 
 the Cedars of Lebanon {Cedrus Libani), the tree which ]osephussa.ys 
 was first planted in Judea by Solomon, who greatly admired this 
 noble tree, and built himself a palace of Cedar on Lebanon itself. 
 The celebrated Temple of Solomon was built of hewn stone, lined 
 with Cedar, which was "carved with knops and open flowers; 
 
pfant bofe, bcgei^t)/, oHS Tsiji'io;. 273 
 
 all was Cedar, there was no stone seen/' Since King Solomon's 
 time, the Cedar forest of Lebanon has become terribly reduced, but 
 Dr. Hooker, in i860, counted some four hundred trees, and Mr. 
 Tristram, a more recent traveller in the Holy Land, discovered a 
 new locality in the mountains of Lebanon, where the Cedar was 
 more abundant. Twelve of the oldest of these Cedars of Lebanon 
 bear the title of " Friends of Solomon," or the " Twelve Apostles." 
 The Arabs call all the older trees, saints, and believe an evil fate 
 will overtake anyone who injures them. Every year, at the feast 
 of the Transfiguration, the Maronites, Greeks, and Armenians go 
 up to the Cedars, and celebrate mass on a rough stone altar at 
 
 their feet. The Cedar is made the emblem of the righteous in 
 
 the 92nd Psalm, and is likened to the countenance of the Son of 
 God in the inspired Canticles of Solomon. Ezekiel (xxxi., 3—9) 
 compares the mighty King of Assyria to a Cedar in Lebanon, with 
 fair branches, and says, as a proof of his greatness and power, that 
 "the Cedars in the garden of God could not hide him." In the 
 Romish Church, the Cedar of Lebanon, because of its height, its 
 incorruptible substance, and the healing virtues attributed to it in 
 the East, is a symbol of the Virgin, expressing her greatness, her 
 
 beauty, and her goodness. The Jews evidently regarded the 
 
 Cedar as a sacred tree : hence it was used in the making of idols. 
 According to a very old tradition, the Cedar was the tree from 
 which Adam obtained the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. 
 The ancient legend relating how the Cross of Christ was formed of 
 a tree combining in itself the wood of the Cypress, Cedar, and 
 Pine, will be found under the heading Cypress. Another 
 tradition states that of the three woods of which the Cross was 
 composed, and which symbolised the three persons of the Holy 
 Trinity, the Cedar symbolised God the Father. Pythagoras re- 
 commended the Cedar, the Laurel, the Cypress, the Oak, and the 
 
 Myrtle, as the woods most befitting to honour the Divinity. 
 
 The Shittim wood of the Scriptures is considered by some to have 
 been a species of Cedar, of which the most precious utensils were 
 made: hence the expression Cedro digna signified "worthy of eter- 
 nity." The Cedar is the emblem of immortality. The ancients 
 
 called the Cedar " life from the dead," because the perfume of its 
 wood drove away the inserts and never-dying worms of the tombs. 
 According to Evelyn, in the temple of Apollo at Utica, there was 
 found Cedar- wood nearly two thousand years old; "and in 
 Sagunti, of Spain, a beam, in a certain oratory consecrated to 
 Diana, which had been brought from Zant two hundred years 
 before the destrudlion of Troy. The statue of that goddess in 
 the famous Ephesian Temple was of this material also, as was 
 most of the timber-work in all their sacred edifices." In a 
 temple at Rome there was a statue of Apollo Sosianus in Cedar- 
 wood originally brought from Seleucia. Virgil states that Cedar- 
 wood was considered to be so durable, that it was employed for 
 
274 pfarit Isote, T3ege?|0/, cmi. T9(jnc/, 
 
 making images of the gods, and that the effigies of the ancestors 
 of Latinus were carved out of an old Cedar, He also informs 
 
 us that Cedar-wood was used for fragrant torches. Sesostris, 
 
 King of Egypt, is reported to have built a ship of Cedar timber, 
 which, according to Evelyn, was " of 280 cubits, all gilded without 
 
 and within." Gerarde says that the Egyptians used Cedar for 
 
 the coffins of their dead, and Cedar-pitch in the process of em- 
 balming the bodies. The books of Numa, recovered in Rome 
 
 after a lapse of 535 years, are stated to have been perfumed with 
 
 Cedar. The Chinese have a legend which tells how a husband and 
 
 wife were transformed into two Cedars, in order that their mutual 
 love might be perpetuated. A certain King Kang, in the time 
 of the Soungs, had as secretary one Hanpang, whose young 
 and beautiful wife Ho the King unfortunately coveted. Both 
 husband and wife were tenderly attached to one another, so the 
 King threw Hanpang into prison, where he shortly died of grief. 
 His wife, to escape the odious attentions of the King, threw her- 
 self from the summit of a high terrace. After her death, a letter 
 was discovered in her bosom, addressed to the King, in which she 
 asked, as a last favour, to be buried beside her dear husband. 
 The King, however, terribly angered, would not accede to poor Ho's 
 request, but ordered her to be interred separately. The will of 
 heaven was not long being revealed. That same night two Cedars 
 sprang from the two graves, and in ten days had become so tall 
 and vigorous in their growth, that they were able to interlace 
 their branches and roots, although separated from one another. 
 The people henceforth called these Cedars " The trees of faithful 
 
 love." Tchihatcheff, a Russian traveller, speaks of vast Cedar 
 
 forests on Mount Taurus in Asia Minor : the tree was not intro- 
 duced into England till about Evelyn's time, nor into France till 
 1737, when Bernard de Jussieu brought over from the Holy Land 
 a little seedlingof the plant from the forests of Mount Lebanon. A 
 romantic account is given of the difficulty this naturalist experienced 
 in conveying it to France, owing to the tempestuous weather and 
 contrary winds he experienced, which drove his vessel out of its 
 course, and so prolonged the voyage, that the water began to fail. 
 All on board were consequently put on short allowance ; the crew 
 having to work, being allowed one glass of water a day, the pas- 
 senger only half that quantity. Jussieu, from his attachment to 
 botany, was reduced to abridge even this small daily allowance, by 
 sharing it with his cherished plant, and by this act of self-sacrifice 
 succeeded in keeping it alive till they reached Marseilles. Here, 
 however, all his pains seemed likely to be thrown away, for as he 
 had been driven, by want of a flower-pot, to plant his seedling in 
 his hat, he excited on landing the suspicions of the Custom-house 
 officers, who at first insisted on emptying the strange pot, to see 
 whether any contraband goods were concealed therein. With much 
 difficulty he prevailed upon them to spare his treasure, and sue- 
 
pPant "bofe, IsegeT^^/, cmsl bijncy. 275 
 
 ceeded in carrying it in triumph to Paris, where it flourished in the 
 Jardin des Plantes, and grew until it reached one hundred years of 
 age, and eighty feet in height. In 1837 it was cut down, to make 
 
 room for a railway. According to the ancient Chaldean magicians, 
 
 the Cedar is a tree of good omen — protedling the good and over- 
 throwing the machinations of evil spirits. M. Lenormant has 
 
 published an Egyptian legend concerning the Cedar, which De 
 Gubernatis has quoted. This legend recites that Baton having con- 
 sented to incorporate his heart with the Cedar, if the tree were cut the 
 life of Baton would at the same time be jeopardised ; but if he died 
 his brother would seek his heart for seven years, and when he had 
 found it, he would place it in a vase filled with divine essence, which 
 
 was to impart to it animation, and so restore Batou to life 
 
 Anpou, in a fit of it.ge, one day enters Baton's house, and slays 
 the shameless woman who had separated him from his brother. 
 Meanwhile Batou proceeds to the valley of Cedars, and places, as he 
 had announced, his heart in the fruit of the tree at the foot of which 
 he fixes his abode. The gods, not desiring to leave him solitary, 
 create a woman, endowed with extraordinary beauty, but carrying 
 evil with her. Falling madly in love with her, Batou reveals to 
 the woman the secret of his life being bound up with that of the 
 Cedar. Meantime the river becomes enamoured of Baton's wife ; 
 the tree, to pacify it, gives it a lock of the beauty's hair. The river 
 continues its course, carrying on the surface of its waters the tress, 
 which diffuses a delicious odour. It reaches at last the king's 
 laundress, who carries it to his majesty. At the mere sight and 
 perfume of the tress, the king falls in love with the woman to 
 whom it belongs. He sends men to the vale of Cedars to carry 
 her off; but Batou kills them all. Then the king despatches an 
 army, who at last bring him the woman whom the gods themselves 
 had tashioned. But while Batou lives she cannot become the wife 
 of the king; so she reveals to him the secret of her husband's 
 twofold life. Immediately workmen are despatched, who cut down 
 the Cedar. Batou expires diredtly. Soon Anpou, who had come to 
 visit his brother, finds him stretched out dead beside the felled 
 Cedar Instantly he sets out to search for Baton's heart; but for 
 four years his search is fruitless. At the end of that period the 
 soul of Batou yearns to be resuscitated: the time has arrived 
 when, in its transmigrations, it should rejoin his body. Anpou 
 discovers the heart of his brother in one of the cones of the tree. 
 Taking the vase which contains the sacred fluid, he places the heait 
 in it • and during the day, it remains unafredted,but so soon as night 
 arrives the heart becomes imbued with the elixir. Batou regains 
 all his members; but he is without vigour. Then Anpou gives to 
 him the sacred fluid in which he had steeped the heart of his 
 young brother, and bids him drink. The heart returns to its place, 
 and Batou becomes himself again. The two brothers set out o 
 punish the unfaithful one. Batou takes the form of a sacred bull. 
 
276 pfant Isote, IseQer^f, and h^t'iaj. 
 
 Arrived at the Court, Batou, metamorphosed into the bull, is wel- 
 comed and ftted. Egypt has found a new god. During one of 
 the festivals he takes the opportunity of whispering into the ear 
 of her who had formerly been his wife: "Behold, I am again 
 alive — I am Batou! You plotted and persuaded the king to fell 
 the Cedar, so that he might occupy my place at your side when I 
 was dead. Behold, I am again alive — -I have taken the form of a 
 bull ! " The queen faints away at hearing these words ; but speedily 
 recovering herself, she seeks the king and asks him to grant her a 
 favour — ^that of eating the bull's liver. After some hesitation, the 
 king consents, and orders that a sacrifice shall be offered to the 
 buU, and that then he shall be killed ; but at the moment the bull's 
 throat is cut, two drops of blood spirt out: one falls to the ground, 
 and forthwith two grand Perseas (the Egyptians' tree of life) shoot 
 forth. The king, accompanied by his wife, hastens to inspect the 
 new prodigy, and one of the trees whispers in the queen's ear that 
 he is Batou, once more transformed. The queen, relying on the 
 doting affedtion which the king entertains for her, asks him to 
 have this tree cut down for the sake of the excellent timber it will 
 afford. The king consents, and she hastens to superintend the 
 execution of his orders. A chip struck from the tree whilst being 
 felled, falls into the mouth of the queen. Shortly she perceives 
 that she has become enceinte. In due course she gives birth to a 
 male infant. It is Batou, once more entering the world by a novel 
 incarnation ! " 
 
 CELANDINE. — The Great or Major Celandine {Chelidonium 
 majoy) is also called Swallow-wort and Tetter-wort, and is thought 
 to be efficacious in the cure of warts and cutaneous disorders. It 
 derives its name from the Greek Ckelidon, a swallow — ^not, says 
 Gerarde, " because it first springeth at the coming in of the 
 swallowes, or dieth when they go away, for as we have saide, it 
 may be founde all the yeare, but because some holde .opinion that 
 with this herbe the dams restore sight to their young ones, when 
 their eies be put out." This magical property of the Celandine 
 was first propounded by Aristotle, and afterwards repeated by 
 Pliny, Dodoens, Albert le Grand, Macer, and most of the old 
 botanical writers. Coles fully believed the wonderful fadt, and 
 remarks: "It is known to such as have skill of nature, what won- 
 derful care she hath of the smallest creatures, giving to them a 
 knowledge of medicine to help themselves, if haply diseases annoy 
 them. The swallow cureth her dim eyes with Celandine ; the wesell 
 knoweth well the virtue of Herb Grace ; the dove the Verven ; the 
 dogge dischargeth his mawe with a kinde of grasse," &c. Lyte also, 
 in his ' Herbal,' fuUy supported the ancient rustic beUef that the 
 old swallows used Celandine to restore sight to their young. He 
 says the plant was called Swallow-herb, because " it was the first 
 found out by swallowes, and hath healed the eyes and restored 
 sight to their young ones that have had harme in their eyes or have 
 
pfant Isofe, lsege'f|&/, aiii. Isijno/, 277 
 
 been blinde." Celandine has long been popular among village 
 simplers as a remedy when diluted with milk against thick spots in 
 
 the eye. It is said that the lack of medical knowledge among 
 
 the ancients induced the belief in the magical properties of Celan- 
 dine. They saw in the Chelidonium a Cali donutn, and hence were 
 
 anxious to endow it with celestial properties. The red and 
 
 violet Celandines, or Horned Poppies, are mentioned by Ben 
 Jonson among the plants used by witches in their incantations. 
 
 The Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus Ficaria) is perhaps better 
 known as the Pile-wort, a name given to it in allusion to the small 
 tubers on the roots, which, on the dodtrine of plant signatures, 
 indicated that the plant was a remedial agent in this complaint. 
 
 Astrologers assign Celandine to the Sun, and the Pile-wort to 
 
 Mars. 
 
 CENTAURY.— This flower, the well known Blue-bottle of 
 the cornfields, is fabled to have derived its name from Chiron, a 
 centaur, who is stated to have taught mankind the use of plants 
 and medicinal herbs. According to Pliny, Chiron cured himself with 
 this plant from a wound he had accidentally received from an arrow 
 poisoned with the blood of the hydra. M. Barthelemy writes how, 
 when Anacharsis visited the cave of Chiron, the centaur, on Mount 
 Pelion, he was shown a plant which grew near it, of which he was 
 informed that the leaves were good for the eyes, but that the secret 
 of preparing them was in the hands of only one family, to whom it 
 
 had been lineally transmitted from Chiron himself. Mythology 
 
 has another origin for the Centauna Cyanus. According to this 
 account, the flower was called Cyanus, aftgLa. youth so, named, who 
 was so enamoured of Corn-flav7ETS7that KTsfavourite occupation was 
 that of making garlands of them ; ' and he would scarcely ever leave 
 the fields, whilst his favourite blue flowers continued to bloom. 
 So devoted was his admiration, that he always~dresse3"Tiimself in 
 clothes of the same brilliant hue as the flower he loved best. Flora 
 was his goddess, and of all the varied gifts, her Corn-flower was 
 the one he most appreciated. At length he was one day found 
 lying dead in a cornfield, surrounded with the blue Corn-flowers he 
 had gathered : and soon after the catastrophe, the goddess Flora, 
 out of gratitude for the veneration he had for her divinity, trans- 
 formed his body into the Centaurea Cyanus, the Blue-bottle of English 
 
 cornfields. In Lucan's ' Pharsalia,' the Centaury is one of the 
 
 plants named as being burned with the objecft of driving away 
 serpents. 
 
 " Beyond the farthest tents rich fires they build, 
 That healthy medicinal odours yield : 
 There foreign Galbanum dissolving fries, 
 And crackling flames from humble Wallwort rise ; 
 There Tamarisk, which no green leaf adorns, 
 And there the spicy Syrian Costos burns : 
 There Centaury supplies the wholesome flame, 
 That from Thessahan Chiron takes its name ;, 
 
278 pfant boi-e, Ta&Q&r^f, oriel IsijNcy, 
 
 The gummy Larch-tree, and the Thapsos there, 
 Woundwort and Maidenweed perfume the air : 
 There the long branches of the long-lived Hart, 
 With Southernwood their odours strong impart, 
 The monsters of the land, the serpents fell. 
 Fly far away, and shun the hostile swell." 
 
 The Corn-flower is called in Russia Basilek (the flower of BasiH, 
 and attached to it is a legend that a handsome young man of this 
 name was enticed away by a nymph named Russalka, allured into 
 
 the fields, and transformed into the Corn-flower. Plants have 
 
 always been a favourite means of testing the faith of lovers ; and 
 the Centaury or Bluet of the cornfields was the flower selected by 
 Margaret as the floral oracle from which to learn the truth respe(5l- 
 ing Faust. 
 
 " There is a flower, a purple flower. 
 Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower. 
 O'er which love breathed a powerful spell, 
 The truth of whispering hope to tell. 
 Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell, 
 If my lover loves me, and loves me well : 
 So may the fall of the morning dew 
 Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue. " 
 
 The Centaury is known as the Hurt-sickle, because it turns the 
 edges of the reapers' sickles : its other familiar names are Blue- 
 bottle, Blue-blow, Bluet, and Corn-flower. It is held by astro- 
 logers to be under Saturn. 
 
 CEREUS. — The crimson-flowered Cereus (Cereus spedosissi- 
 mus, belonging to the natural order Cadtacea, is generally known 
 in England as the Torch Thistle, and is fabled to have been the 
 torch borne by Ceres in the daytime. Cereus flageUiformis is the 
 pink-flowered creeping Cereus, the long round stems of which 
 hang down like cords. Cereus grandifiorus is the night-blowing 
 Cereus, which begins to open its sweet-scented flowers about 
 eight o'clock in the evening ; they are fully blown by eleven, and 
 by four o'clock next morning they are faded and droop quite 
 decayed. The Old Man's Head, or Monkey Cadtus, Cereus senilis, 
 is another member of this family. 
 
 CHAMEL.ffiA.— The Spurge-Olive or Chamelaea {Cmortm 
 tricoccum) is a humble shrub, whose three-leaved pale-yellow flowers 
 were consecrated to the god Janus. The month of January, placed 
 under the protedtion of Janus, was represented in the guise of an 
 old man, who held in his hand a flower of the Chamelsea. After 
 flowering, the shrub produces three-cornered berries, which are at 
 first green, then red, and finally brown. The plant in England 
 was formerly called the Widow-wail, for what reason we know not, 
 but Gerarde says, " quia facit viduas." 
 
 CHAMOMILE.— According to Galen, the Egyptians held 
 the Chamomile {Anikemis nobilis) in such reverence, that they con- 
 secrated it to their deities : they had great faith in the plant as a 
 
pfant Isofs, hzger^f, dn3i Isiji'icy. 279 
 
 remedy for agues. Gerarde tells us that Chamomile is a special 
 help against wearisomeness, and that it derives its name from the 
 Greek Chamaimelon, Earth-Apple, because the flowers have the 
 
 smell of an Apple. In Germany, Chamomile-flowers are called 
 
 Heermamchen, and they are traditionally supposed to have once 
 
 been soldiers, who for their sins died accur-sed. The Romans 
 
 supposed the Anthemis to be possessed of properties to cure the 
 
 bites of serpents. Chamomile is considered to be a herb of 
 
 the Sun. 
 
 CHAMPAK. — The Champa or Champak {Mickelia Champaca) 
 is one of the sacred plants of India. The blue Champak-flower is 
 of the greatest rarity, and is regarded as being the principal orna- 
 ment of Brahma's heaven. It is, in fa(5l, 
 
 " That blue flower which Brahmins say 
 Bluoms nowhere but in Paradise," 
 
 for the earthly sort has yellow blossoms with which the Hindu 
 maidens are fond of ornamenting their raven hair. The tree is 
 sacred to Vishnu, and is, therefore, an object of reverential regard 
 on the part of the Hindus, who cultivate it for the fragrance of its 
 flowers, which is so strong that the bees, fearful of being overcome, 
 will scarcely ever alight upon them. The Hindus apply to the 
 Champak-flowers the most flattering appellations, which celebrate 
 its wondrous delicacy and form, its glittering golden hue, and its 
 voluptuous perfume. 
 
 CHERRY. — About the year 70 B.C., LucuUus, after his 
 victory over Mithridates, brought from Cerasus, in Pontus, the 
 Cherry-tree, and introduced it into Italy. It was planted in 
 Britain a century later, but the cultivated sorts disappeared during 
 the Saxon period. " Cherries on the ryse," or on the twigs, was, 
 however, one of the street cries of London in the fifteenth century. 
 These Cherries were, perhaps, the fruit of the native wild Cherry, 
 or Gean-tree, as the cultivated Cherry was not re-introduced till 
 the reign of Henry VIII., whose fruiterer brought it from Flanders, 
 
 and planted a Cherry orchard at Teynham. An ancient legend 
 
 records that, before the birth of our Saviour, the Virgin Mary 
 longed extremely to taste of some tempting Cherries which hung 
 upon a tree high above her head ; so she requested Joseph to pluck 
 them. Joseph, however, not caring to take the trouble, refused to 
 gather the Cherries, saying sullenly, " Let the father of thy child 
 present thee with the Cherries if he will ! " No sooner had these 
 words escaped his lips, than, as if in reproof, the branch of the 
 Cherry-tree bowed spontaneously to the Virgin's hand, and she 
 gathered its fruit and ate it. Hence the Cherry is dedicated to the 
 Virgin Mary. There is a tradition that our Saviour gave a Cherry 
 to St. Peter, cautioning him at the same time not to despise little 
 
 thing's. The ancient Lithuanians believed that the demon Kirnis 
 
 was the guardian of the Cherry. In Germany and Denmark there is a 
 
280 pPant l9ore, Taeg&r^f, dnSi Tsijrio/, 
 
 tradition that evil spirits often hide themselves in old Cherry-trees, 
 and delight in doing harm to anyone who approaches them. The 
 Albanians burn branches of the Cherry-tree on the nights of the 
 23rd and 24th of December, and the nights of the ist and 6th of 
 January — that is to say on the three nights consecrated to the new- 
 sun ; and they preserve the ashes of these branches to fertilise their 
 Vines. They say that in so doing they burn the evil spirits hidden in 
 
 the trees, who are destrudlive to vegetation. At Hamburg, there 
 
 is an annual festival called the Feast of the Cherries, when children 
 parade the streets, carrying boughs laden with the fruit. This 
 observance dates from the year 1432, when the Hussites threatened 
 the immediate destrudlion of Hamburg. The inhabitants, in 
 despair, dressed all the children in black, and despatched them to 
 the Hussite leader, P. Rasus, to plead with him. The warrior, 
 touched at the sight of so many little helpless ones, promised that 
 he would spare the city, and after feasting the children with 
 Cherries, sent them back rejoicing and waving in their hands the 
 
 Cherry-boughs. There is an old proverb current in Germany, 
 
 France, and Italy, that you should never eat Cherries with the rich, 
 because they always choose the ripest, or, even worse, eat the 
 luscious fruit, and throw the stones and stalks to their companions. 
 
 The gum which exudes from the Cherry-tree is considered 
 
 equal in value to gum-arabic. Hasselquist relates that during a siege 
 upwards of one hundred men were kept alive for nearly two months, 
 without any other nutriment than that obtained by sucking this 
 
 gum. .The Cherry is held by astrologers to be under the dominion 
 
 of Venus. To dream of Cherries denotes inconstancy and dis- 
 
 appoinlment in life. 
 
 CHESNUT. — The Chesnut (Fagus Castaneaj was classed 
 by Pliny among the fruit trees, on account of the value of the 
 nut as an article of food. He states that the tree was intro- 
 duced from Sardis in Pontus, and hence was called the Sardian 
 Acorn. The Chesnuts of Asia Minor supplied Xenophon's whole 
 army with food in their retreat along the borders of the Euxine. 
 Once planted in Europe, the Chesnut soon spread all over the 
 warm parts. It flourished in the mountains of Calabria, and is the 
 tree with which Salvator Rosa delighted to adorn his bold and rugged 
 
 landscapes. The Castagno dei cento cavalli (Chesnut of the hundred 
 
 horses) upon Mount Etna is probably the largest tree in Europe, 
 
 beingmore than 200 feet in circumference. Chesnuts are included 
 
 in the list of funereal trees. In Tuscany, the fruit is eaten with 
 solemnity on St. Simon's Day. In Piedmont, they constitute the 
 appointed food on the eve of All Souls' Day, and in some houses 
 they are left on the table under the belief that the dead poor will 
 come during the night and feast on them. In Venice, it is custo- 
 mary to eat Chesnuts on St. Martin's Day, and the poor women 
 assemble beneath the windows and sing a long ballad, or, after 
 expressing their good wishes towards the inmates of the house, 
 
pfant Tsore, Isegef^b/, anS Tsijriq/-, 281 
 
 ask for Chesnuts to appease their hunger. (See also Horse- 
 Chesnut.) 
 
 CHOHOBBA. — The Mexicans regard with peculiar sandlity 
 and reverence a herb which grows in their country, and which they 
 call Chohobba. If they wish an abundant crop of Yucca or Maize, 
 if they wish to know whether a sick chief will recover or die, if 
 they desire to learn whether a war is likely to occur, or, in fact, if 
 they desire any important information, one of their chiefs enters 
 the building consecrated to their idols, where he prepares a liquid 
 obtained from the herb Chohobba, which can be absorbed through 
 the nose: this fluid has an intoxicating effecft, and he soon loses 
 all control over himself. After awhile, he partly recovers, and sits 
 himself on the ground, with head abased, and hands beneath his 
 knees, and so remains for some little time. Then he raises his 
 eyes, as if awaking from a long sleep, and gazes upwards at the 
 sky, at the same time muttering between his teeth some unintel- 
 ligible words. No one but his relatives approaches the chief, for 
 the people are not allowed to assist at the rite. When the relatives 
 perceive that the chief is beginning to regain consciousness, they 
 return thanks to the god for his recovery, and ask that he may 
 be permitted to tell them what he has seen whilst in his trance. 
 Then the half-dazed chief relates what the god has told him 
 regarding the particular matters he had wished to enquire about, 
 
 CHOKE PEAR.— The fruit of the Wild Pear, Pyms com- 
 munis, is so hard and austere as to choke : hence the tree has been 
 called the Choke Pear. It is supposed to have been a Pear of this 
 description that caused the death of Drusus, a son of the Emperor 
 Claudius. He caught in his mouth, and swallowed, a Pear thrown 
 into the air, but owing to its extreme hardness, it stuck in his 
 throat and choked him. 
 
 Christmas Rose. — See Hellebore. 
 
 CHRIST'S HERB.— The Black Hellebore is called Christ^s 
 Herb or Christmas Herb (Christwurz), says Gerarde, " because it 
 floureth about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ." (See Hellebore.) 
 
 CHRIST'S LADDER. — In the fourteenth century, the 
 Eyythrcea Centaurium was called Christ's Ladder {Christi scala), from 
 the name having been mistaken for Christ's Cup {Christi schale), in 
 allusion to the bitter draught offered to our Lord upon the Cross. 
 
 CHRIST'S PALM. — The Ricinus communis is commonly 
 known as Palma Christi, or Christ's Palm. The same plant is also 
 reputed to have been Jonah's Gourd. 
 
 CHRIST'S THORN. — Gerarde, in his Herbal, calls the 
 Paliurus, Christ's Thorn or Ram of Libya; and he writes: "Petrus 
 Bellonius, who travelled over the Holy Land, saith, that this 
 shrubby Thome Paliurus, was the Thome wherewith they crowned 
 our Saviour Christ, his reason for the proofe hereof is this. That 
 
282 pPant Isore, Tsege^/, cm^ Tsycic/-. 
 
 in Judea, there was not any Thome so common, so pliant, or so fit 
 for to make a crown or garland of, nor any so full of cruell sharpe 
 prickles. It groweth throughout the whole countrey in such abun- 
 dance, that it is there common fuell to burn ; yea, so common with 
 them there as our Gorse, Brakes, and Broome is here with us. 
 
 iosephus {lib. i, cap. 2 of his Antiquities) saith. That this Thome 
 ath the most sharp prickles of any other ; wherefore that Christ 
 might bee the more tormented, the Jews rather tooke this than 
 any other." The shrub still aboundfs in Judea, and has pliable 
 branches armed with sharp spines. (See Thorn.) 
 
 CHRYSANTHEMUM.— The leaf and flower of the Chry- 
 santhemum Indicum were long ago adopted as, and are still, the 
 special emblem and blazon of Mikados of Japan. One of the most 
 popular of the Japanese festivals is that held in honour of the golden 
 Chrysanthemum, or Kiku. The Japanese florists display their 
 Chrysanthemums built up into the forms of their gods or heroes ; 
 thus, in their exhibitions, are to be seen effigies of Benkei, the 
 Hercules of Japan, gorgeously apparelled in white, purple, and 
 yellow Pompons ; the Sun Goddess, decked in golden blooms ; 
 Jimmu Tenno, a popular hero, and endless groups of gods and 
 goddesses, and mythological heroes and heroines. The Chry- 
 santhemum was first introduced into England in 1764 by Miller, 
 who received a Kok fa, or Chrysanthemum Indicum from Nlmpu, and 
 cultivated it at the botanical garden at Chelsea. In the seven- 
 teenth century a Chrysanthemum was grown in Dantsic. Three 
 
 Chrysanthemums (the Corn Marigold, the Ox-eyed Daisy, and the 
 Fever-few) are natives of England, but as they bloom in summer 
 when flowers are plentiful, and not in November, as our garden 
 varieties do, it has not been so well worth while to bestow care in 
 raising and improving them . The Autumn Chrysanthemums are de- 
 scended from either the Chinese or the Indian varieties, the former 
 of which have white flowers and the latter yellow. The Pompon 
 varieties are derived from the Chusan Daisy, introduced into Eng- 
 land from China by Mr. Fortune in 1 846. In their wild state they are 
 all, indeed, even the Japanese forms of the Chinese flowers, much 
 like Daisies, with a yellow disc surrounded by rays of florets, but by 
 cultivation the disc-florets are assimilated to those of the ray, and 
 the flower assumes a homogeneous appearance only faintly suffused 
 with yellow towards the centre. 
 
 CINCHONA.— The Cinchona, or Jesuit's Bark-tree (Cin- 
 chona officinalis), is a native of Peru. The famous bark was intro- 
 duced into Europe through the medium of Ana de Osorio, Countess 
 Cinchon, and Vice-Queen of Peru, after whom the powdered bark 
 was called " Countess's Powder." The use of the bark was first 
 learned from the following circumstances : — Some Cinchona-trees 
 being thrown by the winds into a pool, lay there until the water 
 became so bitter that everyone refused to drink it, till one of the 
 
^fant Isore, Isegef^/, ani. Isiji'io/'. 283 
 
 inhabitants of the distridl being seized with violent fever, and 
 finding no water wherewith to quench his thirst, was forced to 
 drink of this, hy which means he became perfecTtly cured ; and 
 afterwards, relatmg his cure to others, they made use of the same 
 remedy. 
 
 CINNAMON. — Bacon, in his 'Natural History,' speaks thus 
 of the Cinnamon (Laurus Cinnamomum) : — "The ancient Cinnamon 
 was of all other plants, while it grew, the dryest ; and those things 
 which are knowne to comfort other plants did make that more 
 sterill: for, in showers, it prospered worst: it grew also amongst 
 bushes of other kindes, where commonly plants doe not thrive; 
 neither did it love the Sunne." Solomon, in his Canticles, mentions 
 Cinnamon among the precious spices ; and Moses was commanded 
 to use "sweet Cinnamon" in the preparation of the holy oil used 
 to anoint the Tabernacle and the sacred vessels, and to consecrate 
 Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. The Emperor Vespasian 
 was the first to take chaplets of Cinnamon to Rome, wherewith to 
 decorate the temples of the Capitol and of Peace. It is related, 
 that Alexander the Great, whilst at sea, perceived he was near the 
 coast of Arabia, from the scent of Cinnamon wafted from the still 
 
 distant shore. The Mahometans of India used to have a curious 
 
 belief that the Cinnamon-tree is the bark, the Clove the flower, and 
 the Nutmeg the fruit, of one and the same tree; and most of the 
 writers of the Middle Ages thought that Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves, 
 
 and Nutmegs were the produce of one tree. Gerarde tells 
 
 us, that there was formerly much controversy concerning the true 
 Cinnamon and Cassia of the ancients, but he considered the tree 
 whose bark is Cassia to be a bastard kind of Cinnamon. The 
 Cinnamon, he says, has pleasant leaves and fair white flowers, 
 which turn into round black berries, the size of an Olive, "out of 
 which is pressed an oile that hath no smell at all untill it be 
 rubbed and chafed between the hands: the trunk or body, with 
 the greater arms or boughs of the tree, are covered with a double 
 or twofold barke, like that of the Corke-tree, the innermost whereof 
 is the true and pleasant Cinnamon, which is taken from this tree and 
 cast upon the ground in the heate of the sun, through whose heate 
 it turneth and foldeth itselfe round together." The tree thus 
 peeled, recovered itself in three years, and was then ready to be 
 
 disbarked again. Tradition states that the ancient Arabian priests 
 
 alone possessed the right of colle<5ling the Cinnamon. The most 
 patriarchal of them would then divide the precious bark, reservmg 
 the first bundle for the Sun. After the division had taken place, 
 the priests left to the Sun itself the task of lighting the sacred 
 
 fire on the altar where the high priest was to offer a sacrifice. 
 
 Theophrastus narrates that the Cinnamon flourished in the valleys 
 frequented by venomous serpents; and that those who repaired 
 thither to coUedt it were compelled to wear bandages on their 
 hands and feet. After the Cinnamon was colleded, it was divided 
 
284 pfant Tsore, hegzf^f, an3. bijri(y, 
 
 into three portions, of which one was reserved for the Sun, which, 
 
 with glowing rays, quickly came and carried it off. Herodotus 
 
 says, that Cinnamon was gathered from the nest of the Phoenix. 
 
 An old writer affirms that the distilled water of the flowers of 
 the Cinnamon-tree excelled far in sweetness all the waters what- 
 soever. The leaves yield oil of Cloves ; the fruit also yields an oil, 
 which was formerly, in Ceylon, made into candles, for the sole use 
 of the king ; the root exudes an abundance of Camphor ; and the 
 bark of the root affords oil of Camphor, as well as a particularly 
 pure species of Camphor. 
 
 CINQUEFOIL. — In former days, Cinquefoil {PoUntilla) 
 much prevailed as an heraldic device ; the number of the' leaves 
 answering to the five senses of man. The right to bear Cinquefoil 
 was considered an honourable distin<5lion to him who had worthily 
 conquered his aiFe(5tions and mastered his senses. In wet weather 
 the leaves of the Cinquefoil contradl and bend over the flower, 
 forming, as it were, a little tent to cover it — an apt emblem of an 
 affecftionate mother protedting her child. Cinquefoil was formerly 
 believed to be a cure for agues ; four branches being prescribed for 
 a quartan, three for a tertian, and one for a quotidian. Cinque- 
 foil is deemed a herb of Jupiter. 
 
 CISTUS. — The Cistus, according to Cassianus Bassus, derives 
 its name from a Grecian youth named Kistos. Under this title is 
 embraced a most extensive genus of plants celebrated all over the 
 world for their beauty and fragility. Gerarde and Parkinson call 
 them Holly Roses, a name which has become changed into Rock 
 
 Roses. From the Cistus Creticus (frequently called the Ladaniferous 
 
 Cistus) is obtained the balsam called Ladanum, a kind of resin, prized 
 for its tonic and stomachic properties, but more highly valued as a 
 perfume, and extensively used in oriental countries in fumigations. 
 This resin, which is secreted from the leaves and other parts of the 
 shrub, is coUecfted by means of a kind of rake, to which numerous 
 leather thongs are appended instead of teeth. In olden times this 
 resin was believed to have been gathered from the shrubs by goats 
 who rubbed their beards against the leaves, and so colledled the liquid 
 gum ; but Gerarde affirms this to have been a monkish tradition — 
 a fable of the " Calohieros, that is to say, Greekish monkes, who, 
 of very mockery, have foisted that fable among others extant in their 
 workes." Be this as it may. Bacon records the fact in his ' Natural 
 History,' remarking: "There are some teares of trees, which are 
 kembed from the beards of goats ; for when the goats bite and crop 
 them, especially in the morning, the dew being on, the teare cometh 
 forth, and hangeth upon their beards : of this sort is some kinde of 
 Ladanum." 
 
 CITRON. — A native of all the warm regions of Asia, the 
 Citron was introduced into Europe from Media, and hence obtained 
 the name of Malus Medica. During the feast of the Tabernacles, 
 
pfant Tsore, begel^/, cmi. Tai^t'iof. 285 
 
 the Jews in their synagogues carry a Citron in their left hand ; and 
 a conserve made of a particular variety of the fruit is in great 
 demand by the Jews, who use it during the same feast. According 
 to Athenaeus, certain notorious criminals, who had been condemned 
 to be destroyed by serpents, were miraculously preserved, and kept 
 in health and safety by eating Citrons. Theophrastus says that 
 Citrons were considered an antidote to poisons, for which purpose 
 Virgil recommended them in his Georgics. Gerarde thus translates 
 the passage: — 
 
 "The countrey Media beareth juices sad, 
 And dulling tastes of happy Citron fruit, 
 Than which no helpe more present can be had. 
 If any time stepmothers, worse than brute. 
 Have poyson'd pots, and mingled herbs of sute 
 With hurtful charraes : this Citron fruit doth chase 
 Black venome from the body in every place. 
 The tree itselfe in growth is large and big, 
 And very like in show to th' Laurell-tree ; 
 And would be thought a Laurell leafe and twig, 
 But that the smell it casts doth disagree : 
 The floure it holds as fast as floure may be : 
 Therewith the Medes a remedie do finde 
 For stinking breaths and mouthes, a cure most kinde. 
 And helpe old men which hardly fetch their winde. " 
 
 Delia Valle, an Italian traveller of the seventeenth century, relates 
 how, at Ikkeri, he saw an Indian widow, on her way to the funeral 
 pyre, riding on horseback through the town, holding in one hand a 
 mirror, in the other a Citron, and whilst gazing into the mirror 
 she uttered loud lamentations. De Gubernatis thinks that perhaps 
 the Citron was the symbol of the life become bitter since the death 
 of her husband. Rapin recommends the Citron for heart affec- 
 tions : — 
 
 " Into an oval form the Citrons rolled 
 Beneath thick coats their juicy pulp unfold : 
 From some the palate feels a poignant smart, 
 Which though they wound the tongue, yet heal the heart." 
 
 CLAPPEDEPOUCH. — The Capsella Bursa pastoris, or Shep- 
 herd's Purse, was so called from the resemblance of its numerous 
 flat seed-pouches to a common leather purse. Dr. Prior says that 
 the Irish name of Clappedepouch was applied to the plant in 
 allusion to the hcensed begging of lepers, who stood at the cross- 
 ways with a bell and a clapper. Hoffmann von Fallersleben, in his 
 Niederldndische Volkslieder, says of them: "Separated from all the 
 world without house or home, the lepers were obliged to dwell in 
 a solitary, wretched hut by the roadside ; their clothing so scanty 
 that they often had nothing to wear but a hat and a cloak, and a 
 beffffing wallet. They would call the attention of the passers-by 
 with a bell or a clapper, and received their alms in a cup or a bason 
 at the end of a long pole. The bell was usually of brass. The 
 clapper is described as an instrument made of two or three boards, 
 by rattling which they excited people to relieve them. Ihe 
 
286 pfant Isote, begef^ti/, cmel Tsiji-iq/", 
 
 lepers, Dr. Prior thinks, would get the name of Rattle-pouches, 
 and this be extended to the plant, in allusion to the little purses 
 which it hangs out by the wayside. The plant was also known by 
 the names of Poor Man's Parmacetie, and St. James's Weed — 
 the former in allusion to its medicinal virtues. (See Shepherd's 
 Purse). It is considered a herb of Saturn. 
 
 CLEMATIS. — The Clematis vitalba, Gerarde informs us, was 
 called Travellers' Joy, " as decking and adorning waies and hedges 
 when people travell." It was also termed " Old Man's Beard," 
 from the hoary appearance of its seeds ; and Virgin's Bower, out 
 of compliment to Queen Elizabeth, and in allusion to its climbing 
 habits. It became the emblem of Artifice because beggars, in order 
 to excite compassion, were in the habit of making false ulcers in 
 
 their flesh by means of its twigs, the result often being a real sore. 
 
 The Clematis flammula, or upright Virgin's Bower, is an acrid plant, 
 that inflames the skin. Miller says of it that if one leaf be cropped in 
 a hot day in the summer season, and bruised, and presently put to 
 
 the nostrils, it will cause a smell and paiti like a flame. Clematis 
 
 integrifolia, or Hungarian Climber, is known in Little Russia as 
 Tziganka (the Gipsy Plant). Prof. De Gubernatis has given in 
 his Mythologie des Plantes the following legend connedled with this 
 plant : — The Cossacks were once at war with the Tartars. The 
 latter having obtained the advantage, the Cossacks commenced to 
 retreat. The Cossack hetman, indignant at the sight, struck his 
 forehead with the handle of his lance. Instantly there arose a tem- 
 pest, which whirled away the Cossack traitors and fugitives into 
 the air, pounded them into a thousand fragments, and mingled 
 their dust with the earth of the Tartars. From that earth 
 springs the plant Tziganka. But the souls of the Cossacks, tor- 
 mented by the thought of their bones being mixed with the 
 the accursed earth of the stranger, prayed to God that he would 
 vouchsafe to disseminate it in the Ukraine, where the maidens 
 were wont to pluck Clematis integrifolia to weave into garlands. 
 God hearkened to their Christian prayers, and granted their pat- 
 riotic desires. It is an old belief in Little Russia that if every- 
 body would suspend Briony from his waistbelt behind, these unfor- 
 tunate Cossacks would come to life again. 
 
 CLOVE, — The aromatic Clove-tree {Caryophyllatus awmaticus) 
 is a native of the Moluccas, where its cultivation is carefully 
 guarded by the Dutch. The islanders wear its white flowers as a 
 mark of distindlion. These flowers grow in bunches at the end of 
 the branches, and are succeeded by oval berries, which are crowned 
 with the calyx. It is these berries, beaten from the trees before 
 they are half grown, and allowed to dry in the suri, which are 
 the Cloves of commerce. The Clove is considered to be one of 
 the hottest and most acrid of aromatics ; its pungent oil (which is 
 specifically heavier than water) has been administered in paralytic 
 
pfant Isore, Isizger^j; oriel Isiji*!©/-, 287 
 
 cases. Gerarde says, that the Portuguese women, resident in the 
 East Indies, distilled from the Cloves, when still green, a certain 
 liquor " of a most fragrant smell, which comforteth the heart, and 
 is of all cordials the most effecStual." There is an old supersti- 
 tion, still extant, that children can be preserved from evil influences 
 and infantile disorders, by having a necklace of Cloves suspended 
 as an amulet round the neck. 
 
 CLOVER. — The old English names for Clover were Trefoil 
 and Honey-suckles. The word Clover is derived from the Anglo- 
 Saxon Clmfre, The club of Hercules was called by the Latins 
 clava trinodis ; and the " club " of our playing cards is so named from 
 its resemblance to a Clover-leaf — a leaf with three leaflets {tria folia). 
 
 Hence the herb's generic name of TrifoUum, or Trefoil. Hope was 
 
 depicfted by the ancients as a little child standing on tiptoe, and 
 holding a Clover rflower in his hand. Summer is also represented 
 
 with the Trefoil.-! In the Christian Church, the Trefoil is held to 
 
 be the symbol of the Trinity ; hence Clover is used for decorations on 
 Trinity Sunday. It is often employed as an architetStural emblem : 
 the limbs of crosses are sometimes made to end in Trefoils, and 
 
 church windows are frequently in the same form. Clover possesses 
 
 the power of vegetating after having existed in a dormant state for 
 many years. If lime is powdered and thrown upon the soil, a 
 crop of white Clover will sometimes arise where it had never been 
 known to exist ; this spontaneous coming-up of the flower is 
 
 deemed an infallible indication of good soil. Clover-grass is 
 
 reputed always to feel rough to the touch when stormy weather is 
 at hand ; and its leaves are said to start and rise up, as if it were 
 
 afraid of an assault. The Druids held the Clover, or Trefoil, 
 
 in great repute, and it is believed that they considered it a charm 
 against evil spirits. Formerly the Clover was thought to be not 
 only good for cattle, but noisome to witches, and so " the holy 
 
 Trefoil's charm," was very generally prized as a protective. 
 
 A sprig of Clover with only two leaves on it is employed by the 
 lads and lasses of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, as a 
 charm to enable them to ascertain the names of their future wives 
 and husbands : — 
 
 " A Clover, a Clover of two, 
 Put it on your right shoe ; 
 The first young man [or woman] you meet. 
 In field street, or lane, 
 You'll have him [or her] or one of his [or her] name." 
 
 Gerarde says that the meadow Trefoil (especially that with the 
 black half-moon upon the leaf), pounded with a little honey, " takes 
 away the pin and web in the eies, ceasmg the pam and mflam- 
 mation thereof if it be strained and dropped therem." The finding 
 of a four-leaved Clover is considered especially fortunate, not only 
 in England, but in France, Switzerland, and Italy. It is believed 
 
288 pfant Tsore, ]sag&'r^j; oriS Isiji-icy. 
 
 to almost ensure happiness, and in the case of young girls a hus- 
 band very speedily. There is old couplet which records that — 
 
 " If you find an even Ash-leaf or a four-leaved Clover, 
 You'll be bound to see your true love ere the day be over.'' 
 
 In Scotland, the possessor of a piece of four-bladed Clover is 
 reputed to have a prescience when witchcraft is attempted to be 
 pra(5lised upon him ; and in the North of England this lucky leaf 
 is placed in dairies and stables, to preserve them from the spells of 
 witches. There is a Cornish fairy tale which is intimately asso- 
 ciated with the four-leaved Clover : — One evening a maiden set 
 out to milk the cows later than usual : indeed, the stars had begun 
 to shine before she completed her task. "Daisy" (an enchanted 
 cow), was the last to be milked, and the pail was so full that the 
 milk-maid could hardly lift it to her head. So to relieve herself, 
 she gathered some handfuls of Grass and Clover, and spread it on 
 her head in order to carry the milk-pail more easily. But no 
 sooner had the Clover touched her head, than suddenly hundreds 
 of little people appeared surrounding Daisy, dipping their tiny 
 hands into the milk, and gathering it with Clover-flowers, which 
 they sucked with gusto. Daisy was standing in the long Grass 
 and Clover, so some of these little creatures climbed up the stalks 
 and held out Buttercups, Convolvuluses, and Foxgloves, to catch 
 the milk which dropped from the cow's udder. When the as- 
 tonished milk-maid, upon reaching home, recounted her wonderful 
 experiences to her mistress, the goodwife at once cried out : " Ah ! 
 
 you put a four-leaved Clover on your head." -To dream of seeing 
 
 a field of Clover is of happy augury, indicating health, prosperity, 
 and much happiness. To the lover it foretells success, and that 
 
 his intended wife will have great wealth. Clover is under the 
 
 dominion of Venus. 
 
 CLUB-MOSS.--The Stag's-horn, Fox's-tail, or Club-Moss 
 (Lycopodium clavatum), is used in the North of England, Sweden, 
 and Germany, in wreaths worn on festive occasions. The powder 
 or dust which issues from its spore cases, is highly inflammable, 
 and is collected for fireworks and for producing stage lightning. 
 It is the Blitz-mehl, or lightning-meal of the Germans. The Fir 
 Club- Moss (L. Selago) is made by the Highlanders into an eye 
 ointment. In Cornwall, the Club-Moss is considered good against 
 all diseases of the eyes, provided only it is gathered in the following 
 manner : — On the third day of the moon, when it is seen for the first 
 time, show it the knife with which the Moss is to be cut, repeating 
 the while — 
 
 " As Christ healed the issue of blood. 
 Do thou cut what thou cuttest for good." 
 
 Then, at sundown, the Club-Moss may be cut by the operator 
 kneeling, and with carefully washed hands. The Moss is to be 
 tenderly wrapped in a fair white cloth, and afterwards boiled in 
 
pfant Tsore, Isege^/, anel TaLjrio/. 289 
 
 water procured from the spring nearest the spot, where it grew. 
 The hquor is to be appHed as a fomeutation. The Club-Moss may 
 also be made into an ointment, with butter made from the m.ilk of 
 a new cow. These superstitious customs have probably a Druidic 
 origin, and tend to identify the Selago or Golden Herb of the 
 Druids with the Club-Moss, as the Selago was held sacred by them, 
 
 and gathered with many mystic observances. (See Selago.) 
 
 In many parts of Germany, certain Fairy-folk, called Moss-women, 
 are popularly believed to frequent the forests. In Thuringia, these 
 little women of the wood are called Holzfrala, and in one of the 
 legends of the Fichtelgebirge (a mountain-chain near the jundtion 
 of Saxony, Bavaria, and Bohemia), we find it stated that there was 
 a poor child whose mother lay sick of a fever. Going into the 
 forest to gather Strawberries, the child saw a little woman entirely 
 clothed with golden Moss — presumably Selago. The Moss-woman 
 asked the child for some of the fruit, and her request having been 
 readily acceded to, the Moss-woman ate her Strawberries and 
 tripped away. When the child reached home, she found the fruit 
 which she had carried in a jug was transformed to gold. The 
 Moss dress of the little woman is described as being of a golden 
 colour, which shone, when seen at a distance, like pure gold, but 
 on close inspecftion lost all its lustre. It is thought that many of 
 the stories about hidden treasure which are rife on the Fichtelge- 
 birge are to be attributed to the presence there of this curious 
 species of vegetation. 
 
 COCOA-NUT PALM. — The Cocos Nucif era {Sanscrit Ndri- 
 kera), or Cocoa-Nut Palm is the most extensively-cultivated tree in 
 the world, and its importance to myriads of the human race is 
 almost beyond conception. George Herbert wrote truly of this 
 
 Palm :— 
 
 "The Indian Nut alone 
 Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and can, 
 Boat, cable, sail, mast, needle, all in one." 
 
 A vigorous tree will grow one hundred feet high, and produce 
 
 annually one hundred Nuts. The Chinese call the Cocoa-Nut 
 
 Yue-wang-t'ou (head of Prince of Yue) from a tradition that a certain 
 Prince Lin-yi, who was at enmity with the Prince of Yue, sent an 
 assassin to cut off the head of his enemy. The deed was executed, 
 and the severed head being caught in the branches of a Palm, 
 it remained suspended there, and was transformed into a Cocoa- 
 Nut, with two eyes in its shell. The Portuguese are said to have 
 
 given the name of Coco to the Nut because at one end of the Nut 
 are three holes, resembling the head of a cat when mewing (Coca). 
 
 The Indians, when unable to recover the corpse of one of their 
 
 people who has been slain, but whom they wish to honour, form 
 an effigy of Reeds, and surmount it with a Cocoa-Nut, which is 
 supposed to represent the head of the deceased. This sham corpse 
 they cover with Dhak wood, after which they offer up prayers, and 
 
290 pPant Tsorc, Tsegel^/, ani. biji'le/. 
 
 then burn it. The Cocoa-Nut is regarded by the natives of India 
 as an oracle in cases of sickness. Thus, if an Indian has fallen ill, 
 they spin a Cocoa-Nut on its end ; if the Nut falls towards the 
 west, he will die; if to the east, he will recover. The Deccan 
 Indians never commence any building without first offering Cocoa- 
 
 Nuts to their gods. When a Fijian child is sick, and its friends 
 
 want to know if it will live or die, they shake a bunch of dry Cocoa- 
 Nuts: if all fall off, the little one will recover; if one remains, it 
 will die. The Fijians also spin Cocoa-Nuts, and then prophecy of 
 future events according to the direction in which the eye of the 
 Nut lies when it rests still. 
 
 COCKLE. — The Corn Cockle, or Gith {Agrostemma Githago) is 
 a troublesome weed, of which Gerarde ^ays : " What hurt it doth 
 among Corne, the spoile of bread, as well as in colour, taste, and 
 unwholesomenesse, is better knowne than desired." In the Book 
 of Job, the Cockle coming up instead of the Barley is spoken of as 
 a great misfortune ; but it could not have been the Corn Cockle, 
 
 which is unknown in Palestine and Arabia. The plant is 
 
 alluded to in an old English nursery rhyme, in which a garden 
 allowed to run wild is said to be 
 
 " Full of weeds and Cockle seeds." 
 
 COFFEE. — The Coffee-plant {Coffea Arabica) derives its name 
 from the Kingdom of Caffa, in Africa, where it grows abundantly. 
 The bloom of this tree is similar to the Jasmine in figure and 
 fragrance, while its fruit has the appearance of a Cherry; the 
 liquor prepared from the fruit or berry is said to have been drunk, 
 in Ethiopia, from time immemorial. The Galla, a wandering 
 nation of Africa, in their incursions in Abyssinia, being obliged to 
 traverse immense deserts, and to travel swiftly, were accustomed 
 to carry nothing with them to eat but Coffee roasted till it could 
 be pulverised, and then mixed with butter into balls, and put into 
 a leather bag. One of these, the size of a billiard ball, was said to 
 keep them in strength and spirits during a whole day's fatigue, 
 
 better than bread or meat. To dream of drinking coffee is a 
 
 favourable omen, betokening riches and honour. To the lover it 
 foretells a happy marriage. 
 
 COLCHICUM. — The Meadow Saffron, or Colchicum, derives 
 its name from Colchis, a country on the eastern shore of the 
 Euxine, where it once grew in such abundance as to have led 
 Horace thus to allude to it : — 
 
 " Or tempered every baleful juice 
 Which poisonous Colchian glebes produce." 
 
 Colchicum was one of the herbs highly prized and made use of 
 by the enchantress Medea. It is poisonous, and, according to 
 Dioscorides, kills by choking, as do poisonous Mushrooms. Gerarde 
 recommends anyone who has eaten Colchicum, to "drinke the 
 
pfant bore, TsegeijG/, an3. laijfio/-, 291 
 
 milke of a cow, or else death presently ensueth." Colchicum is 
 
 a herb of the Sun. 
 
 COLTSFOOT.— The shape of its leaves has given the 
 Tussilago Farfara its English name of Colt's-foot, although, as 
 Gerarde points out, it might more appropriately be termed Cough- 
 wort. The plant has its Latin name from tussis, a cough, and for 
 many centuries has been used in pulmonary complaints. It formed 
 the basis of Coltsfoot lozenges, long celebrated as a cure for coughs. 
 
 The Bavarian peasants make garlands of the sweet-scented 
 
 Colt's-foot on Easter Day, and cast them into the fire. Colt's- 
 foot, or Foal's-foot, is a herb of Venus. 
 
 COLUMBINE. — The English name of the AquiUgia is 
 derived from the Latin columha, a pigeon, from the resemblance of 
 its nectaries to the heads of pigeons in a ring round a dish, a 
 favourite device of ancient artists. The generic name comes from 
 aquila, an eagle, from the fancied resemblance of the same parts 
 
 of the flower to the claw of the king of birds. The plant was 
 
 formerly sometimes called Herba leonis, from a belief that it was the 
 
 favourite herb of the lion. The Columbine is held to be under 
 
 the dominion of Venus. 
 
 CONJUGALIS HERBA.— This herb, De Gubernatis con- 
 siders to be, in all probability, the same as is known in Piedmont 
 as Concordia (according to Gerarde, a kind of wild Tansy), concern- 
 ing which M. Bernadotti had sent him the following particulars : — 
 " In the valleys of Lanzo, when two lovers wish to assure them- 
 selves that their marriage will take place, they proceed to search 
 for the plant called Concordia. They say that this plant is exceed- 
 ingly scarce, and hence very difficult to find. Its root is divided 
 into two parts, each representing a hand with five fingers. On 
 finding this plant, it is necessary to uproot it in order to see if the 
 two hands are united — a certain sign that the union will take place. 
 If, on the contrary, the two hands are separated, the marriage will 
 be broken off. (See Concordia.) 
 
 CORIANDER. — From a passage in the Book of Numbers, 
 where Manna is likened to Coriander-seed, it would seem that 
 " Coriander's spicy seed " was commonly used by the Israelites. 
 The bitter Coriander is one of the five plants mentioned by the 
 Mishna as one of the " bitter herbs " ordained by God to be eaten 
 by the Jews at the Feast of the Passover. It was esteemed as a 
 spice by the Arabs, Egyptians, and Hindus. The plant's foliage 
 has a strong and offensive odour, but its httle round fruit is. 
 pleasantly aromatic, and its seeds, when covered with sugar, form 
 the well-known Coriander comfits. Robert Turner, in the ' Bnttish 
 Physician ' says that the powder of the seeds taken in wine, stimu- 
 late the passions; and Gerarde affirms that the juice of the green 
 leaves "taken in t^ quantity of four dragmes, kiUeth and 
 
 ' U — 2 
 
292 Sfant Isore, Tsegel^^/, aneL Isijric/". 
 
 poisoneth the body." Coriander is held to be under the plane- 
 tary influence of Saturn. 
 
 CORN. — The generic name of Com, which is applied to all 
 kinds of grain, is one of several words, which being common to the 
 widely-separated branches of the Indo-European race, prove the 
 pra(£lice of tillage among our ancestors before they left their first 
 
 home in Central Asia. The Greeks worshipped Demeter, and 
 
 the Romans Ceres, as the goddess of Corn, and she is supposed to 
 have been the same deity as Rhea and TeUus, and the Cybele, 
 Bona Dea, Berecynthia of the Phrygians, the Isis of the Egyptians, 
 Atergates of the Syrians, and the Hera of the Arcadians. Ceres 
 was generally represented as a beautiful woman, with a garland of 
 ears of Corn on her head, a wheatsheaf by her side, and the cornu- 
 copia, or horn of plenty, in her hand. To commemorate the abduc- 
 tion of her daughter Proserpine by Pluto, a festival was held 
 about the beginning of harvest, and another festival, lasting six 
 days, was held in remembrance of the goddess's search for her 
 daughter, at the time that Corn is sown in the earth. During the 
 quest for Proserpine, the earth was left untilled and became barren ; 
 but upon the return of Ceres, she instru<5led Triptolemus of Eleusis 
 in all the arts appertaining to agriculture and the cultivation of 
 Corn, and gave him her chariot, drawn by two dragons, wherein 
 he might travel over the whole earth and distribute Corn to all its 
 inhabitants. On his return to Eleusis, Triptolemus restored the 
 chariot to Ceres, and established the famed Eleusinian festivals and 
 mysteries in her honour. This festival, observed every fourth year, 
 and dedicated to Demeter (Ceres) and Proserpine, was the most 
 solemn of all the sacred feasts of Greece, and was so religiously 
 observed, that anyone revealing its secret mysteries, or improperly 
 taking part in the ceremonials, was put to an ignominious death. 
 During the festival, the votaries walked in a solemn procession, in 
 which the holy basket of Ceres was carried about in a consecrated 
 cart, the people on all sides shouting Hail, Demeter ! In their sa- 
 crifices, the ancients usually offered Ceres a pregnant sow, as that 
 animal often destroys the Corn and other crops. While the Corn 
 was yet in grass they offered her a ram, after the victim had been 
 
 thrice led round the fields. Among the Romans, twelve priests 
 
 named Arvales, supposed to have been descended from the nurse of 
 Romulus, celebrated in April and July the festivals called Ambar- 
 valia. These priests, who wore crowns composed of ears of Corn, 
 condudled.processions round the ploughed fields in honour of Ceres, 
 and offered as sacrifices at her shrine a sow, a sheep, and a bull. The 
 rites of the Arvales were founded specially on the worship of Corn. 
 
 It is believed that among the Greeks, the story of Proserpine 
 
 brought back from the infernal regions by her mother Ceres, and 
 finally adjudged to pass six months on earth, and six months in 
 Hades, symbolises Corn as the seed of Wheat, and its condition 
 during Winter and Summer.-- De Gubernatis considers that the 
 
pPant bohe, begeT^y, oriaL Tstji'io/. 29? 
 
 story of Proserpine has its Indian equivalent in the myth of the 
 birth of Stti, daughter of King Janaka, the Fecundator. Sitk 
 was not born of a woman, but issued either from a furrow in the 
 
 earth, or from the middle of an altar. The Vishnupurana mentions 
 
 several species of grain which have been specially created by the 
 gods ; amongst them being Rice, Barley, Millet, and Sesamum, 
 In the sacrifices of the Hindoos, they offer several sorts of Corn 
 to ensure abundant harvests. Indra is the great husbandman of 
 the heavens, which he renders fertile : he is also the divinity of the 
 fields, and, like the Scandinavian god Thor, the presiding deity of 
 Corn. It is he who fertilises the earth in his capacity of god of 
 tempests and rain. The employment of Corn in sacrificial rites, 
 was common in India of the Vedic period, in Greece, and in Rome ; 
 and in the same countries we find Corn used during nuptial cere- 
 monies. Thus in Vedic India, it was customary to scatter two 
 handfuls of Corn over the clasped hands of the bride and bride- 
 groom, and a similar proceeding still takes place amongst the 
 Parsees. An analogous custom existed amongst the Romans, At 
 an Indian wedding, after the first night, the mother of the husband, 
 with all the female relatives, come to the young bride, and place on 
 her head a measure of Corn — emblem of fertility. The husband 
 then comes forward and takes from his bride's head some handfuls 
 of the grain, which he scatters over himself. Similar usages exist 
 at the present day in many parts of Italy, relics of the old Roman 
 custom of oifering Corn to the bride. In Gwalior, at one part of 
 the marriage ceremony, the priests shout vociferously, only stopping 
 now and then to cast over the bride and bridegroom showers of 
 Corn, Millet, and Rice. In some parts of Central India, at the end 
 of the rainy season, the people congregate on the banks of the 
 lakes, and launch on the water, as an offering, pots of earth, con- 
 taining sprouting Wheat. On the banks of the Indus, there is 
 
 believed to grow some miraculous Corn on the spot where formerly 
 were burnt the remains of the Buddhist King 5ivika, who sacrificed 
 his life for a pigeon. The Chinese Buddhists made pilgrimages, 
 during the middle ages, to the place where Sivika had lived and 
 died ; and here it was that the miraculous Wheat grew, which the 
 sun had no power to scorch. A single grain of this Wheat kept 
 its happy possessor from all ills proceeding from cold as well 
 
 as from fever. The Chinese, regarding Corn as a gift from 
 
 heaven, celebrate with sacrifices, prayers, and religious rites, both 
 seedtime and harvest. They also think that in the heavens there' 
 is a special constellation for Corn, composed of eight black stars, 
 each of which has under its special proteeftion one of the eight 
 varieties of Corn, viz., Rice, Millet, Barley, Wheat, Beans, Peas, 
 Maize, and Hemp. When this cereal constellation is clear, it is a 
 sign that the eight kinds of Corn will ripen; but when, on the con- 
 trary, it is dim and obscured, a bad harvest is looked for. The 
 Emperor Ven-ti, who reigned 179 years before Christ, is said to 
 
294 pPant Tsore, Isegc^/, anS. Tsi^ri<y. 
 
 have incited his subjects to the more zealous cultivation of Corn, 
 by ploughing with his own hands the land surrounding his palace. 
 
 -. The Chaldeans recognised a god of grain, called S6rakh ; the 
 
 Assyrians, a god of harvests, named Nirba ; the Romans, a goddess, 
 Segetia or Segesta, who was invoked by husbandmen, that their 
 harvests might be plentiful. Among the Romans, indeed, the 
 growth of Corn was under the special protection of different deities ; 
 hence the worship they paid to Seia, who protedled Corn before it 
 sprang up above the earth; to Occator, the god of harrowing; to 
 Sarritor, the god of weeding; to Nodotus, the god who watched 
 over the blade when it became knotty; and to Robigus, the god 
 
 who protecfled the Corn from blights. In the sepulchres of the 
 
 Egyptian kings, which have of late yeaie been opened, was dis- 
 covered, carefully preserved in closed vessels, Corn, the grains 
 of which retained both their pristine form and colour; when 
 tested, this Corn was found, after several thousand years, still to 
 retain its vitality. The matchless wealth of ancient Egypt was 
 probably in great measure due to its Corn. The Bible history of 
 Joseph, and the narrative of the ten plagues, set forth how famed 
 the land of Egypt was in those days for its Wheat. The mode of 
 culture in that country now is exceedingly simple : when the inun- 
 dations of the Nile have subsided, the grain is thrown upon the 
 mud ; and if by chance it should be considered too hard, the seed 
 is lightly ploughed in. No further care is bestowed until the 
 ripening of the produce in the following April. Corn was un- 
 known among the Mexicans when their country was first visited 
 by Europeans ; the foundation of the vast Wheat harvests of Mexico 
 is said to have been three or four grains, which a slave of Cortez 
 
 discovered in 1530, accidentally mixed with some Rice. Peru 
 
 was indebted for the introdudlion of Corn to a Spanish lady, Maria 
 de Escobar, who conveyed a few grains to Lima, cultivated them, 
 and distributed the seed among the farmers. The first grains of 
 Corn which reached Quito, were conveyed thither by Father Josse 
 Rixi, a Fleming, who sowed them near the Monastery of St. Francis, 
 where the monks still preserve and show, as a precious relic, the 
 
 rude earthen vessel wherein the seeds first reached them. 
 
 Among the Arabs there is a tradition that when Adam was driven 
 out of Paradise he took with him three plants, — an ear of Corn, 
 chief of all kinds of food ; a bunch of Dates, chief of fruits ; and a 
 
 slip of Myrtle, chief of sweet -scented flowers. There is a curious 
 
 custom which still survives in a few districts of Brittany, by which 
 the good faith of lovers is sought to be proved. On St. John's 
 Eve, the men, wearing branches of green Wheat -ears, the women 
 with Flax-blossoms, come to one of the pillar stones, or dolmens, 
 still standing, dance around it, and then place their wreath upon 
 it : if the wreath remain fresh for some time after, the lover is to be 
 trusted ; but should it shrivel up within a day or two, so will the love 
 wither and fade away. In some parts of Italy, there is a belief 
 
pPant Tsore, toege^/, oriel Tsqric/-. 295 
 
 that on the night of the third of May the blessing of Heaven de- 
 scends on the Corn in the form of a minute red insedl, which re- 
 mains on the Wheat only for two or three days. In Piedmont, it 
 
 is a custom in certain districfts, on the last day of February, for the 
 children to roam the meadows, crying, " March, March, arrive ! and 
 
 for every grain of Wheat let us receive a hundred." At Venice, 
 
 on Midsummer Eve, young girls sow some Corn in a pot, which 
 they then place in a position where the sun cannot enter ; after 
 eight days they remove the pot : the Corn has then sprouted ; and 
 if it is green and healthy, it is a token to the girl that she will have 
 a rich and handsome husband ; but if the sprout is yellow or white, 
 
 it is a sign that the husband will be anything but a good one. In 
 
 Corsica, after a wedding, just before the feast, the men and children 
 retire, and the women seat the bride on a measure full of Corn, 
 from which they have each previously taken a handful. The 
 women then commence saying an invocation, and during this each 
 one scatters the handful of Corn over the bride's head. In Eng- 
 lish harvest-fields the prettiest girl present is chosen to cut the last 
 
 handful of Corn. In Sweden, if a grain of Corn be found under the 
 
 table when sweeping on a New Year's morn, it is believed to be a 
 
 portent of an abundant crop that year. A tuft of Corn or Grass 
 
 was given by Eugene and Marlborough as a cockade to the German, 
 Dutch, and English soldiers comprising the army. The fadlion of 
 the Fronde opposed to Cardinal Mazarin wore stalks of Corn to 
 
 distinguish them. Corn and Grapes typify the Blessed Eucharist. 
 
 An ear of Corn is a prominent emblem in Freemasonry, proving 
 that the order did not originally confine their intelle(5ts or their 
 labours to building operations, but also devoted themselves to agri- 
 culture. Astrologers appear to be divided in their opinions as 
 
 to whether Corn is under the dominion of Venus' or the Sun.— — 
 In dreams, to pluck Corn-ears portends secret enemies ; otherwise, 
 dreams of Corn betoken good fortune, prosperity, and happiness. 
 
 Corn-flower. See Centaury. 
 
 Corn-Marigold. See Chrysanthemum. 
 
 CORNEL. — After Romulus had marked out the bounds of 
 his rising city, he threw his javelin on the Mount Palatine. The 
 weapon, made of the wood of the Cornel {Cornus mascula), stuck 
 fast in the ground, took root, grew, threw out leaves and branches, 
 and became a flourishing tree. This prodigy was considered as 
 the happy presage of the power and duration of the infant empire. 
 
 According to some accounts, the Cornel, or Cornelian Cherry, 
 
 is the tree which sprang from the grave of Prince Polydorus, who 
 was assassinated by Polymnestor. The boughs of this tree dropped 
 blood when ^neas, journeying to Italy, attempted to tear them 
 
 from the tree. The Greeks consecrated the Cornel to Apollo; 
 
 and when, in order to construdl the famed wooden horse during 
 the siege of Troy, they felled, on Mount Ida, several CorneHan- 
 
296 pfant Tsoce, TsegetfOf, oriel Tsijriq/'. 
 
 trees in a grove, called Carnea, dedicated to the god, they provoked 
 his anger and indignation : to expiate this sacrilege, the Greeks in- 
 stituted the festival called Carnea. The Cornel is under Venus. 
 
 Coronation-flower. — See Carnation. 
 
 COSTMARY. — This plant, the Balsamita vulgaris, ow6s its 
 name of Costmary to the Greek Kostos, an unknown aromatic plant, 
 and to the fadl of its being dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. A 
 variety of the plant is also called, after her, Maudlein, either in 
 allusion to her box of scented ointment or to its use in the uterine 
 affecftions over which, as the special patroness of unchaste women, 
 she presided. In old times, the plant was known as Herba Sanctis 
 or Divce Marits. The Costmary is held to be under Jupiter. 
 
 COSTUS. — The Costus speciosus, an Indian swamp tree, cele- 
 brated for its sweet fruit, is a sacred tree, and in the Hindu 
 mythology figures as Kushtha, one of the trees of heaven. It is a 
 magical tree, curing fevers, and is looked upon as the first of medi- 
 cinal plants. It is represented as the friend and companion of 
 Soma, the god of Ambrosia. It is called the Revealer of Ambrosia, 
 inasmuch as its fruit grew on the summit of Mount Himavant at 
 the moment when the golden boat of the gods touched its summit, 
 and by its illuminating powers enabled them to find the Ambrosia. 
 
 COTTON-PLANT.— The Cotton-plant (Gossypium) was first 
 cultivated in the East, whence were procured the finest muslins (so 
 named from Mosul, in Mesopotamia, where it was first made), 
 calico (from Calicut, in India), and Nankeen (from Nankin, in 
 China, where the yellow Cotton-plants grow). Now the Cotton- 
 plant gives employment to millions of people, sends thousands of 
 ships across the sea, and binds together the two great Anglo-Saxon 
 nations. Although so useful, the Cotton is not one of the sacred 
 plants of India ; in an Indian poem, however, the plant is noticed 
 favourably : — " We love the fruits of the Cotton because, although 
 tasteless, they have the property of concealing that which ought to 
 be concealed " (in allusion to the use of cotton as clothing). The 
 Khonds, whenever founding a new settlement, always plant first a 
 
 Cotton-plant, which they hold sacred and religiously preserve. 
 
 M. Agassiz, in his work on Brazil, recounts a strange legend re- 
 specfling the Gossypium Brazilianum. Caro Sacaibu, the first of men, 
 was a demi-god. His son, Rairu, an inferior being, obeyed the 
 instructions of his father, who, however, did not love him. To 
 get rid of him, Sacaibu construcfted an armadillo, and buried it in 
 the earth, leaving visible only the tail, rubbed with Mistletoe. 
 Then he ordered his son to bring him the armadillo. Rairu 
 obeyed, but scarcely had he touched the tail, when, aided by Sacaibu, 
 it dragged Rairu to the bottom of the earth. But thanks to his 
 wit, Rairu contrived to make his way to the surface again, and told 
 Sacaibu that in the subterranean regions lived a race of men and 
 women, who, if transported to earth, would cultivate it. Sacaibu 
 
^Pant Tsore, Isege?^/, anR Tsi^rie/, 297 
 
 allowed himself to be convinced of this, and accordingly descended 
 in his turn to the bottom of the earth by the aid of a rope composed 
 of Cotton, which he had sown for the first time on the occasion. 
 The first men brought to earth by means of Sacaibu's rope were 
 small and ugly, but the more rope he pulled up, the handsomer be- 
 came the men, until just as he was about to pull out the hand- 
 somest the Cotton rope broke, and the brightest specimens of 
 humanity were doomed for ever to remain in the bowels of mother 
 earth. That is the reason why, in this earth of ours, beauty is so 
 scarce. 
 
 Coventry Bells. — See Campanula. 
 
 CCWSLIP. — The familiar name. Cowslip, is presumed to be 
 derived from the Anglo-Saxon Cu-slyppe: Skeat thinks because the 
 plant was supposed to spring up where a patch of cow-dung had 
 fallen. The flowers of the common Cowslip, Petty Mullein, or 
 Paigle {Primula veris), are, in some parts of Kent, called Fairy Cups. 
 The odour of Cowslips is said to calm the heart. A pleasant and 
 wholesome wine is made from them, resembling Muscadel. It is 
 said to induce sleep. Says Pope : — 
 
 " For want of rest. 
 Lettuce and Cowslip v/me—^pro6atum est." 
 
 Cowslip-balls are made in the following manner : — The umbels or 
 heads are picked off as close as possible to the top of the main 
 stalks. From fifty to sixty of these are hung across a string 
 stretched between the backs of two chairs. The flowers are then 
 pressed carefully together, and the string tied tightly, so as to 
 colledl them into a ball. Care should be taken to have all the 
 
 flowers open, so as to make the surface of the ball even. 
 
 Culpeper, the astrological herbalist, says that the Greeks gave the 
 name of Paralysis to the Cowslip because the flowers strengthened 
 the brain and nerves, and were a remedy for palsy. He adds, that 
 Venus lays claims to this herb, and it is under the sign Aries. 
 
 COWSLIP OF JERUSALEM.— The Virginian Cowslip 
 or Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis), is called Cowslip of Jerusalem, 
 Sage of Jerusalem, Sage of Bethlehem, Wild Comfrey and Lung- 
 wort, being supposed, from its spotted leaves, to be a remedy for 
 diseased lungs. Linnaeus christened the plant Dodecatheon, or 
 Twelve Divinities, because, in April, it is crowned with twelve pink 
 
 flowers reversed. The Lung-wort is considered to be a herb of 
 
 Jupiter. 
 
 COW-TREE. — The ancient inhabitants of Venezuela re- 
 garded as sacred the ChicUuhalquehuill, Tree of Milk, or Celestial 
 Tree that distilled milk from the extremity of its branches, and 
 around which were seated infants who had expired a few days after 
 their birth. A Mexican drawing of this Celestial Tree is preserved 
 in the Vatican, and is noticed by Humboldt, who first heard of the 
 Palo' de Vaca, or Cow-tree, in the year 1800, and supposed it to be 
 
298 pfant Tsore, Tscgefjtj/, cmel Tsijric/". 
 
 peculiar to the Cordillera of the coast. It was also found by- 
 Mr. Bridemeyer, a botanist, at a distance of three days' journey 
 to the east of Caraccas, in the valley of Caucagua, where it is 
 known by the name of Arbol de Leche, or the Milk-tree ; and where 
 the inhabitants profess to recognise, from the thickness and colour 
 of the foliage, the trunks that yield the most juice, — as the herds- 
 man distinguishes, from external signs, a good milch cow. At 
 Barbula, this vegetable fountain is more aptly termed the Palo de 
 Vaca, or Cow-tree. It rises, as Humboldt informs us, like the 
 broad-leaved Star-apple {Chrysophyllum Cainito), to a height of from 
 thirty to forty feet, and is furnished with round branches, which, 
 while young, are angular, and clothed with a fine heavy down. 
 The trunk, on being wounded, yields its agreeable and nutritious 
 fluid in the greatest profusion. Humboldt remarks that " a few 
 drops of vegetable juice recall to our minds all the powerfulness 
 and the fecundity of nature. On the barren flank of a rock grows 
 a tree with coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large woody roots can 
 scarcely penetrate into the stone. For several months of the year, 
 not a single shower moistens its foliage. Its branches appear 
 dead and dried; but when the trunk is pierced, there flows from 
 it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at the rising of the sun that 
 this vegetable fountain is most abundant. The blacks and natives 
 are then seen hastening from all quarters, furnished with large 
 bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow, and thickens at its 
 surface. Some empty their bowls under the tree itself, others carry 
 the juice home to their children. We seem to see the family of a 
 shepherd who distributes the milk of his flock." 
 
 CRANE'S BILL.— The Crane's Bill, or English Geranium, 
 derived its name from a fancied resemblance of the fruit to the 
 
 beak of that bird. Another name for the plant is Dove's Foot. 
 
 Astrologers say that it is under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 CRANBERRY. — The Cranberry [Vaccinium Oxycoccus) was 
 formerly known as the Marsh-wort or Fen-berry. The Druids 
 called the plant Samolus, and used great ceremonies in gathering it ; 
 these consisted in a previous fast, in not looking back during the 
 time of their plucking it, and lastly in using their left hand only. 
 This plant was considered to be particularly efficacious in curing 
 the diseases incident to swine and cattle. 
 
 CRESS. — Chaucer calls the Cress by its old Saxon name of 
 Keys, which may possibly have been the origin of the vulgar saying 
 of not caring a " curse" for anything — meaning a Cress. Gerarde 
 tells us that the Spartans were in the habit of eating Cresses with 
 their bread ; this they did no doubt on account of an opinion held 
 very generally among the ancients that those who ate Cress became 
 firm and decided, for which reason the plant was in great request. 
 Water-Cresses, according to astrologers, are herbs of the Moon. 
 
 Cross-Flower. — See Milkwort. 
 
pfant Isore, TsegeTJb/, anel Tstjricy. 299 
 
 CROCUS. — Legendary lore derives the name of this flower 
 from a beautiful youth named Crocus, who was consumed by the 
 ardency of his love for the shepherdess Smilax, and was afterwards 
 metamorphosed into the flower which still preserves his name; 
 Smilax being also transformed, some accounts say into a flower, 
 others into a Yew. 
 
 " Crocus and Smilax may be turned to flowers, 
 And the Curetes spring from bounteous showers." — Ovid. 
 
 Rapin says : — 
 
 " Crocus and Smilax, once a loving pair. 
 But now transformed, delightful blossoms bear." 
 
 According to a Grecian legend, the Crocus sprang from the blood 
 of the infant Crocus, who was accidentally struck by a metal disc 
 
 thrown by Mercury whilst playing a game. One of the Sanscrit 
 
 names of the Crocus, or Saffron, is asrig, which signifies " blood." 
 The dawn is sometimes called by the classic poets, on account of 
 
 its colour, crocea. The ancients often used to adorn the nuptial 
 
 couch with Crocus-flowers, perhaps because it is one of the flowers 
 of which, according to Homer, the couch ,of Jove and Juno was 
 composed. 
 
 "And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrow. 
 And flowery Crocus made the mountains glow." 
 
 The Egyptians, at their banquets, encircled their wine cups with 
 garlands of Crocus and Saffron, and in, their religious processions 
 
 these flowers were carried with other blooms and aromatics. 
 
 The Jews made use of the Saffron Crocus {Crocus sativus) as an 
 aromatic, and in the Song of Solomon it is referred to as highly 
 appreciated : — " Thy plants are an orchard of Pomegranates, with 
 pleasant fruits ; Camphire, with Spikenard; Spikenard and Saffron," 
 
 &c. The Greeks employed the Crocus in the composition of 
 
 their perfumes. Thus Hipponax says : — 
 
 " I then my nose with baccaris anointed 
 Redolent of Crocus." 
 
 The Romans were so fond of the Crocus, that they not only had 
 their apartments and banqueting halls strewed with this plant, but 
 they also composed with it unguents and essences which were 
 highly prized. Some of the latter were often made to flow in 
 small streams at their entertainments, or to descend in dewy 
 showers over the audience. Lucan, in his ' Pharsalia,' describing 
 how the blood runs out of the veins of a person bitten by a serpent, 
 says that it spouts out in the same manner as the sweet-smelling 
 essence of Saffron issues from the limbs of a statue. In both 
 Greece and Rome, as in later years in this land, Crocus was a 
 favourite addition to dishes of luxury, and Shakspeare speaks of 
 
 Saffron to colour the warden pies. In olden times, Crocus was 
 
 held to be a great cordial and strengthener of the heart and lungs ; 
 it was also considered useful in the plague and similar pestilences ; 
 
300 pfant TiSore, TsegeTjb/, dn3. Tsijrrcy. 
 
 and was said to excite amatory passions. Robert Turner states 
 
 that the plant was sometimes called Filias ante Patrem, because it 
 puts forth flowers before the leaves. This old herbalist, who lived 
 in the reign of Charles II., would seem to have been a thorough 
 Royalist, for after remarking that large crops of Saffron-flowers 
 were grown at Saffron-Walden, he adds that the crop " must be 
 gathered as soon as it is blown, or else it is lost; so that Jack 
 Presbyter for covetousness of the profit can reach his Sabbatarian 
 conscience to gather it on Sunday ; and so he can do anything else 
 
 that redounds to his profit, tho' it destroy his brother." The 
 
 Crocus or Saffron is a herb of the Sun, and under the Lion. 
 
 CUCKOO FLOWERS.— Various flowers are called after 
 the " harbinger of Spring." In old works, the name " Cuckoo 
 Flower " was given to the Lychnis flos cuculi, but is now generally 
 applied to the Lady's Smock {Cardamine pratensis). Cuckoo Gilli- 
 flower was a name also given to the Lychnis flos cuculi, on account 
 of its blooming at the time the Cuckoo's song was heard. 
 " Cuckoo's Bread," or " Cuckoo's Meat " is the Wood Sorrel, 
 Oxalis Acetosella. Shakspeare's " Cuckoo Buds of yellow hue " are 
 probably the buds of the Crowfoot. " Cuckoo Grass " is the 
 Luzula Campestris, a grass-like Rush, flowering at the time of the 
 Cuckoo. " Cuckoo Pint," or " Pintle " is the Arum maculatum. 
 
 CUCUMBER. — In the East, the Cucumber {Cucumis sativa) 
 has been cultivated from the earliest periods. When the Israelites 
 complained to Moses in the wilderness, comparing their old Egyp- 
 tian luxuries with the Manna of the wilderness, they exclaimed: 
 "We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the 
 Cucumbers, and the Melons." Isaiah, depidting the desolation of 
 Judah, said : " The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vine- 
 yard — as a lodge in a garden of Cucumbers " — in allusion to the 
 
 practise of cultivating Cucumbers in open fields. Although, 
 
 says De Gubernatis, the Buddhists derive the name of Ikshvdku 
 from Ikshi (Sugar-cane), we must not forget that the wife of Sagara, 
 to whom was promised sixty thousand children, first gave birth to 
 an Ikshviku, that is to say, to a Cucumber. Just as the Cucumber 
 and the Pumpkin or Gourd are gifted with fecundity and the desire 
 to climb, so Trisanku, one of the descendants of Ikshviku, had the 
 ambition to ascend to heaven, and he obtained that favour by the 
 assistance of the sage Visvamitra. There was formerly a super- 
 stitious belief in England that Cucumbers had the power of killing 
 by their natural coldness. Gerarde says " they yield to the body a 
 cold and moist nourishment, and that very little, and the same not 
 
 good." To dream of Cucumbers denotes recovery to the sick, 
 
 and that you will speedily fall in love ; or if you are in love, that 
 you will marry the objea of your affeaion. It also denotes mode- 
 rate success in trade ; to a sailor a pleasant voyage. Cucumbers 
 
 are under the influence of the Moon. 
 
pfant Tsore, teege^/, an3. Isiji'ici/'. 30 1 
 
 CUMIN. — According to Theophrastus, the ancients were ac- 
 customed to sow the seed of Cumin (Cuminum Cyminum), with an ac- 
 companiment of oaths and maledicftions, just as they were wont to 
 do in the case of Basil : this singular custom was probably some 
 form of incantation, to preserve this highly-reverenced plant from 
 the dreaded effects of the Evil Eye, and to cause it to flourish well. 
 Among the Greeks, Cumin symbolised meanness and cupidity : the 
 people nicknamed Marcus Antoninus, Cumin, on account of his 
 avarice ; and misers were jokingly spoken of as persons who had 
 
 eaten Cumin. The plant appears to have been regarded as 
 
 specially possessing the power of retention. Thus in Germany, 
 in order to prevent newly-made bread from being stolen by Wood- 
 demons, the loaves had Cumin put in them. In Italy, a similar 
 custom prevails ; and in some places it is supposed that the Cumin 
 possesses the power of keeping the thief in the house along with the 
 bread which he wished to steal. In some parts of Italy they give 
 Cumin to pigeons in order to make them tame and fond of their 
 home ; and Cumin mixed with flour and water is given to fowls 
 with the same objedt. Country lasses also endeavour to make their 
 lovers swallow it, in order to ensure their continued attachment and 
 fidelity. Or, if the lover is going to serve as a soldier, or has ob- 
 tained work in a distant part of the country, his sweetheart gives 
 him a newly-made loaf seasoned with Cumin, or, perhaps, a cup 
 of wine in which Cumin has been previously powdered and mixed. 
 
 The ancients were acquainted with the power of Cumin to 
 
 cause the human countenance to become pallid, and Pliny mentions 
 two cases in which the herb was so employed. 
 
 CURRANT. — According to the Iranian legend of the Crea- 
 tion, the first human couple, Maschia and Maschiana, issued from 
 a Currant-bush. At first there was only one Currant-bush, but 
 in process of time the one bush became separated into two. To 
 these two plants Ormuzd, the Iranian supreme deity, imparted 
 a soul, and thus from the Currant-bushes issued the first two 
 
 human beings. To dream of Currants denotes happiness in life, 
 
 success in your undertakings, constancy in your sweetheart, and 
 
 to the farmer and tradesman riches. The Currant-tree is under 
 
 the influence of Venus. 
 
 CYCLAMEN. — The Greeks had several names for the 
 Cvclamen, and the Romans also distinguished it by a variety of 
 titles as Tuber term and Terns rapum, from its Turmp-like root, 
 PamsPorcinus, Orbicularis, Arthanita, and Cyclamen, on account of the 
 roundness of its root. It was called Sow-bread and Swine-bread 
 because, in countries where it is abundant, it forms the chief food 
 
 of herds of swine. This plant was formerly regarded as a most 
 
 potent assistant by midwives, and it was recommended to them 
 by the surgeons of the day. The peculiar shape of its root was in 
 itself suggestive of its employment by these good women, and the 
 
pfant Tsore, Iseget^ti/, anS Isijrio/'. 
 
 virtues of the plant were regarded with superstitious reverence. 
 Thus we find Gerarde stating, that the mere wearing of the root, 
 "hanged about women," had a salutary effect; and that he himself 
 had instru(5led his wife to employ its leaves when tending divers 
 women in their confinement. The old herbalist also tells us that 
 he had Cyclamens growing in his garden, but that for fear any 
 matrons should, accidentally, step over them, and by this means 
 bring on miscarriage, he fenced them in with sticks, and laid others 
 crossways over them, " lest any woman should, by lamentable 
 experiment, find my words to be true, by their stepping over the 
 same." He further warns those who are about to become mothers 
 not to touch or take this herb, or to come near unto it, on account 
 of " the naturale attractive vertue therein contained." According 
 to Theophrastus, Cyclamen was employed by the ancients to excite 
 
 love and voluptuous desires. Placed in a dormitory, this plant 
 
 was supposed to protecft the inmate : — 
 
 " St. John's Wort and fresh Cyclamen she in his chamber kept, 
 From the power of evil angels to guard him while he slept. 
 
 The old English names of Cyclamen were Sow-bread and Swine- 
 bread. It was considered under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 CYPRESS.— Ovid tells us of the " taper Cypress," that it is 
 sacred to Apollo, and was once a fair youth, Cyparissus by name, 
 who was a great favourite of the god. Cyparissus became much 
 attached to a " mighty stag," which grazed on the fertile fields of 
 Ceos and was held sacred to Carthaean nymphs. His constant 
 companion, this gentle stag was one day unwittingly pierced to the 
 heart by a dart thrown by the luckless youth. Overcome with 
 remorse, Cyparissus would fain have killed himself, but for the 
 intervention of Apollo, who bade him not mourn more than the 
 loss of the animal required. Unable, however, to conquer his grief, 
 Cyparissus at length prayed the superior powers, that as an expia- 
 tion, he should be doomed to mourn to all succeeding time : the 
 gods therefore turned him into a Cypress-tree. Ovid thus relates 
 the tale : — 
 
 "And now of blood exhausted he appears, 
 
 Drained by a torrent of continual tears ; 
 The fleshy colour in his body fades. 
 
 And a green tincture all his limbs invades ; 
 
 From his fair head, where curling locks late hung, 
 
 A horrid bush with bristled branches sprung. 
 
 Which, stiff 'ning by degrees, its stem extends. 
 
 Till to the starry skies the spire ascends. 
 
 Apollo sad looked on, and sighing cried. 
 
 Then be for ever what thy prayer implied ; 
 
 Bemoaned by me, in others grief excite, 
 
 And still preside at every funeral rite." — Congreve. 
 
 According to another account, Silvanus, god of the woods (who 
 is sometimes represented holding a branch of Cypress in his hand), 
 became enamoured of a handsome youth named Cyparissus, who 
 
pfant Taore, Tsege^/, anil Taqfio/. 303 
 
 was changed into the tree bearing his name. Rapin gives the 
 following version of the story: — 
 
 "A lovely fawn there was— Sylvanus' joy, 
 Nor less the fav'rite of the sportive boy, 
 Which on soft grass was in a secret shade, 
 Beneath a tree's thick branches coolly laid j 
 A luckless dart rash Cyparissus threw, 
 And undesignedly the darling slew. 
 But soon he to his grief the error found. 
 Lamenting, when too late, the fatal wound : 
 Nor yet Sylvanus spared the guiltless child. 
 But the mischance with bitter words reviled, 
 This struck so deep in his relenting breast. 
 With grief and shame, and indignation prest, 
 That tired of life he melted down in tears. 
 From whence th' impregnate earth a Cypress rears ; 
 Ensigns of sorrow these at first were born, 
 Now their fair race the rural scenes adorn." 
 
 In a legend current among the Greeks, the Cypress owes its 
 origin to the daughters of Eteocles, King of Thebes. Carried 
 away by the goddesses in a whirlwind, which kept revolving them in 
 endless circles, they were at length precipitated into a pond, upon 
 which Gaea took compassion on the young girls, and changed them 
 
 into Cypress-trees. Per haps -owing, tojtg, funereal and sorrowful 
 
 jcjiif acSer, the Cypress naFBeen named"aTThe"tree which furnished 
 tHe! wood of the Saviour's Cross. An ancient legend referred to 
 in the ' Gospel of Nicodemus,' Curzon's ' Monasteries of the Levant,' 
 and other works, carries the history of the Cross back as far as 
 the time of Adam. In substance it is as follows : — Adam, one 
 day, fell sick, and sent his son Seth to the Garden of Eden to ask 
 the guardian angel for some drops of the oil of mercy, distilled from 
 the Tree of Life. The angel replied that none could have that till 
 five thousand years had passed, but gave him a slip of the tree, 
 which was, afterwards planted on Adam's grave, and grew into a 
 goodly tree with three branches. Another version states that the 
 Angel in Paradise gave Seth three seeds, which he placed under 
 Adam's tongue before burial, from which they grew into the 
 Cypress, the Cedar, and the Pine. These were subsequently car- 
 ried away by Moses, who cut his rod from them, and King David 
 transplanted them near a fountain at Jerusalem, where the three 
 saplings combined and grew into one grand tree. Beneath its 
 grateful shade he composed his Psalms and lamented his sins. 
 His son Solomon afterwards cut it down for a pillar in his Temple, 
 but no one was able to fix it there. Some say it was preserved in 
 the Temple, while others aver that it formed a bridge across a 
 marsh, which the Queen of Sheba refused to pass, being deterred 
 by a vision of its future burden. It was afterwards buried in the 
 Pool of Bethesda, thereby accounting for the heahng properties 
 possessed by its waters. At the Passion, it floated and was taken 
 for the Cross, or, as some say, for the upright beam. Henry 
 
304 pfant bore, begeT^b/, ani. Tsijric/. 
 
 Maundrell speaks of a Greek convent, about half an hour's distance 
 from Jerusalem, where they showed him a hole in the ground under 
 the high altar, where the stump of the tree stood. Sir John Maun- 
 devile also says that the spot where the tree grew at Jerusalem was 
 pointed out to him ; the wood, he states, formed a bridge over the 
 
 brook Cedron. Some versions of the legend of the wood of the 
 
 Cross state it was made of Cypress, Cedar, Pine, and Box : one 
 names Cypress for the body. Palm for the hands, Cedar 'for the 
 
 support of the feet, and Olive for the superscription. Another 
 
 version states that the cross beam was of Cypress ; the upright 
 beam of " immortal Cedar ;" the title of Olive ; and the foot-rest of 
 Palm : hence the line — 
 
 " Ligna cruets Palma, Cedrus, Cupressus, Oliva." 
 
 In all countries, and from the earliest times, the Cypress has been 
 deemed the emblem of woe. Gerarde tells us, that it had the 
 reputation of being deadly, and that its shadow was unfortunate. 
 Horace, Virgil, and Ovid all refer to it as a tree both gloomy'and 
 funereal. By the Greeks and Romans alike, the "sad" tree was 
 consecrated to Pluto and Proserpine, as well as to the Fates and 
 the Furies. The Greeks crowned with Cypress their tragic Muse 
 Melpomene, and it became an accompaniment of Venus in the 
 annual processions in which she was supposed to lament over 
 
 Adonis. —The ancients planted the Cypress around graves, and 
 
 in the event of a death, placed it either before the house or in the 
 vestibule, so that no one about to perform a sacred rite might enter 
 a place polluted with a dead body. The Cypress was probably 
 selected for this purpose because of the belief that, when once cut 
 
 down, it never springs up again. But, in connec5lion with its 
 
 funereal associations, the Cypress has always been highly esteemed 
 as an undying tree, ever verdant, flourishing {Cupressus sempervirens) 
 and odorous, and a tree of which the wood, like the Cedar, is 
 incorruptible. Jiieophrastus attributes great honour to the tree, 
 and points out how the roofs of old temples became famous by 
 reason of its wood, and that the timber of which the rafters were 
 made was deemed everlasting, because it was unhurt by rotting, 
 moth, worm, or corruption. Martial describes the_Cypress as 
 deathless^ Gerarde identifies it with the Thy a of Pliny "and Homer: 
 "He showeth that this is burned among the sweet smells which 
 
 Circe was much delighted withall The verse is extant 
 
 in the fifth booke of Odysses, where he mentioneth that Mercurie, 
 by Jupiter's commandment, went to Calypsus' den, and that he 
 did smell the burnt trees, Thya and Cedrus, a great way off." 
 Theocritus and Virgil both allude to the fragrance of the Cypress, 
 and on account of the balsamic scent of its timber, chips of it 
 were sometimes employed to flavour wine with. The Athenians 
 buried their heroes in coffins of this wood, and the Egyptians made of 
 it those apparently indestructible chests that contain the mummies 
 
pPanC Isotz, TsegelJ^/, oriet Isiji'iof. 305 
 
 of a bygone age. Pausanias tells us, that the Greeks guarded 
 
 scrupulously the Cypresses which grew over the Tomb of Alcmaeon, 
 and that these trees attained such a height, that they cast their 
 shadows on the neighbouring mountain. The same writer mentions 
 several groves of Cypress which were looked upon as sacred by 
 the Greeks ; for instance, those which surrounded the Temples of 
 Bellerophon and ^sculapius, one of the shrines of Venus, the 
 Tomb of Lais, near Corinth, and a dense wood of Cypress, where 
 were to be seen statues of Apollo, Mercury, and Rhea. Diodorus 
 Siculus, Plato, and Solinus speak of groves of Cypress which 
 were held sacred in Crete, near the ruins of the reputed dwelling 
 of Rhea, and in the vicinity of the Cavern of Zeus. Solinus also 
 remarks on the peculiarity of the Cretan Cypresses in sprouting 
 
 afresh after being cut down. P. della Valla, a great traveller 
 
 of Evelyn's time, tells of a wonderful Cypress, then extant, near 
 the tomb of Cyrus, to which pilgrimages were made. This 
 tree was hollowed within, and fitted for an oratory, and was 
 noted for a gummy transudation which it yielded, reputed by 
 
 the Turks to turn, every Friday, into drops of blood. Plato 
 
 desired to have the laws engraved on tablets of Cypress, because 
 he thought the wood more durable even than brass : the antique 
 idol of Vejovis (or Vedius), in Cypress-wood, at the Capitol, 
 corroborates this notion. Semiramis selected the timber of the 
 Cypress for his bridge across the Euphrates ; the valves, or 
 doors, of the Ephesian temple were of this material, as were also 
 the original gates of St. Peter's, Rome. It has been thought 
 that the Gopher, mentioned in Genesis (vi., 14), of which the Ark 
 was built, was leaily-Kup'os, Cupar, or Cuper, the Cypress. Epi- 
 phanius relates that some relics of the Ark {circa campos Sennaar) 
 lasted even to his days, and was judged to have been of Cypress. 
 Certain it is that the Cretans employedit in'ship-buildmg, and that 
 so frequent was the Cypress in those parts of Assyria where the 
 Ark was supposed to have been built, that the vast armadas which 
 Alexander the Great sent forth from Babylon were constructed 
 of it. Of Cypress-wood were formed Cupid's darts, Jove's sceptre, 
 and the club of Hercules used in recovering the cows stolen by the 
 robber Cacus. Either of Fig- or Cypress-wood were fashioned the 
 obscene statues of Priapus set up by the Romans in their gardens 
 and orchards, which were presided over by this lascivious god, who 
 exercised a pecuhar faculty of detedling and punishing thieves. 
 The thunderbolts of Indra possessed the like distindlive power. 
 In Northern mythology, the club of Hercules and the thunderbolts 
 of Indra are replaced by the mallet of Thor, which it is not difficult 
 to recognise in the mallet of Cypress-wood that, in Germany, 
 was formerly believed to impart the power of discovering thieves. 
 
 From its qualities, the Cypress acquired throughout the East a 
 
 sacred charadler. This was more particularly the case m Persia 
 In the Zend-Avesta, it is accounted divine -consecrated to the 
 
3o6 pPant Tsore, Isege^/, cmE Tst^rlcy. 
 
 pure light of Ormuzd, whose word was first xarved on this noble 
 tree. Parsi traditions tell of a Cypress planted by Zoroaster him- 
 self, which grew to wondrous dimensions, and beneath the branches 
 of which he built himself a summer-house, forty yards high and 
 forty yards broad. This tree is celebrated in the songs of Firdusi 
 as having had its origin in Paradise. It is not surpising, therefore, 
 that the Cypress, a tree of Paradise, rising in a pyramidal form, 
 with its taper summit pointing to the skies, like the generating 
 flame, should_hfi_-plan±ei_at the gates of the most sacred fire- 
 templesjandj_bearing the law inscrt b ti d by Zo roaster; t;h6ul'd stand 
 ill llwrforecourf of the" royalpalace and in the middle of pleasure 
 gardens, as a reminiscence of the lost Paradise. This is the reason 
 why sculptured images of the Cypress afe^fouiid in the temples and 
 palaces of Persepolis; for the Persian kings were servants of 
 Ormuzd. Sacred Cypresses were also found in the very ancient 
 temple of Armavir, in Atropatene, the home of Zoroaster and his 
 light-worship. The Cypress, indeed, reverenced all over Persia, 
 was transmitted as a sacred tree down from the ancient Magi to 
 
 the Mussulmans of modern times. From Asia, the Cypress 
 
 passed to the island of Cyprus (which derived its name from the 
 tree), and here the primitive inhabitants worshipped, under the 
 Phoenician name Beroth, a goddess personified by the Cypress- 
 tree. According to Claudian, the Cypress was employed by the 
 
 goddess Ceres as a torch, which she cast into the crater of Etna, 
 in order to stay the eruption of the volcano, and to imprison there 
 
 Vulcan himself. An Italian tradition affirms that the Devil 
 
 comes at midnight to carry off three Cypresses confided to the cafe 
 of three brothers— a superstitious notion evidently derived from, thfe 
 
 feift that the tree was by the ancients consecrated to Pluto. 
 
 Like all the trees connedted with the Phallica, the Cypress is at once 
 
 a symbol of generation, of deathrand-of the immortal soul. In 
 
 Eastern legendsTthe-eypress -often-represents a yoiTngToverT and the 
 Rose, his beloved. In a wedding song of the Isle of Crete, the bride- 
 groom is compared to the Cypress, the bride to the scented Narcissus. 
 In Miller's Chrestomathie is a popular Russian song, in which a young 
 girl tells her master that she has dreamed of a Cypress and of a 
 Sugar-tree. The master tells her that the Cypress typifies a hus- 
 band," and the Sugar-tree a wife; and that the branches are the 
 
 children, who will gather around them. At Rome, according to 
 
 Pliny, they used to plant a Cypress at the birth of a girl, and called 
 
 it the doiem of the daughter. The oldest tree on record is the 
 
 Cypress of Somma, in Lombardy. An ancient chronicle at Milan 
 proves it was a tree in Julius Caesar's time, B.C. 42. It is 121 feet 
 high, and 23 feet in circumference at one foot from the ground. 
 Napoleon, when laying down the plan for his great road over 
 the Simplon, diverged from a straight hne to avoid injuring this 
 tree.- To dream of a Cypress-tree denotes afflidlion and obstruc- 
 tion in business. 
 
pPant bofe, IsegeT^/, dHsl bijncy. 307 
 
 Daffodil, Daffodilly, or Daffadowndilly. — See Narcissus. 
 
 DAHLIA. — The Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis) is first mentioned 
 in a History of Mexico, by Hernandez (1651) : it was next noticed 
 by Menonville, who was employed by the French Minister to steal 
 the cochineal inse(5t from the Spaniards in 1790. The Abb6 Ca- 
 vanilles first described the flower scientifically from a specimen 
 which had bloomed in the Royal Garden of Madrid the previous 
 year, and he named the plant after his friend Andrew Dahl, the 
 
 Swedish botanist. The Dahlia was introduced into England in 
 
 1789 by Lady Bute from Madrid, but this single plant speedily 
 perished. Cavanilles sent specimens of the three varieties then 
 known to the Jardin des Plantes in 1802, and the flower was very 
 successfully cultivated ip France, so that in 1814, on the return 
 of peace, the improved varieties of the Dahlia created quite a sen- 
 sation among English visitors to Paris. Meanwhile, Lady Hol- 
 land had in July, 1804, sent Dahlia-seeds to England from Madrid, 
 and ten years after we find her husband thus writing to her : — 
 
 " The Dahlia you brought to our isle 
 Your praises for ever shall speak ; 
 Mid gardens as sweet as your smile. 
 And in colour as bright as your cheek." 
 
 It is singular that this favourite flower should have been twice in- 
 troduced to England through the ladies of two of her most noted 
 statesmen, and that the first introdudtion should mark the year 
 when France became revolutionized, and the second that which saw 
 Napoleon made Emperor of the French nation : it is from these 
 incidents that the Dahlia in floral language has been seledled as 
 
 the symbol of " instability." In Germany and Russia, the flower 
 
 is called Georgina, after a St. Petersburg professor. 
 
 DAISY. — The legend connedled with the Daisy, or Bellis, 
 runs that this favourite little flower owes its origin to one of the 
 Belides, who were grand-daughters of Danaus, and belonged to 
 the race of Nymphs, called Dryads, presiding over woodlands, 
 pastures, and meadows : she is said to have encouraged the suit of 
 the rural divinity, Ephigeus, but whilst dancing on the sward with 
 him, chanced to attradl the admiration of Vertumnus, the guardian 
 deity of orchards, and to enable her to escape from his amorous 
 embrace, she was transformed into the humble flower named Bellis. 
 Thus Rapin says : — 
 
 "When the bright ram, bedecked with stars and gold, 
 
 Displays his fleece, the Daisy will unfold 
 
 To njrmphs a chaplet, and to beds a erace, 
 
 Who once herself had borne a viigin^ face." 
 
 Chaucer, however, who appears to have been passionately fond of 
 the Daisy, and never tired of singing its praises, tells us that the 
 Queen Alceste was changed into the flower, and that she had as 
 many virtues as there were florets in it. 
 
 X — 2 
 
3o8 Qfant Tsore, Tsege^/, artel 'Isijricy. 
 
 " Hast thou not a book in thy cheste, 
 The great goodnesse of the Queene Alceste 
 That turned was into a Daisie ? 
 She that for her husband chose to die, 
 And eke to gone to hell rather than lie. 
 And Hercules rescued her, parde, 
 And brought her out of hell again to bliss ? 
 And I answered againe, and said ' Yes,' 
 Now I knowe her, and this is good Alceste, 
 The Daisie, and mine own hertes rest? " 
 
 Ossian gives another origin. Malvina, weeping beside the tomb 
 of Fingal, for Oscar and his infant son, is comforted by the maids 
 of Morven, who narrate how they have seen the innocent infant 
 borne on a hght mist, pouring upon the fields a fresh harvest of 
 flowers, amongst which rises one with golden disc, encircled with 
 rays of silver, tipped with a delicate tint' of crimson. " Dry thy 
 tears, O Malvina," cried the maidens; " the flower of thy bosom 
 
 has given a new flower to the hills of Cromla." The ancient 
 
 English name of the flower was Day's Eye, in which way it was 
 written by Ben Jonson ; and Chaucer calls it the " ee of the daie." 
 Probably it received this designation from its habit of closing its 
 
 petals at night and during rainy weather. There is a popular 
 
 superstition, that if you omit to put your foot on the first Daisy 
 you see in Spring, Daisies will grow over you or someone dear to 
 you ere the year be out; and in some English counties an old 
 saying is current that Spring has not arrived until you can plant 
 
 your foot upon twelve Daisies. Alphonse Karr, speaking of the 
 
 Paquerette, or Easter Daisy, says, " There is a plant that no 
 insect, no animal attacks — that ornament of the field, with golden 
 disc and rays of silver, spread in such profusion at our feet: 
 nothing is so humble, nothing is so much respected." (See Mar- 
 guerite). Daisy- roots worn about the person were formerly 
 
 deemed to prove efficacious in the cure of certain maladies ; 
 and Bacon, in his Sylva Sylvarum, tells us " There is also a received 
 tale, that boiling of Daisy-roots in milk (which it is certain are 
 
 great driers) will make dogs little." An old writer (1696) says 
 
 that they who wish to have pleasant dreams of the loved and 
 absent should put Daisy-roots under their pillow. It is con- 
 sidered lucky to dream of Daisies in Spring or Summer, but bad in 
 the Autumn or Winter. Daisies are herbs of Venus, under Cancer. 
 
 DAMES' VIOLET.— The species of Rocket called Hesperis 
 'onalis, the Night-smelling Rocket, is much cultivated for the 
 evening fragrance of its flowers: hence the ladies of Germany keep 
 it in pots in their apartments, from which circumstance the flower is 
 said to have obtained the name of Dames' Violet. It is also called 
 Damask Violet, a name derived from the Latin Viola Damascem, the 
 Damascus Violet. In French this is Violette de Damas, which has 
 probably been rnisunderstood as Violette des Dames, and has hence 
 become, in English, Dames' Violet. (See Rocket.) 
 
DANDELION. — The Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) de- 
 rives its name from the French Dent de Hon, lion's tooth. (Latin, 
 Dens leonis). In nearly every European language the flower bears 
 a similar name, given to it presumably either- from the whiteness 
 of its root, the auriferous hue of its flower, which recalls the golden 
 teeth of the heraldic lion, or its jagged leaf, which was supposed to 
 resemble a lion's tooth. De Gubernatis connedls the name with the 
 Sun (Helios), and states that a lion was the animal-symbol of the 
 Sun, and that all plants named after him are essentially plants of 
 the Sun. Certainly the appearance of the Dandelion-flower is 
 
 very suggestive of the ancient representations of the Sun. In 
 
 German Switzerland, the children form chains of the stalks of 
 Dandelions, and holding the garland in their hands, they dance 
 
 round and round in a circle. The Dandelion is called the rustic 
 
 oracle : its flowers always open about five a.m. and shut at eight 
 p.m., serving the shepherd for a clock — 
 
 "Leontodons unfold 
 On the swart turf their ray-encircled gold, 
 With Sol's expanding beam the flowers unclose. 
 And rising Hesper lights them to repose. — Darwin. 
 
 As the flower is the shepherd's clock, so are the feathery seed-tufts 
 his barometer, predicting calm or storm. These downy seed-balls, 
 which children blow off to find out the hour of the day, serve for 
 other oracular purposes. Are you separated from the objecSt of 
 your love ? — carefully pluck one of the feathery heads, charge each 
 of the little feathers composing it with a tender thought ; turn to- 
 wards the spot where the loved one dwells ; blow, and the seed- 
 ball will convey your message faithfully. Do you wish to know 
 if that dear one is thinking of you, blow again ; and if there be left 
 upon the stalk a single aigrette, it is a proof you are not forgotten. 
 Similarly the Dandelion is consulted as to whether the lover lives 
 east, west, north, or south, and whether he is coming or not. 
 
 " Will he come ? I pluck the flower leaves off, 
 And at each, cry, yes — no — yes ; 
 I blow the down from the dry Hawkweed, 
 Once, twice— hah ! it flies amiss ! " — Scott. 
 
 Old herbalists had great faith in the Dandelion as a wonderful help 
 to consumptive people. More recently, in the county of Donegal, 
 an old woman skilled in simples has treated her patients for 
 " heart fever," or dyspepsia, as follows : — She measures the suf- 
 ferer three times round the waist with a ribbon, to the outer 
 edge of which is fastened a green thread. If the patient be mis- 
 taken in supposing himself affedled with heart fever, this green 
 thread will remain in its place, but should he really have the•dis^ 
 order, it is found that the green thread has left the edge of the 
 ribbon and lies curled up in the centre. At the third measuring, 
 the simpler prays for a blessing. She next hands the patient nme 
 leaves of "heart fever grass," or Dandelion, gathered by herself,, 
 
310 pfant Isoi'G, hag&tpf, dnS. h^r'tof. 
 
 direcfling him to cut three leaves on three successive mornings. 
 
 Hurdis, in his poem of ' The Village Curate,' fantastically com- 
 pares the sparkling undergraduate and the staid divine to the 
 Dandelion in the two stages of its existence : — 
 
 " Dandelion this, 
 A college youth, that flashes for a day 
 All gold : anon he doffs his gaudy suit, 
 Touched by the magic hand of some grave bishop, 
 And all at once becomes a reverend divine — how sleek. 
 
 But let me tell you, in the pompous globe 
 Which rounds the Dandelion's head, is couched 
 Divinity most rare." 
 
 To dream of Dandelions betokens misfortune, enemies, and deceit 
 on the part of loved ones. Astrologers claim the Dandelion as a 
 plant of Jupiter. 
 
 DANEWORT.— The Dwarf Elder (Sambums Ebulus) is said 
 only to grow where blood has been shed, either in battle or in 
 murder. A patch of it thrives on ground in Worcestershire, where 
 the first blood was drawn in the civil war between the Royalists 
 and the Parliament. The Welsh call it Llysan gwaed gwyr, or 
 " Plant of the blood of men." A name of similar import is its 
 English one of Death-wort. It is chiefly in connedlion with the 
 history of the Danes in England, that the superstition holds; 
 wherever the Danes fought and bled, there did the Dwarf Elder, 
 or Dane's Wood, spring up and flourish. According to Aubrey, the 
 plant obtained the name of Danewort, Daneweed, or Dane's blood, 
 because it grew plentifully in the neighbourhood of Slaughterford, 
 Wilts, where there was once a stout battle fought with the Danes. 
 Parkinson, however, thinks the plant obtained the name of Dane- 
 wort because it would cause a flux called the Danes. 
 
 DAPHNE. — The generic name of Daphne has been given to 
 a race of beautiful low shrubs, after the Nymph Daphne, who was 
 changed by the gods into a Laurel, in order that she might escape 
 the solicitations of Apollo (see Laurel); because many of the 
 species have Laurel-like leaves. The sweet-scented Daphne Me- 
 zereon is very generally known as the Lady Laurel, and is also 
 called Spurge Olive, Spurge Flax, Flowering Spurge, and Dwarf 
 Bay. The name of Mezereon is probably derived from its Persian 
 naxae:, Madzaryoun, which signifies "destroyer of life," in allusion to 
 the poisonous nature of its bright red berries. Gerarde says, " If 
 a drunkard doe eat one graine or berrie of it, he cannot be allowed 
 to drinke at that time ; such will be the heate of his mouth, and 
 choking in the throte." A decodtion of this plant, mixed with 
 other ingredients, is the Lisbon diet-drink, a well-known alter- 
 ative. The Russian ladies are reputed to rub their cheeks with 
 
 the fruit of the Mezereon, in order, by the slight irritation, to 
 heighten their colour. The Spurge Laurel {Daphne Laweok) 
 
pfant Tsofe, TsegeT^/, oriel Isqrioy, 311 
 
 possess similar properties to the Mezereon. It is called Ty-ved, in 
 Denmark, and is sacred to Tyr, the Scandinavian god of war. 
 
 It is the badge of the Highland Grahams. The Flax-lpaved 
 
 Daphne, called by Gerarde the Mountain Widow- Wayle, Is sup- 
 posed to be the herb Casia, mentioned by Virgil and qUier Roman 
 writers ; the Cmoron of the Greeks. 
 
 DATE. — The Date Palm {Phoenix dactylifeM) is the Palm of 
 the Oases, and supplies not only food for man and beast, but a 
 variety of useful commodities. This Palm has plume-like leaves, 
 and grows from sixty to eighty feet high, living to a great age, and 
 providing yearly a large crop of fruit. The male and female 
 flowers are borne on separate trees, and it is remarkable that there 
 is a difference in the frudlification of the wild Date and the culti- 
 vated, though both are the same species. The wild Dates impreg- 
 nate themselves, but the cultivated trees do not, without the assist- 
 ance of art. Pontanus, an Italian poet of the fifteenth century, 
 gives a glowing description of a female Date- tree which had stood 
 lonely and barren, near Otranto, until at length a favouring wind 
 wafted towards it the pollen of a male that grew at a distance of 
 fifteen leagues. Father Labat has told of a Date-tree that grew 
 in the island of Martinico, and produced fruit which was much 
 esteemed ; but when an increase of the number of Date-trees was 
 wanted, not one could be reared from the seed, and they had to 
 send to Africa for Dates, the stones of which grew readily and 
 produced abundantly. The Date Palm is so abundant in the 
 country between the States of Barbary and the desert (which 
 produces no other kind of tree), that this region is designated as 
 
 the Land of Dates {Biledulgerid). The Palm of Palestine is the 
 
 Date Palm. When the sacred writers wished to describe the 
 majesty and beauty of redtitude, they appealed to the Palm as the 
 fittest emblem which they could seledl. "He shall grow up and 
 flourish like the Palm-tree " is the promise of David to the just. 
 Mahomet, like the Psalmist of Israel, was wont to compare the 
 virtuous and generous man to the Date-tree :—" He stands eretSt 
 before his Lord ; in every a<5tion he follows the impulse received 
 from above; and his whole hfe is devoted to the welfare of his 
 
 fellow-creatures." The inhabitants of Medina, who possess the 
 
 most extensive plantations of Date-trees, say that their prophet 
 caused a tree at once to spring from the kernel at his command, 
 and to stand before his admiring followers in mature fruitfulness 
 and beauty. The Tamanaquas of South America have a tradi- 
 tion that the human race sprang again from the fruits of the Date 
 
 Palm after the Mexican age of water. The Arabs say that 
 
 when Adam was driven out of Paradise, the Date, the chief of all 
 fruits, was one of the three things which he took with him; the 
 other two being the Myrtle and an ear of Wheat.-^A popular 
 Sgend concerning the'flight of the Holy Family mto Egyp , 
 narrates how a Date Palm, at the command of the child Jesus. 
 
312 pPant TsoKS, Tsege^/, anil Tsijno/", 
 
 bowed down its branches to shade and refresh His mother. Sozo- 
 menos relates that, when the Holy Family reached the end of their 
 journey, and approached the city of Heliopolis, in Egypt, a tree 
 which grew before the gates of the city, and was regarded with 
 great veneration as the seat of a god, bowed down its branches at 
 
 the approach of the infant Christ. ^Judaea was typified by the 
 
 Date Palm upon the coins of Vespasian and Titus. With the Jews, 
 the Date Palm has always been the symbol of triumph, and they 
 carry branches of it in their right hands, in their synagogues, at the 
 Feast of the Tabernacles, in commemoration of their forefathers 
 having gained possession of the Promised Land. In the Christian 
 Church, the remembrance of the Saviour's ride into Jerusalem amid 
 the hosannas of the people, is associated with the waving of the 
 
 branches of the Date Palm by the joyous multitude. An ardent 
 
 spirit, distilled from Dates and water, is much used by Mahom- 
 medans, as it does not come within the prohibition of the Koran 
 against wine. Palm wine is also made from the Date ; it is the sap 
 or juice of the tree, and can only be obtained by its destruiflion. 
 
 A curious folk-lore tale of the Chinese records how Wang Chih, 
 
 a patriarch of the Taouist setft, when one day gathering fire-wood 
 in the mountains of Ku Chow, entered a grotto where some old men 
 were playing at chess. One of the old men handed him a Date- 
 stone, telling him to put it into his mouth. This done, he ceased 
 to feel hunger or thirst. By-and-bye, one of the players said : " It 
 is long since you came here — return at once." Wang Chih went 
 to take up his axe, and found the handle had mouldered into dust. 
 He went home, but found that centuries had elapsed since the 
 day he set out to cut wood: thereupon he retired to a mountain 
 cell, and devoting himself to religious exercises, finally attained 
 immortality. 
 
 DEAD TONGUE.— The Water Hemlock (CEmnthe crocata) 
 has received the name of Dead Tongue from its paralysing effedts 
 on the organs of voice. Threlkeld tells of eight lads who had 
 eaten it, and of whom " five died before morning, not one of them 
 having spoken a word." Gerarde relates, that this plant having 
 by mistake been eaten in a salad, " it did well nigh poyson those 
 that ate of it, making them giddie in their heads, waxing very pale, 
 staggering, and reeling like drunken men." The plant is de- 
 scribed as "one of Saturn's nosegays." 
 
 Deadly Nightshade, or Death's Herb. — See Nightshade. 
 
 DEODAR. — The sacred Indian Cedar {Cedrus Deodam) forms 
 vast forests in the mountains of Northern India, where it grows to 
 a height varying from fifty to a hundred feet and upwards. It is 
 the Devaddru, or tree-god of the Shastras, which, in many of the 
 ancient hymns of the Hindus, is the symbol of power and ma- 
 jesty. The tree is often mentioned by the Indian poets. It was 
 introduced into this country in 1822. 
 
pfant Tsore, Isege^/, ani. Tsijnq/-. 213 
 
 DHAK.— The Dhak, or Bastard Teak (Butea frondosa), is one 
 of the sacred trees of India, and one of the most striking of the 
 Indian arboreous Leguminosa. Both its wood and leaves are highly 
 reverenced, and used in religious ceremonies. The natives, also, 
 are fond of offering the beautiful scarlet flowers in their temples, 
 
 and the females mtertwine the blossoms in their hair. The 
 
 flowers yield a superb dye. 
 
 DILL. — The aromatic plant Dill (Anethum gmveolens) is by 
 some supposed to have derived its name from the old Norse word 
 dilla, dull ; the seeds being used as a carminative to cause infants to 
 sleep. Boiled in wine, and drunk, the plant was reputed to. excite 
 the passions. Dill was formerly highly appreciated as a plant that 
 counteracfted the powers of witches and sorcerers : — 
 
 " The Vervain and the Dill, 
 That bindereth witches of their will. " 
 
 Astrologers assign Dill to the domination of Mercury. 
 
 DITTANY. — The ancients consecrated the Dittany of Crete 
 (Origanum Dictamnus) to the goddess Lucina, who presided over the 
 birth of children ; and she was often represented wearing a crown 
 of this Dittany. The root was particularly recommended by the 
 oracle of Phthas. The Grecian and Roman women attributed to 
 this plant the most extraordinary properties during childbirth, 
 which it was believed greatly to facilitate. It is reported, says 
 Gerarde, " that the wilde goats or deere in Candy, when they be 
 wounded with arrowes,'do shake them out by eating of this plant, 
 and heal their wounds." According to Virgil, Venus healed the 
 wounded .^neas with Dittany. Plutarch says that the women of 
 Crete, seeing how the goats, by eating Dittany, cause the arrows to 
 fall from their wounds, learnt to make use of the plant to aid them 
 in childbirth. Gerarde recounts that the plant is most useful in 
 drawing forth splinters of wood, bones, &c., and in the healing of 
 wounds, "especially those made with invenomed weapons, arrowes 
 shot out of guns, or suchlike." The juice, he says, is so powerful, 
 that by its mere smell it " drives away venomous beasts, and doth 
 astonish them." When mixed with wine, the juice was also con- 
 sidered a remedy for the bites of serpents. According to Apuleius, 
 however, the plant possessed the property of killing serpents. 
 
 The Dittany of Crete, it should be noted, is not to be con- 
 founded with the Dittany, Dittander, or Pepper-wort of the English 
 Herbals. This plant, the Lepidium latifolium, from its being used by 
 thrifty housewives to season dishes with, obtained the name of 
 Poor Man's Pepper. It was held to be under Mars. 
 
 DOCK. In Cornwall, as a charm, the leaves of the common 
 
 Dock wetted with spring water, are applied to burns, and three 
 angels are invoked to come out of the East. . It is a common prac- 
 tice in many parts of England, for anyone suffering from the stings 
 
314 pPant Tsore, hagef^f, cmel Ta^riaf, 
 
 of a Nettle to apply a cold (Dock-leaf to the inflamed spot, the 
 following well-known rhyme being thrice repeated : — 
 " Out Nettle, in Dock : 
 Dock shall have a new smock." 
 Docks are said by astrologers to be under the dominion of Jupiter. 
 
 DRACffiNA. — The Dracaena, or Dragon-tree (Dracana 
 Draco), derives its name from the Greek Drakaina, a female dragon. 
 This tree is found in the East India Islands, the Canaries, Cape 
 Verde, and Sierra Leone. Gerarde thus describes it : — " This 
 strange and admirable tree groweth very great, resembling the Pine- 
 tree." Among its leaves " come forth little mossie floures, of small 
 moment, and turn into berries of the bignesse of Cherries, of a 
 yellowish colour, round, light, and bitter, covered with a threefold 
 skin, or film, wherein is to be seen, as Monardus and divers others 
 report, the form of a dragon, having a long neck and gaping mouth, 
 the ridge, or back, armed with sharp prickles like the porcupine, 
 with a long taile and foure feet, very easie to be discerned .... 
 The trunk, or body of the tree, is covered with a tough bark, very 
 thin and easie to be opened or wounded with any small toole 
 or instrument ; which being so wounded in the dog days, bruised 
 or bored, yields forth drops of a thick red liquor of the name of the 
 tree called Dragon's Tears, or Sanguis Draconis, Dragon's Bloud." 
 
 This Dragon's Blood, or Gum Dragon, is well known in 
 
 medicine as an astringent. The tooth-brushes called Dragon's- 
 
 root, are made from the root of the Dragon-tree, cut into pieces 
 about four inches long, each of which is beaten at one end with a 
 
 wooden mallet to split it into fibres. The venerable Dragon-tree 
 
 of Orotava was for many centuries worshipped as a most sacred 
 tree by the Guanches,or original inhabitants of the Canary Islands. 
 It was considered the twin wonder of the Island of Teneriffe, 
 dividing its interest with the mighty Peak. Humboldt saw it in 
 1799, when it was considered the oldest and largest of living trees (the 
 giant trees of California being then unknown). The great traveller 
 writes concerning it : — " Its trunk is divided into a great number of 
 branches, which rise in the form of candelabra, and are terminated 
 by tufts of leaves like the Yucca : it still bears every year both 
 leaves and fruit : its aspecSl feelingly recalls to mind that ' eternal 
 youth of Nature,' which is an inexhaustible source of motion and 
 of life." Since then this sacred tree has been entirely shattered 
 and destroyed by successive storms. 
 
 Dream Plant. — See Pulsatilla. 
 
 DRYAS. — The pretty evergreen, Dryas, which blooms on 
 the mountain summits, was so named by Linnaeus after the Dryades, 
 or nymphs of the Oaks, — the leaves bearing some resemblance to 
 those of the Oak. 
 
 DURIAN. — The Durian [Durio Zibethinus) is a native of the 
 East Indies. The fruit of this tree, which is about the size of a 
 
pfant bore, begaljt)/, dnS. laijr'iq/'. 315 
 
 man's head, is regarded by the Malays as the king of fruit, and is 
 reputed to be the most deHcious of all the fruits of India. The 
 custard-like pulp in which the large seeds are imbedded, is the 
 part eaten fresh, and resembles cream; yet it is accompanied by 
 such an intolerable stench that, according to Rumphius and 
 Valentyn, it is by law forbidden to throw them out near any public 
 path in Amboyna. The smell is said to resemble certain putrid 
 animal subtances, yet all agree that if the first repugnance is once 
 overcome, the fruit is most enjoyable. This fruit is employed as a 
 bait to catch the civet cat; the outer covering is boiled down, and 
 used as a wash for the skin. The seeds are converted into flour, 
 and also used as vegetable ivory. 
 
 DURVA. — According to Wilson, Durva is the Sanscrit name 
 of the Agrostis linearis, but Carey applies the name to Panicum 
 Dactylon. This species of Millet, like the sacred Kusa grass, is held 
 in much reverence by the Hindus. In De Gubematis' Mythologie 
 des PlanUs, the author states that in the Athaniaveda, they implore 
 the Durva, which grows in the water {i.e., in marshy places), and 
 which has a hundred roots and a hundred stems, to give absolution 
 for a hundred faults, and to prolong for a hundred years the life of 
 him who invokes it. The fact that this herb is the tenderest, the 
 freshest, and the most substantial food for cattle, added to its 
 beauty, has gained it respect ; but the Indians think, besides, that 
 a nymph is hidden in the plant. When they celebrate, in India, 
 the festival of the god Indra, on the 14th day of the lunar month 
 Bhadra, they sing and dance, and offer fourteen different kinds of 
 fruit to the god. In that ceremony, the devotees wear, attached to 
 the right arm, leaves of the Durva. At Indian weddings, the women 
 bind together the right arm of the husband and the left arm of 
 his bride with the leaves of Durva. In the Vedic age (and the 
 custom still exists in certain parts of India), before building a 
 house, it was customary to place on the four corner foundation 
 stones some Durva. This plant figures, also,. among the eight 
 ingredients which compose the Arghya, that is to say, the symbolic 
 offering of Indian hospitality. According to a stanza of the 
 Panchatantra, the Durva sprang from the hair of the cow, as the 
 blue Lotus arose from the cow's evacuations. The leaf of the 
 Durva is so highly esteemed, that it has passed into a proverb or 
 familiar saying. This leaf is especially attractive to gazelles. The 
 oreceding stanza proclaims how happy are those gazelles who eat 
 the herb Durva, for they will never gaze on the face of a man 
 whom riches have made false. 
 
 EBONY. The Diospyros EhenasUv is generally considered 
 
 to be the true Ebony-tree. This Date- Plum is a native of Ceylon, 
 Cochin China, and the East Indies. Bishop Heber describes the 
 Fbonv-tree of Ceylon as a magnificent forest tree, with a tall, 
 black; slender stem, spotted with white. Some judges, however. 
 
3l6 pfant Isofe, Isege^/, cmel Tsijne/. 
 
 consider that the real Ebony-tree is the Diospyrus Ebenus, a native 
 of Jamaica.— — In ancient times it was much more in use and 
 esteem. Pluto, the sovereign of the infernal regions, is represented 
 as seated on a throne of Ebony ; the statues of the Egyptian gods 
 were wrought in Ebony. According to Pausanias, the statue of the 
 Pythian Apollo was formed of this wood ; and that writer recounts 
 that a Cyprian, well versed in plant lore, had told him that the 
 true and veritable Ebony was a plant that produced neither leaf, 
 flower, nor fruit; and, moreover, that it grew entirely underground 
 in certain places known to the Ethiopians, who periodically 
 
 visited those spots, and took away the wood. Pulverised Ebony, 
 
 mixed with the charcoal of a burnt snail, is recommended by 
 
 Sidrach as an application to lessen the white of the eye. There 
 
 is an old saying, that a bad man's heart is as black as Ebony. This, 
 probably, originated from the fadt, that while the alburnum of 
 the Ebony-tree is white, its foliage soft and silvery, and its flowers 
 
 brilliant, the heart alone is really black. Among the many 
 
 wonders described by Sir John Maundevile, as having been seen by 
 him when on his Eastern travels, in the fourteenth century, was a 
 certain table of Ebony, or black wood, "that once used to turn into 
 flesh on certain occasions, but whence now drips only oil, which, 
 if kept above a year, becomes good flesh and bone." 
 
 EDELWEISS. — The Edelweiss, or Alpine Cudweed (Leon- 
 topodium Alpinum or Gnaphalium), grows on the Swiss mountains 
 on the line of perpetual snow, and from thence is brought down by 
 travellers as a proof that they reached this altitude. As in many 
 cantons it only grows in nearly inaccessible places, it is considered 
 an act of daring to gather it, and the flower is therefore much 
 valued by the Swiss maidens as a proof of the devotion of their 
 lovers. Although hardy, this plant is delicate and fragile, en- 
 veloping itself in soft down, and only blooming on rocks exposed in 
 full midday. Its bloom is surrounded by white velvety leaves ; even 
 
 the stem has a Aoym upon it. With the exception oithe Alpenrose, 
 
 no other mountain flower is so charadleristic of the Alpine distridts, 
 so dear to the native heart, so celebrated by Alpine poets, or so 
 popular among Swiss tourists. Indeed, its very popularity has 
 threatened to lead to its extindtion in the distridls most frequented 
 by visitors ; and to prevent this, the German and Tyrolese Alpine 
 Clubs have imposed fines for plucking the Edelweiss, and the 
 Austrian Alpine Club has forbidden its members to continue the 
 
 custom of wearing a sprig of Edelweiss in their hats. The worst 
 
 persecutors of the plant are the pidturesque Bergano herdsmen and 
 herdboys, who come up from the Italian side of the Alps at the 
 beginning of the season, and remain on the mountains with their 
 flocks until the snow begins to fall. They pluck up the Edelweiss 
 mercilessly by the roots, which they endeavour to dispose of to 
 passing travellers. The Communes of the Upper Engadine have 
 taken the plant under their protedlion, and sellers of the plant in 
 
pfant bore, h&g&T^f, ani. Isijnc/". ^17 
 
 its living condition are subje<5l to a fine. The Edelweiss, however, 
 is plentiful still in tradls a little out of the orthodox tourists' routes, 
 and at Pontresina grows in such profusion as to be used as food 
 for cattle. The Edelweiss is also known by the name of the Coton- 
 nier, and is sometimes called Lion's-foot, because of the resem- 
 blance of its woolly hairy flower to the foot of a lion. 
 
 EGG PLANT. — The Solatium Melongenahas derived the name 
 of Egg Plant from the shape of its fruit, which is formed like a hen's 
 egg, and varies in colour from white to pale yellow, pale red, and 
 purple. In the East Indies, they broil this fruit, and eat it with 
 pepper and salt, and the fruit is also relished in Batavia, Greece, 
 Barbary, and Turkey. The inhabitants of the British isles in the 
 West Indies call it Brown-John or Brown-jolly. Miller calls the 
 plant the larger-fruited Nightshade, and says that in his time it was 
 cultivated in the gardens of Spain by the title of Barenkeena. The 
 Italians call it Melanzana, a corruption of the plant's ancient Latin 
 name of Mala insana, from whence also came its old English name 
 of Raging Apple or Mad Apple. There does not appear to be 
 any reason for these strange names, although Gerarde cautiously 
 remarks that "doubtless these Apples have a mischievous qualitie, 
 the use whereof is utterly to bee forsaken." 
 
 EGLANTINE.^ — The Sweet Briar {Rosa rubiginosa) is gene- 
 rally understood to be the Eglantine of old English poets, although 
 the name has given rise to much discussion, both as to its meaning, 
 and as to the shrub to which it applies. Chaucer and more ancient 
 poets spelt the word " Eglatere." 
 
 " The hegge also, that yede in compas, 
 And closed in all the greene herbere. 
 With Sicamour was set and Eglatere." 
 
 But it seems doubtful whether by Eglatere was meant the Yellow 
 Rose (Eglanteria), the Sweetbriar, the Dog Rose, or some other 
 species. According to Gerarde, it was a shrub with a white flower. 
 Shakspeare, Spenser, Shenstone, Sir W. Scott, Keats, and other 
 poets identify Eglantine with Sweetbriar ; but Milton mistook it 
 for the Honeysuckle or Woodbine, for he speaks of 
 
 " Sweetbriar or the Vine, 
 Or the twisted Eglantine.'' 
 
 According to a superstition current in Schleswig, when Satan fell 
 from heaven, he endeavoured, in order to reascend to the celestial 
 regions, to make himself a ladder with the thorns of the Eglantine. 
 God, however, would not permit the Eglantine to grow upwards, 
 but only to extend itself as a bush. Then, out of spite, Satan 
 
 turned its thorns downwards, pointing towards the earth. 
 
 Another legend records that Judas Iscariot hung himself on the 
 Eglantine, and that since then it has been an accursed tree : hence 
 
 to this day its berries are called Judas beenn (Judas berries). 
 
 The five graceful fringed leaflets, which form the special beauty of 
 
3l8 pPant Tsore, teegsT^j-, and Isijriq/', 
 
 the Eglantine flower and bud, have given rise to the following 
 rhymed riddle : — 
 
 " Of us five brothers at the same time bom, 
 Two from our birthday ever beards have worn ; 
 On other two none ever have appeared, 
 While the fifth brother wears but half a beard." 
 
 ELDE R. — The Elder or EUan-tree (Sambucus), in Scandinavian 
 mythology, was consecrated to Hulda, the goddess of love, and to 
 Thor, the god of Thunder, and is connedted with many ancient 
 Northern superstitions. 
 
 The Danes believe that in the Elder there dwells a being known 
 as the Hylde-moer (Elder-mother) or Hylde-qvinde (Elder- woman), 
 by whom all injuries done to the Elder are avenged. In a small 
 court in the Nybonder, a distridt of Copenhagen, there stands a 
 weird tree, which at dusk is reputed to move up and down the 
 passage, and sometimes to peep through the windows at the 
 children. It is not deemed advisable to have furniture made of 
 Elder-wood. Tradition says that a child having been laid in a 
 cradle made of Elder-wood, the Hylde-moer came and pulled it by 
 the legs, nor would she let it have any rest until it was taken out 
 of the cradle. A peasant once heard his children crying in the 
 night, and on inquiring the cause, was told that some one had been 
 there and sucked them ; and their breasts were found to be swollen. 
 This annoyance was believed to have arisen from the fadl that the 
 room was boarded with Elder. The Elder branches may not be 
 cut until permission has been asked in the words, " Hylde-moer, 
 Hylde-moer, allow me to cut thy branches." Then, if no objedtion 
 be made by the spirit of the tree, the hewer proceeds, taking care 
 first to spit three times, as a precaution against molestation. In 
 Denmark, it is believed that he who stands under an Elder-bush 
 at twelve o'clock on Midsummer Eve, wiU see Toly, the king of 
 the elves, go by with all his train. Perhaps on account of the 
 supernatural halo surrounding it, the Elder was regarded as a cure 
 for various diseases. A Danish formula prescribes the taking of 
 an Elder-twig by a person afflidled with toothache, who must first 
 put it in his mouth, and then stick it in the wall, saying, " Depart 
 thou evil spirit." Ague may be cured by taking a twig of Elder, 
 and sticking it in the ground, without speaking a word ; the disease 
 will then pass into the twig, and attach itself to the first person 
 who approaches the spot. 
 
 In Russia, there is a belief that Elder-trees drive away bad 
 and malignant spirits, out of compassion to humanity, and that 
 they promote long life. 
 
 In Sweden, women about to become mothers kiss the Elder ; 
 and it is thought that no one can damage the tree with impunity. 
 
 In Germany, the Elder is regarded with great respect. From 
 its leaves a febrifuge is made : from its berries a sort of sour pre- 
 serve, and a wonder-working electuary ; the moon-shaped clusters 
 
pfant Tsore, Isege'^/, anil bijrioy, 319 
 
 of flowers are narcotic, and are used in baking small cakes. The 
 smell of the leaves and blossoms has the reputation of causing 
 giddiness, whence arises the saying that " he who goes to sleep 
 under an Elder-tree will never wake." The cross which is affixed 
 to the rod on which the Easter Palms are fastened is made of 
 Elder-wood, as well as the cross which is carried before the coffin 
 in the funeral procession. Although essentially a tree of shade and 
 of death, yet it and the funeral cross just mentioned are known by 
 the name of " Livelong." It is a favourite hiding-place for children 
 when playing at " hide-and-seek." The pith of the branches, when 
 cut in round flat shapes, is dipped in oil, lighted, and then put to 
 float in a glass of water ; its light; on Christmas Eve is thought to 
 reveal to the owner all the witches and sorcerers in the neighbour- 
 hood. Since this tree drives away spirits, it is often planted by 
 the side of manure sheds, keeping them damp by its shade, and 
 also protecting from evil influences the cattle in the adjoining shed. 
 It is commonly believed that he who injures an Elder-tree will 
 suffer from its vengeance. " Holderstock " (Elderstock) is a name 
 of endearment given by a lover to his beloved, and is derived from 
 Hulda, the old goddess of love. 
 
 In Lower Saxony, it was customary to ask permission of the 
 Elder-tree before cutting it, in the words, " Lady Elder, give me 
 some of thy wood ; then will I also give thee some of mine when it 
 grows in the forest." This was repeated three times, with folded 
 hands and bended knees. Pusch Kait, the ancient Prussian god 
 of the earth, was supposed to live under the Elder-tree. 
 
 In the T5nrol, an Elder-bush, trimmed into the form of a cross, 
 is often planted on the new-made grave ; and if it blooms, it is a 
 sign that the soul of the dead person is in Paradise. The Tyroleans 
 have such a regard for the tree, that, in passing it, they always 
 
 raise their hat. , . , , , j 
 
 In Bohemia, three spoonfuls of the water which has been used 
 to bathe an invalid are poured under an Elder, with " Elder, God 
 sends me to thee, that thou may'st take my fever upon thee." This 
 must be repeated on three successive days, and if the patient has 
 
 not meanwhile passed over water, he will recover. The Serbs 
 
 introduce a stick of Elder, to ensure good luck, during their weddmg 
 
 festivities. . , , -.t j 
 
 In Savoy, branches of Elder are earned about on May-day. 
 In Sicily, it is thought a bough of Elder will kill serpents, and 
 drive away robbers better than any other stick. In Labruguiere, 
 France, if an animal is ill, or has a wound infested by vermm, they 
 lead it to the foot of an Elder-tree, and twirling a bough in their 
 hands, they bow to the tree, and address it as follows :— " Good- 
 dav Mons. Y^ble; if you do not drive away the vermin, I shall 
 be compelled to cut both your limbs and your trunk.' This 
 ceremony performed, a certain cure is confidently looked for. 
 In the country distridts round Valenciennes, if an Elder-bough is 
 
320 pPanC bofe, h&Qer^f, dn^ Isqtiaf, 
 
 hung outside the door, it is indicative of a coquette inhabiting 
 the house. 
 
 In England, the Elder has been regarded with superstition 
 from very early times, and is looked upon as a tree of bad omen. 
 Branches of Elder were formerly considered to be typical of dis- 
 grace and woe. In the Canones editi sub Edgaro Rege it is enacTted 
 that every priest forbid the vain pradlices that are carried on with 
 Elder-sticks, and also with various other trees. 
 
 In Gloucestershire, and some other counties, the peasantry 
 will on no account burn Elder or Elian-wood, the reason being, 
 that it was supposed to be one of the trees from which the wood of 
 the Cross was formed. In a rare tracTt on Gloucestershire super- 
 stitions, a figure is given of an Elder-wood cross borne constantly 
 about the person as a cure for rheumatism. This cross consisted 
 of a small piece cut from a young shoot just above and below a 
 joint, so as to leave the bud projecting at each end of it, after the 
 fashion of a rude cross. To be efficient, the Elder must have grown 
 in consecrated grpund. In Tortworth and other Gloucestershire 
 churchyards are to be found such trees, and applications for pieces 
 of them are still made. 
 
 In Sussex, an Elder-stick, with three, four, or more knots upon 
 it, is carried in the pocket as a charm against rheumatism. 
 
 In the Eastern counties, the Elder is popularly considered to 
 be the tree of whose wood the Cross was made : it is therefore an 
 unlucky tree, and one that should never be bound up in faggots. 
 On this account, also, the Elder is considered safe from the effedts 
 of lightning. In some parts there is a vulgar prejudice that if 
 boys be beaten with an Elder-stick, their growth is sure to be 
 checked. 
 
 In Huntingdonshire, there exists the Danish belief in a being 
 called the Elder-mother, so that it is not always safe to pluck the 
 flowers. No household furniture should be made of Elder-wood, 
 least of all a cradle, for some evil will certainly befall the child 
 sleeping in it. 
 
 The Elder-tree has been credited with possessing a peculiar 
 fascination for witches and elves, who love to lurk beneath the 
 shadow of its branches, and who are wont to bury their offspring 
 at its foot. On the other hand, the tree has been said to exercise a 
 prote(5live influence against the attacks of witches and wizards, and 
 similar evil-disposed persons ; and it has been suggested that this 
 is the reason why the tree is so often found in the neighbourhood 
 of cottages. It was thought that the tree was obnoxious to witches 
 because their enemies use the green juice of its inner bark for 
 anointing the eyes. Any baptised person whose eyes are touched 
 with it can see what the witches are about in any part of the world. 
 It was possible by magic art to render witches sensible of blows 
 given to them with an Elder-stick, but this has to be managed by 
 someone versed in the habits of witches. A cross made of the 
 
pPant 'l9ore, Isege'r^b/, ari^ Isiji'icy, •521 
 
 Elder, affixed to cow-houses and stables, was supposed to protedl 
 cattle from all possible harm. 
 
 Shakspeare, in ' Love's Labour Lost,' says "Judas was hanged 
 on an Elder," and this belief was general among early writers, and 
 is constantly alluded to by authors of the Elizabethan period ; but 
 the name Judas-tree was applied to the Cercis sUiquastrum (which 
 is the tree which still bears it), about the same period. Gerarde, 
 indeed, definitely tells us of the Cercis, " This is the tree whereon 
 Judas did hang himselfe, and not upon the Elder-tree, as is stated." 
 On the other hand, that old Eastern traveller. Sir John Maunde- 
 vile, tells us that the very Elder-tree upon which Judas hanged 
 himself was to be seen in his day close to the Pool of^Siloe ; whilst 
 the legend which coiinedls Judas with the Elder-tree is alluded to 
 by Ben Jonson, and is thus referred to in ' Piers Plowman ' : — 
 
 "Judas, he japed 
 With jewen silver 
 And sithen on an Eller 
 Hanged hymselve." 
 
 But not only is the ill-omened Elder credited with being con- 
 nedled with the death of Judas, but there is a wide-spread belief 
 that it was the " accursed tree " on which the Redeemer's life was 
 given up ; therefore, although fuel may be scarce and these sticks 
 plentiful, in some places the superstitious poor will not burn them. 
 
 In Scotland, according to a writer in the ' Dublin Magazine,' 
 
 it is called the Bour-tree, and the following rhyme is indicative of 
 the belief entertained in that country : — 
 
 " Bour-tree, Bour-tree, crooked rung, 
 Never straight and never strong. 
 Ever bush and never tree, 
 Since our Lord was nailed on thee." 
 
 In Chambers's ' Book of Days ' is an instance of the belief that 
 a person is perfedlly safe under the shelter of an Elder-tree during 
 a thunderstorm, as the lightning never strikes the tree of which the 
 Cross was made. Experience has taught that this is a fallacy, al- 
 though many curious exceptional instances are recorded. In 
 Napier's Folk-lore of the Northern Counties we read of a peculiar 
 custom : — ^the Elder is planted in the form of a cross upon a newly- 
 made grave, and if it blooms they take it as a sure sign that the 
 soul of the dead person is happy. 
 
 It is not considered prudent to sleep under an Elder. Evelyn 
 describes the narcotic smell of the tree as very noxious to the air, 
 and narrates that a certain house in Spain, seated among Elder- 
 trees, diseased and killed almost all the inhabitants, " which, when at 
 last they were grubbed up, became a very wholesome and healthy 
 place." As regards the medical virtues of the tree, Evelyn ex- 
 claims: — " If the medicinal properties of the leaves, bark, berries, 
 &c., were thoroughly known, I cannot tell what our countryman 
 could ail for which he might not fetch a remedy from every hedge, 
 
322 pfaat Tsore, Tsege^/, ani. teijrio/. 
 
 either for sickness or wound." And he goes on to describe a 
 variety of medicinal uses for the bark, buds, berries, leaves, and 
 flowers ; summing up the virtues of the Elder with the remark that 
 " every part of the tree is useful, as may be seen at large in Block- 
 witzius's anatomic thereof." In this work is the following descrip- 
 tion of an amulet for the use of an epileptic subje<5l, which is to be 
 made of the Elder growing on a Sallow : — " If in the month of Odlo- 
 ber, a little before the full moon, you pluck a twig of the Elder, and 
 cut the cane that is betwixt two of its knees, or knots, in nine pieces, 
 and these pieces, being bound in a piece of linen, be in a thread so 
 hung about the neck that they touch the spoon of the heart, or the 
 sword-formed cartilage ; and, that they may stay more firmly in that 
 place, they are to be bound thereon with a linen or leather roller 
 wrapt about the body, till the thread break of itself. The thread 
 being broken, and the roller removed, the amulet is not at all to be 
 touched with bare hands, but it ought to be taken hold on by some 
 instrument, and buried in a place that nobody may touch it." 
 
 One mode of charming warts away is to take an Elder-shoot, 
 and rub it on the part, then cut as many notches on the twig as 
 you have warts, bury it in a place where it will soon decay, and as 
 it rots away the warts will disappear. Another plan is to obtain a 
 green Elder-stick, and rub the warts well with it, after which bury 
 the stick to rot away in muck. 
 
 The black berries of the Elder are full of a deep violet-coloured 
 juice, which, according to Virgil, the god Pan had his face smeared 
 with, in compliance with the old Roman custom of painting their 
 gods on solemn occasions. 
 
 To dream of Elder-berries denotes sickness. The tree is under 
 the dominion of Venus. 
 
 ELECAMPANE.— Of the Elecampane {Inula Helenium), 
 Rapin writes : — 
 
 " Elecampane, the beauteous Helen's flower. 
 Mingles among the rest her silver store ; 
 Helen, whose charms could royal breasts inspire 
 With such fierce flames as set the world on fire." 
 
 When Paris carried off the celebrated Helen, the lovely wife of 
 Menelaus was said to have had in her hand a nosegay of the bright 
 yellow flowers of the Elecampane, which was thenceforth named 
 Helenium, in her honour. The Romans employed the roots of 
 Elecampane as an edible vegetable ; the monks, who knew it as 
 Inula campana, considered it capable of restoring health to the 
 heart ; and the herbalists deemed it marvellously good for many 
 disorders, and admirable as a pecfloral medicine. Elecampane 
 lozenges have long been popular. Turner, in his ' Brittish Physi- 
 cian,' calls the Inula campana, the Sun-flower, and says that the 
 root chewed fastens loose teeth, and preserves them from rotting, 
 and that the distilled water of the green leaves makes the face 
 
pfaat bore, bcgeTjt)/, ani. bi^ric/. 323 
 
 fair. From its broad leaves, the Elecampane is sometimes called 
 the Elf-dock. It is held to be under Mercury. 
 
 ELICHRYSUM. — This species of everlasting flower derived 
 Its name, according to Themistagoras, from the nymph Elichrysa 
 who having adorned the goddess Diana with its blossoms, the 
 plant was called after her, Elichryson. Its old English name was 
 Golden Flower, or Golden Moth-wort, and Gerarde tells us that 
 the blossoms, if cut before they are quite ripe, will remain beautiful 
 a long time after. " For which cause of long lasting the images 
 and carved gods were wont to weare garlands thereof: whereupon 
 some have called it ' God's floure.' For which purpose Ptolemy, 
 King of jEgypt, did most diligently observe them, as Pliny 
 writeth." 
 
 ELM.— The ancients had a tradition that, at the first sound 
 of the plaintive strains which proceeded from the lyre of Orpheus, 
 when he was lamenting the death of Eurydice, there sprang up a 
 forest of Elms; and it was beneath an Elm that the Thracian 
 bard sought repose after his unavailing expedition to the infernal 
 regions to recover his lost love. Rapin thus tells the tale : — 
 
 " When wretched Orpheus left the Stygian coast, 
 Now hopeless since again his spouse was lost , 
 Beneath the preferable shade he sate 
 Of a tall Elm, and mourned his cruel fate : 
 Where Rhodope rears high her steepy brow, 
 While Heber's gentle current strays below. 
 On his sweet lyre the skilful artist played, 
 Whose all-commanding strings the woods obeyed ; 
 And crowding round him formed a hasty shade. 
 There Cypress, Ilex, Willows, Planes unite. 
 And th' Elm, ambitious of a greater height. 
 Presents before his view a married Vine, 
 Which round her husband, Elm, did circling twine^ 
 And warned him to indulge a second flame ; 
 But he neglects th' advice, and slights the dame : 
 By fatal coldness still condemned to prove 
 A victim to the rage of female love." 
 
 The "wedding of the Elm to the Vine," alluded to in the above 
 lines, was a very favourite topic among the old Roman poets; 
 Virgil, indeed, seledls the jun(5lion of the Elm and the Vine as the 
 subjecft of one whole book of his ' Georgics.' The ancients twined 
 their Vines round the trunks of the Elm ; and the owner of a Vine- 
 yard tended his Elms as carefully as his Vines. When Achilles 
 
 killed the father of Andromache, he eredled in his honour a tomb, 
 
 around which nymphs came and planted Elms. Perhaps on 
 
 account of its longevity, or because it produces no fruit, the 
 Greeks and Romans considered the Elm a funereal tree: in our 
 own times, it is connedted with burials, inasmuch as coffins are 
 
 generally made of its wood. The ancients called the Elm, the 
 
 tree of Oneiros, or of Morpheus, the god of sleep. As a wide- 
 
 Y — 2 
 
324 pPant l©ore, teege^/, ansl Tsiji-ie/. 
 
 spreading shady tree, it is seledled by Virgil (^n. vi.) as the 
 roosting-place of dreams in gloomy Orcus : — 
 
 " Full in the midst a spreading Elm displayed 
 His aged arms, and cast a mighty shade ; 
 Each trembling leaf with some light visions teems. 
 And heaves impregnated with airy dreams. " 
 
 It was in conne<5lion with the title of Tree of Dreams {Ulmus 
 Somnorum), that the Elm became, like the Oak, a prophetic tree. 
 
 On the Continent, an Elm is often found on the village-green, 
 
 beneath whose boughs justice used formerly to be administered, 
 and meetings held: there was one at Gisors, on the frontier of 
 Normandy, where the kings of France and Dukes of Normandy 
 used to hold conference together, and which was large enough to 
 shelter both their trains; this tree was upwards of two hundred 
 years old when cut down by order of Kmg Philippe Auguste, out 
 of hatred to our Plantagenet kings. One of the oldest Elms in 
 England is a stump at Richmond, now fenced in, and covered 
 with Ivy, which was planted by Queen Elizabeth herself, and has 
 
 on that account always been known as the Queen's Elm. 
 
 Formerly the leafing of the Elm was made to regulate both field 
 and garden work, as seen in the following rustic rhyme : — 
 
 " When the Elmen leaf is as big as a mouse's ear, 
 Then to sow Barley never fear. 
 When the Elmen leaf is as big as an ox's eye, 
 Then say I, ' Hie, boys, hie 1 ' " 
 
 In olden times, the falling of the leaves of an Elm was thought to 
 prognosticate a murrain. In Sicily, they have a custom of binding 
 the trunk of a Fig-tree with branches of Elm, from a belief that 
 that they would prevent the young Figs from falling before they be- 
 came thoroughly ripe. The Elm is held to be under the influence 
 
 of Saturn. " The Seven Sisters " was the name bestowed on 
 
 seven Elm-trees at Tottenham, which gave the name to the road 
 from thence to Upper HoUoway. In Bedwell's History of Tot- 
 tenham, written in the year 163 1, he describes Page Green by the 
 side of the high road at that village, and a group of Elms in a circle, 
 with a Walnut in the centre. He says : " This tree hath this 
 many yeares stod there, and it is observed yearely to live and 
 beare leavs, and yet to stand at a stay, that is, to growe neither 
 greater or higher. This people do commonly tell the reason to bee, 
 for that there was one burnt upon that place for the profession of 
 the Gospell." There was also a connetfting link between the 
 Walnut-tree and the Seven Sisters, by which it was surrounded. 
 There were seven Elms planted by seven sisters respedtively. The 
 tree planted by the smallest of the sisters was always irregular and 
 stunted in growth. There was an eighth sister who planted an Elm 
 in the midst of the other seven, and the legend relates that it 
 withered and died when she died, and that then a Walnut-tree grew 
 
pPant Tsore, teegel^G/, afiS. ]s)\jt\af. 325 
 
 in its place. The Walnut-tree has long since gone, and probably 
 the Elms have now disappeared. 
 
 ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE.— Formerly the ^ifw/a 
 Mandragora used to bear this name, but by some mistake it has been 
 transferred to the Circaa Lutetiana, an insignificant plant named 
 after Circe, the famed enchantress, probably because its fruit, being 
 covered with hooked prickles, lays hold of the unwary passers-by, 
 as Circe is said to have done by means of her enchantments. The 
 Mandrake was called " Nightshade," from having been classed with 
 the Solanum tribe, and " Enchanter's " from its Latin name Circaea, 
 a name which it obtained, according to Dioscorides, because Circe, 
 who was expert in herbal lore, used it as a tempting powder in 
 amorous concerns. 
 
 ENDIVE. — The Endive or Succory {Cichonum) is, according 
 to the oldest Greek Alexandrian translations of the Bible, one of 
 the "bitter herbs" which the Almighty commanded the Israelites 
 to eat with the lamb at the institution of the Feast of the Passover. 
 The garden Endive (C. Endivia) is probably the plant celebrated 
 by Horace as forming a part of his simple diet : its leaves are used 
 in salads, and its root, under the name of Chicory, is extensively 
 used to mingle with Coffee. Immense quantities of Endive were 
 used by the ancient Egyptians, who called it Chicouryeh, and from 
 this word is derived the generic name Cichorium. The wild Suc- 
 cory (C. Intyhus) opens its petals at 8 a.m., and closes them at 4 p.m.^ 
 
 " On upland slopes the shepherds mark 
 The hour when, to the dial true, 
 Cichorium to the towering lark 
 Lifts her soft eye, serenely blue." 
 
 The Germans say that once upon a time the Endives were men 
 under a ban. The blue flowers, which are plentiful, were good 
 
 men ; the white flowers, much rarer, were evil-doers. The blue 
 
 star-like blossom is a most popular flower in Germany: it is the 
 Wegewarte—ih.e watcher of the roads ; the Wegekuchte, or lighter of 
 the road ; the Sonnmwende, or Solstice ; the Sannenkraut, or herb of 
 the sun ; and the VerflucUe Jungfer, or accursed maiden. An ancient 
 ballad of Austrian Silesia recounts the history of a young girl who 
 for seven years mourned for her lover, fallen in the wars. When 
 her friends wished to console her, and to procure for her another 
 lover, she replied: " I shall cease to weep only when I become a 
 
 wild flower by the wayside." Another version of the German 
 
 legend is that a loving maiden anxiously expedled the return of her 
 betrothed from a voyage upon which he had long since set out. 
 Every mornmg she paced the road where she had last bade adieu 
 to him • every evening she returned. Thus she wearily passed her 
 time during many a long month. At last, utterly worn out with 
 watching and waiting, she sank exhausted by the wayside, and, 
 broken-hearted, expired. On the spot where she breathed her last 
 
o 
 
 26 pPant Tsore, T3cgelJ&/, ariS. fei^rity. 
 
 sigh sprang up a little pale flower which was the Wegewarte, the 
 
 watcher of the road. In Bavaria, the same legend is met with, 
 
 differing only in details. A young and beautiful princess was 
 abandoned by her husband, a young prince of extraordinary beauty. 
 Grief exhausted her strength, and finding herself on the point of 
 death, she exclaimed: " Ah, how willingly would I die if I could 
 only be sure of seeing my loved one, wherever I may be. Her 
 ladies-in-waiting, hearing her desire, solemnly added: " And we also 
 would willingly die if only we were assured that he would always 
 see us on every roadside." The merciful God heard from heaven 
 their heart-felt desires, and granted them. " Happily," said He, 
 " your wishes can be fulfilled ; I will change you into flowers. 
 You, Princess, you shall remain with your white mantle on every 
 road traversed by your husband ; you, young women, shall remain 
 by the roadside, habited in blue, so that the prince must see 
 you everywhere." Hence the Germans call the wild Succory, 
 
 Wegewarten. Gerarde tells us that Placentinus and Crescentius 
 
 termed the Endive, Sponsa solis, Spouse of the Sun (a name applied 
 by Porta to the Heliotrope), and we find in De Gubernatis' Mythologie 
 des Plantes, the following passage : — " Professor Mannhardt quotes 
 the charming Roumanian ballad, in which is recounted how the 
 Sun asked in marriage a beautiful woman known as Domna Florilof, 
 or the Lady of the Flowers ; she refused him, whereupon the Sun, 
 in revenge, transformed her into the Endive, condemned for ever 
 to gaze on the Sun as soon as he appears on the horizon, and to 
 close her petals in sadness as the luminary disappears. The name 
 of Domna Florilor, a kind of Flora, given by the Roumanians to the 
 woman loved by the Sun, reminds us somewhat of the name of 
 Fioraliso, given in Italy to the Cornflower, and which I supposed 
 to have represented the Sun. The Roumanian legend has, without 
 doubt, been derived from an Italian source, in its turn a develop- 
 ment of a Grecian myth — to wit, the amour of the Sun, Phoebus, 
 
 with the lovely nymph Clytie." (See Heliotrope). There is a 
 
 Silesian fairy tale which has reference to the Endive : — The magician 
 Batu had a daughter named Czekanka, who loved the youthful 
 Wrawanec ; but a cruel rival slew the beloved one. In despair, 
 Czekanka sought her lover's tomb, and killed herself beside it. 
 Whilst in her death throes, she was changed into the blue Succory, 
 and gave the flower its Silesian name Czekanka. Wrawanec's 
 murderer, jealous of poor Czekanka, even after her death, threw on 
 the plant a swarm of ants, in the hope that the little insedls might 
 destroy the Succory, but the ants, on the contrary, in their rage, 
 set off' in pursuit of the murderer, and so vigorously attacked him, 
 that he was precipitated into a crevasse on the mountain Kotancz. 
 In Germany and in Rome, where a variety of estimable quali- 
 ties are ascribed to the plant, they sell Endive-seed as a panacea, 
 but especially as a love philtre. They would not uproot it with 
 the hand, but with a bit of gold or a stag's horn (which symbolise 
 
pfant Isofe, Tsieger^f, ani. Tstjricy. 327 
 
 the disk and the rays of the Sun), on one of the days of the 
 Apostles (June 29th and July 2Sth). A girl thus uprooting an 
 
 Endive will be assured of the constancy of her lover. Endive, 
 
 carried on the person, is supposed to enable a lover to inspire the 
 objecft of his affe(5lions with a belief that he possesses all the good 
 qualities she could wish for. Endive-root breaks all bonds, removes 
 
 thorns from the flesh, and even renders the owner invisible. 
 
 The herb is held to be under the rule of Venus. 
 
 ERAGROSTIS. — Among the Hindus, the Emgrostis cyno- 
 
 suroides is considered a sacred Grass, and is employed by them for 
 
 strewing the floors of their temples. In England, it is known as 
 X,ove Grass. 
 
 ERYSIMUM.— The Hedge Mustard, Bank Cress, or Jack- 
 by-the-Hedge {Erysimum Barbarea) is called by the French St. Bar- 
 bara's Hedge Mustard and the Singer's Plant (herhe au chantre), and 
 up to the time of Louis XIV. was considered an infallible remedy 
 in cases of loss of voice. Racine, writing to Boileau, recommended 
 the syrup of Erysimum to him when visiting the waters of Bour- 
 bonne, in order to be cured of loss of voice. Boileau replied that 
 he had heard the best accounts of the Erysimum, and that he 
 
 meant to use it the following summer. The plant is held to be 
 
 under Mercury. 
 
 ERYNGO. — The Sea Eryngo [Eryngium maritimum) is, per- 
 haps, better known by the name of Sea Holly, which has been given 
 it on account of the striking resemblance of its foliage to the 
 Holly. According to Rapin, Eryngo possessed magical properties, 
 inasmuch as, if worn by young married women, it ensured the 
 fidelity of their husbands. On this account, Sappho employed it 
 to secure the love of Phaon, the handsome boatman of Mitylene, 
 for whom the poetess had conceived so violent a passion, that at 
 length, mortified at his coldness, she threw herself into the sea. 
 Rapin says : — 
 
 " Grecian Eryngoes now commence their fame, 
 Which, worn by brides, will fix their husband's flame. 
 And check the conquests of a rival dame. 
 Thus Sappho charmed her Phaon, and did prove 
 (If there be truth in verse) his faith in love. 
 
 Plutarch records that, if one goat took the herb Sea Holly into her 
 mouth, " it caused her first to stand still, and afterwards the whole 
 flock, until such time as the shepherd took it from her mouth." 
 Eryngo-root was formerly much prized as a tonic, and in Queen 
 Elizabeth's time, when prepared with sugar, was called Kissing 
 Comfits. Lord Bacon, recommending the yolks of eggs as very 
 nourishing, when taken with Malmsey or sweet wine, says: "You 
 shall doe well to put in some few slices of Eringium-roots, and a 
 little Amber-grice, for by this meanes, besides the immediate facultie. 
 of nourishment, such drinke will strengthen the back." 
 
328 pPant Tsore, feegel^/, an3. T3i)rio/', 
 
 EUGENIA. — In Burmah, the Eugenia is regarded as a sacred 
 plant. When a spray is cut, prayers and supplications for absent 
 friends and relatives are offered up before it, and twigs and leaves of 
 it are kept in consecrated water in almost every house, and occasion- 
 ally the different apartments are sprinkled with it as a protedtive 
 against ghosts, ogres, and evil spirits. The twigs of Eugenia are 
 sometimes hung about the eaves, and in many cases a small plant 
 is kept growing in a pot in the house, so that its benign in- 
 fluence may keep harm away. In cases of cholera epidemic, 
 
 the natives of the afFe(5led distri(5l betake themselves to a Buddhist 
 monastery, carrying presents and a small pot partly filled with 
 water, and containing leaves of a species of Eugenia (Tha- 
 byay-bin), and some coarse yellow string wound round a small 
 stick. These pots are blessed by the Buddhist abbot, and are 
 then taken away by the people, who either hang up the yellow 
 string in little bags round the eaves of their houses, or else wear 
 it coiled round the left wrist. The pots of water and sprigs of 
 Eugenia are kept in the house to guard it from infedlion. 
 
 EUPATORIUM. — Agrimony has derived its name oi Eupa- 
 torium from Mithridates Eupator, King of Pontus, who was skilled 
 in botany and physic, and used this plant as an antidote against 
 the poison with which his enemies at court attempted to destroy 
 him. E. Ayapana, a native of 'Brazil, has long been famed for 
 curing the bites of serpents, and its leaves, when fresh bruised, are 
 
 useful when applied to the face of ulcers. In Italy and Russia, 
 
 magical properties are attributed to this plant. 
 
 EUPHORBIA. — The Euphorbia or Medusa Head possesses 
 the peculiar property of blooming in warm water after apparent 
 death. The milky juice of Euphorbia Canariensis, and some other 
 species of Spurge, produces the drug Euphorbium. The juice of 
 E. heptagona furnishes the Ethiopians with a deadly poison for their 
 arrows. At Bodo, in India, before the doorway of every house, is 
 cultivated a plant of the sacred Sidj, a species of Euphorbia, which 
 is looked upon both as the domestic and national divinity, and to 
 this plant the natives address their prayers and offer up hogs 
 as sacrifices. 
 
 EVERLASTING FLOWERS Writing of the Gnapha- 
 
 Hum Alpinum, Gerarde tells us that in his day English women called 
 it " Live-long," or " Live-for-ever," From hence has originated 
 the name Everlasting, applied to the genus Gnaphalium. The 
 ancients crowned the images of their gods with garlands made of 
 these flowers, and from this circumstance they were frequently 
 called God's flowers. In Spain and Portugal, they are still used 
 to decorate the altars and the images of the saints. The French 
 have named the Gnaphalium, Immortelle, and employ it in the 
 manufacture of the garlands and devices which they place on their 
 coffins and graves. Old writers call the plant Cudweed, Cotton- 
 
pPant Isore, Isegeflt)/, cmS. Tsijrio/. 329 
 
 weed, Gold-flower, Goldilocks, Golden Stoechas, and Golden-flower 
 Gentle. One species has obtained the name of Herba Impia, because 
 the later flowers grow higher, and, as Gerarde says, " overtop those 
 that come first, as many wicked children do unto their parents." 
 
 EYEBRIGHT.— The Eyebright or Euphrasy {Euphrasia 
 officinalis) was formerly called Euphrosyne, after one of the Graces. 
 This name became subsequently corrupted to Euphrasy. The 
 plant was also known as Ocularis and Ophthalmica, on account of 
 its use in the treatment of disorders of the eye. According to 
 Coles, it obtained the name of Eyebright from its being employed 
 by the linnet to clear its sight ; other old authors also say that 
 birds made use of it to repair their vision. Arnoldus affirms that 
 the plant restored sight to people who had been blind a long while ; 
 and Gerarde says that, taken either alone or in any other way, it 
 preserves the sight, and, " being feeble and lost, it restores the 
 same : it is given most fitly being beaten into pouder ; oftentimes a 
 like quantitie of Fennell-seed is added thereto, and a little Mace, 
 to the which is put so much sugar as the weight of them all commeth 
 to." It was also believed to comfort the memory, and assist a 
 weak brain. Milton, Drayton, Shenstone, and other poets have 
 celebrated the powers of Euphrasy, and we find Spenser writing : — 
 
 " Yet Euphrasia may not be left unsung. 
 That gives dim eyes to wander leagues around." 
 
 Astrologers state that the Eyebright is under the sign of the Lion, 
 and the Sun claims dominion over it. 
 
 FAIR MAIDS. — Fair Maids of February are Snowdrops, so 
 called from their delicate white blossoms opening about the second 
 of that month, when it was customary for maidens, dressed in white, 
 to walk in procession at the Feast of the Purification. P'air Maids 
 of France are double Crowfoots, or a particular variety, originally 
 introduced from France, viz.. Ranunculus aconitif alius. 
 
 FELD^VODE. — Medea, the enchantress, is said by Gower 
 to have employed a certain herb, Feldwode: — 
 " The toke she Feldwode and Verveine, 
 Of herbes ben nought better tweine." 
 
 This herb is generally supposed to have been the yellow Gentian, 
 or Baldmoney, Gentiana lutea. (See Gentian.) 
 
 FENNEL. — Fenckle, or Fennel {Fmniculum), was employed 
 bv the ancients in the composition of wreaths, to be worn by vigors 
 after the o-ames in the arena. The gladiators mixed this plant with 
 their food^'to increase their strength. The god Sylvanus was some- 
 times crowned with Fennel. In later tmies. Fennel was strewn 
 
 across the pathway of newly-married couples, and was generally liked 
 for its odour; thus Opheha says: "There's Fennel for you, and 
 
 Columbine " Pliny records that serpents are wonderfully fond 
 
 of this plant, inasmuch as it restores them to youth by causmg 
 
330 pfant bore, l3ege'rj&/, oriel Tsijrie/'. 
 
 them to cast their old skin, and by its use they recover their sight 
 if it becomes dim. Gerarde says, that the seed"drunke for cer- 
 taine daies together, fasting, preserveth the eyesight, whereof was 
 written this distichon following : — 
 
 " Fmniculum, Rosa, VerbenH, Chelidonia, Ruta, 
 Ex his fit aqua qua lumina reddit acuta. 
 
 " Of Fennell, Roses, Vervain, Rue, and Celandine, 
 Is made a water, good to cheere the sight of eine." 
 
 The ancients believed that the use of Fennel gave strength to the 
 constitution, and made fat people grow lean. The roots of Fennel, 
 pounded with honey, were considered a remedy for the bites of 
 
 inad dogs. Fennel is one of the numerous plants dedicated 
 
 to St. John, and was formerly hung over doors and windows on 
 his vigil. Astrologers state it is a herb of Mercury under Virgo. 
 
 FERN. — Among Celtic and Germanic nations the Fern was 
 formerly considered a sacred and auspicious plant. Its luck-bringing 
 power was not confined to one species, but belonged to the tribe in 
 general, dwelling, however, in the fullest perfecftion in the seed, the 
 possessor of which could wish what he would, and the Devil would 
 be obliged to bring it to him. In Swabia, they say that Fern-seed 
 brought by the Devil between eleven and twelve on Christmas 
 night enables a man to do as much work as twenty or thirty 
 ordinary men. 
 
 In mediaeval days, when sorcery flourished, it was thought 
 the Fern-seed imparted to its owner the power of resisting magical 
 charms and incantations. The ancients believed that the Fern 
 had no seeds, but our ancestors thought it had seed which was 
 invisible. Hence, after the fantastic dodlrine of signatures, they 
 concluded that those who possessed the secret of wearing this seed 
 about them would become invisible. Thus, we find that, in 
 Shakspeare's ' Henry IV.,' Gadshill says : " We steal as in a 
 castle, cock-sure : we have the receipt of Fern-seed, we walk in- 
 visible." 
 
 The people of Westphalia are wont to relate how one of their 
 countrymen chanced one Midsummer night to be looking for a foal 
 he had lost, and passing through a meadow just as the Fern-seed 
 was ripening, some of it fell into his shoes. In the morning he went 
 home, walked into the sitting-room, and sat down, but thought it 
 strange that neither his wife, nor indeed any of his family, took the 
 slightest notice of him. " I have not found the foal," said he. 
 Everybody in the room started and gazed around with scared looks, 
 for they had heard the man's voice, but saw no one. Thinking that 
 he was joking, and had hid himself, his wife called him by his 
 name. Thereupon he stood up, planted himself in the middle of 
 the floor, and said, " Why do you call me ? Here I am right before 
 you." Then they were more frightened than ever, for they had 
 heard him stand up and walk, and still they could not see him. 
 
pfant bore, TsegeT^/, dnSi Tsijpicy. 331 
 
 The man now became aware that he was invisible, and a thought 
 struck him that possibly he might have got Fern-seed in his 
 shoes, for he felt as if there was sand in them. So he took them off, 
 and shook out the Fern-seed, and as he did so he became visible 
 again to everybody. 
 
 A belief in the mystic power of Fern-seed to make the gatherer 
 walk invisible is still extant. The English tradition is, that the 
 Fern blooms and seeds only at twelve o'clock on Midsummer night 
 — St. John's Eve — ^just at the precise moment at which the Saint 
 was born — 
 
 " But on St. John's mysterious night, 
 
 Sacred to many a wizard spell. 
 The hour when first to human sight 
 , Confest, the mystic Fern-seed fell." 
 
 In Dr. Jackson's Works (1673) we read that he once ques- 
 tioned one of his parishioners as to what he saw or heard when he 
 watched the falling of the Fern-seed, whereupon the man informed 
 him that this good seed is in the keeping of Oberon (or Elberich), 
 King of the Fairies, who would never harm anyone watching it. 
 He then said to the worthy dotflor, " Sir, you are a scholar, and I 
 am none. Tell me, what said the angel to our Lady ; or what con- 
 ference had our Lady with her cousin Elizabeth, concerning the 
 birth of St. John the Baptist ? " Finding Dodlor Jackson unable 
 to answer him, he told him that " the angel did foretell John Bap- 
 tist should be born at that very instant in which the Fern-seed — at 
 other times invisible — did fall : intimating further that this saint of 
 God had some extraordinary vertue from the time or circumstance 
 of his birth." 
 
 To catch the wonder-working seed, twelve pewter plates must 
 be taken to "the spot where the Fern grows : the seed, it is affirmed, 
 will pass through eleven of the plates, and rest upon the twelfth. 
 This is one account : another says that Midsummer night is the 
 most propitious time to procure the, mystic Fern-seed, but that the 
 seeker must go bare-footed, and in his shirt, and be in a religious 
 state of mind. 
 
 In ancient days it was thought the demons watched to convey 
 away the Fern-seed as it fell ere anyone could possess themselves 
 of it. A writer on Brittany states that he remembers to have heard 
 recounted by one who had gathered Fern-seed, that whilst he was 
 prosecuting his search the spirits grazed his ears, whistling past 
 them like bullets, knocking off his hat, and hitting him with it all 
 over his body. At last, when he thought that he had gathered 
 enough of the mystic seed, he opened the case he had been putting 
 it into, and lo ! it was empty. The Devil had evidently had the 
 
 best of it. , , . 
 
 M. Marmier, in his Ligendes des Plantes, writes: — "It is on 
 Midsummer night that you should go and seek the Fern-seed : he 
 who is fortunate enough to find it will indeed be happy. He will 
 
532 pPant teore, Tsege'^/, dHel feijrio/. 
 
 have the strength of twenty men, he will discover precious metals 
 in the bowels of the earth, he will comprehend the present and the 
 future. Up to the present time, however, no one has been able to 
 secure this precious seed. It ripens but for a minute, and the 
 Devil guards it with ferocious vigilance." 
 
 De Gubernatis, in his Mythologie des Plantes, publishes a com- 
 munication sent him by the Princess Marie Galitzin Prazorovskai'a, 
 on the subjedl of the flowering of the Fern, the details of which she 
 obtained from a Russian peasant. " On Midsummer night, before 
 twelve o'clock, with a white napkin, a cross, a Testament, a glass 
 of water, and a watch, one seeks in the forest the spot where the 
 Fern grows ; one traces with the cross a large circle ; one spreads 
 the napkin, placing on the cross the Testament and the glass of 
 water. Then one attentively looks at one's watch :' at the precise 
 midnight hour the Fern will bloom : one watches attentively ; for 
 he who shall see the Fern-seed drop shall at the same time see 
 many other marvels ; for example, three suns, and a full moon, which 
 reveals every objedt, even the most hidden. One hears laughter ; 
 one is conscious of being called ; if one remains quiet one will hear 
 all that is happening in the world, and all that is going to happen." 
 
 In a work by Markevic, the author says : — " The Fern flowers 
 on Midsummer night at twelve o'clock, and drives away all unclean 
 spirits. First of all it put forth buds, which afterwards expand, 
 then open, and finally change into flowers of a dark red hue. At 
 midnight, the flower opens to its fullest extent, and illuminates 
 everything around. But at that precise moment a demon plucks 
 it from its stalk. Whoever wishes to procure this flower must be 
 in the forest before midnight, locate himself near the Fern, and 
 trace a circle around it. When the Devil approaches and calls, 
 feigning the voice of a parent, sweetheart, &c., no attention must 
 be paid, nor must the head be turned, for if it is, it will remain so. 
 Whoever becomes the happy possessor of the flower has nothing 
 to fear : by its means he can recover lost treasure, become invisible, 
 rule on earth and under water, and defy the Devil. To discover 
 hidden treasure, it is only necessary to throw the flower in the air : 
 if it turns like a star above the Sun, so that it falls perpendicularly 
 in the same spot, it is a sure indication that treasure is concealed 
 there." 
 
 A very ancient method prescribed for obtaining the mystic 
 Fern-seed is given by Dr. Kuhn. At the Summer solstice, if you 
 shoot at the Sun when it has attained its mid-day height, three 
 drops of blood will fall : they must be gathered up and preserved, 
 for that is the Fern-seed. 
 
 The Franche-Comt6 peasantry talk of a mysterious plant that 
 misleads travellers. According to a German authority, this plant 
 is no other than the Fern on Midsummer night. As we have 
 seen, on that night the Fern is reputed to flower, and to let fall its 
 seed : he who secures this seed, becomes invisible ; but if the unsus- 
 
pedling traveller passes by the Fern without noticing it, he will be 
 assuredly misled, even although well acquainted with the road. 
 This is the reason why, in Thuringia, they call the Fern Irrhrautf 
 the misleading plant. 
 
 In Poland, there is a popular notion that the plucking of Fern 
 produces a violent thunderstorm. 
 
 In Germany, they call the Fern Walpurgiskraut, the superstition 
 being that, on the Walpurgisnacht, the witches procure this plant in 
 order to render themselves invisible. In Lombardy, there exists 
 a popular superstition akin to this. The witches, they say, are 
 particularly fond of the Fern; they gathered it to rub in their 
 hands during a hailstorm, turning it from the side where the hail 
 falls the thickest. 
 
 The root of the common Male Fern {Filix mas), was an im- 
 portant ingredient in the love-philtres of former days. An old 
 Gaelic bard sings : — 
 
 " 'Twas the maiden's matchless beauty 
 That drew my heart anigh ; 
 Not the Fern-root potion, 
 But the glance of her blue eye." 
 
 In olden times the young scroll-like fronds of this Fern were 
 called Lucky Hands, or St. John's Hands, and were believed to pro- 
 tedt the possessor from sorcery, witches' spells, and the Evil Eye. 
 In Germany, the Male Fern was formerly called Johanniswurtzel; 
 and both on the Continent, and in England, it was the custom, on 
 Midsummer Eve, to gather this Fern, which was sold to the cre- 
 dulous, who wore it about their persons, and mingled it with 
 the water drunk by their cows, as a protedlion against all evil 
 sprits, and to ensure good luck. It is believed, in Thuringia, that 
 if anyone carries Fern about him, he will be pursued by serpents 
 until he throws it away. In Sweden, the plant is called Snake- 
 bane. 
 
 An ancient notion prevailed, that the Male Fern had an 
 antipathy to the Reed; and that where one grew, the other was 
 sure to be absent. According to Dioscorides, "the root hereof is 
 reported to be good for those that have ill spleens; and being 
 stamped with swine's grease and applied, it is a remedy against 
 the pricking of the Reed." Other old herbalists state, that the 
 roots of the Male Fern, and the Lady Fern {Filix fcemina), boiled 
 in oil, produced "very profitable ointments to heal wounds." The 
 Ophioglossum had, in olden times, the reputation of being a cure for 
 the bite of serpents. (See also Bracken). 
 
 According to Cornish fairy mythology, the Fern was connecfled 
 with the Small Folk, who are believed to be the spirits of the 
 people who inhabited Cornwall thousands of years ago — long 
 before the birth of Christ. In the legend of the Fairy Widower, a 
 pretty girl, Jenny Permuen, a village coquette, one day set off to 
 " look for a place," At the jundlion of four cross roads, she sat 
 
334 pfant bore, hegef^f, anil T3ijri<y. 
 
 down on a boulder of granite, and thoughtlessly began to break off 
 the beautiful fronds of Ferns which grew all around. Suddenly a 
 young man appeared before her, and addressing her by name, 
 enquired what brought her there. Jenny replied that she wished 
 to obtain a situation, and was on her road to the market town. 
 The young man said he was a widower, and in want of a young 
 woman to take care of his little son ; and that as he liked Jenny's 
 good looks, he would engage her there and then for a year and a 
 day, and pay her well ; but that he should require her to swear his 
 oath, which consisted in kissing a Fern-leaf, and repeating the 
 formula : — ■ 
 
 " For a year and a day, 
 I promise to stay." 
 
 Jenny was charmed and flattered ; all sorts of visions rose before 
 er eyes, and, without hesitation, she took the oath and followed 
 the stranger eastward. In silence the pair walked on, until the girl 
 was quite weary ; then they sat down on a bank, and the young 
 man taking a bunch of leaves passed them rapidly over Jenny's 
 eyes : her weariness departed as if by magic, and she found herself 
 in fairy-land, with her mysterious master. He led her to a splendid 
 mansion, and introduced her to his little boy, who was so beautiful 
 that he instantly won her love. The girl continued at her duties 
 in fairy-land for the allotted time ; then, one morning, upon awaking, 
 she found herself sleeping in her own bed in her mother's cottage ; 
 and the old gossips of the village, upon hearing her story, knew 
 that she had been carried by the Small People to some of their 
 countries under the hills. 
 
 FIG. — There are several mythological accounts of the origin 
 of the Fig. According to one, Ly ceus, o ne_of theJTit ans, p ursued 
 by Jupiter, was metajBXjrphosedXinoaTT^tree^by^ 
 Another story attributes to her husbandTSaturri, theorigin "of^he 
 Fig-tree, and on this account theinhabitants bf^C yrened ecR the 
 statue of the god with crowns of Figs. A third myth relates'that 
 the Fig-tree is the offspring of the loves of Oxylus, King of Elis, 
 with a Hamadryad. Bacchus, however, was^^gerreraiijrconsidered 
 to have^T^nTrbduced the Fig to mortals : hence the tree was 
 sacred to him, and he is often represented as crowned with Fig- 
 leaves. On this account, also, it was customary to make an 
 offering of the first Figs to the jovial god. At the Canephoria 
 festivals at Athens, in honour of Bacchus, the female votaries wore 
 round their necks collars composed of dried Figs; and at the 
 Dionysian festivals, a basket of Figs formed a prominent feature in 
 
 the procession. At Rome, the Fig was carried next to the Vine 
 
 in the processions in honour of Bacchus, as the patron of plenty 
 and joy ; and Bacchus was supposed to have derived his corpulence 
 and vigour, not from the Vine, but from the Fig. Under the name of 
 the Ficus ruminalis, the Romans jealously guarded the sacred wild 
 Fig-tree, upon the roots of which stranded the cradle containing 
 
pPant Isore, hegerfOf, dnSi Isijncy, 335 
 
 the infants Romulus and Remus, when the Tiber bore it to the foot 
 of the Palatine. Fig-trees are seldom aifedted by lightning, but this 
 celebrated Ruminal Fig-tree of Rome was once struck during a 
 thunderstorm, and was ever afterwards held doubly sacred ; the an- 
 cients considering that lightning purified every objecft it touched. 
 The Romans bestowed upon Jupiter the surname of Ruminus, be- 
 cause he presided over the nourishment of mankind, and they had a 
 goddess Rumina, who presided over the female breasts, and whose 
 oblations were of milk only. These words are both derived from 
 mma, a teat ; and hence the tree under which Romulus and Remus 
 had been suckled by the she-wolf was the Rumina Ficus, a name 
 most appropriate, because the Fig was the symbol of generation 
 and fecundity. The Fig was consecrated to Juno, as the goddess 
 presiding over marriages and at nuptial festivities. Figs were 
 always carried in a mystic vase. The statues of Priapus, god of 
 orchards, were often made of the wood of the Fig, and the tree 
 was also dedicated to Mercury. Notwithstanding this reverence 
 for the Ficus ntminalis, the Romans considered the Fig a tree 
 at once impure and ill-omened. This is shown by the adlions 
 of the Arvales (twelve priests of Rome, descended from the 
 nurse of Romulus), who made special expiations when the Fig- 
 tree — the impure tree — sprang up by chance on the roof of the 
 temple of the goddess Dia, where Vestals officiated. After they 
 had uprooted the desecrating tree, they destroyed the temple 
 
 as being defiled. Pausanias relates that, according to an 
 
 oracle, the Messenians were to be abandoned by heaven in their 
 struggles with the Spartans, so soon as a goat {tragos) should drink 
 the water of the Neda : the Messenians, therefore, drove out of 
 their country all the goats. But in Messenia grew the wild Fig, 
 which was also called tmgos. One of these wild Figs having sprung 
 up on the banks of the Neda, its branches soon dipped mto the 
 flowing waters of the river beneath it. The oracle was fulfilled — 
 a tragos had drunk the water of the Neda : sooh afterwards the 
 Messenians were defeated. The soothsayer Calchas, accord- 
 ing to tradition, owed his death in a measure to the Fig-tree. 
 Challenged by the seer Mopsus, of whom he was jealous, to 
 a trial of their skill in divination, Calchas first asked his anta- 
 gonist how many Figs a neighbouring tree bore. " Ten thousand 
 except one," was the reply of his rival, " and one smgle vessel can 
 contain them all." The Figs were carefully gathered, and his 
 prediaions were literally true. It was then the turn of Mopsus 
 to try his adversary. Calchas failed to answer the question put to 
 him and Mopsus was adjudged victor. So mortified was Calchas 
 
 at the result of this trial, that he pined away and died. 
 
 The ancient Egyptians held the Fig-leaf sacred to the goddess Isis. 
 
 -pi^g Pig is supposed to have been the first cultivated fruit 
 
 tasted bv man : beneath the boughs of the Fig-tree Adam hid him- 
 self after having eaten the forbidden fruit; with its leaves he 
 
endeavoured to hide his nakedness. Cakes of Figs were included 
 in the presents of provisions by which the wife of Nabal appeased 
 the wrath of David (i Sam. xxv., i8). The want of blossom on 
 the Fig-tree was considered as one of the most grievous calamities 
 by the Jews ; for, growing as it did in Palestine on the Vine, the 
 tree -became with the Israelit es an e mblem of peace and pUnty^ onH' 
 that^ecufity"wHicIT7 in ancient times, was thought to be enjoyed by 
 "every manj^^J^iSTfWR'lFig-iree.^* "Near'ffie^city of On, there 
 was sho'wii for many centuries the sacred Fig-tree under which the 
 
 Holy Family rested during the flight into Egypt. St. Augustine 
 
 tells us, in his Confessions, that while still unconverted and in deep 
 communion with his friend Alypius on the subjedt of the Scriptures, 
 the contest within his mind was so sharp, that he hastened from 
 the presence of his friend and threw himself down beneath a Fig- 
 tree, weeping and lamenting. Then he heard what seemed the 
 voice of a child proceeding apparently from the tree, repeating 
 again and again " Tolle, lege," (Take and read) ; and returning to 
 his friend, he took up the sacred volume, and opened it at St. 
 Paul's words: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." He was struck 
 with the coincidence ; and considering it a Divine call, he then and 
 
 there resolved to take up the religious profession. In India, the 
 
 Fig-tree is greatly esteemed; one species, Ficus glomerata, is held 
 sacred by the Hindus ; and the Ficus Indica, or Banyan-tree, is one 
 
 ol the most highly venerated trees on the earth (see Banyan). 
 
 The Andalusians have a saying, "On this life depends," in connec- 
 tion with the Fig-tree, the fruit of which they eat, fasting, in the morn- 
 ing. The Germans have a proverb, " Figs will not grow either on 
 Brambles or Thistles." Another proverb tells us that " He who 
 has Figs has riches."— — In Sicily, the Fig-tree is looked upon as 
 a tree of ill-omen. It is there thought to be the tree on which Judas 
 hung himself, and never to have thrived well since that occurrance. 
 There is an old superstition that in each leaf of a Fig-tree lurks an 
 evil spirit ; and certain blood-thirsty spectres, called Fauni Ficarii, 
 
 are mentioned in legends. At Avola, it is popularly believed to 
 
 be unwise to sleep beneath the shade of a Fig-tree during the 
 warmth of Summer ; should, however, anyone be foolhardy enough 
 to do so, there will appear before him the figure of a nun, holding 
 a knife in her hand, who will compel him to say whether he will 
 take it by the blade or by the handle ; if he answer, by the blade, 
 he will be forthwith slain ; but should he seledt the handle, he will 
 
 have all manner of good fortune in store for him. In Palermo, 
 
 they deck the Fig-tree with branches of the wild Fig woven into 
 
 garlands, in order to ensure the fruit ripening. A Fig-tree has 
 
 something to do in the way of preventing hydrophobia, if we may 
 believe the following ancient Enghsh superstition: — "For tear of 
 mad hound, take the worms which be under a mad hound's tongue, 
 snip them away, lead them round about a Fig-tree, give them to 
 him who hath been rent ; he will soon be healed." To dream of 
 
Figs implies an accession of wealth, prosperity, and happiness, 
 the realisation of wishes, and a happy old age. 
 
 FILBERT. — ^John Gower, in his Confessio Amantis, suggests 
 that the origin of the word Filbert is to be sought in the metamor- 
 phosis of the Thracian princess Phyllis into a Nut-tree, or, more 
 precisely, into the Almond ; this view is strengthened by the fatft 
 that the old English names for both tree and nut was Fylberde, 
 or Filberd ; although another explanation of this word is that the 
 tree was so called after a King Philibert. In olden times the dis- 
 tindtion drawn between nuts of a good and those of the best 
 quality, was by terming the former the short-bearded, and the 
 latter the long-bearded, or full-bearded — whence, according to a 
 
 popular belief, by corruption, Filbert. Authorities in dream lore 
 
 tell us that to dream of Filberts is a happy augury, a sign of good 
 health and happy old age. It also denotes success in love, and 
 happiness in the married state, with a numerous family, who will 
 
 marry well, and occupy a high place in society. Filbert-trees 
 
 are held to be under the dominion of Mercury. 
 
 FIR. — The ancient Egyptians adopted the Fir-cone as the 
 
 symbol of their goddess Isis. The Fir is the Fire-tree, the most 
 
 inflammable of woods. Gerarde writes of Firs in Cheshire, Staf- 
 fordshire, and Lancashire, "where they grew in great plenty, as is 
 reputed, before Noah's floud; but then being overturned and over- 
 whelmed, have lien since in the woods and waterie moorish grounds, 
 very fresh and sound, untill this day; and so full of a resinous 
 substance, that theyburne like a torch or linke, and the inhabitants 
 of those countries do call it Fir-wood and Fire-wood unto this 
 
 day." In the traditions of northern countries, the Fir occupies 
 
 a similar position to the Pine. He is king of the forest ; and so, in 
 Switzerland and the Tyrol, the Geni of the Forest is always repre- 
 sented with an uprooted Fir-tree in his hand. This Geni dwells 
 by preference in the Fir, and especially loves old trees. When 
 one of these trees is cut down, the Geni grieves, and pleads for 
 its life. Old Firs, like old Oaks and Birches, are especially re- 
 spected when standing solitary. De Gubernatis relates an 
 
 anecdote of a colossal Fir-tree which grew by itself, at Tarssok, in 
 Russia. This tree had withstood several lightning-blasts, and 
 was supposed to be several hundred years old, as shown by 
 its barkless trunk and its bare branches. At last, in a gale of wind, 
 it fell ; but so great a respecft had the country-people for the old 
 tree, that they would not make any profit from the sale of the huge 
 
 trunk, but presented the proceeds to the Church. In Denmark, 
 
 Sweden, Russia, and Germany, they use the Fir as the Christmas- 
 tree, and this custom has now taken firm root m England. 
 
 just' as in many parts of Germany, on Christmas-night, they beat 
 trees, so that they may bear fruit, so at Hildesheini in Hanover, 
 at Shrove-tide, the peasantry solicit gifts from the women, whippmg 
 
 z 
 
33^ pfant Isora, h&QzrfOf, dn3i feyHc/, 
 
 them meanwhile with branches of Fir or Rosemary. This curious 
 custom is supposed to signify their desire to have children. In 
 Northern Germany, newly-married couples often carry in their 
 hands branches of Fir, with lighted candles affixed, perhaps in 
 imitation of the Roman fasces. At Weimar, and other places, they 
 plant Fir-trees before the house where a wedding has taken place. 
 In Austrian Silesia, the May-pole is always of Fir. In the Harz, 
 on Midsummer night, they decorate Fir-trees with flowers and 
 coloured eggs, or, more generally, branches of Fir, which they stick 
 in the ground, and dance around, singing the while some verses 
 appropriate to the occasion. In Northern Germany, when they 
 drive the cattle to pasture for the first time, they often decorate 
 the last cow with small boughs of Firs, as showing their wish for 
 
 a pasturage favourable to the fecundity of the cattle. From 
 
 wounds made in the Balm of Gilead Fir {Abies BcUsamea), a very 
 fine turpentine is obtained, which is sometimes sold as the true 
 
 Balm of Gilead. To dream you are in a forest of Fir-trees is a 
 
 sign of suffering. A Moldavian legend relates that, out of envy,' 
 
 the elder sister of a queen changed the two beautiful twin princes 
 she had just given birth to, for two ugly black children, which she 
 placed in their cradle instead. She then buried the young princes 
 alive in the garden, and as soon as possible went to the king, and 
 told him his queen had given birth to two odious black babies. 
 The king in revenge shut up his wife in a dungeon, and made the 
 elder sister his queen. Suddenly, among the flowers of the garden, 
 there spring up two Fir-trees, who, in the evening, talk and confide 
 to each other that they cannot rest whilst their mother is weeping in 
 her lonely dungeon. Then they make themselves known to the 
 poor ex-queen as her children, and tell her how much they love and 
 pity her. Meanwhile the wicked queen awakes one night and 
 listens. She is filled with dread, and makes the king promise that 
 the two Fir-trees shall be cut down. Accordingly, the young trees 
 are felled and thrown into the fire ; when, immediately, two bright 
 sparks fly out, and fall far away among the flowers: they are the 
 two young princes, who have again escaped, and who are now 
 determined to bring to light the crime of their detestable aunt. 
 Some time after there is a grand festival at the king's palace; 
 and a great "claca" (assembly) is gathered there to string pearls 
 for the queen. Among the guests appear two beautiful children, 
 with golden hair, who seem to be twin brothers. Whilst the 
 pearl-stringing goes on, stories are told by the guests, and at last 
 it comes to the turn of the twin brothers, who relate the sad story 
 of the imprisoned queen, and reveal the crime of her sister. As 
 they speak, their pearls continue to string themselves in a mira- 
 culous manner, so that the king, observing this, knows that they 
 are telling the truth. When their story is finished, he acknowledges 
 them as his sons, restores their mother to her position as queen, 
 and orders her wicked sister to be torn asunder by wild horses. 
 
pPant Tsorc, TsegalTQ/, onol laijrio/. 339 
 
 Flag. — See Acorus and Iris. 
 
 FLAME TREE.— The Nuytsia florihunda, called the Flame 
 or Fire-tree, is a native of West Australia. This tree is most 
 remarkable in many respedts: it belongs to the same Natural 
 Order as the Mistletoe— an order numerous in species, most of 
 those inhabiting warm countries having brilliantly-coloured flowers, 
 and, with two exceptions, stricflly parasitical on the branches of 
 other trees. One of these exceptions is the Flame-tree; but 
 although Nuytsia fioribunda is terrestrial, and has all the aspedt of 
 an independent tree, it is thought to be parasitical on the roots of 
 some neighbouring tree or shrub, because all attempts to rear seed- 
 lings have proved unsuccessful. Its trunk is soft, like pith, yet it 
 has a massive appearance. Its gorgeous fiery flowers are more 
 brilliant than flames, for they are undimmed by smoke. 
 
 FLAX. — There are certain plants which, having been culti- 
 vated from time immemorial, are not now to be found in a wild 
 state, and have no particular history. The common Flax [Linum 
 usitatissimum) has been thought to be one of these. Flax is mentioned 
 both in Geijesis and Exodus : at least Joseph was clothed in linen, 
 and the Flax^-w^sblighted in the fields. But modern research has 
 shown that the FlajTof-the-ancients was Linum angustifolium, the nar- 
 row-leaved Flax ; and the same fact has-been -dev^^oped in regard 
 
 — ^TBS--' 
 
 to the Flax of the Lake-dwellers in Switzerland. ^TBs~fiBeJinen 
 
 of Egypt is frequently referred to in Scripture, and specimensof~ 
 this fabric are to be seen in the linen in which the Egyptian 
 mummies are enfolded. That Flax was also grown in ancient 
 times in Palestine, may be inferred from the fact that Rahab hid 
 
 the Hebrew spies among the Flax spread on her roof.- In the 
 
 mythology of the North, Flax is supposed to be under the protec- 
 tion of the goddess Hulda, but the plant's blue blossom is more espe- 
 cially the flower of Bertha, whose blue eyes shine in its calyx, and 
 
 whose distaff is filled by its fibres. Indian mysticism likens the 
 
 grey dawn and the brightening daybreak to luminous linen and its 
 weavers. The celestial bride, Aurora, weaves the nuptial garment 
 
 the robe of the celestial bridegroom, the Sun.-- — The gods 
 
 attire themselves in luminous robes — white or red, silver or gold. 
 Earthly priests have adopted the white robe in India, Egypt, 
 Asia Minor, Rome, and in all Christian countries. The offspring 
 of the Flax, according to a tradition, represent the rays of the Sun, 
 and clothe the great luminary. In Sicily, to cure headache pro- 
 duced by exposure to the Sun, they burn, with certain incantations, 
 flaxen tow in a glass, from which they have poured out the water it 
 contained : they then place the glass on a white plate, and the plate 
 on the head of the patient : they contend that by this means they 
 extract from his head, and impart to the Flax, all the virtue of the 
 
 Sun. Flax is the symbol of life and of prolific vegetation : on this 
 
 account, in Germany, when an infant thrives but badly, or does 
 
 z — 2 
 
340 pfant boi'e, begcljb/, arii. Isijric/-. 
 
 not learn to walk, they place it naked, either in the Spring or on 
 Midsummer-day, upon the turf, and scatter some Flax-seed on this 
 turf and on the infant itself: then, as soon as the Flax commences 
 
 to grow, the infant should also begin to thrive and to walk. To 
 
 dream of Flax is reputed to augur a good and happy marriage ; to 
 
 dream of spinning Flax, however, betokens coming troubles. 
 
 There is an old superstition that Flax will only flower at the time 
 of day at which it was originally sown. He who sows it must first 
 seat himself thrice on the sack, turning to the east. Stolen seeds 
 
 mingled with the rest cause the crop to thrive. Flax when in 
 
 bloom adls as a talisman against witchcraft, and sorcery can be 
 pra(5lised even with the dry stalks. When the shreds are spun or 
 woven into shirts, under certain incantations, the wearer is secure 
 
 from accidents or wounds. It was the goddess Hulda who first 
 
 taught mortals the art of growing Flax, of spinning, and of weaving 
 it. According to the legendary belief in South Tyrol, she is the 
 especial patroness of the Flax culture in that distridl. Hulda is 
 also the sovereign of the Selige Fraulein, the happy fairy maidens 
 who keep watch and guard over the Flax-plants. Between Kropp- 
 buhl and Unterlassen, is a cave which is believed by the country 
 people to have been the entrance to Queen Hulda's mountain 
 palace. Twice a year she passed through the valley, scattering 
 blessings around her path — once in Summer, when the blue flowers 
 of the Flax were brightening the fields, and again during the myste- 
 rious " twelve nights " immediately preceding our feast of^ the 
 Epiphany, when, in ancient days, the gods and goddesses were 
 believed to visit the earth. Hulda visited the cottagers' homes in 
 the Winter nights to examine the distaff. If the Flax was duly spun 
 off, prosperity attended the family ; but laziness was punished by 
 trouble and blighted crops. Hulda's fairy people, the Selige 
 Fraulein, would sometimes visit deserving folks and aid the Flax- 
 spinning : there is a legend that a peasant woman at Vulpera, near 
 Tarash, thinking that she ought to reward her fairy assistants, set 
 before them a sumptuous meal, but they shook their heads sadly, 
 and, giving the poor woman a never-failing ball of cotton, they 
 said, " This is the recompense for thy goodwill — payment for pay- 
 ment," — and immediately vanished. 
 
 FLEA-BANE. — The star-shaped yellow Flea-bane, or wild 
 Marigold {Inula dysenterica), received its name from the belief that its 
 odour was repulsive to fleas, gnats, and other insecfts. On the 
 flowers of this plant, as well as on those oi Agnus Castus, the Grecian 
 women were made to sleep during the feast of Thesmophoria. The 
 Arabs extol this plant highly as a remedy for wounds. One of 
 their traditions records that flowers of the Inula, bruised, were used 
 by the patriarch Job as an application to those grievous sores which 
 he so pathetically laments. Hence the Flea-bane is called by the 
 men of the desert " Job's Tears." 
 
pfant Isore, Isegeljti/, anil Isijrity, 341 
 
 FLOS ADONIS. — In most European countries the Flos 
 Adonis (the dark-crimsoned Adonis autumnalis) still retains in its 
 nomenclature a legendary conneiflion with the blood of the un- 
 fortunate Adonis, and is called by the Germans Blutstropfchen to the 
 
 present day. Just as from the tears of the sorrowing Venus, 
 
 which fell as she gazed on the bleeding corpse of the beautiful 
 Adonis, there sprang the Anemone, or Wind-flower, so from the 
 blood of the lamented boy which poured forth from the death- 
 wound inflidted by the boar, there proceeded the Adonis-flower, 
 or Flos Adonis. Referring to this, Rapin writes — 
 
 " Th' unhappy fair Adonis likewise flowers, 
 Whom (once a youth) the Cyprian Queen deplores ; 
 He, though transformed, has beauty still to move 
 Her admiration, and secure her love ; 
 Since the same crimson blush the flower adorns 
 Which graced the youth, whose loss the goddess mourns." 
 
 And Shakspeare, in his poem on Venus and Adonis, says — 
 
 " By this the boy that by her side lay killed 
 
 Was melted like a vapour from her sight ; 
 And in his blood that on the ground lay spilled 
 
 A purple flower sprang up, chequered with white, 
 Resembling well his pale cheeks and the blood 
 Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood." 
 
 FLOWER DE LUCE. — The Iris has obtained this name, 
 which is derived from the French Fleur de Louis, from its having 
 been assumed as his device by Louis VII., of France. This title 
 of Fleur de Louis has been changed to Fleur de Luce, Fleur de Lys, 
 
 and Fleur de Lis, (See Iris). A curious superstition exists in 
 
 the distridl around Orleans, where a seventh son without a 
 daughter intervening is called a Marcon. It is believed that the 
 Marcon's body is marked somewhere with a Fleur de Lis, and 
 that if a patient suffering under King's Evil touch this Fleur de 
 Lis, or if the Marcon breathe upon him, the malady will be sure to 
 disappear. 
 
 Flower Gentle, or Floramor. — See Amaranth. 
 
 FLOWERS OF HEAVEN. — Under the names of Rain 
 Tremella and Star Jelly is known a strange gelatinous substance, 
 of no precise form, but of a greenish hue, which creeps over gravelly 
 soils, and is found mixed up with wet Mosses on rocks besides 
 waterfalls: when moist, it is soft and pulpy, but in dry weather it 
 becomes thin, brittle, and black in colour. Linnseus called it 
 Tremella Nostoc, but it is now classed with the Alga Gloiocladece under 
 the name of Nostoc commune, a name first used by the alchymist 
 Paracelsus, but the meaning of which is unknown. During the 
 middle ages, some extraordinary superstitions were afloat concern- 
 ing this plant, which was called Ccelifolium, or Flowers of Heaven. 
 By the alchemists it was considered a universal menstruum. The 
 country people in Germany use it to make their hair grow. In 
 
342 pPant Tsore, Tsege^/, cmS '\3^f'\af, 
 
 England, the country folk of many parts, firmly believed it to be 
 the remains of a falling star, for after a wet, stormy night, these 
 Flowers of Heaven will often be found growing where they were 
 not to be seen the previous evening. 
 
 FLOWERING ROD.— There is a legend in the Apocry- 
 phal Gospel of Mary, according to which Joseph was chosen for 
 Mary's husband because his rod budded into flower, and a dove 
 settled upon the top of it. In pictures of the marriage of Joseph 
 and Mary, the former generally holds the flowering rod. The rod 
 by which the Lord demonstrated that He had chosen Aaron to be 
 His priest, blossomed with Almond-flowers, and was laid up in the 
 Ark (see Almond). 
 
 FORGET-ME-NOT.— The Forget-me-not is a name which, 
 like the Gilliflower, has been applied to a variety of plants. For 
 more than two hundred years it was given, in England, France, 
 and the Netherlands, to the ground Pine, Ajuga Chamcepitys. From 
 the middle of the fifteenth century until 1821, this plant was in all 
 the botanical books called Forget-me-not, on account of the 
 nauseous taste which it leaves in the mouth. Some of the old 
 German botanists gave the name Vergiss mein nicht to the Chamadrys 
 vera fcemina, or Teucrium Botrys. Forglemmmigiche, the coriesponding 
 Danish name, was given to the Veronica chamadrys. This plant was 
 in English called the Speedwell, from its blossoms falling off 
 and flying away, and " Speedwell " being an old form of leave- 
 taking, equivalent to " Farewell " or " Good-bye." In the days of 
 chivalry, a plant, whose identity has not been ascertained, was 
 called " Souveigne vous de moy," and was woven into collars. In 
 1465, one of these collars was the prize at a famous joust, fought 
 between Lord Scales, brother to Elizabeth Woodville, wife of 
 Edward IV., and a French knight of Burgundy. Certain German 
 botanists, as far back as the sixteenth century, seem, however, to 
 have given the name Forget-me-not to the Myosotis palustris ; and 
 this name has become inseparably connedled with the flower, borne 
 on the wings of the following poetic legend: — A knight and his 
 lady-love, who were on the eve of being united, whilst strolling on 
 the bank of the blue Danube, saw a spray of these pretty flowers 
 floating on the waters, which seemed ready to carry it away. The 
 afiianced bride admired the delicate beauty of the blossoms, and 
 regretted their fatal destiny. At this hint, the lover did not hesitate 
 to plunge into the stream. He soon secured the flowers, but the 
 current was too strong for him, and as it bore him past his de- 
 spairing mistress, he flung the fatal flowers on the bank, exclaiming, 
 as he was swept to his doom, " Vergiss mich nichtV 
 
 ' ' And the lady fair of the knight so trae, 
 Aye remembered his hapless lot ; 
 And she cherished the flower of brilliant hue, 
 And braided her hair with the blossoms blue. 
 And she called it Forget-me-not." 
 
pPant Isoi-e, Isegeqli/, oriel laqfiq/-. 343 
 
 According to Grimm, the original Forget-me-not was a certain 
 Luck-flower, concerning which there is a favourite legend in Ger- 
 many (see Key-flower). And there is another traditional origin 
 of the flower, which for antiquity should have the precedence of 
 all others. According to this version, Adam, when he named the 
 plants in Paradise, cautioned them not to forget what he called 
 them. One little flower, however, was heedless, and forgot its 
 name. Ashamed of its inattention and forgetfulness, the flower 
 asked the father of men, "By what name dost thou call me?" 
 "Forget-me-not," was the reply; and ever since that humble 
 
 flower has drooped its head in shame and ignominy. A 
 
 fourth origin of the name " Forget-me-not " is given by Miss 
 Strickland in her work on the Queens of England. Writing of 
 Henry of Lancaster (afterwards Henry IV.), she says: — "This 
 royal adventurer, the banished and aspiring Lancaster, appears to 
 have been the person who gave to the Myosotis its emblematical 
 and poetical meaning, by writing it, at the period of his exile, on his 
 collar of S.S., with the initial letter of his mot or ■wSitch.vioxd,Souveigm 
 vous de may, thus rendering it the symbol of remembrance." It 
 was with his hostess, at the time wife of the Duke of Bretagne, that 
 
 Henry exchanged this token of goodwill and remembrance. 
 
 The Italians call the Myosotis, Nontiscordar di me, and in one of their 
 ballads represent the flower as the embodiment of the spirit of a 
 young girl who was drowned, and transformed into the Myosotis 
 
 growing by the river's banks. The ancient English name of the 
 
 Myosotis palustris was Mouse - Ear - Scorpion - Grass ; ' ' Mouse - Ear " 
 describing the oval leaves, and " Scorpion '' the curve of the one- 
 sided raceme, like a scorpion's tail. According to some investi- 
 gators, the Forget-me-not is the Sun-flower of the classics — the 
 flower into which poor Clytie was metamorphosed — the pale blossom 
 which, says Ovid, held firmly by the root, still turns to the sun she 
 loves. Csesalpinus called it Hdiotropium, and Gerarde figured it as 
 
 such. (See Heliotrope). The Germans are fond of planting 
 
 the Forget-me-not upon their graves, probably on account of its 
 name ; for the beauty of the flower is lost if taken far from the 
 
 •yjrater. It is said that after the battle of Waterloo, an immense 
 
 quantity of Forget-me-nots sprung up upon different parts of that 
 sanguinary field, the soil of which had been enriched by the blood 
 of heroes. A writer in ' All the Year Round ' remarks, that pos- 
 sibly the story of the origin of the Forget-me-not's sentimental 
 designation may have been in the mind of the Princess Marie of 
 Baden, that Winter day, when, strolhng along the banks of the 
 Rhine with her cousin, Louis Napoleon, she inveighed against the 
 degeneracy of modern gallants, vowing they were incapable of 
 emulating the devotion to beauty that charaeflerised the cavaliers of 
 olden times. As they lingered on the causeway-dykes, where the 
 Neckar joins the Rhine, a sudden gust of wind carried away a 
 flower from the hair of the princess, and sent it into the rushing 
 
344 pfant Isore, Tsege^/, anil Tsijno/. 
 
 waters. " There ! " she exclaimed, " that would be an opportunity 
 for a cavalier of the olden days to show his devotion." " That's a 
 challenge, cousin," retorted Louis Napoleon, and in a second he 
 was battling with the rough waters. He disappeared and reappeared 
 to disappear and reappear again and again, but at length reached 
 the shore safe and sound with his cousin's flower in his hand. 
 " Take it, Marie," said he, as he shook himself; " but never again 
 talk to me of your cavalier of the olden time." 
 
 FOXGLOVE. — The name of Digitalis (from digitate, a thimble 
 or finger-stall) was given to the Foxglove in 1542, by Fuchs, who 
 remarks that hitherto the flower had remained unnamed by the 
 Greeks and Romans. Our forefathers sometimes called it the 
 Finger-flower, the Germans named it Fingerhut, and the French 
 Gantelee — names all bestowed on account of the form of the flower, 
 regarding which Cowley fancifully wrote — 
 
 "The Foxglove on fair Flora's hand is worfi, 
 Lest while she gather flowers, she meet a thorn." 
 
 The French also term the Foxglove Gants de Notre Dame and 
 Doigts de la Vierge. Various explanations have been given as to 
 the apparently inappropriate English name of Foxglove, which is, 
 however, derived from the Anglo-Saxon Foxes-glof; and was pre- 
 sumably applied to the flower from some bygone connecftion it 
 had with the fox, and its resemblance to a glove-finger. Dr. Prior's 
 explanation is worth quoting, however, if only for its ingenuity. 
 He says: " Its Norwegian names, Rev-hielde, Fox-bell, and Reveleika, 
 Fox-Music, are the only foreign ones that allude to that animal; 
 and they explain our own, as having been, in the first place, 
 foxes-glew, or music (Anglo-Saxon gliew), in reference to a favourite 
 instrument of earlier times, a ring of bells hung on an arched 
 support — a tintinnabulum— which this plant, with its hanging bell- 
 shaped flowers, so exacTtly represents." The Foxglove is the 
 
 special fairy flower: in its spotted bells the "good folk" delight 
 to nestle. It is called in Ireland, Lusmore, or the Great Herb, and 
 also Fair3'-cap — a retreat in which the merry little elves are said 
 to hide themselves when a human foot approaches to disturb 
 their dances. The bending of the plant's tall stalks is believed to 
 denote the presence of supernatural beings, to whom the flower is 
 making its obeisance. In the Irish legend of Knockgrafton, the 
 hero, a poor hunchback, reputed to have a great knowledge of herbs 
 and charms, always wears a sprig of the Fairy-cap, or Lusmore, in 
 his little straw hat, and hence is nicknamed Lusmore. The Shefro, 
 or gregarious fairy, is represented as wearing the corolla of the 
 Foxglove on his head. Browne describes Pan as seeking these 
 flowers as gloves for his mistress : — 
 
 " To keep her slender fingers from the sunne. 
 Pan through the pastures oftentimes hath runne. 
 To pluck the speckled Foxgloves from their stem, 
 And on those fingers neatly placed them." 
 
In Wales, the bells of the Foxglove are termed Menyg Ellyllon, or 
 goblins' gloves. No doubt on account of its connection with the 
 fairies, its name has been fancifully thought to have originally been 
 the Fairy Folks' Glove. The witches are popularly supposed to have 
 held the Foxglove in high favour, and to have decorated their 
 
 fingers with its largest bells, thence called "Witches' Bells." 
 
 Beautiful as it is, the Digitalis is a dangerous plant ; no animal will 
 touch it, and it exercises a singular influence over mankind: it im- 
 pedes the circulation of the blood. We read in ' Time's Telescope ' 
 for 1822, that the women of the poorer class in Derbyshire indulged 
 in copious draughts of Foxglove-tea, as a cheap means of obtaining 
 the pleasures of intoxication. It produces a great exhilaration of 
 spirits, and has some singular effeds on the system. — —Robert 
 Turner tells us that the Foxglove is under Venus, and that, in 
 Hampshire, it is "very well known by the name of Poppers, be- 
 cause if you hold the broad end of the flower close between your 
 finger and thumb, and blow at the small head, as into a bladder, 
 till it be full of wind, and then suddenly strike it with your other 
 hand, if will give a great crack or pop." The Itahans call the 
 plant Aralda, and have this proverb concerning it: " Amlda tutte 
 piaghe salda" — "Aralda salveth all sores." Although containing a 
 poison, the Foxglove yields a medicine valuable in cases of heart- 
 disease, inflammatory fevers, dropsy, &c. 
 
 " The Foxglove leaves, vcith caution given, 
 Another proof of favouring Heaven 
 "Will happily display." 
 
 FRANGIPANNI. — The Plumieria acumimta,or Frangipanni 
 plant, bears immense clusters of waxy flowers which exhale a most 
 delicious odour : these flowers are white, with a yellow centre, and 
 are flushed with purple behind. The plant is common throughout 
 Malaya, where Mr. Burbidge says it is esteemed by the natives as 
 a suitable decoration for the graves of their friends. Its Malay 
 name, Bunga omng sudah mati, is eminently suggestive of the funereal 
 use to which it is put, and means literally " Dead Man's ¥\ow&t." 
 
 , Frangipanni powder (spices. Orris-roots, and Musk or Civet) 
 
 was compounded by one of the Roman nobles, named Frangipanni, 
 an alchymist of some repute, who invented a stomachic, which he 
 named Rosolis, ros-soUs, sun-dew. The Frangipanni tart was the 
 invention of the same noble. 
 
 FRANKINCENSE.— Leucothea, the daughter of the Per- 
 sian king Orchamus, attra(5ted the notice of Apollo, who, to woo 
 her assumed the form and features of her mother. Unable to 
 withstand the god's "impetuous storm," Leucothea indulged his 
 love- but Clytia, maddened with jealousy, discovered the intrigue 
 to Orchamus, who, to avenge his stained honour, immured his 
 daughter alive. Apollo, unable to save her from death, sprinkled 
 nedfar and ambrosia over her grave, which, penetrating to the hie- 
 
346 pPant Isore, Iseger^f, ani. Tsi^ricy, 
 
 less body, changed it into the beautiful tree that bears the Frank- 
 incense. Ovid thus describes the nymph's transformation : — 
 
 " What Phoebus could do was by Phcebus done. 
 Full on her grave with pointed beams he shone. 
 To pointed beams the gaping earth gave way ; 
 Had the nymph eyes, her eyes had seen the day ; 
 But lifeless now, yet lovely, still she lay. 
 Not more the god wept when the world was fired. 
 And in the wreck his blooming boy expired; 
 The vital flame he strives to light again, 
 And warm the frozen blood in every vein. 
 But since resistless fates denied that power. 
 On the cold nymph he rained a nectar shower. 
 Ah ! undeserving thus, he said, to die. 
 Yet still in odours thou shalt reach the sky. 
 
 The body soon dissolved, and all around 
 Perfumed with heavenly fragrances the ground. 
 A sacrifice for gods uprose from thence — 
 A sweet, delightful tree of Frankincense. — Eusden. 
 
 The tree which thus sprang from poor Leucothea's remains was a 
 description of Terebinth, now called Boswellia ihurifera, which is 
 principally found in Yemen, a part of Arabia. Frankincense is an 
 exudation from this tree, and Pliny tells some marvellous tales 
 respetfling its mode of colle(5lion, and the difficulties in obtaining it. 
 Frankincense was one of the ingredients with which Moses was 
 instrudted to compound the holy incense (Exodus xxx.). The 
 Egyptians made great use of it as a principal ingredient in the 
 perfumes which they so lavishly consumed for religious rites and 
 funeral honours. As an oblation, it was burned on the altars by 
 the priests of Isis, Osiris, and Pasht. At the festivals of Isis an 
 ox was sacrificed filled with Frankincense, Myrrh, and other 
 aromatics. On all the altars eredted to the Assyrian gods Baal, 
 Astarte, and Dagon, incense and aromatic gums were burnt in 
 profusion ; and we learn from Herodotus that the Arabians alone 
 had to furnish a yearly tribute of one thousand talents of Frank- 
 incense. Ovid recommends Frankincense as an excellent cos- 
 metic, and says that if it is agreeable to gods, it is no less useful 
 
 to mortals. Rapin writes that " Phrygian Frankincense is held 
 
 divine." 
 
 " In sacred services alone consumed, 
 And every Temple's with the smoke perfumed." 
 
 Dr. Birdwood states that there are many varieties of the Frankin- 
 cense-tree, yielding different qualities of the "luban"or milky gum 
 which, from time immemorial, has sent up the smoke of sacrifice 
 
 from high places. Distiiicft records have been found of the traffic 
 
 carried on between Egypt and Arabia in the seventeenth century 
 B.C. In the paintings at Dayr al Bihri, in Upper Egypt, are 
 representations both of bags of Olibanum and of Olibanum-trees 
 in tubs, being conveyed by ships from Arabia to Egypt ; and among 
 the inscriptions deciphered by Professor Dumichen are many 
 
pfant Isore, Isege^^V, orTi. hi^uaj, 347 
 
 describing shipments of precious woods, incense, and " verdant 
 incense trees brought among the precious things from the land of 
 Arabia for the majesty of their god Ammon, the lord of the terrestrial 
 
 thrones." The Philistines reverently burnt Frankincense before 
 
 the fish-god Dagon. In ancient days it was accepted as tribute. 
 Darius, for instance, received from the Arabians an annual tribute 
 
 of one thousand talents of Frankincense. When the Magi, or 
 
 wise men of the East, following the guidance of the miraculous 
 star, reached Bethlehem and paid their homage to the infant 
 Saviour, they made an offering of gold. Frankincense, and Myrrh, 
 by which symbolical oblation they acknowledged Him as King 
 
 (gold), God (incense), and Man (Myrrh). The Roman Catholic 
 
 and Greek churches, especially the churches of South America, 
 consume an immense quantity of Olibanum, as do the Chinese in 
 their joss-houses. 
 
 FRAXINELLA. — The Fraxinella {Diaamnus) is deemed 
 a most sacred plant by the fire-worshippers of India, and is highly 
 reverenced by them on account of its singular powers of luminosity. 
 The plant is covered with minute glands which excrete volatile oil : 
 this is continually evaporating from its surface, and forms a highly 
 inflammable atmosphere round the plant. If a light be brought 
 near it, the plant is enveloped by a transient flame, but without 
 sustaining any injury. When gently rubbed, the plant emits a de- 
 licious scent, like lemon-peel. 
 
 Friar's Cap. — See Monkshood. 
 
 FRITILLARY. — The origin of the Fritillaria, or Crown Im- 
 perial, is given by Rapin in the following lines : — 
 
 "Then her gay gilded front th' Imperial Crown 
 Erects aloft, and with a scornful frown 
 O'erlooks the subject plants, while humbly they 
 Wait round, and homage to her highness pay ; 
 High on the summit of her stem arise 
 Leaves in a verdant tuft of largest size ; 
 Below this tuft the gilded blossoms bent, 
 Like golden cups reversed, are downwards sent ; 
 But in one view collected they compose 
 A crown-like form, from whence her name arose. 
 No flower aspires in pomp and state more high, 
 Nor, could her odour with her beauty vie, 
 Would lay a juster claim to majesty. 
 A Queen she was whom ill report belied, 
 And a. rash husband's jealousy destroyed ; 
 Driv'n from his bed and court the fields she ranged, 
 Till spent with grief was to a blossom changed, 
 Yet only changed as to her human frame : 
 She kept th' Imperial beauty and the name ; 
 But the report destroyed her former sweets : 
 Scandal, though false, the fair thus rudely treats. 
 And always the most fair with most injustice meets." 
 
 This flower is a native of Persia, and was for some time known as 
 Lilium Persicum. According to Madame de Genlis, it derived its 
 
34^ pPant Tsore, Isege^/, anA Isijpio/', 
 
 majestic name of Crown Imperial from the celebrated Guirlande de 
 Julie. The Duke de Montausier, on New Year's Day, 1634, pre- 
 sented his bride, Julie de Rambouillet, with a magnificent album, 
 on the vellum leaves of which were painted a series of flowers, 
 with appropriate verses. The principal poem was by Chapelain, 
 who chose this Persian Lily as his theme, and, knowing the bride 
 to be a great admirer of Gustavus Adolphus, represented in his 
 verses that the flower sprang from the life-blood of the Swedish 
 King when he fell mortally wounded on the field of Liitzen ; adding 
 that had this hero gained the imperial crown, he would have 
 offered it with his hand to Julie, but as the Fates had metamor- 
 phosed him into this flower, it was presented to her under the name 
 of La Couronne Imperiah. In later days the flower received the 
 name of Fritillavia (from Fritillus, a dice box, the usual companion 
 of the chequer-board), because its blossoms are chequered with 
 purple and white or yellow. 
 
 FUMITORY. — This plant, which Shakspeare alludes to as 
 Fumiter, derived its name from the French Fume-terre, and Latin 
 Fumus terra, earth-smoke. It was so named from a belief, very 
 generally held in olden times, that it was produced without seed 
 from smoke or vapour rising from the earth. Pliny (who calls it 
 Fumaria) states that the plant took its name from causing the eyes 
 to water when applied to them, as smoke does ; but another 
 opinion is that it was so called because a bed of the common kind, 
 when in flower, appears at a distance like a dense smoke. Rapin 
 has these lines on the plant : — 
 
 " With the first Spring the soft Fumaria shows 
 On stern Bavaria's rocks her sev'ral hues ; 
 But by report is struck by certain fate. 
 When dreadful thunders echo from their height ; 
 And with the lightning's sulph'rous fumes opprest, 
 Her drooping beauties languish on her breast." 
 
 Dioscorides says that the juice dropped into the eyes clears the 
 sight, and also that the juice, having a little gum Arabic dissolved 
 therein, and applied to the eyelids when the hairs have been pulled 
 out, will keep them from growing again. According to astro- 
 logers, Fumitory is a herb of Saturn. 
 
 GANG FLOWER.— The Milk-wort, Flos Ambarvalis, Cross-, 
 Procession-, Gang-, or Rogation-Flower {Polygala vulgaris), was so 
 called from its blossoming in Gang-week or Rogation-week, when 
 processions were made in imitation of the ancient Roman Ambar- 
 valia (see Corn), to perambulate the parishes with the Holy Cross 
 and Litanies, to mark boundaries, and to invoke God's blessing 
 upon the crops; upon which occasions Gerarde tells us "the 
 maidens which use in the countries to walke the procession do 
 make themselves garlands and nosegaies " of the Milk-wort, which 
 the old herbalist likewise informs us is so called on account of its 
 " vertues in procuring milke in the breasts of nurses." 
 
GARLIC. — The tapering-leaved Garlic [Allium sativum) derives 
 its name from two Anglo-Saxon words, meaning the Spear-plant. 
 The Egyptians so appreciated Garlic, that they were accustomed 
 to swear by it, and even to worship it. Referring to this, Juvenal 
 satirically remarks : " Each clove of Garlic hath a sacred flower." 
 Nevertheless, no Egyptian priest was permitted to eat Garlic. 
 The Israelites, who had learnt in Egypt to prize this vegetable, 
 murmured at being deprived of its use, and expressed their prefer- 
 ence of it to Manna itself. In Asia Minor, Greece, Scandinavia, 
 
 and Northern Germany, Garlic is popularly believed to possess 
 magical properties of a beneficent nature. According to the ' Lay 
 of Sigurdrifa,' protedlion from witchcraft may be ensured by the 
 addition of Garlic to a beverage. The Sanscrit name for Garlic 
 means the Slayer of Monsters. Galen relates that it was considered 
 inimical to all cold poisons, and to the bites of venomous beasts. 
 Macer Floridus affirms that the eating of Garlic fasting ensured 
 immunity from all ills attending change of climate or the drinking 
 of unknown water. The roots, hung round the necks of blind cattle, 
 were supposed to induce restoration of sight. Clusius relates that 
 the German miners found the roots very powerful in defending 
 them from the assaults of impure spirits which frequented mines. 
 
 In England, Garlic obtained the name of Poor Man's Treacle, 
 
 or Triacle, from its being considered an antidote to animal poison. 
 Bacon tells us that, applied to the wrists, and renewed. Garlic was 
 considered a cure for long agues : in Kent, and probably in other 
 counties, it is placed in the stockings of a child with the whooping- 
 cough, in order to allay the complaint. — -De Gubernatis states that 
 the Bolognese regard Garlic as the symbol of abundance; at the 
 festival of St. John, everyone buys it, to preserve themselves from 
 poverty during the year. In Sicily, they put Garlic on the beds of 
 women during confinement, and they make three signs of the cross 
 with it to charm away polypus. In Cuba, thirteen cloves of Garlic 
 at the end of a cord worn round the neck for thirteen days, is con- 
 sidered to safeguard the wearer against the jaundice, provided that, 
 in the middle of the night of the thirteenth day, he proceeds to the 
 corner of two streets, takes off his Garlic necklet, and, flinging it 
 over his head, runs instantly home without turning round to see 
 
 what has become of it. The broad-leaved Garlic was formerly 
 
 called Buckrams, Bear's Garlic, Ramsies, and Ramsins, the last 
 name being referred to in the proverb — 
 
 " Eat Leekes in Lide, and Ramsins in May, 
 And all the year after physitians may play." 
 
 We read that if a man dream of eating Garlic, it signifies that he 
 will discover hidden secrets, and meet with some domestic jar ; 
 
 yet to dream he has it in the house is lucky. Garlic is under 
 
 the dominion of Mars. 
 Gean.— See Cherry. 
 
GENTIAN. The Gentian {Gentiana) was so called after 
 
 Gentius, King of Illyria, who first discovered the medicinal virtues 
 of this bitter plant. Gentius having imprisoned the ambassadors 
 sent to his court by the Romans, they invaded his kingdom, con- 
 quered it, and led the royal botanist and his family in triumph 
 through the streets of Rome. The old name of this flower was 
 Gentiana cruciata, and it was also called S. Ladislai Regis herba, in 
 regard to which latter appellation, there is a curious legend: — 
 During the reign of King Ladislas, the whole of Hungary was 
 afflicted with the plague. Compassionating his unfortunate sub- 
 jedts who were dying by thousands, the pious king praj^ed that if 
 he shot an arrow into the air, the Almighty would vouchsafe to 
 guide it to the root of some herb that might be employed effica- 
 ciously in arresting the terrible plague. The king discharged an 
 arrow, and, in falling, it cleft the root of the Cruciata (Gentian), 
 which was at once tried, and found to possess the most astonishing 
 curative powers when administered to sufferers from the plague. 
 
 According to old Robert Turner, the herbalist. Gentian, or 
 
 Felwort, "resists poisons, putrefadtion, and the pestilence, and 
 helps digestion; the powder of the dry roots helps bitings of mad 
 dogs and venomous beasts, opens the liver, and procures an 
 appetite. Wine, wherein the herb hath been steept, being drunk, 
 refreshes such as are over-wearied by travel, or are lame in their 
 joynts by cold or bad lodgings." Gerarde states that it is put into 
 counterpoisons, " as into the composition named Theriaca diatessaron, 
 which ^tius caWeth. My sterium, a mystery, or hid secret." Formerly 
 the names of Baldmoney and Baldmoyne were applied to the Fel- 
 wort or Gentian. (See Baldmoney and Feldwode.) Gentian is 
 
 under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 Geranium. — See Crane's Bill. 
 
 Gill. — See Ivy. 
 
 GILLIFLOWER.— The appellation of Gilliflower has been 
 applied, apparently as a kind of pet name, to all manner of plants. 
 Formerly the word was spelt gyllofer and gilofre, from the French 
 giroflee and Italian garofalo, words derived from the Latin Caryo- 
 phyllum and Greek Karuophullon, a Clove, in allusion to the flower's 
 spicy odour. The name was originally given by the Italians to the 
 Carnation and plants of the Pink tribe, and was so used by Chaucer, 
 Spenser, and Shakspeare. Afterwards both writers and gardeners 
 bestowed the name on the Matthiola and Cheiranthus. At the present 
 time the word has almost fallen out of use, but in books will be 
 found to be applied to the Clove Gilliflower, Dianthus Caryophylhs 
 (the true Gilliflower) ; the Marsh Gilliflower, or Ragged Robin 
 {Lychnis flos cuculi) ; Queen's, Rogue's, or Winter Gilliflower, the 
 Dame's Violet {Hesperis matronalis) ; Stock Gilliflower {Matthiola in- 
 cana) ; Wall Gilliflower {Cheiranthus Cheiri) ; and Water Gilliflower 
 {Hottonia pdustris). The Gilliflower is in old songs represented 
 
pfont bore, IsegeTjby, ariSi bijnef. 351 
 
 as one of the flowers thought to grow in Paradise. Thus, in a ballad 
 called ' Dead Men's Songs,' occurs the following verse : — 
 
 " The fields about the city faire 
 Were all with Roses set, 
 Gillyflowers and Carnations faire 
 Which canker could not fret." 
 (See also Carnation). 
 
 GINSENG. — The Chinese consider the far-famed Ginseng 
 {Panax quinqttefolia) the most valuable production of nature. It is 
 their specific for all disorders of the lungs or of the stomach, curing 
 asthma, strengthening the eyesight, renewing a worn-out consti- 
 tution, delaying the approach of old age, and adting as a counter- 
 poison. The Dutch naturalists thus described the Ginseng : — " Its 
 name is taken from its shape, because its represents a man (in 
 Chinese Gin) striding with his legs. It is a larger and stronger 
 species of our Mandrake. The dried root is of a yellow colour, 
 streaked round with blackish veins, as if drawn with mk. It yields 
 when chewed an unpleasant sweetness, mixed with bitterness. The 
 Chinese will give three pounds of gold for one pound of it." To 
 the Chinese this shrub is in some measure a foreign produdlion, as 
 it is found only in Manchoo Tartary ; but it does not owe all its 
 reputation to its distant origin; the Tartars also prize it, and give 
 it a name (Orkota) expressive of its quality as the chief of plants. 
 They endeavour to procure it at the risk of losing their lives or 
 liberty, equally endangered by the nature of the country where it 
 is found, and by the policy of the Chinese Government, which 
 endeavours to monopolise this much - esteemed produdlion. A 
 large extent of country to the north-east of Pekin, covered with 
 inaccessible mountains, and almost impassable forests infested with 
 wild beasts, and affording no means of subsistence, is separated 
 from the province of Leao Tong by a strong barrier of stakes, 
 always carefully protected by guards of Chinese soldiers who seize 
 and punish unlicensed intruders : this is the native country of 
 Ginseng, and these precautions are considered necessary to pre- 
 serve the valued plant from depredation. The Pfire Jartoux, who 
 was employed in the survey of Tartary by order of the Emperor 
 Kam-he, describes the mode of gathering the Ginseng, as it was 
 practised at that time. He had frequently met with the party of 
 Tartars employed on the service, but on this occasion ten thousand 
 Tartars were commanded to gather all the Ginseng that could be 
 found ; and after deducting two ounces from the quantity gathered 
 by each man, they were allowed for the remainder its weight in pure 
 silver. This army of botanists divided themselves into companies 
 of a hundred men, with a chief to each company. The whole terri- 
 tory was then apportioned to the several divisions ; each division 
 formed a line, and, slowly advancing, traversed that portion of 
 country allotted to it ; nearly six months were spent in the occu- 
 
352 pPant bore, T3eg&'r^/, oiTS biji-icy. 
 
 pation, and the whole territory was thus searched through. Of the 
 Ginseng thus collecfted the root is the only part preserved. 
 
 GLADIOLUS.— The Corn-flag, or Sword-flag {Gladiolus), 
 has been thought by some to be the flower alluded to by Ovid as 
 the blossom which sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus when he 
 was accidentally slain by Apollo with a quoit — the flower which 
 bears displayed upon its petals the sad impression of the Sun-god's 
 sighs — Ai, At! (See Hyacinth). The upper root of the Sword- 
 flag was supposed by the old herbalists to provoke amatory 
 passions, whilst the lower root was thought to cause barrenness. 
 The Gladiolus is a plant of the Moon. 
 
 GLASTONBURY THORN .—In T^oudon's Arboretum Bri- 
 tannicum, the Glastonbury Thorn is mentioned as the Cratiegus 
 Oxyacantha pmcox. This variety of the Hawthorn blossoms during 
 the Winter, and was for many years believed religiously to blow 
 on Christmas-day. The Abbey of Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, 
 which is now a ruin, and of whose origin only vague memorials exist, 
 was said by the monks to have been the residence of Joseph of 
 Arimathea. The high ground on which the old abbey was ere(5led 
 used in early days to be called the Isle of Avalon. The Thorn- 
 tree stood on an eminence to the south-west of the town of Glas- 
 tonbury, where a nunnery, dedicated to Stc Peter, was in after 
 times eredled. The eminence is called Weary-all Hill ; and the 
 same monkish legend which accounts for the name of the hill, 
 states also the origin of the Thorn. It seems that when Joseph of 
 Arimathea, to whom the original conversion of this country is 
 attributed, arrived at this spot with his companions, they were 
 weary with their journey, and sat down. St. Joseph then stuck 
 his stick in the ground, when, although it was a dry Hawthorn 
 staff, it took root and grew, and thenceforth commemorated the 
 birth of Christ in the manner above mentioned. This rendered 
 its blossoms of so much value in all Christian nations, that the 
 Bristol merchants exported them as things of price to foreign 
 lands. It had two trunks or bodies until the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth, when a Puritan cut down one of them, but left the 
 other, which was about the size of an ordinary man. This dese- 
 cration of the tree brought condign punishment upon the over- 
 zealous Puritan, for, according to James Howell, a writer of the 
 period, " some of the prickles flew into his eye, and made him 
 monocular." _ The reputation which the Glastonbury Thorn still re- 
 tained, notwithstanding the change of religion, may be estimated 
 by the fatfl that King James and his Queen, and other persons of 
 distindtion, gave large sums for small cuttings from the original 
 tree. Until the time of Charles I., it was customary to carry a 
 branch of the Thorn in procession at Christmas time ; but during 
 the civil war, in that reign, what remained of the tree was cut 
 down ; plants from its branches are, however, still in existence, 
 
pPant Tsore, feegetjciy, arid ]<9ijriq/*. 353 
 
 for a vintner of the place secured a slip, and planted it in his 
 garden, where it duly flowered on the 25th December. When the 
 new style was introduced in 1752, the alteration (which consisted 
 of omitting eleven days) seems to have been very generally dis- 
 liked by the mass of the people. The use which was made of 
 the Glastonbury Thorn to prove the impropriety of the change 
 is not a little curious. The alteration in the Christmas Day, 
 which was held that year and since on a day which would have 
 been January 5th, was particularly obnoxious, not only as dis- 
 turbing old associations, but as making an arbitrary change from 
 what was considered the true anniversary of the birth of Christ. 
 In several places, where real or supposed slips from the Glaston- 
 bury Thorn existed, the testimony of the plant against the change 
 was anxiously sought on the first Christmas Day under the new 
 style. As the special distindtion of the Thorn arose from its sup- 
 posed connecftion with the great event commemorated on that day, 
 it was argued that it must indicate the true anniversary, and that 
 its evidence would be conclusive on the subjedl. The event of one 
 of these references (at Quainton, in Buckinghamshire) is thus 
 recorded in the ' Gentleman's Magazine 'for 1753: — "Above 2000 
 people came here this night (December 24th, 1752, n.s., being the 
 first Christmas Eve under the new calendar), with lanthorns and 
 candles, to view a Thorn-tree which grows in this neighbourhood, 
 and which was remembered (this year only) to be a slip from the 
 Glastonbury Thorn ; that it always budded on the 24th, was full- 
 blown the next day, and went off at night. But the people, finding no 
 appearance of a bud, it was agreed that December 25th n.s. could 
 not be the right Christmas Day, and accordingly they refused going 
 to Church, or treating their friends as usual. At length the affair 
 became so serious, that the ministers of the neighbouring villages, 
 in order to appease the people, thought it prudent to give notice 
 that the old Christmas Day should be kept holy as usual." The 
 slips of the Thorn seem to have been everywhere unanimous in 
 this opposition to the new style. There still exist at Glastonbury, 
 within the precin(5ls of the ruins of the Abbey, two distindl trees, 
 which, doubtless, sprang from the Thorn of Joseph of Arimathea, 
 and which continue to blossom during the winter months. 
 
 GLOBE FLCWER. — The botanical name of the Globe 
 Flower, Trollius Europaus, is supposed to be of Scandinavian origin, 
 and to signify a magic flower. The plant is also called Globe 
 Ranunculus and Globe Crow-foot, from the globular form of its 
 calyx. The flower was formerly known as the Troll-flower, and in 
 Scotland as the Luckan Go wan (Cabbage Daisy). Its name of 
 Troll was probably derived from the Swedish word troll, a malig- 
 nant supernatural being,— a name corresponding to the Scotch 
 Witches' Gowan, and given to the Trollius on account of its acrid 
 poisonous qualities. It is a common flower on the Alps, and has 
 been employed from time immemorial by the Swiss peasantry to 
 
 2A 
 
354 pfant Tsore, Iseg&rpif, ari^ Isijriq/". 
 
 make garlands of on rural festive celebrations. In the northern 
 counties of England, at the beginning of June, the Globe-flower is 
 sought with great festivity by the young people, who adorn their 
 doors and cottages with wreaths and garlands composed of its 
 blossoms. 
 
 GOAT'S BEARD,— The yellow Goat's Beard (Tragopogon 
 pratensis) is one of the best floral indices of the hour of the day, for 
 it opens at sunrise and closes at noon. 
 
 " And goodly now the noon-tide hour, 
 When from his high meridian tower 
 The sun looks down in majesty, 
 What time about the grassy lea 
 The Goat's Beard, prompt his rise to hail 
 With broad expanded disk, in veil 
 Close mantling wraps its yellow head. 
 And goes, as peasants say, to bed. " — Bp^ Mant. 
 
 Other names of this plant are Noon-day Flower, Go-to-bed-at- 
 noon. Star of Jerusalem, and Joseph's Flower. No satisfadtory 
 explanation has ever been given with respedl to the last two 
 names, nor is it known whether the Joseph referred to is the son 
 of Jacob, the Virgin Mary's husband, or Joseph of Arimathea. 
 
 GOLDEN ROD.— The tall straight-stemmed Golden Rod 
 {Solidago virga aurea) was formerly called Wound-weed, and on 
 account of its healing powers received its scientific name solidago, 
 from "in soKdum ago vulnera," "I consolidate wounds." It was 
 brought from abroad in a dried state, and sold in the London 
 markets by the herb-women of Queen Elizabeth's days, and 
 Gerarde tells us that it fetched half-a-crown an ounce. About 
 that time, however, it was found in Hampstead ponds, and when 
 it was seen to be a native plant, it became valueless and was 
 discarded from use ; which, says Gerarde, " plainely setteth forth 
 our inconstancie and sudden mutabilitie, esteeming no longer of 
 anything, how pretious soever it be, than whilest it is strange and 
 rare. This verifieth our English proverbe, ' Far fetcht and deare 
 
 bought is best for ladies.' " According to tradition, the Golden 
 
 Rod is also a divining-rod, and points to hidden springs of water 
 
 as well as to treasures of gold and silver. Astrologers say that 
 
 Golden Rod is a plant of Venus. 
 
 Gold Cup and Gold Knobs. — See Ranunculus. 
 
 Gold, Golding, and Gowan. — See Marigold. 
 
 GOLDILOCKS. — This name is applied to Ranunculus awi- 
 comus, Ckrysocoma Linosyris, Amamnthus luteus (Golden Flower 
 Gentle), and, by Gerarde, to Muscus capillans (Golden Maidenhair 
 Moss). Camelina sativa is the Gold of Pleasure. 
 
 GOLUBETZ. — There is a popular belief in Russia, that 
 anyone drinking a draught of water in which this plant of the 
 marshes has been steeped, will be exempt from attacks by bears. 
 
pPant Isore, TsegeT^/, an3. Tsijr'io/. 355 
 
 GOOD HENRY.— The AUgood, English Mercury, Good 
 Henry, or Good King Harry {Chenopodium Bonus Henricus) seems to 
 have been given its name of Good Henry to distinguish it from a 
 poisonous plant called Malus Henricus. Grimm explains that the 
 name Henry has reference in this case to elves and kobolds, which 
 were called Heinz and Heinrich. 
 
 GOOL-ACHIN. — The Plumeria acutifolia, a tree of American 
 origin, is called by the Hindus Gool-achin, and is esteemed sacred 
 by them. It is commonly planted in Indian gardens, and particu- 
 larly in cemeteries, because it keeps the graves of the dfeparted 
 white with its daily fall of fragrant flowers. The branches are 
 stout, and, when wounded, exude a milky juice, which is prized. 
 
 GOOSEBERRY.— The homely Gooseberry, which derives 
 its name from the Anglo-Saxon cr6s, a curl (German hyaus, and old 
 Dutch kroes), is an old inhabitant of England, for Tusser, who lived 
 in the reign of Henry VIII., wrote of it — 
 
 " The Barberry, Kespis, and Gooseberry, too, 
 Look now to be planted as other things do." 
 
 It was formerly called Feaberry, Dewberry and Wineberry. 
 
 An old-fashioned remedy for a wart consisted in pricking it with 
 
 a sharp Gooseberry-thorn passed through a wedding-ring. To 
 
 dream of ripe Gooseberries is considered as a favourable omen. It 
 predicts a fortune, a lucrative post under Government, great fidelity 
 in your sweetheart, sweetness of temper and disposition, many 
 children (chiefly sons), and the accomplishment of your aims. To 
 the sailor, to dream of Gooseberries, indicates dangers in his next 
 
 voyage ; to the maiden, a roving husband. The Gooseberry is 
 
 placed by astrologers under the rule of Venus, 
 
 GRAPES. — The produifl of the Vine was the especial fruit 
 of the god Bacchus, who is sometimes represented like an infant, 
 holding a thyrsus and clusters of grapes with a horn. In the Catholic 
 Church, Grapes and Corn are symbolic of the Blessed Eucharist. 
 According to Brocard, the finest Grapes are those grown in the 
 vales of Eshcol and Sorek. The word sorek signifies " fine Grapes." 
 Clusters of Grapes have been found in Syria, weighing as much as 
 forty pounds, worthy successors of the cluster taken by the Is- 
 raelitish spies from Eshcol, which " they bare between two upon a 
 
 staff." In some countries, the Grape is believed to have been the 
 
 forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. 
 
 To dream of Grapes foretells to the maiden that her husband 
 
 will be cheerful, and a great songster. If the dreamer be in love, 
 they augur a speedy union, and denote much happiness in mar- 
 riage and success in trade. According to another authority, to 
 dream that you see clusters of Grapes hanging round about you 
 predicfls future advancement and honour. To the maid it implies 
 marriage with an ambitious man, who will arrive at great prefer- 
 ment, but die early. 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 ©fant Tsore, IsegeTjti/, anil teijfie/. 
 
 GORSE. — The Whin Gorse, or Furze (Ulex) — " the never- 
 bloomless Furze " — caused Dillenius the greatest delight, and is 
 said to have so affe(5led Linnaeus, when he first came to England 
 and saw a common covered with its golden blossoms, that he fell 
 down on his knees in a rapture at the sight, and thanked God for 
 its loveliness. He attempted in vain to introduce it into Sweden ; 
 but although hardy enough in England, yet it would not grow even 
 
 in the garden in which Linnaeus planted it. The old English 
 
 names for this shrub were Fursbush, Furrs, Whins, and Goss. 
 
 Gorse is held to be under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 GORY-DEW. — A minute Alga bears the name of Gory-dew 
 from its resemblance to blood-drops. During the Middle Ages, it 
 caused much dismay by appearing like a sudden shower of blood, 
 and it was thought to portend battle, murder, and sudden death. 
 
 GRASS. — In India, several kinds of Grass, such as the Kuaa, 
 a species of Andropogon, and Eragrostis, are held sacred by the 
 Hindus, and employed in their temples. In Prussia, the nor- 
 thern Holy Grass (Holcus odoratus) is used for strewing the floors of 
 churches at Whitsuntide. In some parts of Germany, Holy Grass 
 
 (Hierochloe borealis) is strewn before church doors on holidays. 
 
 Wheat would appear to be only the cultivated form of the Mgilops, 
 a Grass infesting Barley-fields on the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 Grip-grass {Galium Aparine) is so called from its gripping or seizing 
 with its hooked prickles whatever comes in its way. The Potentilla 
 reptans is called Five-Finger Grass, on account of its five leaflets. 
 The only poisonous Grass (Darnel) is supposed to be the Tares of the 
 Scriptures : Linnaeus says of this Grass {Lolium temuhntum) that if 
 the seeds are baked in bread it is very hurtful, and if malted with 
 
 Barley it produces giddinness. In Norfolk, coarse marshy Grass 
 
 is called Hassock, hence the application of this name to church has- 
 socks, which are often made of a large Sedge, the Carex paniculata. 
 
 In connedlion with Tussack-grass {Aira caspitosa), Mr. Sikes 
 
 relates the following tradition current in Wales : — The son of a 
 farmer at Drws Coed was permitted to marry a fairy-wife on condi- 
 tion that she should never be touched by iron. They had several 
 children, and lived happily enough until one unfortunate day her 
 horse sank in the deep mire, and as her husband was helping her 
 to remount, his stirrup struck her knee. At once sweet singing 
 was heard on the hill top, and she was parted from him ; but, 
 though no longer allowed to walk the earth with man, she used to 
 haunt the turf lake (Llyn y dywarchen). This lake has moving 
 islands of Tussack-grass, like Derwentwater, so on one of these 
 islands she used to stand for hours and hold converse with her 
 
 bereaved husband. " Fairy Rings " is the popular name for the 
 
 circles of dark-green Grass occasionally seen on grassy downs and 
 old pastures, round which, according to popular belief, the 
 
 " Elfe-queen, with her jolly comijagnie, 
 Danced full oft in many a grene mede." 
 
On this dark Grass rustic superstition avers that no sheep or lamb 
 will browse. Disregarding the poetical charm which lingers 
 around the fairy superstition, and oblivious of the, poet's asse- 
 veratioia that — 
 
 " Of old the merry elves were seen 
 Pacing with printless feet the dewy green," 
 
 some naturalists have ascribed the phenomenon of these rings to 
 lightning ; others to the work of ants ; and others, again, to the 
 growth of a small esculent Fungus called Agaricus Orcades. How- 
 ever, Edmund Jones, a celebrated preacher, of Monmouth, who in 
 1813 wrote a book on apparitions, declares that in St. Matthew 
 xii., 43, is to be found an authority for the popular belief. He says, 
 " The fairy rings are found in dry places, and the Scripture saith 
 
 that the walk of evil spirits is in dry places." In Sussex, elves 
 
 and fairies are sometimes called " Pharisees " by the countryfolk, and 
 in Tarberry Hill, on Harting, are Pharisees' rings, where the simple 
 
 people say the Pharisees dance on Midsummer Eve. To dream 
 
 of Grass is a good omen ; if the Grass be fresh and green, the dream 
 portends long life, good luck, and great wealth; but if withered and 
 decayed, misfortunes and sickness may be expeefled, if not the death 
 of loved ones. To dream of cutting Grass betokens great troubles. 
 
 GROUNDHEELE. — This plant, known in Germany as 
 Grundheil, and in France as Herbe aux Ladres, is identified by Do(5tor 
 Prior with Veronica officinalis, which he says was so called from its 
 having cured a king of France of a leprosy, from which he had 
 suffered some eight years — a disease, called in Germany, grind. 
 Quoting from Brunschwygk, our author tells us that a shepherd 
 had seen a stag, whose hind quarter was covered with a scabby 
 eruption from the bite of a wolf, cure itself by eating of this plant, 
 and rolling itself upon it ; and that thereupon he recommended the 
 king to try it. 
 
 Ground-Ivy. — See Ivy. 
 
 GROUNDSEL. — The Senecio vulgaris is called, in Scotland, 
 Grundy Swallow, a term derived from the Anglo-Saxon word 
 grundswelge, ground glutton, and of which Groundsel is evidently a 
 corruption. Senecio Samcetiicus is said to have been used by the 
 Saracens in the cure of wounds. Common Groundsel has the 
 -power of softening water if it be poured while boiling on the plant. 
 The Highland women often wear a piece of its root as an amulet 
 to guard them from the Evil Eye. A buncli of Groundsel worn 
 on the bare bosom was formerly reputed to be an efficacious 
 charm against the ague.' Phny prescribes Groundsel for the tooth- 
 ache. A root must be pulled up, and a portion of it cut off with 
 a sharp razor ; then the Groundsel must be immediately replanted, 
 and the excised portion applied three or four times to the aiHng 
 tooth. A cure is probable, says PUny, provided the mutilated and 
 replanted Groundsel should thrive : if otherwise, the tooth will 
 
358 pfant Isore, TsegeTjb/, an3. Tsijricy. 
 
 ache more than ever. In Cornwall, if Groundsel is to be used as 
 
 an emetic, they strip it upwards ; if for a cathartic, downwards. 
 
 Groundsel is a herb of Venus. 
 
 GUABANA. — The Guabana or Guarabana, which is pre- 
 sumed to be the wild Pine Apple, Ananas sativus, first became known 
 to Europeans in Peru some three centuries ago. In the Mythologie 
 des Plantes, we read that the dead were, according to a ghastly 
 popular tradition, believed to rise and eat the Guabana fruit every 
 night. This fruit of the dead is described as tender and sweet as a 
 Melon, of the shape of a Pine-apple, and of a splendid appearance. 
 
 GUELDER RO SE .— The Viburnum Opulus has been called the 
 Snowball-tree, but is more generally known as the Guelder Rose, 
 from its Rose-like balls of white blossom. The shrub is a variety of 
 the Water Elder, introduced from Gueldres. In England, its flowers 
 are dedicated to Whitsuntide. 
 
 H.ffiMANTHUS. — The Hamanthus, or Blood-flower, is a 
 native of Brazil, where H. muUiflorus is the Imperial Flower — the 
 especial flower and blazon of the Emperor. 
 
 HAG-TAPER.— The Verbascum Thapsus was called Hedge- 
 taper, High-taper, or Hig-taper, because it was used as a torch on 
 funeral and other occasions. These names became corrupted 
 into Hag-taper during the period when the belief in witchcraft 
 existed, from a notion that witches employed the plant in working 
 their spells. Probably this superstition was derived from the 
 ancients, for we read in Gerarde's ' Herbal ' — " Apuleius reporteth 
 a tale of Ulysses, Mercurie, and the inchauntresse Circe using 
 these herbes in their incantations and witchcrafts." (See Mullein). 
 
 HALLELUJAH.— The Wood-Sorrel {Oxalis Acetosella) bears 
 the name of Hallelujah, not only in England, but in Germany, 
 France, Spain, and Italy, because it blossoms between Easter and 
 Whitsuntide — the season at which those Psalms are sung which end 
 with that pious ejaculation, viz., the 11 3th to the 117th inclusive. 
 
 HAREBELL. — Gerarde, in his 'Herbal,* Parkinson, in his 
 'Paradisus,' and other old herbalists, term the Hyacinthus non 
 scriptus, or English Jacinth, the Hare-bell or Hare's-bell. This is 
 probably the " azure Harebell " alluded to by Shakspeare, and is 
 the flower referred to by Browne, in his ' Pastorals,' as only to be 
 worn by faithful lovers : — 
 
 " The Harebell, for her stainless azured hue, 
 Claims to be worn of none but who are true." 
 
 The nodding Blue-bell of the heath-land {Campanula rotundifoKa), 
 however, is the Hare-bell of modern poets ; but both plants are 
 called by that name in different parts of England. The original 
 word is said to have been either Air-bell or Hair-bell, appellations 
 which might most appropriately be applied to the graceful and airy 
 Campanulas, whose slender stems have sufficient elasticity to rise 
 
pPctnt Tsore, Tsege'^/, cm3, Tsijric/, 359 
 
 again when lightly trodden under foot. In some English counties 
 the flower is familiarl}^ called Witches' Thimble. In France, a 
 little white Hare-bell is common in the meadows, and from its 
 modest and chaste appearance is called the Nun of the Fields. 
 (See Blue-bell and Campanula). 
 
 Hassocks. — See Grass. 
 
 HA\VKWEED.— The Hawk-weed or Hawk-bit (Hieracium) 
 was a name originally applied to several plants of the Dandelion 
 and Mouse-ear families, and in days when falconry was pradlised, 
 these plants derived some importance from the notion entertained 
 by the ancients that with them hawks were in the habit of clearing 
 their eyesight — a notion endorsed by the later herbalists, for we 
 find Gerarde writing that hawks are reported to clear their sight 
 by conveying the juice hereof into their eyes. The old tradition 
 that the hawk feed upon Hawkweed and led her young ones early 
 to eat the plant, that by its juices they might gain acuteness of 
 vision, was believed some centuries ago not only in England but 
 throughout Europe. The Greeks considered the Hawkweed a holy 
 plant, inasmuch as, it was dedicated to the use of a bird they held 
 sacred. One of these plants was, like the Scabious, called the 
 Devil's-bit, on account of its root presenting the appearance of 
 having been bitten off short ; another {Hieracium aurantiacum) bore 
 the familiar name of Grim the Collier, given it from the black hairs 
 which cover its stem and involucre. Hawkweeds were considered 
 good for strengthening the eyesight, and were deemed efficacious 
 
 against the bites of serpents and scorpions. The plant was 
 
 adjudged to be under the rule of Saturn. 
 
 HAW^THORN. — The Hawthorn, according to ancient myths, 
 originally sprang from the lightning : it has been revered as a sacred 
 tree from the earliest times, and was accounted by the Greeks a 
 tree of good augury and a symbol of conjugal union. After the 
 rape of the Sabines, upon which occasion the shepherds carried 
 Hawthorn-boughs, it was considered propitious; its blossoming 
 branches were borne by those assisting at wedding festivities, and 
 the newly-married couple were lighted to the bridal chamber with 
 torches of the wood. At the present day, the Greeks garland their 
 brides with wreaths of Hawthorn, and deck the nuptial altar with 
 its blossoms, whilst on May-day they suspend boughs of the flower- 
 ing shrub over their portals. The ancient Germans composed their 
 funeral-piles of Hawthorn wood, and consecrated it with the mallet, 
 the symbol of the god Thor. They believed that in the sacred 
 flame which shot upwards from the Thorn, the souls of the deceased 
 
 were carried to heaven. In France, the Hawthorn is called 
 
 I'Epine noble, from the belief that it furnished the Crown of Thorns 
 worn by our Lord before the Crucifixion. Sir John Maundevile 
 has given the original tradition, which is as follows : — " Then was 
 our Lord led into a garden .... and the Jews scourged 
 
360 pfant Tsore, Tscge^/, :anS teijric/'. 
 
 Him, and made Him a crown of the branches of the Albespyne, 
 that is, White Thorn, which grew in the same garden, and set it on 
 His head And therefore hath the White Thorn many- 
 virtues. For he that beareth a branch thereof, no thunder or 
 manner of tempest may hurt him : and in the house that it is in 
 
 may no evil spirit enter." A Roman Cathohc legend relates that 
 
 when the Holy Crown blossomed afresh, whilst the vidlorious 
 Charlemagne knelt before it, the scent of Hawthorn filled the air. 
 The Crown of Thorns was given up to St. Louis of France by the 
 Venetians, and placed by him in the Sainte Chapelle, which he built 
 in Paris. The Feast of the Susception of the Holy Crown is 
 observed at the church of Notre Dame, in Paris, in honour of this 
 cherished relic. The Crown of Thorns is enclosed within a glass 
 circle, which a priest holds in his hands ; he passes before the kneel- 
 ing devotees, who are ranged outside the altar rail, and offers the 
 crown to them to be kissed. The Norman peasant constantly wears 
 a sprig of Hawthorn in his cap, from the belief that Christ's crown 
 
 was woven of it. The French have a curious tradition that when 
 
 Christ was one day resting in a wood, after having escaped from a 
 pursuit by the Jews, the magpies came and covered Him all over 
 with Thorns, which the kindly swallows (pouUs de Dim) perceived, 
 and hastened to remove. A swallow is also said to have taken 
 
 away the Crown of Thorns at the Crucifixion. The Hawthorn 
 
 is the distinguishing badge of the royal house of Tudor. When 
 Richard HI. was slain at Bosworth, his body was plundered of its 
 armour and ornaments. The crown was hidden by a soldier in a 
 Hawthorn-bush, but was soon found and carried back to Lord 
 Stanley, who, placing it on the head of his son-in-law, saluted him 
 as King Henry VII. To commemorate this pidturesque incident, 
 the house of Tudor assumed the device of a crown in a bush of 
 fruited Hawthorn. The proverb of " Cleave to the crown, though 
 
 it hang on a bush," alludes to the same circumstance. The 
 
 Hawthorn has for centuries borne in England the favourite name 
 of " May," from its flowering in. that month: 
 
 " Between the leaves the silver Whitethorn shows 
 Its dewy blossoms pure as mountain snows." 
 
 In olden times, very early on May-day morning, lads and lasses 
 repaired to the woods and hedgerows, and returned, soon after 
 sunrise, laden with posies of flowers, and boughs of blooming 
 Hawthorn, with which to decorate the churches and houses: 
 even in London boughs of May were freely suspended over the 
 citizens' doorways. Chaucer tells us how : — 
 
 " Furth goth all the Courte, both most and lest, 
 To fetche the flouris freshe, and braunche, and blome, 
 And namely Hawthorne brought both page and grome. 
 With freshe garlandis partly blew and white, 
 And than rejoisin in their grete delighte," 
 
pfant Isore, hegerpf, ani. Isijricy. 361 
 
 In Lancashire, at the present day, the Mayers still, in some 
 distriiSls, go from door to door, and sing : — 
 
 " We have been rambling all this night, 
 And almost all this day ; 
 And now returned back again, 
 We've brought you a branch of May. 
 " A branch of May we have brought you, 
 And at your door it stands ; 
 It is but a sprout, but it's well budded out 
 By the work of our Lord's hands." 
 
 Aubrey, writing in 1686, records that at Woodstock, in Oxford- 
 shire, the people were accustomed on May-eve to go into the park 
 and procure a number of Hawthorn-trees, which they set before 
 their doors. In Huntingdonshire, on May-day morn, the young 
 men used formerly to place, at sunrise, a branch of Hawthorn 
 
 in blossom, before the door of anyone they wished to honour. 
 
 A curious superstition survives in Suffolk, where to sleep in a 
 room, with the Hawthorn in bloom in it during the month of May, 
 is considered, by country folk, to be unlucky, and sure to be 
 
 followed by some great misfortune. In some parts of Ireland, it 
 
 is thought unlucky to bring blossoming Hawthorn indoors, and 
 unsafe to gather even a leaf from certain old and solitary Thorns 
 which grow in sheltered hollows of the moorlands, and on the 
 
 fairies' trysting places. It is considered unlucky to cut down a 
 
 Hawthorn-tree, and in many parts the peasants refuse to do it: 
 thus we read, in a legend of county Donegal, that a fairy had tried 
 to steal one Joe McDonough's baby, and, telling the story to her 
 neighbours: " I never affronted the gentry [fairies] to my know- 
 ledge," sighed the poor mother ; " but Joe helped Mr. Todd's 
 gardener to cut down the old Hawthorn-tree on the lawn Friday 
 was eight days : an' there's them that says that's a very bad thing 
 to do. I fleeched him not to touch it, but the master he offered 
 him six shillings if he'd help wi' the job, for the other men refused." 
 " That's the way of it," whispered the crones over their pipes and 
 poteen — " that's just it. The gude man has had the ill luck to dis- 
 please the ' gentry,' an' there will be trouble in this house yet." 
 
 Among the Pyrenean peasantry Hawthorn and Laurel are thought 
 to secure the wearer against thunder. The inhabitants of Biarritz 
 make Hawthorn wreaths on St. John's Day: they then rush to the sea, 
 plunge in after a prayer, and consider themselves safe during the en- 
 suing twelve months from the temptation of evil spirits. The old 
 
 herbalists prescribe the distilled water of the Haws of the Hawthorn 
 as an application suited to " any place where thorns or splinters 
 doe abide in the flesh," the result being that the decodlion " will 
 notably draw them out." Lord Bacon tells us, that a " store of 
 
 Haws portends cold winters." Among the Turks, a branch of 
 
 Hawthorn expresses the wish of a lover to receive a kiss. The 
 
 Hawthorn attains to a great age, and its wood is remarkably 
 
362 pfant Tsore, TsegeTja/, oriil Tsijric/. 
 
 durable : there is a celebrated tree enclosed in Cawdor Castle, near 
 Inverness, which has stood from time immemorial. Tradition 
 relates that the Castle was built over the tree in consequence of 
 a dream, by which the original proprietor was instru(5led to eredl 
 a castle on this particular spot. From the most remote times it 
 has been customary for guests to assemble themselves around this 
 
 venerable tree, and drink success to the House of Cawdor. The 
 
 most remarkable of English Thorns is that known as the Glaston- 
 bury Thorn, which is reputed to have sprung from the staff of 
 Joseph of Arimathea. (See Glastonbury Thornj. By astro- 
 logers the Hawthorn is placed under the dominion of Mars. 
 Turner remarks that, should he "want weapons, he may make use 
 of the prickles and let Saturn take the fruit." 
 
 Haymaids, or Hedgemaids, the Ground-Ivy. — See Ivy. 
 
 HAZEL. — The Hazel (Corylus Avellana) is the theme of many 
 traditions, reaching from the remotest ages, and in England the 
 tree would seem to have acquired almost a sacred charadter. In 
 Scandinavian mythology the Hazel was consecrated to the god Thor, 
 and in the poetic Edda a staff of Hazel is mentioned as a symbol 
 
 of authority, and hence employed for the sceptres of kings. In 
 
 classic mythology, the Hazel rod becomes, the caduceus of the god 
 Mercury. Taking pity on the miserable, barbarous state of man- 
 kind, Apollo and Mercury interchanged presents and descended 
 to the earth. The god of Harmony received from the son of 
 Maia the shell of a tortoise, out of which he had constru(fted a 
 lyre, and gave him in exchange a Hazel stick, which had the power 
 of imparting a love of virtue and of calming the passion and hatred 
 of men. Armed with this Hazel wand, Mercury moved among 
 the people of earth, and touching them with it, he taught them to 
 express their thoughts in words, and awakened within them feelings 
 of patriotism, filial love, and reverence of the gods. Adorned with 
 two light wings, and entwined with serpents, the Hazel rod of 
 
 Mercury is still the emblem of peace and commerce. An old 
 
 tradition tells us that God, when He banished Adam from the ter- 
 restrial Paradise, gave him in His mercy the power of producing in- 
 stantly the animals of which he was in want, upon striking the sea 
 with a Hazel rod. One day Adam tried this, and produced the 
 sheep. Eve was desirous of imitating him, but her stroke of the 
 Hazel rod brought forth the wolf, which at once attacked the 
 sheep. Adam hastened to regain his salutary instrument, and pro- 
 duced the dog, which conquered the wolf. A Hebrew legend 
 
 states that Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit, hid herself 
 
 in the foliage of a Hazel-bush. It was a Hazel-tree which 
 
 afforded shelter to the Virgin Mary, surprised by a storm, whilst 
 on her way to visit St. Elizabeth. Under a Hazel-tree the 
 
 Holy Family rested during their flight into Egypt. It was of 
 
 wattled Hazel-hurdles that St. Joseph, of Arimathea, raised the first 
 
pPant Tsore, Iscge^/, cmel bijriq/'. 363 
 
 English Christian church at Glastonbury, In Bohemia, a cer- 
 tain " chapel in the Hazel-tree," dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is 
 regarded with much reverence : it was eredted in memory of a 
 butcher to whom a statue of the Virgin, near a Hazel-tree, had 
 spoken. The butcher carried off the image to his house, but during 
 the night the statue returned to its former place near the Hazel- 
 tree. For the ancient Germans, the Hazel-tree, which re- 
 blossoms towards the end of winter, was a type of immortality. It 
 is now considered a symbol of happy marriages, because the Nuts 
 
 are seen on its branches united in pairs. In the Black Forest, the 
 
 leader of a marriage procession carries a Hazel wand in his hand. 
 In some places, during certain processions on Sunday, the Oats 
 stored in stables for horses are touched, in the name of God, with 
 
 Hazel-branches. It is believed that this humble shrub frightens 
 
 serpents. An Irish tradition relates that St. Patrick held a 
 rod of Hazel-wood in his hand when he gathered on the pro- 
 montory of Cruachan Phadraig all the venomous reptiles of the 
 
 island and cast them into the sea. The Hazel rod or staff 
 
 appears in olden times to have had peculiar sandlity : it was used 
 by pilgrims, and often deposited in churches, or kept as a precious 
 relic, and buried with its owner. Several such Hazel staffs have 
 
 been found in Hereford Cathedral. The Tyroleans consider 
 
 that a Hazel-bough is an excellent lightning conducftor. Ac- 
 cording to an ancient Hebrew tradition, the wands of magicians 
 were made of Hazel, and of a virgin branch, that is, of a bough 
 
 quite bare and destitute of sprigs or secondary branches. Nork 
 
 says that by means of Hazel rods witches can be compelled to 
 restore to animals and plants the fecundity which they had pre- 
 viously taken from them. Pliny states that Hazel wands assist 
 
 the discovery of subterranean springs ; and in Italy, to the present 
 day, they are believed to adt as divining-rods for the discovery of 
 hidden treasure — a belief formerly held in England, if we may 
 judge from the following lines by S. Shepherd (1600) :-^ 
 
 " Some sorcerers do boast they have a rod, 
 Gather'd with words and sacrifice, 
 And, borne alert, will strangely nod 
 To hidden treasure where it lies." 
 
 Extraordinary and special conditions are necessary to ensure 
 success in the cutting of a divining-rod. It must always be 
 performed after sunset and before sunrise, and only on certain 
 nights, among which are specified those of Good' Friday, Epi- 
 phany, Shrove Friday, and St. John's Day, the first night of a 
 new moon, or that preceding it. In cutting it, one must face the 
 east, so that the rod shall be one which catches the first rays of 
 the morning sun ; or, as some say, the eastern and western sun 
 must shine through the fork of the rod, otherwise it will be valueless. 
 Both in France and England, the divining-rod is much more com- 
 monly employed at the present time than is generally supposed. 
 
364 
 
 Qiant 1sore, Istag&r^/, anel Isn^t'ia/. 
 
 -In the eighteenth century its use was ably advocated by De Thou- 
 venel in France, and soon afterwards in our country by enthu- 
 siasts. Pryce, in his Mineralogia Covnubiensis, states that many mines 
 have been discovered by means of the rod, and quotes several. Sir 
 Thomas Browne describes the divining-rod as "a forked Hazel, 
 commonly called Moses' Rod, which, held freely forth, will stir and 
 play if any mine be under it." He thinks, however, that the rod is 
 of pagan origin, and writes : — " the ground whereof were the 
 magical rods in poets — that of Pallas, in Homer; that of Mercury, 
 that charmed Argus ; and that of Circe, which transformed the 
 followers of Ulysses : too boldly usurping the name of Moses's rod ; 
 from which, notwithstanding, and that of Aaron, were probably 
 occasioned the fables of all the rest. For that of Moses must 
 needs be famous to the Egyptians, and that of Aaron unto many 
 other nations, as being preserved in the Ark until the destrucftion of 
 the Temple built by Solomon." In the ' Quarterly Review,' No. 44, 
 is a long account (vouched for by the editor), proving that a Lady 
 Noel possessed the faculty of using the divining-rod : — " She took 
 a thin forked Hazel-twig, about sixteen inches long, and held it by 
 the end, the joint pointing downwards. When she came to the 
 place where the water was under the ground, the Hazel-twig 
 immediately bent, and the motion was more or less rapid as she 
 approached or withdrew from the spring. When just over it, the 
 twig turned so quick as to snap, breaking near the fingers, which by 
 pressing it were indented and heated, and almost blistered ; a degree 
 of agitation was also visible in her face. The exercise of the 
 
 faculty is independent of any volition." The use of the forked 
 
 Hazel-twig as a divining-rod to discover metals is said to have been 
 known in this kingdom as early as the days of Agricola : its deri- 
 vation is probably to be sought in an ancient custom of the 
 Israelites, to which the Prophet Hosea alludes when he says : " My 
 people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto 
 
 them." In Sweden, Hazel-nuts are believed to have the mystical 
 
 power of making invisible. An old-fashioned charm to cure the 
 
 bite of an adder was to cut a piece of Hazel-wood, fasten a long bit 
 and a short one together in the form of a cross, then to lay it softly 
 on the wound, and say thrice in a loud tone — 
 
 'Underneath this Hazelin mote, 
 There's a Braggotty worm with a 
 speckled thrixit, 
 Nine double is he. 
 Now from 9 double to 8 double, 
 And from 8 double to 7 double, 
 And from 7 double to 6 double, 
 
 And from 6 double to J double. 
 And from 5 double to 4 double, 
 And from 4 double to 3 double, 
 And from 3 double to 2 double, 
 And from 2 double to I double. 
 And from I double to no double, 
 No double hath he ! " 
 
 To dream of Hazels, and of cracking and eating their Nuts, por- 
 tends riches and content as the reward of toil. To dream of finding 
 
 hidden Hazel-.nuts predidls the finding of treasure. Astrologers 
 
 assign the Hazel to the dominion of Mercury. 
 
pPant bore, Tsegeljtt/, anil Isqfio/. 365 
 
 Heartsease. — See Pansy. 
 
 HEATHER. — Included under the terni Heather are the six 
 English species of Heath {Erica) and the Ling {Calluna). Although, 
 in the Scriptures, the Prophet Jeremiah exclaims, " And he shall 
 be like the Heath in the desert," it is probable that the Juniper is 
 
 really referred to. In Germany, the Heath is believed to owe its 
 
 colour to the blood of the slain heathen, for in that country the 
 inhabitants of the uncultivated fields, where the Heath {heide) grew, 
 
 came in time to be known as heathen, or heiden. Heather was the 
 
 badge of " Conn of a hundred fights." The Highlanders consider 
 it exceedingly lucky to find white Heather, the badge of the 
 captain of Clanronald. The Pi<5ls made beer from Heather. 
 
 " Foir once thy mantling juice was seen to laugh 
 In pearly cups, which monarchs loved to quaff; 
 And frequent waked the wild inspired lay 
 On Teviot's hills beneath the Pictish sway." — Ltyden. 
 
 The secret of the manufacture of Heather beer was lost when the 
 Pitfts were exterminated, as they never divulged it to strangers. 
 Tradition says that after the slaughter by Kenneth, a father and 
 son, the sole survivors, were brought before the conqueror, who 
 offered the father his life, provided that he would divulge the secret 
 of making this liquor, and the son was put to death before the old 
 man's eyes, in order to add femphasis to the request. Disgusted 
 with such barbarity, the old warrior said: "Your threats might, 
 perhaps, have influenced my son, but they have no efFedl on me." 
 Kenneth then suffered the Picfl to live, and he carried his secret 
 with him to the grave. At the present time, the inhabitants of Isla, 
 Jura, and other outlying districts, brew a very potable liquor by 
 mixing two-thirds of the tops of Heath with one of malt. 
 
 HELENIUM. — The flower of the Helenium resemble small 
 suns of a beautiful yellow. According to tradition, they sprang up 
 from the tears shed by Helen of Troy. On this point Gerarde 
 writes in his ' Herbal ' : — " Some report that this plant tooke the 
 name of Helenium from Helena, wife to Menelaus, who had her 
 hands full of it when Paris stole her away into Phrygia." 
 
 HELIOTROPE. — The nymph Clytie, enamoured of Phoebus 
 (the Sun), was forsaken by him for Leucothea. Maddened with 
 jealousy, the discarded and love-sick Clytie accused Leucothea of 
 unchastity before her father, who entombed his daughter, and thus 
 killed her. Phoebus, enraged with Clytie for causing the death of 
 his beloved Leucothea, heeded not her sighs and spurned her 
 embraces. Abandoned thus by her inconstant lover, the wretched 
 and despairing Clytie wandered half distraught, until at length— 
 " She with distracted passion pines away, 
 
 Detesteth company ; all night, all day, 
 
 Disrobed, with her ruffled hair unbound 
 
 And wet with humour, sits upon the ground ; 
 
366 pfant bore, TscgeTJt)/, aHi, Tsijncy, 
 
 For nine long days all sustenance forbears ; 
 
 Her hunger cloy'd with dew, her thirst with tears : 
 
 Nor rose ; but rivets on the god her eyes, 
 
 And ever turns her face to him that flies. 
 
 At length to earth her stupid body cleaves ; 
 
 Her wan complexion turns to bloodless leaves, 
 
 Yet streaked with red : her perished limbs beget 
 
 A flower resembling the pale Violet ; 
 
 Which, with the Sun, though rooted fast, doth move ; 
 
 And, being changed, yet changeth not her love." — Sandys^ Ovid. 
 
 Rapin, in error, alludes to the Sunflower {Helimthus) as owing its 
 origin to Clytie. He says : — 
 
 " But see where Clytie, pale with vain desires, 
 Bows her weak neck, and Phoebus still admires ; 
 On rushy stems she lifts herself on high, 
 And courts a glance from his enliv'ning eye." 
 
 The flower into which the hapless Clytie was metamorphosed 
 was not the scented Heliotrope, common to modern gardens, which 
 does not turn with the Sun, and, being of Peruvian origin, was of 
 course unknown to the ancients; neither was it the Helianthus, 
 or Sunflower, for that plant also came to us from the new world, 
 and was therefore equally unknown in the days when Ovid wrote 
 the tragic story of Clytie's love and death. The Herba Clytice is 
 identified in an old German herbal (Hortus Medicus Camerarii) 
 with Heliotropium Tricoccon, Gerarde figures four Heliotr opiums, 
 or "Tornesoles," one of which he names Heliotropium Tricoccum; 
 and in his remarks on the Heliotrope or Turnsole, he says: "Some 
 think it to be Herba ClyticB into which the poets feign Clytia to be 
 metamorphosed ; whence one writeth these verses : — 
 
 ' Herba velut Clitia semper petit obvia solem, 
 Sic pia mens Christum, quo prece spectet, habet.' " 
 
 Parkinson calls the same plant the Turnesole Scorpion Tayle. 
 Theophrastus alludes to the same Heliotropium under the name of 
 Herba Solans. But we do not find that the flowers of this common 
 European species of Heliotrope answer the description given by 
 Ovid — "A flower most like a Violet" — or by Pliny, who says of it: 
 "The Heliotrope turns with the Sun, in cloudy weather even, so 
 great is its sympathy with that luminary: at night, as though in 
 regret, it closes its blue flowers." The insignificant Heliotropium 
 or Turnsole, with its diminutive whitish blossom, cannot be the 
 flower depidted by Ovid, or the plant with " blue flowers " referred 
 to by Pliny. Moreover, Gerarde tells us that the European Turn- 
 sole he figures " is named Heliotropium, not because it is turned 
 about at the daily motion of the sunne, but hy reason it flowereth in 
 the Summer solstice, at which time the sunne being farthest gone 
 from the equinodtial circle, returneth to the same." In Mentzel's 
 ^ Index Nominum Plantarum Multilinguis' (1682) we find that the old 
 Italian name of the Turnsole was Verntcaria (Wart-wort), and 
 Gerarde, in the index to his ' Herbal,' states that Verrucaria is 
 
Tithymalus (Spurge), ox Heliotr opium minus. Referring to his description 
 of the Spurges, we note that he figures twenty-three varieties, the 
 first of which is called Wart -wort; and the second. Sun Spurge, 
 which is thus described : — " The second kinde (called Helioscopius 
 or Solisequius, and in English, according to his Greeke name, Sunne 
 Spurge, or Time Tithymale, of turning or keeping time with the sunne) 
 hath sundry reddish stalkes of a foot high ; the leaves are like unto 
 Purslane, not so great nor thicke, but snipt about the edges : the 
 flowers are yellowish, and growing in little platters." Here, then, 
 we have perhaps a sufficiently near approach to the pale flower of 
 Ovid; but nothing like the blue flower of Pliny. Among the 
 Spurges described by Gerarde, however, is one which he calls the 
 Venetian Sea Spurge, and this plant is stated to have bell-shaped 
 flowers of a dark or blackish purple colour, so that possibly this was 
 
 the flower indicated by Pliny. De Gubernatis, in his Mythologie 
 
 des Plantes, states that the flower into which Clytia was transformed 
 is the Helianthemum roseum of Decandolle. The author of ' Flower 
 Lore ' says, " The classic Sunflower is an annual of an insignificant 
 appearance, having many fabulous properties assigned to it. The 
 Heliotrope belongs to the natural order Boragina, and is a native 
 of the south-west of Europe." The late Mr. H. A. Bright, in ' A Year 
 in a Lancashire Garden,' tells us that one of our very best living 
 authorities on such a subjedl sent him " the suggestion that the 
 common Salsafy, or possibly the Anagallis, may be the flower." 
 Turner, in his 'Brittish Physician' (1687), calls the yellow-flowered 
 Elecampane, the Sunflower. Other botanists suggest an Aster or 
 Calendula "(Marigold) : if this last suggestion be correct, the flower 
 called by Parkinson, in his ' Paradisus,' the Purple Marigold, and 
 by Gerarde Italian Starwort (Aster Italorum), comes nearest to 
 Pliny's description. This flower is stated by Gerarde to have been 
 called by some the Blue Marigold, whose yellow European brother 
 Shakspeare describes as 
 
 " The Marygold, that goes to bed with the sun. 
 And with it rises weeping." 
 
 We may include the blue or purple Marigold among those flowers 
 of which Bacon writes : "For the bowing and inclining the head, 
 it is found in the great Flower of the Sunne, in Marigolds, Wart 
 
 Wort, Mallow Flowers, and others." Albertus Magnus accords 
 
 to the Heliotrope the following wonderful properties : " Gather in 
 August the Heliotropon, wrap it in a Bay-leaf with a wolf's tooth, 
 and it will, if placed under the pillow, show a man who has been 
 robbed where are his goods, and who has taken them. Also, if 
 placed in a church, it will keep fixed in their places all the women 
 present who have broken their marriage vow. This last is most 
 tried and most true." According to another version, in order to 
 work this last charm, the HeHotrope-flower must be gathered in 
 August when the sun is in Leo, and be wrapped in a Laurel-leaf 
 before being deposited in the church. 
 
368 pPant bore, hager^f, dnei Isijrie/". 
 
 HELLEBORE.— The Christmas Rose {HeMorus niger) 
 has also been called Black Hellebore, from the colour of its 
 roots, and Melampodium, in honour of Melampus, a learned 
 physician who flourished at Pylos, in Peloponnesus, 1530 years 
 before the birth of Christ. Melampus travelled into Egypt, then 
 the seat of science, in order to study the healing art, and there he 
 became acquainted with the cathartic qualities of the Hellebore, 
 by noticing the effedl it had upon some goats which had fed upon 
 the herb. He afterwards cured with Hellebore the mental derange- 
 ment of the daughters of Proetus, King of Argos — ancient writers 
 affirm by causing the princesses to bathe in a cold fountain after 
 taking the drug ; but according to Pliny, by prescribing the milk 
 of goats which had eaten this vegetable. From this circumstance. 
 Hellebore became celebrated as a medicine, and was speedily 
 regarded with superstitious reverence by the ignorant populace. 
 Thus, Black Hellebore was used to purify houses, and to hallow 
 dwellings, and the ancients entertained the belief that by strewing 
 or perfuming their apartments with this plant, they drove away evil 
 spirits. This ceremony was performed with great devotion, and 
 accompanied with the singing of solemn hymns. In similar manner, 
 they blessed their cattle with Hellebore, to keep them free from 
 the spells of the wicked : for these purposes it was dug up with 
 certain attendant mystic rites ; the devotee first drawing a circle 
 round the plant with a sword, and then, turning to the east, 
 offering a prayer to Apollo and ^sculapius, for leave to dig up the 
 root. The flight of the eagle was anxiously watched during the 
 performance of these rites, for if the bird approached the spot, it 
 was considered so ominous as to predidl the certain death of the 
 persons who took up the plant, in the course of the year. In 
 digging up the roots of certain species of Hellebore, it was thought 
 necessary to eat Garlic previously, to counteradt the poisonous 
 effluvia of the plant. Yet the root was eventually dried and 
 pounded to dust, in which state it was taken in the manner of snuff'. 
 
 R. Turner, writing in 1663, says that at that time Hellebore 
 
 was thought to cure such as seemed to be possessed with the Devil, 
 
 and therefore was by some called Fuga Dcemonum. The ancient 
 
 Gauls are said to have invariably rubbed the points of their arrows 
 with Hellebore, believing that it rendered all the game killed with 
 
 them more tender. Hellebore in ancient times was considered a 
 
 certain antidote against madness. In his 'Anatomy of Melan- 
 choly,' Burton introduces the Hellebore among the emblematical 
 figures of his frontispiece, with the following lines : — 
 
 " Borage and Hellebore fill two scenes, 
 Sovereign plants to purge the veins 
 Of melancholy, and cheer the heart 
 Of those black fumes which make it smart ; 
 To clear the brain of misty fogs, 
 Which dull our senses, and soul clogs ; 
 The best medicine that e'er God made 
 For this malady, if well assaid." 
 
pfant Tsore, Tsegcf^ti/, an3. Tsijricy, 369 
 
 Hellebore formerly grew in great abundance on the Island of 
 Anticyra, in the Gulf of Corinth: hence Naviga ad Anticymm 
 
 was a common proverb applied to hypochondriacal persons. 
 
 Pausanias tells us that when the Cirrhseans besieged Athens, Solon 
 recommended that Hellebore should be thrown in the river Plistus : 
 this was done, and the Cirrhaeans, from drinking the water, were so 
 powerfully attacked with dysentery, that they were forced to abandon 
 
 the siege. The Hellebore has long been considered a plant of 
 
 evil omen, growing in dark and lonely places. Thus Campbell 
 says of it : — 
 
 " By the witches' tower. 
 Where Hellebore aad Hemlock seem to weave 
 Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower 
 For spirits of the dead at night's enchanted hour." 
 
 The plant, with certain accompanying exorcisms, was reputed to 
 be efficacious in cases of deafness caused by witchcraft. In 
 Tuscany, the peasantry divine the harvest from the appearance of 
 the Hellebore-plant. If it has four tufts, it will be good ; if three, 
 
 mediocre ; if two, bad. Astrologers say that Hellebore is a herb 
 
 of Saturn. 
 
 HELMET-FLOWER.— The ScuteUana,or Skull-cap flower, 
 is generally known by the name of the Helmet-flower, the blossoms 
 being shaped similar to those of the Snap-Dragon. It is used in 
 curing the tertian ague, 
 
 HEMLOCK. — The common Hemlock (Conium maculatum) is 
 described by Dioscorides as a very evil, dangerous, hurtful, and 
 poisonous herb, " insomuch that whosoever taketh of it into his 
 body dieth remediless^ except the party drank some wine before 
 the venom hath taken the heart." It is the Coneion of the ancients: 
 that deadly poison distilled from the juices of the Hemlock, that 
 was drunk by Socrates, Theramenes, and Phocion — the fatal drug 
 given to him whom the Areopagus had condemned to death — the 
 unfailing potion gulped down by ancient philosophers, who were 
 weary of their lives, and dreaded the infirmities of old age. Re- 
 solved on their fate, these men crowned themselves with garlands, 
 and with a smile upon their lips tossed off the fatal Coneion — dying re- 
 
 spedted by their countrymen for their fortitude and heroism. The 
 
 Hemlock is one of the deadly poisons that kills by its cold quahty. 
 Hence Pliny tells us that serpents fly from its leaves, because they 
 also chill to the death : on this account probably it has been called 
 
 Herha henediila, or Herb Bennett. The Eleusinian priests, who 
 
 were required to remain chaste all their lives, were wont to rub 
 
 themselves with Hemlock. In Russia, the Hemlock under the 
 
 name of Beh, is looked upon as a Satanic herb ; and in Germany, 
 it is regarded as a funereal plant, and as a representative of the 
 vegetation of the infernal regions. In England, it was a favourite 
 plant of the witches, gathered by them for use in their potions and 
 hell-broths : it is still considered a plant of ill-omen, growing 
 
 2 B 
 
\yo pfant Tsore, TsegeT^/, orisl Tai^f'iaj, 
 
 among ruins and in waste places, and being unsavoury and 
 offensive to to the senses. 
 
 " By the witches' tower, 
 Where Hellebore and Hemlock seem to weave 
 Round its dark vaults a melancholy bower 
 For spirits of the dead at night's enchanted hour." 
 
 The Hebrew prophet Hosea says of this sinister plant : " Judgment 
 
 springeth up as Hemlock in the furrows of the field." At the end 
 
 of Summer the dead stalks of the Hemlock rattle in the wind, and 
 are called by country folk Kecksies, an old English word applied to 
 the dry hollow stalks of umbelliferous plants. Formerly the Hem- 
 lock was called Kex. Astrologers assign the plant to Saturn. 
 
 HEMP. — Herodotus speaks of Hemp (Cannabis sativa) as a 
 
 novelty in his time, lately introduced into Thrace from Scythia. 
 
 A curious prophecy relating to English kings and queens, and the 
 prosperity of England, has been preserved by Lord Bacon, who heard 
 of it when Queen Elizabeth was " in the flower of her age": — 
 
 " When Hempe is spun, 
 England's done." 
 
 "Whereby it was generally conceived that, after the princes had 
 reigned, which had the principal letters of that word Hempe 
 (which were Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth), England 
 should come to utter confusion, which is verified in the change of 
 the name; for that the king's style is now no more of England, but 
 
 of Britain." In some parts of the country, on Midsummer Eve, 
 
 but in Derbyshire on St. Valentine's Eve, as the clock strikes 
 twelve, young women desirous of knowing their future husbands 
 go into a churchyard, and run round the church, scattering Hemp- 
 seed, and repeating the while, without stopping, these lines : — 
 
 " I sow Hemp-seed : Hemp-seed I sow : 
 He that loves me the best 
 Come after me and mow." 
 
 The sowing of Hemp-seed is performed by maidens, at midnight, 
 on Midsummer Eve in Cornwall, on St. Martin's night in Norfolk, 
 and on All Hallow Eve in Scotland; the incantation being com- 
 pleted by the recital of the following or similar lines : — 
 " Hemp-seed I sow thee, 
 
 Hemp-seed grow thee : 
 
 And he who will my true-love be 
 
 Come after me and show thee." 
 
 The figure of the girl's lover, it is then supposed, wiU appear and 
 nm after her. In the poem of ' The Cottage Girl,' the rite of 
 sowing Hemp-seed is thus described : — 
 
 " To issue from beneath the thatch. 
 
 With trembUng hand she lifts the latch, 
 
 And steps, as creaks the feeble door. 
 
 With cautious feet the threshold o'er ; 
 
 Lest, stumbling on the horseshoe dim. 
 
 Dire spells unsinew ev'ry limb. 
 
pPant T9ope, Tsegzr^f, cmsl 'bijricy. 371 
 
 " Lo ! shudd'ring at the solemn deed, 
 She scatters round the magic seed, 
 And thrice repeats, ' The seed I sow, 
 My true-love's scythe the crop shall mow.' 
 Straight, as her frame fresh horrors freeze. 
 Her true love with his scythe she sees. 
 
 " And next, she seeks the Yew-tree shade, 
 Where he who died for love is laid ; 
 There binds, upon the verdant sod 
 By many a moonlight fairy trod. 
 The Cowslip and the Lily-wrealh 
 She wove her Hawthorn hedge beneath ; 
 And whisp'ring, ' Ah ! may Colin prove 
 As constant as thou wast to love ! ' 
 Kisses, with pale lip full of dread, 
 The turf that hides his clay-cold head ! " 
 
 Perhaps the origin of this custom of Hemp-sowing is the fadl that 
 from Hemp is made cord, which is used to bind, attach, or secure 
 an objecft. The Sicihans, indeed, employ Hemp as a charm to 
 secure the aflFe(5lion of those they love. De Gubernatis tells us 
 that, on Friday (the day consecrated to the remembrance of our 
 Lord's Passion), they take a Hempen thread, and twenty- five 
 needlefuls of coloured silk ; and at midnight they plait this, saying : 
 
 " Chistu i cdnnava di Christu, 
 Servi pi aitaccari a chistu" 
 
 Forthwith they go to the church with the plait in their hands, and 
 enter at the moment of the Consecration : then they tie three knots 
 in the plait, previously adding a little of the hair of the loved one ; 
 after which they invoke all evil spirits to entice the person beloved 
 
 towards the person who craves his or her love. In Piedmont, 
 
 there is a belief that Hemp spun on the last day of Carnival will 
 bring bad luck. On that day, in some distriifls, the following cere- 
 mony is gone through to divine what sort of Hemp crop may be 
 expedled : — A bonfire is lighted, and the diredlion of the flames is 
 attentively watched : if the flames mount straight upwards, the 
 crop will be good ; but if they incline either way, it will be bad. 
 
 In the C6tes-du-Nord, France, there is a belief that Hemp 
 
 enrages those who have been bitten by dogs. When fowls eat 
 Hemp-seed, they cease to lay, and commence to sit. It is cus- 
 tomary to leave the finest sprig of Hemp, that the bird St. Martin 
 may be able to rest on it. The Egyptians prepare an intoxi- 
 cating substance from Hemp, called Hashish. This they roll into 
 balls the size of a Chesnut, and after having swallowed a few of 
 
 these, they experience ecstatic visions. The Arabians concodl 
 
 a preparation of Hemp, which produces the most varied halluci- 
 nations, so that those who are intoxicated by it imagine that 
 they are flying, or that they are changed into a statue, that their 
 head is cut off', that their limbs stretch out to immense lengths, or 
 that they can see, even through stone walls, "the colour of the 
 
 thoughts of others" and the words of their neighbours. In the 
 
 2 B — 2 
 
372 pPant Tsore, "bieger^f, anil Isijricy. 
 
 Chinese Liao chai chih ye (a.d. 6o — 70), it is recorded that two friends 
 wandering among the mountains culling simples, find at a fairy 
 bridge two lovely maidens guarding it ; at their invitation, the two 
 friends cross this " azure bridge " and are regaled with Huma 
 (Hemp — the Chinese Hashish) ; forthwith they fall deeply in love 
 with their hostesses, and spend with them in the Jasper City what 
 appears to them a few blissful days : at length, becoming home- 
 sick, they return, to find that seven generations have passed, and 
 that they have become centenarians. To dream of Hemp be- 
 tokens ill-luck. Astrologers assign Hemp to the rule of Saturn. 
 
 HENBANE. — There are two species of Henbane {Hyoscy- 
 amus), th« black and the white : the black or common Henbane 
 grows on waste land by roadsides, and bears pale, woolly, clammy 
 leaves, with venomous-looking cream-coloured flowers, and has a 
 foetid smell. Pliny calls this black Henbane a plant of ill omen, 
 employed in funeral repasts, and scattered on tombs. The ancients 
 thought that sterility was the result of eating this sinister plant, 
 and that babes at the breast were seized with convulsions if the 
 
 mother had partaken of it. Henbane was called Insana, and was 
 
 believed to render anyone eating it stupid and drowsy : it was also 
 known as AUerculum, because those that had partaken of it became 
 
 light-headed and quarrelsome. According to Plutarch, the dead 
 
 were crowned with chaplets of Henbane, and their tombs decorated 
 with the baneful plant, which, for some unknown reason, was also 
 employed to form the chaplets of victors at the Olympic games. 
 Hercides is sometimes represented with a crown of Henbane. 
 Priests were forbidden to eat Henbane, but the horses of Juno fed 
 on it; and to this day, on the Continent, Henbane is prescribed 
 
 for certain equine disorders. Albertus Magnus calls Henbane the 
 
 sixth herb of Jupiter, and recommends it especially for liver com- 
 plaints. In Sanscrit, Henbane is caUed Aj'amoda, or Goat's Joy. 
 
 Both sheep and goats will eat the plant sparingly, but swine are 
 said really to like it, and in England it is well known as Hog's Bean. 
 
 In Piedmont, there is a tradition that if a hare be sprinkled 
 
 with Henbane juice, all the hares in the neighbourhood will run 
 away. They also have a saying, when a mad dog dies, that he has 
 
 tasted Henbane. In Germany, there is a superstitious belief 
 
 that Henbane will attradt rain. The English name of Henbane 
 
 was given to the plant on account of the baneful effecfts of its seed 
 upon poultry, for, according to Matthiolus, birds that have eaten the 
 
 seeds perish soon after, as do fishes also. Anodyne necklaces, 
 
 made of pieces of this root, are sometimes worn by infants to 
 facilitate teething, and the leaves are smoked by country people to 
 allay toothache. Gerarde says, " The root boiled with vinegre, 
 and the same holden hot in the mouth, easeth the pain of the teeth. 
 The seed is used by mountebank tooth-drawers, which run about 
 the country, to cause worms to come forth of the teeth, by burning 
 it in a chafing-dish of coles, the party holding his mouth over the 
 
pPant Isore, }3&g&'r^f, oiT^ bijrio/'. 373 
 
 fume thereof; but some crafty companions, to gain money, convey 
 small lute-strings into the water, persuading the patient that those 
 small creepers came out of his mouth or other parts which he 
 
 intended to cure." The plant was one of those sought for by 
 
 witches, and used in their potions. 
 
 " And I ha' been plucking plants among 
 Hemlock, Henbane, Adder's-tongue. — Ben Vonion, 
 
 Astrologers place Henbane under the rule of Saturn. 
 
 HENNA. — In the Canticles, the royal poet says: " My be- 
 loved is unto me as a cluster of Camphire in the vineyards of 
 Engedi." The Camphire mentioned here, and in other parts of 
 Scripture, is the same shrub which the Arabs call Henna [Lawsonia, 
 imrmis), the leaves of which are still used by women in the East to 
 impart a ruddy tint to the palms of their hands and the soles of their 
 feet. Throughout Egypt, India, Persia, Arabia, and Greece, it is 
 held in universal estimation for its beauty and sweet perfume. Mo- 
 hammed pronounced it the chief of the sweet-scented flowers of this 
 world and of the next. In Egypt, the flowers are sold in the street, 
 the vendor calling out as he proceeds — " O, odours of Paradise ! 
 O flowers of the Henna ! " The Egyptian women obtain from the 
 powdered leaves a paste, with which they stain their fingers and 
 feet an orange colour that will last for several weeks. This they 
 esteem an ornament. Gerarde describes the Henna, or Henne- 
 bush, as a kind of Privet, which in his day grew in Syria near the 
 city Ascalon, and he says " Bellonius writeth that not onely the 
 haire, but also the nether parts of man's body, and nailes likewise, are 
 colored and died herewith, which is counted an ornament among 
 
 the Turks." The Hindus call the Henna-flower Mindi, and the 
 
 females, like the Egyptians, employ it to colour their nails, fingers, 
 and the soles of their feet an orange hue. The miraculous stone, 
 which they call Gauri, or Parvati, received its name and its ruddy 
 colour from being touched by the foot of the divine wife of Siva, 
 which had previously been stained with the juice of Mindi. Henna- 
 flowers are of a pale yellow tint, and emit a sweet perfume ; they 
 are made into garlands by the Hindus, and offered to travellers in 
 official ceremonies ; thus we read that at the reception of M. 
 Rousselet by the King of Gwalior, the ceremony concluded by the 
 guests being decked with garlands of Henna-flowers, placed around 
 their necks and hands. An extradl prepared from these flowers is 
 employed in religious ceremonies. 
 
 HERB BENNETT. — The Avens, Herb Bennett, or Herba 
 Benedidla {Geum urbanum), occurs as an archite(5lural decoration 
 towards the end of the thirteenth century, and is found associated 
 with old church paintings. The Holy Trinity and the five wounds 
 of our Lord are thought to be symbolised in its trefoiled leaf and 
 the five golden petals of its blossom. The flower has several rural 
 names, such as Star of the Earth, Goldy-flower, and Blessed Herb 
 
374 pfant 'bore, laeger^f, drO. "hi^t'iaj: 
 
 (a translation of the Latin Herha Benedida, of which Herb Bennett 
 is simply a corruption). This last name was given to it from an 
 ancient belief that when the root is in the house, the Devil is power- 
 less and flies from it ; wherefore it was considered blessed above 
 all herbs. Herb Bennett was also reported to be hostile to all 
 venomous beasts : if grown in a garden, no such creature would 
 approach within scent of it, and the root carried about the person 
 of any man ensured his immunity from the attacks of monsters or 
 
 reptiles. Formerly, the appellation Herba Benedi&a, was applied 
 
 not only to the Avens, but also to the Hemlock and the Valerian. 
 Dr. Prior remarks that " in point of fadt the proper name of these 
 plants was not Herha BenediHa, but Sti. Benediiti herha, St. Benedidt's 
 herb (German, Sand Benediden-kraut), and was assigned to such as 
 were supposed to be antidotes, in allusion to a legend of St. Bene- 
 di(5t, which represents that, upon his blessing a cup of poisoned 
 wine which a monk had given to destroy him, the glass was shivered 
 to pieces." By astrologers, Avens is deemed a herb of Jupiter. 
 
 HERB CARPENTER.— The Prunella vulgaris, from its 
 efficacy in healing wounds inflicted by chisels, sickles, and other 
 sharp instruments used by working-men, was formerly known as 
 Herb Carpenter, Sickle-wood, and Hook-weed, as well as by the 
 name it is still called by — Self-heal. It is a herb of Venus. 
 
 HERB CHRISTOPHER.— The name of Herb Christopher 
 is applied by Gerarde to a species of Aconite, and to the Osmund 
 Fern. Parkinson gives the Baneberry the same title. 
 
 HERB GERARD.— Aishweed, Gout-wort, or Herb Gerard 
 {/^gopodium Podagraria), was named after St. Gerard, who used to 
 be invoked against the gout, a disease for which this plant was 
 highly esteemed as a remedy. 
 
 Herb Impious. — See Everlasting Flower. 
 
 HERB MARGARET.— The Daisy (Bellis peremis) was 
 also formerly called Herha Margarita, Herb Margaret, or Mar- 
 guerite (French). The flower is erroneously supposed to have been 
 named after the virtuous St. Margaret of Antioch, " Maid Mar- 
 garete, that was so meeke and milde " — who was invoked because 
 in her martyrdom she prayed for lying-in women ; whereas it de- 
 rives its name from St. Margaret of Cortona. (See Marguerite). 
 
 Herb of Grace, — See Rue. 
 
 HERB OF THE CROSS.— In Brittany, the Vervain 
 {Verhena officinalis) is called the Herb of the Cross, and is supposed 
 to be endowed with remarkable healing qualities, J. White (1624) 
 writes thus of it ; — 
 
 " Hallow'd be thou, Vervain, as thou growest in the ground, 
 
 For on the Mount of Calvary thou first was found. 
 
 Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 
 And staunchedst His bleeding wound. 
 
 In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I take thee from the ground.'' 
 
In the Flax-fields of Flanders, a plant is found called the Rood- 
 selken, the crimson spots on the leaves of which betoken the Divine 
 blood which trickled on it from the Cross, and the stain of which 
 
 neither snow nor rain has ever been able to wash off. In 
 
 Palestine, the red Anemone is called " Christ's Blood-drops," 
 from the belief that the flower grew on Mount Calvary. In 
 Cheshire, the Orchis maculata, which is there called Gethsemane, is 
 supposed to have sprung up at the foot of the Cross. The Milk- 
 wort, Gang-flower, or RogaXiory-Ao^er [Poly gala vulgaris) is called 
 the Cross-flower from its blooming in Passion week. The Galium 
 cruciaium is called Cross-wort because its leaves are placed in the 
 form of a cross. The early Italian painters, in their paintings of 
 the Crucifixion, introduced the Wood-Sorrel {Oxalis acetosella), pro- 
 bably from its triple leaf symbolising the Trinity. The four-leaved 
 Clover is an emblem of the Cross. All cruciform flowers are of 
 good and happy augury, having been marked with the sign of the 
 Cross. 
 
 HERB PARIS.— The narcotic plant called One-berry, Herb 
 True-love, or Herb Paris [Paris quadrifolia), has obtained the latter 
 name from the Latin Herba paris (Herb of a pair — of a betrothed 
 couple), in allusion to the four broad leaves which proceed from the 
 top of its stalk, and form a cross; being, as Gerarde says, "diredtly 
 set one against another in manner of a Burgundian Crosse or True- 
 love knot : for which cause among the antients it hath been called 
 Herbe True-love." Herb Paris bears flowers of a palish green — 
 a colour always suggestive of lurking poison. Every part of the 
 herb contains a poisonous principle, but the leaves and berries were 
 formerly used to expel poisons, especially Aconite, as well as the 
 plague and other pestilential diseases. Matthiolus says that " the 
 chymical oil of the black berries is effecflual for all diseases of the 
 
 eyes, so that it is called Anima oculorum." The herb is under the 
 
 dominion of Venus. 
 
 HERB PETER. — The Cowslip (Primula veris), the ScUiisset- 
 hlume of the Germans, has obtained the name of Herb Peter from 
 its resemblance to the badge of St. Peter — a bunch of keys. 
 
 HERB ROBERT.— The species of Crane's Bill called Herb 
 Robert {Geranium Rohertianum) is thought to have derived its name 
 from the facft that it was employed in Germany to cure a disease 
 known as Ruprechts-Plage, from Robert, Duke of Normandy i hence 
 its old Dutch names of Ruprechts-kraut and Robrechts-kraut. The 
 Church, however, conne(5ts Herb Robert with St. Robert, Abbot of 
 
 Molesme, in the eleventh century. In olden times, the plant was 
 
 used as a vulnerary ; in Wales, it is believed to be a remedy for 
 gout ; and in most country places, it is considered efficacious as an 
 insecticide. Herb Robert is under the rule of Venus. 
 
 HERB ST. BARBARA Herb St. Barbara, or St. Bar- 
 bara's Cress [Barbarea vulgaris), was so called from its growing and 
 
376 pfant laota, TsegeT^/, ani. Tsijricy. 
 
 being eaten in the Winter, about the time of St. Barbara's Day — 
 December 4th, old style. 
 
 Herb Trinity. — See Pansy. 
 
 HERB TWOPENCE.— The Money-wort, or Creeping 
 Loosestrife [Lysimachia nummularia), obtained the name of Two- 
 penny Grass, or Herb Twopence, from its circular leaves, which 
 are arranged in pairs, resembling money in their form. The plant 
 was formerly also called Serpentaria, from a belief that if serpents 
 were hurt or wounded, they healed themselves with this herb. It 
 
 was highly esteemed as a vulnerary, Astrologers assign the 
 
 herb to Venus. 
 
 HERB WILLIAM.— Bishop's Weed, or Ameos {Ammi 
 majus), is said by Gerarde to be called by some Bull- wort (Pool- 
 wort) and Herb William, but he does not give any reason for the 
 name. The plant, according to the old herbalist, was noted for 
 its efficacy; when applied with honey, in removing " blacke and 
 blewe spots which come of stripes." Its seed was good " to bee 
 drunken in wine against the biting of all manner of venomous 
 beasts, and hath power against all manner of poyson and pestilent 
 fevers, or the plague." It is under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 HOLLY. — The Holly or Holme {Ihx Aquifolium) derives its 
 name from the Anglo-Saxon Holegn, whilst another ancient 
 designation, Hulver, or as Chaucer wrote it, Hulfeere, has been 
 taken from the old Norse Hulfv. From the use made of its 
 branches in decorating churches at Christmas time, the monks, 
 by an easy corruption, bestowed on the Holly the designation 
 of the Holy-tree. The disciples of Zoroaster, or Fire Wor- 
 shippers, believe that the Holly-tree casts no shadow, and both 
 in Persia and India they employ an infusion of its leaves for several 
 purposes connecTted with their religious observances. They also 
 sprinkle the face of a newly-born child with water impregnated 
 with Holly-bark.—^ — Pliny states that if the Holly, or Hulver-tree, 
 be planted about a house, it will keep away all malign spells and 
 enchantments, and defend the house from lightning. He also, 
 among other marvels, relates that the flowers of the Holly would 
 freeze water, and would repel poison, and that if a staif of its wood 
 were thrown to any animal, even if it did not touch him, it would 
 
 60 influence the animal as to cause him to lie down beside it. The 
 
 custom of decorating houses and churches with Holly at Christmas 
 is probably derived from the Romans, who were wont to send 
 boughs to their friends during the festival of the Saturnalia, which 
 occurred about the same period, and the Oaks being then bare of 
 leaves, the priests obliged the people to bring in boughs of Holly 
 and Evergreens. There is little doubt that the early Roman 
 Christians, disregarding the church's interdidlion, introduced the 
 heathen pradlice of decorating their houses with Holly, and in 
 
course of time connedled it with their own faith. There is an old 
 
 Enghsh superstition that elves and fairies join the social gatherings 
 at Christmas, and this led to branches being hung up in hall and 
 bower in order that the fays might " hang in each leaf, and cling 
 on every bough during that sacred time when spirits have no power 
 
 to harm." This Evergreen " Christmas " should be taken down 
 
 on Candlemas Eve. Herrick says : — 
 
 " Down with the Holly and Ivy all 
 Wherewith ye deck the Christmas hall ; 
 So that the superstitious find 
 No one least branch there left behind ; 
 For look how many leaves there be 
 Neglected there — maids 'tend to me — 
 So many goblins ye shall see." 
 
 De Gubernatis tells us, that in certain parts of France, in Switzer- 
 land, at Bologna, and in other Continental countries, there is an 
 old custom extant of cutting branches of Holly on Christmas Eve, 
 and hanging them in houses and stables, in the hope of driving 
 away evil spirits and witchcraft. As the Holly-leaf is prickly, it 
 repulses and drives away enemies. An English mediaeval ballad 
 illustrates this custom: — 
 
 " Her commys Holly, that is so gent. 
 To please all men is his intent. Alleluia ! 
 
 But lord and lady of this hall, 
 Who so ever ageynst Holly call. Alleluia ! 
 Who so ever ageynst Holly do crye. 
 In a lepe shall he hang full hie. Alleluia I 
 Who so ever ageynst Holly do syng. 
 He maye wepe and handys wryng. Alleluia I " 
 
 In Germany, Holly is Chvistdorn — the Thorn woven into the crown 
 
 placed on our Saviour's head at the Crucifixion. Witches are 
 
 reputed to detest Holly: in its name they see but another form of 
 the word "holy," and its thorny foliage and blood-red berries are 
 suggestive of the most Christian associations. In Northumber- 
 land, Holly is employed in a form of divination. There the prickly 
 variety is called He-Holly, and the smooth, She-Holly. It is the 
 leaves of the latter only that are deemed proper for divining pur- 
 poses. These smooth leaves must be plucked late on a Friday, 
 by persons careful to preserve an unbroken silence from the time 
 they go out to the dawn of the following morn. The leaves must 
 be colle(fled in a three-cornered handkerchief, and on being brought 
 home, nine of them must be seledted, tied with nine knots into the 
 handkerchief, and placed beneath the pillow. Then, sleep being 
 obtained, dreams worthy of all credit will attend this rite. In 
 another form of divination, a maiden places three pails of water on 
 her bedroom floor, then pins to her night-dress, opposite her heart, 
 three leaves of green Holly, and so retires to rest. She will be 
 aroused from her first sleep by three terrible yells, followed by 
 three horse-laughs, after which the form of her future husband will 
 
378 pPant 1901*0, Tsege^lt)/, dnS. "ISLji-ie/. 
 
 appear. If he is deeply attached to her, he will change the position 
 of the water pails; if not, he will glide from the room without 
 touching them. This spell is only efFe(5lual when performed on 
 All Hallowe'en, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and Beltane, or 
 Midsummer Eve. Holly is under the dominion of Saturn. 
 
 HOLY PLANTS. — In England, the Angelica sylvestris, ior its 
 "angel-like properties," was, says Parkinson, called Holy Ghost; 
 the Vervain is the Holy Herb, from its use on ancient altars; the 
 Holly was called by tjhe monks of old Holy-tree; and the Holly- 
 hock, Holy Hoke or Hock (an old name for Mallow) ; the Anastatica 
 Hierochuntina is the H oly Rose of J ericho ; the Lucern {Medicago sativa) 
 is Holy Hay; the Holcus odomtus is the Northern Holy Grass ; the 
 HievocMoe bovealis, the German Holy Grass; the Hemp Agrimony 
 (Eupatorium cannabinum) is Holy Rope, so called from its Hemp-like 
 leaves betokening the rope with which the Saviour was bound ; the 
 seed of Wormwood is Holy Seed (Semen sandium) ; and Carduus 
 benedidius is the Holy Thistle. 
 
 HOMA. — Homa, or Haoma, is the sacred Vine of the Zoroas- 
 trians, the first of the trees planted by Ormuzd in the fountain 
 of life, and from which one of their religious ceremonials takes its 
 name. This consists in the extraction of the juice of the Homa- 
 plant by the priest during the recital of prayers ; the formal presen- 
 tation of the liquid extracted to the sacrificial fire ; the consumption 
 of a small portion of it by one of the officiating priests ; and the 
 
 division of the remainder among the worshippers. The Iranians 
 
 describe two kinds of Haoma or Homa, the white and the yellow. 
 The former is a fabulous plant, the latter, which is used in religious 
 rites, and is extolled for its yellow colour, grows on mountains, and 
 
 was known to Plutarch. It has been attempted to identify the 
 
 Zoroastrian Homa with the Vedic Soma, but the Parsees deny that 
 their sacred plant is ever found in India, and those dwelling in 
 Bombay use the branch of a particular tree, having a knotted stem 
 and leaves like those of the Jasmine. To obtain supplies of the 
 Homa-plant for sacred purposes, a priest is despatched from time 
 to time to Kirman, in Persia, where he receives it in a dry state. 
 
 HONESTY. — Honesty {Lunaria biennis) has a variety of 
 names. It is called Lunary and Moonwort, from the disk-like form 
 of its great flat seed vessels, or their silvery and transparent bright- 
 ness. This peculiarity accounts for its nicknames of White Satin- 
 flower, Money-flower, and Silver Plate. The Lunaria biennis is 
 
 mentioned by Chaucer as one of the plants used in incantations: — 
 
 " And herbes coude I tell eke many on, 
 As Egremaine, Valerian, and Lunarie, 
 And other swiche, if that me list to tarie. 
 Our lampes brenning bothe night and day, 
 To bring about our craft if that we may, 
 Our fournies eke of calcination, 
 And of wateres albification." 
 
pfant Tsofs, Isegel^Ci/j cm^ Isijriq/*. 379 
 
 Drayton also refers to the virtues of the plant : — 
 
 " Enchanting Lunary here lies, 
 In sorceries excelling." 
 
 The poet likewise tells us that this Lunary was considered effica- 
 cious in the cure of madness. 
 
 ' ' Then sprinkles she the juice of Rue 
 With nine drops of the midnight dew, 
 From Lunarie distilling." 
 
 There is a popular superstition that wherever the purple Honesty 
 is found flourishing, the cultivators of the gardens are exceptionally 
 honest. 
 
 HONEYSUCKLE.— The Honeysuckle, or Woodbine {Lo- 
 nicera), is so called on account of the honey-dew found so plenti- 
 fully on its foliage. Originally, the word Honeysuckle was applied 
 to the Meadow Clover {Tnfolium pratense), which is still so called 
 in the Western Counties. French Honeysuckle {Hedysarum coro- 
 narium) is a foreign forage-plant. Chaucer makes the Woodbine 
 an emblem of fidelity: 
 
 " And tho' that were chapelets on his hede 
 Of fresh Wodebind be such as never were 
 To love untrue in word, ne thought, ne dede. 
 But ay, stedfast, ne for pleasaunce ne fere, 
 The' that they shudde their hertis all to tere. 
 Would never flit, but ever were stedfast. 
 Till that ther livis there assunder brast." 
 
 CaprifoKum, a specific name of the Honeysuckle, was poetically 
 used by old botanists because the leaf, or rather the stem, climbs 
 over high places where goats fear not to tread : hence the plant is 
 sometimes called by country folks, Goat's-leaf. One of its French 
 names, also, is Chevrefeuille, which country patois abbreviates to 
 Cherfeu, or Dear Flame : hence the plant is presented by ardent 
 lovers to their sweethearts as an intimation of the state of their 
 
 affections. The French are fond of planting Honeysuckle in their 
 
 cemeteries, and Alphonse Karr describes it as a plant which seems 
 to devote itself to the tomb, the most magnificent bushes being 
 found in cemeteries. He further says: " There is a perfume more 
 exciting, more religious, even than that of incense; it is that of 
 the Honeysuckles which grow over tombs upon which Grass has 
 sprung up thick and tufted with them, as quickly as forgetfulness has 
 
 taken possession of the hearts of the survivors." In olden times, 
 
 consumptive invaHds, or children suffering from hectic fever, were 
 thrice passed through a circular wreath of Woodbine, cut during 
 the increase of the March moon, and let down over the body from 
 head to foot. We read of a sorceress, who healed sundry women, 
 by taking a garland of green Woodbine, and causing the patient 
 to pass thrice through it : afterwards the garland was cut in nine 
 
 pieces, and cast into the fire. Woodbine appears to have been 
 
 a favourite remedy with Scotch witches, who, in effecting magical 
 
380 pfant feore, TsegeT^/, anel h^r'ia/, 
 
 cures passed their patients (^generally) nine times through a girth 
 or garland of green Woodbine. In Lower Germany, the Honey- 
 suckle is called Alhmnke, the witch snare. Astrologers consider 
 
 Woodbine to be under the rule of Mercury. 
 
 HOP. — The Hop {Humulus Lupulus) is referred to in an old 
 English proverb : — 
 
 " Till St. James's day be come and gone, 
 There may be Hops and there may be none." 
 
 The cultivated Hop, however, was not brought into England until 
 the reign of Henry VHI., when it was imported from Flanders, as 
 recorded in the distich : — 
 
 " Hops and turkeys, mackerel and beer, 
 Came to England all in one year." 
 
 The Hop-leaf has become in Russia proverbial as the best of 
 leaves. King Vladimir, in 985, when signing a peace with the 
 Bulgars, swore to keep it till stone swam on the water, or Hop-leaves 
 sank to the bottom. It is a very old custom in Russia to cover the 
 head of a bride with Hop-leaves — typifying joy, abundance, and 
 intoxication. Astrologers place Hops under the rule of Mars. 
 
 HOREHOUND. — Horehound (Marrubium) is the Herb which 
 the Egyptians dedicated to their god Horus, and which the priests 
 called the Seed of Horus, or the Bull's Blood, and the Eye of the 
 Star. Strabo attributed to the plant magical properties as a 
 counter-poison. Horehound is one of the five plants which are 
 stated by the Mishna to be the "bitter herbs" ordered to be taken 
 by the Jews at the Feast of the Passover. An infusion of its leaves 
 has an ancient reputation as being valuable in consumptive cases, 
 coughs, and colds, and, according to Gerarde, " is good for them 
 that have drunke poyson, or that have been bitten of serpents." 
 It is a herb of Mercury, hot in the second degree and dry in the 
 
 third. To dream of Horehound indicates that you will suffer 
 
 imprisonment. 
 
 HORNBEAM.— Gerarde tells us that the Horn Beam (Car- 
 pinus Betulus) was so called from its wood having been used to 
 yoke horned cattle, as well by the Romans in olden times as in his 
 own time and country, and growing so hard and tough with age as 
 to be more like horn than wood. Hence it was also called Hard- 
 beam and Yoke-Elm. Evelyn says the tree was called Horse- 
 Beech ; and in Essex it is known as the Witch-Hazel. In the 
 
 country distri(5ls around Valenciennes, there is a pleasant custom 
 on May-day morning, when, over the doorway of their sweethearts, 
 rustic lovers hasten to suspend, as a sign of their devotion, branches 
 of Hornbeam or Birch. 
 
 HORSE-CHESNUT.— It has been suggested that the 
 Horse-Chesnut {yEsculus Hippocastanum) derived its name from the 
 resemblance of the cicatrix of its leaf to a horse-shoe, with all its 
 
pfant bore, T3ege]|Gy, aai. Isijfio/, 381 
 
 nails evenly placed. The old writers, however, seem to have con- 
 sidered that the Horse-Chesnut was so called from the Nuts being 
 used in Turkey (the country from which we first received the tree) 
 as food for horses touched in the wind. Thus we read in Par- 
 kinson's ' Paradisus ' : — " They are usually in Turkey given to horses 
 in their provender to cure them of coughs, and help them being 
 
 broken winded." Evlia Effendi, a Moslem Dervish, who travelled 
 
 over a large portion of the Turkish empire in the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, says : " The Santon Akyazli lived forty years 
 under the shade of a wild Chesnut-tree, close to which he is buried 
 under a leaden-covered cupola. The Chesnuts, which are as big as 
 an egg, are wonderfully useful in the diseases of horses." Tra- 
 dition says that this tree sprang from a stick which the saint once 
 
 thrust in the ground, that he might roast his meat on it. The 
 
 Venetians entertain the belief that one of these Nuts carried in the 
 
 pocket is a sure charm against hemorrhoids. When Napoleon I. 
 
 returned to France on March 20th, 18 14, a Horse-Chesnut in the 
 Tuileries garden was found to be in full blossom. The Parisians 
 regarded this as an omen of welcome, and in succeeding years 
 hailed with interest the early flowering of the Marvonnier du Vingt 
 Mars. (See also Chesnut). 
 
 HORSE-KNOT.— The flowers of the Horse-knot Centaurea 
 nigra are also called Hard-heads and Iron-Heads, from the resem- 
 blance of the knotted involucre to an old weapon called Loggerhead, 
 which consisted of a ball of iron fixed to a long handle, the precursor 
 of the life-preserver, and the origin of the expression " coming to 
 
 loggerheads." In the Northern Counties, the following rite is 
 
 frequently observed by young people as a divination : — Let a 
 youth or maiden pull from its stalk the flower of the Horse-Knot, 
 cut the tops of the stamens with a pair of scissors, and lay the 
 flower by in a secret place, where no human eye can see it. Let 
 him (or her) think through the day, and dream through the night, of 
 the beloved one : then, on looking at the flower the next day, if the 
 stamens have shot out, the anxious sweetheart may expedt success 
 in love ; but if not, disappointment. (See Centaury). 
 
 HORSERADISH. — The Horseradish {Cochlearia Armoracia) 
 is stated to be one of the five plants referred to by the Mishna, as 
 the " bitter herbs " ordered to be partaken of by the Jews during 
 the Feast of the Passover ; the other four being Coriander, Hore- 
 
 hound. Lettuce, and Nettle. Horseradish is under the dominion 
 
 of Mars. 
 
 HORSE-SHOE PLANT.— The Horse-shoe Vetch {Hippo- 
 crepis) derives its scientific name from the Greek words, 
 hippos, a horse, and crepis, a shoe, in allusion to its singular pods, 
 which resemble a number of horse-shoes united at their extremities. 
 Gerarde grew this plant in his garden, but he tells us that it is a 
 native of Italy and Languedoc, where it flourishes in certain 
 
382 pfant Isore, teegef^/, oriel Tsijne/, 
 
 untilled and sunny places. Its Italian name is Sferracavallo, and in 
 in De Gubernatis' Mythologie des Plantes, we find a letter to the author 
 from Mdnie. Valerie de Gasparin, detailing the superstition cur- 
 rent in Italy respedling this plant. The Countess writes : — " In 
 our infancy, certain old people of the village spoke of the plant 
 which pulls off horse-shoes. My brother tells me that this super- 
 stition is to be found in all countries. It takes its origin from the 
 
 fadl that the seed of the plant has the form of a horse-shoe." 
 
 The plant is also reputed by some people to open locks. An iden- 
 tical superstition exists in England with regard to the Moonwort 
 [Botrychium Lunana), which is known as Unshoe-the-Horse, (See 
 Moonwort). 
 
 HOUND'S TONGUE. — The Cywglossum was probably so 
 named on account of the form and soft texture of the leaf. It is 
 called Hound's Tongue not only in England, but all over the 
 Continent, and the reason given by an old writer is, that " it ties 
 the tongues of hounds ; whether true or not, I never tried ; yet I 
 cured the biting of a mad dog with this only medicine." Miraldus 
 said, that if a portion of the plant were laid beneath the feet, it 
 would prevent dogs from barking at the wearer. Robert Turner 
 states that Hound's Tongue "cures the biting of dogs, either mad 
 or tame. I lay fourteen weeks once under a chyrurgeon's hand for 
 cure of a dog's biting; but, at last, I effected the cure myself, by 
 applying to the wound Hound's Tongue leaves, changing them 
 once in four-and-twenty hours." The plant has a strong and dis- 
 agreeable odour, which Gerarde tells us caused the Dutchmen to 
 change the plant's name, substituting for " Tongue " an impolite 
 
 word, expressive of the odour of the foliage. Cynoglossum is a 
 
 herb of Saturn. 
 
 HOUSELEEK. — The House-leek (Sempemvum) had, in 
 olden times, the names of Jupiter's Beard, Jupiter's Eye, Bullock's 
 Eye, and Sengreene (a. word derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and 
 expressing the same idea as the plant's Latin name Sewipervivum, 
 evergreen). The old Dutch name of the Houseleek, Donderhloem, 
 Thunder-flower, refers to the popular belief that the plant was a 
 preservative against thunder. Charlemagne ordered the Houseleek 
 to be planted on the roof of every house on this account. Miraldus 
 is stated to have declared that this lowly plant preserves what it 
 grows upon from fire and lightning ; and Sir Thomas Browne has 
 left on record his belief that Houseleek is a " defensative from 
 
 lightning." In olden times there existed a belief that Houseleek 
 
 would suppress in children fevers given to them by witchcraft or 
 sorcery. According to Albertus Magnus, he who rubbed his hands 
 with the juice of the Houseleek would be insensible to pain when 
 
 taking red-hot iron in his hands. It is considered unlucky to 
 
 uproot the Houseleek; and there is a curious notion, still in exis- 
 tence, that it is also unlucky to let it blow; the flower-stalk is, 
 
pfant T3oi*e, ?9egeT|0/, cmel Tsijrie/. 383 
 
 therefore, carefully cut off direcMy it begins to shoot up. In 
 
 Italy, on Midsummer Eve, rustic maidens employ Houseleek for 
 divining purposes. They gather buds to represent their various 
 lovers, and on the following morning the bud which has flowered 
 the most freely indicates the future husband. In Tuscany, they 
 pound the Houseleek the first Friday after the birth of an infant, 
 and administer to it the expressed juice, which is thought to 
 preserve the babe from convulsions, and to ensure it a long life. 
 According to astrologers, Houseleek is a herb of Jupiter. 
 
 Hurt-Sickle. — See Centaury. 
 
 HYACINTH. — From the time of Homer to the present day 
 the Hyacinth has been celebrated in the lays of the poets. Mytho- 
 logy tells us that the flower sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, 
 a comely Laconian youth, much beloved both by Apollo and 
 Zephyr : preferring, however, the sun to the wind, he kindled in 
 the breast of the latter god a feeling of jealousy and desire for 
 revenge. The opportunity soon came. Unsuspecfting Hyacinthus 
 playing a game of quoits with Apollo, Zephyr, unperceived, seized 
 the opportunity basely to cause his rival to become the innocent 
 means of their common favourite's death : for whilst a quoit thrown 
 by the sun-god whirled through the air. Zephyr treacherously blew 
 it from its course till it struck the head of the ill-fated Hyacinthus, 
 and killed him, to the great sorrow of his innocent slayer. Unable 
 to restore his favourite companion to life, Apollo, as a memorial of 
 him, caused the flower which has since borne his name to spring 
 from his blood. Rapin refers to the story as follows : — 
 
 ' ' If spring proves mild 'tis Hyacinthus' time, 
 A flower which also rose from Phoebus' crime ; 
 Th' unhappy quoit which rash Apollo threw. 
 Obliquely flying, smote his tender brow. 
 And pale alike he fell, and Phoebus stood. 
 One pale with guilt, a:id one with loss of blood ; 
 Whence a new flower with sudden birth appears, 
 And still the mark of Phoebus' sorrow wears ; 
 Spring it adorns, and Summer's scenes supplies 
 With blooms of various forms and various dyes." 
 
 Ovid gives a slightly different version of the tragedy, which he 
 narrates in the following lines : — 
 
 "The mid-day sun now shone with equal light 
 Between the past and the succeeding night ; 
 They stripi then, smoothed with suppling oil, essay 
 To pitch the rounded quoit, their wonted play : 
 A well-pois'd disk first hasty Phoebus threw ; 
 It cleft the air, and whistled as it flew ; 
 It reach'd the mark, a most surprising length. 
 Which spoke an equal share of art and strength. 
 Scarce was it fall'n, when with too eager hand 
 Young Hyacinth ran to snatch it from the sand ; 
 But the curst orb, which met a stony soil, 
 Flew in his face with violent recoil. 
 
384 pfant teore, Tscgel^t)/, anS Tsijriq/', 
 
 Both faint, both pale and breathless now appear, 
 The boy with pain, the am'rous god with fear. 
 He ran, and rais'd him bleeding from ihe ground. 
 Chafes his cold limbs, and wipes the fatal wound : 
 Then herbs of noblest juice in vain applies ; 
 The wound is mortal, and his skill defies." 
 ♦ ♦»♦*** 
 
 While Phoebus thus the laws of fate reveal'd, 
 Behold the blood which stained the verdant field 
 Is blood no longer ; but a flower full blown 
 Far brighter than the Tyrian scarlet shone. 
 A Lily's form it took ; its purple hue 
 Was all that made a diff' rence to the view. 
 Nor stopp'd he here ; the god upon its leaves 
 The sad expression of his sorrow leaves ; 
 And to this hour the mournful purple wears 
 At, Ai, inscribed in funeral characters. 
 Nor are the Spartans, who so much are famed 
 For virtue, of their Hyacinth ashamed ; 
 But still with pompous woe and solemn state, 
 The Hyacinthian feasts they yearly celebrate." — Oeell. 
 
 The solemnities called Hyacinthia lasted three days, during which 
 the people ate no bread, but subsisted on sweetmeats, and abstained 
 from decorating their hair with garlands, as on ordinary occasions. 
 On the second day, a troop of youths entertained spedlators by 
 playing upon the harp and flute, and chanting choruses in honour 
 of Apollo. Numbers appeared mounted upon richly-caparisoned 
 horses, who sang rustic songs, and were accompanied by a throng 
 dancing to vocal and instrumental music. Females engaged in 
 chariot races, and the most beautiful maidens, sumptuously attired, 
 drove about in splendidly adorned vehicles, singing hymns. 
 Hundreds of vidtims were offered on the altars of Apollo ; and the 
 votaries with free-handed hospitahty entertained their friends and 
 
 slaves. Many allusions are made by the poets to the mournful 
 
 letters A I, supposed to be visible on the petals of 
 
 "The languid Hyacinth, who wears 
 His bitter sorrows painted on his bosom." 
 
 Hunt, after entering into the vexed question as to the particular 
 flower alluded to by Ovid, quotes a passage from Moschus, which 
 he thus translates : — 
 
 " Now tell your story. Hyacinth, and show 
 Ai, Ai, the more amidst your sanguine woe." 
 
 There has been much diversity of opinion expressed about the 
 Hyacinth of the ancient poets. The claims of the modern flower 
 to be the purple blossom that sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus 
 are disputed, and the general opinion is that the Martagon Lily 
 was the plant referred to by the poet. The Gladiolus and the 
 Larkspur, however, have both been named as the flower bearing 
 the expression of grief A I, A I, on the petals. Homer mentions 
 
pfant TsofS, Isege"^/, anE 'bijnq/-, 385 
 
 the Hyacinth among the flowers which formed the couch of Jupiter 
 
 and Juno. 
 
 '" Thick Mew-bom Violets a soft carpet spread 
 And clust'ring Lotus swelled the rising bed, 
 And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrew 
 And flow'ry Crocus made the mountains glow." 
 
 In allusion to the crisped and curled blossoms of the Hyacinth, 
 poets have been fond of describing curly hair as Hyacinthine locks. 
 Milton writes : — 
 
 " And Hyacinthine locks 
 
 Round from his parted forelock manly hung 
 
 Clustering." 
 
 Byron makes the same comparison, and says the idea is 
 common to both Eastern and Grecian poets. Collins has the same 
 simile in his ' Ode to Liberty." 
 
 " The youths, whose locks divinely spreading, 
 Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen hue." 
 
 The old English Jacinth, or Harebell, called by the French Jacinthe 
 des hois (Wood Hyacinth) is botanically distinguished as Hyacinthus 
 non scriptus, because it has not the A I on the petals, and is not 
 therefore the poetical Hyacinth. (See Harebell). 
 
 Hypericum. — See St. John's Wort. 
 
 HYSSOP. — In the JBible, the name of Hyssop has been given 
 to some plant that has not been identified, but is popularly associated 
 at the present day with Hyssopus officinalis. In many early repre» 
 sentations of the Crucifixion, wild Hyssop has been depiifted, it 
 is presumed in mockery, as forming the crown worn by our Saviour, 
 Parkinson, in his 'Paradisus,' says of the Golden Hyssop, that the 
 leaves "provoke many gentlewomen to wear them in their heads 
 and on their armes, with as much delight as many fine flowers 
 
 can give." To dream of Hyssop portends that friends will be 
 
 instrumental to your peace and happiness. The plant is under 
 
 Jupiter's dominion. 
 
 ILEX. — The Ilex [Quercus Ilex) is, perhaps, better known in 
 England as the Evergreen or Holm Oak : in France, it is called 
 Chem vert. On account of its dark and evergreen foliage, the Ilex 
 is regarded as a funereal tree, and a symbol of immortality, like the 
 Cypress, the Cedar, and other conifers. It was consecrated to 
 Hecate, and the Fates wore chaplets of its leaves. The drunken 
 
 Silenus was wont, also, to be crowned with its foliage, Virgil 
 
 associates the Ilex with, the raven, and tells us that from its dark 
 foliage may be heard issuing the mournful croakings of that 
 funereal bird. Ovid, on the other hand, informs us that, in the 
 Golden Age, the bees, living emblems of the immortal soul, sought 
 
 the Ilex, to obtain material for their honey. Pliny speaks of a 
 
 venerable Ilex which grew in the Vatican at Rome, which bore an 
 inscription, and was regarded as a sacred tree; and of three of 
 
 2 c 
 
386 pfant Tsofe, TsecferjG/, cmS bijnq/". 
 
 these trees at Tibur, which the inhabitants venerated as being 
 almost the founders of the people. The Ilex being very combus- 
 tible, and attracting lightning, was thought to render thereby a service 
 to man, in drawing upon itself the effedls of the anger of the gods : 
 feence it is somewhat remarkable that in Greece it is regarded as a 
 tree of bad omen, and has the following legend attached to it .- — 
 When it was decided at Jerusalem to crucify Christ, all the trees 
 laeld a counsel, and unanimously agreed not to allow their wood to 
 be defiled by becoming the instrument of punishment. But there 
 was a second Judas among the trees. When the Jews arrived with 
 axes to procure wood for the cross destined for Jesus, every trunk 
 and branch split itself into a thousand fragments, so that it was 
 impossible to use it for the cross. The Ilex alone remained whole, 
 and gave up its trunk for the purpose of being fashioned into the 
 instrument of the Passion. So to this day the Grecian woodcutters 
 have such a horror of the tree, that they fear to sully their axe or 
 their hearth-stones by bringing them in contact with the accursed 
 wood. However, according to the Di£la Sandii Aegidii (quoted by 
 De Gubernatis), Jesus Himself would seem to have a preference for 
 the tree which generously gave itself up to die with the Redeemer ; 
 for we find that on most occasion when he appeared to the saints, it 
 
 was near an Ilex-tree. In Russia, the Ilex, so far from being 
 
 regarded with disdain, is looked upon as a benefadlor and worker 
 of miraculous cures among children. In certain distri(5ls, whenever 
 a child is ill, and especially when it is suffering from consumption, 
 they carry it into the forest, where they cleave in two the stem of 
 an Ilex, and pass the child thrice through the cleft, after which 
 they close the cut stem, and bind it securely with cord. Then they 
 carry the child round the tree thrice nine times (the number of 
 days composing the lunar month). Lastly they hang on the 
 branches the child's shirt, so that the martyr-tree may generously 
 take to itself all the disease hitherto afflidting the child. 
 
 INGUDI. — In Bengal, they ascribe to the plant Ingudi 
 (Termimlia catappa) the extraordinary property of begetting infants. 
 According to De Gubernatis, the Tdpatasaru is also called the Tree 
 of the Anchorite, because with an oil extracSled from the crushed 
 fruit the Indian ascetics prepare the oil for their lamps. 
 
 IPECACUANHA. — The root of the Psychotria emetica is used 
 generally as an expectorant, but in India in cases of dysentery: its 
 sexsyllabic nomenclature has been thus immortalised by George 
 Canning : — 
 
 " Coughing in a shady grove. 
 
 Sat my Juliana; 
 
 I.ozenges I gave my love : 
 
 Ipecacuanha ! " 
 
 IPOMCEA. — The Ipomoeas are nearly allied to the Comolvuli, 
 and are among the most lovely of all shrubs. The rosy-red Kdtm- 
 
pPant T9ofe, Isegel^/, ani. "kn^t'iaf. 387 
 
 laid, the Love's Creeper of the Hindus, is a plant by which all 
 desires are granted to such as inherit the Indian Paradise. Ipomcea 
 Bona-nox, " Good-night," is so named in allusion to its opening its 
 flowers in the evening. 
 
 IRIS. — The Iris of "all hues" derives its name from the 
 goddess Iris, one of the Oceanides, a messenger of the gods, and 
 the especial attendant of Juno. As goddess of the rainbow, she is 
 represented with its variegated colours glistening in her wings. 
 Thus Virgil says : — 
 
 " Iris on saffron wings arrayed with dew 
 Of various colours through the sunbeams flew. " 
 
 Iris is usually depidled as descending from the rainbow, and her 
 glorious arch is said not to vary more in its colours than the flower 
 which bears her name. Columella observes — 
 
 " Nor Iris with her glorious rainbow clothed 
 So fulgent as the cheerful gardens shine 
 With their bright offspring, when they're in their bloom." 
 
 The Greeks plant the Iris on tombs, possibly because the goddess 
 Iris was believed to guide the souls of dead women to their last 
 resting-place, as Mercury condudted the souls of men. The Iris 
 was one of the flowers dedicated to Juno, and with the ancients 
 was wont to be employed as the symbol of eloquence or power ; 
 hence the Egyptians placed this flower on the brow of the Sphinx, 
 and on the sceptres of their monarchs. The three leaves of the 
 blossom represent faith, wisdom, and valour. The Iris is sup- 
 posed to be the flower which forms the terminating ornament of the 
 
 sceptre of the ancient kings of Babylon and Assyria. The Franks 
 
 of old had a custom, at the proclamation of a king, to elevate him 
 upon a shield, or target, and place in his hand a reed of Flag in 
 blossom, instead of a sceptre, and from thence the kings of the 
 first and second race in France are represented with sceptres in 
 their hands like the Flag with its flower, and which flowers be- 
 came the armorial figures of France. There is a legend that 
 
 Clotilda, the wife of the warlike king Clovis, had long prayed for 
 the conversion of her husband, and at length Clovis, having led his 
 army against the Huns, and being in imminent danger of defeat, 
 recommended himself to the God of his sainted wife. The tide of 
 battle turned, he obtained a complete vicftory, and was baptised 
 by St. Remi. On this occasion, owing to a vision of St. Clotilda, 
 the Lilies (Iris) were substituted in the arms of France for the three 
 frogs or toads which Clovis had hitherto borne on his shield. In 
 the pidtures of St. Clotilda, she is generally represented attended 
 by an angel holding a shield on which are the three Fleurs de Lys. 
 This occurred early in the sixth century. Louis VII., in conse- 
 quence of a dream, assumed it as his device in 1137, when engaged 
 in the second expedition of the Crusaders, and the Iris-flower 
 soon became celebrated in France as the Flew de Louis, which was 
 
 2 c — 2 
 
388 pfant bore, hegat^f, anl Tsijric/. 
 
 first contradled into Fkur de Luce, and afterwards into Flem de Lys, 
 or Fleuy de Lis (Lily-flower — although it has no affinity to the Lily), 
 and was incorporated in the arms of France, and formed one of 
 
 the embellishments of the crown. Pope Leo IIL presented 
 
 Charlemagne with a blue banner, sem&e of golden Fleurs de Lys, and 
 the banner coming from the Pope was supposed by the ignorant 
 
 to have descended from heaven. Other traditions respedling 
 
 this blue banner relate that an angel gave it to Charlemagne, that 
 St. Denis gave it to the kings of France, and that an angel brought 
 
 it to Clovis after his baptism. The Fleur de Lys appertains to 
 
 the Bourbon race, and was made the ornament of the northern 
 radius of the compass in honour of Charles of Anjou, who was 
 King of Sicily at the time of this great discovery. When Edward 
 III. claimed the crown of France in 1340, he quartered the ancient 
 shield of France with the lion of England. After many changes of 
 position, the Fleur de Lys finally disappeared from the English 
 shield in the first year of the present century. (See also Flower 
 DE Luce). 
 
 Iron-Head and Hard-Head. — See Horse-Knot. 
 
 IVY. — Kissos (Greek for Ivy) was the original name of the 
 infant Bacchus, who, abandoned by his mother Semele, was hidden 
 under an Ivy-bush, which was subsequently named after him. 
 Another Hellenic tradition makes Kissos a son of Bacchus, who, 
 whilst dancing before his father, suddenly dropped down dead. 
 The goddess Gsea (the Earth), compassionating the unfortunate 
 youth, changed him into the Ivy, which afterwards received his 
 
 name — Kissos. The god Bacchus is said to have worshipped the 
 
 Ivy under the name of Kissos ; the plant was sacred to him, and he 
 is represented crowned with the leaves of Ivy as well as with those 
 of the Vine. The god's thyrsus was also crowned with Ivy. In 
 Greece and Rome, Black Ivy was used to decorate the thyrsus of 
 Bacchus in commemoration of his march through India. This Ivy 
 bears yellow berries, and is common in the Himalayas; it was, 
 therefore, appropriately selecTled as the shrub wherewith to crown 
 
 Alexander in his Indian expedition. According to Plutarch, the 
 
 priests of Jupiter were bound to shun the Vine (in order to pre- 
 serve themselves from intoxication), and to touch the Ivy, which 
 was believed to impart a sort of prophetic transport. Bacchus, 
 therefore, crowned with Ivy, became a god both victorious and 
 
 prophetic- At the Dionysian festivals, the worshippers were 
 
 crowned with Ivy, Vine-leaves, Fir, &c. Certain of the men 
 engaged in the procession wore chaplets of Ivy and Violets, and 
 the women— who, worked up into a kind of frenzy, executed 
 fantastic dances — often carried garlands and strings of Ivy-leaves. 
 
 Pliny says that Ivy-berries, taken before wine, prevent its 
 
 intoxicating effedts. Probably the Bacchanals' chaplet and the 
 Ivy-bough formerly used as the sign of a tavern, both derived 
 
their origin from the belief that Ivy in some form counteradted the 
 
 efFedls of wine. On this point, Coles says : " Box and Ivy last long 
 
 green, and therefore vintners make their garlands thereof^; though, 
 perhaps, Ivy is the rather used because of the antipathy between 
 it and wine." Kennett tells us that, in olden times, "the booths 
 in fairs were commonly dressed with Ivy-leaves, as a token of 
 wine there sold, the Ivy being sacred to Bacchus; so was the 
 tavern bush, or frame of wood, drest round with Ivy forty years 
 since, though now left off for tuns or barrels hung in the middle of 
 it. This custom gave birth to the present pra(5lice of putting out 
 a green bush at the door of those private houses which sell drink 
 during the fair." De Gubernatis says, that the Ivy to be seen 
 over the doors of Italian wine-shops has the same signification as the 
 Oak-bough — it is a precaution to render the wine innocuous. Ch^ruel 
 tell us that the French, in suspending Ivy at the door of their 
 
 cabarets, intend it as a symbol of love. Ivy, which clings and 
 
 embraces, has been adopted as the emblem of confiding love and 
 
 friendship. There is an old Cornish tradition which relates that 
 
 the beauteous Iseult, unable to endure the loss of her betrothed, the 
 valiant Tristan, died broken-hearted, and was buried in the same 
 church, but, by order of the king, their graves were placed far 
 asunder. But soon from the tomb of Tristan came forth a branch 
 of Ivy, and from the tomb of Iseult there issued another branch. 
 Both gradually grew upwards, until at last the lovers, represented 
 by the clinging Ivy, were again united beneath the vaulted roof of 
 
 the sanctuary. In Greece, the altar of Hymen was encircled 
 
 with Ivy, and a branch of it was presented to the newly-married 
 couple, as a symbol of the indissoluble knot. It formed the crown 
 of both Greek and Roman poets ; and in modern times, female love, 
 constancy, and dependence have been expressed by it. Friendship 
 is sometimes symboHsed by a fallen tree, firmly embraced by the 
 verdant arms of the Ivy, with the motto: "Nothing can part us." 
 
 In Northern mythology. Ivy, on account of its black colour, 
 
 was dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder, and offered to the elf 
 
 who was supposed to be his messenger. When, in Germany, 
 
 they drive the cattle for the first time to pasture, they deck them 
 with a branch of Ivy fashioned into a crown. They believe also 
 that he who carries on his head a crown of Ivy acquires the faculty 
 of recognising witches. In the Tyrol, a similar belief holds good, 
 only there. Rue, Broom, Maidenhair, and Agrimony must be bound 
 together with Ground-Ivy in a bundle, which is to be kept about the 
 
 person. In Ross-shire, it is a May-day custom for young girls 
 
 to pluck sprays of Ivy with the dew on them that have not been 
 
 touched by steel. Ivy has long been used in decorating churches 
 
 and houses at Christmas : thus old Tusser diredts :— " Get Ivye 
 and Hull [Holly] , woman, deck up thine house." It seems in the 
 middle ages to have been regarded as a most favoured and auspi- 
 cious plant ; one old song couples the Ivy and Holly as plants well 
 
390 pfant bore, hegzr^f, orisl lsijn<y. 
 
 adapted for Christmas time, and the following mediseval carol sings 
 loudly the plant's praises : — 
 
 " The most worthy she is in towne ; 
 
 He that sayeth other do amysse ; 
 And worthy to bear the crowne : 
 Vent, coronaberis. 
 
 " Ivy is soft and meke of speech, 
 
 Ageynst all bale she is blysse ; 
 Well is he that may hyre rech. 
 Veni, coronaberis, 
 
 " Ivy is green, vrith coloure bright. 
 Of all trees best she is, 
 And that I prove will now be right. 
 Veni, coronaberis, 
 
 " Ivy beryth berrys black, 
 
 God graunt us all His blysse, 
 For there shall we nothing lack. 
 Veni, coronaberis," 
 
 According to an old poem in the British Museum, however, Ivy 
 was considered by some good people only fit to ornament the 
 porches and outer passages of houses, but not the interior. 
 
 " Nay my nay, hyt shall not be I wis, 
 L*t Holly have the maystry, as the maner ys. 
 Holly stoud in the haU, fayre to behold. 
 Ivy stoud without the dore, she ys ftil sore a-cold. 
 
 Nay my nay. 
 
 Corymbifer was a surname given to Bacchus, from his wearing a 
 crown of corymhi, or Ivy-berries. These berries were recommended 
 by old physicians as a remedy for the plague, and Pliny averred 
 that when taken before wine, they prevented its intoxicating effects. 
 
 There is a popular tradition that an Ivy cup has the property 
 
 of separating wine from water — the former soaking through, and 
 the latter remaining. An old writer remarks that those who are 
 troubled with the spleen shall find much ease by the continual 
 drinking out of a cup made of Ivy, so as the drink may stand some 
 time therein before it be drunk ; for, he adds, " Cato saith that 
 wine put into the Ivy cup will soak through it by reason of the 
 antipathy that is between them ; " this antipathy being so great 
 that a drunkard " will find his speediest cure if he drunk a draught 
 of the same wine wherein a handful of Ivy-leaves had been steeped." 
 
 The ancient Scottish clan Gordon claim Ivy as their badge. 
 
 Ivy is under the dominion of Saturn. It is considered to be 
 
 exceedingly favourable to dream of the evergreen climber, por- 
 tending as it does, friendship, happiness, good fortune, honour, 
 riches, and success. 
 
 Ground- Ivy is a name which was formerly applied to the 
 Periwinkle, and to the Ground Pine or Yellow Bugle (called till 
 the beginning of the present century the Forget-Me-Not), but 
 which was afterwards transferred to the Nepeta Glechoma, a plant 
 also known by the rustic names of Gill and Gill-by-the-ground, Hay- 
 
pPant Tsore, Tsegel^/, ani. Isiji'io/'. 391 
 
 maids, Cat's-foot, Ale-hoof, and Tun-hoof. In olden times, it was 
 put into ale, instead of hops, and was also used to clear ale. The 
 juice of the leaves, tunned up in ale, was thought to cure the 
 jaundice and other complaints. 
 
 Jacinth. — See Hyacinth. 
 
 Jack-by-the-Hedge. — See Erysimum. 
 
 Jack-of-the-Buttery. — See Stonecrop. 
 
 JACOB'S LADDER. — The Polemonium ccemkum, from its 
 leaflets being arranged in successive pairs. 
 
 JAMBU. — The Jambu {Eugenia Jamhos) is included among 
 the great Indian cosmogonic trees. It is called, says Prof. De 
 Gubernatis, the Fruit of Kings, on account of the great size of its 
 fruit. According to the Vishnu purdna, the continent Jamhudvipa 
 took its name from the tree Jambu. The fruits of this tree are in 
 point of facfl very large, but the fruits of the Indian mythological 
 Jambu attain to the size of an elephant ; when they have ripened 
 they fall from the mountain, and the juice which exudes feeds the 
 river Jambu, whose waters are consequently richly endowed with 
 salutary properties, and can neither be tainted nor defiled. We 
 l&axn.ixoratlci&Dirghdga'ma-SMra, that the four cardinal points were not 
 only represented by the four elephants which sustained the world, 
 but by four trees of colossal bulk and grandeur. These four trees 
 were the Ghanta, the Kadamba, the Ambala, and the Jambu. The 
 Jambu, sprang, it is said, from the south of the mountain Meru, of 
 which the summit was believed to represent the zenith. In the 
 cosmogonic forest of the Himalaya towers the stupendous bulk of 
 the Jambu, and from its roots four great rivers, whose waters are 
 inexhaustible, take their source. It bears during the entire kalpa 
 of the renovation an immortal fruit, like unto gold, great as the 
 vase called Mahdkala. This fruit falls into the rivers, and its pips 
 produce the golden seed which is carried away to the sea, and 
 which is sometimes washed up again, and to be found on its shores. 
 This gold is of incalculable value, and has not its equal in the world 
 
 for purity. It appears, according to the Saptagataka of HUa, that 
 
 Indian lovers are fond of secreting themselves beneath the Ifeaves 
 of the Eugenia Janibos, and that the young Indian bride becomes 
 sad with jealousy when she sees her young husband approaching, 
 with his ears decked with the leaves of the Jambu. 
 
 JASMINE. — Perfumes and flowers play an important part in 
 the poetry of India, and the Jasmine, which Hindu poets call the 
 "Moonlight of the Grove," has furnished them with countless 
 images. Thus, in Anvdr-i-Suhaili (translated by E. B. Eastwick), 
 we read of a damsel entering the king's chamber, whose face 
 charms like a fresh Rosebud which the morning breeze has caused 
 
392 pPant Isofe, IsegerfjO/, dtiel Isi^ria/", 
 
 to blow, and whose ringlets are compared to the twisting Hyacinth 
 buried in an envelope of the purest Musk : — 
 
 " With Hyacinth and Jasmine her perfumed hair was bound, 
 A posy of sweet Violets her clustering ringlets seemed ; 
 Her eyes with love intoxicate, in witching sleep half drowned, 
 Her locks, to Indian Spikenard like, with love's enchantments beamed." 
 
 De Tassy, the translator of the allegories of Aziz Eddin, points 
 out that the Arabian word yds-min is composed of the -word yds, 
 despair, and min, an illusion. In the allegories we read : " Then 
 the Jasmine uttered this sentence with the expressive eloquence 
 of its mute language : " Despair is a mistake. My penetrating odour 
 excels the perfume of other flowers ; therefore lovers seledt me as 
 a suitable offering to their mistresses ; they extraift from me the in- 
 visible treasures of divinity, and I can only rest when enclosed in 
 
 the folds and pleats which form in the body of a robe." An 
 
 allusion to the Jasmine is made in the following poetic description 
 of a young girl drooping from a sudden illness : — " All of a sudden 
 the blighting glance of unpropitious fortune having fallen on that 
 Rose-cheeked Cypress, she laid her head on the pillow of sickness ; 
 and in the flower-garden of her beauty, in place of the Damask- 
 Rose, sprang up the branch of the Saffron. Her fresh Jasmine, 
 from the violence of the burning illness, lost its moisture, and her 
 Hyacinth, full of curls, lost all its endurance from the fever that 
 
 consumed her. The Indians cultivate specially for their perfume 
 
 two species of Jasmine — viz., the Jasmiwum grandijiorum, or Tore, 
 and the jf. hirsutum, or Samhac. The Moo-le-hua, a powerful- 
 smelling Jasmine, is used in China and other parts of the East as 
 
 an adornment for the women's hair. It is believed that the 
 
 Jasmine was first introduced into Europe by some Spaniards, who 
 
 brought it from the East Indies in 1560. Loudon relates that 
 
 a variety of the Jasmine, with large double flowers and exquisite 
 scent, was first procured in 1699 from Goa, by the Grand Duke 
 of Tuscany, and so jealous was he of being the sole possessor of 
 this species, that he stridlly forbade his gardener to part with a 
 single cutting. However the gardener was in love, and so, on the 
 birthday of his betrothed, he presented her with a nosegay, in the 
 midst of which was a sprig of this rare Jasmine. Charmed with its 
 fragrance, the girl planted the sprig in fresh mould, and under her 
 lover's instrudlions was soon able to raise cuttings from the plant, 
 and to sell them at a high price : by this means she soon saved 
 enough money to enable her to wed the gardener, who had hitherto 
 been too poor to alter his condition. In memory of this tender 
 episode, the damsels of Tuscany still wear a wreath of Jasmine on 
 their wedding days, and the event has given rise to a saying that 
 a "girl worthy of wearing the Jasmine wreath is rich enough to 
 
 make her husband happy." Yellow Jasmine is the flower of the 
 
 Epiphany. To dream of this beautiful flower foretells good 
 
 luck ; to lovers it is a sure sign they will be speedily married. 
 
pfant Tsore, IsegeT^t)/, anl. Tst^riq/', 393 
 
 JERUSALEM. — Many plants are found to have been named 
 in olden times after the Holy City. The Lungwort, Pulmott^ria 
 officinalis, is the Jerusalem Cowslip ; Phlomis is Jerusalem Sage ; and 
 Teucrium Botrys is the Oak of Jerusalem, called so from the resem- 
 blance of its leaf to that of the Oak. In these three cases the prefix 
 "Jerusalem " seems to have been applied for no particular reason 
 — probably because the plants had an Eastern origin. Salsafy, 
 Tragopogon poyrif alius, is the Star of Jerusalem, so named from the 
 star-like expansion of its involucre ; and Helianthus tuberosus is the 
 Jerusalem Artichoke, a plant of the same genus as the Sunflower, 
 called Artichoke from the flavour of its tubers. The soup made 
 from it is termed Palestine Soup. In the last two cases. Dr. Prior 
 thinks the prefix " Jerusalem " is simply a corruption of the Italian 
 word girasole, turn-sun, and has been applied to these plants from 
 a popular belief that they turn with the Sun. The Lychnis Chalce- 
 donica is the Jerusalem Cross, which has derived its name from the 
 fact that a variety of it has four instead of five petals, of the colour 
 and form of a Jerusalem Cross. 
 
 JEWS' EARS. — The Auricula Juda is a Fungus resembling 
 in shape the human ear, which grows usually upon the trunks of 
 the Elder, the tree upon which Judas Iscariot is said by some to 
 have hung himself. Sir John Maundevile relates that he actually 
 saw the identical tree. Bacon says of this excrescence, " There is 
 an herb called Jewes-Eare, that groweth upon the roots and lower 
 parts of the bodies of trees, especially of Elders, and sometimes 
 Ashes. It hath a strange propertie ; for in warme water it swelleth, 
 and openeth extremely. It is not greene, but of a darke browne 
 colour. And it is used for squinancies and inflammations in the 
 throat, whereby it seemeth to have a mollifying and lenifying 
 vertue." 
 
 JOAN'S SILVER PIN.— The red-Poppy {Papaver Rhceas) 
 has acquired the name of Joan's Silver Pin, because, according to 
 Parkinson, the gaudy flower is " fair without and foul within " (in 
 allusion to its yellow juice). Joan's Silver Pin was a contemptuous 
 term applied to some tawdry ornament displayed ostentatiously by 
 a sloven. 
 
 JOB'S TEARS. — The pretty East Indian Grass, Coix lacryma, 
 is called Job's Tears on account of the formation of its hard beard- 
 like seeds, of which Gerarde says " every graine resembleth the 
 
 drop or teare that falleth from the eye." Among the Arabs, 
 
 the Fleabane {Inula dysenterica) is also called Job's Tears (See 
 Fleabane. 
 
 JONAH'S GOURD. — According to the Greek version of the 
 Scriptures, the plant under which Jonah sat was a Gourd, but 
 the Vulgate considers it a species of Ivy. The Ricinus communis, 
 the Castor-oil-tree, with its broad palmate leaves, has been, how- 
 
394 pPant Tsore, Tsegel^^/, cmel Ta^r'tef, 
 
 ever, identified with the Kihayon, which God caused to rise up and 
 shelter Jonah. 
 
 Joseph's Flower — See Goat's Beard. 
 
 JUDAS TREE.— The Fig, the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the 
 Dog Rose, the Elder, and the Cercis have all been named as the 
 tree from whose boughs the traitorous Judas, overcome with 
 remorse, hung himself in guilty despair. The idea that the Fig- 
 tree was the tree whereon Judas sought his fate, is a wide-spread 
 one, and probably derives its origin from the facft of our Lord 
 having cursed an unprodudtive Fig-tree, — the tradition being that, 
 after this maledicftion, the tree lost its foliage, and soon died; that 
 its wood, when put in the fire, produced smoke, but no flame; and 
 that all its progeny from that time forth became wild Fig-trees. 
 
 A Fig-tree growing on the coast of Coromandel, bears the 
 
 name of Judas' Purse. De Gubernatis, on the authority of 
 
 Dr. J. Pitre, states that, according to a Sicilian tradition, Judas 
 was not hung on a Fig, but on a Tamarisk-tree, called Vruca 
 {Tamarix Africana), much more common than the Tamarix Gallica, 
 The Vruca is only a shrub; but, say the Sicilians, once upon a time 
 it was a great tree, and very handsome. Since, however, the 
 traitor Judas hung himself from its boughs, the tree, owing to a 
 Divine maledi(ftion, became merely a shrub, ugly, mis-shapen, 
 small, useless, not even capable of lighting even the smallest fire ; 
 from whence has arisen the proverb: "You are like the wood of 
 
 the Vruca, which neither yields cinders nor fire." A Russian 
 
 proverb says: "There is a tree which trembles, although the wind 
 does not blow." In the Ukraine, they state that the leaves of the 
 Aspen {Populus tremula) have trembled and shaken ever since the 
 
 day that Judas hanged himself on a bough of that tree. In 
 
 Germany, the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) is a tree of ill repute, and 
 according to tradition, one with which the Devil has had dealings. 
 (See Eglantine). There is a legend that Judas hanged himself 
 on this tree; that in consequence it became accursed, and ever 
 after turned to the earth the points of its thorns ; and that from 
 
 this cause its berries, to this day, are called Judasheeren. In 
 
 England and other countries, there has long existed a tradition 
 that the Elder was the tree on which the traitor-disciple hanged 
 himself. Sir John Maundevile, in his ' Travels,' declares that he 
 saw the identical tree; and we read in 'Piers Plowman's Vision': — 
 
 "Judas, he japed 
 With Jewen silver. 
 And sithen on an Eller 
 Hanged hymselfe." 
 
 Gerarde, however, in his 'Herbal' (1597) denies that the Elder 
 was the tree, but states that the Avbov Jnda, the Judas-tree, is the 
 Ctrcis Siliquastrum (Wild Carob-tree). " It may," says the old 
 herbalist, " be called in English Judas-tree, for that it is thought 
 
pPant bofe, "^zQer^/, dHi, Tsijne/. 395 
 
 to be that whereon Judas hanged himselfe, and not upon the 
 Elder-tree, as it is vulgarly said." A similar belief is entertained 
 by the French and Italians, who regard the Cercis Siliquastrum as an 
 infamous tree. The Judas-tree grows about twenty feet high, has 
 pale green foliage and purple papilionaceous flowers, which appear 
 in the Spring in large clusters : they are succeeded by long flat pods, 
 containing a row of seeds. Curiously enough, the Spaniards and 
 Portuguese, on account of what Gerarde terms its "braveness," call 
 it the Tree of Love." 
 
 JUJUBE. — The real Jujube-tree is Zizyphus Jujuba, a native 
 of the East Indies, nearly allied to the Paliums, or Christ's Thorn : it 
 bears similar yellow flowers and fruit about the size of a middling 
 plum. It is sweet and mealy, and highly esteemed by the natives 
 of the countries to which the tree is indigenous. The lozenges 
 called Jujubes are made from the fruit of Zizyphus vulgaris, which 
 ripens abundantly in the neighbourhood of Paris. 
 
 July Flower, the Stock Gilliflower. — See Stock. 
 
 JUNIPER. — The ancients called the Juniper generally by 
 the name of Cedar, although Pliny distinguishes the two. Thus 
 Virgil is supposed to have alluded to the Juniper in the line in his 
 ' Georgic ' : — 
 
 " Disce et odoratam staiulis accendere Cedrum." 
 
 " But learn to burn within your sheltering rooms 
 Sweet Juniper." 
 
 The Juniper was consecrated to the Furies. The smoke of its 
 green roots was the incense which the ancients deemed most 
 acceptable to the infernal gods ; and they burned its berries 
 
 during funerals to ban malign influences. The Juniper has 
 
 always been looked upon as a protedlive tree ; its powerful odour 
 is stated to defeat the keen scent of the hound, and the hunted hare 
 at the last extremity will seek and find a safe retreat in the cover 
 of its branches. It sheltered the prophet Elijah from the perse- 
 cutions of King Ahab, and we read in i Kings xix., 4, that the 
 
 prophet lay and slept " under a Juniper-tree." According to 
 
 a tradition common in Italy, the Virgin Mary fled for safety 
 with the infant Jesus, pursued by the relentless soldiers of King 
 Herod. Whilst on their road, the Brooms and the Chick-Peas be- 
 gan to rustle and crackle, and by this noise betrayed the fugitives. 
 The Flax bristled up. Happily for her, Mary was near a Juniper : 
 the hospitable tree opened it branches as arms, and enclosed the 
 Virgin and Child within their folds, affording them a secure hiding- 
 place. Then the Virgin uttered a maledidlion against the Brooms 
 and the Chick-Peas, and ever since that day they have always rustled 
 and crackled. The Holy Mother pardoned the Flax its weakness, 
 and gave to the Juniper her blessing: on that account, in Italy, 
 branches of Juniper are hung up on Christmas Day in stables and 
 
396 pPant Tsore, TsegeT^Vs °^ hi]tia/. 
 
 cattle sheds, just as in England, France, and Switzerland, Holly is 
 
 employed as a decoration. In Thibet, they burn Juniper-wood 
 
 as incense in a gigantic altar, with an aperture at the top, which is 
 
 called Song-boom, and bears some resemblance to a limekiln 
 
 The old notion of the ancients that the burning of Juniper- wood 
 expelled evil spirits from houses evidently led to some superstitious 
 pradlices in this country in later times. Thus we find Bishop Hall 
 writing : — 
 
 " And with glasse stills, and sticks of Juniper, 
 Raise the black spright that burns not with the fire." 
 
 In some parts of Scotland, during the prevalence of an epidemic, 
 certain mysterious ceremonies are enacted, in which the burning of 
 
 Juniper-wood plays an important part. In Germany and Italy, 
 
 the Juniper is the objedt of a superstitious reverence on account of 
 its supposed property of dispersing evil spirits. According to Herr 
 Weber, in some parts of Italy, holes or fissures in houses are 
 brushed over with Juniper-boughs to prevent evil spirits introducing 
 sickness ; in other parts, boughs of Juniper are suspended before 
 doorways, under the extraordinary belief that witches who see the 
 Juniper are seized with an irresistible mania to count all its small 
 leaves, which, however, are so numerous that they are sure to 
 make a mistake in counting, and, becoming impatient, go away for 
 
 fear of being surprised and recognised. In Waldeck, Germany, 
 
 when infants fall ill, their parents place in a bunch of Juniper some 
 bread and wool, in order to induce bad spirits to eat, to spin, and 
 so forget the poor little suffering babe. In Germany, a certain 
 Frau Wachholder is held to be the personification and the presiding 
 spirit of the Juniper, who is invoked in order that thieves may be 
 compelled to give up their ill-gotten spoils : this invocation takes 
 place with certain superstitious ceremonies beneath the shadow of 
 a Juniper, a branch of which is bent to the earth. In Germany, 
 also, the Juniper, like the Holly, is believed to drive away from 
 houses and stables, spells and witchcraft of all description, and 
 specially to cast out from cows and horses the monsters which are 
 sometimes believed mysteriously to haunt them. For a similar 
 reason, in Germany, in order to strengthen horses, and to render 
 them tractable and quiet, they administer to them on three succes- 
 sive Sundays before sunrise, three handfuls of salt, and seventy- 
 two Juniper-berries. Prof. De Gubernatis tells us that from a rare 
 Italian book which he possesses, he finds that in Bologna it is 
 customary on Christmas Eve to distribute in most houses branches 
 of Juniper ; and moreover, that the best authorities have proved the 
 omnipotence of Juniper against serpents and venomous beasts, who 
 by their bites represent sins; and that the Juniper furnished the 
 wood for the Cross of the Saviour and protedled the Prophet Elijah. 
 
 In Tuscany, the Juniper receives a benedi(5tion in church on 
 
 Palm Sunday. — -In Venetia, Juniper is burnt to purify the air, 
 
recalling the ancient Roman custom of burning it instead of in- 
 cense on the altars. In Norway and Sweden, the floors are 
 
 strewed with the tops of Juniper, which diffuse a pleasant fra- 
 grance. Evelyn says that Juniper-berries afford " one of the 
 
 most universal remedies in the world to our crazy forester," and 
 he wonders that Virgil should condemn the shadow of such a 
 beneficial tree, but suspe(5ls him misreported as having written 
 the following lines : — 
 
 "Now let us rise, for hoarseness oft invades 
 The singer's voice who sings beneath the shades : 
 From Juniper unwholesome dews distil." 
 
 The old herbalists recommended the berries of the Juniper for use 
 as counter-poisons and other wholesome medicines, and water 
 wherein these berries had been steeped was held to be health- 
 giving and useful against poisons and pestilent fevers. The smoke of 
 the leaves and wood was said to drive away serpents, " and all in- 
 fedtion and corruption of the aire which bring the plague, or such- 
 like contagious diseases." The Juniper would appear to be potent 
 
 in dreams ; thus, it is unlucky to dream of the tree itself, especially 
 if the person be sick ; but to dream of gathering the berries, if it be 
 in winter, denotes prosperity ; whilst to dream of the adtual berries 
 signifies that the dreamer will shortly arrive at great honours, and 
 become an important person. To the married it foretells the birth 
 
 of a male child. The Juniper is held to be under the dominion 
 
 of the Sun. 
 
 JUNO'S ROSE. — The Lilium candidum has derived its name 
 of Juno's Rose from the legend that relates how Jupiter, to make 
 his infant son Hercules immortal, put him to the breast of the 
 sleeping Juno ; and how, when the babe withdrew from her, the 
 milk which fell from his lips formed the Milky Way, and, falling on 
 earth, caused the White Lily to spring up. (See Lily). 
 
 JUNO'S TEARS. — A name originally given by Dioscorides 
 to the Coix lacryma (now called Job's Tears), but for some unknown 
 reason transferred to the Vervain {Verbena officinalis). 
 
 JUPITER'S PLANTS. — The Pink (Dianthus) is Jove's 
 flower ; the Oak is sacred to him because he first taught mankind 
 to live upon Acorns ; his sceptre is of Cypress. The Dodonaean 
 Jupiter is usually depidled with a wreath of Oak-leaves; the 
 Olympian Jove wears a wreath of Olive, and his mantle is de- 
 corated with various flowers, particularly the Lily; to Jupiter 
 Ammon the Beech is dedicated. The House-leek {Semperuivum 
 tectorum) has obtained its name of Jupiter's Beard {Jovis Barba) from 
 its massive inflorescence resembling the sculptured beard of 
 Jupiter. The same plant is also called Jupiter's Eye from its 
 stellate form: in its centre is a bud, and on the surrounding petals 
 can be distinguished a little eye, from which circumstance has 
 arisen the superstition, mentioned by Dioscorides, that this plant 
 
39 8 pfant Isoi*©, Tsagerfof, cmS Tsijrlcy. 
 
 cures inflammation of the eyes. Jupiter's Staff is the Mullein 
 (Verbascum Thapsus). Jupiter's Distaff is the Yellow Clary [Salvia 
 glutinosa). Gerarde thus describes it: "Jovis Colus representeth in 
 the highest top of the stalk a distaffe, wrapped about with yellow 
 
 Flax, whereof it took its name." The Couch of Jupiter and Juno 
 
 was formed of the blossoms of Lotus, Lily, Hyacinth, Crocus, and 
 Asphodel. 
 
 KAIL. — Writing of the Cabbage or Colewort, Gerarde tells 
 us " the apothecaries and the common herbalists do call it Caulis, 
 of the goodnesse of the stalke." The old English name Cole and 
 the Scotch Kail are both derived from this Latin word Caulis, a 
 
 stalk. In Scotland, it is a custom on Hallowe'en for the young 
 
 people, after being duly blindfolded, to go forth into the Kail-yard, 
 or garden, and pull the first stalk they meet with. Returning to 
 the fireside, they determine, according as the stalk is big or little, 
 straight or crooked, what the future wife or husband will be. The 
 quantity of earth adhering to the root is emblematic of the dowry 
 to be expedled, and the temper is indicated by the sweet or bitter 
 taste of the motoc or pith. Lastly, the stalks are placed in order 
 over the door, and the Christian names of persons afterwards 
 entering the house signify in the same order those of the wives and 
 husbands in futuris. 
 
 KATAKA. — The Kataka (Strychnos potatorum) is an East 
 Indian plant, the seeds of which are sold in the bazaars for the 
 purpose of cleansing muddy water, &c. The vessel containing the 
 water, milk, &c., is first rubbed round the inside for a minute or 
 two with one of the seeds, after which, by allowing the liquid to 
 settle for a short time, however impure it may have been before, it 
 becomes clear. The confidence of the superstitious Hindus in this 
 property of the Kataka became so great, that in course of time 
 they ignorantly thought the mere name of Kataka would be 
 sufficient to cleanse water. It became, therefore, necessary to 
 state in one of their Codes that although the seeds of the Kataka 
 purify water, its name alone was insufficient for that purpose. 
 
 KATHARINE'S FLOWER.— The Nigdla Damascena has 
 been called Katharine's or St. Katherine's-flower, from the persis- 
 tent styles spreading like the spokes of a wheel, the symbol of St. 
 Katharine, who was martyred upon a wheel. As regards the seed 
 of this plant, Gerarde tells us that if dried, powdered, and wrapped 
 in a piece of fine lawn or sarcenet, it " cureth all murs, catarrhes, 
 rheumes, and the pose, drieth the braine, and restoreth the sence 
 of smelling unto those which have lost it, being often smelled unto 
 
 from day to day, and made warme at the fire when it is used." 
 
 This plant bears also the names of Fennel-flower, Bishop's-wort, 
 Old Man's Beard, and Kiss-me-twice-before-I-rise. 
 
 KESARA. — The Kesara (Mimusops Elengi) is an Indian tree 
 sacred to Krishna. According to Jones, the flowers of the Kesara 
 
pfant Isore, laegeT^y, dnS. Isijricy, 399 
 
 ornament conspicuously the Garden of Paradise. An odoriferous 
 water is distilled from the flowers, and the bark is used medicinally. 
 
 "KE RN EL- WO RT.— The Scrophularia nodosa has obtained the 
 name of Kernel- wort, from its having kernels or tubers attached to 
 its roots, and, therefore, as Gerarde remarks, " it is reported to be 
 a remedy against those diseases whereof it tooke his name." It 
 appears to have been more particularly employed as a cure for the 
 King's-evil ; but the old herbalist tells us that " divers do rashly 
 teach that if it be hanged about the necke, or else carried about 
 one, it keepeth a man in health." 
 
 KERZEREH. — The Kerzrah, or Kerzereh, is the name of an 
 Eastern flower, the odour of which would seem to have deadly pro- 
 perties. It is well known in Persia, and there, it is commonly said, 
 that if a man inhale the hot south-wind, which in June or July 
 passes over the Kerzereh-flowers, it will undoubtedly kill him. 
 
 KETAKI. — The Indian name of the Screw Pine, Pandanus 
 odoratissimus, is Ketaki, the male and female flowers of which are 
 borne on separate trees. The male flowers are dried, and are then 
 much in vogue as a scent by Indian ladies. These flowers are said 
 by the native poets to be dear to the god Siva ; and so exquisite is 
 their perfume, that the bee, intoxicated by it, mistakes the golden 
 blossom for a beauteous nymph, and, blinded with passion, loses its 
 wings. 
 
 KING'S CUP. — The Buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus) is also 
 called King's Cup, from the resemblance of its buds to a gold stud 
 such as Kings wore. This flower was dedicated in mediaeval times 
 to the Virgin Mary, and is the Mary-bud alluded to by Shakspeare 
 in ' Cymbeline ' — 
 
 " And twinkling Mary-buds begin 
 To ope their golden eyes." 
 
 Kiss-ME-ERE-i-RiSE. — See Pansy. 
 
 KissME-TWicE-BEFORE-i-RiSE. — See Katharine's Flower. 
 
 Knight's Spurs. — See Larkspur. 
 
 KNOT GRASS. — The Centinode, or Knot Grass {Polygonum 
 aviculare) derives its name from the knottiness of its stem and its 
 Grass-like leaves. In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' Shakspeare 
 refers to this plant as "the hindering Knotgrass," because its 
 decocftion was, in olden times, believed to be efiicacious in stopping 
 or retarding the growth of children, as well as of the young of 
 domestic animals. Thus, in Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Coxcomb,' 
 
 we read: — 
 
 " We want a boy. 
 Kept under for a year with milk and Knotgrass." 
 
 Gerarde says that "it is given unto swine with good success when 
 they are sick, and will not eat their meat, whereupon country 
 people do call it Swine's-grass or Swine's-skir." 
 
400 pfant Tsore, teege^^^/j cif^sl Tsiji'ie/', 
 
 KOVIDARA. — The Kovidara [Bauhinia variegata) is one of 
 trees which are represented as growing in the Indian Paradise. 
 The flowers of this Mountain Ebony are of a purplish-red colour, 
 marked with white, and with yellow bottoms. 
 
 KOUNALNITZA.— In Russia, a plant dedicated to the 
 Slave-God Kounala, protedtor of the harvest, is named after him 
 Kounalnitza. It would seem, however, to be now considered a herb 
 of St. John. De Gubernatis tells us that on the eve of St. John's 
 Day it is customary in Russia to deck the floors of bath-rooms with 
 this plant. Kounalnitza is thus described by a Russian lady: — 
 " It is a herb as delicate as an arrow, having on each side nine 
 leaves and four colours— black, green, red, and blue. This herb is 
 very salutary. He who has gathered it on St. John's Day, and carries 
 it about him with a piece of gold or silver money attached, need 
 neither fear the Devil nor wicked men at night. In course of time 
 he will prevail against all adversaries, and will become the friend of 
 Tzars and princes. The root of this plant is equally miraculous : 
 if a woman be childless, she has only to drink a potion in which 
 this plant has been powdered, and she will have children and be 
 able to protedt them from all infantile diseases. Kounalnitza is 
 also gathered as a protedtion against sorcerers, who by their cries 
 scare reapers and workers in the fields." 
 
 KUDDUM. — The Kuddum, or Cadamba [Anthocephalus Cad- 
 amba), is one of the most sacred trees of India. According to the 
 Chinese Buddhist scriptures, there grows to the east of the moun- 
 tain Sume a great ring of trees called Kadamba, of vast proportions. 
 The tree of Buddha sprang spontaneously from a kernel of this 
 Kadamba, dropped in the soil. " In one moment the earth split, a 
 shoot appeared, and the giant tree raised itself, embracing within 
 its shadow a circumference of three hundred cubits. The fruits of 
 this miraculous tree are a source of bitter vexation to the enemies 
 of Buddha, and against these the Devas launch all the fury of the 
 tempest." The yellowish-brown flowers of the Kuddum are small 
 and collected in dense balls : they open at the commencement of the 
 rainy season, a:nd they are represented by the Indian poets as 
 having the power of recalling to lovers, with irresistible vividness, 
 the beloved absent one. 
 
 KUSA GRASS.— The sacred Vedic herb Kusa {Poa cynosu. 
 roides) is known in the Sanscrit writings as the Ornament of the 
 Sacrifice, the Pure Herb, the Purifier, &c. With its long pointed 
 leaves, the sacred beverages are purified, the altar is covered, and 
 the sacrificing priest is furnished with a natural carpet. According 
 to the Vedas, the sacrifices offered in the Hindu temples of the 
 Indian Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, consisted of a fire of 
 fragrant woods lighted at each of the cardinal points. The flames 
 were fed now and again with consecrated ointment, and around 
 the fire was scattered the sacred herb Kusa. Thus, in the drama 
 
pPant Isofs, l9egeT|C)/, anisl Tsiji'icy. 401 
 
 of ' Sakuntald,' written by Kalid^sa two thousand years ago, we 
 find that Kanva, the father of the heroine (who is the chief of the 
 hermits), offers one of these sacrifices, and exclaims : — 
 
 " Holy flames, whose frequent food 
 Is the consecrated wood. 
 And for whose encircling bed, 
 Sacred Kusa-grass is spread ; 
 Hear, oh, hear me when I pray, 
 Purify my child this day !" 
 
 In those times it was apparently considered no sin to apply the 
 sacred grass to private purposes, for one of Sakuntala's handmaids 
 compounds perfumes and unguents with consecrated paste and the 
 Kusa-grass, to anoint the limbs of her mistress, previous to her 
 nuptials. In the Vedas, the Kusa-grass, or Darbha, is often invoked 
 as a god. According to the Atharvaveda, it is immortal, it never 
 ages, it destroys enemies, and Indra, the god of thunder, employs 
 
 it as his weapon.- The Vkiic rituals contain directions for the 
 
 employment of Kusa-grass for various mystic purposes. To cleanse 
 butter, the priest held a small stalk of the sacred Grass, without 
 nodes, in each hand, and, turning towards the east, he invoked 
 Savitar, Vasu, and the rays of the sun. At the new moon, and at 
 the full moon, they bound and fastened together the sacrificial 
 wood and the Kusa-grass. In the third year of its age, it was 
 customary for a Hindu child to be brought by its parents to the 
 priest, that its hair might be cut. Then the father, placed to the 
 south of the mother, held in his hand twenty-one stalks of Kusa- 
 grass, which symbolised the twenty-one winds, and an invocation 
 was made to Vayu, the god of the winds. The father, or, in his 
 absence, a Brahman, took three stalks at a time, and inserted them 
 in the child's hair seven times, the points turned towards the 
 infant's body; at the same time devoutly murmuring, "May the 
 herb protedl thee ! " According to the Vedas, a house ought to be 
 ere<5ted in a locality where the Kusa-grass abounds ; the foundations 
 are sprinkled with it, and care is taken to extirpate all thorny 
 plants. When reading the sacred books, the devout Hindu should 
 be seated either on the ground or on a flooring strewn with Kusa- 
 grass, upon which once rested Brahma himself. It was customary, 
 upon leaving a seminary, for the Vedic student to take, among 
 other things, by way of memento, and as a presage of good fortune, 
 a few blades of Kusa-grass. Anchorites employed the sacred Grass 
 as a covering to their nudity, and it was also used as a purification 
 in funeral rites. In the Buddhist ritual, the Vedic Kusa appears 
 under the name of Barkis, and serves as a kind of carpet, on which 
 come Agni and all the gods to seat themselves. Of such importance 
 is the sacred Grass considered, that the name Barkis is sometimes 
 even employed to signify in a general manner the sacrifice itself. 
 
 KUSHTHA. — Wilson identifies the Indian mythological tree 
 Eusktha with the Cosius speciosus, a swamp plant bearing snow-white 
 
 2 D 
 
402 pfaat bore, Tsege'^/, onel Tsijric/, 
 
 flowers and celebrated for the sweetness of its fruits. The Kushtha 
 forms one of the trees of heaven. In the Atharvaveda, it is stated 
 to flourish in the third heaven, where the ambrosia is to be found : 
 it possesses magical properties, will cure fevers, and is considered 
 as the first of medicinal plants. It is represented also as a great 
 friend and companion of Soma, the god of the ambrosia, and it 
 descends from the mountain Himavant as a deity of salvation. 
 
 Lad's Love. — See Southernwood. 
 
 LADY'S PLANTS.— When the word "lady" occurs in plant 
 names, it alludes in most cases to Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, on 
 whom the monks and nuns of old lavished flowers in profusion. 
 All white flowers were regarded as typifying her purity and 
 sanctity, and were consecrated to her festivals. The finer flowers 
 were wrested from the Northern deities, Freyja and Bertha, and 
 from the classic Juno, Diana, and Venus, and laid upon the shrine 
 of Our Lady. In Puritan times, the name of Our Lady was in 
 many instances replaced by Venus, thus recurring to the ancient 
 nomenclature : for example : Our Lady's Comb became Venus's 
 Comb {Scandix Pecten Veneris) ; Galium verum is called Our Lady's 
 Bedstraw, from its soft, puffy, flocculent stems, and its golden 
 flowers. The name may allude more particularly to the Virgin 
 Mary having given birth to her Son in a stable, with nothing but 
 wild flowers for her bedding. Clematis vitalba, commonly called 
 Traveller's Joy, from the shade and shelter it affords to weary 
 wayfarers, is also called Lady's Bower, from " its aptness in 
 making arbours, bowers, and shadie covertures in gardens." 
 Siatice Armeria, the clustered Pink, which is called Thrift, from 
 the past participle of the verb to thrive, is, on account of its close 
 cushion-like growth, termed Lady's Cushion. Alchemilla vulgaris is 
 named Lady's Mantle from the shape and vandyked edge of the 
 leaf; and Campanula hybrida (from the resemblance of its expanded 
 flower, set on its elongated ovary, to an ancient metallic mirror on 
 its straight handle) is the Lady's Looking-glass. Two plants with 
 soft inflated calyces {Anthyllis vulnevaria and Digitalis purpurea) axe 
 Lady's Fingers. Neottia spiralis, with its flower-spikes rising above 
 each other like braided hair, is Lady's Tresses ; and the Maiden- 
 hair Fern is Our Lady's Hair. Dodder (Cuscuta), from its string- 
 like stems, is called Lady's Laces; and Digrdphis arundinacea, from 
 the ribbon-like striped leaves, Lady's Garters. In Wiltshire, Con- 
 volvulus sepium is called Lady's Nightcap. Cypripedium Calceolus, 
 from the shape of its flower, is called Lady's Slippers ; and Carda- 
 mine pratensis, from the shape of its flowers, like little smocks hung 
 out to dry, is the Lady's Smock, all silver white, of Shakspeare. 
 Lady's Thimble is a name of the Blue or Hare Bell [Campanula 
 rotundifolia) ; and Lady's Seal is now the Black Briony. Carduus 
 Marianus is the Lady's Thistle, the blessed Milk Thistle, whose 
 green leaves have been spotted white ever since the milk of the 
 
Pant Tsore, tecgel^/, anil Tsiji'icy, 403 
 
 Virgin fell upon it when she was nursing Jesus, and endowed it 
 with miraculous virtues. 
 
 LARCH. — There has long been a superstitious belief that 
 the wood of the Larch-tree (Pinus Larix) is impenetrable by fire, and 
 a story is told by Vitruvius of a castle besieged by Caesar, which, 
 from being built largely of Larch timber, was found most difficult 
 
 to consume. Evelyn calls the Larch a " goodly tree, which is 
 
 of so strange a composition, that 'twill hardly burn ; whence the 
 Mantuan, Et robusta Larix igni impenetrabile lignum, for so Caesar 
 
 found it." Tiberius construdled several bridges of this timber, 
 
 and the Forum of Augustus, at Rome, was built with it. Evelyn 
 
 tells of a certain ship found many years ago in the Numidian Sea, 
 twelve fathoms under water, which was chiefly built of Larch and 
 Cypress, so hardened as long to resist the fire or the sharpest tool. 
 Nor, he adds, " was anything perished of it, though it had lain 
 
 above a thousand and four hundred years submerged." A Manna 
 
 is obtained from the Larch, called in the South of France Manna 
 de Briangon ; it is very rare, and met with only in little drops that 
 
 adhere to the leaves. In the case of a forest fire, if Larches are 
 
 scorched to the pith, the inner part exudes a gum, called Orenburg 
 gum, which the mountaineers masticate in order to fasten their 
 teeth. Ben Jonson, in the ' Masque of Queens,' speaks of the gum 
 or turpentine of the Larch as being used in witchcraft. A witch 
 answers her companion : — 
 
 " Yes, I have brought (to help your vows) 
 Homed Poppy, Cypress-boughs, . 
 The Fig-tree wild, that grows on tombs. 
 And juice that from the Larch-tree comes, 
 The basilisk's blood and the viper's skin : 
 And now our orgies let's begin." 
 
 According to a Tyrolean tradition, the Seliges Fraulein, dressed in 
 white, repairs to an aged Larch beneath whose shelter she sings. 
 
 Lucan includes the " gummy Larch " among the articles 
 
 burned to drive away serpents. M. de Rialle, quoted in Myiho- 
 
 thologie des Plantes, relates that a group of seven Larches constituted 
 for the Ostiaks a sacred grove. Everyone passing was expedled to 
 leave an arrow, and formerly it was customary to suspend skins 
 there, so that in course of time an immense quantity was accumu- 
 lated. As these offerings were frequently stolen by strangers, the 
 Ostiaks decided to fell one of the Larches and remove the stump 
 to some secret locality where they might pay their devotions 
 without fear of sacrilege. M. de Rialle found the same Larch 
 worship at Ber6zof : there a tree fifty feet high, and so old that 
 only its top bore foliage, received the homage of the Ostiaks, who 
 showed their piety by turning to good account its singular confor- 
 mation : about six feet from the ground the trunk of the tree 
 became divided into two limbs, which joining again a little higher 
 
 2 D — 2 
 
404 pPant Tsore, Tsegel^/, aTiel IsJijrio/. 
 
 up, left a cleft in the centre : this aperture the devotees dedicated 
 to the reception of their offerings. 
 
 LARKSPUR. — The Larkspur, the Delphinium or Dolphin- 
 flower of the ancients, was considered by Linnaeus and many other 
 botanists to be none other than the Hyacinth of the classic poets. 
 It is not, however, generally recognised as the flower that sprang 
 from the blood of the unfortunate Hyacinthus, and which to this 
 day bears his name ; but is rather regarded as the flower alluded 
 to in the enigma propounded by a shepherd in one of the Eclogues 
 of Virgil. 
 
 " Die ^bus in terris inscripti nomina regum 
 Nascuntur flores^ 
 
 " Say in what country do flowers grow with the names of kings written upon them." 
 
 Tradition states that from the life-blood of the disappointed and 
 infuriated Ajax sprang the Delphinium — the flower which we now 
 know as the Larkspur, upon whose petals it is said may be read 
 the letters A I A, and which the botanists consequently term Del- 
 phininium Ajacis — truly a flower upon which the name of a king is 
 
 written. The legend concerning the origin of the flower is as 
 
 follows: — Ajax, the son of Telamon and Hesione, was next to 
 Achilles worthily reputed the most valiant of all the Greeks at the 
 Trojan war, and engaged in single combat with He(51:or, the in- 
 trepid captain of the Trojan hosts, who was subsequently slain by 
 Achilles. After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Ulysses both 
 claimed the arms of the deceased hero : the latter was awarded 
 them by the Greeks, who preferred the wisdom and policy of 
 Ulysses to the courage of Ajax. This threw Ajax into such a fury, 
 that he slaughtered a flock of sheep, mistaking them for the sons of 
 Atreus ; and then, upon perceiving his error, stabbed himself with 
 the sword presented to him by Hedlor ; the blood spurting from his 
 self-inflidled death-wound, giving birth, as it fell to the earth, to the 
 purple Delphinium, which bears upon its petals the letters at once 
 the initials of his name and an exclamation of grief at the loss of 
 
 such a hero. The generic name of the plant is derived from the 
 
 Greek delphinion, a dolphin; the flower-buds, before expansion, 
 being thought to resemble that fish. In England, the flower is 
 known by the names of Larkspur, Lark's-heel, Lark's-toe, Lark's- 
 claw, and Knight's-spur. 
 
 LAUREL. — Daphne, daughter of Peneus and the goddess 
 Terra, inspired Apollo with a consuming passion. Daphne, how- 
 ever, received with distrust and horror the addresses of the god, 
 and fled from his advances. Pursued by Apollo, she adjured the 
 water-gods to change her form, and, according to Ovid — 
 
 " Scarce had she finished when her feet she found 
 Benumb'd with cold and fastened to the ground : 
 A filmy rind about her body grows ; 
 Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs. 
 
pPant bofc, bege^/, cmsl bi^rlcy. 405 
 
 The nymph is all into a Laurel gone 
 
 The smoothness of her skin remains alone. 
 
 • • * » ■ » * 
 
 To whom the god : because thou canst not be 
 
 My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree : 
 
 Be thou the prize of honour and renown ; 
 
 The deathless poet and the poem crown. 
 
 Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn, 
 
 And after poets, be by victors won. 
 
 Thou shalt returning Caesar's triumph grace 
 
 When pomps shall in a long procession pass ; 
 
 Wreath'd on the posts before his palace wait ; 
 
 And be the sacred guardian of the gate. 
 
 Secure from thunder, and unharmed by Jove, 
 
 Unfading as th' immortal powers above ; 
 
 And as the locks of Phcebus are unshorn, 
 
 So shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn." — Dryden. 
 
 The classical Laurel, known as the " Royal," or " Augustan," 
 was the Sweet Bay, or Daphne {Laurus nobilis). Formerly the 
 Bay-tree was called Laurel, and the fruit only named Bayes, 
 a word derived from the French haie, a berry. By the Greeks 
 and Romans the tree was considered sacred. The Romans decor- 
 ated with Laurel the gods Apollo and Bacchus, the goddesses 
 Libertas and Salus, iEsculapius, Hercules, &c. The vidtors of 
 the Pythian games, held to commemorate Apollo's triumph over 
 the P5d:hons, wore crowns of Laurel, Palm, or Beech. Paris (called 
 in Homer, Alexander) was crowned with Alexandrian Laurel 
 {Ruscus mcemosus), as vidlor in the public games, whence, its names in 
 Apuleius, Daphne Alexandrina and Stephane Alesccmdrina. Of all the 
 honours decreed to Csesar by the Senate, he is said to have valued 
 most the privilege of wearing a crown of Alexandrian Laurel, be? 
 cause it covered his baldness, which was reckoned a deformity 
 among the Romans as well as among the Jews. This is the Laurel 
 generally depidted on busts, coins, &c. The palace gates of the 
 Caesars, and the high pontiffs were decorated with Laurel. Vic- 
 torious Roman generals sent their letters and dispatches to. the? 
 Senate enclosed in Laurel-leaves. The letter announcjng the vidlory 
 was called Uterm laureata, and its bearer carried a branch of Laurel, 
 which was placed in the breast of Jupiter Qptimus Maximus. The 
 soldiers' spears, tents, ships, &c., were all dressed up with Laurel, 
 and in the triumph each soldier carried a branch in his hand. 
 According to Plutarch, Scipio- entered Carthage, holding in one, 
 hand a sceptre and in the other a branch of Laurel. Sophocles, 
 relates how CEdipus, seeing Creon arrive crowned with Laurel, 
 believed that he brought good news. The goddess Victoria is. 
 represented as crowned with Laurel, and bearing the branch of a 
 Palm-tree. According to Hesiod, the Muses hold Laurel in their 
 hands. 
 
 The prophetess Manto, a daughter of the prophet Tiresias, wasi 
 sometimes called Daphne (Laurel). 
 
4o6 pPant Tsore, Isegel^t)/, ani. Tsijrie/. 
 
 The bough of a Laurel was considered to give to prophets 
 the faculty of seeing that which was hidden. Dionysius calls the 
 Laurel the prophetical plant ; aiid Claudian, venturi prascia Lauvus. 
 Fulgentius states, that a Laurel-leaf placed beneath the pillow will 
 cause coming events to be foreseen in a dream ; thereby greatly 
 assisting the predidtion of future events. Diviners, like the priests 
 of Apollo, wore Laurel wreaths, and Laurel was used in the com- 
 position of incense. Evelyn relates that the Laurel and Agnus 
 Castus were reputed to be "trees which greatly composed the 
 'phansy,' and did facilitate true visions; and that the first was 
 especially efficacious to inspire a poetical fury. Such a tradition 
 there goes of Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, in imitation of her father- 
 in-law. The instance is recited out of an ancient ecclesiastical 
 history, by Abulensis." From hence, Evelyn thinks the Delphic 
 Tripos, the Dodonean Oracle in Epirus, and others of a similar 
 nature, took their origin. The Pythia, or priestess of Apollo, 
 at Delphi, before delivering the oracles from the sacred tripod, 
 shook a Laurel-tree and sometimes chewed the leaves with which 
 she crowned herself, casting them afterwards into the sacred fire. 
 The temple of Apollo at Delphi, where the celebrated oracles 
 were delivered, was at first only a strudlure of Laurel-branches, 
 which enclosed a fissure in the earth, from which a stupefying 
 exhalation arose. Over the fissure was placed a tripod, on which 
 the Pythia or prophetess sat, and, becoming excited by the ascend- 
 ing vapour, she fell into an ecstacy, and prophesied. After a temple 
 of stone had been construdled, the Pythia prophesied in an inner 
 and secluded cell, the only opening to which, accessible to ques- 
 tioners, was covered with Laurel-leaves. The Laurel being sacred 
 to Apollo as well as to ^sculapius, was used in the temples of 
 both these divinities, partly to induce sleep and dreams, partly to 
 produce beneficial effedts in various diseases. Whosoever wished 
 to ask counsel was bound to appear before the altar crowned with 
 Laurel-twigs and chewing Laurel-leaves. Every ninth year, a 
 bower, composed of Laurel-branches, was ere(5led in the forecourt 
 of the temple at Delphi. 
 
 The BcEotian ittes, held every ninth year at Thebes in honour 
 of Apollo, were designated Daphnephoria. On these occasions, 
 an Olive-bough, adorned with Laurel, was carried by a beautiful and 
 illustrious youth, dedicated to the service of Apollo, and who was 
 called Daphnephoros (Laurel-bearer) . The origin of the Daphnephoria 
 was as follows : — The ^Etolians had invaded Boeotia, but both 
 invaders and defenders suspended hostilities to celebrate the 
 festival of Apollo, and having cut down Laurel-boughs from Mount 
 HeUcon, they walked in procession in honour of the divinity: that 
 same day the Boeotian general, Polemates, dreamed that a youth 
 presented him with a suit of armour, and commanded the 
 Boeotians to offer prayers to Apollo, and to walk in procession, 
 with Laurel-boughs in their hands, every ninth year. Three days 
 
pfant T^oi-e, IsegeT^/, anil Tsijricy. 407 
 
 later, Polemates defeated the invaders, and immediately instituted 
 the Festival of Daphnephoria. 
 
 The Laurel formerly had the power ascribed to it of being a 
 safeguard against lightning, of which Tiberius was very fearful, 
 and in order to avoid which he is stated to have crept under his 
 bed and protedted his head with Laurel-leaves. In Sicily, it has 
 long been popularly believed that the shrub is a protedtion from 
 thunder and lightning. The same superstition survived till recently 
 in our own country. W. Browne tells us that " Bales being the 
 material of poets' ghirlands, are supposed not subje(5l to any hurt 
 of Jupiter's thunder-bolts, as other trees are." Culpeper alludes 
 to the old belief that neither witch nor devil, thunder nor lightning, 
 will hurt a man where a Bay-tree is ; and remarks further, that 
 Laurels resist " witchcraft very potently, as also all the evils old 
 Saturn can do the body of man, and they are not a few. The 
 berries are very effedlual against all poisons of venomous creatures, 
 as also against the pestilence and other infedlious diseases." 
 
 The decay of the Bay-tree, which is generally rapid, was for- 
 merly considered as an omen of disaster. It is said that before the 
 death of Nero, though in a very mild winter, all these trees withered 
 to the root, and a great pestilence in Padua is reputed to have been 
 preceded by the same phenomenon. So great a reputation had the 
 Laurel for clearing the air and resisting contagion, that the Em- 
 peror Claudius was advised by his physicians during a raging pes- 
 tilence to remove his court to Laurentum. That city, in the reign 
 of Latinus, was the capital of Latium, whose inhabitants were 
 called Laurentini from the great number of Laurels which flourished 
 in their country. King Latinus discovered one of unusual size 
 and beauty when about to build a temple to Apollo, and the tree 
 was consecrated to the god, and preserved with religious care. 
 
 The Laurel had the reputation of being generally propitious to 
 man. At Rome, on the isth of May, merchants used to celebrate 
 a festival in honour of Mercury, and proceeding to a public foun- 
 tain, they drew water wherein they dipped a Laurel-branch, which 
 they then employed to bless all their merchandise. The Laurus 
 (Bay) was held in high esteem by the old Greek physicians ; and 
 among the people there existed a belief that spirits could be 
 banished by its means. The Greeks had a saying, " I carry a 
 branch of Laurel," to indicate that the speaker had no fear of 
 poison or sorcery. They had a custom of affixing a Laurel-bough 
 over the doorway, in the case of a severe illness, in order to avert 
 death and drive away evil spirits. Presumably from these asso- 
 ciations, it became the fashion to crown young dodlors of physic 
 with Laurel-berries [Bacca Lauri), and the students were called 
 Baccalaureats, Bay-laureats, or Bachelors. Theophrastus tells us 
 that in his time the superstitious kept Bay-leaves in their mouths 
 all day, to guard them from misfortune. Theocritus says that 
 young girls were wont to burn Laurel as a charm to recall errant 
 
4o8 pPant boi-e, TsegeTTt)/, cml bqcio/. 
 
 lovers. The Bolognese use Laurel to obtain an augury of the 
 harvest : they put Laurel-leaves in the fire, and if in burning they 
 crackle, it is a sign that the harvest will be good ; if not, it will be 
 bad. Tibullus chronicles a similar superstition in his time. 
 
 In the da5rs of Pliny, there still existed on Mount Aventine a 
 plantation of Laurels, of which the branches were employed for 
 expiations. On the other hand, there grew on the shores of the 
 Euxine a Laurel bearing a sinister reputation, close to where Amycus, 
 the son of Neptune, was killed and buried. The Argonauts, when 
 passing there, broke off a branch of this Laurel, and they imme- 
 diately began to quarrel among themselves : the quarrel ceased, 
 however, diretftly the branch was thrown away. 
 
 Petrarch made the Laurel the constant theme of his verse, as- 
 sociating it with the name of his beloved mistress, Laura ; and when 
 publicly crowned in the Roman Capitol with a wreath of Laurel, 
 the poet acknowledged himself to have experienced the greatest 
 delight. 
 
 Sir Thomas Browne refers to a custom common in Ghristian 
 countries of throwing a sprig of Bay upon the coffin when interred. 
 In England, it has long been used, together with Holly, Rosemary, 
 &c., to decorate houses and churches at Christmas. In Greece, 
 on Holy Saturday, they spread Laurel-leaves on the church floor. 
 In Corsica, they deck with Laurel-leaves the doorway of the house 
 where a wedding is being celebrated. 
 
 To dream of a Laurel-bush is a token of vicftory and pleasure. 
 If the dreamer is married it denotes an inheritance through the 
 wife. If a married woman dreams of seeing or smelling Laurel, it 
 is a sign that she shall bear children ; if a maid, it denotes that she 
 will be suddenly married. Astrologers consider the Laurel a 
 tree of the Sun, under the celestial sign Leo. 
 
 The Roumanians have a legend that there was once a nymph, 
 known as the Daughter of the Laurel, who dwelt in the midst of a 
 Laurel-bush. One evening the Laurel had opened its branches 
 that she might, as was her wont, issue forth and dance in the, 
 flowery valley. Whilst tripping along she was accosted by a hand- 
 some youth, who extolled her beauty, expressed his passion for her, 
 and finally endeavoured to embrace her ; but the Laurel nymph 
 fled, and pursued by the stranger, disappeared in the flowery 
 groves . . . . " The Star Queen sleeps in her palace of 
 clouds ; sleep also, gentle and lovely girl ; try to calm thy sighs." 
 So sings the handsome stranger, and the Daughter of the Laurel 
 falls to sleep in his arms, murmuring a prayer that her lover may 
 never abandon her. At her waking, alas ! the youth is nowhere 
 to be seen. She shrieks for him wildly, and calls to the night ; to 
 the stars ; to the rivulet running through the wood ; but in vain. 
 " Open thy branches, beautiful Laurel-tree ! " then cries the de- 
 serted girl ; " the night is already flying, and if I remain longer here 
 I shall dissolve away into dew." " Away, young and beautiful girl,'.' 
 
pPant Tsoce, TsegeT^/, ani. Tsijficy, 409 
 
 replies the Laurel-tree mournfully ; " the star wreath of honour 
 has fallen from thy brow ; there is no longer any place for thee 
 here." Then the sun rose over the mountain, and the Daughter of 
 the Laurel dissolved away into dew. 
 
 LAVENDER. — The ancients employed Lavender {Lavandula 
 Spica) largely in their baths, whence its name, derived from the 
 Latin verb, lavare, to wash. The expression "Laid up in La- 
 vender " has arisen from the old custom of using the plant to 
 scent newly-washed linen. 
 
 "Its spike of azure bloom 
 Shall be erewhile in arid bundles bound. 
 To lurk amid the labours of the loom, 
 And crown our kerchiefs clean with mickle rare perfume " 
 
 The ancients used the French Lavender {L. Stcechas), which for- 
 merly grew in great abundance on the islands near Hyeres, in 
 France, that were named after the plant, the Stcechades. Gerarde 
 calls this French Lavender, Sticadove, and says the herb was also 
 known as Cassidonie, corrupted by simple country folk into " Cast- 
 me-down." Shakspeare makes Perdita class Lavender among the 
 flowers denoting middle-age : — 
 
 " Here's flowers for you ; 
 Hot Lavender, Mints, Savory, Marjoram. 
 The Marygold, that goes to bed with the sun. 
 And with him rises weeping ; these are the flowers 
 Of middle Summer, and, I think, they are given 
 To men of middle age." 
 
 English Lavender was formerly called Lavender Spike, and Gerarde 
 says it was thought by some to be the sweet herb Cassia, mentioned 
 by Virgil in his ' Bucolics ' : — 
 
 " And then she'll Spike and such sweet herbs unfold, 
 And paint the Jacinth with the Marigold." 
 
 It was formerly believed that the asp, a dangerous species of viper, 
 made Lavender its habitual place of abode, for which reason the 
 plant was approached with extreme caution. In Spain and Por- 
 tugal, Lavender is used to strew the floors of churches and houses 
 
 on festive occasions, or to make bonfires on St. John's Day.- In 
 
 Tuscany, it is employed to counteraeft the effedl of the Evil Eye 
 
 on little children. The Kabyle women attribute to Lavender the 
 
 property of protecfling them from marital cruelty, and invoke it 
 for that purpose. 
 
 LEEK. — Biblical commentators say that the Leek {Allium 
 Porrum), as well as the Onion and Garlic, was included among those 
 Egyptian luxuries after which the Children of Israel pined. White 
 and green were the old Cymric colours, and these colours are found 
 combined in the Leek, which is the national emblem of the Welsh. 
 
4IO pPant hote, IsegeriOf, ani. h^f'iaj. 
 
 The following lines are from a MS. in the Harl, Col., British 
 Museum : — 
 
 " I like the Leeke above all herbes and floures; 
 
 When first we wore the same the field was ours. 
 
 The Leeke is white and green, whereby is ment 
 
 That Britaines are both stout and eminente. 
 
 Next to the lion and the unicorne, 
 
 The Leeke's the fairest emblym that is worne." 
 
 Shakspeare, in Henry V., tells us that the Leek, worn by Welsh- 
 men on St. David's Day (March ist), is " an ancient tradition, begun 
 upon an honourable respect, and worn as a memorable trophy of 
 pre-deceased valour." This vegetable "trophy" is said to be in 
 memory of a great vidlory obtained by the Welsh over the Saxons ; 
 on which occasion, they, by order of St. David, placed Leeks in 
 their caps in order to distinguish themselves. It has also been 
 supposed that the wearing of the Leek may have originated in the 
 custom of Cymortka, still observed among the farmers of the country, 
 where, in assisting one another in ploughing their land, they bring 
 
 each their Leeks to the common repast of the whole party. 
 
 Drayton relates another legend, which runs as follows: — 
 
 " There is an aged cell, with Moss and Ivy grown, 
 In which not to this day the sun has ever shone. 
 That reverend British saint, in zealous ages past, 
 To contemplation lived, and did so truly fast, 
 As he did only drink what crystal Hodney yields, 
 And fed upon the Leeks he gathered in the fields ; 
 In memory of whom, in each revolving year. 
 The Welshmen on his day that sacred herb do wear." 
 
 Pliny states that Nero brought Leeks into great repute among 
 the Romans by eating them with oil to clear his voice for singing. 
 His folly in this respedt obtained for him the satirical name of 
 Porrophagus, the Leek Eater. Martial, referring to the disagreeable 
 effecfts of the Leek upon the breath of the eater, says : — 
 
 " The juice of Leeks who fondly sips, 
 To kiss the fair, must close his lips." 
 
 In Poland, the flower-stalk of the Leek is placed in the hands 
 
 of the statues of our Saviour on certain special days, to represent 
 
 the Reed given to Him at the Crucifixion. Among the Sicilians, 
 
 the mother of the Apostle Peter is the subjecft of many legends. 
 She is always represented as bad and niggardly. The only thing 
 she ever gave away was the leaf of a Leek, which she flung to a 
 beggar, who importuned her one day as she was washing her pot- 
 herbs. When she died, hell received her. Years afterwards, Peter, 
 the doorkeeper of Paradise, heard a piteous voice saying: " Son 
 Peter, see what torments I am in. Go, ask the Lord to let me 
 out." So Peter went and asked. But the Lord said : "She never 
 did a nail-paring of good. Except this Leek-leaf, she never once 
 gave a scrap away. However, here is a Leek-leaf: this angel 
 shall take it, and shall tell her to lay hold of the other end, while 
 
pPant Isofe, TsegeT^ti/, aail Tsiji'io/, 411 
 
 he pulls her up." So Peter's mother grasped the Leek-leaf; but 
 all the souls in torment ran after her, and clung to her skirts, so 
 that the angel was dragging quite a string of them after her. Her 
 evil disposition, however, would not permit her to keep quiet. It 
 grieved her avaricious temperament that anyone besides herself 
 should be saved; so she struggled and kicked, in order to shake the 
 poor souls off, and in so doing tore the saving Leek-leaf, and fell 
 back again, and sank deeper than before. 
 
 LENT LILIES.— The Daffodil is the Lent Lily. Mingled 
 with Yew, which is the emblem of the Resurretftion, it forms an 
 appropriate decoration for Easter. Lent Lilies are called by the 
 French Pauvres Filles de Ste. Clare. (See Narcissus). 
 
 LENTIL. — Like almost all vegetables. Lentils are tradition- 
 ally regarded as funereal plants : formerly they were forbidden at 
 
 all sacrifices and feasts. St. Hilarion, when he arrived at man's 
 
 estate, subsisted for three years upon Lentils steeped in cold water. 
 
 To dream of Lentils is supposed to indicate sorrow and 
 
 anxiety. 
 
 LETTUCE. — Pythagoras, we are told, was extremely fond 
 of Lettuces, which formed a large portion of his diet ; but Eubulus 
 is said to have bitterly reproached his wife for having served up at 
 a meal Lettuces, which were only recommended for funeral repasts. 
 
 The ancients considered the Lettuce {Lactuca) as an aliment 
 
 appropriate in times of mourning, and they employed it largely in 
 their funeral repasts in commemoration of the death of Adonis, son 
 of Myrrha, whom Venus had concealed in a bed of Lettuces, and 
 whose death had occurred from a wound inflidled by a wild boar 
 that had come to feed on the Lettuces, and so surprised the beau- 
 tiful youth. Another legend states that the young man hidden 
 
 by Venus in the Lettuce bed was Phaon, the handsome boatman 
 
 of Lesbos, and not Adonis. In mediaeval days, it was supersti- 
 
 tiously thought that an evil spirit lurked in a bed of Lettuces, and 
 a species known by women as Astylida was believed to affedt 
 mothers adversely, and to cause grievous ills to newly-born infants. , 
 Perhaps this may account for a saying often heard at Richmond, 
 Surrey : — " O'er-much Lettuce in the garden will stop a young 
 
 wife's bearing." The old poets prescribed a bed of Lettuce for 
 
 those who were unable to obtain repose; and Pliny states that 
 Lettuces of all descriptions were thought to cause sleep. Pope, 
 referring to its soporific qualities, has said of the Lettuce : — 
 
 " If your wish be rest, 
 " Lettuce and Cowslip wine, /iroia/um est." 
 
 Gerarde remarks that, if eaten after supper, this vegetable prevents 
 
 the drunkenness resulting from too free indulgence in wine. 
 
 Lettuce is stated by the Mishna to be one of the five " bitter herbs " 
 ordered to eaten by Jews at the Feast of the Passover, To 
 
412 pPant l9oi*e, Tszger^f, and. Tsijfic/'. 
 
 dream of eating salads made of Lettuce, &c., is supposed to portend 
 trouble and difficulty in the management of affairs. 
 
 LILY. — The white Lily (Lilium candidum) was held in the 
 highest regard by the heathen nations ; it was one of the flowers 
 ■employed to form the couch of Jupiter and Juno, and under the 
 name of Rosa Junonis was consecrated to the imperious queen of 
 the heavens, from whose milk, indeed, the flower is stated to 
 have originally sprung. The legend is as follows : — ^Jupiter being 
 desirous of rendering the infant Hercules immortal, that he 
 might rank among the divinities, caused Somnus to prepare a 
 nedlareous sleeping-draught, which he persuaded Juno to take. 
 The Queen of the Gods fell immediately into a profound slumber, 
 and Jupiter then placed the little Hercides to the celestial breast, 
 in order that the babe might imbibe the ambrosial milk that 
 would ensure its immortality. The infant, over-eager to enjoy the 
 delightful nutriment, drew the milk faster than he could swallow, 
 and some drops falling to the earth, there immediately sprang from 
 it the white Lily, the emblem of purity : some of the milk is also 
 said to have dropped over that portion of the heavens which, from 
 its whiteness, still retains the name of the Milky Way [la£tea via). 
 Another version of the myth states that originally all the Lilies 
 were Orange-coloured, but that those on which Juno's milk fell 
 
 were rendered white, and produced the Lilium candidum. 
 
 The Lily was doubtless cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, and 
 probably held in great esteem, for we find it appearing in their 
 hieroglyphical representations, and may therefore conclude that the 
 flower possessed some special significance. With the Greeks and 
 Romans, the Lily was a favourite flower, and Columella tells us 
 that the latter were wont to preserve Lilies by planting them in 
 baskets. The frequent allusions made to the plant in the Scriptures 
 are sufficient proof that the Hebrew race thought highly of the 
 beauty and grace of the Lily. In their language, the name 
 Susannah signifies a Lily. There are great diversities of opinion 
 as to what was the particular Lily alluded to by our Saviour when 
 He said, " Consider the Lilies of the field." Some think the 
 Tulip, others t)\e Amaryllis lutea, others again the white Lily to be 
 the flowers to which Solomon in all his glory was not to be compared. 
 In nearly every Catholic country, the White Lily is dedi- 
 cated to the Virgin Mary, and is held to be emblematic of her 
 purity : hence the flower is frequently used to decorate her shrine, 
 and especially so on the feast of the Visitation of Our Lady and the 
 Annunciation. The Continental order of the Blessed Lady of the 
 Lily was instituted by Garcia, fourth King of Navarre, on account 
 of an image of the Holy Virgin being miraculously found, as it was 
 reported, in a Lily, which is believed to have cured this prince of 
 
 a dangerous disorder. Rapin, the French Jesuit poet, has the 
 
 following lines on the Lily, which he evidently confounds with the 
 
E)Pant Tsofe, "kieger^/, anil "bLjrie/, 413 
 
 Iris, or Fleuf de Luce (see Iris), as being the representative flower 
 of the French nation. He says : — 
 
 "With Lilies our French monarchs grace their crown, 
 Brought hither by the valiant Hector's son, 
 From Trojan coasts, when Francus forc'd by fate 
 Old Priam's kingdom did to France translate : 
 Or, if we may believe what legends tell, 
 Like Rome's Ancilia, once from heav'n they fell. 
 Clovis, first Christian of our regal line. 
 Of heav'n approved, received the gift divine 
 With his unblemished hands, and by decree 
 Ordained this shield giv'n by the gods should be 
 Preserved, the nation's guard to late posterity." 
 
 The Roman Catholics assigned to the Madonna, as Queen of 
 Heaven, the White Lily {Lilium candidum), the symbol of purity, and 
 it is the flower appropriated to the Annunciation and to the Visita- 
 tion of Our Lady. According to the Romish legend, St. Thomas, 
 who was absent at the death of the Virgin, would not believe in 
 her resurredtion, and desired that her tomb should be opened before 
 him ; and when this was done, it was found to be full of Lilies and 
 Roses. Then the astonished Thomas, looking up to heaven, beheld 
 the Virgin ascending, and she, for the assurance of his faith, flung 
 
 down to him her girdle. In a picture by Gozzoli, in the National 
 
 Gallery, representing St. Jerome and St. Francis kneehng at the 
 foot of the Virgin, a red Rose-bud has sprung up at the knees of 
 St. Jerome, and a tall White Lily at those of St. Francis — these 
 flowers typifying the love and purity of the Virgin Mother. In the 
 works of Italian masters, a vase of Lilies stands by the Virgin's 
 side, with three flowers crowning three stems. St. Joseph, husband 
 of the Virgin Mary, is depicTted with the Lily in his hand ; his 
 staff, according to the legend, having put forth Lilies. Later 
 painters of this school depidt the angel Gabriel with a branch of 
 
 White Lilies. As the emblem of purity and chastity, the Lily 
 
 is associated with numbers of saints, male and female ; but, being 
 consecrated to the Virgin, it is always placed, in the paintings of 
 the early Italian masters, near those saints who were distinguished 
 by their devotion to the Mother of Jesus, as in the pidlures of 
 
 St. Bernard. As protedtor of youth, St. Louis de Gonzague 
 
 bears a Lily in his hand, and the flower is also dedicated to St. 
 Anthony, as a guardian of marriages. The flower is likewise the 
 chara(5teristic of St. Clara, St. Dominick, and St. Katherine of 
 Siena. The crucifix twined with the Lily signifies devotion and 
 purity of heart : it is given particularly to St. Nicholas of Solen- 
 tine - Lilies being emblematic of the Virgin, an order of knight- 
 hood was instituted by Ferdinand of Aragon, in 1403, called the 
 "Order of the Lily," the collar of which was composed of Lilies and 
 
 ffrvphons. From the Virgin being the patron Saint of Dundee, 
 
 that town bears Lilies on its arms. To dream of Lilies during 
 
 their blooming season is reputed to foretell marriage, happiness, 
 
414 pfant Isore, TsegeT^&y, ani. Tsijfio/. 
 
 and prosperity ; but a vision of Lilies out of their season, or 
 withered, signifies frustration of hopes, and the death or severe 
 
 illness of someone beloved. Astrologers state that Lilies are 
 
 under the dominion of the Moon . 
 
 LILY OF THE VALLEY.— In mediaeval days, the monks 
 and nuns believed that the Convallaria was the Lily of the Valley 
 mentioned in the Canticles (ii., 17), and the flower alluded to by 
 Christ when he bade his disciples " consider the Lilies of the 
 field." The Martagon Lily, however [Lilium Chalcedonicum), is now 
 generally considered to be the Lily of Palestine ; the Lily of the 
 
 Valley, or Conval Lily, being quite unknown in the Holy Land. 
 
 Lilies of the Valley are called Virgin's Tears ; they are the flowers 
 dedicated to Whitsuntide, but in some parts of England still retain 
 their old name of May Lilies. There exists in Devon a super- 
 stition that it is unlucky to plant a bed of Lilies of the Valley, as 
 the person doing so will probably die in the course of the ensuing 
 
 twelve months. In France, Germany, and Holland, these Lilies 
 
 are called May-flowers. The blossoms possess a perfume highly 
 
 medicinal against nervous affedlions. The water distilled from 
 them was formerly in such great repute that it was kept only in 
 vessels of gold and silver : hence Matthiolus calls it aqua awea. It 
 was esteemed as a preventive against all infedtious distempers. 
 Camerarius recommends an oil made of the flowers as a specific 
 against gout and such-like diseases. His prescription is as fol- 
 lows : — " Have filled a glass with flowers, and being well stopped, 
 set it for a moneth's space in an ante's hill, and after being drayned 
 
 cleare, set it by for use." There is a legend in Sussex, that 
 
 in the forest of St. Leonard, where the hermit-saint once dwelt, 
 fierce encounters took place between the holy man and a dragon 
 which infested the neighbourhood ; the result being that the dragon 
 was gradually driven back into the inmost recesses of the forest, 
 and at last disappeared. The scenes of their successive combats 
 are revealed afresh every year, when beds of fragrant Lilies of the 
 Valley spring up wherever the earth was sprinkled by the blood 
 of the warrior saint. The Conval Lily is under Mercury. 
 
 LIME-TREE. — The origin of the Lime-tree, according to 
 Ovid, is to be traced to the metamorphosis of Baucis, the good- 
 hearted wife of an aged shepherd named Philemon. This old 
 couple lived happily and contentedly in a humble cottage in the 
 plains of Phrygia. Here they one day, with rustic hospitality, en- 
 tertained unknowingly the gods Jupiter and Mercury, who had been 
 refused admittance to the dwellings of their wealthier neighbours. 
 Appreciating their kindness, Jupiter bade them ascend a neighbour- 
 ing hill, where they saw their neighbours' dwelHngs swept away 
 by a flood, but their own hut transformed into a splendid temple, 
 of which the god appointed them the presiding priests. According 
 to their request, they both died at the same hour, and were changed 
 
pPant Isore, Ta&ger^f, dni. Isijfic/. 415 
 
 « 
 
 into trees — Baucis into a Lime, and Philemon into an Oak. Ovid 
 thus describes the transformation : — 
 
 " Then, when their hour was come, while they relate 
 These past adventures at the temple gate, 
 Old Baucis Is by old Philemon seen 
 Sprouting with sudden leaves of sprightly green : 
 Old Baucis looked where old Philemon stood. 
 And saw his lengthened arms a sprouting wood ; 
 New roots their fastened feet begin to bind. 
 Their bodies stiffen in a rising rind. 
 Then, ere the bark above their shoulders grew, 
 They give and take at once their last adieu. 
 At once, farewell, O faithful spouse ! they said. 
 At once th' incroaching rinds their closing lips invade. 
 Ev'n yet an ancient Tyanaean shows 
 A spreading Oak that near a Linden grows.'' 
 
 Rapin, in his version of the tale, makes both of the old folks 
 become Limes, male and female : — 
 
 " While these you plant, Philemon call to mind, 
 In love and duty with his Baucis joined — 
 A good old pair whom poverty had tried. 
 Nor could their vows and nuptial faith divide ; 
 Their humble cot with sweet content was blest, 
 And each benighted stranger was their guest. 
 When Jove unknown tiey kindly entertained. 
 This boon the hospitable pair obtained. 
 Laden with years, and weak through length of time. 
 That they should each become a verdant Lime 
 And since the transformation Limes appear 
 Of either sex ; and male and female are." 
 
 In honour of its descent from the worthy old couple, the Lime 
 became the symbol of wedded love. In Scandinavian mytho- 
 logy, Sigurd, after having killed the serpent Fafnir, bathes himself 
 in its blood : a leaf of a Linden or Lime-tree falls on him between his 
 shoulders, and renders that particular place vulnerable, although 
 every other portion of his body had become invulnerable. — ^In 
 Germany, during May-day festivities, they often make use of the 
 Linden. Around the Linden dance the villagers of Gotha. In 
 Finland and in Sweden, the Linden is considered as a protedlive 
 
 tree. In the cemetery of the hospital of Annaberg, in Saxony, 
 
 there is a very ancient Linden-tree, concerning which tradition 
 relates that it was planted by an inhabitant, with its top in the 
 ground; and that its roots became branches, which now over- 
 
 shadow'a considerable portion of the country. At Stiderheistede, 
 
 in Ditmarschen, there once stood a Linden which was known 
 throughout the country, as the " Wonderful Tree." It was much 
 higher than other trees, and its branches all grew crosswise. 
 Conne(5led with this tree was an old prophecy that, as soon as the 
 Ditmarschens lost their freedom, the tree would wither; and so it 
 came to pass. But the people believe that a magpie will one day build 
 its nest in its branches, and hatch five young ones, and then the 
 
4i6 pfant Tsore, Tsege^/, cmil Tsiji'ic/. 
 
 tree will begin to sprout out anew, and again be green, and the 
 
 country recover its ancient freedom. According to an old legend 
 
 current in Berlin, the youngest of three brothers fell in love with 
 the daughter of an Italian, who was the Elector's chief kapell- 
 meister. The Italian refused the hand of his daughter, and forbade 
 any further intercourse. Some time afterwards the three brothers 
 met the kapellmeister on the occasion of a public execution; 
 when, suddenly, the assembled crowd were horrified at seeing 
 the Italian fall with a loud shriek, and pointing to a knife which 
 had been plunged into his bosom. The brothers were all three 
 arrested on suspicion of the murder ; and the eldest, who had been 
 standing nearest the deceased, was speedily sentenced to death. 
 The two other brothers, to save him, however, each declared he 
 was the real murderer, whereupon the perplexed judge referred 
 the case to the Eledtor, who resolved upon a curious ordeal to 
 ascertain the truth. He ordered each of the three brothers to 
 carry a Linden-tree to a certain churchyard, and plant it with its 
 head downwards, adding, that the one whose tree did not grow 
 should be executed as the murderer. Accordingly, the brothers 
 proceeded to the churchyard, accompanied by the clergy, the 
 magistrates, and many citizens; and, after hymns had been sung, 
 they planted their trees ; after which solemn adt, they were allowed 
 to return home, and remained unguarded. In course of time, 
 the upper branches of the Lindens all struck root, and the original 
 roots were transformed into branches, which, instead of growing 
 upwards, spread horizontally, in rich luxuriance, and, in thirty 
 years, overshadowed the churchyard. They have since perished, 
 but the brothers were ennobled by the Elector as Lords of Linden, 
 and bore the effigy of the marvellous trees on their escutcheon. 
 The youngest afterwards married the Italian's daughter. 
 
 Ling. — See Heather. 
 
 LIVELONG. — The name of Livelong, or Liblong, is sup- 
 posed to have been given to the Sedum Telephium from its remaining 
 alive when hung up in a room. Parkinson, in his ' Pamdisus,' states 
 that the ladies of his time ( 1629) called the plant Life Everlasting ; 
 and remarks that "they are also laid in chests and wardrobes, to 
 keep garments from moths, and are worne in the heads and arms 
 of gentiles and others, for their beautiful aspedt." The plant is 
 much esteemed for divining purposes. (See Orpine). 
 
 LONDON PRIDE.— A speckled Sweet John had formerly 
 the honour of being called London Pride, and a red Sweet William, 
 London Tufts. Saxifraga' umbrosa now bears the title of London 
 Pride, not, however, because, like the speckled Sweet John, it was 
 the pride and ornament of old London gardens, but because it was 
 introduced by Mr. London, a partner in the firm of London 
 and Wise, Royal Gardeners in the early part of the eighteenth 
 century. (See Saxifrage.) 
 
pPant Tsore, T9ege^/, oriel Ts)i]r'\af. 417 
 
 Long Purples. — See Orchis. 
 Lords-and-Ladies. — See Arum. 
 
 LOOSESTRIFE. — The word Loosestrife is a translation of 
 the plant's Latin name Lysimachia (from the Greek lysis, dissolution, 
 and mache, strife). Gerarde, who calls the plant, also, Willow-herb, 
 says of it : — " Lysimachia, as Dioscorides and Pliny write, tooke his 
 name of a speciall vertue that it hath in appeasing the strife and un- 
 rulinesse which falleth out among oxen at the plough, if it be put 
 about their yokes ; but it rather retaineth and keepeth the name 
 Lysimachia, of King Lysimachus, the sonne of Agathocles, the first 
 finder-out of the nature and vertues of this herbe." He adds that 
 the smoke of the herb when burnt will drive away gnats, flies, all 
 manner of venomous beasts, and serpents ; and says that Pliny 
 reports that snakes will crawl away at the smell of Loosestrife. 
 
 LOTOS-TREE. — Lotis, the beauteous daughter of Nep- 
 tune, was unfortunate enough to attradt the notice of Priapus, 
 who attempted to offer her violence. Flying terrified from the de- 
 formed deity, the nymph invoked the assistance of the gods to save 
 herself from his odious importunities : her prayers were heard, and 
 she was transformed into the Lotos-tree. Dryope, the wife of 
 Andraemon, passing the tree one day, in company with her sister 
 lole. stopped to pluck the fruit to please her infant son Amphisus, 
 whereupon she became suddenly changed into a Lotos-tree. lole 
 afterwards recounted her fate to Alcmena — 
 
 " But, lo ! I saw (as near her side I stood) 
 The violated blossoms drop with blood ; 
 Upon the tree I cast a frightful look. 
 The trembling tree with sudden horror shook, 
 Lotis, the nymph (if rural tales be true) 
 As from Priapus' lawless lust she flew, 
 Forsook her form ; and, fixing here, became 
 A flow'ry plant, which still preserves her name. 
 This change unknown, astonished at the sight, 
 My trembling sister strove to urge her flight ; 
 Yet first the pardon of the nymph implored, 
 And those offended sylvan powers adored: 
 But when she backward would have fled, she found 
 Her stiffening feet were rooted to the ground." — Ovid. 
 
 The tree into which the nymph Lotis was transformed must not be 
 confounded with the Lotus Lily, or Sacred Bean, a totally dis- 
 tindt plant : it was the Rhamnus Lotus, the Lotos of the Lotophagi, 
 a people inhabiting the coast of Africa near the Syrtes. Pliny 
 states that not far from the lesser Syrtis is the island of Menynx, 
 surnamed Lotophagitis on account of its Lotos-trees ; but Strabo 
 affirms that the lesser Syrtis, in addition to the adjacent isle of 
 Menynx, was thought to be Lotophagitis, the land of the Lotos- 
 eaters In this country, he says, there are certam monuments to be 
 seen and an altar to Ulysses, besides a great abundance of Lotos- 
 trees' whose fruit is wonderfully sweet. Accordmg to Homer, the 
 
 ' 2 E 
 
4l8 pfant Tsore, Isieger^f, cinel Tsyrie/-. 
 
 Lotos-eater became oblivious of the world and its cares ; and he 
 relates how the sedu<5tive fruit of the Lotos-tree possessed of old so 
 potent a charm, that Ulysses, when returning from the Trojan 
 war, dreaded it would lure his companions to give up home and 
 friends for ever. In the ninth book of the Odyssey, the poet 
 sings — 
 
 " And whoso tasted of their flowery meat 
 Cared not with tidings to return, but clave 
 First to that tribe, for ever fain to eat — 
 Reckless of home return — the tender Lotos sweet." 
 
 Gerarde describes the Lotos-tree as being as big as a Pear-tree, of 
 a " gallant greene colour tending to blewnesse," with leaves similar 
 to the Nettle, dashed here and there with stripes of a yellowish-white 
 colour. "The beries be round, and hang upon long stalks like 
 Cherries, of a yellowish-white colour at the first, and afterwards 
 red, but being ripe they are somewhat black." The Lotos-eaters 
 were held to have immunity from all stomachic complaints. The 
 fruit which formed their food is described by Theophrastus as being 
 of the size of a Bean, which changed its colour when ripening, 
 like the Grape. In flavour it was sweet, pleasant, harmless, and 
 perfectly wholesome ; the most agreeable sort being that which had 
 no kernel. Whole armies were reported to have been fed with 
 the nutritious food afforded by the Lotos, when passing through 
 Africa. The Lotophagi obtained a wine from their beloved fruit, 
 which, however, Cornelius Nepos says would not endure above 
 ten days. The Lotos and its fruit is dwelt upon by Tennyson, who 
 tells how 
 
 "The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came, 
 Branches they bore of that enchanted stem. 
 Laden with flowers and fruit, whereof they gave 
 To each ; but whoso did receive of them 
 And taste, to him the gushing of the wave 
 Far, far away did seem to mourn and rave 
 On alien shores." 
 
 The Lotos was considered by Theophrastus to be by nature ever- 
 lasting. Pliny enumerates several very ancient trees growing in 
 Rome, notably one in Vulcan's temple built by Romulus, which 
 was reputed to be as old as the city. It was under the Lotos- 
 tree, beyond which there is no passing, that Mahomed saw the 
 angel Gabriel. 
 
 LOTUS. — The Lotus, as described by Herodotus, is the 
 "Water Lily that grows in the inundated lands of Egypt": it is the 
 Nymphjsa Lotus of Linnaeus, and, according to Grecian mythology, 
 owed its origin to a young girl who was deeply in love with Her- 
 cules, and who, dying of jealousy, was transformed into the Lotus. 
 With the Greeks, the flower was the symbol of beauty and of elo- 
 quence, perhaps because it was reputed to flourish in the fields of 
 Helicon. Young girls twined these flowers into garlands. Theo- 
 
pfant bofe, h&g&r^j, anii. bijrio/, 419 
 
 critus writes of maidens carrying a crown of Lotus for the Princess 
 Helen on her marriage with Menelaus. In a painted temple at 
 Pompeii, the Lotus-flower is represented above a geni or winged 
 
 god. The Grecian god of silence (Harpocrates), who was of 
 
 Egyptian origin, is represented sometimes with a Lotus-flower in 
 
 his left hand ; sometimes seated on a Lotus. But it is in the East 
 
 where the Lotus is supreme — a sacred plant not merely revered as 
 a symbol, but even the objedl of worship in itself, and notably in 
 Hindostan, Thibet, and Nepaul, where it is believed that from its 
 mystic blossom came forth the all-powerful Brahma. In the 
 Hindu theology, Om is the one Supreme Being from whom proceed 
 the great deities Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), and Siva 
 (destroyer). Before the creation of this world, there existed an 
 immense sea covering its surface ; on this vast sea moved the 
 spirit of Om, and quickened into life a golden Lotus, resplendent 
 as the sun, from which emanated the four-formed creative god 
 Brahma, who by the radiance of his countenance dispelled the 
 pervading gloom, and by the light and warmth of his divine pre 
 sence evoked the earth from the surrounding waters. Vishnu, the 
 pervader or preserver, is represented with four arms : from his 
 umbilicus springs a Lotus-plant, in the beautiful calyx of which 
 Brahma appears seated, ready to accomplish the work of creation. 
 The breath of Vishnu is like the perfume of the Lotus, and he 
 rests and walks, not on the earth, but on nine golden Lotus-plants, 
 carried by the gods themselves. The heaven of Vishnu is described 
 in the Mahdbhdmta as blazing with golden edifices studded with innu- 
 merable gems. Descending from the superior heaven the waters of 
 the Ganges flow through this Paradise, and here are also lovely dimi- 
 nutive lakes of water, upon the surfaces of which myriads of red, 
 blue, and white Lotus-flowers, with a thousand petals, are seen 
 floating. On a throne glorious as the meridian sun, seated on 
 Lotus-hlies, is Vishnu, and on the right hand is his wife, the goddess 
 Lakshmi, also seated in a Lotus, shining like a continued blaze of 
 lightning, while from her beauteous form the fragrance of the Lotus 
 is diffused through the heaven. Siva, the destroyer (the third 
 member of the Hindoo triad), is represented in many ways, but 
 generally with three eyes ; his favourite seat is a Lotus. Buddha, 
 an emanation from Vishnu, like Brahma, first appeared ori this 
 hemisphere floating on an enormous Lotus, which spread itself 
 over the ocean. Buddha had for his symbol a Lotus, surmounted 
 by a trident (typical of the Sun with a flame, or the superior heaven). 
 
 Xhe emblem of the Sun was called SHramani (the jewel of 
 
 the Sun), but when the Svdhhdvihas adopted the Lotus as their 
 symbol of spontaneous generation, they called this ornament Padmi 
 Mani (jewel of the Lotus), and inscribed their temples with these 
 words : — 
 
 AUM MANI PADMI HOONG. 
 
 Jchmah The Jewel Lotus Allien. 
 
 2 E — 2 
 
420 S)Pant Isore, Tsegel^t)/, arisl Isnjf'iaf, 
 
 This sentence forms the Alpha and Omega of Lama worship, and 
 is unceasingly repeated by the devotees of Thibet and the slopes of 
 the Himalayas. For the easy multiplication of this prayer, that ex- 
 traordinary contrivance, the praying-wheel, was invented. In ac- 
 cordance with the principles of this belief, Jin-ch'au represents 
 all creation as a succession of worlds, typified by Lotus-flowers, 
 which are contained one within the other, until intelligence is lost 
 in the effort to multiply the series ad infinitum. A legend con- 
 nected with Buddha runs as follows : — In an unknown town, called 
 Bandnumak, Bipaswi Buddh arrived one day, and having fixed his 
 abiding place on a mountain to the east of Nag-Hrad, saw in a 
 pool a seed of the Lotus on the day of the full moon, in the month 
 of Chait. Soon afterwards from this Lotus-seed sprang a Lotus- 
 flower, in the middle of which appeared Swayambhfl, in the 
 form of a luminary, on the day of the full moon in the month 
 
 of A svins. Another Buddhist legend relates that the King Ptodu 
 
 had the imprudence to burn a tooth of Buddha, which was 
 held in high reverence among the Kalingas: but a Lotus-flower 
 sprang from the middle of the flame, and the tooth of Buddha 
 
 was found lying on its petals. In Eastern India, it is popularly 
 
 thought that the god Brahma first appeared on a sea of milk, 
 in a species of Lotus of extraordinary grandeur and beauty, 
 which grew at Temerapu, and which typified the umbilicus of that 
 ocean of sweetness. To that flower is given eighteen names, which 
 celebrate the god's different beauties ; and within its petals he is 
 
 believed to sleep during six months of the year. Ktoiadeva, the 
 
 Indian Cupid, was first seen floating down the sacred Ganges, 
 
 pinioned with flowers, on the blossom of a roseate Lotus. The 
 
 Hindus compare their country to a Lotus-flower, of which the 
 petals represent Central India, and the eight leaves the surround- 
 ing eight divisions of the country. The sacred images of the Indians, 
 Japanese, and Tartars are nearly always found seated upon the 
 
 leaves of the Lotus. The sacred Lotus, as the hallowed symbol 
 
 of mystery, was deemed by the priests of India and China an 
 appropriate ornament for their religious stru(ftures, and hence its 
 spreading tendrils and perfe(5t blossoms are found freely introduced 
 
 as architectural enrichments of the temples of the East. Terms 
 
 of reverence, endearment, admiration, and eulogy have been freely 
 lavished by Indian writers on the flowers of the Lotus, dear to the 
 sick women of their race from the popular belief of its efficacy in 
 soothing painful feelings. Nearly every portion of the human 
 body has been compared by Indian poets to the Lotus; and in 
 one of their works, the feet of the angels are said to resemble the 
 
 flowers of that sacred plant. The Persians represent the Sun 
 
 as being robed with light and crowned with Lotus. By the 
 
 Japanese, the Lotus is considered as a sacred plant, and pleasing 
 to their deities, whose images are often seen sitting on its large 
 leaves. The blossom is deemed by them the emblem of purity 
 
pPant Tsore, kegeTlO/, dTTi. Isi^fiaf, 421 
 
 because it is unsullied by the muddy waters in which it often 
 grows : with the flowers of the Mother- wort it is borne aloft in 
 
 vases before the body in funeral processions. The Chinese make 
 
 the Lotus typical of female beauty: their god Puzza is always 
 
 represented as seated upon the leaves of the plant. The Lotus 
 
 is stated to be held sacred by the Egyptians because it conceals 
 the secret of the gods ; from the throne of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys, 
 it rises in the midst of the waters, bearing on the margin of its 
 blossom the four genii. It is the " Bride of the Nile," covering the 
 surface of the mighty river, as it rises, with its fragrant white 
 blossom. Like the Indians, the ancient Egyptians represented the 
 creation of the world under the form of a Nymphaeathat floated on the 
 surface of the waters. The Lotus was consecrated by the Egyptians 
 to the Sun, and the dawn of day was figured by them as a youth 
 seated upon a flower of the Nymphsea. The god Osiris (the Egyptian 
 Phoebus) is represented as having his head decorated with the sacred 
 Lotus. Oblations of flowers were common among the offerings of the 
 Egyptians to their gods. A papyrus in the British Museum (lent 
 by the Prince of Wales) represents the altar of the god Re or Ra 
 piled up with Lotus-blossoms and other offerings. Upon approach- 
 ing a place of worship, the ancient Egyptian always held the 
 flower of the Lotus or Agrostis in his hand. A single flower was 
 sometimes deemed a suitable oblation, or a bouquet of the Lotus 
 
 or Papyrus, carefully arranged in a prescribed form, was offered. 
 
 The Lotus typified Upper Egypt ; the Papyrus, Lower Egypt. In 
 the British Museum are several Egyptian statues with sceptres of 
 the Lotus ; and a mummy with crossed arms, holding in each hand 
 a Lotus-flower. In the mummies of females the Lotus is found, 
 placed there probably to typify regeneration or purification. A 
 bust of Isis emerging from a Lotus-flower has often been mistaken 
 
 for Clytie changing into a Sunflower. The Egyptians cuhivated 
 
 three species of Nymphseaceae — the Nymphaa cerulea, or blue-flowered 
 Lotus ; the Nymphaa Lotus, a white-flowered variety, which still 
 grows profusely in Lower Egypt, and which is the flower repre- 
 sented in the mosaic pavement at Prseneste ; and, lastly, the Nelum- 
 hium speciosum, or Sacred Bean— the " Rose Lily " of Herodotus — 
 the true Lotus of the Egyptians, whose blossoms are of a brilliant 
 red colour, and hang over broad peltated leaves : its fruit is formed 
 of many valves, each containing a Nut about the size of a Filbert,, 
 with a taste more delicate than that of the Almond. It has beea 
 thought that the use of the seeds in making bread, and the mode- 
 of sowing them, by enclosing each seed in a ball of clay, and throw- 
 ing it into the water, maybe alluded to in the text, " Cast thy bread 
 upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days." The 
 Nelumbo maintains its sacred character in Africa, India, Chma, 
 Japan Persia, and Asiatic Russia ; it has, however, disappeared 
 
 from Egypt. The Arabians call the Lotus, Nuphar; and the 
 
 Syrians regard it as a symbol of the cradle of Moses, and typify„ 
 
422 pPant laote, Tsegcl^O/, arisL Isi^t'iaf. 
 
 also, the Ark of Noah by the same flower. The collar of the 
 
 order of the Star of India is composed of the heraldic Rose of 
 England, two Palm-branches crossed, and a Lotus-flower, alter- 
 nating with each other. 
 
 LOVE PLANTS.— The Clematis Vitalha was formerly called 
 Love, because of its habit of embracing; from its clinging to people, 
 the Galium Aparine has obtained the name of Loveman ; Levisticum 
 officinale is Loveage ; the Solatium Lycopersicum is the Apple of Love ; 
 Nigella damascena is Love-in-a-mist ; the Pansy is called Love-in- 
 idleness and Love-and-idle ; and Amaranthus caudatus has been 
 named Love-lies-bleeding, from the resemblance of its crimson 
 flowers to a stream of blood. 
 
 LUCK-FLOWER. — There is in Germany a favourite legend 
 of a certain mystical Luck-flower which possesses the extraordinary 
 power of gaining admittance for its owner into the recesses of a 
 mountain, or hidden cave, or castle, wherein vast treasures lie 
 concealed. The legend generally runs that the fortunate discoverer 
 of the receptacle for wealth is a man who has by chance found a 
 beautiful flower, usually a blue one, which he sticks in his hat. 
 Suddenly the mountain he is ascending opens to admit him; 
 astounded at the sight, he enters the chasm, and a white lady or 
 fairy bids him help himself freely from the heaps of gold coin he 
 sees lying all around. Dazzled at the sight of so much wealth, he 
 eagerly fills his pockets, and is hastening away when she calls after 
 him, " Forget not the best !" He thinks, as he feels his stuffed pockets, 
 that he cannot find room for any more, but as he imagines the 
 white lady wishes to imply that he has not helped himself to enough, 
 he takes his hat and fills that also with the glittering gold. The 
 white lady, however, alluded, to the little blue flower which had 
 dropped from his hat whilst he stooped to gather up the gold coins. 
 As he hurries out through the doorway the iron door shuts suddenly 
 behind him with a crash of thunder, and cuts off his right heel. 
 The mountain side instantly resumes its old impenetrable appear- 
 ance, and the entrance to the treasure hall can never be found 
 again. As for the wonderful flower, that has vanished, but is to 
 this day sought for by the dwellers on the Kyffhauser, on the 
 Quastenburg, and even on the north side of the Harz. It was from 
 this legend that, according to Grimm, the little blue flower " For- 
 get-me-not " originally received its name, which at first was indica- 
 tive of its magic virtue, but afterwards acquired a sentimental 
 meaning from the tale of the drowning lover of the Danube and his 
 despairing death cry. 
 
 LuNARY. — See Moonwort and Honesty. 
 
 LUPINE.— The Romans cultivated the Lupine (Lupinus) as 
 as an article of food, and Pliny declared that nothing could be 
 more wholesome than white Lupines eaten dry, and that this diet 
 imparted a fresh colour and cheerful countenance. The eating 
 
pfant T9oi'e, IsegeT^/, cmel Isi^ficy, 423 
 
 of Lupines was also thought to brighten the mind and quicken the 
 imagination. It is related of Protogenes, a celebrated painter of 
 Rhodes, that during the seven years he was employed in painting 
 the hunting piece of lalysus, who was the accredited founder of 
 the State of Rhodes, he lived entirely upon Lupines and water, 
 with an idea that this aliment would give him greater flights of 
 fancy. — — Virgil called the Lupine, Tristis Lupinus, the Sad Lupine, 
 and this expression has given rise to much discussion — the only 
 tangible explanation being that when the Lupine pulse was eaten 
 without preparation to destroy the bitter, it was apt to contradt the 
 
 muscles and give a sorrowful appearance to the countenance. 
 
 The seeds are said to have been used by the ancients, in their plays 
 and comedies, instead of pieces of money: hence the proverb, 
 
 Nummus Lupinus, a piece of money of no value. The Bolognese 
 
 have a tradition that during the flight of the Holy Family into 
 Egypt, the Lupine received the maledidtions of the Virgin Mary, 
 because, by the clatter and noise they made, certain plants of this 
 species drew the attention of Herod's minions to the spot where 
 the tired and exhausted travellers had made a brief halt. 
 
 LYCHNIS. — The scarlet Lychnis Coronaria is, in the Catholic 
 Church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and the text in which 
 he is described as " a light to them which sit in darkness," being 
 taken in a literal sense, the flame-coloured flower was said to be 
 lighted up for his day, and was called Candelabrum ingens. This flower 
 is also called Rose-Campion, and, on the Continent, Cross of Jeru- 
 salem and Cross of Malta. By old writers it was known as Flower 
 or Campion of Constantinople, Flower of Bristow, and Nonsuch. 
 
 M AGN OLIA. — The Magnolia grandifiova is one of those shrubs 
 the baneful emanations from which have procured for them an ill 
 name. It is a native of Carolina, and has large white blossoms of 
 powerful fragrance. When wafted to a distance upon the air, the 
 scent is delicious, but when inhaled in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood of a group of Magnolias in flower, it becomes overpowering. 
 The Indians carefully avoid sleeping under a Magnolia in blossom, 
 and it is stated that so powerful is the perfume of the flower, that 
 a single blossom placed in a bedroom suffices to cause death in one 
 night. 
 
 Maghet. — See Mayweed. 
 
 MAH"WAH. — The Bassia latifolia, or Mahwah, is esteemed a 
 sacred tree in India, and is, besides, interesting as being one of the 
 few plants whose flowers are used as food by the human race. 
 They are eaten raw by the poor of India, and are also employed 
 largely in the distillation of a spirit somewhat resembling Scotch 
 whiskey. A kind of flour is produced from them when dried, and 
 so valuable are they to the Indians, that the prosperity of some 
 parts of the country depends largely on their abundance. The 
 
424 pfant Isore, Iseget^f, driel Isijric/", 
 
 Almond-like fruit is eaten, and an oil is obtained from it : the wood 
 is hard, and is used by the Indians in construdling their huts. 
 Among certain uncivilised hill tribes, the Mahwah is regarded as 
 equal to a deity, so great is their affecflion for this tree, under whose 
 branches they hold their assemblies and celebrate their anniversaries ; 
 on whose boughs they suspend, when not in use, their spears 
 and their ploughshares, and beneath whose shadow they exhibit 
 those mysterious circles of flint which take the place of idols with 
 them. So, when attacked by the Hindus, the wild tribes fight with 
 desperation for the defence of their Mahwahs, which their enemies, 
 when at war with them, make a point of seizing and destroying. 
 
 MAIDENHAIR FERN .—Adimtum, or Capillus Veneris, 
 derived its name from the Greek adiantos, unmoistened, in relation, 
 doubtless, to its property of repelling water — a peculiarity noticed 
 by Theophrastus, and also by Pliny, who says it is in vain to 
 plunge the Adiantum in water, for it always remains dry. This 
 property of remaining unmoistened by water was attributed to the 
 hair of Venus, when she rose from the sea ; and hence the Adiantum 
 obtained the name of Capillus Veneris. Nevertheless, Adiantum was 
 specially dedicated to Pluto and to Proserpine. Maidenhair is 
 called polytrichon, because it brings forth a multitude of hairs; 
 callitrichon, because it produces black and fair hair ; Capillus Veneris, 
 
 because it produces grace and love. According to Egyptian 
 
 symbolism, Adiantum indicated recovery from illness. In the 
 
 Catholic Church, the Maidenhair Fern is known as the Virgin's 
 Hair. 
 
 MAITHES or MAIDS. — The Pyrethrum Parthenium was 
 formerly known by the name of Maithes (Maids), because by the 
 old herbalists it was considered efficacious in hysterical and other 
 irregularities of the system to which maidens are subject. In the 
 same category are the plants formerly known as Maghet, Mather, 
 or Maydweed (Anthemis Cotula), the Maydweed (Matricaria Chamo- 
 milla), Maudlein, or Costmary [Balsamita), Maudlin-wort or Moon 
 Daisy {Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum), the Maudlin, or Herba dives 
 Maria {Achillea Ageratum), the Marguerite {Bellis perennis), and some 
 others. These plants, bearing flowers with white ray florets, were 
 thought to resemble the Moon, which, as it regulated the monthly 
 periods of the year, was supposed, says Dr. Prior, to have an 
 influence over female complaints. By the ancients these plants 
 were consecrated to Isis, Juno Lucina, and Artemis, or Diana, the 
 virgin goddess of the night ; but were transferred by the Catholics 
 to St. Mary Magdalene and St. Margaret of Cortona. 
 
 MAIZE. — The American aborigines worshipped Maize as a 
 divinity. Children were kept to watch the precious grain as it 
 grew, and guard it from the ravages of birds ; but some of the 
 tribes protecfted the thievish crow because of the legend that a 
 crow had brought them the first seed of the sacred plant. At 
 
pPant Tsofe, Tsegel^/, ani. Isiji-io/". 425 
 
 the present day, the Indians regard it with superstitious veneration. 
 They esteem it, says Schoolcraft, so important and divine a grain, 
 that their story-tellers invented various tales in which this idea is 
 symbolised under the form of a special gift from the Great Spirit. 
 The Ojebwa-Algonquins, who call it Mon-da-min, or the Spirit's 
 grain or berry, cherish a legend, in which the stalk in full tassel is 
 represented as descending from the sky, under the guise of a 
 handsome youth, in response to the prayers of a young man offered 
 
 up at his fast of virility. Among the American colonists, the 
 
 husking of the Maize was always accompanied with a rustic cere- 
 mony and gathering of the villagers. Longfellow tells us how — 
 
 "In the golden weather the Maize was husked, and the maidens 
 Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover ; 
 But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the cornfield. 
 Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover. " 
 
 MALLOW. — The ancient Romans had some kind of Mallow 
 {Malva) served up as vegetables, and the Egyptians, Syrians, and 
 Chinese also use them as food. In Job's days, these plants were 
 eaten by those wandering tribes who, as the patriarch says, " cut 
 up Mallows by the bushes, and Juniper-roots for their meat." The 
 Mallow formed one of the funeral flowers of the ancients, with whom 
 it was customary to plant it around the graves of departed friends. 
 The plant yields a fibre capable of being woven into a fabric ; and 
 there is an Eastern tradition that Mahomed was so delighted with 
 the texture of a robe made of this material, that he forthwith 
 miraculously turned the Mallow into a Pelargonium. The seeds 
 of the Mallow are called by country children, cheeses. Clare 
 recalls the days of his childhood, when he and his playmates sat — 
 
 " Picking from Mallows sport to please, 
 The crumpled seed we call'd a cheese." 
 
 Pliny ascribes a magical power to Mallows. He says, " Whosoever 
 shall take a spoonful of any of the Mallows shall that day be free 
 from all the diseases that may come unto him ; " and he adds, 
 that it is especially good against the falling sickness. The same 
 writer, quoting Xenocrates, attributes to the seed of Mallows the 
 power of exciting the passions. Gerarde, writing of the Malva 
 crispa, commends its properties in verse : — 
 
 " If that of health you have any speciale care, 
 Use French Mallowes, that to the body holsome are." 
 
 MANCHINEEL. — The Manchineel-tree {Hippomane Manci- 
 nella) is one of ill repute. Its exhalations are stated to cause certain 
 death to those who sleep beneath its foliage. It abounds in a 
 white milky juice, which is highly poisonous; a single drop causing 
 instant pain if it touches the human skin. 
 
 MANDRAKE. — The Atropa Mandragora derives its name 
 from Atropos, the eldest of the all-powerful Parcae, the arbiters of 
 the hfe and death of mankind. Clothed in sombre black robes, and 
 
426 pfant 'boi'e, IsegeT^/, and l9L(i'icy. 
 
 holding scissors in her hands, Atropos gathers up the various-sized 
 clues of thread which, as the chief of the inexorable Fates, it is 
 her privilege to cut according to the length of the persons' lives 
 
 they represent. Another name bestowed by the Greeks upon 
 
 the Mandrake was that of Circeium, derived from Circe, the weird 
 daughter of Sol and Perseis, celebrated for her witchcraft and 
 
 knowledge of magic and venomous herbs. From the earliest 
 
 ages, the Atropa Mandragora appears to have been deemed a mystic 
 plant by the inhabitants of Eastern countries, and to have been 
 regarded by them as stimulating the passions ; on which account 
 it is still used for preparing love potions. It is generally believed 
 that the Mandrake is the same plant which the ancient Hebrews 
 called Dudaim ; and that these people held it in the highest esteem 
 in Jacob's time is evident from the notice in Genesis (xxx., 14) of 
 Reuben finding it and carrying the plant to his mother Leah. 
 From the remotest antiquity the Mandrakes were reputed in the 
 East to possess the property of removing sterility ; hence Rachel's 
 desire to obtain from Leah the plants that Reuben had found and 
 given to his mother. It is certain that the Atropa Mandragora was 
 looked upon by the ancients as something more than a mere vege- 
 table, and, in fadt, as an embodiment of some unquiet or evil spirit. 
 In an Anglo-Saxon manuscript of the tenth or eleventh century, 
 the Mandrake is said to shine in the night like a candle. The 
 Arabs call it the Devil's Candle, because of this nocturnal shining 
 appearance ; and in allusion to this peculiarity, Moore says of it in 
 ' LaUa Rookh ' :— 
 
 " Such rank and deadly lustre dwells, 
 
 As in those hellish fires that light 
 
 The Mandrake's charnel leaves at night." 
 
 From times long past has come down the legend that the Man- 
 drake is a dweller in the dark places of the earth, and that it thrives 
 under the shadow of the gallows, being nourished by the exhalations 
 or flesh of the criminals executed on the gibbet. Amongst other 
 mysterious attributes, we are told by old writers that the Mandrake 
 has the power of emitting sounds, and that when it is pulled out of 
 the ground, it utters dreadful shrieks and groans, as if possessed of 
 sensibility. Shakspeare thus decribes these terrible cries : — 
 
 " Would curses kill, as doth the Mandrake's groan, 
 I would invent as bitter- searching terms, 
 As curst, and harsh, and horrible to hear." 
 
 And Moore relates in verse another tradition — 
 
 " The phantom shapes — oh touch them not — 
 That appal the maiden's sight, 
 Lurk in the fleshy Mandrake's stem 
 That shrieks when plucked at night. " 
 
 These screams were so horrible and awe-inspiring, that Shakspeare 
 tells us the effedt was maddening — 
 
 "And shrieks like Mandrakes, torn out of the earth, 
 That living mortals, hearing them, ran mad." 
 
Pfant bore, beget^/, anR bynq/-, 427 
 
 One other terrible attribute of this ill-omened plant was its power 
 by Its pestilential eflfeas, severely to injure, if not, indeed, to strike 
 with death, the person who had the hardihood to drag the root from 
 Its bed. To guard against these dangers, therefore, the surrounding 
 soil was removed, and the plant securely fastened to the tail of a 
 dog, which was then driven away, and thus pulled up the root 
 Columella, m his direftions for the site of gardens, says they may 
 
 " The Mandrakes flowers 
 Produce, whose root shows half a man, whose juice 
 Wiih madness strikes. " 
 
 The Romans seem to have been very superstitious as to the manner 
 of taking up the root. According to Pliny, those who undertook 
 the office were careful to stand so that the wind was at their back- 
 and before commencing to dig, they made three circles around 
 the plant with the point of the sword; then, turning to the west 
 they proceeded to take it up. Probably the plant's value as a nar- 
 cotic and restorative alone induced the gathering of so dangerous 
 a root. — —In medieval times, when ignorance and credulity 
 were dominant in Europe, the mountebank quack dodlors palmed 
 on the credulous fiaitious Mandrake-roots, which were largely sold 
 as preventives against mischief and dangers. Speaking of this 
 superstition. Lord Bacon, in his ' Natural History,' says, " Some 
 plants there are, but rare, that have a mossie or downie root, and 
 likewise that have a number of threads, like beards, as Mandrakes, 
 whereof witches and impostours make an ugly image, giving it the 
 forme of a face at the top of the root, and leave those strings 
 
 to make a broad beard down to the foot." Madame de Genhs 
 
 speaks of an author who gravely gives a long description of the 
 little idols which were supposed to be roots of the Mandrake, and 
 adds that they must be wrapped up in a piece of sheet, for that 'then 
 they will bring unceasing good luck. The same author, she says, 
 gives this name Mandragom (Mandrake) to certain sprites that are 
 procured from an egg that must be hatched in a particular manner, 
 and from which comes forth a little monster (half chick and half 
 man) that must be kept in a secret chamber, and fed with the 
 seed of Spikenard, and that then it will prophesy every day. Thus 
 it can make its master lucky at play, discover treasures to him 
 
 and foretell what is to happen. The credulous people of 
 
 some nations have believed that the root of the Mandrake, if dis- 
 lodged from the ground, becomes the good genius of the possessor, 
 and not only cures a host of maladies, but discovers hidden treasures • 
 doubling the amount of money locked up in a box, keeping oiF evil 
 spirits, a(5ling as a love charm, and rendering other notable services. 
 According to Pliny, the Mandrake was sometimes conformed like 
 a man, at others like a woman : the male was white, the female 
 black. In the mountain of Pistoia, the peasants think they can 
 trace the form of a man in the leaves of the Mandrake, and of the 
 
4.28 ^fant Tsofe, TsegeT^/, ansl Tsiji-icy. 
 
 human face in the roots. In Germany, since the time of the 
 
 Goths, the word alruna has borne the double meaning of witch and 
 Mandrake. Considering the roots to possess magical properties, 
 the Germans formed from them little idols, to which they gave the 
 name of Alrunen. These images were regularly habited every 
 day, and consulted as oracles; their repute becoming very great, 
 large numbers were manufactured and sold in cases : in this 
 state they were brought over to this country during the reign of 
 Henry VIII., and met with a ready sale. Fraudulent dealers used 
 to replace the Mandrake-roots with those of the White Briony, cut 
 to the shape of men and women, and dried in a hot fand bath. 
 
 In France, under the names of Main de gloin or Maglore, the 
 
 Mandrake became a species of elf; and, till the eighteenth century, 
 there existed a wide-spread superstition among the peasantry con- 
 nedted therewith. Sainte-Palaye writes: " When I asked a peasant 
 one day why he was gathering Mistletoe, he told me that at the 
 foot of the Oaks on which the Mistletoe grew, he had a Mandrake 
 {Main de gloire) ; that this Mandrake had lived in the earth from 
 whence the Mistletoe sprang; that he was a kind of mole; that 
 he who found him was obliged to give him food, — bread, meat, 
 or some other nourishment ; and that he who had once given him 
 food was obliged to give it every day, and in the same quantity, 
 without which the Mandrake would assuredly cause the forgetful 
 one to die. Two of his countrymen, whom he named to me, had, 
 he said, lost their lives ; but, as a recompense, this Main de gloire 
 returned on the morrow double what he had received the previous 
 day. If one paid cash for the Main de gloire's food one day, one 
 would find double the amount the following ; and so with anything 
 else. A certain countryman, whom he mentioned as still living, 
 and who had become very rich, was believed to have owed his 
 wealth to the fadt that he had found one of these Mains de gloire." 
 
 The Chinese physicians assert that the Mandrake has the 
 
 faculty of renovating exhausted constitutions. 
 
 MANGO. — The Indian mythologists relate that the daughter 
 of the Sun, persecuted by a wicked enchantress, plunged into a 
 pool, where she was transformed into a golden Lotus. The king 
 became enamoured of the beautiful flower, so the enchantress burnt 
 it ; but from its ashes rose the Mango {Mangifera Indica). Then the 
 king feU in love, first with the Mango-flower, and next with the 
 fruit, which he ordered to be carefully preserved for his own use. 
 At last, just as the fruit was ripe, it fell from the bough, and out of 
 it issued the daughter of the Sun, whom the king, after having lost 
 
 and forgotten, now recognised as his former wife. The Indian 
 
 poets are never tired of singing the praises of the Mango, the 
 beauty of its flowers, and the sweetness of its fruit. The Indian 
 Cupid Kamadeva is represented as having five arrows, each tipped 
 with the blossom of a flower which pierce the heart through one of 
 
^fai-it Isoi'e, Isegel^/, ansL l'3ijn<y. 429 
 
 the five senses. A young maiden once plucked one of these blossoms, 
 and offered it to the god, saying : — 
 
 "God of the bow, who with Spring's choicest flowers 
 Dost point the five unerring shafts ; to thee 
 I dedicate this blossom ; let it serve 
 To barb thy truest arrow ; be its mark 
 Some youthful heart that pines to be beloved." 
 
 Kimadeva accepted the offering, and tipped with the Mango-flower 
 one of his darts, which, from that time, was known as the arrow 
 of love, and is the god's favourite dart. Along with Sandalwood, 
 the wood of the Mango is used by the Hindus in burning their 
 dead. Among the Indian jugglers, the apparent producftion and 
 growth of the Mango-tree is a performance executed in such a 
 marvellous manner as to excite the astonishment of those who 
 have most determined to discover how the illusion is effedted. 
 
 MANNA. — Some naturalists consider that the Manna mira- 
 culously provided for the sustenance of the Children of Israel in the 
 Desert was a species of Lichen — the Parmelia esculenta. Josephus, 
 however, describes it as a kind of dew which fell, like honey in 
 sweetness and pleasant taste, but like in its body to Bdellium, 
 one of the sweet spices, but in bigness equal to Coriander-seed. 
 The origin of the different species of Manna or sugary exuda- 
 tions which cover certain trees, has at all times been a subjecTt 
 of wonder, and for a long time it was thought that these saccha- 
 rine tears, which appear so quickly, were simply deposits from 
 the atmosphere. The Manna used in medicine is principally pro- 
 cured from the flowering Ash (Fmxinus omus), which is cultivated 
 for the purpose in Sicily and Calabria : the pundlure of an insedl 
 of the cochineal family causes the sap to exude. The Manna of 
 Mount Sinai is drawn from the Tamarisk by puntfture of the 
 coccus : it exudes in a thick syrup during the day, falls in drops, 
 congeals in the night, and is gathered in the cool of the morning. 
 The Larch-tree furnishes the Manna of Briangon. A sweet sub- 
 stance resembling Manna exudes from the leaves of the Eucalyptus 
 resinifera, dries in the sun, and when the leaves are shaken by the 
 wind, falls like a shower of snow. In some countries, even herbs 
 are covered with an abundant sugary exudation similar to Manna. 
 Bruce observed this in Abyssinia. Matthiolus relates that in some 
 parts of Italy the Manna glues the grass of the meadows together 
 
 in such a manner as to impede the mowers at their work. To 
 
 dream of Manna denotes that you will be successful through life, 
 and overcome all troubles. 
 
 MAPLE. — The wood of the Maple {Acer) was considered by 
 Pliny to be, in point of elegance and firmness, next to the Citron 
 itself. The veined knobs of old Maples, known as the bruscum 
 and molluscum, were highly prized by the Romans, and of these 
 curiously-marked woods were made the famous Tigrine and Pan- 
 
therine tables, which were of such immense value, that when the 
 Romans reproached their wives for their extravagance in jewels, 
 they were wont to retort and (literally) " turn the tables " upon 
 their husbands. Evelyn tells us, that such a table was that 
 of Cicero, "which cost him lO.CXDO sesterces; such another had 
 Asinius Gallus. That of King Juba was sold for 15,000; and 
 yet that of the Mauritanian Ptolemy was far richer, containing 
 four feet and a half diameter, three inches thick, which is reputed 
 
 to have been sold for its weight in gold." Some centuries ago, 
 
 Maple-wood was in great request for bowls and trenchers. The 
 unfortunate Fair Rosamond is reputed to have drunk her fatal 
 draught of poison from a Maple bowl ; and the mediaeval drinking- 
 vessels, known as mazers, were chiefly made of this material — 
 
 deriving their name from the Dutch Maeser, Maple. On May-day, 
 
 in Cornwall, the young men proceed, at daybreak, to the country, 
 and strip the Maple (or Sycamore) trees — there called May-trees— 
 of all their young branches, to make whistles, and with these shrill 
 musical instruments they enliven their way home with " May 
 music." In Germany, the Maple is regarded with much super- 
 stitious reverence. There existed formerly, in Alsace, a curious 
 belief that bats possessed the power of rendering the eggs of storks 
 unfruitful. When once a stork's egg was touched by a bat, it 
 became sterile; and so, in order to preserve it, the stork placed in 
 its nest some branches of the Maple, and the wonderful power of this 
 
 tree sufficed to frighten away every intruding bat. De Gubernatis 
 
 relates a Hungarian fairy tale, in which the Maple plays a conspi- 
 cuous part. According to this legend, a king had three daughters, 
 one of whom, a beautiful blonde, was in love with a shepherd, 
 who charmed her with delightful music he produced from a flute. 
 One night, the king, the princess, and the shepherd, were disturbed 
 by disquieting dreams. The king dreamt that his crown had lost 
 its diamonds ; the princess that she had visited her mother's tomb 
 and was unable to get away from it ; the shepherd that two fallow 
 deer had devoured the best lamb in his flock. After this dream, the 
 king called his three daughters to him, and announced to them that 
 she who should first bring to him a basket of Strawberries should 
 become his pet daughter, and inherit his crown and seven king- 
 doms. The three daughters hastened to a neighbouring hill to 
 gather the Strawberries. There, setting down their baskets, each 
 one in turn wished that her basket might be filled with fruit. The 
 wishes of the two elder sisters were unheeded ; but when it came 
 to the blonde's turn, her wish was no sooner expressed, than her 
 basket was filled with Strawberries. At this sight, the two sisters, 
 mad with envy, fell upon the poor blonde, and slew her ; then, 
 having buried her under an old Maple-tree, they broke her basket 
 in two, and divided the Strawberries between them. On their 
 return to the palace, they told the king that their sister had been 
 devoured by a fallow deer. On hearing this sad news, the unhappy 
 
pPaiit hore, bege?^/, anil Taqrio/, 43 1 
 
 father exclaimed: " Alas ! I have lost the most precious diamond 
 of my crown." At the approach of the new moon, the shepherd 
 took up his flute to play a tune; but it was mute, for the fair 
 princess was no longer there to listen to its tuneful notes. Mean- 
 while, on the third night, there sprang from the stem of the old 
 Maple on the hill a new shoot, on the spot where the poor princess 
 had met her cruel death. The shepherd, happening to pass by, saw 
 this fresh shoot from the Maple, and thought he would make from 
 it a new flute. So he cut the Maple-shoot, and from it fashioned 
 a flute ; but the moment he placed it to his lips, the flute sang, 
 " Play, play, dearest. Once I was a king's daughter ; then I was 
 a Maple-shoot ; now I am a flute made from the Maple-shoot." 
 The shepherd rushed off with the flute to the king, who put it to 
 his lips, when instantly it sang, " Play, play, my father. Once, &c." 
 Then the two wicked sisters approached, and each in turn put the 
 flute to her lips — only, however, to hear it hiss, " Play, play, 
 murderess. Once, &c." Then the king, becoming aware of the 
 sisters' wickedness, cursed them, and drove them with bitter 
 
 reproaches from his palace into the wide world. The Maple has 
 
 been made the emblem of reserve, because its flowers are late in 
 
 opening, and slow to fall. A curious belief exists in some parts 
 
 of England, that the Maple can confer longevity on children, if 
 they are passed through its branches. In West Grinstead Park, 
 Sussex, was an old Maple much used for this purpose, and, upon a 
 rumour reaching the parish, that the ancient tree was to be felled, 
 
 many petitions were made that it might be spared. Pliny says 
 
 that Maple-root, pounded, is a remedy for pains in the liver, and 
 Gerarde states that, steeped in wine, it is useful in stopping pain 
 in the side. He quotes a verse from Sammonicus, which he thus 
 
 translates : — 
 
 " Thy harmless side if sharp disease invade, 
 In hissing water quench a heated stone : 
 This drink. Or Maple-root in powder made, 
 Talce off in wine, a present med'cine known." 
 
 MARGUERITE. — The Daisy {Bellisperennis), which Chaucer 
 called " douce Margarette," derives its French name of Mar- 
 guerite from its supposed resemblance to a pearl. In Germany, 
 indeed, it is known as the Meadow-pearl, and Chaucer, in describ- 
 ing the flower, says : — 
 
 " And of a perle fine oriental!, 
 Her white croune was imaked all." 
 
 The Greek word for pearl, Margantes, became in Latin Margarita, 
 remained the same in Italian, and in French was spelt Marguerite; 
 the same word in each language indicating both the pearl and the 
 flower we call Daisy. This flower was formerly employed in the 
 treatment of certain female complaints, and on that account, 
 perhaps, was dedicated by the Monks to St. Margaret of Cortona. 
 Chaucer, in error, referred the name Margaret, as bestowed on the 
 
432 pfant l9ore, Tsege^/, and 'l9ijnc/. 
 
 Daisy, to St. Margaret of Hungary, who was martyred in the 
 thirteenth century; but in an old legend it is stated 
 
 "There is a double flowret, white and red, 
 That our lasses call Herb Margaret, 
 In honour of Cortona's penitent. 
 Whose contrite soul with red remorse was rent ; 
 While on her penitence kind Heaven did throw 
 The white of purity surpassing snow ; 
 So white and red in this fair flower entwine. 
 Which maids are wont to scatter at her shrine." 
 
 This St. Margaret of Cortona, who in mediaeval days was very popu- 
 lar, had for some years, says Mrs. Jameson, led an abandoned life, 
 but having repented and been canonised, she was regarded by the 
 people of her native town as a modern Magdalene ; and, like her 
 prototype, was supposed, on account of her early habits, to preside 
 over uterine^ diseases, and others peculiar to young women. The 
 Daisy, and other flowers which were supposed from their shape 
 to resemble the Moon, were by the ancients dedicated to the virgin 
 goddess of the night, Artemis, or Diana: but in Christian times 
 were transferred to the two saints who replace her, namely, St. 
 Mary Magdalene and St. Margaret of Cortona. Dr. Prior, in his 
 work on plant names, points out that this latter saint has often 
 been confounded with a St. Margaret of Antioch, who was " invoked 
 as another Lucina, because in her martyrdom she prayed for lying- 
 in-women." This maiden of Antioch is described in old metrical 
 legends as 
 
 " Maid Marguerite that was so meeke and milde." 
 The Daisy has been connedted with several eminent women of the 
 name of Margaret. Margaret of Anjou wore the flower as her de- 
 vice, and had it embroidered on the robes of her courtiers. Lady 
 Margaret, the mother of Henry VII., wore three white Daisies ; 
 Margaret, the sister of Francis I., also wore the Daisy, and was 
 called by her brother his Marguerite of Marguerites — his pearl of 
 pearls. (See Daisy). 
 
 MARIGOLD.— The African Marigold {Tagetes ereeta) is 
 regarded as a sacred flower in Northern India, where the natives 
 adorn the trident emblem of MahMeva with garlands of it ; and 
 both men and women wear chaplets made of its flowers on his 
 
 festival. The Romans named the European Marigold Calendula 
 
 — the flower of the Calends — from a notion that it blossoms the 
 
 whole year. In the oldest of English herbals, the ' Grete Herball,' 
 
 the Marigold is called Mary Gowles, but by the old poets it is 
 frequently alluded to as Gold simply, and it is still called Goules 
 or Goulans in some counties of England. Another old English 
 
 name for these flowers was Ruddes. From its tawny yellow 
 
 blossom the Marigold is presumed to have been the Chrusanthetnon, 
 
 or Gold Flower, of the Greeks. In mediaeval times, this flower, 
 
 along with numerous others, was dedicated by the monks and nuns 
 
pPant T9oi'e, Isegeljt]/, anil '\S)^naf. 433 
 
 to the Virgin, and had the prefix Mary appended to its name. 
 According to an old tradition, however, the Marigold was so called 
 
 because the Virgin Mary wore this flower in her bosom. Shaks- 
 
 peare, in ' Cymbeline,' speaks of the flower as the Mary-bud, and 
 in ' A Winter's Tale,' alludes to its habit of closing at sunset and 
 opening at sunrise : — 
 
 " The Marigold that goes to bed with the sun, 
 And witli him rises weeping," 
 
 Linnaeus states that the flower is usually open' from 9 a.m. till 
 3 p.m., and this foreshows a continuance of dry weather. Should the 
 blossom remain closed, rain may be expedled. This circumstance, 
 and the plant's habit of turning its golden- face towards the sun, has 
 gained for it the name of the " Sun-flower " and the " Spouse of 
 
 the Sun. Marguerite of Orleans, the maternal grandmother of 
 
 Henri IV., chose for her armorial device a Marigold turning 
 towards the sun, and for a motto, "jfe ne veux suivre que lui seul." 
 
 In America, Marigolds are called Death-flowers, in reference 
 
 to an existing tradition that the crimson and gold-coloured blossoms 
 sprang upon ground stained by the life-blood of those unfortu- 
 nate Mexicans who fell vicflims to the love of gold and arrogant 
 
 cruelty of the early Spanish settlers in America. In the reign of 
 
 Henry VIII., the Marigold was called Souvenir, and ladies wore 
 
 wreaths of them intermixed with Heart's-ease. To dream of 
 
 Marigolds appears to be of happy augury, denoting prosperity, 
 
 riches, success, and a happy and wealthy marriage. The 
 
 Marigold is deemed by astrologers a Solar herb, under the sign 
 Leo. 
 
 MARJORAM. — The origin of Marjoram (Origanum vulgare : 
 Greek, Amarakos) is related by the Greeks as follows : — A young 
 man named Amaracus was employed in the household of Cinyras, 
 King of Cyprus : one day, when carrying a vase containing perfumes, 
 he unfortunately let it fall, and was so frightened at the mishap that 
 he lost all consciousness, and became metamorphosed into an odo- 
 riferous herb called at first Sampsuchon, and afterwards Amarakos. 
 According to Rapin, the goddess Venus first raised Sweet Marjoram. 
 
 He says : — 
 
 " And tho' Sweet Marjoram will your garden paint 
 With no gay colours, yet preserve the plant, 
 Whose fragrance will invite your kind regard, 
 When her known virtues have her worth declared f 
 On Simois' shore fair Venus raised the plant, 
 Which from the goddess' touch derived her scent." 
 
 The Greeks and Roman crowned young married couples with Mar- 
 joram which in some countries is the symbol of honour. Astro- 
 logers place the herb under the rule of Mercury. 
 
 MARSH MALLOW. — The name AUhm (from a Greek root 
 meaning to cure) was given to this plant on account of its manifold 
 
434 pPant Isore, Tscge'^/, ani. Tsijpicy. 
 
 healing properties, which were duly appreciated by the old herbal- 
 ists. It was sometimes called Bismalva, being held to be twice as 
 good in medicinal properties as the ordinary Mallow. As an oint- 
 ment, it was celebrated for mollifying heat, and hence it became 
 invaluable as a protedlion to those who had to undergo the ordeal 
 of holding red-hot iron in their hands. This ordeal was pradlised 
 by the ancient Greeks ; for we read in the ' Antigone ' of Sophocles, 
 that the guards placed over the body of Polynices — which had been 
 carried away surreptitiously — offered, in order to prove their in- 
 nocence, to take up red-hot iron in their hands : a similar ordeal 
 was extant in the Middle Ages, when invalids and delicate per- 
 sons, particularly monks and ecclesiastics, were exempted from 
 the usual mode of single combat, and were required to test their in- 
 nocence by holding red-hot iron in their hands. These trials were 
 made in the church during the celebration of mass, inspe<5tion being 
 made by the clergy alone. The suspedled person, therefore, if he 
 had any friends at hand, was easily shielded by covering his hand 
 with a thick coating of some substance which would enable him 
 to resist the adlion of heat. Albertus Magnus describes a paste 
 compounded in the thirteenth century for this express purpose. 
 The sap of the Marsh Mallow, the slimy seeds of a kind of Fleabane, 
 and the white of a hen's egg, were combined to make the paste 
 
 adhere, and the hands covered with it were perfecftly safe. 
 
 According to a German tradition, an ointment made of the leaves 
 of the Marsh Mallow was employed to anoint the body of anyone 
 
 affedted by witchcraft. The Marsh Mallow is held by astrologers 
 
 to be a herb of Venus. 
 
 MARSH MARIGOLD.— According to Rapin, the Sicilian 
 shepherd Acis originally discovered the Marsh Marigold {Caltha) 
 growing in his native pastures : — 
 
 " Nor without mention shall the Caltha die. 
 Which Acis once found out in Sicily ; 
 She Phoebus loves, and from him draws her hue. 
 And ever keeps his golden beams in view." 
 
 The flower's modern Italian name, Sposa di Sole, has probably been 
 given to it in reference to this legend. On May-day, country 
 people strew Marsh Marigolds before their doors, and twine them 
 into garlands. Some think the Caltha palustris to be Shakspeare's 
 " winking May-bud with golden eye," which, if plucked with due 
 care, and borne about, will hinder anyone from speaking an angry 
 word to the wearer. 
 
 MASTIC— The Mastic or Pistachio-tree [Pistacia Lentiscus), 
 the symbol of purity and virginity, was particularly dear to Dic- 
 tynna, a nymph of Crete, and one of Diana's attendants. Following 
 her example, the Greek virgins were fond of adorning themselves 
 with Mastic-sprays ; and at the present time, in the isle of Chios, 
 where the Mastic-tree flourishes, they eat the gum to preserve 
 
pfant Isore, "heg&r^f, ariSi Isijne/. 435 
 
 sweetness of breath. The Mastic is stated to have been under 
 the special protection of Bacchus, as being the tree under which 
 the Bacchanals found and slew Pentheus, King of Thebes, who had 
 forbidden his subjects to acknowledge the new god. 
 
 Mather. — See Mayweed. 
 
 Maudlein, Maudelyne, or Maudlin. — See Costmary. 
 
 Maudlin Wort. — See Moon Daisy. 
 
 M AU RITI A. — The Moriche Palm {Mauritiaflexuosa) is regarded 
 as a sacred tree by the Mexican Indians. Certain tribes live almost 
 entirely on its products, and, strange to say, build their houses 
 high up amongst its leaves, where they live during the floods. 
 These Indians have a traditional Deluge, which they call the 
 Water Age, when there was only one man and one woman left 
 alive. To re-people the earth, the Deucalion and Pyrrha of the 
 new world, instead of stones, threw over their shoulders the fruit 
 of the Moriche Palm, and from its seeds sprang the whole human 
 race. The Moriche is regarded as a deity among the Tamancas, a 
 tribe of Oronoco Indians. 
 
 MAY. — The Hawthorn has obtained the name of May, or 
 May-bush, from the time of its flowering. In Suff"olk, it is believed 
 to be unlucky to sleep in a room in which there is May in bloom. 
 In Sussex, to bring a branch of blossoming May into the house is 
 thought to portend a death. It was a custom in Huntingdonshire, 
 forty years ago, for the rustic swains to place a branch of May in 
 blossom before sunrise at the doorway of anyone they wished to 
 honour, singing the while — 
 
 " A branch of May we have brought you, 
 And at your door it stands ; 
 It is but a sprout, 
 But it's well budded out. 
 By the work of our good Lord's hands." 
 
 An Italian proverb describes the universal lover as " one who 
 hangs every door with May." (See Hawthorn). 
 
 MAYFLOWER. — The Mayflower of New England, Epigiea, 
 repens, is the emblem of Nova Scotia. The trailing Arbutus, or 
 Mayflower, is a native of North America; it grows abundantly in 
 the vicinity of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and was the first flower 
 that greeted the Pilgrims after their terrible winter. 
 
 MAYWEED. — The Mayweed, or more properly Maydweed 
 (Anthemis Cotula), owes its name to its having been formerly used 
 for the complaints of young women. In olden times, the plant 
 was also known as Maghet, and Mather or Mauther, words signi- 
 fying a maid. The flower is distinguished as having, for its 
 
 fairness, been likened to the brow of the Northern divinity Baldr. 
 
 The Matricaria Chamomilla is called Stinking Majdweed. (See 
 
 Maithes, Costmary, and Moon Daisy.) 
 
 2F — 2 
 
436 pPant Tsore, Tseger^f, and hi^t'taf, 
 
 MELON. — According to a tradition of the Arabs, the Melon 
 is to be found in Paradise, where it signifies that God is One, and 
 
 that Ah is his true prophet. Sebastian, a Roman traveller of the 
 
 seventeenth century, recorded that on Mount Carmel, in the Holy 
 Land, he had seen a field of Melons which had been turned into 
 
 stones by the curse of Elias. An old Tuscan legend records how 
 
 the wife of a certain young king bore him three children, which were 
 represented by the Queen's jealous sisters to be a cat, a piece of 
 wood, and a snake. The enraged king, upon this, cast his unfor- 
 tunate wife into prison, whilst the three infants were secured by 
 the wicked sisters in a box, and cast into the sea. A gardener 
 found the box, and compassionating the helpless babes, brought 
 them up, and taught them to tend his garden. Through the kindly 
 offices of a good fairy, the king came to dinner one day, and a 
 large Water Melon was gathered from the garden and placed before 
 him. The king cut the Melon, when in place of seeds he discovered 
 inside a number of precious stones. In astonishment, he demanded : 
 " How is it possible that a Melon can produce gems ? " Then the 
 good fairy responded : " And how, sire, is it possible that a woman 
 could give birth to a cat, a piece of wood, and a snake ? " Behold 
 your three children, and hasten, cruel man, to release the poor 
 innocent queen. The envy of her sisters has occasioned all this 
 mischief." The king was deeply affedled ; he embraced his children, 
 and forthwith hastened with all speed to his wife, whose pardon he 
 implored. Then he ordered public fStes and rejoicings to take place, 
 
 but condemned the wicked sisters to the stake. According to 
 
 dream oracles, a young woman who dreams of Melons is destined 
 to marry a rich foreigner, and to live with him in a foreign land. 
 If a young man dreams of Melons, it denotes that he will marry a 
 rich foreign lady, by whom he will have a large family, but they 
 will die young. If a sick person dreams of Melons, it is a prog- 
 nostic of recovery by reason of their humidity or juicy substance. 
 
 Midsummer Men. — See Orpine. 
 
 MIGNONETTE.— The Mignonette, or Little Darling, is sup- 
 posed to be an Egyptian plant, and to have been brought to England 
 from the South of France, where it is called Herbe d' Amour, or Love- 
 flower. Although a flower of no heraldic fame, the Mignonette is 
 nevertheless, to be seen on the armoured shield of a noble Saxon 
 house, and the origin of its adoption is related in the following 
 legend : — A Count of Walstheim was betrothed to Amelia von Nord- 
 burg, a young and beautiful heiress, whose poor cousin Charlotte, 
 an amiable girl of no particular personal charms, had been brought 
 up with her from infancy. Returning one evening from a charitable 
 visit, the humble dependent found her aunt's saloon full of guests, 
 the ladies busily occupied in seledling flowers for which their 
 admirers were expedled to improvise mottoes. Charlotte was 
 invited to follow the example of her betters. Amelia von Nordburg 
 
Pant Isore, Tsegel^Ci/, o-i-il. Tsijno/', 437 
 
 had sele(5ted the Rose as her emblem, and her companions had 
 naturally chosen such popular flowers as were best calculated to 
 elicit gallant compliments. Thus most of the floral favourites had 
 been appropriated; so Charlotte placed a modest spray of Mig- 
 nonette in her dress. Noticing as she did so that her coquettish 
 cousin was negledling the Count of Walstheim for the fascinations 
 of a gallant colonel, and anxious to recall the thoughtless heiress 
 to her lover's side, Charlotte asked the Count what motto he had 
 ready for the Rose. Taking out his pencil, he wrote: " Elk ne vit 
 qu'un jour, et ne plait qu'un moment;" and then presented her with 
 this motto for her own Mignonette: " Ses qualith surpassent ses 
 charmes." His wilful fianc6e took off'ence at the Count's dis- 
 crimination, and revenged herself by treating him with studied 
 coldness and negledl ; the result being that the Count transferred 
 his afFedlions to the dependent Charlotte, whom he soon afterwards 
 married, and to celebrate the event added a sprky of Mignonette 
 to the ancient arms of his family. 
 
 MILK THISTLE. — The Thistle Silybitm Mariamm is called 
 the Milk Thistle from a supposition that it derived the colour of its 
 leaves from the Milk of the Virgin Mary having fallen on them as 
 she suckled the infant Jesus. 
 
 MILKWORT.— In olden times, the Milkwort {Polygala vul- 
 garis), bore the names of Cross-flower, Rogation-flower, Gang- 
 flower, and Procession-flower, which were given it because, accor- 
 ding to ancient usage, maidens made garlands of the flower, and 
 carried them in procession during Rogation Week. At this period 
 it was customary to offer prayers against plagues, fires, and wild 
 beasts, and as the bounds of the parish were traversed on one of the 
 days, it was also termed Gang Week. This custom was a relic of 
 the ancient Ambarvalia. The bishop, or one of the clergy, peram- 
 bulated the limits of the parish with the Holy Cross and Litanies, 
 and invoked the blessing of God upon the crops ; on which occa- 
 sion, Bishop Kennett tells us, the maidens made garlands and nose- 
 gays of the Milkwort, which blossomed in Rogation Week, the 
 
 next but one before the Whitsuntide. Gerarde relates that, in 
 
 Queen Elizabeth's time, Milkwort-flowers were " vulgarly knowne 
 in Cheapside to the herbe women by the name of He%e Hyssop.'" 
 The plant was called Milkwort from an old belief that it increased 
 
 the milk of mothers who took it. A Javanese species, Potygda, 
 
 venenata, is greatly dreaded by the natives of Java for its poisonous; 
 effedls; violent sneezing and faintness seizes anyone touching the 
 leaves of this ill-omened plant. 
 
 MILLET.— According to Schlegel, Millet has, among the 
 Chinese, given its name to the constellation Tien-tzi, " Celestial 
 Millet," which is composed of five stars, and presides at the grain 
 harvest. Its clearness and brilliance presage an abundant harvest, 
 its absence foretells famine. This constellation the Chinese con- 
 
sider as the residence of the King of the Cereals. The grain of 
 
 Millet has become proverbial as indicative of anything minute: 
 possibly on this account, Millet portends misery if seen in a dream. 
 
 There is a legend in North Germany, that, long ago, a rich 
 
 merchant had a fine garden, in which was a piece of land sown 
 with Millet. One day the merchant discovered that a part of the 
 Millet had been shorn during the preceding night, so he set his 
 three sons to watch in case the theft should be repeated. Both 
 the eldest and the second son fell asleep during their respeeftive 
 vigils ; and on each occasion the theft was repeated, and further por- 
 tions of the Millet disappeared. On the third night, the youngest 
 son, John, agreed to watch: he surrounded himself with Thorns 
 and Thistles, so that if he felt sleepy, and began to nod, the Thorns 
 should prick him, and thus keep him awake. At midnight he 
 heard a tramping, and then a sound of munching among the 
 Millet: pushing aside the Thorns, John sprang out from his hiding- 
 place, and saw a beautiful little colt feeding on the Millet. To 
 catch the little animal was an easy task, and it was soon safely 
 locked up in the stable. The merchant, overjoyed at the capture 
 his vigilant son John had made, made him a present of the colt, 
 which he named Millet-thief. Soon after this, the brothers heard 
 of a beautiful princess who was kept by enchantment confined in a 
 palace that stood on the top of a glass mountain, which no one, on 
 account of its being so slippery, could ascend; but it was said 
 that whosoever should be so fortunate as to reach its summit, and 
 ride thrice round the palace, would disenchant the princess and 
 obtain her hand in marriage. Numbers had already endeavoured to 
 ride up the slippery mountain, but were precipitated to its foot ; and 
 their skeletons lay bleaching all around. The three brothers deter- 
 mined to try and ascend the mountain, but, alas, the two eldest fell 
 with their horses down the treacherous mountain side, and lay 
 sorely hurt. Then John saddled his little colt Millet -thief, and to 
 his delight, when ridden to the mountain, he easily rat'tled up to its 
 summit, and trotted round the palace three times as though he 
 knew the road perfectly. Soon they stood in front of the palace- 
 gates, which opened spontaneously, and the lovely princess stepped 
 forth with a cry of joy, as she recognised in Millet -thief her own 
 little colt, who had been accustomed to take her by night down 
 the steep mountain, so that she might enjoy a gallop across the 
 green fields — the only indulgence permitted her by the cruel en- 
 chanter. Then the princess bestowed her hand upon her deliverer, 
 and they lived happily, far removed from worldly cares, in the 
 palace on the glass mountain, 
 
 MIMOSA. — The Mimosa Catechu, according to Indian mytho- 
 logy, was the tree which sprang from the claw lost by a falcon 
 whilst engaged in purloining the heavenly Soma, or Amrita, the 
 drink of immortality. The Vedas recount that, when the gods were 
 pining for the precious beverage, the falcon undertook to steal it 
 
pPant Tsore, 'bege't^/, ani. Tsijnq/'. 439 
 
 from the demons who kept it shut up : the attempt was successful, 
 but the falcon, whilst flying oif with its prize, was wounded by an 
 arrow discharged by one of the demons, and lost a claw and a 
 feather. They fell to earth, and struck root there ; the claw becoming 
 the Indian Thorn-tree, or Mimosa Catechu — the younger branches of 
 which have straight thorns, that afterwards become hooked, and 
 
 bear a strong resemblance to a bird's claw. Bishop Heber tells 
 
 us that, whilst travelling in Upper India, he saw, near Boitpoor, a 
 Mimosa-tree, with leaves at a little distance so much resembling 
 those of the Mountain Ash, that he was for a moment deceived, 
 and asked if it did not bear fruit. The Bishop says: "They 
 answered no ; but that it was a very noble tree, being called the 
 Imperial Tree for its excellent properties. That it slept all night, 
 and awakened, and was alive all day, withdrawing its leaves if any 
 one attempted to touch them. Above all, however, it was useful 
 as a preservative against magic. A sprig worn in the turban, or 
 suspended over the bed, was a perfedl security against all spells. 
 Evil Eye, &c., insomuch that the most formidable wizard would 
 not, if he could help it, approach its shade. One, indeed, they 
 said, who was very renowned for his power (like Lorinite, in the 
 Kehama) of killing plants and drying up their sap with a look, had 
 come to this very tree and gazed on it intently; but, said the old 
 man, who told me this with an air of triumph, look as he might, he 
 could do the tree no harm. I was amazed and surprised to find 
 the superstition which in England and Scotland attaches to the 
 Rowan-tree here applied to a tree of nearly similar form. What 
 nation has, in this case, been the imitator ? Or from what common 
 
 centre are these common notions derived ? " The Mimosa sensitiva 
 
 is the true Sensitive Plant, which collapses its leaflets upon the 
 slightest touch (see Sensitive Plant); and another member 
 of this singular family droops its branches whenever anyone 
 approaches ; hence Moore has called it 
 
 " That courteous tree 
 Which bows to all who seek its canopy." 
 
 Frankincense is the produdi: of the Egyptian Mimosa, a tree spoken 
 of by Theophrastus as an Acanthus, and referred to by Virgil. 
 
 MIMUSOPS. — The Mimusops Elengi is one of the sacred 
 trees of India, and dedicated to the god Krishna. An odoriferous 
 water, highly prized, is distilled from the flowers, and the astringent 
 bark of the tree is used medicinally. 
 
 MINT. — Ovid tells us, in his ' Metamorphoses,' that the nymph 
 Minthe, a daughter of Cocytus, was beloved of Pluto, and that 
 Proserpine, discovering her husband's infidelity, transformed his' 
 
 mistress into the herb which is called by her name. In olden 
 
 times. Mint (Mentha) was called Herha bona and Herha san£ta, and th* 
 ancients were wont to weave garlands of its foliage to be worn by 
 brides cowna Veneris. In later days, the herb was dedicated to the 
 
Virgin, under the name of Hevha Sandia Maria. It was formerly 
 
 customary to strew the churches with Mint or other herbs or 
 flowers. In ' Appius and Virginia,' an old play, is an illustration 
 of this custom : — 
 
 " Thou knave, but for thee ere this time of day 
 My lady's fair pew had been strewed full gay 
 With Primroses, Cowslips, and Violets sweet. 
 With Mints, and with Marygold and Marjoram meet, 
 Which now lyeth uncleanly, and all along of thee." 
 
 Among the women of the Abruzzi there exists a curious supersti- 
 tion. If, whilst walking, they should chance to come across a 
 plant of Mint, they will bruise a leaf between their fingers, in 
 order to ensure that, on the day of their death, Jesus Christ will 
 
 assist them. In Holstein, at the funeral of peasants, Mint is 
 
 carried by youths attending the ceremony. Pliny was of opinion 
 
 that " the smell of Mint doth stir up the minde and taste to a 
 greedy desire of meat ; " and other old writers state that Mint 
 should be smelled, as being refreshing for the head and memory ; 
 probably on this account it was formerly a custom to strew it "in 
 chambers and places of recreation, pleasure, and repose, and when 
 feasts and banquets are to be made." Gerarde says of this herb : — 
 "It is poured into the eares with honied water. It is taken inwardly 
 against scolopendres, beare-wormes, sea scorpions and serpents. 
 It is applied with salt to the bitings of mad dogs." 
 
 MISTLETOE. — According to Scandinavian mythology, 
 Baldr (the Apollo of the North) was rendered by his mother Frtgg 
 proof against all injury by the four elements, fire, air, earth, 
 and water : Loki, the evil spirit, however, being at enmity with 
 him, fashioned an arrow out of Mistletoe (which proceeded from 
 neither of the elements), and placed it in the hand of Hodr, the 
 blind deity, who launched the fatal dart at Baldr, and struck him 
 to the earth. The gods decided to restore Baldr to life, and as a 
 reparation for his injury, the Mistletoe was dedicated to his mother 
 Frlgg ; whilst, to prevent its being again used adversely to her, the 
 plant was placed under her sole control so long as it did not touch 
 the earth, the empire of Loki. On this account it has always been 
 customary to suspend Mistletoe from ceilings ; and so, whenever 
 persons of opposite sexes pass under it, they give one another the 
 kiss of peace and love, in the full assurance that this plant is no 
 
 longer an instrument of mischief. Like the Indian Asvattha, 
 
 and the Northern Rowan, the Mistletoe was supposed to be the 
 embodiment of lightning : hence its Swiss name, Donnerhesen ; and 
 like them, again, it is very generally believed to spring from seed 
 deposited by birds on trees. Some naturalists, indeed, say that 
 the seeds will not vegetate until they have passed through the 
 stomach of a bird, and so recommend that fowls should be caused 
 to eat the seeds, which, after evacuation, should be sown. This 
 old belief in the Mistletoe-seed being sown by birds is referred to 
 
pPant Isore, IsegeT^/, cmsl Isijnc/', 441 
 
 by Lord Bacon in his ' Natural History.' His lordship says : — 
 " They have an idle tradition that there is a bird called a Missel- 
 bird that feedeth upon a seed which many times she cannot digest, 
 and so expelleth it whole with her excrement, which, falling upon 
 a bough of a tree that hath some rift, putteth forth the Misseltoe." 
 
 In Druidic times, the Mistletoe was regarded as a divine gift 
 
 of peculiar san(5tity, only to be gathered with befitting ceremonies, 
 on the sixth day, or at latest on the sixth night, of the sixth moon 
 
 after the winter solstice, when their year commenced. Pliny 
 
 tells us that " the Druids hold nothing more sacred than the Mis- 
 tletoe and the tree upon which it is produced, provided it be an 
 Oak. They make choice of groves of Oak on their own account, 
 nor do they perform any of their sacred rites without the leaves of 
 these trees, so one may suppose that for this reason they are called 
 by the Greek etymology Druids, and whatever Mistletoe grows 
 upon the Oak they think is sent from heaven, and is a sign of God 
 Himself as having chosen that tree. This, however, is rarely found, 
 but, when discovered, is treated with great ceremony ; they call it 
 by a name which in their language signifies the curer of all ills, and, 
 having duly prepared their feast and sacrifices under the tree, they 
 bring to it two white bulls, whose horns are then for the first time 
 tied ; the priest, dressed in a white robe, ascends the tree, and, with 
 a golden pruning-hook, cuts off the Mistletoe, which is received into 
 a white sagum, or sheet ; then they sacrifice the vicflims, praying that 
 God would bless His own gift to those on whom He has bestowed it." 
 As the Druids attributed to the Mistletoe marvellous curative pro- 
 perties, they placed it in water, and distributed this water to those 
 who deserved it, to a(5l as a charm against the spells of witches 
 and sorcerers. If any portion of this plant came in conta<5t with 
 the earth, it was considered as ominous of some impending national 
 
 disaster. The pra<5tice of decorating dwellings with Mistletoe and 
 
 Holly is undoubtedly of Druidic origin. Dr. Chandler states that, 
 in the times of the Druids, the houses were decked with boughs in 
 order that the spirits of the forest might seek shelter among them 
 during the bleak winds and frosts of winter. Among the Worces- 
 tershire farmers, there is a very ancient custom of taking a bough 
 of Mistletoe, and presenting it to the cow that first calved after 
 New Year's Day, as this offering is presumed to avert ill-luck from 
 
 the dairy. In some provinces of France, they preserved for a long 
 
 period the custom of gathering the Mistletoe of the Oak, which 
 they regarded as a talisman. Many public documents attest that, 
 in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, large gatherings of the 
 country-people took place at the fStes held in commemoration of 
 the ceremony of the sacred Mistletoe, and which was called 
 
 Auguilanneuf {Gui de I'anneuf). In Holstein.the peasantry call the 
 
 Mistletoe the " Spedlre's wand," from the supposition that a branch 
 borne in the hand will enable the holder not only to see ghosts, but 
 to compel them to speak. The magical properties of the Mistletoe 
 
are alluded to by Virgil in his ^neid, as well as by Ovid and other 
 ancient writers. Albertus Magnus states that the Mistletoe, which 
 the Chaldseans called Luperax, the Greeks Esifena, and the Latins 
 Viscus Querci, like the herb Martagon (Moonwort), possessed the pro- 
 perty of opening all locks. The Druids called it All-heal, and 
 represented it as an antidote to all poisons, and a cure for all diseases. 
 When there were no longer any Druids in England left to gather 
 the holy plant with the customary sacred rites, it was gathered by 
 the people themselves, with a lack of .due solemnity, so that, 
 according to Aubrey, this want of reverence met with miraculous 
 punishment. He relates how some ill-advised folk cut the Mistletoe 
 from an Oak, at Norwood, to sell to the London apothecaries: 
 "And one fell lame shortly after; soon after each of the others 
 lost an eye; and a rash fellow, who ventured to fell the Oak 
 itself, broke his leg very shortly afterwards." At this time, the 
 powder of an Oak-Mistletoe was deemed an infallible cure for 
 epilepsy; and Culpeper, the astrological herbalist, prescribed 
 the leaves and berries of this precious plant, given in powder 
 for forty days together, as a sure panacea for apoplexy, palsy, 
 and falling sickness. Clusius affirmed that a sprig of the sacred 
 plant worn round the neck was a talisman against witchcraft, 
 always providing that the bough had not been allowed to touch 
 
 earth after being gathered. In the West of England, there is 
 
 a tradition that the Cross was made of Mistletoe, which, until 
 the time of the Crucifixion, had been a noble forest tree, but was 
 thenceforth condemned to exist only as a mere parasite. Culpeper 
 remarks that it was sometimes called lignum sanctce crucis — wood of 
 the holy cross — from a belief in its curative virtues in cases of 
 consumption, apoplexy, and palsy — "not only to be inwardly taken, 
 but to be hung at their neck." In Sweden, Oak-Mistletoe is sus- 
 pended in the house to protedt it from fire and other injuries; a 
 knife with an Oak- Mistletoe handle is supposed by the Swedes to 
 ward off the falling sickness : for other complaints, a piece of this 
 plant is hung round the patient's neck, or made into a finger-ring. 
 
 MOLY. — The Moly was a magical plant, beneficent in its 
 nature, which Homer tells us, in the ' Odyssey,' was given by Mercury 
 to Ulysses to enable him successfully to withstand and overcome 
 the enchantments of the sorceress Circe, and obtain the restoration 
 of his comrades whom the witch-goddess had by her enchantments 
 transformed into swine. Ulysses, distressed at the fate of his com- 
 panions, was visited by Mercury, who promised to give him a plant 
 of extraordinary powers, which should baffle the spells of Circe ; 
 
 " Thus while he spoke, the sovereign plant he drew 
 Where on th' all-bearing earth unmark'd it grew, 
 And show'd its nature and its wondrous power : 
 Black was the root, but milky white the flower j 
 Moly the name, to mortals hard to find, 
 But all is easy to th' ethereal kind." — /"p/ie. 
 
The Moly is generally supposed to have been a species of Garlick 
 (a plant credited with many magical qualities), and Gerarde, in 
 his ' Herbal,' describes several plants under the head of " Moly, or 
 Sorcerer's Garlick," one of which he particularises as Homer's 
 Moly (Moly Homencum). The identity of the plant has, however, 
 long been a matter for speculation among botanists of all ages. 
 Dodonseus, Anguillara, and Csesalpinus consider it to be Allium 
 ffiagicum ; Matthiolus and Clusius, Allium suhhirsutum ; Sprengel, 
 Allium nigrum ; and Sibthorp, a plant which he names Allium Dios- 
 coridis. Various treatises have appeared on the subjedl, in one of 
 which the Moly is thought to be identified with the Lotus. Milton, 
 in his ' Comus,' mentions a magical plant, designated Haemony, 
 which possessed similar properties to the Moly, and was potent in 
 dispelling enchantments, ghostly apparations, mildew-blast, and 
 unwholesome vapours. 
 
 Money Flower. — See Honesty. 
 
 MONK'S HOOD. — Aconitum has two English names. Monk's 
 Hood and Wolf's Bane. The former has been given it from the 
 resemblance of the plant's upper sepal to the cowl of a monk. The 
 latter is of great antiquity, being the same as that of the Anglo- 
 Saxon. By the ancients (who were unacquainted with mineral 
 poisons) the Aconite was regarded as the most virulent of all 
 poisons, and their mythologists declare it to be the invention of 
 Hecate, who caused the plant to spring from the foam of the 
 many-headed Cerberus, when Hercules dragged him from the 
 gloomy regions of Pluto. The legend is thus told by Ovid ; — 
 
 " Medea, to dispatch a dang'rous heir, 
 (She knew him) did a pois'nous draught prepare. 
 Drawn from a drug, long while reserved in store, 
 For desp'rate uses, from the Scythian shore, 
 That from the Echydnsean monster's jaws 
 Derived its origin, and this the cause. 
 
 Through a dark cave a craggy passage lies 
 To ours ascending from the iiether skies, 
 Through which, by strength of hand, Alcides drew 
 Chained Cerberus, who lagged and restive grew. 
 With his bleared eyes our brighter day to view. 
 Thrice he repeated his enormous yell, 
 With which he scares the ghosts, and startles hell ; 
 At last outrageous (though compelled to yield), 
 He sheds his foam in fury on the field ; 
 Which, with its own and rankness of the ground, 
 Produced a weed by sorcerers renowned 
 The strongest constitution to confound — 
 Called Aconite, because it can unlock 
 All bars, and force its passage through a rock." 
 
 With this venomous plant the ancients were wont to poison their 
 arrow-heads when engaged in war and also when in pursuit of 
 wild beasts. As a poison, it had a sinister reputation. Ovid was 
 of opinion that the Aconitum derived its name from growing on 
 
rocks almost barren; and he describes, in his ' Iron Age,' the step- 
 dame occupied in preparing a deadly potion of this plant : — 
 " Lurida terribiles miscent Aconita novercce" 
 
 In Greece, the Wolf's Bane is credited with many malignant in- 
 fluences, and the fevers so common in the neighbourhood of 
 Corinth were attributed to it. Until the Turks were dispossessed, 
 the Aga proceeded every year in solemn procession to denounce it 
 
 and hand it over to destrutftion. In North India, a species, 
 
 Aconitum ferox, is used as a poison for arrows — the poison which is 
 obtained from the roots being of remarkable virulence and activity 
 when infused into the blood. 
 
 MOON DAISY. — The Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum, a large 
 Daisy-like flower, resembles the pidtures of a full moon, and on this 
 account has acquired the name of Moon Daisy. From its use 
 in uterine diseases, this plant was dedicated by the ancients to 
 Artemis, goddess of the Moon, Juno Lucina, and Eileithuia, a deity 
 who had special charge over the fundlions of women — an office 
 afterwards assigned by the Romish Church to St. Mary Magdalene 
 and St. Margaret. Hence, in the Middle Ages, the Moon Daisy 
 
 became known as Maudelyne or Maudlin-wort. The plant is 
 
 also called the Ox-eye and Midsummer Daisy ; and in France, this 
 flower, known as the Paquerette, is employed, like the Bluet, as a 
 
 divining-flower, to discover the state of a lover's afFedlions. 
 
 The Midsummer Daisy is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. 
 
 MOONWORT. — The Fern Botrychium Lunaria has derived 
 its name of Moonwort from the crescent shape of the segments 
 of its frond. Perhaps it is this lunar form which has caused it to 
 be so highly esteemed for its supposed magical properties. The 
 old alchymists professed to be able, by means of the Moonwort, 
 which they called Lunaria minor, or Lesser Lunary,to extratft sterling 
 silver from Mercury. By wizards and professors of necromancy no 
 plant was held in greater repute, and its potency is attested by 
 many old writers. Gerarde refers to the use made by the alchymists 
 of this Fern in those mystic compounds over which they pored 
 night and day, and he also states that it was a plant prized by 
 witches, who called it Martagon. In Ben Jonson's ' Masque of 
 Queens,' a witch says to her companions : — 
 
 "And I ha' been plucking plants among 
 Hemlock, Henbane, Adder's-tongue ; 
 Nightshade, Moonwort, Libbard's-bane, 
 And twice by the dogs was like to be ta'en." 
 
 Coles, referringto the mystical charatfter of the Moonwort, observes : 
 "It is said, yea, and believed by many, that Moonwort will open 
 the locks, fetters, and shoes from those horses' feet that goe on 
 the places where it groweth ; and of this opinion was Master 
 Culpeper, who, though he railed against superstition in others, yet 
 
pPant Tsore, IsegeT^/, anil Isijno/". 445 
 
 had enough of it himselfe." Du Bartas, in his ' Divine Weekes,' 
 thus refers to this superstition — 
 
 " Horses that, feeding on the grassie hills, 
 Tread upon Moonwort with their hollow heels, 
 Though lately shod, at night goe barefoot home. 
 Their maister musing where their shooes become. 
 O Moonwort 1 tell us where thou hidst the smith, 
 Hammer and pincers, thou unshodd'st them with. 
 Alas I what lock or iron engine is't 
 That can thy subtill secret strength resist, 
 Sith the best farrier cannot set a shoe 
 So sure, but thou (so shortly) canst undo ? " 
 
 Culpeper tell us that the Moonwort was a herb which, in his days, 
 was popularly believed to open locks and unshoe horses that trod 
 on it. " This," he adds, " some laugh to scorn, and those no small 
 fools neither, but country people that I know call it Unshoe-the- 
 Horse. Besides, I have heard commanders say that on White 
 Down, in Devonshire, near Tiverton, there were found thirty horse- 
 shoes, pulled off from the Earl of Essex's horses, being there drawn 
 up in a body, many of them being newly shod, and no reason 
 known, which caused much admiration ; and the herb described 
 
 usually grows upon the heaths." In Virginia, the Botrychium 
 
 Lunaria is called the Rattle-snake Fern, because that reptile shelters 
 itself beneath its fronds. 
 
 MOSS. — The Sifjay kaddr, or Hair Moss (Polytrichum commune), 
 which supplies the Lapp with bedding, is dedicated to Sif, the wife of • 
 
 Thor. The Supercilium Veneris is Freyja's hair. The good fairies 
 
 called by the Germans Moosweihchen axe represented as being entirely 
 covered with Moss. They live in the hollows of forest trees, or on 
 the soft Moss itself. These beneficent fairies of the forest spin 
 soft Moss of various kinds, which they weave into beautiful fabrics, 
 and, according to their custom, occasionally make handsome pre- 
 sents to their prot6ges. There is a legend that Oswald, King of 
 
 Northumbria, erected a certain cross, which, after his decease, 
 acquired miraculous properties. One day, a man who was walking 
 across the ice towards this venerated cross, suddenly fell and broke 
 his arm ; a friend who was accompanying him, in dire distress at 
 the mishap, hurried to the cross, and plucked from it some Moss, 
 which was growing on the surface. Then, hastening back to his 
 friend, he placed the Moss in his breast, when the pain miraculously 
 ceased, and the broken arm became set, and was soon restored to use. 
 
 The Bryum Moss, which grows all over the walls of Jerusalem, 
 
 is supposed to be the plant referred to by Solomon as " the Hyssop 
 
 that groweth out of the wall." According to tradition, headache 
 
 is to be removed by means of snuff made from the Moss which 
 grows on a human skull in a churchyard ; and Gerarde says that 
 this Moss is "a singular remedie against the faUing evill and the 
 chin-cough in children, if it be powdered, and then given in sweet 
 wine for certain daies together." Robert Turner tells us of this 
 
Moss that it is " a principal ingredient in the Weapon Salve; but 
 the receipt is, it should be taken from the skull of one who died a 
 
 violent death." The dust from the spore cases of Club-Moss is 
 
 highly inflammable, and is used in fireworks ; it is the Blitz-mehl, 
 or lightning-meal, of the Germans. (See Club-Moss.) 
 
 MOSS ROSE.— The country of the Moss Rose or Moss 
 Provins Rose {Rosa Muscosa) is unknown, but the origin of its 
 mossy vest is thus given by a German writer : — 
 
 " The angel of the flowers one day 
 
 Beneath a Rose-tree sleeping lay ; 
 
 That spirit to whose charge is given 
 
 To bathe young buds in dews from heaven ; 
 
 Awaking from his light repose, 
 
 The angel whispered to the Rose ; 
 
 ' O fondest object of my care, 
 
 Still fairest found where all are fair, 
 
 For the sweet shade thou'st given to me 
 
 Ask what thou wilt, 'tis granted thee.' 
 
 'Then' said the Rose, with deepened glow, 
 
 ' On me another grace bestow : 
 
 The spirit paused in silent thought 
 
 What grace was there that flower had not ? 
 
 'Twas but a moment : o'er the Rose 
 
 A veil of Moss the angel throws. 
 
 And robed in Nature's simplest weed, 
 
 Could then a flower that Rose exceed ? " 
 
 The Moss Rose is one of the flowers specially plucked at the fall of 
 the dew on Midsummer Eve for the purposes of love divination. 
 This rite of rustic maidens is fully described in the poem of ' The 
 Cottage Girl ' : — 
 
 " The Moss Rose that, at fall of dew, 
 Ere eve its duskier curtain drew. 
 Was freshly gathered from its stem. 
 She values as the ruby gem ; 
 And, guarded from the piercing air. 
 With all an anxious lover's care, 
 She bids it, for her shepherd's sake, 
 Await the New Year's frolic wake : 
 When, faded, in its altered hue 
 She reads — the rustic is untrue ! 
 But if its leaves the crimson paint. 
 Her sick'ning hopes no longer faint ; 
 The Rose upon her bosom worn. 
 She meets him at the peep of mom." 
 
 MOTHERWORT.— According to Parkinson, the Mother- 
 wort {Leonums Cardiaca) was so called from its being " of wonderful 
 helpe to women in the risings of the mother; " its name of Cardiaca 
 was given because the herb was formerly noted for curing not 
 
 only heartburn but the mental disorder known as heart-ache. 
 
 In Japan, the Motherwort is in great estimation. In bygone times 
 it is related that to the north of the province of Nanyo-no-rekken, 
 there was a village situated near a hill covered with Motherwort. 
 
pfant bore, TsegeT^^/j an^ Isijricy. 447 
 
 At the foot of the hill, fed by the dew and rains that trickled down 
 its sides, ran a stream of pure water, which formed the ordinary 
 beverage of the villagers, who generally lived till they had attained 
 an age varying from a hundred to a hundred and thirty years. 
 Thus the people ascribe to the Motherwort the property of pro- 
 longing life. At the Court of the Cairi, the ecclesiastical potentate 
 of Japan, it is a favourite amusement to drink zakki, a kind of 
 strong beer prepared from Motherwort-fiowers. The Japanese 
 have five grand festivals in the course of the year. The last, which 
 takes place on the 9th of the 9th month, is called the Festival of 
 Motherwort ; and the month itself is named Kikousouki, or month 
 of Motherwort-flowers. It was formerly the custom to gather 
 these flowers as soon as they had opened, and to mix them with 
 boiled rice, from which they prepared the zakki used in celebrating 
 the festival. In the houses of the common people, instead of this 
 beverage, you find a branch of the flowers fastened with a string 
 to a pitcher full of common zakki, which implies that they wish 
 one another a long life. The origin of this festival is as follows : — 
 An emperor of China who succeeded to the throne at seven years of 
 age, was disturbed by a predidtion that he would die before he 
 attained the age of fifteen. An immortal having brought to him, 
 from Nanyo-no-rekken, a present of some Motherwort-flowers, he 
 caused zakki to be made from them, which he drank every day, and 
 lived upwards of seventy years. This immortal had been in his 
 youth in the service of the Emperor, under the name of Zido. 
 Being banished for some misdemeanour, he took up his residence 
 in the valley before mentioned, drinking nothing but the water 
 impregnated with these flowers, and lived to the age of three 
 hundred years, whence he obtained the name of Sien-nin-foso. 
 
 MOUSE-EAR. — The plant now known as Forget-me-not, 
 was formerly called Mouse-Ear, from its small, soft, oval leaves. 
 It is called Herba Clavorum, because, according to tradition, it hinders 
 the smith from hurting horses when he is shoeing them. 
 
 MULBERRY. — According to tradition, the fruit of the Mul- 
 berry-tree was originally white, but became empurpled by human 
 blood. Referring to the introduction of the Mulberry by the 
 Greeks, Rapin writes : — 
 
 " Hence Pyramus and Thisbe's mingled blood 
 On Mulberries their purple dye bestowed. 
 In Babylon the tale was told to prove 
 The fatal error of forbidden love." 
 
 This tale of forbidden love is narrated at length by Ovid: Pyramus, 
 a youth of Babylon, and his neighbour, Thisbe, became mutually 
 enamoured, but were prohibited by their parents from marrying ; 
 they therefore agreed to meet at the tomb of Ninus, under a white 
 Mulberry-tree. Thisbe reached the trysting-place first, but was 
 compelled to seek safety in a cave, owing to the arrival of a lioness, 
 
who besmeared with blood a veil which the virgin dropped in her 
 flight. Soon afterwards Pyramus reached the spot, and finding 
 the bloody veil, concluded that Thisbe had been torn to pieces. 
 Overcome with grief, he stabbed himself with his sword ; and 
 Thisbe, shortly returning, and beholding her lover in his death 
 throes, threw herself upon the fatal weapon. With her last breath 
 she prayed that her ashes should be mingled with her lover's in one 
 urn, and that the fruit of the white Mulberry-tree, under which the 
 tragedy occurred, should bear witness of their constancy by ever 
 after assuming the colour of their blood. 
 
 " The prayer which dying Thisbe had preferred 
 Both gods and parents with compassion heard. 
 The whiteness of the Mulberry soon fled, 
 And ripening, saddened in a dusky red ; 
 While both their parents their lost children mourn, 
 And mix their ashes in one golden urn." — Eusden. 
 
 Lord Bacon tells us that in Calabria Manna falls ixpon the leaves 
 of Mulberry-trees during the night, from whence it is afterwards 
 coUecfted. Pliny called the Mulberry the wisest of trees, be- 
 cause it is late in unfolding its leaves, and thus escapes the 
 dangerous frosts of early spring. To this day, in Gloucestershire, 
 the country folks have a saying that after the Mulberry-tree has 
 
 shown its green leaves there will be no more frost. At Gioiosa, 
 
 in Sicily, on the day of St. Nicholas that saint is believed to bless 
 the sea and the land, and the populace sever a branch from a 
 Mulberry-tree and preserve it for one year as a branch of good 
 
 augury. In Germany, at Iserlohn, the mothers, to deter the 
 
 children from eating the Mulberries, slug to them that the Devil 
 
 requires them for the purpose of blacking his boots. According 
 
 to Gerarde, " Hegesander, in Athenaus, affirmeth that the Mulberry- 
 tree in his time did not bring forth fruit in twenty yeares together, 
 and that so great a plague of the gout then raigned, and raged so 
 generally, as not onely men, but boies, wenches, eunuches, and 
 
 women were troubled with that disease." A Mulberry-tree, 
 
 planted by Milton in the garden of Christ's College, Cambridge, has 
 been reverentially preserved by successive college gardeners. The 
 Mulberry planted by Shakspeare in Stratford-on-Avon was reck- 
 lessly cut down in 1 759 ; but ten years later, when the freedom of 
 the town was presented to Garrick, the document was enclosed in 
 a casket made from the wood of the tree. A cup was also wrought 
 from it, and at the Shakspeare Jubilee, Garrick, holding this cup 
 aloft, sang the following lines composed by himself: — 
 
 " Behold this fair goblet, 'twas carved from the tree 
 Which, O my sweet Shakspeare, was planted by thee ; 
 As a relic I kiss it, and bow at the shrine ; 
 What comes from thy hand must be ever divine ! 
 
 All shall yield to the Mulberry-tree ; 
 
 Bend to the blest Mulberry ; 
 
 Matchless was he who planted thee ; 
 
 And thou, like him, immortal shall be." 
 
pPant bore, IsiegnT^f, ani. bijncy. 449 
 
 To dream of Mulberries is of good import: they denote marriage, 
 many children, and all sorts of prosperity : they are particularly 
 
 favourable to sailors and farmers. Among the hill tribes of 
 
 Burmah, the Mulberry-tree is regarded as sacred, and receives a 
 
 kind of worship. A Chinese folk-lore tale records that in the 
 
 Tse dynasty, one Chang Ching, going out at night, saw a woman 
 in the south corner of his house. She beckoned him to come to 
 her, and said : " This is your honour's Mulberry-ground, and I 
 am a sh6n (fairy) ; if you will make next year, in the middle of the 
 first moon, some thick congee and present it to me, I will engage 
 to make your Mulberry-trees a hundred times more producflive." 
 Ching made the congee, and afterwards had a great crop of silk- 
 worms. Hence came the Chinese custom of making thickened 
 congee on the fifteenth of the first month. 
 
 MULLEIN. — The Mullein (Verbascum) was formerly em- 
 ployed by wizards and witches in their incantations. The plant is 
 known as the Flannel-flower from its stem and large leaves being 
 covered with wool, which is often plucked off for tinder. The 
 Great Mullein (F. Thapsus) was called by the old Romans Candela 
 regia, and Candelaria, because they used the stalks dipped in suet 
 to burn at funerals, or as torches ; the modern Romans call the 
 plant Light of the Lord. In England, the White Mullein was 
 termed Candle-week-flower ; and the Great Mullein's tall tapering 
 spikes of yellow flowers suggested, at a period when candles were 
 burnt in churches, the old names of Torches, Hedge-taper, High- 
 taper, and Hig-taper, which became corrupted into Hag-taper, 
 from a belief that witches employed the plant in working their 
 
 spells. The little Moth Mullein {V. Blattaria) derives its specific 
 
 name from blatta, a cockroach, it being; particularly disliked by 
 that troublesome insedl. Gerarde explains its English prefix by 
 stating that moths and butterflies, and all other small flies and bats, 
 
 resort to the place where these herbs are laid or strewed. 
 
 Mullein is known by country people as Bullock's Lungwort, a de- 
 co(5tion of the leaves being considered very efficacious in cases of 
 cough : probably we are indebted to the Romans for this specific, for 
 they attributed extraordinary properties to the Mullein as a remedy 
 for coughs. (See also Hag-taper). 
 
 MUGWORT. — The old Latin name for this species of 
 Wormwood was Artemisia, matey herbarum; and, according to 
 Gerarde, the plant was so named after Artemisia, the wife of 
 Mausolus, King of Caria, who adopted it for her own herb. 
 
 " TAat with the yellow crown, named from the queen 
 Who built the Mausoleum." — Smith's ' Amari'nthtts,' 
 
 Other authorities say that Artemisia is derived from Artemis, one 
 of the names of Diana, and that the plant was named after that 
 goddess, on account of its being used in bringing on precocious 
 puberty. Among the ancients, the Mugwort had a reputation for 
 
450 pfant Isofe, Isi&g&r^/, oriel Isijr'iaf, 
 
 efficacy in the relief of female disorders. It was also used for the 
 purpose of incantations. Pliny says that the wayfarer having this 
 herb tied about him feels no fatigue, and that he who hath it about 
 him can be hurt by no poisonous medicines, nor by any wild beast, 
 nor even by the sun itself. Apuleius adds that it drives away 
 lurking devils and neutralises the effe<5t of the evil eye of men. 
 
 The plant was also considered a charm against the ague. 
 
 There is an old Scotch legend which tells how a mermaid of the 
 Firth of Clyde, upon seeing the funeral of a young girl who had 
 died of consumption, exclaimed — 
 
 " If they wad drink Nettles in March, 
 And eat Muggins [Mugwort] in May, 
 Sae mony braw maidens 
 Wad not go to clay." 
 
 In Italy, there is still a superstitious custom extant of consulting 
 Mugwort as to the probable ending of an illness. Some leaves of 
 Mugwort are placed beneath the pillow of the patient without his 
 knowledge. If he falls asleep quickly, his recovery is certain : if he 
 
 is unable to sleep, it is a sign that he will die. Mugwort is one of 
 
 the plants associated with St. John the Baptist, and is, indeed, called 
 the Herb of St. John in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Hol- 
 land. There is a curious superstition regarding it which is related 
 by Lupton in his 'Notable Things.' He says: — "It is certainly 
 commonly affirmed that, on Midsummer Eve, there is found under 
 the root of Mugwort a coal which keeps safe from the plague, 
 carbuncle, lightning, and the quartan ague, them that bear the 
 same about them : and Mizaldus, the wiriter hereof, saith that it is 
 to be found the same day under the root of Plantain, which I 
 know for a truth, for I have found them the same day under the 
 root of Plantain, which is especially and chiefly to be found at 
 noon." Paul Barbette, writing in 1675, says, these coals were old 
 dead roots, and that it was a superstition that " old dead roots 
 ought to be pulled up on the Eve of St. John the Baptist, about 
 
 twelve at night." In some parts of England, girls pull a certain 
 
 root which grows under Mugwort, and which, they believe, if 
 pulled exacTtly at midnight, on the eve of St. John, and placed 
 
 under the pillow, will cause dreams of the future husband. 
 
 De Gubernatis tells us that, in Sicily, on the eve of the Ascension, 
 the women of Avola form crosses of Mugwort, and place them on 
 the roofs of their houses, believing that, during the night, Jesus 
 Christ, as He re-ascends to heaven, will bless them. They pre- 
 serve these crosses of Mugwort for a year. Placed in stables, they 
 are believed to possess the power of taming unmanageable animals. 
 
 The same author gives the following legends : — In the distridl 
 
 of Starodubsk, Russia, on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, 
 a young girl was searching for Mushrooms in a forest, when she 
 saw a number of serpents curled up. She endeavoured to retrace 
 her steps, but fell into a deep pit, which was the abode of the 
 
pPant bore, begel^/, cmi. bijritt/". 451 
 
 serpents. The pit was dark, but at the bottom she found a luminous, 
 stone; the serpents were hungry; the queen of the golden-horned 
 serpents guided them to the lummous stone, and the serpents licked 
 it, and satisfied their hunger; the young girl did the same, and 
 remained in the pit until Spring. On the arrival of Spring, the 
 serpents interlaced themselves in such a manner as to form a 
 ladder on which the young girl ascended to the mouth of the pit. 
 But in taking her leave of the queen of the serpents, she received, 
 as a parting gift, the power of understanding the language of plants, 
 and of knowing their medicinal properties, on the condition that 
 she should never name the Mugwort, or Tchornohil (that which was 
 black): if she pronounced that word, she would forget all that she 
 had come to know. The damsel soon understood all that the 
 plants talked about; but, one day, a man suddenly asked her, 
 "What is the plant which grows in the fields by the side of the 
 little footpaths?" Taken by surprise, the girl replied, Tchornohil; 
 and, at the same moment, all her knowledge forsook her. From 
 that time, it is said, the Mugwort obtained the additional name^ 
 
 of Zabytko, or the Herb of Forgetfulness. In Little Russia, 
 
 Mugwort has obtained the name of Bech, which has a legendary 
 etymology. The story goes, that the Devil had, one day, offended 
 his brother, the Cossack Sabba, who took him and bound him, 
 saying he should remain a prisoner until he did him some 
 great service. Soon afterwards, a troop of Poles arrived in the 
 neighbourhood, and began to make merry at a rustic feast, leaving 
 their horses to graze. The Cossack Sabba wished to seize their 
 horses, and promised the Devil his liberty if he would aid him to 
 accomplish his objedt. The Devil despatched certain demons to the 
 fields where the horses were feeding, who caused Mugwort to 
 spring up. As the horses trotted away, the plant moaned "Bech, 
 Bech": and now, whenever a horse treads on the Mugwort, recol- 
 le(5ting the horses of the Poles, the plant always moans, "Bech, 
 Bech"; hence, the name which has been given to it in the Ukraine. 
 
 The Japanese manufadlured a kind of tinder, called Moxa, 
 
 from the dried leaves of Mugwort, and, according to Thunberg, 
 twice in a year, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, 
 were indiscriminately burnt with it, either to prevent disorders, or 
 
 to cure rheumatism, &c. Astrologers state that Mugwort is a 
 
 herb of Venus. 
 
 MUSHROOM.— On account of their apparently spontaneous 
 
 generation, Porphyrins calls Mushrooms sons of the gods. In 
 
 Indo-European mythology, the Sun-hero is represented as some- 
 times hiding under a Mushroom. He also appears as King of the 
 Peas, and in a Russian legend, in this capacity, gives battle to 
 
 the Mushroom tribes. In Wales, the poisonous Mushroom is 
 
 called Bwyd Ellyllon, or the meat of the goblins. In many 
 
 Darts of England it is believed that the changes of the moon 
 ^ " 2 G — 2 
 
452 pfant Tsore, TsBger^/, anil teiji-icy. 
 
 influence the growth of Mushrooms, and in Essex there is an old 
 saying that 
 
 " When the moon is at the full, 
 
 Mushrooms you may freely pull ; 
 But when the moon is on the wane, 
 Wait ere you think to pluck again." 
 
 There is an old belief that Mushrooms which grow near iron, 
 copper, or other metals, are poisonous ; the same idea is found 
 in the custom of putting a piece of metal in the water used for 
 boiling Mushrooms, in order that it should attradt and detach any 
 
 poison from the Mushrooms, and thus render them innocuous. 
 
 Bacon charadterises Mushrooms as " venereous meat," but Gerarde 
 remarks that "few of them are good to be eaten, and most of them 
 do suffocate and strangle the eater. Therefore, I give my advice 
 unto those that love such strange and new-fangled meates, to 
 beware of licking honey among thornes, least the sweetnesse of the 
 one do not countervaile the sharpnesse and pricking of the other." 
 
 The Burman, if he comes across Mushrooms at the beginning 
 
 of a journey, considers it as a most fortunate omen. Dream 
 
 oracles state that Mushrooms forbode fleeting happiness ; and 
 that to dream of gathering them indicates a lack of attachment on 
 the part of lover or consort. 
 
 MUSTARD. — Among the Jews, " Small as a grain of Mus- 
 tard-seed" was a common comparison; and our Saviour referred 
 to it as being "the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the 
 greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the 
 air come and lodge in the branches thereof" (Matthew xiii., 31, 32). 
 The Mustard-tree here alluded to is not, however, the English 
 Mustard {Sinapis nigra), but a tree called by the Arabs Khardal 
 (Salvadora Persica), a tree with numerous branches, among which 
 birds may take shelter, while the seed is exceedingly small. In the 
 
 north-west of India, this plant is known as Kharjal. One of the 
 
 Sanscrit names given to the Mustard-tree is the She-devil or 
 Witch. By means of the seed the Hindus discover witches. 
 During the night they light lamps and fill certain vessels with water, 
 into which they gently drop Mustard-seed oil, pronouncing the 
 while the name of every woman in the village. If, during this 
 ceremony, as they pronounce the name of a woman, they notice the 
 shadow of a female in the water, it is a sure sign that such woman 
 
 is a witch. In India, the Mustard-seed symbolises generation : 
 
 thus, in the Hindu myth of the ' Rose of Bakawali,' the king of 
 Ceylon destroys the temple in which the nymph Bakawali is incar- 
 cerated ; having been condemned by Indra to remain there trans- 
 formed into marble for the space of twelve years. A husbandman 
 ploughs over the site of this temple, and sows a Mustard-seed. In 
 course of time the Mustard ripens, is gathered, pressed, boiled, and 
 the oil extradted. According to the custom of his class, the hus- 
 bandman first tastes it, and then his wife : immediately she, who 
 
before had been childless, conceives, and nine months afterwards 
 gives to the world a daughter (Bakawali), beauteous as a fairy. 
 
 MYROBALAN. — The Myrobalan Plum-tree produces a fruit 
 similar to a Cherry, but containing only a juice of so disagreeable a 
 flavour that the very birds refuse to feed upon it : the fruit, how- 
 ever, is much employed in Indian medicines. According to Hindu 
 tradition, the wife of Soma9arman struck twice with a wand a Myro- 
 balan-tree, whereupon the tree rose from the earth with her, and 
 carrying her away, at last placed her on a golden hill in a golden 
 town. 
 
 MYRRH. — Myrrh is an exudation from the tree Bahama- 
 dendron Myrrha ; but the precious resin was held by the ancients to 
 have been first produced by the tears of Myrrha, daughter of Cinyras, 
 King of Cyprus, and mother of Adonis. Flying from the avenging 
 sword of her father, for whom she had conceived an incestuous 
 passion, the guilty Myrrha, after long and weary wanderings, 
 reached the Arabian continent, and at length, in the Sabaean fields, 
 overcome with fatigue and the misery of her situation, prayed with 
 her dying breath to the gods to accept her penitence and to bestow 
 upon her, as a punishment for her sin, a middle state " betwixt the 
 realms above and those below." "Some other form," cries she, 
 " to wretched Myrrha give, nor let her wholly die, nor wholly live." 
 
 ' ' The prayers of penitents are never vain ; 
 At least she did her last request obtain. 
 For while she spake the ground began to rise 
 And gathered round her feet, her legs, and thighs ; 
 Her toes in roots descend, and, spreading widei 
 A firm foundation for the trunk provide ; 
 Her solid bones convert to solid wood, 
 To pith her marrow, and to sap her blood i 
 Her arms are boughs, her fingers change their kind!,. 
 Her tender skin is hardened into rind. 
 And now the rising tree her womb invests. 
 Now, shooting upwards still, invades her breasts; 
 And shades her neck ; when, weary with delay, 
 She sunk her head within, and met it half the way. 
 And though with outward shape she lost her sense,. 
 With bitter tears she wept her last offence ; 
 And still she weeps, nor sheds her tears- in vain. 
 For still the precious drops her name retain "—Z»3/rf^i. 
 
 Myrrh is one of the ingredients of the sacred ointment or oil of the-. 
 Tews with which were anointed the Tabernacle,, the Ark, the. 
 altars, and the sacred vessels (Exodus, xxx..) It was also used to 
 consecrate Aaron and his sons. The purification of women, as, 
 ordained by the Jewish law, lasted one year; the first six months 
 being accomplished with oil of Myrrh, and the rest with other sweet 
 odours After our Lord's death, Nicodemus brought a mixture 
 of Mvrrh and Aloes, about an hundred pounds weight, that his 
 body might be embalmed.— Myrrh formed part of the celebrated 
 Ku/hi of the Egyptians— a preparation used, in fumigations and 
 
454 pfant Tsore, Isege^/, oriel Tsijrie/. 
 
 embalmings. At the fUe of Isis, which was celebrated with great 
 magnificence, they sacrificed an ox filled with Myrrh and other 
 aromatics. This ancient people delighted in displays of perfumes : 
 in a religious procession which took place under one of the 
 Ptolemies, marched one hundred and twenty children, carrying 
 incense, Myrrh, and Saffron in golden basins, followed by a 
 
 number of camels bearing precious aromatics. At Heliopolis, 
 
 the city of the sun, where the great luminary was worshipped under 
 the name of Re, incense was burnt to him thrice a day, — resin at 
 his rising. Myrrh when in the meridian, and the compound called 
 Kuphi at his setting. In the temples of Isis similar rites were 
 observed. According to Herodotus, powdered Myrrh formed one 
 
 of the principal ingredients inserted in the bodies of mummies. 
 
 The Persian kings usually wore on their heads crowns composed 
 
 of Myrrh and Labyzus. In mediasval times, it was customary 
 
 for the king to make an oblation on Twelfth Day. In pursuance of 
 this custom, we read that so late as 1762 George III. made the usual 
 offering at the Chapel Royal, of gold. Frankincense, and Myrrh — 
 the gifts of the Magi, offered to the infant Saviour at Bethlehem ; 
 the gold typifying king; Frankincense, God; and Myrrh, man. 
 
 MYRTLE,— The father, mother, and brothers of Myrene, 
 a beautiful Grecian, were murdered by robbers, who despoiled 
 their home, and carried Myrene away. She escaped, however, and 
 on her return was made a priestess of Venus. On the occasion of 
 a festival, she discovered one of the assassins of her family, who 
 was seized, and disclosed the hiding-place of his confederates. 
 Myrene's lover promised that, if she would yield him her hand, he 
 would bring the rest of the band to punishment. He was successful, 
 and received his promised reward ; but Venus, offended at being 
 deprived of her favourite priestess, caused the bridegroom to expire 
 suddenly, and changed the bride into the Myrtle, which she ordained, 
 as a proof of her affedtion, should continue green and odoriferous 
 throughout the year. The Myrtle became, therefore, an especial 
 favourite with Venus. Reputed to possess the virtue not only of 
 creating love, but of preserving it, it was, both by the Greeks and 
 Romans, considered symbolic of love, and was appropriately con- 
 secrated to Venus, the goddess of love, around whose temples 
 groves of Myrtle were planted. It was behind a Myrtle-bush in the 
 island of Cythera, that Venus sought shelter when disturbed at her 
 bath by a band of Satyrs ; with Myrtle she caused Psyche to be 
 chastised for daring to compare her charms with the heaven-born 
 beauty of her mother-in-law ; and with Myrtle the goddess seledted 
 to deck her lovely brows when Paris adjudged to her the golden 
 Apple— the prize for supremacy of beauty : hence the shrub was 
 deemed odious to Juno and Minerva. Because she presided over 
 the Myrtle, Venus was worshipped under the name of Myrtea, and 
 had a temple dedicated to her under that appellation at the foot of 
 Mount Aventine. It is probable that the Myrtle was dedicated to 
 
pfant Tsore, Tsege^/, ani. Tsiji'io/'. 455 
 
 Venus because of its fondness for the sea — from the foam of which 
 the goddess sprang, and was wafted by the Zephyrs to the shore, 
 where she was received by the Horae, and crowned with Myrtle. 
 Myrtle chaplets were worn by her attendants, the Graces, and by 
 her votaries when sacrificing to her. During her festivals in April, 
 married couples (her prot6g6s) were decked with Myrtle wreaths. 
 The Myrtle of which the nuptial crowns were composed was the 
 
 Myrtus latifolia of Pliny, called by Cato Myrtus conjugula. The 
 
 Myrtle was adopted by Minerva and Mars ; the priests of the 
 latter deity being sometimes crowned with it. The plant was 
 also associated with Hymen, the son of Venus, and the Muse Erato, 
 whose chaplet was composed of Roses and Myrtle. It sometimes 
 symbolised unchaste love. In the festivals df Myrrha, the incestuous 
 mother of Adonis, the married women crowned themselves with 
 Myrtle. Virgil represents the vidlims of love in the infernal regions 
 hiding themselves behind bunches of Myrtle. At the festival of 
 the Bona Dea at Rome, where all other flowers and shrubs might 
 be used. Myrtle was forbidden to be placed on the altar, because 
 
 it encouraged sensual gratification. The Greeks were extremely 
 
 partial to the Myrtle. At their most sacred festival, the Eleusinian 
 mysteries, the initiates, as well as the high priest, who officiated at 
 the altar of Ceres, were crowned with Myrtle. The Athenian 
 magistrates wore chaplets of the fragrant shrub in token of their 
 authority; and bloodless victors ent>yined Myrtle with theiflLaurel 
 wreaths. WhenAristogitori and Harmodius set forth to free their 
 country from the tyranny of the Pisistratidse, their swords were 
 
 wreathed with Myrtle. With the Romans, the Myrtle was a 
 
 highly-esteemed plant, and invariably expressive of triumph and joy. 
 It also symbolised festivity, and, when steeped in wine, was supposed 
 to impart to it inyigoraling-qualities. On the ist of April, Roman 
 ladies, after bathing beneath the'Slyrtle-trees, crowned themselves 
 with the leaves, and proceeded to the shrine of Venus to offer 
 sacrifice. The Roman bridegroom decked himself with Myrjtle on 
 his bridal day ; and the hero wore it as a. badge of vidtory, and 
 sometimes interweaved it with Laurel in honour, of Venus and 
 Mars. When tKe Romans fought to guard the captured Sabine 
 women, they wore chaplets of Myrtle on their heads, and, according 
 to Pliny, after the combatants had at length become reconciled^ 
 they laid' down their weapons under a Myrtle, and purified them- 
 selves with its boughs. The tree was sacred to the Sabme Mars 
 Ouirinus • and two Myrtles stood before his temple, as two Laurels 
 stood before the temple of the Roman Mars, symbolising the 
 
 union of the Roman and Sabine peoples. The Romans crowned 
 
 themselves with Myrtle after a_vi(5tory, hut only when blood had 
 
 not been shed. Pliny delates that Romulus planted m Rome 
 
 two Myrtles, one of which became the favourite of the patri- 
 cians the other of the people. When the nobles won, the people a 
 Myrtle drooped ; when, on the other hand, the people were vie- 
 
456 pfant Tsors, Tseg&r^f, cmel Isijpicy. 
 
 torious, the patricians' Myrtle withered. As a charm to ensure a 
 successful journey, Roman pedestrians were accustomed to procure 
 
 and wear a Myrtle wreath. At Temnos, in Asia Minor, there 
 
 is a statue in Myrtle-wood consecrated by Pelops to Venus, as 
 a thank-offering for his marriage with Hippodamia. After the 
 death of Hippolytus, Phaedra, maddened with passionate grief, 
 pricked innumerable small holes in the leaves of a Myrtle with a 
 hair-pin. The geographer Pausanias states that this Myrtle was in 
 
 his time to be seen near the tomb of Phaedra at Trcezen. The 
 
 same writer relates that a Myrtle which had been the hiding place 
 of a hare was sele(5led by Diana to mark the site of a new city. 
 
 With the Jews, the Myrtle is a symbol of peace, and is often 
 
 so referred to in the Old Testament, notably by Nehemiah and 
 the prophets Zechariah and Isaiah. A variety, called the Broad- 
 leaved Jew's Myrtle, is held in especial veneration, and is fre- 
 quently used in Hebrew religious ceremonies. Branches of this and 
 other Evergreens are used in the eredlion of their tents at the Feast 
 of Tabernacles. At Aleppo, these tabernacles are made by fastening 
 to the corner of a wooden divan four slender posts as supports to a 
 diaper- work of green Reeds on all sides, leaving only a space in front 
 for the entrance, which on the outside is covered with fresh Myrtle. 
 Jewish maidens were wont to be decked with a bridal wreath of 
 Myrtle; but this wreath was never worn by a widow, or by 
 divorced women. This custom is still retained in Germany, where 
 
 the bride is adorned with a Myrtle wreath. The Oriental nations 
 
 are extremely partial to the Myrtle, and there is a tradition among 
 the Arabs that, when Adam was expelled from Paradise, he 
 brought the Myrtle with him, as being the choicest of fragrant 
 
 flowers. It is a popular belief in Somersetshire, that, in order to 
 
 ensure its taking root, it is necessary when planting a sprig of 
 Myrtle, to spread the skirt of your garment, and to look proud. 
 In the same county, there is a saying that " the flowering Myrtle is 
 the luckiest plant to have in your window, water it every morning, 
 
 and be proud of it." In Greece, there is a superstitious notion 
 
 that no one should pass near an odoriferous Myrtle without gathering 
 a perfumed bunch ; indifference to the attractions of Myrtle being 
 
 considered a sign of impotence and death. In the allegories of 
 
 Azz Eddin, the Rose says that the Myrtle is the prince of odori- 
 ferous plants. Rapin calls the Myrtle " of celestial race," and in 
 
 his poem has the following lines on it : — 
 
 " When once, as Fame reports, the Queen of l,ove 
 In Ida's valley raised a Myrtle grove, 
 Young wanton Cupids danced a summer's night 
 Round the sweet place by Cynthia's silver light. 
 Venus this charming green alone prefers. 
 And this of all the verdant kind is hers : 
 Hence the bride's brow with Myrtle wreaths is graced, 
 When the long-wished-for night is come at last ; 
 And Juno (queen of nuptial mysteries) 
 Makes all her torches of these fragrant trees. 
 
pfant )s>ot&, TSege^y, ani. Isn^naf. 457 
 
 Hence in Elysian fields are Myrtles said 
 
 To favour lovers with tlieir friendly shade, 
 
 There Phaedra, Procris (ancient poets feign), 
 
 And Eriphyle still of love complain. 
 
 Whose unextinguished flames e'en after death remain. 
 
 Nor is this all the honour Myrtles claim : 
 
 When from the Sabine war Tudertus came, 
 
 He wreathed his temples from the Myrtle grove, 
 
 Sacred to Triumph as before to Love." 
 
 To dream of seeing a fine Myrtle portends many lovers and a 
 legacy. If a married person dreams of Myrtle, it prognosticates a 
 second marriage. A similar dream for the second time portends a 
 second marriage to a person who has also been married before. 
 Myrtle seen in a dream denotes, as a rule, a numerous family, 
 wealth, and old age. 
 
 NARCISSUS.— The white, or Poet's, Narcissus owes its 
 origin to a beautiful youth of Bceotia, of whom it had been foretold 
 he should live happily until he beheld his own face. Caressed and 
 petted by the Nymphs, and passionately loved by the unhappy 
 Echo, he slighted and reje(5ted their advances ; but one day, when 
 heated by the chase, he stopped to quench his thirst in a stream, 
 and in so doing beheld the reiledtion of his own lovely features. 
 Enamoured instantly of his own beauty, he became spell-bound to 
 the spot, where he pined to death. Ovid relates how the flower 
 known by his name sprang from the corpse of Narcissus : — 
 
 " As wax dissolves, as ice begins to run, ^ 
 And trickle into drops before the sun. 
 So melts the youth, and languishes away ; 
 His beauty withers, and his limbs decay ; 
 And none of those attractive charms remain, 
 To which the slighted Echo sued in vain. 
 She saw him in his present misery. 
 Whom, spite of all her wrongs, she grieved to see ; 
 She answered sadly to the lover's moan, 
 Sighed back his sighs, and groaned to every groan. 
 ' Ah, youth belov'd in vain ! ' Narcissus cries ; 
 ' Ah, youth beloved in vain ! ' the Nymph replies. 
 ' Farewell ! ' says he ;— the parting sound scarce fell 
 From his faint lips but she replied, ' Farewell ! ' 
 Then on th' unwholesome earth he gasping lies, 
 Till death shuts up those self-admiring eyes. 
 To the cold shades his flitting ghost retires, 
 And in the Stygian waves itself admires. 
 
 For him the Naiads and the Dryads mourn, 
 Whom the sad Echo answers in her turn. 
 And now the sister-nymphs prepare his urn ; 
 When, looking for his corpse, they only found 
 A rising stalk, with yellow blossoms crown'd." — Addison. 
 
 The cup in the centre of the flower is fabled to contain the tears of 
 Narcissus. Virgil alludes to this (Georgic IV.) when, in speaking 
 of the occupations of bees, he says : " Some place within the house 
 the tears of Narcissus." Milton also refers to this fancy in the 
 
458 pfant Isore, Isege^/, and. l3(jri<y. 
 
 following lines, when introducing the Narcissus under its old 
 English name of Daffodil : — 
 
 " Bid Amaranthus all his beauty shed, 
 And Daffodillies fill their cups with tears, 
 To strew the laureat hearse where Lycid lies." 
 
 The Daffodil is supposed to be one of the flowers which Proserpine 
 was gathering when she was seized and carried off by Pluto (Dis). 
 The Earth, at the instigation of Jupiter, had brought forth the 
 lovely blossom for a lure to the unsuspecSting maid. An old Greek 
 hymn contains the tale: — 
 
 " In Sicilia's ever-blooming shade. 
 When playful Proserpine from Ceres strayed. 
 Led with unwary step, the virgin train 
 O'er .(Etna's steeps and Enna's flow'ry plain 
 Pluck'd with fair hand the silver-blossom'd bower, 
 And purpled mead, — herself a fairer flower ; 
 Sudden, unseen, amidst the twilight glade. 
 Rushed gloomy Dis, and seized the trembling maid." 
 
 Shakspeare, in ' A Winter's Tale,' alludes to the same story : — 
 
 " O Proserpina, 
 For the flowers now that, frightened, thou let'st fall. 
 From Dis's waggon ! Daffodils 
 That come before the swallow dares, and take 
 The winds of March vrith beauty." 
 
 Other accounts of a similar legend, slightly varied, state that it 
 was at the instigation of Venus that Pluto employed the Narcissus 
 to entice Proserpine to the lower world. Ancient writers re- 
 ferred to the Narcissus as the flower of deceit, on account of its 
 narcotic properties ; for although, as Homer assures us, it delights 
 heaven and earth by its odour and beauty, yet, at the same time, 
 it produces stupor, madness, and even death. It was conse- 
 crated both to Ceres and Proserpine, on which account Sophocles 
 poetically alludes to it as the garland of the great goddesses. 
 "And ever, day by day, the Narcissus, with its beauteous clusters, 
 the ancient coronet of the ' mighty goddesses,' bursts into bloom 
 
 by heaven's dew " {CEdipus Colmeus). The Fates wore wreaths of 
 
 the Narcissus, and the Greeks twined the white stars of the odorous 
 blossoms among the tangled locks of the Eumenides. A crown 
 composed of these flowers was wont to be woven in honour of the 
 infernal gods, and placed upon the heads of the dead. The Nar- 
 cissus is essentially the flower of Lent ; but when mixed with the 
 Yew, which is symbolical of the Resurredtion, it becomes a suitable 
 decoration for Easter: — 
 
 " See that there be stores of Lilies, 
 
 Called by shepherds Daffodillies." — Drayton. 
 Herrick, Shakspeare, Milton, Wordsworth, all sing the praises of 
 the Narcissus, or Lent Lily, the Daffodil and DafFadowndily of our 
 forefathers, — names which they formed from the still older one of 
 AfFodilly, a. corruption oi Asphodelus. 
 
pfant Isofe, TscgeT^/, ansl h{jt\af, 459 
 
 NASTURTIUM.— According to Rapin, the Nasturtium was 
 once a young Trojan huntsman ; but the Jesuit poet gives no details 
 of the metamorphosis, merely stating that 
 
 " Shield-like Nasturtium, too, confusedly spread, 
 With intermingling Trefoil fills each bed — 
 Once graceful youths ; this last a Grecian swain, 
 The first an huntsman on the Trojan plain." 
 
 Te shield-like form of the Nasturtium's leaves and its curiously- 
 shaped flowers, which resemble golden helmets, have obtained for 
 the plant the Latin name of " Tropceolum " (trophy). Its old English 
 
 names were Yellow Lark's-heels and Indian Cress. The seed 
 
 of the Nasturtium, according to Macer Floridus, possess a great 
 
 power to repel serpents. Linnaeus has recorded that his 
 
 daughter Elizabeth Christina observed the flowers of the Nas- 
 turtium emit spontaneously, at certain intervals, sparks like eledtric 
 ones, visible only in the evening. 
 
 NKEM. — The Neem-tree (Azardivachta Indica) is considered 
 by the Indians a sacred tree, and is described by their poets as the 
 type of everything bitter. Its bark is used as a substitute for 
 Cinchona in cases of fevers. 
 
 NELUMBO. — The Nelumbo, Sacred Lotus, or Padma {Ne- 
 lumbium speciosum), was the Sacred Bean of Egypt, the Rose 
 Lily of the Nile spoken of by Herodotus. The beauty of its 
 blossoms, which are sometimes of a brilliant red colour, but 
 rarely white, hanging over broad peltated leaves considerably 
 above the surface of the water, render this the most lovely and 
 graceful of all the Water Lilies ; and at the same time it is the most 
 interesting on account of its remote historical associations. Four 
 thousand years ago the Nelumbo was the emblem of sandlity in 
 Egypt amongst the priests of a religion long since defuncfl ; and the 
 plant itself has long been extindl in that country, though in India 
 and China the flowers are held especially sacred, and the plant is 
 commonly cultivated. The Chinese call this sacred flower the 
 ■Lien-wha, and prize it above all others. Celebrated for its beauty by 
 their poets, and ranked for its virtues among the plants which, ac- 
 cording to Chinese theology, enter into the beverage of immortality, 
 this Lien-wha is to the Chinese what the Gul or Rose is to the 
 Persians; and a moonlight excursion on a tranquil river covered 
 with its yellow blossoms is numbered by the inhabitants of the 
 Flowery Land among the supreme delights of mortal existence. 
 (See also Lotus and Nymph/ea). 
 
 NETTLE. — The Nettle is one of the five plants which are 
 stated by the Mishna to be the " bitter herbs " ordered to be par- 
 taken of by the Jews at the Feast of the Passover. In Ireland, 
 
 the Nettle of Timor is known as Daoun Sefm, or the Devil's Apron ; 
 ^nd in the southern parts of the island it is a common pradtice for 
 schoolboys^ once a year, to consider themselves privileged to run 
 
460 pfant Tsore, Taager^f, ansl Isijriq/'. 
 
 wildly about with a bunch of Nettles, striking at the face and hands 
 of their companions or of such other persons as they fancy they may 
 
 venture to assault with impunity. The Roman Nettle [Urticapilu- 
 
 Ufera\ is the most venomous of British Nettles, and is found abun- 
 dantly about Romney, in Kent, where, according to Camden, the 
 Roman soldiers brought the seed with them, and sowed it for their own 
 use, to rub and chafe their limbs when, through extreme cold, they 
 should be stiff and benumbed ; having been told before they came 
 from home that the climate of England was so cold that it was not 
 to be endured without having recourse to some fridtion to warm their 
 
 blood and to stir up natural heat. Among the various remedies 
 
 once prescribed for the " trembling fever," or ague, by Catherine 
 Oswald, a noted herbalist, was one which related to plucking up a 
 Nettle by the root three successive mornings before sunrise. In 
 bygone times. Nettle and Milfoil carried about the person used to 
 be believed to drive away fear, and to be a certain charm against 
 
 malignant spirits. The Scotch say that to cure the sting of a 
 
 Nettle, the person stung must rub the leaves of a Dock over the 
 part affected, repeating at the same time : " Nettle in, Dock out ; 
 Dock rub Nettle out." This charm was known to Chaucer, who 
 uses it as a common saying, implying lovers' inconstancy, in 
 ' Troilus and Cresside ' : — 
 
 " But canst thou play en racket to and fro, 
 
 Nettle in, Dock out, now this, now that, Pandure ? " 
 
 In German mythology, the Nettle was consecrated to the god Thor. 
 
 In the Tyrol, during thunderstorms, the mountaineers throw 
 
 Nettles on the fire to avert danger, and more especially to guard 
 themselves from lightning ; this custom also prevails in some parts 
 
 of Italy. In Germany, there exists a superstition that Nettles 
 
 gathered before sunrise will drive away evil spirits from cattle. 
 
 The god Thor was, among the ancient Germans, regarded as 
 
 the guardian deity of marriage ; hence it is, perhaps, that in Ger- 
 many Nettle-seed is believed to excite the passions and to facilitate 
 births. In dream lore, to fancy you are stung by Nettles indi- 
 cates vexation and disappointment ; to dream of gathering Nettles 
 denotes that someone has formed a favourable opinion of you ; 
 and if the dreamer be married, then that the domestic circle will be 
 
 blessed with concord and harmony. Astrologers place Nettles 
 
 under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 NIGHTSHADE.— The Deadly Nightshade {Atropa Bella- 
 ■■a), or Death's Herb, is a plant of ill omen, and one of which 
 witches are reported to be fond: it is so poisonous in its nature, 
 that Gerarde says: " If you will follow my counsell, deale not with 
 the same in any case, and banish it from your gardens, and the 
 use of it also, being a plant so furious and deadly ; for it bringeth 
 such as have eaten thereof into a dead sleepe, wherein many have 
 died." Buchanan relates that the Scots, under Macbeth, being 
 
pPant bore, "biegzr^f, ami. biji-iq/". 461 
 
 desirous of poisoning the Danes, treacherously took the oppor- 
 tunity, during a period of truce, to mix the poisonous Nightshade 
 with the beer with which they had agreed to supply them. Thus 
 stupefied, Sweno's army slept soundly, and the Scots, falling upon 
 
 their enemies, destroyed them in their helplessness. According 
 
 to Gassendi, a shepherd in Provence produced visions and pro- 
 phesied, through the use of Deadly Nightshade. The Nightshade 
 
 \Solanum Dulcamara) has poisonous red berries ; but the root and 
 
 leaves have been applied to several medicinal uses. The Vale 
 
 of Furness, Lancashire, is still known by the name of Valley of 
 Nightshade, on account of the plant being exceedingly plentiful 
 there. Sprigs of Nightshade appeared on the ancient seals of the 
 Abbey. 
 
 NIMBU. — The Nimbu {Melia Azedarach) is a native of the 
 warm parts of Asia, and bears a variety 01 names in different 
 countries, such as the Holy Tree, Pride of India, Bead Tree (in 
 allusion to the seeds being strung for chaplets) Persian Lilac, and 
 Hill Margosa. Bishop Heber saw it in India, and states that the 
 natives have a profound reverence for the tree, which they believe 
 has the power to ward off witchcraft and the Evil Eye. 
 
 NIPA PALM. — The Nipa, or Susa {Nipa fmticans), is the 
 sacred tree of Borneo, and is the most valuable of all growing things 
 to the Dyaks of that country. The seeds, it is recorded, lie dor- 
 mant in the fruit several years before germination, when the fruit 
 becomes detached from the plant and is floated off by the tide to 
 establish itself on some other mudbank. This plant only grows 
 where fever and Mangroves flourish. 
 
 None-so-Pretty, or Nancy-Pretty.— See London Pride. 
 
 Nosebleed. — See Yarrow. 
 
 NUTMEGS. — In the Middle Ages, a curious belief existed 
 that Nutmegs, Cloves, Cinnamon, and Ginger all grew on the same 
 ti-ee. The strength of the Nutmeg in the season is said so to over- 
 come the birds of Paradise, that they fall helplessly intoxicated. 
 
 To dream of Nutmegs is stated to be a sign of many impendmg 
 changes. 
 
 NUTS. When the Scandinavian god Loki, transformed into 
 
 a falcon, rescued Idhunn, the goddess of youthful life, from the 
 power of the Frost-giants, it was in the shape of a Hazel-nut that 
 
 he carried her off in his beak. The Hazel was sacred to Thor, 
 
 and was in olden times regarded as an aflual embodiment of light- 
 ning • hence it possessed great virtue as a promoter of fruitfulness, 
 and Hazel-nuts became a favourite medium in divinations relating 
 
 to love and marriage. In old Rome, Nuts were scattered at 
 
 marriages, as they are now in Italy and in Altmark.-— In West- 
 phalia Ind other parts of Germany, a few Nuts are mixed with the 
 seed-corn to act as a charm in making it prolific. In Hertford- 
 
462 pPant Isore, Tsege^/, cmsl "bn^riaf, 
 
 shire and other parts of England, as well as in Germany, a certain 
 relation is believed to exist between the produce of the Hazel- 
 bushes and the increase of the population ; a good Nut year always 
 bringing an abundance of babies. In Westphalia, the proverb runs, 
 
 " Plenty of Nuts, plenty of babies." Brand says it is a custom 
 
 in Iceland, when a maiden would know if her lover is faithful, to 
 put three Nuts upon the bar of a grate, naming them after her 
 lover and herself. If a Nut crack or jump, the lover will prove 
 faithless ; if it begin to blaze or burn, it is a sign of the fervour of 
 his affe(5lion. If the Nuts named after the girl and her swain burn 
 together, they will be married. This divination is still pradlised in 
 Scotland on Hallowe'en, whose mysterious rites Burns has immor- 
 talised in his poem, containing these lines : — 
 
 " Some merry friendly countree folks 
 Together did convene 
 To bum their Nits and pu' their stocks, 
 And hand their Hallowe'en, 
 
 Fu' blithe that night." 
 
 A similar custom has for years existed in Ireland ; and Gray, long 
 before Burns, had evidenced that the superstitions of Hallowe'en 
 or Nutcrack Night (Odtober 31st) were known and pra(5lised in 
 England, as thus — 
 
 " Two Hazel-nuts I threw into the flame. 
 And to each Nut I gave a sweetheart's name. 
 This with the loudest bounce me sore amazed, 
 That with a flame of brightest colour blazed. 
 As blazed the Nut, so may thy passion grow ; 
 For 'twas iAji Nut that did so brightly glow." 
 
 In Bohemia, on Christmas Eve, girls fix coloured wax lights in 
 the shells of the first parcel of Nuts they have opened that day, 
 light them all at the same time, and set them floating in the water, 
 after mentally giving to each the name of a wooer. He whose 
 lighted bark first approaches the girl will be her future husband. 
 If an unwelcome suitor seems likely to be first in, the girl endea- 
 vours to retard the shell by blowing against it, and by this means 
 the favourite's bark usually wins. Should, however, one of the lights 
 
 be perchance blown out, it is accounted a portent of death. 
 
 The instrument used by the nutter in robbing the Hazel of its 
 fruit seems to have been formerly regarded as opprobrious, and as 
 suggestive of a thief: thus, in the ' Merry Wives of Windsor,' Nym 
 says : " If you run the Nut -hook's humour on me," or, in other words, 
 " If you call me a thief." Again, in ' Henry IV.,' Part II., Doll 
 Tearsheet cries out to the beadle: "Nut-hook, Nut -hook, you 
 
 lie ! " In Sussex, there is a proverb current : " As black as the 
 
 De'il's nutting bag ;" and it is held to be dangerous to go out 
 nutting on Sunday, for fear of meeting the Evil One, who haunts 
 the Nut -bushes, and sometimes appears to nutters in friendly guise, 
 
 and holds down the branches for them to strip. In bygone times, 
 
 it was believed that a spirit of a weird and sinister charad1:er in- 
 
pPant Isoi-e, begeTjti/, anS Isiji'lo/-, 463 
 
 habited a Nut-grove. There is a superstition that the ashes of 
 
 the shells of Hazel-nuts have merely to be applied to the back 
 of a child's head to ensure the colour of the iris in the infant's 
 
 eyes turning from grey to black. In Germany, Nuts are 
 
 placed in tombs, as being emblematic of regeneration and im- 
 mortality. Searchers in the old tombs of Wurtemburg sometimes 
 found Pumpkins and Walnuts, but always a number of Nuts. 
 
 In some countries. Hazel-nuts are supposed to be endowed 
 
 with the power of discovering or attrafling wealth. Thus, in 
 Russia, there is a belief that anyone carrying a Nut in his house will 
 make money ; and on this account many of the Russian peasantry 
 invariably carry adouble Nut in their purses. In fairy tales, we often 
 find good fairies using Nuts as their carriages : as, in ' Romeo and 
 Juliet,' Mercutio speaks of Queen Mab arriving in a Nut-shell. 
 
 There is a legend that St. Agatha every year crosses the sea 
 
 from Catania to Gallipoli on a Nut-shell, which she employs as a 
 
 boat. Authorities on the subjedl say that to dream that you see 
 
 Nut-trees, and that you crack and eat their fruit, signifies riches and 
 content gained with toil and pain. Clusters of Nuts imply happi- 
 ness and success : to dream of gathering Nuts is a bad omen ; and to 
 dream of finding Nuts that have been hid signifies the discovery of 
 treasure. 
 
 NYMPH^A. — The Nymphaa cmrulea is the Lily of the Nile, 
 the Lotus of ancient Egypt; but not the Sacred Bean, which was 
 
 the Nelumbium speciosum. (See Lotus and Nelumbo). According 
 
 to German tradition, the Undines often conceal themselves from 
 mortal gaze under the form of Nymphseas. This beautiful Water- 
 lily was deemed by the Frisians to have a magical power. Dr. 
 Halbertsma has stated that, when a boy, he remembers people 
 were extremely careful in plucking and handling them ; for if anyone 
 fell with such a flower in his possession, he became immediately 
 
 subject to fits. The Wallachians have a superstition that every 
 
 flower has a soul, and that the Water-lily is the sinless and scent- 
 less flower of the lake, which blossoms at the gates of Paradise to 
 judge the rest, and that she will enquire stridtly what they have done 
 with their odours. 
 
 OAK. — Rapin tells us that amon^ the ancients there were 
 many conjectural reports as to the origin of the Oak, and the 
 country which first knew the sacred tree : but the popular tradition 
 which met with most credence, he considers, was as follows:— 
 
 " When Jupiter the world's foundation laid, 
 Great earth-born giants heaven did invade ; 
 And Jove himself— when these he did subdue — 
 His lightning on the factious brethren threw. 
 Tellus her sons' misfortunes does deplore. 
 And while she cherishes the yet-warm gore 
 Of Rhoecus, from his monstrous body grows 
 A vaster trunk, and from his breast arose 
 
464 pfant T9ore, Tsege^/, ani. ISijrie/, 
 
 A harden'd Oak ; his shoulders are the same, 
 
 And Oak his high exalted head became. 
 
 His hundred arms, which lately through the air 
 
 Were spread, now to as many boughs repair. 
 
 A sevenfold bark his now stiff trunk does bind ; 
 
 And where the giant stood a tree we find. 
 
 The earth to Jove straight consecrates this tree, 
 
 Appeasing so his injured deity. 
 
 Thus Oaks grew sacred, in whose shelter plac'd. 
 
 The first good men enjoy'd their Acorn feast." 
 
 To do full justice to the legendary lore connected with the 
 Oak, it would be necessary to devote a volume to the subject : 
 the largest, strongest, and as some say, the most useful of the trees 
 of Europe, it has been generally recognised as the king of the 
 forest, 
 
 " Lord of the woods, the long-surviving Oak." 
 
 An emblem of majesty and strength, the Oak has been revered 
 as a symbol of ^God_by_aimQSt_a.njJ]ie,nfitinpg of tT^athend£mi>_gTid 
 ^]^_thejjgwisti patriarchs. . It was underneath the Oaks ofMarnre 
 that^ Abralji^, JW-elt a long time,and. there he efected an' altar 
 toHthe Lord, and there "he received tfie three~ ai5gels. It was 
 Underneath^an Oak that Jacsbiiid.the idpls_of Hs chijdrenjfor this 
 tree was held sacred and inviolable (Gen. xxxv., 2 — 4). Under the 
 "XJak ofweeping," the venerable Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, was 
 interred. The messenger of the Lord that appeared fo~ Gideon 
 sat beneath an Oak ; and it was a branch of one of these trees that 
 caught the flowing hair of Absalom, and so caused the death of 
 King David's beloved son. The Oaks of Bashan are several times 
 mentioned in the Bible, and in the sacred volume we are informed 
 that the Israelites worshipped and offered sacrifices beneath the 
 shadow of Oaks which they considered as sacred (Hosea iv., 13 ; 
 Ezekiel vi., 13 ; Isaiah i., 29). 
 
 The ancient Greeks attributed the deluge of Boeotia to the 
 quarrels between Jupiter and Juno. After the rain had ceased and 
 the water subsided, an oaken statue became visible, eredted, it is 
 supposed, as a symbol of the peace concluded between the king of 
 the gods and his consort. The Oak was thought by the Greeks to 
 have- been the first tree that grew on the earth, and to have 
 yielded for man Acorns and honey, to ejisuje^noimshment and 
 fecurid'ify. They called ft, indeed, theCmother-t^ and they 
 regarded: it as a tree from which the human "race'Tiad originally 
 sprung — a belief shared by the Romans, for we find Virgil speaking 
 
 " Of nymphs and fauns, and savage men, who took 
 Their birth from trunks of trees and stubborn Oak." 
 
 Acorns were the first food of man, and there is an old Greek 
 proverb in which a man's age and experience are expressed by 
 saying that he had eaten of Jove's Acorns. Some of the classic 
 authors speak of the fatness of the earliest inhabitants of Greece 
 and Southern Europe, who, living in the primeval forests, were 
 
pfanC bore, begel^/, aai bLjno/. 465 
 
 supported almost wholly upon the fruit of the Oak ; these primitive 
 people were called Balanophagi (eaters of Acorns). 
 
 Homer mentions people entering into compacts under Oaks as 
 places of security, for the tree was highly reverenced by the 
 Greeks, and held a prominent place in their Eeligious_aiid_«ther 
 ceremonies^ The Arcadians believed that by stirring with an Oak- 
 branch thrwaters of a fountain near a temple of Jupiter, on Mount 
 Lycius, rain could be caused to fall. The Fates and Hecate were 
 crowned with Oak-leaves ; and a chaplet of Oak adorned the brow 
 of the Dodonseari Jove. 
 
 "TheTelasgic'oracIe of Jupiter, or Zeus, at Dodona, was situated 
 at the foot of Mount Tamarus, in a wood of Oaks, and the answers 
 were given by an aged woman, called Pelias: and a.s pelias, in the 
 Attic dialedl, means dove, the fable arose that the doves prophesied 
 in the Oak groves of Dodona. Respefling the origin of this oracle, 
 Herodotus narrates that two priestesses of Egyptian Thebes were 
 carried away by Phoenician merchants : one of these was conveyed 
 to Libya, where she founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon ; the 
 other to Greece. The latter remained in the Dodonaean wood, 
 which was much frequented on account of the Acorns. There she 
 had a temple built at the foot of an Oak in honour of Jupiter, whose 
 priestess she had been in Thebes, and here afterwards the oracle 
 was founded. This far-spreading speaking Oak was a lofty and 
 beautiful tree, with evergreen leaves and sweet edible Acorns (the 
 first sustenance of mankind). The Pelasgi regarded this tree as the 
 tree of life. In it the god was supposed to reside, and the rustling 
 of its leaves and the voices of birds showed his presence. When 
 the questioners entered, the Oak rustled, and the Peliades said, 
 " Thus speaks Zeus." Incense was burned beneath the tree, and 
 sacred doves continually inhabited it ; and at its foot a cold spring 
 gushed, as it were, from its roots, and from its murmur the inspired 
 priestesses prophesied. The ship Argo having been built with 
 the wood of trees felled in the Dodonaean grove, one of its beams 
 was endowed with prophetic or oracular power, and counselled the 
 hardy voyagers. Socrates swore by the Oak, the sacred tree of the 
 oracles, and consequently the tree of knowledge. 
 
 The Romans regarded the Oak as sacred, and the chosen tree 
 of Jupiter, who was sheltered by it at his birth. Thus Lucan 
 mentions "Jove's Dodonaean tree,'' and Ovid, in alluding to the 
 primitive food of man, speaks of Acorns dropping from the tree of 
 Jove. The Oak, says Virgil, is 
 
 ' ' Jove's own tree 
 That holds the worlds in awful sovereignty. 
 
 For length of ages lasts his happy reign, 
 
 And lives of mortal men contend in vain ; 
 
 Full in the midst of his own strength he stands, 
 
 Stretching his brawny arms and leafy hands ; 
 
 His shade protects the plains, his head the hills commands." 
 
 2 H 
 
466 pfant Isore, Tsege^/, ani. Isijric/, 
 
 We have seen how Acorns formed the earliest food of mankind, 
 and in ancient Rome the substitution of Corn was attributed to the 
 bounty of Ceres, who, through the instrumentahty of Triptolemus, 
 taught the inhabitants of the earth its use and cultivation. 
 
 " The Oak, whose Acorns were our food before 
 That Ceres' seed of mortal man was known. 
 Which first Triptoleme taught how to be sovm.— Spenser. 
 
 To commemorate this gift, Oak was worn in the festivals in 
 honour of Ceres, as also by the husbandmen in general at the 
 commencement of harvest. In the Eleusinian mysteries, Oaken 
 chaplets were worn. 
 
 " Then crowned with Oaken chaplets, marched the priest 
 Of Eleusinian Ceres, and with boughs 
 Of Oak were overshadowed in the feast 
 The teeming basket and the mystic vase." — Ttghe. 
 
 A Roman who saved the life of another was adjudged a crown 
 of Oak-leaves : thus Lucan writes : — 
 
 " Straight Lselius from amidst the rest stood forth — 
 An old centurion, of distinguished worth ; 
 The Oaken wreath his hardy temples wore, 
 Mark of a citizen preserved he bore." 
 
 This civic crown of Oak conferred many notable tokens of 
 honour upon its possessor, who was exempted from all civil bur- 
 dens, and enjoyed many rights. At Roman weddings, boughs of 
 Oak were carried during the ceremonies as emblems of fecundity. 
 
 " With boughs of Oak was graced the nuptial train ; 
 And Hecate (whose triple form surveys 
 And guards from rapine the nocturnal path) 
 Entwined with boughs of Oak her spiral snakes."— 7Xj/5«. 
 
 Like the Greeks and Romans, the Scandinavians, in their 
 mythology, traced the origin of mankind from either the Ash or 
 the Oak. By the Teutons and Celts the Oak was invested with 
 a mystical sacred charadter, and it was connedted with the 
 worship of their god Teutates, Among the German people, who 
 consecrated the Oak to the god Thunar, the cultus of the sacred 
 tree lingered for a long time, even after Boniface, the apostle of 
 the Germans, at Geismar, on the Weser, had caused the Oak 
 consecrated to the god of thunder to be uprooted. After the 
 establishment of Christianity, the Oak was long supposed to be 
 the abidmg-place of the terrible Northern god, and was, conse- 
 quently, regarded with superstitious awe. Bishop Otho, of Bamberg, 
 m the year 1 128, found at Stettin pagan temples, situate near an 
 Oak and a fountam, which had been objects of worship, and were 
 still regarded with superstitious awe, as being consecrated to a 
 god. As the good bishop could not induce the people to cut 
 down these sacred Oaks, he persuaded them that they were inha- 
 bited by evil spirits and demons; and, in course of time, the people 
 
ipfant Isore, IsegeT^ti/, ani. I'ifijricy. 467 
 
 who before had prostrated themselves before the trees, shunned 
 them in superstitious dread and terror. 
 
 The ancient Britons dedicated the Oak to Taranis, their god 
 of thunder; and the Celts, under the form of an Oak, are by some 
 authorities stated to have worshipped Baal, the god of fire. On 
 the occasion of an auto-da-fe, we are told that fagots of " grey " 
 Oak were always seleifted. The festival of Baal was kept at Yule 
 (Christmas) ; and on the anniversary, the Druids are said to have 
 ordained that every fire should be extinguished, and then re-lighted 
 with the sacred fire, which, in their sacerdotal charadter, they always 
 kept burning. In this rite, it is supposed, may be traced the origin 
 of the Yule-log, the kindling of which, at Christmas-time, is still 
 kept up in England, though in this country the log is often of Ash. 
 Among the Germans, Czechs, Serbs, and Italians, however, the 
 Yule-log is always of Oak. 
 
 The Mistletoe which grew on an Oak was regarded by the 
 Druids as the most holy ; it was beneath the shade of venerated 
 Oaks that they performed their sacred rites ; and when they offered 
 up human sacrifices, the victims, in grim mockery, were crowned 
 with Oak-leaves. The baskets in which they were immolated were 
 composed of Oaken twigs, and the brands with which the sacrificial 
 fires were kindled were cut from Oak-trees. The priests scat- 
 tered branches of the Oak upon the altars, and after the sacrifice 
 fresh Oak-leaves were cast upon the blood-stained stones. 
 
 Alluding to the human sacrifices which polluted the recesses of 
 the Druidic groves of Oak, and caused them to be regarded 
 with shuddering terror, Tighe says :— 
 
 ' ' Such groves in night terrific wrapt the gods 
 Of Gaul, where fostering nymph dared never tread, 
 Nor sylvan deity ; no bird here couched 
 Her wing; no beast here slumbered in his lair ; 
 No zephyr woke the silence of the boughs ; 
 Alone at eve the trembling Druid sought 
 The mystic oracle ; alone entranced 
 Amid the sanctuary stood, whose foul 
 Expanse in horrors veiled a dreaded god " 
 
 When an Oak died, the Druids stripped off its bark, and 
 shaped it reverently into the form of a pillar, a pyramid, or a 
 cross, and still continued to worship it as an emblem of their god. 
 In Anglesea, the ancient Mona, are stiU dug up great trunks of 
 Oak, relics of the Druids' holy groves. The central Oak was the 
 peculiar object; of veneration. The poet relates how men of old, 
 " When through the woods the Northern blast 
 Howled harsh appeased with horrid cries and blood 
 The Scythian Taranis ; or bowed around^ 
 The central Oak of Mona's dismal shade " 
 The Druids it is believed revered the form of the cross. It is 
 stated to have been their custom to seek studiously for a large and 
 handsome Oak-tree, growing up with two principal arms m the 
 
 3H — 2 
 
468 pfant "biore-, T^eger^G/, and 'bijrie/. 
 
 form of a cross beside the main stem. If the two horizontal arms 
 were not sufficiently adapted to the figure, they fastened a cross- 
 beam to it. Then they consecrated it by cutting upon the right 
 branch the word Hesus, upon the middle stem Taranis, and upon 
 the left branch Belenus, and over them the word Thau. The tree 
 thus inscribed was deemed peculiarly sacred, and to it they diredted 
 their faces when offering prayer. 
 
 It was beneath the shade of the Oak that Druidic criminal 
 trials were held — the judge and jury being seated under the 
 branches, and the prisoner placed in a circle traced by the wand of 
 the chief Druid. With the Saxons, the Oak retained its sacred 
 chara(5ler, and their national meetings were held beneath its shelter. 
 It was below the Oaks of Dartmoor that they held their conference 
 with the Britons, whose land they were invading. 
 
 In Great Britain, the Oak remained an objecfl of veneration 
 long after the establishment of Christianity. It was under an aged 
 Oak that St. Brigid of Ireland established her retreat for holy 
 women, whence called Kildara, or cell of the Oak. Here had been 
 burning for many centuries the sacred fire of the Druids, but by the 
 piety of St. Brigid the hght of Christianity was henceforth to emit 
 its flame from beneath 
 
 " The Oak of St. Bride, which demon nor Dane, 
 Nor Saxon, nor Dutchman could rend from her fane.'' 
 
 Many of the Druidical sacred Oaks were utilised by the early 
 preachers of the Christian faith, who from beneath their boughs 
 preached the gospel of Christ to the pagan inhabitants. Hence 
 these trees became noted throughout the country as Gospel Oaks, 
 a name which still appertains to many ancient trees existing at the 
 present time in England. It is right to say, however, that other 
 authorities consider the origin of the name to have been the custom 
 of reading the Gospel of the day at a certain tree, when the priest 
 went round the fields to bless the crops. 
 
 The Sclavonians worshipped Oaks, which they enclosed in a 
 consecrated court. This spot was the sancfluary of all the country, 
 and had its priest, its festivals, and its sacrifices. The inner 
 sandtuary, where grew the sacred Oak, was reserved especially for 
 the priests, sacrificers, and people in danger of their life, who had 
 sought of the priests an asylum. It is said that the ancient 
 Russians, upon arriving at the Isle of St. George, offered up 
 sacrifices beneath a great Oak, before which the people and priests 
 chanted a Te Dmm. After the ceremony, the priest distributed the 
 branches of the Oak among the people. 
 
 It is curious to note how the old Grecian belief in the sacred 
 and supernatural character of the Oak has lingered in Italy. Prof, 
 de Gubernatis tells us that in the Campagna of Romej about 
 seventeen years ago, a young shepherdess, during a storm,' sought 
 shelter under an Oak, and prayed to the Madonna. Whilst she 
 
pPant T9oi'e, l9ege1|&/, oiTi. ^S^f'\af, 469 
 
 prayed, a gracious lady appeared before her, and, thanks to her 
 intercession, no rain fell on the Oak, and the girl was enabled to 
 reach home without being wetted by a single drop. Everyone saw 
 it was a miracle ; the cur^ examined her, and from his representa- 
 tions the young girl was received into a convent at Rome, where 
 she probably is preparing herself for canonisation. Under similar 
 circumstances, two centuries ago, a Tuscan shepherdess, Giovanna 
 of Signa, was canonised. In the distridt of Signa, near Ginestra, 
 the villagers still show a sacred Oak, which people kneel to and 
 adore. The story runs that one day the shepherdess Giovanna, 
 surprised by a storm, called around her the shepherds and their flocks, 
 and stuck her shepherdess's crook into the ground ; when, wondrous 
 to relate, at the same instant shot forth an Oak, which sheltered 
 beneath its branches shepherds and sheep. No one was wetted by 
 the rain. On account of this miracle, Giovanna was made a saint, 
 and near the sacred Oak a little chapel was erected to the Virgin. 
 Strange to say, the tree throws down anyone climbing into its 
 branches to cut boughs ; but people are permitted to pluck sprays, 
 which are believed to guard themselves and their houses from the 
 effects of storms, provided that the names of Jesus and Mary are 
 invoked with certain ceremonies. 
 
 Among the Bolognese, who inhabit a distridl once occupied by 
 the Celts, and consequently Druidic, the sacred charadler of Oak- 
 trees was long acknowledged. In the fourteenth century, there 
 stood in Bologna an ancient Oak, which was regarded with the 
 greatest reverence, and beneath its boughs all important gatherings 
 of the people took place. In their religious processions the children 
 still carry garlands of the Oak and Olive. In the country distri(5ls, 
 images of the Virgin are often suspended from Oak-trees, and 
 these effigies are called after the trees, the little Madonnas of the 
 Oak. A legend of Bologna relates that in a chapel an image of the 
 Virgin had long been neglected, and overlooked, till, one day, a 
 pious shepherd took it away, and placed it in the trunk of a Cork- 
 tree (a species of Oak, the Quercus Suber). Henceforth he visited it 
 daily, and to honour the Virgin played on the flute. The thief 
 having been denounced, the shepherd was seized and condemned 
 to death ; but during the night, through the intervention oi the 
 Madonna, the statue and the shepherd both returned to their 
 favourite tree, and notwithstanding subsequent efforts to remove, 
 them they again took up their place beneath its boughs. Then, 
 the people recognised a miracle performed by the Virgin, and 
 falling on their knees before the statue in the Oak, they asked 
 
 pardon of the shepherd. ^ 1 **. ■ 
 
 The time-honoured belief in the sacred and supernatural attri- 
 butes of the Oak have doubtless caused it to be regarded, even at 
 the present day, as a tree which would vicariously bear the diseases, 
 of men Thus, in England, Cross Oaks, which were trees planted 
 at the junaure of cross-roads, were formerly resorted to by peopla 
 
suffering from ague, for the purpose of transferring to them their 
 malady : this they did by pegging a lock of their hair into one of 
 the trees, and then, by a sudden wrench, transferring the lock from 
 their heads to the Oak, and with the lock the ague. 
 
 In Germany, there still exists a custom of creeping through an 
 Oak cleft to cure hernia and other disorders. There was, near 
 Wittstock, in Altmark, a bushy Oak, the branches of which had 
 grown together again at some distance from the stem, leaving open 
 spaces between them. Whoever crept through these spaces was 
 freed from his malady, whatever it might be, and many crutches 
 lay about, which had been thrown away by visitors to the tree 
 whose ailments had been cured. In Russia, a similar custom is 
 extant, the favourite tree there being the Quercus Ilex. 
 
 A belief that Oak-trees were the homes of Dryads, Hama- 
 dryads, spirits, elves, and fairies has existed since the days of 
 the ancient Greeks. Pindar speaks of a Hamadryad as "doomed 
 to a term of existence coeval with the Oak." Callimachus repre- 
 sents Melia "deeply sighing for her coeval Oak," and tells us that 
 
 " The Dryads laugh when vernal shower? return ; 
 O'er Autumn's fading leaves the Dryads mourn." 
 
 Preston, in his translation of Apollonius, makes a Hamadryad 
 plead in vain for her existence, threatened by the destrudtion of 
 the Oak in which she dwelt : — 
 
 " As in the mountain, with repeated stroke, 
 The churlish fellow felled the stubborn Oak ; 
 Impious, he scorned the Hamadryad's prayer, 
 And smote the tree coeval with the fair. 
 With streaming tears she pleads a suppliant strain 
 To that unfeeling churl, but pleads in vain. 
 ' Oh, rustic, stay, nor wound the hallowed rind. 
 For ages with that stem I live entwined.' " 
 
 In Germany, the holes in the trunks of Oaks are thought to 
 be utilised by the elves inhabiting the trees as means of entry 
 and exit ; in our own country. Oaks have always been reputed as 
 the trees in whose boughs elves delighted to find shelter. The 
 fairies, too, were fond of dancing around Oaks: thus Tighe, apos- 
 trophising the monarch of the forest, exclaims: — 
 
 " The fairies from their nightly haunt, 
 In copse, or dell, or round the trunk revered 
 Of Heme's moon-silvered Oak, shall chase away 
 Each fog, each blight, and dedicate to peace 
 Thy classic shade." 
 
 In these hnes allusion is made to a famous tree in Windsor 
 Forest, one of a long series of celebrated Oaks — "lusty trees" 
 which, as Robert Turner writes, England "did once so flourish 
 with, that It was called Druina by some." One of these, known 
 as the Cadenham Oak, m the New Forest, is said, hke the Glas- 
 tonbury Thorn, to mark the birthday of our Lord by budding on 
 Christmas Day. Another, renowned as the Royal Oak, is rever- 
 
pfant Isofe, Isegel^/, driel Taqrioy. 471 
 
 enced as having been the hiding-place of Charles II., after the 
 battle of Worcester. In this tree, not far from Boscobel House, 
 the king, and his companion. Col. Careless, or Carless, resorted 
 when they thought it no longer safe to remain in the house — the 
 family giving them vidluals on a Nut-hook. From this tree Charles 
 gathered some Acorns, and set them himself in St. James's Park: — 
 
 " Blest Charles then to an Oak his safety owes; 
 The Royal Oak, which now in songs shall live. 
 Until it reach to heaven with its boughs — 
 Boughs that for loyalty shall garlands give." 
 
 In many parts of England, Oak-branches are suspended over 
 doorways, and gilded Oak-leaves and Oak-Apples are worn, on 
 Royal Oak Day (May 29th), in celebration of King Charles's resto- 
 ration, and his preservation in the Boscobel Oak, which is still 
 extant. 
 
 Seven Oaks liave given a name to a village in Kent ; and 
 Dean Stanley has described a row of seven Oaks standing at a par- 
 ticular spot in Palestine to which the following curious legend is 
 locally attached : — After Cain had murdered his brother, he was 
 punished by being compelled to carry the dead body of Abel during 
 the lengthened period of five hundred years, and then to bury it in 
 this place. Upon doing so, he planted his staff to mark the grave, 
 and out of this staff grew up the seven Oak trees. 
 
 The aged Oaks of Germany excited the wonder and respedt of 
 Tacitus, who, speaking of one of the giants of the Hercynian forest, 
 exclaims: " Its majestic grandeur surpasses all belief ; no axe has 
 ever touched it ; contemporary with the creation of the world, it is 
 a symbol of immortality." Sacred trees, or pillars formed of living 
 trunks of trees, many of which were Oaks, were to be found in 
 ancient Germany, called Irmenseule. The world-tree of Romowe, 
 the ancient sacred centre of the Prussians, was an evergreen Oak. 
 The Oak of St. Louis at Vincennes, and the Oak of the Partisans 
 at St. Ouen, are trees regarded with reverence by the French. 
 
 Evelyn considers that the wood used for our Saviour's cross 
 was Oak ; founding his belief on the statements made by divers 
 learned men who had studied the subject, and " upon accurate 
 examination of the many fragments pretended to be parcels of it." 
 The same author speaks of " the fatal praeadmonition of Oaks 
 bearing strange leaves"; and tells us that sleeping under Oak- 
 trees will cure paralysis, and recover those whom the malign 
 influence of the Walnut-tree has smitten. Paulus a Danish 
 physician, averred that one or two handfu s of small Oak-buttons 
 mingled with Oats given to black horses will change them in a few 
 dayl to a fine dapple-grey. Bacon says that there is an old tradi- 
 tion that if boughs of Oak be put into the earth, they will bring 
 forth wild Vines; he also remarks that in his day country people 
 had "I kind of prediction that if the Oake-apple, broken, be full 
 of wormes, it is a signe of a pestilent yeare." It is said that when 
 
472 pPant 1sore, Iscger^/, and. ^^^t'[af, 
 
 the Oak comes out before the Ash, it is a sign that there will be 
 fine weather in harvest. The Kentish people have a saying : — 
 
 " Oak, smoke ; 
 Ash squash.' 
 
 and that if the Oak conies out before the Ash, the summer will be 
 hot ; but if after the Ash, that it will be wet. Authorities in dream 
 lore state that it is a very favourable omen to dream of an Oak- 
 tree : if covered with verdure, it signifies a long and happy life ; 
 if devoid of foliage or withered, it betokens poverty in old age ; to 
 see many young Oaks thriving foretells male children, who will 
 reap distinction by bravery ; Oaks bearing Acorns betoken great 
 wealth ; and a blasted Oak forebodes sudden death. 
 
 Astrologers state that the Oak-tree is under the dominion of 
 Jupiter. 
 
 OATS. — Oats did not enjoy a good reputation among the an- 
 cient Romans, and Pliny writes of them : — Primum omnium frumenti 
 vitium Avena est. In old English books, the Oat is called Haver 
 or Hafer corn, and to this day in Wales it is still called Hever. 
 In Scandinavian mythology, the " Hafer " of the evil genius 
 Loki is synonymous with Oats of the Devil, a term originally 
 
 applied to all herbs hurtful to cattle. The Danes call the 
 
 plant Polytrichum commune Loki's Oats ; and in the tradition that 
 the diabolic God of the North is wont mischievously to sow 
 weeds among the good seed is probably to be found the origin 
 
 of the English saying, " He is sowing his wild Oats." In the 
 
 Ukraine, there is a tradition that on one occasion the Devil be- 
 sought the Almighty to make him a present. God responded : 
 " What is there that I can give you ? I cannot part with the 
 Rye, or the Barley, or the Millet : I must give you the Oats." 
 The Devil, well pleased, withdrew, crying, " Hurrah ! the Oats, the 
 Oats, are mine ! " Then God inquired of St. Peter and St. Paul: 
 " What can I do, seeing that I have handed them over to him ?" 
 " Verily," said Paul, " I will at once go and get them from him." 
 " How will you manage that ? " " Leave that to me," replied Paul. 
 "Very well-— go ! " St. Paul passed the Devil, and hid himself 
 beneath a bridge. Presently the Devil came along shouting " Oats ! 
 Oats ! " St, Paul commenced to shriek. The Devil stopped short. 
 "Why have you thus frightened me ? " he asked. " God has given 
 me a plant, and now you have made me quite forget its name." 
 " Was it Rye ? " " No," " Wheat ? " " No." " Could it have 
 been the Sow-thistle ? " " Ah ! that was it, that was it ! " exclaimed 
 
 the Devil, and he ran off shouting, " Sow-thistle, Sow-thistle." 
 
 The contortions of the Animal Oat (Avena sterilis) are very notice- 
 able : the strong beards, after the seeds have fallen off, are so 
 sensible of alteration in the atmosphere, that they maintain an 
 apparently spontaneous motion, resembling that of some grotesque 
 insiecfl. In olden times, conjurors and wizards predicfted events 
 
pPant 1901*©, Isege'r^t)/, arisl "biji-icy, 473 
 
 and told fortunes by means of the awns of these Oats, which they 
 caused to wriggle about by holding them in a damp hand, or breath- 
 ing upon them. In these jugglers' hands the Wild Oat became a 
 magical plant, figuring at their will as the leg of an enchanted 
 
 spider, Egyptian fly, or some other wonderful insedt. To dream 
 
 of a field of ripe Oats just ready for the sickle is a most favour- 
 able omen, under all circumstances. 
 
 Old Man. — See Southernwood. 
 
 OLEANDER. — The banks of the Meles, the rivulet sacred 
 to Homer, are in some parts thickly set with Nerium Oleander, a 
 plant which bears a funereal and sinister character, and in Italy is 
 considered as ill-omened and as bringing disgrace and misfortune. 
 In Tuscany and Sicily, it is customary to cover the dead with 
 Oleander-blossoms, and in India chaplets of these flowers are 
 placed on the brows of the departed : the blossoms are also in that 
 country much used in the decoration of temples. The Hindus call 
 the shrub the " Horse-killer," from a notion that horses inadver- 
 tently eating of its foliage are killed by it. The Italians bestow a 
 similar name on the plant — Ammazza I'Asino, Ass-bane. Gerarde 
 remarks that the flowers and leaves prove fatal to many quad- 
 rupeds, and that sheep and goats drinking water wherein the leaves 
 have fallen are sure to die. In England, the plant is known as the 
 Rose Bay and Laurel Rose. In Tuscany, it is called Mazza di San 
 Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Staff'), and there is a legend that this staff 
 commenced to blossom direflly St. Joseph took it in his hands. 
 
 OLIVE. — The legend runs, that in the days of Cecrops, king 
 of Attica, the two rival deities, Neptune and Minerva, strove for 
 the worship of the Athenians. Each claimed priority of right : 
 Neptune, by a salt spring, which his trident had opened in the 
 rock ot the Acropolis; Minerva, by pointing to the Olive-tree, 
 which at her command had sprung from the soil. The gods in 
 council decided that the latter was the earlier, as well as the more 
 useful, gift ; and so Minerva became the tutelary deity of the city, 
 and the early Athenian rulers endeavoured to turn the attention 
 of the citizens from warlike and seafaring pursuits, to the cultiva- 
 tion of the soil and the peaceful arts. On the coins of Attica, 
 before the time of Pericles, an Olive-branch appeared with the 
 moon and owl. Goats were sacrificed to Minerva, because they 
 were thought to do special injury to the Olive-tree, and the goddess 
 is styled by Virgil Olece inventrix. There was a deeper meaning 
 attached to this Attic legend, the realisation of which appears as 
 far off as it was in the days of Cecrops : still the Ohve-branch 
 remains the emblem of that period of peace and plenty which the 
 
 world still hopes for. The most sacred of the Athenian Ohves 
 
 grew in the temple of Minerva since the time of the dispute between 
 Minerva and Neptune: it was burnt by Xerxes with the temple; 
 but it was stated to have shot up again suddenly, after having 
 
been destroyed. The Athenians punished with great severity those 
 who damaged their venerated Olive, which to them appears to 
 have been emblematic of peace. It indicated liberty, hope, chastity, 
 pity, and supplication; and special directions for the mode of 
 planting the sacred tree had place among the institutes of Solon. 
 Pliny asserts that the identical Olive-tree, called up by Minerva, 
 
 was standing in his time. The Olive is frequently mentioned in 
 
 the Bible, both in a literal and figurative manner. The dove sent 
 forth by Noah from the Ark, brought back an Olive-leaf (probably 
 from Assyria, a country famous for Olive-trees), which the bird 
 probably selecfled because the leaves would continue green beneath 
 the water. As an emblem of peace, a garland of Olive was given 
 to Judith when she restored peace to the Israelities by the death 
 of Holofernes. The tree is still with the Jew the emblem of peace 
 and plenty, with an added significance of holiness ; and the asso- 
 ciation of it with the last days of Christ has made it also sacred 
 
 to sorrow. As an emblem of peace and reconciliation, the Olive 
 
 is figured on the tombs of the early martyrs. As the attribute of 
 peace, it is borne by the angel Gabriel, and St. Agnes, and St. 
 Pantaleon. By Romanists the Olive is deemed a fitting emblem 
 of the Virgin Mary, as the mother of Christ, who brought peace 
 
 on earth, and who was the Prince of Peace. ^In regard to the 
 
 Olive-trees of the Garden of Gethsemane, eight of which are still 
 stated to exist. Dean Stanley says: " In spite of all the doubts that 
 can be raised against their antiquity, or the genuineness of their 
 site, the eight aged Olive-trees, if only by their manifest difference 
 from all others on the mountain, have always struck even the 
 most indifferent observers'. They are now, indeed, less striking in 
 the modern garden enclosure, built round them by the Franciscans, 
 than when they stood free and unprotecfted on the rough hillside • 
 but they will remain so long as their already protradted life is 
 spared, the most venerable of their race on the surface of the 
 earth. Their gnarled trunks and scanty foliage will always be 
 regarded as the most affedting of the sacred memorials in or 
 
 about Jerusalem." According to the Jewish legend of Abi- 
 
 melech, the trees, once upon a time, desiring a king, addressed 
 themselves first of all to the Olive, who refused the honours of 
 royalty. The trees next in turn invited the Fig, the Vine, and 
 other trees to become their monarch, but they all declined! At 
 
 last the crown was offered to the Oak, who accepted it. 
 
 Grecian mythologists relate that the club of Hercules, which" was 
 made of Olive-wood, took root, and became a tree. In the 
 Olympic games, instituted by Hercules, the victor was rewarded 
 with a crown of Olive. The club of Polyphemus was the green 
 
 trunk of an OHve-tree. The caps of the priests of Jupiter 
 
 were surmounted with a twig of Olive. The Olympian Jove is 
 represented as wearing a wreath of Olives. Herodotus recounts 
 that Xerxes, before his Grecian expedition, dreamed that he was 
 
crowned with an Olive wreath, the sprays of which turned towards 
 the sun ; but that a moment afterwards, this crown had disappeared. 
 
 The Athenians went to consult the Delphic oracle, holding in 
 
 their hands branches of Olive, and asking for a favourable response 
 in the name and through the favour of the Olive-trees ; and 
 Tigranes, when before Xerxes, reproached Mardonius with having 
 carried on a war against a people who, in their Olympian games, 
 were content with a crown of Olives as the reward of victory, and 
 who fought not for plunder and riches, but for love of country and 
 
 glory. There stood in the Forum of Megara a wild Olive, on 
 
 which it became the custom to hang the arms of local heroes. In 
 course of time the bark of the Olive grew over these arms, and they 
 were forgotten. An oracle, however, had declared that when the 
 tree had brought forth arms, its destruction would take place. 
 When the tree was cut down, the arms and helmets alluded to 
 were discovered ; and it was seen that the oracle had been fulfilled. 
 
 The Proven^aux, at harvest time, sing a curious song, called 
 
 the Reapers' Grace, the first part of which narrates how Adam 
 and Eve were put into the Garden of Eden ; Adam is forbidden to 
 eat of the fruit of life ; he eats thereof, and the day of his death is 
 foretold him. He will be buried under a Palm, Cypress, and Ohve, 
 and out of the wood of the Ohve the cross was made. Accord- 
 ing to a German tradition, from the tomb of Adam, the father of 
 the human race, sprang an Olive : from this Olive was plucked the 
 branch that the dove from the ark carried to Noah, the regenera- 
 tor of the human race ; and from the same Ohve was made the 
 cross of the Redeemer — the spiritual redeemer of the human race. 
 
 A tradition very general relates that the cross was formed of 
 
 the Olive, Palm, Cedar, and Cypress, representing the four quarters 
 
 of the globe. In Central Europe, the Ohve is everywhere 
 
 regarded as the emblem of peace. It is planted in the midst of 
 fields to ensure a good harvest and to protect the crops from hail : 
 and in Venetia a branch is placed on the chimney-piece during 
 thunder-storms as a preservative from lightnmg— a prayer bemg 
 
 offered up at the same time to St. Barbara and St. Simon. In 
 
 some parts of Italy, young girls employ an Ohve-branch as a means 
 of divination. Having moistened a spray of Ohve with their lips, 
 they throw it in the fire ; if the leaf jumps three times or darts out 
 of the fire they will find a husband ; but if it burns without 
 moving, it is a sure sign of ceHbacy. In Rome and Tuscany, the 
 superstitious peasants imagine that no witch or sorcerer will enter 
 a house where an Olive-branch that has been blessed is kept, and 
 in order to ascertain whether they are suffering from the dire effects 
 of an Evil Eye, they drop some Olive-oil in water, and trom the 
 appearance satisfy themselves on the point. -To dream of Olive- 
 trees or Olives is considered a good omen, denoting happiness, 
 prosperity, and success, and a speedy marriage to the lover; but 
 to dream of plucking Olives is unpropitious, announcmg trouble 
 
476 pPant hore, Iseqs^/, cmGl Tsiji'icy. 
 
 and vexation. To dream of Olive-trees bearing Olives denotes 
 peace, delight, concord, liberty, dignity, and fruition of your 
 desires. To dream that you beat the Olives down is lucky for all 
 but servants. 
 
 ONION. — By the ancient Egyptians the Onion was regarded 
 as a plant partaking of a sacred charadler and as a symbol of the 
 Universe. With them it was a common objecfl of worship, and 
 their veneration for this and other vegetable produdls is ridiculed 
 by the satirist Juvenal — 
 
 " How Egypt, mad with superstition grown, 
 Makes gods of monsters but too well is known : 
 'Tis mortal sin an Onion to devour, 
 Each clove of Garlic hath a sacred power ; 
 Religious nation sure, and blest abodes, 
 When every garden is o'errun with gods ! " 
 
 The Onions of Egypt, which were of large size and exquisite 
 flavour, were remembered with regretful longings by the discon- 
 tented Israelites in the wilderness ; and although the priests of 
 ancient Egypt were forbidden to partake of them, yet they were 
 admitted among the offerings placed on the altars of the gods. 
 
 Mythologists relate that the goddess Latona, having, during 
 
 an indisposition, lost her appetite, regained it by eating an Onion, 
 and thenceforth adopted this vegetable, which was accordingly 
 
 consecrated to her. The disciples of Pythagoras abstained from 
 
 eating Onions, ostensibly because they grew during the falling 
 moon, but probably because, like Beans, they were considered too 
 stimulating in their efFecfts. Among the Greeks, it would seem that 
 the Onion was considered symbolic of generation, since we find 
 that at the nuptials of Iphicrates with the daughter of King Cotys, 
 he received, among other presents, a jar of snow, a jar of Lentils, 
 
 and a jar of Onions. It is thought that, as with the Egyptians, 
 
 or with the English Druids, the Onion was an emblem of the deity, 
 and to this day it is a custom in some parts of England for girls to 
 divine by it. Barnaby Googe, in ' Ye Popish Kingdome,' tells us : — 
 
 " In these same days young wanton gyrles that meet for marriage be 
 Doe search to know the names of them that shall their husl)ands be ; 
 Four Onyons, five, or eight they take, and make in every one 
 Such names as they do fancie most, and best to think upon. 
 Then nere the chimney them they set, and that same Onyon then 
 That firste doth sproute doth surely bear the name of their good man." 
 
 In olden times, country lasses used to resort to a method of divi- 
 nation with an Onion named after St. Thomas : this they peeled 
 and wrapped in a clean kerchief ; then, placing it under their heads, 
 they repeated the following lines : — 
 
 " Good St. Thomas, do me right, 
 And let my true-love come to-night. 
 That I may see him in the face. 
 And him in my f(md arms embrace.'' 
 
pPant bofs, h&geirpf, ansl h\]f'\af. 477 
 
 In the South of England this species of divination is still extant, but 
 the procedure is different. When the Onions are bought, the pur- 
 chaser must take care to go in by one door of the shop and come 
 out by another— a shop being seleaed that has two doors. These 
 Onions, placed under your pillow on St. Thomas's Eve, are sure to 
 
 bring visions of your true-love, your future husband. According 
 
 to astrologers, the Onion is under the dominion of Mars. To 
 
 dream of Onions is considered of evil augury, portending sickness 
 and misfortune. 
 
 " To dream of eating Onions means 
 
 Much strife in thy domestic scenes ; 
 
 Secrets found out or else betrayed, 
 
 And many falsehoods made and said." 
 
 ORANGE. — Both Spenser and Milton held the opinion that 
 the Orange is the veritable " golden Apple " presented by Juno to 
 Jupiter on the day of their nuptials ; hence, perhaps, the associa- 
 tion of the Orange with marriage rites. This golden fruit grew 
 only in the garden of the Hesperides, situated near Mount Atlas in 
 Africa, where they were carefully tended by the three daughters of 
 Hesperus — ^Egle, Arethusa, and Erythia — and guarded by an ever- 
 sleeping dragon. It was one of the labours of Hercules, to obtain 
 some of these golden Apples, After slaying the dragon, he 
 succeeded in plucking the auriferous fruit, and took them to 
 Eurystheus, but they were afterwards carried back to the garden of 
 the Hesperides by Minerva, as they could not be preserved else- 
 where. Milton alludes to the Orange as a tree 
 
 " Whose fiuit, burnished with golden rind, 
 Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true. 
 If true, here only, and of delicious taste. " 
 
 These, again, were the golden Apples given by Venus to the subtle 
 Hippomenes, and by means of which he cunningly contrived to 
 wrest victory in his race with the swift-footed Atalanta. Perhaps, 
 also, Spenser's opinion is correct, and the Orange may be the 
 fruit, the bestowal of which upon Venus was the origin of the 
 Trojan war. Spenser states his opinion in the following stanzas 
 of his ' Faerie Queene ' : — 
 
 " Next thereunto did grow a goodly tree, 
 
 With branches broad dispread and body great, 
 Clothid with leaves, that none the wood might see. 
 And laden all with fruit, as thick as thick might be. 
 " The fruit were golden Apples glistering bright, 
 That goodly was their glory to behold ; 
 On earth no better grew, nor living wight 
 E'er better saw, but they from hence* were sold ; 
 For those which Hercules, with conquest bold. 
 Got from great Atlas' daughters, hence began, 
 
 And planted there, did bring forth fruit of gold, 
 And those with which th' Euboean young man wan [won] 
 Swift Atalanta, when, through craft, he her outran. 
 • The garden of Proserpina. 
 
" Here also sprang that goodly golden fruit 
 With which Acontius got his lover true, 
 Whom he had long time sought with fruitless suit ; 
 Here el<e that famous golden Apple grew, 
 The which among the gods false At6 threw, 
 For which th' Idsean ladies disagreed. 
 
 Till partial Paris deem'd it Venus' due. 
 And had of her fair Helen for his meed, 
 That many noble Greeks and Trojans made to bleed." 
 
 At Brighton, there exists a curious custom of bowling or throwing 
 Oranges along the high-road on Boxing-day. He whose Orange is 
 
 hit by that of another, forfeits the fruit to the successful hitter. 
 
 An Andalusian tradition, given by De Gubernatis, relates that the 
 Virgin Mary, journeying with the infant Jesus and with Joseph, 
 came to the Orange-tree, which was guarded by an eagle, and 
 begged of it one of the Oranges for the holy child. The eagle 
 miraculously fell asleep, and the Virgin thereupon plucked not 
 one but three Oranges, one of which she gave to the infant 
 Jesus, another to Joseph, and the third she kept for herself. Then, 
 and not till then, the eagle that guarded the Orange-tree awoke. 
 
 According to Evelyn, the first China Orange-tree which 
 
 reached Europe was sent as a present to the old Conde Mellor, 
 then Prime Minister to the King of Portugal. Writing in 1697, 
 the Jesuit Le Comte states that " the first and unique Orange- 
 tree, from which it is said all others have sprung, is still preserved 
 
 at Lisbon, in the house of Count St. Laurent." In Sicily, 
 
 statues of the Madonna are decorated with branches of the Orange ; 
 at Avola, in Sicily, on Easter Sunday, two posts are set up, and 
 
 decorated with Orange-boughs. The Orange is one of those rare 
 
 trees which produce at the same time fruit, flowers, and fohage ; 
 hence it is in some countries considered as typifying great fulness 
 and has thus become connected with wedding ceremonies. The 
 practice of wearing Orange-blossoms and wreaths by brides has 
 been derived from the Saracens, amongst whom the Orange-flower 
 was regarded as emblematic of a happy and prosperous marriage. 
 In Crete, the bride and bridegroom are sprinkled with Orange- 
 flower-water. In Sardinia, it is customary to attach Oranges to 
 
 the horns of oxen which draw the nuptial carriage. To dream 
 
 of Oranges would appear to be at all times a very unfavourable 
 omen. 
 
 ORCHIS.— From mythology we learn that the Orchis owes 
 its ongm to the wanton son of the satyr Patellanus and the nymph 
 Acolasia, who presided at the feasts celebrated in honour of 
 Priapus. The headstrong Orchis, being present at the celebration 
 of the feast of Bacchus, laid violent hands on one of the priestesses 
 of that god; and this sacrilegious conducfl so incensed the Bac- 
 chanals against the youth, that they forthwith set upon him, and 
 in their fury literally tore him in pieces. His father adjured the 
 gods, but the only remedy he could obtain was that his son's 
 
pPant l^ote, Isegei^/, and. bijnc/, 479 
 
 mangled corpse should be transformed into a flower, which should 
 ever after bear the name of Orchis, as a blot upon his memory. 
 —Among the early Romans, the Orchis was often called Satyrion, 
 because it was believed to be the food of the satyrs, and as silch 
 excited them to those excesses which were characteristic of the 
 attendants of Bacchus. Hence, the Orchis-root not unnaturally be- 
 came famous as a powerful stimulating medicine, and is so described 
 by all herbalists from the time of Dioscorides. A very old tra- 
 dition exists that Orchids sprang from the seed of the thrush 
 
 and the blackbird. Bishop Heetwood writes of these curious 
 
 flowers that they represent apes, birds, wasps, bees, flies, butter- 
 flies, gnats, spiders, grasshoppers, and other insects; "but the most 
 curious sort is that which is called Anthropophom, because it repre- 
 sents a man or a woman very exacftly." He further tells us " this 
 flower, resembling a man, appears in the beginning of Autumn ; but 
 that which represents women comes in May. These two Orchids 
 were, in 167 1, engraved by order of the Academia Curiosorum Natures, 
 and were described as Orchis A nthropophorus Mas., and O. A . Fmmina." 
 
 A tradition is attached to the English species. Orchis mascula, 
 
 which usually has its leaves marked with deep purple spots. It is 
 said that these spots are the stains of the precious blood which 
 flowed from our Lord's wounded body on the cross at Calvary, as 
 this species of Orchis is reported to have grown there. In Cheshire, 
 
 the plant is called Gethsemane. The sweet-scented Orchis, 
 
 Gymnadenia conopsea, is the Northern goddess Frigg's Grass. 
 
 ORPINE. — On Midsummer Eve, Orpine {Sedum Telephium), 
 Fennel, Lilies, and Hypericum used formerly to be hung over doors 
 and windows. The plant is commonly called ' Midsummer Men ' 
 and ' Livelong,' from a custom of country lasses to try their lovers' 
 fidelity with it on Midsummer Eve : this they do by setting up two 
 plants of Orpine — one representing themselves, and another their 
 lovers — upon a slate or trencher, and afterwards judging of the 
 state of their lover's affedtions by his plant living and turning to 
 their own, or not. Wives, also, place over their heads the Orpine- 
 plant, and by the bending of the leaves to the right or to the left 
 divine whether husbands are true or false. (See Livelong.) 
 
 OSMUND ROYAL. — The stately flowering Fern Osmu-nda 
 Regalis is said to derive its name from the following legend : — A 
 waterman, named Osmund, once dwelt on the banks of Loch 
 Fyne, with his wife and daughter. One day a band of fugitives, 
 bursting into his cottage, warned Osmund that the cruel Danes 
 were fast approaching the ferry. Osmund heard them with fear ; 
 he trembled for those he held dearer than life. Suddenly the 
 shouts of furious men roused him to action. Snatching up his 
 oars, he rowed his trembling wife and child to a small island 
 covered with this beautiful Fern ; and helping them to land, he bade 
 them lie down beneath the shady foliage for protection. Scarcely 
 
480 ^?ani. Isoi-e, Tsegelib/, arisl Isijriey. 
 
 had the ferryman returned to his cottage, ere a company of fierce 
 Danes rushed in, but knowing that he could be of service to them, 
 they did him no harm. During the day and night, Osmund was oc- 
 cupied in ferrying the troops across the lake. When, the last com- 
 pany had landed, Osmund kneeled beside the bank, and returned 
 thanks to Heaven for the preservation of his wife and child. Often 
 in after years did he speak of that day's peril ; and his daughter 
 called the Fern by her father's name. Gerarde, in describing the 
 stem of the Osmunda, which, on being cut, exhibits a white centre, 
 calls this portion of the Fern the " heart of Osmund, the water- 
 man," probably in allusion to the above tradition. 
 
 Our Lady's Plants. — See Lady's Plants. 
 
 Ox-Eye. — See Moon Daisy. 
 
 PALASA. — Palasa is a Sanscrit word, meaning " leaf," but 
 in course of time it became applied to the BuUa fyondosa as well as 
 the name Parna, which also signifies a leaf. The modern Indian 
 name of the tree is Dhak. The Palasa is in India a sacred tree, 
 and has a special cultus; as such, it is held to be imbued with the 
 immortalising Soma, the beverage of the gods. According to the 
 Vedas, it owed its origin to a feather dropped by a falcon who, 
 when the gods were pining for the precious Soma fluid, succeeded 
 in stealing some from the demons who had charge of it. In flying 
 off' with its prize, the falcon was wounded by an arrow shot by one 
 of the demons, which wounded it and caused a feather impregnated 
 with the divine fluid to fall to earth, where it took root and became 
 a Palasa-tree (called also Parna), which has a red sap and scarlet 
 blossoms — emblems of the sacred fire. The falcon was a trans- 
 formed god — some say Indra — hence the tree which sprang from 
 
 the god-bird's feather was in its nature divine. The Palasa was 
 
 much employed by the Hindus in rehgious ceremonies, particularly 
 in one connedled with the blessing of calves to ensure them proving 
 good milkers. To this end, at the time of the sacrifice offered in 
 the new moon (the season of increase), the priest, on behalf of the 
 Hindu farmer, seledted a Palasa-branch that grew on the north-east, 
 north, or east side of the tree, and cut it off, saying, " For strength 
 cut I thee." Then, having stripped off the leaves, he struck both 
 calves and dams with it, blessing the latter and bidding them be 
 good milkers and breeders, and profitable animals to their masters. 
 This done, he stuck up the Palasa rod eastward of the holy fire, and 
 bade it protecfl the cattle. The objecft in thus touching the cattle 
 was that the divine Soma contained in the rod might pass into and 
 enrich the udders of the beasts. The Palasa is triple-leaved, and 
 hence was deemed to typify, like the trident, the forked lightning, 
 an appropriate attribute, inasmuch as it originally sprang from a 
 god of the lightning. In this respedt, it resembled the rod of 
 
 Mercury (a fire-god), the Sami, and the Rowan rod. The staff of 
 
 the Brahman ought to be made of Palasa wood. (See Dhak.) 
 
pfaat Isore, Isegel^ti/, ansl Isijriq/'. 481 
 
 PALM. — The Palm-tree is symbolic of victory, of riches, 
 and of generation. It was considered by the ancients also an 
 emblem of light, and was held sacred to Apollo. The Palm of 
 Delos was supposed to have existed from the time of the god Apollo 
 himself. Among the Greeks, there existed a legend that the Palm, 
 like the Olive, was brought into Greece by Hercules, on his return 
 from the infernal regions. The Orphics venerated the Palm as an 
 immortal tree, which never grew old ; hence, as a symbol of 
 immortality, and especially of the immortality of glory, it was 
 
 associated with the goddess Viifloria, called also Dea Palmanis. 
 
 In India, as amongst the Arabs, the Palm is considered a sacred 
 
 tree. According to an Indian legend, the Palm of the Lake of 
 
 Taroba, in Central India, was only visible during the day ; in the 
 evening it re-entered the earth. It is related that a rash pilgrim 
 climbed one morning to the top of the Palm, but the tree grew to 
 such a height above the earth's surface, that the pilgrim was 
 scorched to death by the sun's rays, and the Palm itself was 
 reduced to tinder. On the spot where the miraculous Palm is said 
 to have once grown stands the idol of the Geni of the Lake, 
 
 called Taroba. Christian legend has associated the Palm with 
 
 the history of Jesus. According to the Apocryphal Gospel, the 
 Virgin Mary, whilst journeying, became fatigued and oppressed 
 with the great heat ; in passing by a great desert, she saw a large 
 and beautiful Palm-tree, beneath which she wished to seek rest 
 and shelter ; so she asked Joseph to drive the ass upon which she 
 was seated towards the tree. When she reached the foot of the 
 tree, she dismounted, and, looking up, noticed that the tree was 
 laden with fruit. Then she said to Joseph : " I wish to have some 
 of the fruit of this tree, for I am hungry." To this, Joseph replied : 
 " Mary, I marvel that you should desire to eat of this fruit." 
 Then Jesus Christ, who was seated in his mother's lap, ordered 
 the Palm to bend down, so that his mother might partake of its 
 fruit at pleasure. And forthwith the tree bent down to the Virgin 
 Mary, and she partook of its fruit, and still the Palm remained 
 bent downwards. Then, Jesus perceiving this, ordered the Palm 
 to resume its natural position, and it immediately did so. This 
 legend has been widely diffused in Italy and elsewhere, sometimes 
 with the following addendum : " Jesus, after this aa of devotion 
 on the part of the Palm, gave the tree his benedidtion, chose it as 
 the symbol of eternal salvation for the dying, and declared that he 
 would make his triumphant entry into Jerusalem with a Palm in his 
 
 hand." The Palm was early assumed by the Christian Church 
 
 as the universal symbol of martyrdom, in accordance with Reve- 
 lation vii., 9: "And after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude 
 stood before the throne, clothed with white robes, and with Palms 
 
 in their hands And he said to me. These are they which 
 
 came out of great tribulation." Hence, in early Italian paintings 
 of the saints, as well as on the sculptured effigies of Christian 
 
 2 I 
 
482 pfant bore, TsegeT^/, oriil Taijriaf, 
 
 heroes, the Palm is represented as borne by those who suffered 
 martyrdom ; and, in some instances, by those conspicuous for their 
 
 vidlory over pain and temptation. In old religious paintings, 
 
 St. Christopher (who lived in the middle of the fourth century) 
 is represented as a man of Herculean proportions, who uses, as a 
 supporting staff, an entire Palm-tree with leaves and branches. 
 The legend is, that having, when still unconverted, entreated a 
 hermit to show him Christ, the holy man admonished him that he 
 must do some good and acceptable work, and recommended him 
 to go to the banks of a deep and swollen river, and by his great 
 strength assist travellers to cross over it. Christopher readily 
 undertook the task, and went and dwelt by the side of the river. 
 Having rooted up a Palm-tree, he used it as a staff to guide and 
 support his steps, and aided all who were overcome by the stream, 
 and carried the weak on his shoulders across it. After he had 
 spent many days at this toil, he, one night, whilst lying resting in 
 his hut, heard a voice calling him from the shore. He arose and 
 looked out, but saw nothing. So he lay down again, and the same 
 thing occurred to him a second and third time. Then he took his 
 lantern and searched about the river bank, and at last discovered 
 a little child, who plaintively said to him : " Christopher, carry me 
 over this night." Thereupon the stalwart young man lifted the 
 little child on his shoulders, and grasping his Palm-staff, entered 
 the stream. As he struggled across, the waters kept rising higher 
 and higher; the waves roared, and beat against him, and the 
 winds blew. The infant on his shoulder became heavier and still 
 heavier, till Christopher felt that he must sink under the excessive 
 weight, and began to feel afraid: nevertheless, taking fresh courage, 
 and staying his tottering steps with his Palm-staff, he at length 
 reached the opposite bank. Gently placing the child down, he 
 looked at him with astonishment, and asked, "Who art thou, child, 
 that hast placed me in such extreme peril? Had I carried the 
 whole world on my shoulders, the burthen had not been heavier." 
 Then the child rephed: "Wonder not, Christopher, for thou hast 
 not only borne the world, but Him who made the world, upon thy 
 shoulders. Me wouldst thou serve in this thy work of charity; 
 and, behold, I have accepted thy service ; and in testimony that I 
 have accepted thy service and thee, plant thy staff in the ground, and 
 it shall put forth leaves and fruit." Christopher did so, and the dry 
 Palm-staff flourished as a Palm-tree in the season, and was covered 
 with clusters of Dates. But the miraculous child had vanished. Then 
 Christopher fell on his face, and confessed and worshipped Christ. 
 
 According to the legend of the death of the Virgin Mary, she 
 
 was, one day, filled with an inexpressible longing to behold her Son 
 again, and whilst weeping, an angel suddenly appeared, and said: 
 " Hail, O Mary! I bring thee here a branch of Palm, gathered in 
 Paradise; command that it be carried before thy bier in the 
 day of thy death; for in three days thy soul shall leave thy body, 
 
pfant Isore, l9ege1|Ci/, oriil Jsi^ncy. 483 
 
 and thou shalt enter into Paradise, where thy Son awaits thy 
 coming." After conversing with the Holy Mother, the angel de- 
 parted into heaven, and the Palm-branch which he had left behind 
 him shed light from every leaf, and sparkled as the stars of the 
 morning. At the same instant, the apostles, who were dispersed 
 in various parts of the world, were miraculously caught up and 
 deposited at Mary's door. Then, having thanked the Lord, she 
 placed in the hands of St. John the shining Palm, and desired him 
 to bear it before her at the time of the burial — an office which he 
 
 faithfully discharged. Some authorities mention the Palm as 
 
 one of the four trees which furnished the wood of which the 
 Redeemer's Cross was composed; this notion is derived from 
 Canticles vii., 8 : " I will go up to the Palm-tree," &c. Hence the 
 old rhyme: — 
 
 " Nailed were His feet to Cedar, to Palm His hands — 
 Cypress His body bore, title on Olive stands, " 
 
 The praises of the Palm have been sung by Hebrew, Indian, 
 Persian, and Arabian poets of all ages. According to Strabo, a 
 Persian hymn, but according to Plutarch a Babylonian hymn, 
 records the three hundred and sixty benefits conferred on mankind 
 by this noble tree ; whilst a poem in the Tamil language, although 
 enumerating eight hundred and one uses of the Palmyra Palm, 
 
 does not exhaust the catalogue. In the Indian Vishnu Purdna, 
 
 the fruitfulness of the Date Palm is alluded to. The youthful 
 Bala Rima slays the monster Dhenuka, and casts the carcase at 
 the foot of a Date Palm : then the Dates fell upon him just as rain, 
 
 beaten by the winds, patters down on the earth. In India, the 
 
 Palm has given rise to a proverb on account of the facility with 
 which it takes root : the natives say of a vile and despised enemy, 
 
 that he takes root as a Palm. To dream of a Palm-tree is a very 
 
 good omen, particularly if it is in full blossom, in which case it 
 predidts much success and good fortune. 
 
 PANSY. — The Pansy {Viola tricolor) derives its name from a 
 corruption of the French word pensees, thoughts : thus poor Ophelia 
 
 says : — * 
 
 " Pray you love, remember, 
 And there's Pansies,— that's for tho\i^ts."—Shakspeare. 
 
 Spenser designated the flower "the pretty Pawnee;" Milton spoke 
 of it as the " Pansy freak'd with jet ; " and Drayton sings :— 
 
 " The pretty Pansy then I'll tye, 
 
 Like stones some chain enchasing ; 
 The next to them, their near ally, 
 The purple Violet placing." 
 
 Rapin writes of the flower as Flos Jovis — the flower of Jove :— 
 
 " With all the beauties in the valleys bred, 
 Spearmint, that's born with Myrtle crowns to wed, 
 And Jove's own flower, in which three colours meet. 
 To rival Violets, though without their sweet." 
 
 2 I — 2 
 
484 pPant Isore, Tscge'!^/, orii. Tsijricy. 
 
 In addition to this grandiose title, the little flower rejoices in a 
 multiplicity of epithets bestowed on it by rural admirers. It is 
 Heart's-ease, Forget-me-not, Herb Trinity, Three-Faces-under-a- 
 Hood, Love-and-Idle, Love-in-idleness, Live-in-Idleness, Call-me- 
 to-you, Cuddle-me-to-you, Jump-up-and kiss-me, Kiss-me-ere-I- 
 Rise, Kiss-me-at-the-Garden-Gate, Tittle-my-Fancy, Pink-of-my- 
 John, and Flamy, because its colours are seen in the flame of wood. 
 In the North-east of Scotland, and in Scandinavia, the flower is with 
 a spice of irony called Step-mother. In ' A Midsummer Night's 
 Dream,' Shakspeare gives the Heart's-ease magical qualities. 
 Oberon bids Puck procure for him "a little western flower" on 
 which Cupid's dart had fallen, and which maidens called " Love-in- 
 Idleness. Says the fairy king : — 
 
 " Fetch me that flower — the herb I showed thee once; 
 The juice of it, on sleeping eyelids laid, 
 Will make or man or woman madly dote 
 Upon the next live creature that it sees." 
 
 The poet Herrick tells us, in regard to the origin of these favourite 
 flowers, that — 
 
 " Frolick virgins once there were, 
 Over-loving, living here. 
 Being here their ends denied, 
 Ran for sweethearts mad, and died. 
 Love, in pity of their tears. 
 And their loss in blooming years, 
 For their restless here-spent hours. 
 Gave them Heart's-ease turned to flowers.'' 
 
 The Pansy was the accidental cause of Bertram, the first American 
 botanist, devoting himself to the study of botany. The stamens and 
 pistil of this flower have something grotesque in their appearance 
 when disclosed, resembling to a fanciful mind an animal with arms, 
 and a head projecfting and stooping forward. Bertram, who was 
 originally a farmer, while superintending his servants in the field, 
 and giving them direeftions, gathered a Pansy that was growing at 
 his feet, and thoughtlessly pulled off' its petals one after another. 
 Struck with the stamens and pistil, Bertram conveyed it home, 
 that he might examine it more carefully. Its examination created 
 in him that thirst for the knowledge of the construdlion and habits 
 of plants which afterwards rendered him so famous, and won for 
 
 him the friendship of Linnaeus. The Heart's-ease is said to 
 
 be sacred to St. Valentine. As the Herba Trinitatis, or Herb 
 Trinity, it is the special flower of Trinity Sunday. It is con- 
 sidered to be a herb of Saturn. 
 
 PAPYRUS.— Plutarch tells us that the vessel on which the 
 Egyptian goddess Isis embarked on her voyage to search for the 
 remains of Osiris, was construdled of the Reeds of the Papyrus 
 {Papyrus antiquorum), and that the crocodiles, out of respedl and fear 
 
 of the goddess, dared not approach the bark. The Papyrus is 
 
 the Rush described in the Hebrew Scriptures by the word G6mc, 
 
pPant Tsore, T9egel|Ci/, dhsl Isiji'iq/', 485 
 
 and in an ark of G6me the mother of the infant Moses put her babe, 
 and laid it in the Flags by the brink of the river Nile. The ancient 
 Egyptians plaited the stems of the Papyrus not only into little 
 ■ boats, but into sails, mats, and sandals. The fabrication in parti- 
 cular of little boats appears to have been practised by them to an 
 immense extent, and to have commenced in the very earliest days 
 of the nation. M. de Castelnau says that the Reed-boats still 
 in use amopgst the Peruvians exadtly resemble the pidlured 
 representations of the Egyptian ones, as preserved on the walls of 
 the tomb of Rameses III. at Thebes. Bundles of Papyrus-stems 
 furnished models for the shafts of some of the pillars of the ancient 
 Egyptian temples, and the bases of these were ornamented with 
 representations of the sheaths that encircle the foot of the flower, 
 stalk. The Papyrus-plant supplied the material of which the 
 famous paper, both rough and fine, was manufadlured in ancient 
 times. Papyrus paper made 2000 years B.C., or anterior to the 
 time of Abraham, is still in existence. It was an article of com- 
 merce long before the time of Herodotus, and it remained in use 
 till the seventh century. This Papyrus paper was prepared from 
 the white pith of the stoutest stems of the Reeds which grew in 
 great abundance in the pools caused by the overflowing of the 
 
 Nile. Plutarch relates, that when Agesilaus visited Egypt, he 
 
 was so delighted with the chaplets of Papyrus sent him by the king, 
 that he took some home when he returned to Sparta. 
 
 PARSLEY. — Hercules is said to have seledted Parsley to form 
 the first garlands he wore. The Greeks held Parsley (Petroselinum) 
 in great reputation. A crown of dried and withered Parsley was 
 given to the vidtor at the Isthmian games ; and one of green Parsley 
 to the conqueror at the Nemean games, in memory of the death of 
 Archemorus, the infant son of Lycurgus, who, laid down by his 
 
 nurse on a sprig of Parsley, was killed by a serpent. A branch 
 
 of Laurel and a crown of Parsley were given to the god of banquets. 
 At Greek banquets the guests wore crowns of Parsley, under the 
 
 belief that the herb created quiet and promoted an appetite. 
 
 Greek gardens were often bordered by Parsley and Rue; hence 
 arose the saying, when an undertaking was in contemplation, but 
 not really commenced : "Oh, we are only at the Parsley and Rue ! " 
 Parsley, again, was in great request for the purpose of decorating 
 graves ; and the Greeks were fond of strewing sprigs of the herb 
 over the bodies of the dead. A despairing lover cries : — 
 " Garlands that o'er thy doors I hung, 
 Hang withered now and crumble fast ; 
 Whilst Parsley on thy fair form flung, 
 Now tells my heart that all is past ! " 
 
 From these funereal associations the herb acquired an ominous 
 significance ; and " to be in need of Parsley " was a proverbial ex- 
 pression meaning to be on the point of death. Plutarch tells of a 
 panic created in a Greek force marching against the enemy by their 
 
486 pPant Isofe, TsegeT^ti/, cmsl Isijriq/', 
 
 suddenly meeting some mules laden with Parsley, which the soldiery 
 looked upon as an ill omen. In our own country, to this day, there 
 is an old saying among the people of Surrey and Middlesex, that 
 " Where Parsley's grown in the garden, there'll be a death before 
 
 the year's out." There are several other English superstitions 
 
 connecfted with Parsley. Children are often told that newly- 
 born infants have been found in a Parsley bed. The seed of this 
 herb is apt to come up only partially, according as the Devil 
 takes his tithe of it. If, after having bruised some sprigs of 
 Parsley in her hands, the housewife should attempt to raise 
 her glasses, they will generally snap, and suddenly break. In 
 some parts of Devonshire, the belief is widely spread that to 
 transplant Parsley is an offence to the spirit who is supposed to 
 preside over Parsley beds, entailing sure punishment either on the 
 offender himself or some members of his family within a year. 
 The peasants of South Hampshire will on no account give away 
 Parsley, for fear of misfortune befalling them ; and in Suffolk 
 there is an old belief that to ensure the herb coming up " double," 
 
 Parsley-seed must be sown on Good Friday. In the Southern 
 
 States of America, the negroes consider it unlucky to transplant 
 
 Parsley from an old home to a new one. To dream of cutting 
 
 Parsley is said to indicate a cross in love ; to dream of eating it 
 foretels good news. The herb is held to be under Mercury. 
 
 PASQUE-FLOWER.— The Anemone Pulsatilla is the Pas- 
 chal or Pasque-flower, especially dedicated to the Church's Easter 
 festival. The petals of the flower yield a rich green colour, which 
 in olden times was used for the purpose of staining the eggs to be 
 presented, according to custom, as Easter gifts. (See Anemone.) 
 
 PASSION-FLOWER.— The Passion-flower {Passiflora cce- 
 rulea) is a wild flower of the South American forests, and it is said 
 that the Spaniards, when they first saw the lovely bloom of this 
 plant, as it hung in rich festoons from the branches of the forest 
 trees, regarded the magnificent blossom as a token that the Indians 
 should be converted to Christianity, as they saw in its several 
 
 parts the emblems of the Passion of our Lord. In the year 
 
 1610, Jacomo Bosio, the author of an exhaustive treatise on the 
 Cross of Calvary, was busily engaged on this work when there 
 arrived in Rome an Augustinian friar, named Emmanuel de Villegas, 
 a Mexican by birth. He brought with him, and showed to Bosio, 
 the drawing of a flower so " stupendously marvellous," that he 
 hesitated making any mention of it in his book. However, some 
 other drawings and descriptions were sent to him by inhabitants of 
 New Spain, and certain Mexican Jesuits, sojourning at Rome, 
 confirmed all the astonishing reports of this floral marvel ; moreover, 
 some Dominicans at Bologna engraved and published a drawing 
 of it, accompanied by poems and descriptive essays. Bosio there- 
 fore conceived it to be his duty to present the Flos Passionis to the 
 
^e SJfanac^iPfa, or ^aM'ion Sfocoer. 
 
 From Zahn's ^ Sppr.u J,= "' ' - "■*• — ^ - __^^^ rr ^^^. ..:._, 
 
pPant Tstore, Tsegef^/, dni. Isyrio/". 487 
 
 ?world as the most wondrous example of the Croce tnonfante dis- 
 covered in forest or field. The flower represents, he tells us, not 
 so directly the Cross of our Lord, as the past mysteries of the 
 Passion. It is a native of the Indies, of Peru, and of New Spain, 
 where the Spaniards call it " the Flower of the Five Wounds," and 
 it had clearly been designed by the great Creator that it might, in 
 ,due time, assist in the conversion of the heathen among whom it 
 grows. Alluding to the bell-like shape assumed by the flower 
 during the greater part of its existence {i.e., whilst it is expanding 
 and fading), Bosio remarks : "And it may well be that, in His infinite 
 wisdom, it pleased him to create it thus shut up and protected, as 
 though to indicate that the wonderful mysteries of the Cross and of 
 his Passion were to remain hidden from the heathen people of those 
 
 countries until the time preordained by His Highest Majesty." 
 
 The figure given of the Passion-flower in Bosio's work shows the 
 crown of thorns twisted and plaited, the three nails, and the 
 column of the flagellation just as they appear on ecclesiastical 
 banners, &c. " The upper petals," writes Bosio in his description, 
 " are tawny in Peru, but in New Spain they are white, tinged with 
 rose. The filaments above resemble a blood-coloured fringe, as 
 though suggesting the scourge with which our blessed Lord was 
 tormented. The column rises in the middle. The nails are above 
 it ; the crown of thorns encircles the column ; and close in the 
 centre of the flower from which the column rises is a portion of a 
 yellow colour, about the size of a reale, in which are five spots or 
 stains of the hue of blood, evidently setting forth the five wounds 
 received by out Lord on the Cross. The colour of the column, 
 the crown, and the nails is a clear green. The crown itself is sur- 
 rounded by a kind of veil, or very fine hair, of a violet colour, the 
 filaments of which number seventy-two, answering to the number 
 of thorns with which, according to tradition, our Lord's crown was 
 set ; and the leaves of the plant, abundant and beautiful, are shaped 
 like' the head of a lance or pike, referring, no doubt, to that which 
 pierced the side of our Saviour, whilst they are marked beneath 
 with round spots, signifying the thirty pieces of silver." Such is 
 Bosio's description of what he designates the "stupendous flower," 
 and the stir which his writings caused among the botanists and theo- 
 logians of Italy soon brought about the introdudtion of the plant 
 itself, which, before the year 1625, had established itself and 
 blossomed in the garden of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, at Rome. 
 Aldinus, who was both the Cardinal's physician and the controller 
 of his garden, has left his description of the Passion-flower, and 
 
 says of it : " This is the famous plant sung by poets and celebrated 
 
 by ofators, the plant reasoned about by philosophers with the 
 utmost subtlety, praised by physicians for its marvellous virtues, 
 sought for eagerly by the sick, wondered at by theologians, and 
 venerated by all pious Christians." In his description of the flower 
 Aldinus sets forth " what theologians may really find in it." He. 
 
488 pfant Tsofe, Tsege't^/, anel Tsi^r'ta/. 
 
 says: "The nails on the top are represented soexadtly, that nothing 
 
 more perfedt can be imagined In the open flower they are 
 
 twisted and marked with dark blood-like spots, as if they had been 
 already removed from the Cross. The small undeveloped seed- 
 vessels may be compared to the sponge full of vinegar offered to 
 our Lord. The star-form of the half-opened flower may represent 
 the star of the Wise Men; but the five petals, fully opened, the five 
 wounds. The base of the ovary is the column of the flagellation. 
 The filaments represent the scourges spotted with blood, and the 
 purple circle on them is the crown of thorns, blood covered. The 
 white petals symbolise the purity and brightness of Our Lord, and 
 His white robe. The corniculata folia, the sub-petals, white inside 
 and green without, figure hope and purity, and are sharply pointed, 
 as if to indicate the ready eagerness with which each one of the 
 faithful should embrace and consider the mysteries of the Passion. 
 The leaves of the whole plant are set on singly, for there is one 
 God, but are triply divided, for there are Three Persons. The 
 plant itself would climb toward heaven, but cannot do so without 
 support. So the Christian, whose nature is to climb, demands 
 constant assistance. Cut down, it readily springs up again ; and 
 whoever holds the mysteries of the Passion in his heart cannot be 
 hurt by the evil world. Its fruit is sweet and delicate, and the 
 Passion of our Lord brings sweet and deledtable fruit to us." In 
 his 'Pamdisus Terrestris,' John Parkinson, writing in 1629, speaks of 
 the "Virgin Climer," as "a brave and too-much-desired plant," 
 with flowers which " make a tripartite shew of colours most de- 
 lightfull," and are " of a comfortable sweet sent, very acceptable." 
 
 The plant's native Indian name was Maracot ; from the likeness 
 
 of the fruit to a small Pomegranate, it was sometimes called 
 Granadilla ; the Mexican Jesuits named it Flor de las cinca llagas; but 
 in Italy, it was usually known as Fior della Passione, the name which 
 it has retained throughout Europe. 
 
 PAULO"WNIA. — ^The noble hardy tree, Paulownia imperialis, 
 was so named in 1840 in honour of the Hereditary Princess of the 
 Netherlands, a daughter of the Emperor of Russia. The Paulow- 
 nias are famous throughout Japan for the hardness and beauty of 
 their wood : they attain a height of about thirty feet, and produce 
 dark lilac flo.wers, which are borne in three spikes upon a tri-lobed 
 sinuous leaf. These flowers, which resemble the blossom of the 
 Catalpa, constitute one of the crests of the Mikado of Japan. 
 
 PAVETTA INDICA.— A race of Malays, called the Aruans, 
 when burying their dead, carry the body into the forest, and hoist 
 jt upon the summit of four posts. A tree, usually the Pavetta Indica, 
 js then planted near it, and at this final ceremony none but nude 
 females are allowed to be present. 
 
 PEA. — The priests of ancient Egypt were not allowed to par- 
 take of Peas,^ — The Pea, like most trailing and climbing plants, has 
 
pPant bore, begel^ti/, ani bijfio/. 489 
 
 always traditionally been connecfted with celestial fire. According 
 to a mediaeval legend, the ancient Midsummer or St. John's Day 
 fires were kindled at the season of the Summer solstice for the 
 purpose of scaring away pestilential dragons ; and these dragons 
 carried Peas in their flight, which they cast down in such quantities 
 as to fill up the wells, and their smell was so foul that the cattle 
 refused to eat them : these Peas represent lightning, and their smell 
 is the sulphurous fume that clings to everything struck by it. The 
 ancient German Zwergs, who are dwarfs closely connedled with 
 the thunder-god Thor, and who forged for him his lightning 
 hammer, are exceedingly fond of Peas, and often plunder the Pea- 
 fields. Peas were consecrated to Thor himself, and to this day in 
 Berlin Peas with Saurkraut are a standing dish on Thor's Day 
 (Thursday). The Pea was the favourite vegetable of Thor himself, 
 and St. Nicholas, who in some countries has replaced him, is some- 
 times represented as being clad in Peas-straws. In the North of 
 England, if a lass's lover has proved unfaithful to her, she is, by 
 way of consolation, rubbed with Peas-straw by neighbouring lads. 
 A Scottish ballad says : — 
 
 " If you meet a bonnie lassie 
 
 Gie her a kiss, and let her gae ; 
 If you meet a dirty hussey, 
 
 Fie, gae rub her o'er wi' strae ! " 
 
 Similarly when a Cambrian youth has been jilted, and his sweet- 
 heart marries a rival, the same operation is performed upon him, 
 as a- solace, by the village lasses. In the North of England, 
 Carling Sunday (the fourth in Lent) is universally celebrated by 
 feasts of Peas and butter. The use of^Peas in divination concerning 
 love affairs probably arises from the fact that they are sacred to 
 the patron of marriage. In Bohemia, the girls go into a Pea-field, 
 and there make a garland of five or seven kinds of flowers, all of 
 difi'erent hues. This garland they use as a pillow, lying down with 
 their right ear upon it, and then they hear a voice from underground, 
 which tells them what manner of man they will have for a hus- 
 band. A curious custom, known as " Peascod wooing," was for- 
 merly extant in many country places ; it was performed, according 
 to Brand, by selecting one growing on the stem, snatching it away 
 quickly, and if the good omen of the Peas remaining in the husk 
 was preserved, then presenting it to the chosen lady. A girl 
 shelling Peas will, if she should chance to find a pod containing 
 nine, place it on the lintel of the kitchen door, and the first single 
 man who enters is considered to be marked out for her future 
 husband. Gay alludes to this custom in the following lines : — 
 " As Peascod once I plucked, I chanced to see 
 
 One that was closely filled with three times three ; 
 
 Which, when I cropped, I safely home conveyed, 
 
 And o'er the door the spell in secret laid. 
 
 The latch moved up, when who should first come in, 
 
 But in his ptoper person — Lubberkin." 
 
The village girls in Hertfordshire lay the pod with nine Peas under 
 a gate, and believe they will have for husband the man who first 
 passes through, or, at any rate, one whose Christian name and 
 
 surname have the same initials as his. It is always considered 
 
 a good augury to dream of Peas. In Suffolk, there is a legend 
 
 that the Lathyrus Maritimus, or Everlasting Pea of the sea-side, 
 sprang up on the coast there for the first time in a season when 
 greatly needed ; and Fuller says of this particular Pea that " in a 
 general dearth all over England, plenty of Peas did grow on the 
 sea-shore, near Dunmow, in Suffolk, never set or sown by human 
 industry, which, being gathered in a full ripeness, much abated 
 the high price in the markets, and preserved many hungry families 
 from perishing." 
 
 PEACH.— There is an old tradition that the falling of the 
 leaves of a Peach-tree betoken a murrain. There is a super- 
 stitious belief in Sicily, that anyone afflidled with goitre, who on 
 the night of St. John, or of the Ascension, eats a Peach, will be 
 cured, provided only that the Peach-tree dies at the same time; 
 the idea being that the tree, in dying, takes the goitre away with 
 it, and so delivers the sufferer from the afflidtion. In Italy, as a 
 charm to cure warts, Peach-leaves are carefully buried in the earth, 
 
 so that as they perish the wart may disappear. To dream of 
 
 Peaches in season denotes content, health, and pleasure. 
 
 PEAR. — Among the ancients, the Pear was specially conse- 
 crated to Venus. Columella knew a species called. Pyrus Venerea, the 
 Pear of Love. The Scots claim that "fair Avalon," the Celtic "Isle 
 of the Blest," is an island in Loch Awe, Argyleshire; and the Gaelic 
 legend changes the mystical Apples into the berries of the 
 Pyrus cordata, a species of wild Pear, found both in the island of 
 
 Loch Awe, and in Aiguilon. On the Continent, there is a belief 
 
 that orchards are infested by malignant spirits, which attack the 
 fruit-trees, and in the D6partement de I'Orne, to drive away the 
 demons which attack Pears and Apples, the peasants burn the 
 Moss on the trunk and branches, singing the while an appropriate 
 rhyme or incantation. In Aargau, Switzerland, when a boy is 
 
 born, they plant an Apple-tree ; when a girl, a Pear. To dream 
 
 of ripe Pears betokens riches and happiness; if unripe, adversity; 
 if baked, great success in business ; to a woman a dream of Pears 
 denotes that she will marry above her in rank. 
 
 PEEPUL. — The Ficus religiosa, the Asvattha or Pippala of the 
 Hindus, is a tree held in the highest sandlity by the Buddhists, 
 near whose temples it is always found. It is this tree — the Bodhi- 
 druma, the Tree of Wisdom — under which Buddha sat absorbed 
 in a species of intelledlual ecstacy, and which his followers regard 
 as the tree of creation, life, wisdom, and preparation for Paradise, 
 as well as the yielder of ambrosia and rain. From ancient Vedic 
 tradition the Buddhists have inherited the worship of this sacred 
 
pPant bore, begeT^/, dHsl Taqno/-. 491 
 
 tree : they say that at the hour of Buddha's nativity, whilst around 
 Kapilavastu suddenly arose magnificent woods, an enormous As- 
 vattha, or Bo-tree, sprang from the very centre of the universe. 
 
 Hiouen-thsang, the Chinese pilgrim, professed to have found 
 
 the Bodhidruma, or some tree that passed for it, twelve hundred 
 years after Buddha's death, at a spot near Gaya Proper, in Bahar, 
 
 where still may be seen an old temple and ruins. De Guber- 
 
 natis tells us that there is represented in the K&thaha Upanishad a 
 heavenly cosmogonic Asvattha under precisely the same form as 
 the Indian Bo-tree. " The eternal Asvattha, it is said, has its 
 roots above, its branches below ; it is called the Germ, Brahma, 
 Ambrosia ; beneath it all the worlds repose, above it nothing 
 exists." With its wood and that of the Acacia Suma (Sami) the 
 sacred fire is lighted — the Asvattha representing the male, the 
 Sami the female. The Asvattha* in rubbing the Sami, engenders 
 the fire, and thus becomes an emblem of generation. From its 
 heavenly origin and from its maintaining the fire of purification, the 
 Bo-tree is credited with marvellous medicinal properties. Into a 
 vase made of Asvattha-wood the priests pour the divine drink 
 
 Soma. In the Atharvaveda, says De Gubernatis, we are told that 
 
 the Asvattha grows in the third heaven, and produces the Ambrosia 
 under the name of Kushtha, or flower of the Amrita. He who eats 
 the ambrosial food becomes intelligent. The cosmogonic tree of 
 the Vedas is also the Tree of Intelligence, hence Buddha, the 
 
 apostle of intelligence, sought refuge beneath its shade. In a 
 
 book of travels by two Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, translated by Mr. 
 Beal, we find it stated that the only spot indicated by the gods as 
 propitious to the acquirement of supreme wisdom is beneath the 
 tree Peito, which the translator identifies with the Peepul, Bo Tree, 
 or Ficus religiosa. In the same narrative we learn that the gods 
 construdled from the tree Sal {Shorea robusta) to the tree Bo a 
 splendid road, three thousand cubits wide. The young Prince 
 Buddha traverses the road during the night, surrounded by the 
 Devas, the Nigas, and other divine beings. Under the tree 
 Peito Buddha walked from east to west, and was worshipped 
 by the gods for the space of seven days ; after that the gods con- 
 strudted, north-west of the tree, a palace of gold, where Buddha 
 stayed for seven days. Then he repaired to the lake Mukhahnda, 
 where he sought the shadow of the tree Midella. Then the rain 
 fell for seven days, and so the Naga Mukhalinda came forth from 
 the lake and sheltered Buddha with his hood. As showing the 
 extreme fondness of Buddha for the Bo-tree, it is related by the 
 Chinese that at the commencement of his conversion, he withdrew 
 habitually beneath the tree Peito to meditate and fast. The Queen 
 became exceedingly uneasy, and, in the hope of bringing back 
 Buddha to his home, she gave orders for the Peito to be cut down. 
 But at the sight of his beloved Bo-tree razed to the earth, so 
 bitter became the grief of the seer, that he fell in a swoon to the 
 
492 ^?ant Tsore, Isege?^^/, ani. Isijrio/. 
 
 ground. They sprinkled him with water, and when, after consider- 
 able trouble, he was restored to consciousness, he sprinkled on the 
 roots one hundred jars full of milk ; then prostrating himself with 
 his face to the earth, he pronounced this vow: — " If the tree does 
 not revive, I shall never arise again." The tree at the same 
 moment shot forth branches, and little by little raised itself until 
 it attained its present height, which is about i20 feet. The number 
 of Bo-trees which have become objecfts of veneration among the 
 Hindus, and especially the Buddhists, is infinite, and the worship 
 
 of the sacred Bodhidruma is still extant in India. The Bo-tree 
 
 is also specially consecrated to Vishnu, who is often portrayed as 
 seated on its heart-shaped and pointed leaves. It is represented 
 in the Vedas as being frequented by various birds, who eat its 
 
 sweet Figs. In the sacred city of Anuridhapura, in Ceylon, is a 
 
 Bo-tree, which is supposed to be one of the oldest trees in existence, 
 and its age is not merely legendary, but substantiated by authentic 
 records. Kings have dedicated their dominions to it, in testimony 
 of their belief that it sprang from a branch of the identical tree 
 under which Buddha reclined for seven years whilst undergoing 
 his apotheosis. The precious branch was taken to Ceylon by the 
 king Asoka, and the tree of which it was the parent was planted 
 by the king Tissa, in the year 288 b.c. When planting it Tissa 
 prophesied that it should flourish eternally, and that it should be 
 an evergreen. It is too sacred to be touched by a knife, but the 
 leaves, as they fall, are eagerly gathered and treasured by Buddhist 
 
 pilgrims. In Java, the Bo-tree is also held sacred, and a species of 
 
 Mistletoe which grows on its branches is supposed to afford much 
 gratification to the shades of the departed which revisit earth. 
 The Buddhists of Thibet call the sacred Bo-tree the bridge of 
 safety — the bridge by which mortals pass from the shores of the 
 world to the shores of the immortal land. 
 
 PENNYROYAL.— The Pennyroyal (Mentha Puhgitm) used 
 formerly to be called Puliol Royal, and derived its name from the 
 Latin word pulices, fleas — insedts it was thought to be specially effi- 
 cacious in destroying. In most of the Western Counties the plant 
 is known as Organ-herb, and is much prized by old-women her- 
 balists as a blood purifier. According to an ancient recipe, Organ 
 
 broth was used in witchcraft to make people see double. In 
 
 Sicily, children put Pennyroyal in their cots on Christmas Day, under 
 the belief that at the exadt hour and minute when the infant Jesus 
 was born this plant puts forth its blossom. The same wonder is 
 repeated on Midsummer Night. In Sicily, also. Pennyroyal is 
 given to husbands and wives who quarrel. According to astro- 
 logers, Pennyroyal is a herb of Venus. 
 
 PEONY. — The Peony, or healing plant (Paonia), commemo- 
 rates the Homeric god Paeon, the first physician of the gods, who 
 healed the divinities Ares and Hades of their wounds. Tradition 
 
pfant bore, IsegeT^/, ani. Isnjna/. 493 
 
 asserts that the Peony is the floral descendant of Paeon, who was 
 a pupil of the great iEsculapius. Paeon first received the flower 
 on Mount Olympus, from the hands of the mother of Apollo, and 
 by its means he cured Pluto of a wound he had received from 
 Hercules ; but this cure created so much jealousy in the breast of 
 iEsculapius, that he secretly caused the death of Paeon. Pluto, 
 however, retained a grateful sense of his service, and so trans- 
 formed his body into the flower which to-day bears his name. 
 
 Rapin has a totally difi'erent tale to tell as to the origin of the 
 blooming Peony, although from what source he derived his infor- 
 mation we are unable to discover. According to the P'rench poet, 
 Paeonia is a nymph whose crimson hue is not the blush of modesty, 
 but the tell-tale witness of the sin of a shepherdess of Alcinous, 
 King of Phaeacia, who seems to have been unable to withstand the 
 
 amorous advances of the Sun-god. In the emblematic language 
 
 of flowers, the Peony is the representative of bashful shame. 
 
 Speaking of the Peony, Rapin says : — 
 
 " Erect in all her crimson pomp you'll see 
 With bushy leaves the graceful Piony, 
 Whose blushes might the praise of virtue claim, 
 But her vile scent betrays they rise from shame. 
 Happy her form, and innocent her red. 
 If, while Alcinous' bleating flock she fed. 
 An heavenly lover had not sought her bed ; 
 'Twas Phoebus' crime, who to his arms allured 
 A maid from all mankind by pride secured." 
 
 The ancient Greeks held the Peony in great repute, believing its 
 origin to have been divine. It was thought to have been an 
 emanation from the moon, and that the flower shone during the 
 night, chased away evil spirits, and protedted the dwellings of those 
 who cultivated it. Hence, in later days, it came to be ranked as 
 a miraculous plant ; and it was thought that evil spirits would shun 
 the spot where it was planted, and that even a small piece of the 
 root, worn round the neck as an amulet, would protedt the wearer 
 from all kinds of enchantment. To this day, in Sussex, necklaces 
 of beads turned from the Peony -root are worn by young children, to 
 prevent convulsions and assist them in teething. Apuleius states 
 that the Peony is a powerful remedy for insanity. Lord Bacon 
 tells us, in his ' Natural History,' that " it hath beene long received, 
 and confirmed by divers trialls, that the root of the male Piony 
 dried, tied to the necke, doth help the falling sicknesse, and like- 
 wise the. incubus, which we call the Mare. The cause of both 
 these diseases, and especially of the epilepsie from the stomach, is 
 the grossenesse of the vapours, which rise and enter into the cells 
 of the braine ; and therefore the working is by extreme and subtill 
 
 alternation, which that simple hath." In Germany, the Peony 
 
 is the Pentecostal Rose. Astrologers say that both male and 
 
 female Peonies are herbs of the Sun, and under the Lion. 
 
494 pfant Isorc, heg&r^f, dnS. biji'ic/'. 
 
 PERIWINKLE. — In France, the Periwinkle is considered 
 the emblem of the pleasures of memory and sincere friendship, 
 probably in allusion to Rousseau's recoUedtion of his friend 
 Madame de Warens, occasioned, after a lapse of thirty years, by 
 the sight of the Periwinkle in flower, which they had once admired 
 
 together. In Italy, garlands of Periwinkle are placed upon the 
 
 biers of deceased children, for which reason the plant has acquired 
 the name of the Flower of Death ; but in Germany it becomes the 
 
 symbol of immortality. Culpeper, in his ' Herbal,' says that the 
 
 Periwinkle is owned by Venus, and that the leaves eaten together 
 by man and wife, cause love between them. 
 
 PESTILENCE WEED.— The Butterbur Coltsfoot {Tussi- 
 lago Petasites) obtained the name of Pestilence Weed from its having 
 in olden times been held in great repute as a sovereign remedy for 
 the plague and pestilent fever. 
 
 PHYTOLACCA. — A species of Phytolacca found by M. L6vy 
 in Nicaragua in 1876, and named by him P. eledvka, may well be 
 called the ele(5lrifying plant. The discoverer, when gathering a 
 branch, experienced a veritable eledlric shock. Experimenting 
 with a compass, he found the needle was agitated at a distance of 
 eight paces, and became more so the nearer he approached ; the 
 adlion changing to a rapid gyratory motion when he finally placed 
 the compass in the midst of the shrub. There was nothing in the 
 soil to account for what may be termed the "shocking" proclivities 
 of the shrub, which are slight in the night-time, becoming gradually 
 intensified until about two o'clock p.m. In stormy weather, the 
 intensity of acflion is increased, and the plant presents a withered 
 appearance until the fall of rain. Neither insedt nor bird was seen 
 by M. L6vy to approach this terrible shrub. 
 
 PicK-PURSE, or Pick-pocket. (See Shepherd's Purse). 
 
 PIMPERNEL. — The scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) 
 is well known as the Poor Man's Weather-glass, or Shepherd's 
 Barometer ; both names having been given on account of the plant 
 invariably closing its petals before and during rain. Darwin 
 alludes to this peculiarity of the Pimpernel in the following lines : — 
 
 " Closed is the pink-eyed Pimpernel ; 
 In fiery red the sun doth rise, 
 Then wades through clouds to mount the skies ; 
 'Twill surely rain — we see't with sorrow, 
 No working in the fields to-morrow." 
 
 Besides being a barometrical, the Pimpernel is a horological, plant, 
 opening its petals about 7 a.m., and closing them about 2 p.m. 
 The plant was also considered a surgical plant, inasmuch as the 
 old herbalists ascribed to it the power of drawing out arrows which 
 were embedded in the flesh, as well as thorns and splinters, or 
 " other such like things." The bruised leaves were believed to cure 
 persons bitten by mad dogs, and the juices of the plant were con- 
 
pPant bore, heger^f, otisl bijn<y. 495 
 
 sidered efficacious in complaints of the eyes, and in hypochondriacal 
 cases. Its manifold virtues have passed into a proverb : — 
 
 " No ear hath heard, no tongue can tell, 
 The virtues of the Pimpemell." 
 
 Pliny records that sheep avoided the blue, and ate the scarlet. Pim- 
 pernel, and that if, by mistake, they ate the blue, they immediately 
 sought for a plant which is now unknown. In Dyer's ' English 
 Folk Lore,' it is stated that, according to a MS. on magic, pre- 
 served in the Chetham Library, Manchester, " the herb Pimpernell 
 is good to prevent witchcraft, as Mother Bumby doth affirme." 
 The following lines may be used when it is gathered : — 
 
 " Herbe Pimpemell, I have thee found. 
 Growing upon Christ Jesus' ground : 
 The same guift the Lord Jesus gave unto thee, 
 When He shed His blood on the tree. 
 Arise up, Pimpernel, and goe with me. 
 And God blesse me. 
 And all that shall were thee. Amen.'' 
 
 " Saying this fifteen dayes together, twice a day, morning earlye 
 
 fasting, and in the evening full." Pimpernel is considered to be 
 
 a herb of the Sun. 
 
 PINE. — The Pine was called the tree of Cybele (or Rhea), 
 the mother of the gods. She was passionately fond of Atys, a 
 Phrygian shepherd, and entrusted him with the care of her temple, 
 under a vow that he should always live in celibacy. This vow, 
 however, Atys violated by an amour with the nymph Sarigaris, upon 
 which he became delirious, and mutilated himself with a sharp 
 stone. Then, as he was about to lay violent hands upon himself, 
 Cybele transformed him into a Pine-tree. Ovid records that — 
 
 " To Rhea grateful still the Pine remains, 
 For Atys still some favour she retains ; 
 He once in human shape her breast had warmed. 
 And now is cherished to a tree transformed." 
 
 Rapin considers the Pine to have been regarded by the ancients asi 
 a sacred tree. He says — 
 
 ' ' Old Cybele changed her Atys to a Pine, 
 Which; sacred there to her, was held divine." 
 
 After the metamorphosis of Atys into the Pine, Cybele sought 
 refuge beneath the tree's branches, and sat mournmg there the loss 
 of her faithless lover, until Jupiter promised that the Pme should 
 remain ever green. It was tied to a Pine-tree, that Marsyas, the 
 Phrygian flute-player, met his death. He became enamoured of 
 Cybele, and journeyed with her as far as Nysa. Here 
 " He Phdfbus' self, the harmonious god, defied* 
 And urged to have their skill in music tried. 
 Phoebus accepts the challenge, but decreed, 
 The boaster vanquished should alive be flayed ; 
 And Marsyas vanquished (so the poet sung) 
 Was flayed alive, and on a Pine-tree hung."— ^a/<». 
 
The Pine was dedicated to Bacchus, and at the Dionysian festivals 
 the votaries sometimes wore garlands of its foliage : its cone is 
 frequently represented surmounting the god's thyrsus, possibly as 
 being symbolic of fecundity and reprodudlion. The connedtion of 
 the Pine with Bacchus is still maintained by the Greeks, who place 
 the cones in their wine vats, to preserve and flavour the wine by 
 means of the resin. The Pine-cone was considered a symbol of 
 the heart of Zagraeus, who was destroyed by the Titans, and whose 
 
 ashes were given to Semele, the mother of Bacchus. We find 
 
 the Pine also dedicated to Pan, because Pitys, one of the many 
 nymphs whom he loved, was changed into that tree, to escape 
 
 the importunities of Boreas. The wood of the Pine was 
 
 employed in the construdlion of the first boats : hence the tree was 
 
 also sacred to the sea-god Neptune. Ovid introduces Pan as 
 
 "crowned with a pointed leaf of Pine-leaf," in reference to the 
 sharpness of its narrow leaves. The length and straightness of 
 its trunk, and freedom from branches, rendered it a suitable walking 
 staff for the giant Polyphemus (^n. iii.) ; and Turnus (from the 
 resinous nature of this tree) is represented as raising a flaming 
 
 brand of Pine-wood to set on fire the ships of the Trojans. 
 
 In Ass3n:ian monuments, we find the Pine-cone offered to the god 
 
 guarding life. According to a Roman legend, two lovers who 
 
 had died of love and were buried in the same cemetery, were 
 changed, the one into a Pine, the other into a Vine, and were 
 
 thus enabled to continue their fond embraces. Prof. De Guber- 
 
 natis remarks that, despite the legend of St. Martin, written by 
 Sulpicius, who represented the Pine as a diabolic tree, Chris- 
 tianity itself has consecrated it. The town of Augburg, which 
 has for its badge a Pine-cone, is under the protecftion of St. 
 Afra. In Sicily, they believe that the form of a hand is to 
 be seen in the interior of the fruit — the hand of Jesus, blessing 
 the Pine which had saved Him during the flight into Eg)fpt 
 
 by screening Him and His mother from Herod's soldiers. At 
 
 Ahorn, near Coburg, a frightful wind sent by a sorceress had bent 
 the church steeple, which thus became an objedt of derision to the 
 inhabitants of the surrounding villages. A shepherd, to save his 
 village from such a standing reproach, attached a short rope to a 
 Pine, which the inhabitants still pointed out in Nork's time, and 
 by dint of invocations and magical imprecations succeeded in 
 straightening the steeple. Nork adds that in the year 1300, at 
 Krain, near a convent, a statue of the Madonna, concealed in the 
 trunk of a Pine, miraculously made itself heard by a priest : on that 
 account a church has been eredted in honour of the Virgin, in the 
 
 immediate vicinity. King Croesus threatened the inhabitants of 
 
 Lampsacus that the destrudlion of their town should be as complete 
 as a felled Pine, which, once cut down, never sprouts out again. 
 The comparison was particularly apt, inasmuch as the town of 
 Lampsachus was reputed to have been formerly called Pityusa— 
 
pfant Tsore, Isegel^t)/, ani. bijncy. 497 
 
 " the place planted with Pines." In a Pompeian design, we find 
 
 a rural Cupid with a crown of Pine. Ovid crowns the Fauns with 
 Pine. Virgil calls the Pine Pronuba, because the torches used at 
 
 weddings were made of Pine- wood. In the hymn of Callimachus 
 
 to Diana, virgins are represented as wearing chaplets of Pine. 
 
 The Pine-cone unopened symbolised virginity. In Podolia, 
 
 in Little Russia, the bride-cake is ornamented with sprigs of 
 
 Pine. In Japan, the Pine has become a symbol of constancy 
 
 and conjugal fidelity, because it is always verdant, even beneath 
 
 the snow. The Pine is a funereal tree, and, as is the case with 
 
 all others of its class, it symbolises immortality and generation. 
 Like the Cypress and the Fir, on account of the durability of its 
 wood and its evergreen foliage, it represents the perpetuity of life, — 
 a symbol that appears singularly in keeping with the funereal 
 rites of a people who believed in the immortality of the soul. 
 
 In Russia, when the coffin is being carried to the cemetery, it 
 
 is covered with branches of Pine or Fir. The Fijian believes 
 
 that, after death, the spirit, with his war-club and a whale's tooth, 
 journeys to the world's end : there grows the sacred Pine, and at 
 it the spirit hurls his whale's tooth. If he strikes it, he proceeds 
 on his way rejoicing, but if he misses his mark, his further progress 
 
 is stopped. Crowns of Pine were worn by vidtors at the Isthmian 
 
 games. The Pine was one of the trees ordered to be used by 
 
 the Jews in eredting their tents at the Feast of the Tabernacles. 
 According to tradition, the Pine seen in a dream portends dis- 
 solution. 
 
 PINK. — The Pink [Dianthus) has been said to derive its name 
 from the Dutch word Pinkster — Whitsuntide — the season at which 
 a species called of old the Whitsuntide Gilliflower, is in flower. In 
 Bologna, however, the flower is held sacred to St. Peter, who is 
 believed to have been partial to it above all others; the 29th of 
 
 June is there considered to be the day of Pinks. In an old 
 
 work quoted by Alphonse Karr, the author recommends the water 
 distilled from Pinks as an excellent remedy against epilepsy, and 
 adds : " but if a conserve be composed of it, it is the life and 
 delight of the human race." A vinegar made of Pinks was 
 formerly prized for its efficacy against the plague. 
 
 PixiE-STOoL. — See Toadstool. 
 
 PLANE. — The Plane-tree [Plafanus onentalis) was specially 
 venerated in Greece. In the school of Plato, the philosophers used 
 to walk and converse under the shadow of these delightful trees. 
 
 Pausanias mentions a Plane tree of extraordinary size and beauty 
 
 in Arcadia, supposed to have been planted by Menelaus thirteen 
 
 hundred years before. The Plane was held sacred to Helen, the 
 
 wife of Menelaus. Evelyn gives an account of the passion con- 
 ceived by Xerxes for a Plane-tree. Whilst marching throug;h Lydia, 
 he is said to have stopped his vast army of 1,700,000 soldiers, that 
 
 2 K 
 
498 pfant T9or6, IsageT^f, ani. Tsi^rlcy, 
 
 he might admire the beauty of one of these trees, and became so 
 enamoured of it, that, spoiling both himself, his concubines, and 
 great persons, of all their jewels, he covered it with gold, gems, 
 necklaces, scarfs, bracelets, and infinite riches. For some days, 
 neither the concerns of his portentous army, nor the objects of his 
 expedition, could divert his thoughts from the stately tree, and when 
 at length he was forced to leave it, he caused the figure of it to be 
 stamped on a medal of gold, which he continually wore about him. 
 
 In Greece, when lovers are obliged to separate, they exchange, 
 
 as a gage of fidelity, the halves of a leaf of the Plane. When they 
 meet again, each one produces the half-leaf, and they then fit them 
 together. 
 
 PLANTAIN. — According to Grimm, the Plantain or Way- 
 bread (like the Endive or Succory — the German Wegewarte) is said 
 to have been once a maiden, who, worn out with constantly 
 watching the roadway for her lover, was changed into a plant, 
 that still clings to a position by the wayside. In Devonshire, they 
 say that once in seven years it becomes a bird — either the cuckoo 
 or its helpmate, known as the " dinnick," which is said to follow 
 
 the cuckoo wherever it goes. In Aargau, the Plantain is called 
 
 Irrwurzel, and the peasantry there ascribe to it the power of disor- 
 dering the wits. The Greeks called the plant " Lamb's-tongue," 
 
 and no less a personage than Alexander the Great ascribed to 
 it magical properties, and asserted that its root was marvellously 
 potent in the cure of headaches. According to Macer Floridus, a 
 root suspended round the neck prevented scrofula ; and Dioscondes 
 affirmed that the water derived from three roots cured the tertian, 
 
 and from four the quartan ague. In England, the Plantain or 
 
 Waybread has always had a high reputation as a vulnerary. Chaucer 
 notices it as an application to wounds, and Shakspeare makes 
 Romeo, when referring .to a broken shin, say, " Your Plantain- 
 leaf is excellent for that." Clare, in his ' Shepherd's Calendar,' 
 recounts the following rustic divination common among the 
 Midland country-folk : — 
 
 " Or, trying simple charms and spells, 
 Which rural superstition tells, 
 They pull the little blossom threads 
 From out the Knotweed's button heads, 
 And put the husk, with many a smile, 
 In their white bosoms for awhile. 
 Then, if they guess aright the swain, 
 Their love's sweet fancies try to gain, 
 'Tis said that ere it lies an hour, 
 'Twill blossom with a second ilower, 
 And from the bosom's handkerchief, 
 Bloom as it ne'er had lost a leaf." 
 
 In Henderson's 'Folk Lore of the Northern Counties' is an 
 account of a curious rustic divination pradtised in Berwickshire by 
 means of kemps or spikes of the Ribwort Plantain. Two spikes— 
 
pPant Isore, Isege^y, urTel Isi^ncy, 499 
 
 one to represent the lad, the other the lass — are plucked when in 
 full bloom, and after all the blossom has been carefully removed, 
 the kemps should be wrapped in a Dock-leaf and laid under a stone. 
 If the spikes shall have again blossomed when visited the next 
 morning, the popular belief is that there will be " Aye love between 
 
 them twae." Plantain is held by astrologers to be under the 
 
 rule of Venus. 
 
 PLUM. — The Japanese, once a year, hold a popular festival 
 
 in honour of the Plum-tree. To dream of Plums is said to augur 
 
 but little good to the dreamer : they are the forerunners of ill- 
 health, and prognosticate losses, infidelity, and sickness, and much 
 vexation in the married state. 
 
 POLYPODIUM. — According to a German tradition, the 
 Polypodium vulgare sprang from the milk that the goddess Freyja, 
 and after her the Virgin Mary, let fall on the earth. 
 
 POMEGRANATE.— The fruit of the Pomegranate has 
 always been highly prized in the East. Rapin says of it : — 
 
 " Succeeding fruit attend the blossoms' fall, 
 Each represents a crown upon a ball ; 
 A thousand seeds with Tyrian scarlet dyed, 
 And ranged by nature's art in cells they hide.'' 
 
 The Pomegranate was one of the plants assigned to Bacchus, and 
 the origin of the tree is said to be due to a nameless nymph, 
 beloved by Bacchus, to whom a priest had foretold that she should 
 wear a crown. Bacchus kept the letter, but not the spirit of this 
 pyophecy, for, instead of espousing the betrayed maiden, he trans- 
 formed her into a Pomegranate-tree, and twisted up the calyx of 
 the blossom into the crown-like form it has ever since retained. 
 Rapin relates the story as follows : — 
 
 " The story's short how first this fruit obtained 
 A graceful crown, and was with purple stained. 
 A royal nymph there was of Tyrian race, 
 A Moor, indeed, but formed with every grace, 
 Her native colour knew ; yet fate denied 
 Indulgence equal to her beauty's pride. 
 Filled with ambitious thoughts she pressed to know 
 What gifts the gods would on her charms btstow. 
 Ravished she heard the ambiguous priest declare 
 She should a crown and purple garments wear; 
 Fancied that hence a kingdom must arise. 
 Deceived by words and flattering prophecies. 
 For when the god of wine in triumph came, 
 I^den with Indian spoils to court the dame, 
 He soon beguiled her with a husband's name, 
 Baulked of her hopes, her virgin honour stained, 
 By favour of her god at last she gained 
 To be transformed to this imperial plant — 
 The only honour which the prophet meant." 
 
 Oppian gives another legend as to the origin of the Pomegranate, 
 according to which, a man having lost his first wife, became en- 
 
 2K — 3 
 
500 pfant Tsore, begel^/, anil Tsijrie/', 
 
 amoured of his daughter Side (Greek for Pomegranate-tree) : to 
 escape his cruel persecution, the unfortunate young girl killed 
 herself; but the gods, compassionating her, metamorphosed Side 
 into the Pomegranate-tree, and her unnatural father into a sparrow- 
 hawk: so, according to Oppian, the sparrow-hawk will never 
 alight upon the Pomegranate, but always persistently shuns the 
 
 tree. According to M. Lenormant, the Pomegranate sprang from 
 
 the blood of Adgestis. The name Rimmon (Pomegranate) was 
 that given in certain parts of Syria, near Damascus, to the young 
 god, who died but to spring into a new life — reminding one of the 
 
 story of Adonis. The great number of seeds which the fruit of 
 
 the Pomegranate contains has caused it to become the symbol of 
 fecundity, generation, and wealth. Probably on this account the 
 plant was sacred to Juno, the patroness of marriage and riches. 
 In the Isle of Euboea, there was formerly a statue of this goddess, 
 holding in one hand a sceptre, and in the other a Pomegranate. 
 Prof. De Gubernatis suggests that the uterine form of the opened 
 Pomegranate is the reason why Pausanias, after having said 
 that Juno held a Pomegranate in her hand, adds, that she did not 
 wish to divulge the mystery which appertained to this symbolic 
 fruit. This is also the reason why (according to Cicero) Proserpine 
 did not wish to leave the infernal regions without having eaten the 
 Pomegranate which she plucked from a tree growing in the Elysian 
 Fields. Ceres, inconsolable for the loss of her daughter, had begged 
 Jupiter to release her from the power of Pluto. Jupiter decreed 
 that if Proserpine had not tasted any food in the infernal regions, 
 she might be restored to her mother; but, as Ovid tells us, by an 
 unfortunate mischance, 
 
 "As in the garden's shady walk she strayed, 
 A fair Pomegranate charmed the simple maid, 
 Hung in her way, and tempting her to taste, 
 She plucked the fruit and took a short repast. 
 Seven times, a seed at once she eat the food : 
 The fact Asculaphus had only viewed. 
 He saw what passed, and, by discovering all, 
 Detained the ravished nymph in cruel thrall." 
 
 Ceres, enraged, would not permit the earth to yield any fruits till her 
 daughter was restored to her, and Jupiter at last decided that Proser- 
 pine should spend six months of the year with her mother, but as she 
 haid partaken of the Stygian Pomegranate, she was to stay the other 
 
 six months with Pluto. A legend states that from having been 
 
 planted on the grave of King Eteocles, the fruit of the Pomegranate 
 has ever since exuded blood. Another account relates that the blood 
 of the Pomegranate had its origin in the life-blood of the suicide 
 Menceceus. On account of this blood which seems to flow from its 
 fruit, the Pomegranate has acquired a somewhat sinister significa- 
 tion. As a rule, however, the sanguineous juice and innumerable 
 seeds of the Pomegranate are considered a happy augury of fecun- 
 dity and abundance. There is a tradition that the fruit of the 
 
pPant Tsore, TsegelJO/, an3. Isijricy. 501 
 
 Tree of Life presented by Eve to Adam was the Pomegranate. It 
 is also the opinion of some, that Paris adjudged a Pomegranate to 
 Venus, and not an Apple ; and that nearly always where the latter 
 fruit is alluded to in legends or popular customs relating to marriage, 
 the Pomegranate is meant. In Turkey, the bride throws a Pome- 
 granate on the ground, and from the number of seeds which exude 
 from the broken fruit judges of the extent of her future family. 
 
 In Dalmatia, it is the custom for a young man, when asking 
 
 the hand of his bride from her parents, to speak figuratively, 
 and so he vows to transplant into his own garden the beautiful 
 red flowers of the Pomegranate which are then flourishing in 
 
 the paternal parterre. In Sicily, they use a branch of the 
 
 Pomegranate-tree as a divining-rod to discover hidden treasures: 
 it is reported to be unfailing provided that it is manipulated by an 
 
 expert or by some one who knows the mystical formulary. 
 
 Many references to the Pomegranate are to be found in the Bible, 
 where it is usually associated with the idea of fruitfulness. Moses 
 described the promised land as a land of Wheat and Barley, and 
 Vines, and Fig-trees, and Pomegranates ; a land of oil-Olive and 
 honey. Solomon speaks of "an orchard of Pomegranates with 
 pleasant fruits." It was used to flavour wine and meats, and a 
 wine was made from its juice : "I would cause thee to drink of 
 spiced wine of the juice of my Pomegranate " (Canticles viii., 2). 
 The Jews employed the fruit in their religious ceremonials. The 
 capitals of the pillars in the Temple of Jerusalem were covered 
 with carved Pomegranates. On the hem of Aaron's sacred 
 robe were embroidered, in blue, in purple, and in scarlet, Pome- 
 granates, alternating with golden bells. A similar adornment 
 of the fringes of their robes was aflfedled by the ancient Kings of 
 Persia, who united in their own person the regal and sacerdotal 
 
 offices. In Christian art, the Pomegranate depidted as bursting 
 
 open, and the seeds visible, was an emblem of the future — of hope 
 in immortality. St. Catherine, as the mystical Sposa of Christ, is 
 sometimes represented with a Pomegranate in her hand; and the 
 infant Saviour is often depicted holding this fruit and presenting it 
 
 to the Virgin. Moore speaks of the " charmed leaf of pure 
 
 Pomegranate," in allusion to the Persian idea as to its purifying 
 attributes. In the ceremonies of the Ghebers (fire-worshippers) 
 round their sacred fire, the Darvo gives them water to drink and 
 Pomegranate-leaf to chew in theif mouth, to cleanse theni from 
 
 inward uncleanness. The Pomegranate was the device of 
 
 Henry IV., who took it from the Moorish kings of Grenada, with 
 the motto, " Sour, yet sweet." The crown-like shape of its calyx 
 probably induced Anne of Austria to adopt it, with the motto, 
 " My worth is not in my crown." The Pomegranate was the 
 emblem of Katherine of Arragon, and in one of the masques held 
 in honour of her marriage with our Henry VIII., a bank of Roses 
 and Pomegranates typified the union of England and Spain. Her 
 
502 Sfant Tsore, Isegeifb/, ariR Tsijriq/". 
 
 daughter, Queen Mary, took the Pomegranate and white and red 
 
 Roses. Parkinson tells us that from the rind of the Pomegranate 
 
 is made writing-ink " which is durable to the world's end." 
 
 The Athenian matrons, during the Thesmophoria (festivals in 
 honour of Ceres), were expressly forbidden to eat Pomegranates. 
 
 To dream of Pomegranates is a fortunate augury, foretelling 
 
 good fortune and success; to the lover such a dream implies a 
 faithful and accomplished sweetheart, and to the married- an 
 increase of riches and children, and great success in trade. 
 
 Poor Man's Parmacetty. — See Shepherd's Purse. 
 
 POPLAR. — In allusion to the reputed origin of this tree, 
 Ren6 Rapin, in his poem on Gardens, says : — 
 
 " Nor must the Heliads' fate in silence pass, 
 Whose sorrow first produced the Poplar race ; 
 Their tears, while at a brother's grave they mourn. 
 To golden drops of fragrant Amber turn. 
 
 The Heliades, sisters of the rash Phaethon (who had yoked the 
 horses to the chariot of the Sun before his fatal drive), on finding 
 his tomb upon the banks of the river Po, became distraifted with 
 grief, and for four days and nights kept mournful watch with their 
 disconsolate mother around the grave. Tired out with their 
 exhausting vigil, they endeavoured at length to obtain some repose 
 for their weary limbs, when to their dismay they found them rooted 
 to the ground. The gods, pitying their intense grief, had changed 
 the seven sisters into Poplars, and their tears into Amber. Ovid 
 thus narrates the incident : — 
 
 " Each nymph in wild affliction, as she grieves. 
 Would rend her hair, but fills her hand with leaves ; 
 One sees her limbs transformed, another views 
 Her arms shot out and branching into boughs, 
 And now their legs, and breasts, and bodies stood 
 Crusted with bark and hardening into wood, 
 • »♦»»»# 
 
 Then the bark increased. 
 Closed in their faces, and their words suppressed. 
 
 The new-made trees in tears of Amber run, 
 Which, hardened into value by the sun, 
 Distil for ever on the streams below; 
 The limpid streams their radiant treasure show. 
 Mixed in the sand ; whence the rich drops conveyed 
 Shine in the dress of the bright Latian maid."^At/iiis(>M, 
 
 The species of Poplar into which the Heliades were transformed 
 was the Black Poplar (Populus nigra). This Poplar was consecrated 
 to the goddess Proserpine. The White Poplar was considered to 
 be an antidote to the bite of a serpent, and was dedicated to 
 Hercules, who sometimes wore a crown of Poplar-leaves. When 
 the demi-god destroyed Cacus in a cavern on Mount Aventine, 
 which was covered with Poplars, he bound a branch of one round 
 his brow in token of his vicTlory. On his return from Hades, he 
 
pPant Tsore, Tsegel^^/, ani. l9ijn<y, 503 
 
 wore a crown of Poplar-leaves, the outer portions of which were 
 turned black bythe smoke of the infernal regions, whilst the inner sur- 
 face was blanched by the perspiration from the hero's brow. At all 
 ceremonies and sacrifices to Hercules, his worshippers wore gar- 
 lands of Poplar-leaves, as did thdse who had triumphed in battle, 
 in commemoration of the demi-god's vidtory. Groves of Poplar- 
 trees were frequently planted and dedicated to Hercules. The 
 
 White Poplar was also dedicated to Time, because its leaves were 
 constantly in motion, and, being dark on one side and light on 
 
 the other, they were emblematic of night and day. Of the 
 
 wood of this tree the Romans made bucklers, on account of 
 its lightness, and covered them with ox-hides : hence, Pliny says, 
 Populus apta scutis. The prophet . Hosea is thought to have re- 
 ferred to the White Poplar when he accused the Children of Israel 
 ot sacrificing and burning incense under Poplars " because the 
 
 shadow thereof is good" (Hosea iv.) The similarity of sound, in 
 
 Latin and French, between the words for " Poplar " and " People " 
 seems to be the reason which has led to the tree being regarded as 
 a republican emblem. In the French Revolution of 1848, Poplars 
 were transplanted from gardens, and set up in the squares of Paris, 
 where they were glorified as Trees of Liberty, and hung with wreaths 
 of Everlasting Flowers. Napoleon III. had them all uprooted and 
 
 burnt. Under the head of Aspen will be found several legends 
 
 respe<5ling the quivering foliage of the Populus tremula — the " Quig- 
 gen-epsy " of the good folk of Ulster. Mrs. Hemans, in her 
 ' Wood Walk,' thus alludes to one of these old traditions, in which 
 the Cross of Christ is represented as having been made of the 
 wood of this species of Poplar : — 
 
 " Father. — Hast thou heard, my boy, 
 
 The peasant's legend of that quivering tree ? 
 
 " Child. — No, father; doth he say the fairies dance 
 Amidst its branches ? 
 
 " Father. — Oh 1 a cause more deep, 
 More solemn far, the rustic doth assign 
 
 To the strange restlessness of those wan leaves. 
 The Cross he deems — the blessed Cross, whereon 
 The meek Redeemer bow'd His head to death — 
 Was formed of Aspen wood ; and since that hour 
 
 Through all its race the pale tree hath sent down 
 A thrilling consciousness, a secret awe 
 
 Making them tremulous, when not a breexe 
 Disturbs the airy Thistle-down, or shakes 
 
 The light lines from the shining gossamer.*' 
 
 Among the Highlanders, there is a tradition that the Cross of 
 Christ was made of the wood of the White Poplar, and throughout 
 Christendom there is a belief that the tree trembles and shivers 
 mystically in sympathy with the ancestral tree which became 
 
 accursed. The Greeks regarded the Poplar as a funereal tree. 
 
 In the funeral games at Rhodes, the victor was crowned with 
 
504 pfant Tsore, Tseg&r^f, and. Isijrie/, 
 
 Poplar leaves consecrated to the Manes. Like several other 
 
 funereal trees, the Poplar has become a symbol of generation. 
 Thus, in Bologna, at the birth of a girl, the parents, if able, will 
 plant one thousand Poplar-trees, which they religiously tend till 
 the maiden marries, when they are cut down, and the price given 
 as a marriage portion to the bride. Alphonse Karr says that a 
 similar custom exists in certain northern countries among the 
 
 better class of farmers. In Sicily, and especially at Monterosso, 
 
 near Modica, on Midsummer Eve, the people fell the highest 
 Poplar, and with shouts, drag it through the village. Numbers of 
 the villagers mount the trunk during its progress, beating a drum. 
 Around this great Poplar, symbolising the greatest solar ascension 
 and the decline which follows it, the crowd dance and sing an 
 
 appropriate refrain. Astrologers state that the Poplar is under 
 
 the dominion of Saturn. 
 
 POPPY. — The origin of the Poppy {Papaver) was attributed 
 by the ancient Greeks to Ceres, who, despairing of regaining her 
 daughter Proserpine, carried off by Pluto, created the flower, in 
 order that by partaking of it she might obtain sleep, and thus forget 
 her great grief. Browne thus speaks of this legend : — 
 
 "Sleep-bringing Poppy, by the plowman late, 
 Not without cause to Ceres consecrate. 
 
 ***** 4c 
 
 Fairest Proserpine was rapt away, 
 
 And she in plaints the night, in tears the day, 
 
 Had long time spent : when no high power could give her 
 
 Any redresse, the Poppy did relieve her : 
 
 For eating of the seeds, they sleep procured, 
 
 And so beguiled those griefs she long endured." 
 
 The ancients considered the Papaver Rhaa, or Corn-Rose, so neces- 
 sary for the prosperity of their Corn, that the seeds of this Poppy 
 were offered up in the sacred rites of Ceres, whose garland was 
 formed with Barley or bearded Wheat interwoven with Poppies. 
 The goddess is sometimes depidled holding Poppies in her hand. 
 The somniferous and quieting effects of the Poppy, which were 
 well known to the Greeks, probably led them to represent the 
 deities Hypnos (Sleep), Thanatos (Death), and Nyx (INight), either 
 
 as crowned with Poppies, or holding Poppies in their hands. 
 
 Rapin, speaking of the effects of the Poppy as a narcotic, says : — 
 
 "The powerful seeds, when pressed, afford a juice 
 In med'cine famous, and of sovereign use, 
 Whether in tedious nights it charm to rest, 
 Or bind the stubborn cough and ease the lab'ring breast." 
 
 It was customary with the Romans, to offer Poppies to the dead, 
 especially to those whose names they were desirous of appeasing. 
 Virgil, in his ' Georgics,' calls the flower the Lethean Poppy, and 
 directs it to be offered as a funeral rite to Orpheus. The Grecian 
 youths and maidens were wont to prove the sincerity of their 
 lovers by placing in the hollow of the palm of the left hand a 
 
pPant teofe, Isege^/, cmS l3ijri<y. 505 
 
 petal or flower-leaf of the Poppy, which, on being struck with the 
 other hand, was broken with a sharp sound : this denoted true 
 attachment ; but if the leaf failed to snap, unfaithfulness. From 
 Greece, this usage passed to Rome, and finally to modern Italy, 
 where, as well as in Switzerland, it is still extant. 
 
 " By a prophetic Poppy leaf I found 
 
 Your changed affection, for it gave no sound, 
 
 Though in my hand struck hollow as it lay, 
 
 But quickly withered like your love away." — Theocritus. 
 
 A superstitious belief exists that the red Poppies which followed 
 the ploughing of the field of Waterloo after Wellington's vidlory 
 sprang from the blood of the troops who fell during the battle. 
 
 According to a Bengali legend, the origin of Opium was as 
 
 follows : — There once lived on the banks of the holy river Ganga a 
 Rishi, or sage, in whose hut, made of Palm-leaves, there was a 
 mouse, which became a favourite with the seer, and was endowed by 
 him with the gift of speech. After awhile, the mouse, having been 
 frightened by a cat, at his earnest solicitation, was changed by the 
 Rishi into a cat ; then, alarmed by dogs, into a dog ; then into an 
 ape ; then into a boar ; then into an elephant ; and finally, being 
 still discontented with its lot, into a beautiful maiden, to whom the 
 holy sage gave the name of Postomani, or the Poppy-seed lady. 
 One day, whilst tending her plants, the king approached the Rishi's 
 cottage, and was invited to rest and refresh himself by Postomani, 
 who offered him some delicious fruit. The King, however, struck 
 by the girl's beauty, refused to eat until she had told him her 
 parentage. Postomani, to deceive the king, told him she was a 
 princess whom the Rishi had found in the woods and had brought 
 up. The upshot was that the king made love to the girl, and they 
 were married by the holy sage. She was treated as the favourite 
 queen, and was very happy; but one day, whilst standing by a 
 well, she turned giddy, fell into the water, and died. The Rishi 
 then appeared before the king, and begged him not to give way to 
 consuming grief, assuring him that the late queen was not of royal 
 blood. Said he : " She was born a mouse, and, according to her own 
 wish, I changed her successively into a cat, a dog, a boar, an elephant, 
 and a lovely girl. Let her body remain in the well ; fill up the well 
 with earth. Out of her flesh and bones will grow a tree, which 
 shall be called after her Posto, that is, the Poppy-tree. From this 
 tree will be obtained a drug called Opium, which will be celebrated 
 through all ages, and which will be either swallowed or smoked as 
 a wondrous narcotic till the end of time. The Opium swallower 
 or smoker will have one quality of each of the animals to which 
 Postomani was transformed. He will be mischievous like a mouse, 
 fond of milk like a cat, quarrelsome like a dog, filthy hke an ape, 
 
 savage like a boar, and high-tempered like a queen. Accordmg 
 
 to astrologers, the Poppy is a flower of the Moon. 
 
5o6 pPant Tsore, Isege^/, dnSi TBi^t'iaf. 
 
 POTATO. — Although introduced into Europe as late as 
 1584, the Potato {Solatium tuberosum) has been made the subjeifl of 
 several popular superstitions. In Birmingham and many other 
 distridts, it is believed that a Potato carried in the trousers pocket is 
 a sure charm against rheumatism so long as the tuber is kept there ; 
 and the Dutch believed that a Potato begged or stolen is a pre- 
 servation against the same malady. In Germany, they take 
 
 precautions against the Potato demon or wolf (Karioffelwolf) : after 
 the last Potatoes have been dug up, the peasants dress up a puppet 
 which they call Erdapfelmann, and carry the figure in procession to 
 the house of their master, where they recite a doggrel verse. A 
 luminosity, powerful enough to enable a bystander to read by, issues 
 from the common Potato when in a state of putrefaction ; this 
 was particularly remarked by an officer on guard at Strasburg, who 
 thought the barracks were on fire in consequence of the light that 
 was emitted from a cellar full of Potatoes. 
 
 Prick Madam. — See Stonecrop. 
 
 Priest's Pintle. — See Arum. 
 
 PRIMROSE.— Anciently the Primrose was called Paralisos, 
 after the name of a handsome stripling, the son of Priapus and 
 Flora, who died of grief for the loss of his betrothed Melicerta, but 
 was snatched from the jaws of death by his parents, and meta- 
 morphosed into " the rathe Primrose that forsaken dies." 
 
 The name Primrose anciently appertained to the Daisy, and is 
 written by Chaucer Primerole, from the old French Primeverole, the 
 first Spring flower ; Primerdle became changed to PrimroUes, and 
 then to Primrose, the first Rose of Spring; and it was not until the 
 sixteenth century that it attached itself to the flower which now 
 
 bears its name. In Worcestershire, it is regarded as exceedingly 
 
 unlucky in Spring-time to take less than a handful of Primroses or 
 Violets into a farmer's house, as a disregard of this rule is popularly 
 believed to invite destrudtion of the good wife's brood of ducklings 
 
 and chickens. In East Norfolk, it is thought that if a less number 
 
 of Primroses than thirteen be brought into a house on the first occa- 
 sion of introducing any, so many eggs only will each goose hatch 
 
 that season. Henderson, in his ' Folk-lore of the Northern 
 
 Counties,' gives the following superstitious custom : " Let a youth 
 or maiden pull from its stalk the flower, and after cutting off the 
 tops of the stamens with a pair of scissors, lay it in a secret place 
 where no human eye can see it. Let him think through the day 
 and dream through the night of his sweetheart ; and then, upon 
 looking at it the next day, if he find the stamens shot out to their 
 former height, success will attend him in love ; if not, he can only 
 expedl disappointment." Browne tells us — 
 
 " The Primrose, when with six leaves gotten grace, 
 Maids as a true-love in their bosoms place." 
 
pfant l9ore, Isegef^S/) dnS Tsijriq/'. 507 
 
 Shakspeare makes it a funeral flower for youth : — 
 
 " With fairest flowers 
 Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, 
 1 '11 sweeten thy sad grave : thou shall not lack 
 The flower that's like thy face, pale Primrose." 
 
 In recent times, the Primrose has become associated with the 
 memory of Lord Beaconsfield, and a society called the " Primrose 
 League " has been formed, having for its objetft the dissemination 
 of those constitutional principles which were so dear to the late 
 
 Earl. In Germany, the Primrose is called the Schlusselblume, or 
 
 Key-flower, in reference to the numerous legends of a flower open- 
 ing the locks of doors to treasure-caves, &c.; resembling in its 
 magical fun<5tions the Russian Rasrivtmva, the Eisenkraut (Vervain), 
 
 the Fern, Mistletoe, Hazel, Springwort, and Moonwort. The 
 
 goddess Bertha is supposed to entice children to enter her enchanted 
 
 halls by offering them beautiful Primroses. Astrologers claim 
 
 the Primrose as a herb of Venus. 
 
 Procession Flower. — See Milkwort. 
 
 PTERIS ESCULENTA. — The New Zealand tohunga, or 
 priest, professes the following rite to be a cure for headache. 
 The ofiiciant pulls out two stalks of the Pteris esculenta, from which 
 the fibres of the root must be removed ; and beating them together 
 over the patient's head, he offers a prayer to Atua. 
 
 PucK-FisT. — See Toadstool. 
 
 PULSATILLA. — In the Ukraine, the Pulsatilla patens is called 
 Sontrava, the Dream-plant. It is beUeved by the people of the 
 country that the flowers of this plant, which blossoms in the month 
 of April, if placed between the pillow and the bed, will cause the 
 sleeper to dream of what will undoubtedly be accomplished. 
 
 PUMPKIN. — Among the East Indians, there is a legend that 
 there once existedamightymannamedlaia.whoseonlysondied. The 
 father wished to bury him, but did not know where. So he placed 
 him in an enormous Pumpkin, which he conveyed to the foot of a 
 mountain, not far from his habitation. Impelled by his love for the 
 departed one, he one day had the curiosity to revisit the spot, and, 
 desirous of once again seeing his son, he opened the Pumpkin. 
 Immediately whales and other immense fish jumped out. laia, 
 affrighted, returned home, and told what he had seen to his neigh- 
 bours adding that the Pumpkin appeared to be filled with water 
 and quantities of fish. Four brothers who had been born at one 
 time rushed off in haste to the spot indicated, in order to secure 
 the fish for food. laia followed, to prevent them from mjuring the 
 Pumpkin. The brothers, who had succeeded in liftmg the gigantic 
 vegetable, were frightened at seeing laia approach, and let fall the 
 Pumpkin, which was, in consequence, cracked in several places. 
 Froni the fissures thus made poured forth such a volume of water, 
 
5o8 ^Panf bore, begel^ti/, arisl bijrie/. 
 
 that the whole earth was inundated : and from this circumstance 
 
 the oceans were formed. The Chinese honour the Pumpkin or 
 
 Gourd as the emperor of vegetables. The vegetable was consi- 
 dered by the ancients to be an emblem of abundance, fecundity, 
 prosperity, and good health. To dream of Pumpkins, however, is 
 considered a very bad omen. 
 
 Purification Flower. — See Snowdrop. 
 
 PURSLANE. — Purslane (Poriulaca), strewn about a bed, 
 used in olden times to be considered a sure protection against evil 
 spirits. Astrologers classify it among the herbs of the Moon. 
 
 QUINCE. — The fruit of the Quince-tree [Cydonia) was con- 
 secrated to Venus, and was looked upon by Grecian lovers as a 
 love token. According to Athenaeus, the chariot of the goddess 
 of Love was not only filled with Myrtles and Roses, but also with 
 Quinces, and in many ancient effigies of the goddess, she is 
 represented with a Quince in her hand. By a decree of Solon, 
 which gave to an ancient popular custom the countenance of the 
 law, a Grecian bride, before seeking the nuptial couch, had to eat 
 
 a Quince. The Greeks called the Quince Ckrysomelon, or Golden 
 
 Apple ; hence it is not surprising to find it asserted that the golden 
 fruit of the Hesperides were Quinces, and that these tempted 
 Hercules to attack the guardian dragon. In confirmation of this 
 opinion, a statue of the demi-god holding a Quince in his hand as 
 a trophy is referred to. It is also alleged that it was by means of 
 Quinces given to him by Venus, that Hippomenes beguiled 
 
 Atalanta during his race with her, and so won it. It was by 
 
 means of a Quince that Acontius won his bride : this youth, when 
 at Delos, to attend the sacrifices of Diana, fell in love with the 
 beautiful Cydippe: fearing to demand her hand, on account of 
 his obscure origin, the crafty lover threw into the Temple of Diana, 
 whilst Cydippe was performing her devotions, a Quince, with this 
 inscription : — " I swear, by the divinity of Diana, to become the 
 wife of Acontius." The young girl, having picked up the Quince, 
 read aloud the inscription, and, being compelled by the oath she 
 had thus inadvertently taken in the sacred presence of the god- 
 dess, she obtained her parents' consent to marry the quick-witted 
 
 Acontius. Turner, in his ' Brittish Physician,' says that the 
 
 juice of raw Quince is accounted an antidote against deadly poison. 
 
 To dream of Quinces is stated to be favourable to the dreamer, 
 
 denoting speedy release from troubles, sickness, &c. 
 
 QUICKEN-TREE.— The Mountain Ash, Wild Service, or 
 Rowan-tree {Pyrus aucuparia), is also known by the names of 
 the Quicken or Quick-beam, Witchen or Wicken, appellations 
 which, from the Rowan-tree having been long regarded as a 
 preservative against witchcraft, some writers have erroneously 
 connedled with the Anglo-Saxon word wicce, a witch. Evelyn 
 calls this tree the Quick -beam, and says that in Wales it is 
 
pfaat bore, h&Qetpf, ari3. bijrie/, 509 
 
 planted in every churchyard, and that " on a certain day in the 
 year everybody religiously wears a cross made of the wood, and 
 it is reputed to be a preservative against fascination and evil 
 spirits, whence perhaps we call it Witchen ; the boughs being stuck 
 about the house, or the wood used for walking-staves." (See 
 Rowan). 
 
 RADISH. — The Germans have given to a species of wild 
 Radish bearing blue flowers the name of Hederich, and they have an 
 old superstition that whoever wears a crown composed of Hederich 
 is enabled to detedt witches. A wreath of Hederich is sometimes 
 placed on cows before leaving their stalls to be milked, in order to 
 
 protedl them from the effea of the Evil Eye. In England, to 
 
 dream of Radishes signifies the discovery of secrets, domestic 
 
 quarrels, and misfortune. In Germany, they call a certain evil 
 
 spirit, or Geni of the mountain, Rubezahl,_ the Counter of Radishes; 
 and the legend relates that on one occasion this Geni took advan- 
 tage of the absence of her lover to pay his odious addresses to a 
 young princess, whom he kept confined in her castle. As the 
 princess expressed a desire for companions, the Geni gathered some 
 Radishes, which she touched with a magic wand, and changed 
 into young girls, who, however, only remained young so long as 
 the Radishes retained their juice. Then the Geni gave her some 
 fresh Radishes, one of which, on being touched with the magic 
 wand, became a bee. The princess, who was jealously guarded by 
 the Geni, sent off the bee as a messenger to her lover, to inform 
 him that she was in the Geni's power. The bee did not return. 
 She touched a second, which became a cricket, and despatched it 
 in search of her lover. The cricket never returned. Then the 
 princess desired the Geni to count the Radishes, and he, to please 
 her, did so. Whilst so occupied, the princess touched one of the 
 Radishes with her wand, and it became a horse. In an instant, 
 she sprang on its back, and rode away at full speed ; and fortunately 
 meeting her lover, they both escaped together. 
 
 RAGGED ROBIN.— The Ragged Robin, Cuckoo Flower, 
 Meadow Campion, or Meadow Pink (Lychnis Flos cuculi) owes the 
 first of these names to the finely-cut but ragged appearance of its 
 petals. It is dedicated to St. Barnabas. 
 
 RAG-WEED. — The large Rag-weed [Senecio Jacohcea) has a 
 traditional reputation of having, been employed by witches as 
 
 horses when they took their midnight rides. To the south of the 
 
 famed Logan Rock on the Cornish coast is a high peak of granite 
 known as the Castle Peak, which is locally reputed to have been 
 for ages the midnight rendezvous for witches ; and thither, according 
 to tradition, witches were constantly seen flying on moonlight nights, 
 mounted on the stems of the Rag-weed, and carrying with them the 
 things necessary to make their charms potent and strong. The 
 Rag-weeds or worts were also called Stagger-worts because they 
 
5IO pfant Isore, T3ege7|&/, anet Isijric/". 
 
 were found eife(5lual to cure the staggers in horses. Hence these 
 plants were dedicated to St. James, the patron of horses, and are 
 still known as St. James's Worts ; they also blossom about this 
 great warrior and pilgrim saint's day, July 25 th. This connedlion 
 of the plant with horses probably explains the tradition of its 
 having been employed as the witches' steed. 
 Ramp. — See Arum. 
 
 RAMPION. — The Rampion [Campanula Rapunculus) was con- 
 sidered by the ancients as a funereal vegetable or root. In the 
 temple of Apollo at Delphi, the esculent roots of the Rampion were 
 highly esteemed as appropriate food, and were carried on golden 
 plates. Among the Italians, there exists an old superstition that 
 the possession of a Rampion engenders among children a quarrel- 
 some disposition, and excites their anger to such a degree, that 
 unless checked, murder would result. Hence, in ancient dream- 
 books, a dream in which the Rampion is seen is interpreted as a 
 sure sign of an impending quarrel. 
 
 RANUNCULUS.— The name Ranunculus (which is the 
 diminutiveof ^'flwa, a frog) was applied by the Latins to this species 
 of plants because they were observed to grow in places frequented 
 
 by frogs. Rapin tells us that the flower was originally a young 
 
 Libyan noted for his sweet voice : — 
 
 " Ranunculus, who with melodious strains 
 Once charmed the ravished nymphs on Libyan plains, 
 Now boasts through verdant fields his rich attire, 
 Whose love-sick look betrays a secret fire ; 
 Himself his song beguiled and seized his mind 
 With pleasing flames for other hearts designed." 
 
 The Latin herbalists also called the plant Strumea, because it was 
 used as a remedy for a complaint similar to the King's-evil, termed 
 Struma. With one of the species of Ranunculus the ancients were 
 
 wont to poison the points of their arrows. The Buttercup, also 
 
 known as King's Cup, Gold Cup, Gold Knobs, Leopard's Foot, 
 and Cuckoo-bud, belongs to the Ranunculus family. The Crow- 
 foot or Crowflower (the Coronofus of Dioscorides) is also a Ranun- 
 culus : this plant possesses the power of raising blisters on the 
 skin, and is employed by mendicants to raise wounds on their 
 limbs, in order to excite sympathy. Cattle generally refuse the 
 acrid Crowfoot (R. acris), but if they perchance eat it, it will blister 
 their mouths. The Illyrian Crowfoot {R. Illyricus), Gerarde tells us, 
 is thought to be the Gdotophyllis mentioned by Pliny (Book xxiv.)', 
 " which being drunk, saith he, with wine and Myrrhe, causeth a' 
 man to see divers strange sights, and not to cease laughing till he 
 hath drunk Pine-apple kernels with Pepper in wine of the Date- 
 tree (I think he would have said until he be dead), because the 
 nature of laughing Crowfoot is thought to kill laughing, but with- 
 out doubt the thing is clean contrary, for it causeth such convul- 
 
pfant Isore, l^eger^pf, cmi. Tsiji'Id/', 511 
 
 sions, crampe, and wringings of the mouth and jaws, that it hath 
 seemed to some that the parties have died laughing, whereas, in 
 
 truth, they have died in great torment." The Double Crowfoot, 
 
 or Bachelor's Buttons, used formerly to be called St. Anthony's 
 Turnip, because of its round bulbous root : this root was reputed 
 to be very efficacious in curing the plague, if applied to the part 
 affected. According to Apuleius, it was a sure cure for lunacy, 
 if hung round the neck of the patient, in a linen cloth, " in the 
 wane of the Moon, when the sign shall be in the first degree of 
 
 Taurus or Scorpio." The Persian Ranunculus is the Ranunculus 
 
 of the garden. The Turks cultivated it under the name of Taro- 
 holos CatamarlaU, for several ages before it was known in other parts 
 of Europe. Their account of its introduction is, that a Vizier, 
 named Cara Mustapha, first noticed among the herbage of the 
 fields this hitherto neglected flower, and decorated the garden of 
 the Seraglio with it. The flower attracted the notice of the Sultan, 
 upon which he caused it to be brought from all parts of the East 
 where varieties could be found. This collection of Ranunculus 
 flowers was carefully preserved in the Seraglio gardens alone, 
 and only through bribery did at last some few roots find their way 
 
 into other parts of Europe. Astrologers hold the Ranunculus 
 
 to be under the rule of Mars. 
 
 RASRIVTRAVA. — The Rasrivtrava is the Russian name of 
 a plant which has magical powers, enabling it to fracture chains 
 and break open locks, — properties which appertain also to the 
 Primula veris or Key of the Spring, to the Eisenkrmt or Vervain, the 
 Mistletoe, the Lunary or Moonwort, the Springwort, the Fern, 
 and the Hazel. The word Rasrivtrkva means literally the " Plant 
 that Opens." 
 
 RASPBERRY. Formerly the Raspberry was very gene- 
 rally known as the Hindberry; and this name is still retained in 
 
 some counties. It is thought that to dream of Raspberries 
 
 betokens success, happiness in marriage, fidelity in a sweetheart, 
 and good news from abroad. 
 
 REED. King Midas is said to have expressed the opinion 
 
 that the Reed-pipes of the god Pan produced better music than 
 the lyre of Apollo. The offended god in consequence changed the 
 king's ears to those of an ass. Midas concealed his deformity 
 as long as he was able; but at length a barber discovered his 
 secret, and being unable to keep it, and at the same time dreading 
 the king's resentment, he dug a hole in the earth, and after whis- 
 pering therein, " King Midas has the ears of an ass," he covered 
 up the hole, and in it, as he hoped, the words divulging the secret. 
 But on that spot grew a number of Reeds, and when they were 
 agitated by the wind, instead of merely rustling, they repeated the 
 
 buried words—" King Midas has the ears of an ass." Cato tells 
 
 us the Roman country folks, when they had broken an arm or a 
 
5r2 pfant bore, laeger^f, ani. bijriq/". 
 
 leg, split a Reed, and applied it, with certain precautions, to the 
 wounded part, accompanying the operation with a rustic incanta- 
 tion, such as the following : — ^ 
 
 " Huat, hanat huat, 
 Ista pista sista, 
 Damiabo damnaustra." 
 
 A Devonshire charm for the thrush is: — Take three Reeds from 
 any running stream, and pass them separately through the mouth 
 of the infant; then plunge the Reeds again into the stream, and as 
 the current bears them away, so will the thrush depart from the 
 
 child. From the Reed (Calamus) the first pen was invented, and 
 
 of Reeds arrows were made. The root of Calamus aromaticus was 
 highly esteemed in eastern countries: thus we read in Gerarde's 
 ' Herbal,' that " the Turks at Constantinople take it fasting, in the 
 morning, against the contagion of the corrupt aire ; and the Tartars 
 have it in such esteeme, that they will not drinke water unlesse 
 
 they have first steeped some of the root therein." In the 
 
 Ukraine, is current a version of the tradition alluded to under the 
 head of Oats. In this version, the Reed belongs to the Devil, and 
 has, in facft, been his habitation since the days of Jesus Christ. 
 One day, having met the Saviour, he prayed Him to give to him as 
 his portion the Oats and Buckwheat, because, after having assisted 
 the Almighty to create the world, he had never received for himself 
 any consideration. The Saviour consented, and the Devil was so 
 delighted, that he skipped off without even thanking his benefadlor. 
 The wolf met him, and seeing him so elated, asked him why he 
 was jumping and skipping about ? This question confused the 
 Devil, who, instead of replying "because God has given me the 
 Oats and Buckwheat," said: "I am skipping because God has 
 given me the Reed and the Sow-thistle." From that time, it is 
 said, the Devil never could recolledt the present that God had 
 made him, but always imagined that it was the Reed and the Sow- 
 thistle. According to English dream oracles, for the slumberer 
 
 to see Reeds betokens mischief between him and his friends. 
 
 REED-MACE.— The Bulrush, or Cat's-Tail [Typha latifolia), 
 has acquired the name of Reed-Mace from the fadl that Rubens 
 and the early Italian painters, in their Ecce Homo pictures, depidt 
 the Saviour as holding in His hands this Reed as a mace or sceptre. 
 The Reed-Mace is, on certain days, put by Catholics into the 
 hands of statues of Christ. 
 
 Resurrection-Flower. — See Rose of Jericho. 
 
 RHAMNUS.— The Rhamnus Spina Christi, or Syrian Christ's 
 Thorn, has acquired that name because it is supposed by many to 
 have supplied the crown of Thorns at our Saviour's crucifixion. 
 An English species, Rhamnus Paliurus, is also called by Miller Spina 
 Christi, (See Thorn and Buckthorn.) 
 
pPant Tsore, 'begel^/, arisL Tstjcio/-. 513 
 
 RICE.— -Among Orientals, Rice is esteemed the symbol of 
 life, generation, and abundance. The Dyaks of Borneo and the 
 Karens of Burmah look upon it as a divinity, and address prayers to 
 it to ensure a good harvest. In Siam, Rice and honey are offered 
 
 to trees before they are felled. Rice plays an important part in 
 
 the marriage ceremonies of India. At the altar, the bride is three 
 times approached by her friends, who on each occasion place Rice 
 in her hands. They also scatter Rice on the head of the bride- 
 groom. On the last day of the nuptial ceremonies, the bride and 
 bridegroom together offer the sacrifice of Soma, during which they 
 throw in the fire Rice moistened with butter. The Brahmans, 
 when performing the marriage rites, after having recited a variety 
 of prayers, consecrate the union of the couple by throwing a hand- 
 ful of Saffron mixed with the flour of Rice on their shoulders. 
 Offerings of Rice and Saffron are made by married women in India 
 to obtain healthy children, and to procure from the divinity exemp- 
 tion from the maladies of their sex. On the birth of a son, the 
 Brahman father, after having banished the females from the apart- 
 ment, takes the infant and places on its head Rice coloured red : 
 this is done in order to avert the Evil Eye. Another method is to 
 envelope small portions of Rice in cloths marked with the names 
 of women suspected of being witches, and to place the whole in a 
 nest of white ants. Should the ants devour the Rice in any of 
 these mystic bundles, the charge of sorcery is thereby established 
 against the woman whose name it bears. Young girls desirous of 
 husbands offer dressed Rice to the gods. At the consecration of 
 a Brahmanic disciple, the father of the candidate carries in his 
 hands a cup filled with Rice, and the assistants, after the bath, 
 cover the candidate with Rice. Rice is employed in many of the 
 Hindu sacrifices and religious ceremonies, and is regarded as 
 sacred : no one would touch it without having first made his ablu- 
 tions. At the time of sowing it, certain ceremonies are solemnly 
 
 observed. In China, during the Spring Festival of the Fire, 
 
 the priests of Tao march round the brasier, earring a basket filled 
 with Rice and salt, of which from time to time they cast a handful 
 into the fire, to conjure the flame and to obtain an abundant 
 
 harvest. A Japanese legend relates that in ancient times th^ 
 
 Bonzes (priests) of Nikko, like the other natives, lived solely 
 on herbs and roots, not knowing any other kind of nourishment. 
 One day, however, a Bonze observed a mouse hiding some Rice and 
 other grains in a corner. He could not understand where the mouse 
 could have obtained it, so he set a trap, and having caught the 
 little creature, he tied to one of its hind legs a silken thread ; and 
 then, holding the other end of the thread in his hand, he set the 
 mouse free, and determined to follow wherever it should run. The 
 mouse led the priest into a remote and unknown land, where Rice 
 grew in abundance. The Bonze learnt how to cultivate, it, and 
 speedily introduced it into his own country, where it proved such 
 
 2 L 
 
a blessing, that the inhabitants worshipped the mouse as a god, 
 under the name of Daikoku-sama. From that day the mouse has 
 been held sacred by the Japanese poor, and its effigy is found 
 
 suspended in many of their houses as a fetish. Among the 
 
 Arabs, Rice is considered as a sacred food, and tradition runs that 
 it first sprang from a drop of perspiration which fell from Mahomet 
 in Paradise. Another tradition current among the Arabs is, that 
 the national dish, composed of a mixture of Rice with other ingre- 
 dients, and called Kuskussu, was revealed to Mahomet by the 
 
 angel Gabrieli himself. The Bushmen of Central Africa have 
 
 the following legend concerning Rice: — A pretty woman having 
 eaten a certain Bushman-rice, called "ant's-egg," became trans- 
 formed into a lioness ; but after the spell was broken by reason of 
 her little sister and her brothers also eating this particular Rice, 
 she regained her original form, and from that day detested the Bush- 
 man-rice. This beautiful woman is supposed to have been the wife 
 
 of the star called Heart of the Dawn. In England, the Oriental 
 
 pradtice of employing Rice at wedding festivities has of late become 
 very general ; and it is customary for showers of Rice to be thrown 
 after the bride and bridegroom, as the happy pair quit the bride's 
 home ; this is thought to promote their success and future happi- 
 ness. According to a work on the subjedt, to dream of eating 
 
 Rice denotes abundance of instrutflion. 
 
 ROCKET. — This is a name given to several different plants 
 the most noted of which are the London Rocket {Sisymbrium Irio) 
 and the Dame's, or Garden Rocket {Hesperis matronalis). The former 
 plant is said to have first appeared in the metropolis in the Spring 
 succeeding the Great Fire of London, when young Rockets were 
 seen everywhere springing up among the ruins, where they increased 
 so marvellously, that in the Summer the enormous crop crowding 
 over the surface of London created the greatest astonishment and 
 
 wonder. The Garden Rocket (Hesperis) boasts of many other 
 
 old-fashioned names: — Dame's Violet, Damask Violet, Queen's 
 Gilliflower, Rogue's Gilliflower, Winter Gilliflower, and Close 
 Sciences (originally Close Sciney). It is the Cassolette (smelling- 
 bottle). Julienne, and la Juliana of the French ; and the Bella Giulia 
 
 and Giuliana of the Italians. According to Pliny, as quoted by 
 
 Gerarde, " whosoever taketh the seed of Rocket before he be whipt, 
 shall be so hardened that he shall easily endure the paines." 
 Turner remarks that all sorts of Rockets, but especially the seed, 
 quicken nature and excite the passions ; the seed he recommends 
 as efficacious " against the bitings of the shrew-mouse and other 
 venomous beasts." Moreover, if mixed with vinegar, it is stated 
 
 to remove freckles and pimples from the face. Rocket is held to 
 
 be under the dominion of Mars. 
 
 Rogation-Flower. — See Gang-Flower and Milkwort. 
 
 Root of the Holy Ghost. — See Angelica. 
 
pfant Isore, Tsege?^/, aniGl "bijricy. 515 
 
 ROSE. — It is worthy of notice how little the name of the 
 Rose varies amongst different nations. The Greeks call it Rodon, 
 the Latins Rosa (a form adhered to by Italians, Russians, Spaniards, 
 and Portuguese), the English, French, Germans, and Danes, Rose, the 
 Poles Roza, the Dutch Roos, and the Swedes Ros. Roses embellish the 
 whole earth, and are natives of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America ; 
 Nature having apparently, in this generous distribution, designed 
 to offer these flowers to all people, as the type of grace and beauty. 
 The origin of the queen of flowers is told us by the Jesuit poet 
 Rapin, according to whose verse — 
 
 " She was a Grecian bom, gave Corinth laws, 
 
 And fame proclaimed her worth with such applause, 
 
 That youthful rivals for her favour strove, 
 
 And high-born kings were suppliants for her love." 
 
 Of her numerous suitors, Brias, Orcas, and Halesus, a warrior, 
 were the principal. Provoked at their importunities, she haughtily 
 bade them " from arms and not entreaties seek a bride; " and then, 
 to rid herself of them, she entered the temple of Apollo and Diana 
 with her father and people. The lovers, not to be denied, com- 
 bined in an attack upon the temple gates, and the excitement of 
 the combat so enhanced the maiden's beauty, that the people 
 shouted, " Let Rhodanthe be a goddess, and let the image of 
 Diana give place to her ! " Rhodanthe being therefore placed upon 
 the shrine, Phcebus, Diana's brother, became so incensed at the 
 insult to his sister, that he turned his scorching rays against the 
 would-be goddess, who bitterly repented that she had ever appeared 
 
 a deity; for — 
 
 " Fast in the shrine her foot takes hold and cleaves. 
 Her arms stretch'd out are cover'd o'er with leaves ; 
 Tho' chang'd into a flower, her pomp remains, 
 And lovely still, and still a queen she reigns. 
 The crowd for their offence this doom abide, 
 Shrunk into thorns to guard her beauty's pride." 
 
 Her too ardent lovers were transformed respectively into a worm, 
 a drone, and a butterfly. 
 
 This account bears a general resemblance to the legend re- 
 counted by Sir John Maundevile, who visited Bethlehem in the 
 fourteenth century, and found there the field Floridus, wherein, he 
 tells us, a fair maiden who had been unjustly accused of wrong 
 was doomed to be burned; and, after praying devoutly to God 
 that, inasmuch as she was not guilty. He would hfelp her, and 
 make her innocence known to all men, "she entered the fire, 
 and immediately the fire was extinguished, and the faggots that 
 were burning became red Rose-bushes full of Roses, and those, 
 that remained unkindled became white Rose-bushes; and these 
 were the first Rose-trees and Roses, both white and red, that ever 
 any man saw." " Thus," concludes Sir John, " was this mayden 
 saved be the grace of God. And therfore is that feld clept the 
 Feld of God florysscht ; for it was fuUe of Roses." Southey, in his 
 
 2 L — -2 
 
5l6 pfant Tsore, teegeTj&y, anS. Ta^r'ta/. 
 
 poem on the Rose, has commemorated this old story in the following 
 lines : — 
 
 " The stake 
 
 Branches and buds, and spreading its green leaves. 
 
 Embowers and canopies the fair maid, 
 
 Who there stands glorified ; and Roses, then 
 
 First seen on earth since Paradise was lost. 
 
 Profusely blossom round her, white and red. 
 
 In all their rich variety of hues." 
 
 According to a Roumanian tradition, the Rose was originally 
 a young and beauteous princess, who, while bathing in the sea, so 
 dazzled the Sun with the radiance of her loveliness, that he stood 
 still to gaze upon her, and covered her with kisses. Then for 
 three days he forgot his duty, and obstrucfted the progress of night. 
 Since that day the Lord of the Universe has changed the princess 
 into a Rose, and this is why the Rose always hangs her head and 
 blushes when the Sun gazes on her. 
 
 Anacreon gives the following poetic account of the origin of 
 the Rose, conne<5ting it with the goddess of love and beauty : — 
 
 " Oh ! whence could such a plant have sprung? 
 Attend, for thus the tale is sung : 
 When, humid from the silvery stream, 
 Effusing beauty's warmest beam, 
 Venus appeared, in flushing hues, 
 Mellowed by ocean's briny dews ; 
 When, in the starry courts above, 
 The pregnant brain of mighty Jove 
 Disclosed the nymph, of azure glance, 
 The nymph who shakes the martial lance ; 
 Thfen, then, in strange eventful hour, 
 The earth produced an infant flower, 
 Which sprung with blushing tinctures drest, 
 And wantoned o'er its parent's breast. 
 The gods beheld this brilliant birth. 
 And hailed the Rose, the boon of earth." — Moore. 
 
 Bion describes the Rose as springingfrom the blood of the slain 
 Adonis ; and the Mahometans have a legend that it was produced 
 from a drop of perspiration which fell from the brow of Mahomet. 
 
 Relative to the colour of the Rose, we find a number of stories 
 left, us by the ancients. Catullus tells us, that the Rose is red 
 from blushing for the wound it inflidled on the foot of Venus as 
 she hastened to the assistance of Adonis ; Claudian, when Venus 
 plucks a Rose, says it is in remembrance of Adonis; an ancient 
 epigram mentions her wishing to defend Adonis from Mars, when 
 
 " Her step she fixes on the cruel thorns ; 
 And with her blood the pallid Rose adorns." 
 
 Anacreon tells us that the flower was dyed with nedlar by the 
 
 gods : — 
 
 " With nectar drops, a ruby tide. 
 The sweetly orient buds they dyed 
 And bade them bloom — the flowers divine 
 Of Him who sheds the teeming Vine. " — Moort. 
 
pPaat Tsore, Isege^y, anil teijrle/', -517 
 
 Still another legend is to the effedt that Cupid, whilst leading a 
 dance in heaven, stumbled and overset a bowl of nedtar, which, 
 falling upon the earth, stained the Rose. 
 
 The Rose — the flower of love, poetry, and beauty — was spe- 
 cially dedicated to Venus, who is sometimes represented crowned 
 with Roses, and sometimes with a sceptre terminated with that 
 flower. One of the Three Graces — the attendants of Venus — 
 usually carried a Rose in her hand. Cupid is often depidted 
 crowned with Roses, and the chaplet of Hymen consisted gene- 
 rally of Marjoram or Roses, which latter flowers were used in his 
 feasts. The Thracians crowned Bacchus (Sabazius) with Roses, 
 and, in the vicinity of Pangseus, held a feast called Rosalia. In the 
 procession of the Corybantes, the goddess Cybele was pelted with 
 white Roses. 
 
 The Rose was a domestic flower sedulously cultivated by the 
 ancients, but especially by the Romans. It is said to have early 
 flourished at Rhodes, and possibly gave its name to that island. 
 The Roses of Campania, Miletus, Praeneste, Malta, Cyrene, and 
 Sybaris were all noted; but especially celebrated were those of 
 Paestum: to this day the insignia of Peestum — a Syren holding a 
 Rose — remains sculptured on the ruined arch of one of its gates. 
 
 Among the ancients, it was customary to crown brides and 
 bridegrooms with a chaplet of red and white Roses. The Roman 
 bride was decorated with a wreath of Roses and Mjnrtle. The 
 shrines of the gods and of illustrious men in Rome were sur- 
 mounted with wreaths of Roses. The triumphal arches were 
 adorned with these flowers, and garlands of Roses were thrown 
 into the chariots. At the public games, wreaths of Roses were 
 presented to the senators, and sometimes to the performers and 
 speeftators. At the private entertainments of the ancients, the 
 guests wore wreaths of blooming Roses. The Romans thought 
 to impart additional relish to their feasts by the aid of the 
 fragrance of the Rose. Pacutus relates that " even in the time 
 of the Republic, people were not satisfied unless the cup of 
 Falernian wine were swimming with Roses." The Spartan soldiers» 
 after the battle of Cirrha, were so fastidious as to refuse wine that 
 was not perfumed with Roses. At the famed regatta of Baiae, the 
 whole surface of the Lucrine Lake used to be strewn with these 
 flowers. At some of his banquets, Nero caused showers of Roses 
 to be rained down upon his guests from apertures in the ceiling. 
 Heliogabalus carried this pradlice to such an absurd extent, as to 
 cause the suffocation of some of his guests, who could not extricate 
 themselves from the heap of flowers. Cleopatra, in the entertain- 
 ment she gave in honour of Antony, spent an immense sum in 
 Roses, with which she had the floor of the banqueting chamber 
 covered to the depth of an ell, and over the flowers a thin net was 
 drawn. The Romans were at great expense to procure Roses in 
 the Winter. Suetonius affirms that Nero spent upwards of four 
 
5i8 pfant Isore, feegcTjt)/, oHi. Istincy, 
 
 million sesterces (about £30,000) for Roses, at one supper. Horace, 
 alluding to this custom, says : " Seek not for late-blowing Roses ; 
 I ask no other crown than simple Myrtle." In those days, Rose- 
 wine was celebrated, and we learn that Heliogabalus was wont to 
 indulge largely in this drink, and bathed himself in it. He even 
 caused a large swimming-bath to be filled with the costly liquid. 
 
 Milto, a fair young maiden, of obscure birth, was wont to 
 deposit every morning garlands of fresh flowers in the temple of 
 Venus, as she was too poor to make costlier offerings. Her rare 
 beauty was once in danger of being destroyed by a tumour which 
 grew on her chin, but in a dream she one night beheld the goddess, 
 who told her to apply to it some of the Roses from her altar. Milto 
 obeyed ; the tumour soon disappeared, and she grew more lovely 
 than ever ; eventually attracfting the notice of the younger Cyrus, 
 whose favourite wife she became. From that time the medicinal 
 properties of the Rose met with general recognition, and the flower 
 formed the basis of many lotions. 
 
 In classical times, the Rose was regarded as the emblem of 
 joy, and Comus, the god of feasting, is represented as wearing a 
 garland of bedewed Roses. As, during the intoxication of mirth, 
 the mouth is apt to run over when the heart is full, the ancients 
 feigned that Cupid presented a Rose to Harpocrates, the grave god 
 of silence, as a bribe not to betray the amours of Venus. The 
 flower thus became a symbol of secrecy and silence, and as such, a 
 Rose was formerly suspended over the guest table, that the sight of 
 it might remind the guests that the conversation should not be 
 repeated elsewhere. More recently, a Rose was painted on the 
 ceiling of dining-rooms, and in our own time the plaster ornament 
 in the centre of the ceiling is still called a Rose. This custom gave 
 rise to the saying " Under the Rose " — an injunction of secrecy. 
 Hence it fell out that the Jacobins adopted the white Rose as a 
 political symbol of the Pretender, since his adherents were com- 
 pelled to help him " under the Rose." 
 
 The Rose held an important place in early ecclesiastical history. 
 As an emblem of love and beauty, the queen of flowers was espe- 
 cially dedicated by the Romish Church to the Virgin Mary : she is 
 the Rose of Sharon, the Mystic Rose [Rosa mystica), as well as the 
 Lily of the Valley. In old Italian paintings of the Madonna, a 
 plantation, garden, or hedge of Roses is often introduced, enclosing 
 the principal figure. In mediaeval days, the Rose had a Sunday of 
 its own at Rome, and the reigning Pope officiated at the ceremony 
 of the blessing of the Golden Rose upon Mid-Lent Sunday. A 
 Golden Rose is, even in our own enlightened times, annually 
 blessed by the Pope and sent as a mark of signal pontifical favour 
 to some royal personage. Ecclesiastical tradition affirms that 
 Roses and Lilies were found in the tomb of the Virgin Mary after 
 her assumption into heaven, and Roses were conveyed by St. 
 Dorothy, at the instance of Theophilus, from the heavenly garden. 
 
Pfant bofe, TsegeT^/, ani. Tsijriq/'. 519 
 
 Roses replaced the alms of Elizabeth of Hungary, when her apron 
 was rudely torn from her grasp by those who shared not her 
 charitable zeal for the poor. A legend of the twelfth century, 
 quoted in a German work by Wolf, relates how losbert, a 
 pious monk, having fallen dead, whilst worshipping at a shrine 
 of the Virgin Mary (in honour of whom he had been accustomed 
 to recite five psalms every day), there sprang from his mouth, 
 from his eyes, and from his ears, five Roses. The bishop, 
 on his arrival, plucked one of the miraculous flowers, and 
 solemnly placed it upon the altar. No sooner had he done so, 
 however, than the other four Roses instantly faded away. In 
 old paintings of the saints, Roses are sometimes introduced in 
 allusion to the saint's name. St. Rosalia, of Palermo, St. Rosa 
 di Viterbo, St. Rosa di Lima, all wear the crown of Roses, or it is 
 presented by an angel. The last-named saint, who is the patroness 
 of America, was canonised by Clement X. According to the 
 Peruvian legend, the pope, when entreated to canonise her, abso- 
 lutely refused, exclaiming: " Indian and saint ! as likely as that it 
 should rain Roses ! " whereupon a miraculous shower of Roses 
 began to fall in the Vatican, and ceased not until the incredulous 
 pontiff acknowledged himself convinced of her sancSlity. A legend 
 of St. Francis of Assisi relates that as the saint was one day 
 shivering in his cell, in the depth of Winter, a demon whispered in 
 his ear suggestions of ease and luxury. He repelled the tempta- 
 tions by going out and rolling himself in the snow on a heap of 
 Thorns. From the Thorns sprinkled with his blood sprang Roses 
 of Paradise, which he piously offered up to Christ and the Ma- 
 donna. 
 
 The Rosary was introduced by St. Dommick, m commemora- 
 tion of his having been shown a chaplet of Roses by the blessed 
 Virgin. It consisted formerly of a string of beads made of Rose- 
 leaves tightly pressed into round moulds, when real Roses were not 
 strung together. The use of a chaplet of beads as a minute of the 
 number of prayers recited is of Eastern origin, and dates from the time 
 of the Egyptian anchorites. Beads were also used by the Benedic- 
 tines, and are to this day in use among Mahometan devotees. 
 St Dominick invented a novel arrangement of the chaplet, and dedi- 
 cated it to the honour and glory of the Virgin Mary. A complete 
 Rosary consists of fifteen large and 150 small beads, the former 
 representing the number of Paternosters, the latter the number of 
 Ave-Marias. The Indian Buddhists use a Rosary of 99 beads: the 
 Chinese and Japanese Buddhists one of 108 beads, corresponding 
 to the daily prayers offered against the 108 possible sins. 
 
 In the sixth century, St. M6dard, Bishop of Noyon, France, 
 instituted a festival at Salency, his birth-place, for adjudging a 
 nrize to the girl who should be acknowledged ttie most amiable, 
 modest, and beautiful. The prize consisted of a simple crown of 
 Roses and the founder of the festival had the gratification of 
 
520 pPant Tsofs, Is&g&r^/, ariS. Tsiji'Ie/. 
 
 crowning his own sister as the first Rose Queen of Salency, in 
 which obscure village this pleasant institution still exists. At the 
 present time, however, the Rosiere has a douceur of three hundred 
 francs presented to her. Of late years the institution of the Rosiere 
 has been introduced into this country by a Roman Catholic priest 
 who labours in the east of London. The Academy of Floral Games 
 at Toulouse, founded in 1322, and still in existence, was wont to 
 give a Rose as a prize for the best poem. From 1288 to 1589 the 
 French dukes and peers of all degrees were obliged in the Spring 
 which followed their nomination to present a tribute of Roses to 
 Parliament. 
 
 The association of the flower with our own country dates from 
 a very early period ; and we find Pliny doubting whether the name 
 Albion referred to the white cliffs of our island or the white Roses 
 which grew there in abundance. In Edward the Third's reign a 
 gold coin was struck called the " Rose noble," which bore the 
 figure of a Rose on one of its faces. As the badge of the rival 
 houses of York and Lancaster, the flower became celebrated in 
 English history — the White Rose being the hereditary cognisance 
 of the house of York, and the Red Rose that of Lancaster. Shak- 
 speare (in Henry VL) represents the feud between the two houses 
 as having originated in the Temple Gardens, where after a fierce 
 altercation, Warwick addresses Plantagenet thus : — 
 
 " In signal of my love to thee, 
 Will I upon thy party wear this Rose : 
 And here I prophesy, this brawl to-day. 
 Grown to this faction in the Temple Garden, 
 Shall send, between the Red Rose and the White 
 A thousands souls to death and deadly night." 
 
 Like the Gilliflower, the Rose was occasionally taken as a quit- 
 rent; thus we find in 1576 that the then Bishop of Ely granted to 
 Sir Christopher Hatton the greater portion of Ely House, Holborn, 
 for a term of twenty-one years, on consideration of the tenant paying 
 annually a red Rose for the garden and gate-house, and giving the 
 Bishop free access to the gardens, with the right of gathering 
 twenty bushels of Roses every year. 
 
 In the East, the Rose is an objedl of peculiar esteem. The 
 Oriental poets have united the beauteous Rose with the melodious 
 nightingale ; and the flower is fabled to have burst forth from its 
 bud at the song of the warbler of the night. The poet Jami says — 
 " You may place a handful of fragrant herbs and flowers before the 
 nightingale ; yet he wishes not in his constant heart for more than 
 the sweet breath of his beloved Rose." 
 
 ' ' Though rich the spot 
 With every flower this earth has got, 
 What is it to the nightingale. 
 If there his darling Rose is not?" — Moore. 
 
 Persia is the veritable land of Roses : nowhere does the queen 
 of flowers reign in such glorious majesty. Zoroaster himself, the 
 
pfant bore, Tsege^/, ani. h^fiaj. 52 I 
 
 apostle of the Persians, and the introducer of the worship of the 
 sacred fire, is connedled in a legend with the Rose. An astrologer 
 having predi(fted the birth of a child who would dethrone the King 
 of Babylon, the monarch at once gave orders for the assassination 
 of all women who were about to become mothers. Thousands 
 were slain ; but one gave birth secretly to the future prophet. 
 This haying come to the King's ear, he sent for the child, and tried 
 to kill him with his own hand, but his arm was withered on the 
 spot. Alarmed, and furious with rage, he had the babe placed on 
 a lighted stake, but the burning pile changed into a bed of Roses, 
 on which the little one lay quietly sleeping. Some persons present 
 saved a portion of the fire, which has been kept up to the present day 
 in memory of this great miracle. The king made two other attempts 
 to destroy Zoroaster, but his temerity was punished miraculously by 
 a gnat, which entered his ear and caused his death. A festival is 
 held in Persia, called the Feast of the Roses, which lasts the whole 
 time they are in bloom. 
 
 " And all is ecstacy, for now 
 The valley holds its feast of Roses ; 
 That joyous time, when pleasures pour, 
 Profusely round, and in their shower 
 Hearts open, like the season's Rose, — 
 The flowret of a hundred leaves. 
 Expanding while the dew-fall flows. 
 And every leaf its balm receives ! " — Moon's 'Zalla Rookh! 
 
 Pelting with Roses is still common in Persia during the time of 
 the blooming of the flowers. A band of young musicians repair to 
 the places of public entertainment to amuse the guests, and on their 
 way through the streets they pelt the passengers whom they meet 
 with Roses. The Persians regard the Rosa centifolia as the flower 
 of an archangel. Zoroaster affirmed that the Rose was free from 
 thorns until the entrance into the world of Ahrimanes (the evil 
 spirit). 
 
 The "bed of Roses" is not altogether a poetic fidlion. In 
 ancient days, the Sybarites used to sleep- upon mattresses that were 
 stuffed with Rose-leaves. A similar luxury was afterwards indulged 
 in, both in Greece and Rome. Men would sit at their meals upon 
 cushions, and sleep by night on beds of Roses. The tyrant 
 Dionysius had couches stuffed with Roses, on which he lounged at 
 his revels. Verres used to travel on a litter reclining on a mattress 
 stuffed with Roses. He wore, moreover, garlands of Roses round 
 his head and neck, and had Rose-leaves intertwined in a thin net, 
 which was drawn over the litter. It was a favourite luxury of 
 Antiochus to sleep in a tent of gold and silver on a mattress stuffed 
 with Roses. 
 
 The Indians have a tradition respecting the discovery of the 
 mode of preparing the far-famed Attar of Roses, a perfume perhaps 
 unrivalled in its refreshing qualities. To gratify the voluptuous 
 Jehanghir, his favourite sultana is said to have had the royal bath 
 
522 pfant T9oi*e, Tsegsl^/, anil bi^ricy. 
 
 in the palace garden filled with Rose-water. The adtion of the 
 sun speedily concentrated the oleaginous particles floating on the 
 surface, and the careful attendant, fearing lest the Rose-water should 
 have become corrupt, hastened to skim it in order to remove the 
 oily flakes. The globules burst whilst this operation was being 
 performed, and emitted such an exquisite odour, that the idea of 
 preparing the delicious attar was at once suggested. Avicenna, an 
 Arabian doctor of the tenth century, was the first to extradl: from 
 Roses their fragrant perfume by distillation. He selected the Rosa 
 centifolia for his experiments, and succeeded in producing the deli- 
 cious liquid known as Rose-water, which is held in such repute in 
 the East, that when a stranger enters a house, it is considered a 
 mark of distinction and welcome to sprinkle him over with Rose- 
 water. When Saladin entered Jerusalem in 1 187, he had the floor 
 and walls of Omar's mosque entirely washed with this delicate 
 perfume. 
 
 At all times, in all countries, Roses have been employed for 
 planting and strewing upon graves. The dying Antony begged 
 Cleopatra to scatter perfumes on his tomb and cover it with Roses ; 
 and both Greeks and Romans were desirous of having their graves 
 bedecked every year with the fragrant flowers. So religiously did 
 they observe the pracSlice of planting Roses round graves, that they 
 annexed codicils to their wills, as appears by an old inscription at 
 Ravenna, and another at Milan, by which Roses are ordered to be 
 yearly strewed upon the graves. In the German portions of Swit- 
 zerland, churchyards are called " Rose gardens." A Rose is 
 sculptured on the tombs of maidens in Turkey. In Poland, the 
 coffins of little children are covered with Roses, and Roses are 
 thrown from the windows as the funeral procession passes along 
 the streets. In the South of England, a chaplet of white Roses is 
 borne before the corpse of a maiden, by a young girl of the same 
 age as the deceased, and afterwards hung up over her accustomed 
 seat in church. In South Wales, and in many parts of England, 
 it was formerly customary to strew Roses and plant Rose- 
 trees on graves, and, indeed, the custom is still extant. Camden 
 says that at Ockley, in Surrey, the custom of planting Rose- 
 trees on graves had been observed " time out of mind." 
 
 The Rose is one of the plants used for love divinations on 
 Midsummer Eve. In Cornwall, Devon, and other counties, if a 
 young lady will, on Midsummer Eve, walk backwards into the 
 garden, and pluck a Rose, she is reputed to have the means of 
 knowing who is to be her husband. The Rose must be cautiously 
 sewn up in a paper bag, and put aside in a dark drawer, there to 
 remain until Christmas morning, when the bag must be carefully 
 opened in silence, and the Rose placed by the lady in her bosom. 
 Thus she must wear it to church. Some jroung man will either ask 
 her for the Rose or take it from her without asking ; and that 
 young man is destined eventually to become the lady's husband. 
 
pfant Tsofe, begcT^y, cm^, Isqriqy. 523 
 
 Herrick probably refers to this charm in the ' Hesperides,' when, in 
 allusion to a bride, he says : — 
 
 " She must no more a-maying, 
 Or by Rosebuds divine 
 Who'll be her Valentine." 
 
 There is a curious old divination rite to be employed on the 27 th of 
 June, according to which maidens are enjoined on that morning to 
 gather secretly a full-blown Rose, between three and four o'clock. 
 The flower is then to be held for about five minutes over the 
 smoke of a chafing-dish containing some brimstone and charcoal ; 
 then, before the Rose gets cool, it is to be placed on a sheet of 
 paper, on which is inscribed the maiden's name and that of the 
 swain she loves, together with the date of the year, and the name 
 of the morning star. This paper, having been folded and thrice 
 sealed, is to be buried at the foot of the Rose-tree from which the 
 flower was plucked, and allowed to remain there until the 6th of 
 July, when it is to be taken up, and placed beneath the maiden's 
 pillow, with the result that, before morning, she will, in a dream, 
 have her fate revealed. The Rose is utilised as a love-charm in 
 Thuringia ; there a maid who has several lovers will name a Rose- 
 leaf after each, and then scatter them upon the water ; that which 
 sinks the last representing her future husband. 
 
 It was a common belief formerly, that when Roses or Violets 
 flourished in Autumn, there would be a plague or some pestiferous 
 disease during the ensuing year. Lord Bacon points out that a 
 profusion of Roses in their season predidls a severe Winter, and the 
 belief is still extant. 
 
 " The Thorns and Briars, vermilion hue. 
 Now full of Hips and Haws are seen ; 
 If village prophecies be true. 
 They prove that Winter will be keen," 
 
 A writer in the Gardener's Chronicle tells us, that "in some .parts 
 of Germany it is customary to throw Rose-leaves on a coal-fire, as 
 a means of ensuring good luck. In Germany, as well as in France 
 and Italy, it is believed that if a drop of one's blood be buried 
 under a Rose-tree, it will ensure rosy cheeks. The Rose is also 
 associated in Westphalia with a charm against nose-bleeding and 
 other haemorrhages. This charm consists in the repetition of the 
 words : ' In Christ's Garden stand three Roses, one for the good 
 God, the other for God's blood, the third for the angel Gabriel : 
 blood, I pray you, cease to flow.' In Suabia, it is somewhat 
 different: 'On our Lord's grave spring three Roses; the first is 
 Hope, the second is Patience, the third is the will of God: blood, 
 I pray you be still.' " 
 
 Strangely enough, the Rose has the reputation of being a death 
 portent. In England, it is on that account deemed very unlucky 
 to scatter the leaves of a red Rose on the ground. In Italy, this 
 flower is deemed an emblem of an early death ; and it is thought 
 
524 pfant bore, begcTjby, dnS. Isqric/. 
 
 an evil omen if its leaves perchance fall to the ground. In Ire- 
 land, there is a legend of a sick man who saw a Rose pass across 
 the panes of the window of his room : it was a death warning, and 
 the man died. Roses not only act as portents of death, but in some 
 cases they spring up as memorials of the dead. Thus, at Ronce- 
 valles, where Roland and the douze pairs stained the soil with their 
 blood, Roses are popularly believed to have sprung up : — 
 
 " When Roland brave and Olivier, 
 And every paladin and peer. 
 On Roncevalles died." 
 
 And again, in our own country, a tradition relates that after the battle 
 of Towton, there sprang up in the field where the Yorkists and 
 Lancastrians fell, a peculiar kind of wild Rose, only there to be 
 found, and which will not bear being transplanted from " the 
 bloody meadow." 
 
 " There still wild Roses growing. 
 Frail tokens of the fray ; 
 And the hedgerow green bears witness 
 Of Towton field that day." 
 
 A white Provins Rose was the emblem of the Stuarts upon 
 the accession of the Duke of York to the throne of England as 
 James II. It was said to come into flower on the loth of June, a 
 day interesting to Jacobites, as being the birthday of the Chevalier 
 St. George. 
 
 " Of all the days that's in the year, 
 The tenth of June I love most dear, 
 When sweet White Roses do appear. 
 For the sake of James the Rover." 
 
 Under the title of Roisin dubk, the " Little Black Rose," we 
 find Ireland symbolised in a song composed in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 " There's no flower that e'er bloomed can my Rose excel. 
 There's no tongue that e'er moved half my love can tell. 
 Had I strength, had I skill the wide world to subdue. 
 Oh, the queen of that wide world should be Roisin dubh ! " 
 
 Dream oracles tell us that nothing can be more favourable 
 than to dream of Roses, as they are certain emblems of happiness, 
 prosperity, and long life. To a lover, they foretell he will marry 
 the object of his choice, and that happiness and joy will result 
 from the union. To the farmer and sailor, the appearance of these 
 flowers in a dream is said to predidl great prosperity and ultimate 
 independence. To dream of withered Roses, however, is ominous 
 of decay of fortune and disappointment. 
 
 Astrologers state that red Roses are under the government of 
 Jupiter, Damask Roses under Venus, and white Roses under the 
 rule of the Moon. 
 
 ROSE-BRIAR. — The Rose-briar, or Rosa canina, according 
 to tradition, is the plant from which was formed the crown of Thorns 
 placed on our Saviour's brow at the Crucifixion. It has attached 
 
pfant bore, Iscgdjti/, onel Is^rio/-. 525 
 
 to it the legend that when the sacred drops of blood trickling from 
 the wounded Saviour fell to the ground, they blossomed into Roses. 
 
 " Men saw the Thorns on Jesus' brow. 
 But angels saw the Roses." 
 
 The Wild, or Dog; Rose, it has also been supposed, composed the 
 thicket in which Abraham caught the ram, as well as the bush in the 
 midst of which the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame 
 of fire, and from which God addressed him. It is probably the plant 
 alluded to in the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the desolation of 
 Jerusalem (v., 6) : "I will lay it waste ; it shall not be pruned or 
 digged ; but there shall come up Briars and Thorns." Chandler 
 tells us that he saw no other tree nor shrub within the walls 
 
 of the Holy City when he visited it. The Rose-briar is con- 
 
 ne(5ted with an incident in the life of St. Benedi(5t. This godly 
 man, in his early life, lived for three years a solitary existence 
 among the rocks of Subiaco, a wilderness forty miles from Rome. 
 During this time he underwent many temptations, and on one 
 occasion was so disturbed by the recolledtion of a beautiful woman 
 whom he had seen in Rome, that he was well-nigh quitting his 
 retreat and returning to the city. He felt, however, that the temp- 
 tation proceeded from the devil, and, tormented by his distracting 
 desires, he rushed from his cave, and flinging himself into a thicket 
 of Briars, he rolled himself in them until the blood flowed freely 
 from his lacerated flesh ; then the fiends left him, and he was never 
 again assailed by the same temptation. In the garden of the 
 monastery at Subiaco they show the Rose-bushes which have been 
 propagated from those very briars. 
 
 ROSKMARY. — Rosmarinus, the botanical name of Rose-- 
 mary, signifies the " dew of the sea," and has been applied to the 
 plant on account of its fondness for the sea-shore. Formerly it was 
 called Rosmarinus coronarius because of its use in chaplets and 
 garlands, with which the principal guests at feasts were crowned. 
 In place of more costly incense, the ancients often employed Rose- 
 mary in their religious ceremonies, and especially at funeral rites. 
 The Romans ornamented their Lares, or household gods, with this 
 plant, and at the Palilia, or festival held in honour of Pales, the 
 purification of the flocks was made with the smoke of Rosemary. 
 But the plant is essentially funereal in its charatfler: its aroma 
 serves to preserve the corpse of the departed, and its leaves, ever 
 green, symbolise immortality : hence, like the Asphodel and Mallow, 
 it was frequently planted near tombs : — 
 
 " Come funeral flower ! who lov'st to dwell, 
 With the pale corse in lonely tomb, 
 And throw across the desert gloom 
 
 A sweet decaying smell." — JSrkt IVhile. 
 
 In the Northern counties, mourners at funerals often carry a 
 branch of Rosemary, and it is still customary in some rural distri(5t9 
 
526 pfant Isorc, bege^/, anil bijric/-. 
 
 to distribute sprigs of the plant at funerals, in order that those 
 attending may cast them into the grave. Gay refers to this custom 
 in his ' Shepherd's Week ' : — 
 
 " Sprigg'd Rosemary the lads and lasses bore, 
 While dismally the parson walked before. 
 Upon her grave the Rosemary they threw, 
 The Daisy, Butter-flower, and Endive blue." 
 
 Sprigs of Rosemary were, however, in olden times, worn at wed- 
 dings, as well as at funerals. Herrick says : — 
 
 " Grow for two ends, it matters not at all, 
 Be't for my bridal or my burial." 
 
 Shakspeare and others of our old poets make frequent mention of 
 Rosemary as an emblem of remembrance, and as being worn at 
 weddings, possibly to signify the fidelity of the lovers. Thus 
 Ophelia says : — 
 " There's Rosemary for you, that's for remembrance ; pray you, love, remember." 
 
 Sprigs of Rosemary mingled in the coronal which bound the hair 
 of the unfortunate Anne of Cleves on the occasion of her nuptials 
 with King Henry VIII. In olden times, Rosemary garlanded the 
 wassail bowl, and at Christmas the dish of roast beef, decked with 
 Rosemary and Bays, was ushered in with the carol beginning — 
 
 " The boar's head in hand bring I, 
 With garlands gay and Rosemary.'' 
 
 The silvery foliage of this favourite plant mingled well with the 
 Holly, Mistletoe, and Bays employed in decking rooms, &c., at 
 Christmas-tide — a custom which may perhaps be accounted for by 
 a Spanish tradition that the Rosemary (like the Juniper in other 
 legends) afforded shelter and protedtion to the Virgin Mary during 
 her flight with the infant Saviour into Egypt. The plant is said to 
 flower on the day of the Passion of our Lord because the Virgin 
 Mary spread on a shrub of Rosemary the under linen and little 
 frocks of the infant Jesus ; and according to tradition, it brings 
 happiness on those families who employ it in perfuming the house 
 
 on Christmas night. In Germany, there exists a curious custom 
 
 of demanding presents from women on Good Friday, at the 
 
 same time striking them with a branch of Rosemary or Fir. 
 
 It is a common saying in Sicily, that Rosemary is the favourite 
 plant of the fairies, and that the young fairies, under the guise of 
 
 snakes, lie concealed under its branches. In the rural distri(5ls 
 
 of Portugal, it it called Alecrim, a word of Scandinavian origin 
 {Ellegrim), signifying Elfin-plant. Rosemary occupied a promi- 
 nent place in monastic gardens, on account of its curative properties, 
 and in Queen Elizabeth's time, its silvery foliage grew all over the 
 walls of the gardens at Hampton Court. Now-a-days the plant 
 is rarely seen out of the kitchen garden, and indeed a common 
 saying has arisen that " Rosemary only grows where the mistress 
 is master." The plant was formerly held in high estimation as a 
 
pfant Isore, feegeTjOy, cmi. 'biji-Io/. 527 
 
 " comforter of the brain," and a strengthener of the memory. In 
 England, Rosemary worn about the body is said to strengthen the 
 memory, and to afford successful assistance to the wearer in any- 
 thing he may undertake. In an ancient Italian recipe, the 
 
 flowers of Rosemary, Rue, Sage, Marjoram, Fennel, Quince, &c., 
 are recommended for the preservation of youth. In Bologna, there 
 is an old belief that the flowers of Rosemary, if placed in contatft 
 with the skin, and especially, with the heart, give gaiety and 
 sprightliness. Spirit of wine distilled from Rosemary produces the 
 true Hungary water. By many persons Rosemary is used as tea 
 
 for headaches and nervous disorders. An Italian legend, given 
 
 in the Mythologie des Plantes, tells that a certain queen, who was 
 childless, one day, whilst walking in the palace gardens, was 
 troubled with a feeling of envy whilst contemplating a vigorous 
 Rosemary-bush, because of its numerous branches and offshoots. 
 Strange to relate, she afterwards gave birth to a Rosemary-bush, 
 which she planted in a pot and carefully supplied with milk four 
 times a day. The king of Spain, nephew of the queen, having 
 stolen this pot of Rosemary, sustained it with goat's milk. One day, 
 whilst playing on the flute, he saw to his astonishment a beautiful 
 princess emerge from the Rosemary-bush. Captivated by her beauty, 
 he fell desperately in love with this strange visitor ; but being obliged 
 to depart to fight for his country, he commended the Rosemary-bush 
 to the special care of his head gardener. In his absence, his sisters 
 one day amused themselves by playing on the king's flute, and 
 forthwith the beautiful princess emerged once more from the 
 Rosemary. The king's sisters, tormented by jealousy, struck her ; 
 the princess forthwith vanished, the Rosemary began to droop, and 
 the gardener, afraid of the king's wrath; fled into the woods. At 
 the midnight hour, he heard a dragon talking to its mate, and 
 telling her the story of the mystic Rosemary-bush. The dragon 
 let fall the faft, that if the Rosemary was to be restored, it could 
 only be by being fed or sprinkled with dragons' blood : no sooner 
 did the gardener hear this, than he fell upon the male and female 
 dragons, slew them, and carrying off some of their blood, applied 
 it to the roots of the king's Rosemary. So the spell was broken: 
 the king returned, and soon after married the charming Princess 
 
 Rosa Marina. A curious charm, or dream-divination, is still 
 
 extant in which Rosemary plays an important part ; the mode ot 
 procedure is as follows :— On the eve of St. Magdalen, three maidens, 
 under the age of twenty-one, are to assemble m an upper room, 
 and between them prepare a potion, consisting of wine, rum, gin, 
 vinegar, and water, in a ground-glass vessel. Into this each maid 
 is then to dip a sprig of Rosemary, and fasten it in her bosom , 
 and after taking three sips of the potion, the three maids are silently 
 to go to sleep in the same bed. As a result, the dreams of each 
 will reveal their destiny. Another elaborate spell for effe^mg the 
 same result on the first of July, consists in the gathering of a-sprig 
 
528 pfant Isore, Tsegef^/, aasl Tsijrie/', 
 
 of Rosemary, a red Rose, a white Rose, a blue flower, a yellow 
 flower, nine blades of long Grass, and a sprig of Rue, all of which 
 are to be bound together with a lock of the maiden's hair who 
 wishes to work the spell. This nosegay is to be sprinkled with the 
 blood of a white pigeon and some salt, and laid beneath the maid's 
 head when she retires to rest. Her dreams will then portend her 
 fate. Rosemary is deemed a herb of the Sun. 
 
 ROSE OF JERICHO.— From the Casa Nuova Convent of 
 Jerusalem pilgrims bring away little dried-up plants, which after a 
 time appear to be quite dead, but if they are placed in water their 
 branches will soon be covered with fresh bursting buds. These are 
 the Roses of Jericho, or Resurrecft^on Flowers, which grow among 
 the sands of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, and are also found in Bar- 
 bary. The A nastatica Hierochuntina is cruciform ; and when its flowers 
 and leaves have withered and fallen off, the branches as they dry 
 curl inwards, and form a round mass, thence called a Rose. The 
 roots die ; the winds tear the plant up, and blow it about the sands 
 till it lodges in a moist spot, or is wetted with the rain ; then the 
 curled-up globe expands, and suffers the seeds to escape from the 
 seed vessel in which they were enclosed, and becommg embedded 
 in the sands, they germinate anew ; hence its name Anastatica — Re- 
 surredtion. The Holy Rose of Jericho is regarded with peculiar 
 reverence in Palestine and other places in the East, and is supposed 
 to be the plant alluded to in Ecclesfasticus : " I was .... as a 
 Rose-plant in Jericho." The Arab^ call this-pl&nt Kaf Maryam (i.e.] 
 Mary's hand) ; it is also known as Rosa-Mann (Rose of the Virgin). 
 The pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre fancied it sprang up wherever 
 the Holy Family rested in their flight into the Egypt, and called it 
 the Rosa Hierosolymitana. There is a cherished legend that it first 
 blossomed at our Saviour's birth, closed at the crucifixion, and 
 opened again at Easter, whence its name of Resurredlion Flower. 
 The tradition that it blossomed at the moment when our Lord was 
 born, and was endowed with qualities propitious to nativity, 
 caused the plant to be greatly esteemed by the Eastern women, 
 who, when occasion requires, are anxious to have one of these 
 dried plants expanding in a vase of water beside them, firmly 
 believing it has a salutary effe<5t. In like manner, the matrons of 
 Bologna, who call the plant the Rose of the Madonna, believe in 
 its efficacy at the birth of children. They place the plant in water 
 at the bedside with the convidtion that at the moment when it has 
 
 fully expanded itself the expedted infant will first see the light. • 
 
 In Germany, a similar belief exists, and the Rose of Jericho is 
 called (after its Arabic name) Mary's Hand, in allusion to the office 
 assigned to the Madonna of patroness of matrons. 
 
 ROSE OF SHARON. — The Hebrew word rendered in 
 Canticles ii., i, and Isaiah xxxv., i, as "Rose," is thought by some 
 to signify " Tulip." Interpreters, indeed vary between Rose, Lily, 
 
pPant Isofe, Ts&ger^j-, ani. ISLjfiey. ^29 
 
 Narcissus, and Tulip ; so that it is impossible to say with any 
 certainty what flower we are to understand by the Rose of Sharon. 
 According to travellers, the Narcissus, or Jonquil (Narcissus 
 yonqutla), grows abundantly on the plain of Sharon, yet so low that 
 it may be unobserved among more showy plants ; and again we 
 find it stated that, in the season, the plam is literally covered with 
 Tulips. Though Palestine abounds in flowers, it is doubtful 
 whether the Rose of our gardens is alluded to in the Bible. In the 
 Apocrypha (Wisdom xi., 8), it may, perhaps, be intended, but 
 more probably the Oleander is there referred to. 
 
 ROWAN-TREE, or MOUNTAIN-ASH.— The Moun- 
 tam Ash (Pyrus Aucuparia), called also by the old names of Rodden, 
 Rowan-tree, Quicken-tree, and Witchen-tree, is a tree of good 
 omen. In Scandinavian mythology, it is Thor's Helper, because 
 it bent to his grasp when he was crossing the river Vimur, on his 
 way to the land of the Frost Giants. The wood of the Rowan was 
 also used to preserve the Norse ships from Ran, who delighted in 
 drowning mariners. The Rowan is generally considered to have 
 been one of the sacred trees of the Druids. Stumps of the Mountain 
 Ash have frequently been found within or near the circle of a Druid 
 temple, thus proving that the tree must have been an objecft of 
 great veneration with the Druids, who doubtless pra(5tised their 
 sacred rites beneath its shade. This connedtion of the tree with 
 Druidic customs affords some explanation of the many superstitious 
 ideas appertaining to the Mountain Ash which are still extant. 
 Lightfoot tells us that the Rowan-tree is discovered in the Druidic 
 circles of North Britain more frequently than any other, and that even 
 now pieces of it are carried about by superstitious people as charms 
 to protect them from witchcraft. Like the Indian Mimosa (a tree 
 of the same genus and of a similar character), or the Palasa, which 
 it resembles in its graceful foliage and berries, the Mountain Ash 
 has for ages been held in high repute as a preservative against 
 magic and sorceries. Thus we find in Jamieson's 'Scottish Dic- 
 tionary,' that " the most approved charm against cantrips and 
 spells was a branch of the Rowan-tree planted and placed over 
 the byre. This sacred tree cannot be removed by unholy fingers." 
 The Scotch peasantry considered the Rowan a complete antidote 
 against the effedts of witchcraft and the Evil Eye, and, in conse- 
 quence, a twig of it was very commonly carried in the pocket ; but 
 that it might have complete efficacy, it was necessary that it 
 should be accompanied by the following couplet, written on paper, 
 wrapped round the wood and secured by a red silk thread : — 
 
 " Rowan Ash and red thread 
 Keep the devils frae their speed." 
 
 Another version of this charm renders it thus : — 
 
 Roan-tree and red thread, 
 Haud the witches a' in dread." 
 
 2 M 
 
Pennant remarks that the Scotch farmers carefully preserve their 
 cattle against witchcraft by placing branches of Honeysuckle and 
 Mountain Ash in the cowhouses on the 2nd of May ; the milkmaids 
 of Westmoreland often carry in their hands or attached to their 
 milking-pails a branch of the Rowan-tree, from a similar super- 
 stitious belief; the dairymaids of Lancashire prefer a churn- 
 stafF of Rowan-wood to that of any other tree, as it saves the 
 butter from evil influences ; and in the North of England a branch 
 of " Wiggin " (Mountain Ash) is frequently hung up in stables, it 
 being deemed a most efficacious charm against witchcraft. Formerly, 
 in some parts of the country, it was considered that a branch or 
 twig held up in the presence of a witch was sufficient to render her 
 
 deadliest wishes of no avail. In an ancient song, called the 
 
 " Laidly Worm of Spindlestone Heughs " is an allusion to this 
 power of the Rowan-tree over witches : — 
 
 " Their spells were vain ; the hags return'd 
 To the queen in sorrowfiil mood, 
 Crying that witches have no power 
 Where there is Roan-tree wood." 
 
 In Cornwall, the Mountain Ash is called " Care," and if there is a 
 suspicion of a cow being bewitched or subjected to the Evil Eye, 
 the herdsmen will suspend a branch over her stall, or twine it round 
 her horns. Evelyn says that the Mountain Ash was reputed to be a 
 preservative against fascination and evil spirits, "whence, perhaps, 
 we call it ' Witchen ; ' the boughs being stuck about the door or 
 used for walking-staves." In Wales, this tree was considered so 
 sacred in his time, that there was not, he tells us, a churchyard 
 
 without one of them planted in it. At the present time, in 
 
 Montgomeryshire, it is customary to rest the corpse on its way to 
 the churchyard under a Mountain Ash, as that tree is credited with 
 
 having furnished the wood of the Cross. In olden times, collars 
 
 of the wood of the Rowan-tree were put upon the necks of cattle, 
 in order to protect them from spells or witchcraft. In many parts 
 of England, it was formerly the custom in cases of the death of 
 animals supposed to be bewitched, to take out the heart of one of 
 the vicftims, stick it over with pins, and burn it to a cinder-over a 
 fire composed of the wood of a Rowan-tree, which, as we have seen, 
 has always been considered a terror and dread to witches. 
 
 " Black luggie, lammer bead, 
 Rowan-tree and red thread. 
 Put the witches to their speed." 
 
 A witch touched with a branch of this sacred tree by a christened 
 man was deemed doomed to be the victim carried off by the 
 
 Devil, when he next came to claim his tribute. Like the 
 
 Hazel, Thorn, and Mistletoe, it was deemed, according to Aryan 
 tradition, to be an embodiment of the lightning, from which it 
 sprang, and was, moreover, thought to possess the magical power 
 of discovering hidden treasure. In the days of the Fenians, 
 
according to the Gaelic legend, of ' The Pursuit of Diarmuid 
 and Grainne,' there grew in Ireland a celebrated Mountain 
 Ash, called the Quicken-tree of Dubhros, which bore some won- 
 derful berries. The legend informs us that, " There is in every 
 berry of them the exhilaration of wine, and the satisfying of old 
 mead, and whoever shall eat three berries of them, has he com- 
 pleted a hundred years, he will return to the age of thirty years." 
 These famed berries of the Quicken-tree of Dubhros were jealously 
 guarded by one Searbhan Lochlannach, " a giant, hideous and foul 
 to behold," who would allow no one to pluck them : he was, how- 
 ever, slain by Diarmuid O'Duibhne, and the berries placed at the 
 disposal of his wife Grainne, who had incited her husband to obtain 
 
 them for her. At Modrufell, on the north coast of Ireland, is or 
 
 was a large Rowan, always on Christmas Eve stuck full of torches, 
 which no wind could possibly extinguish ; and one of the Orkneys 
 possessed a still more mysterious tree with which the fate of the 
 islands was bound up, since, if a leaf was carried away, they would 
 pass to some foreign lord. 
 
 RUDRAKSHA. — De Gubernatis tells us, that Rudrdksha, 
 which means literally the Eye of Rudra (Siva), or the Tear of 
 Rudra, is a name given, in India, to the fruit of the Ekocarpus, of 
 which the natives manufa(51:ure their Rosaries, which are specially 
 used in the worship of the god Siva. It is said that during the war 
 of the gods with the Asuras, or demons, Siva burnt three towns; 
 but he was grieved, and wept went he was told that he had also 
 burnt the inhabitants. From the tears he then shed, and which 
 fell to the earth, sprang the climbing plants whose fruits are to this 
 day called by the faithful, Rudrdkshas. 
 
 RUE. — It has been conjedlured that the Moly, which, accord- 
 ing to Homer, Mercury gave to Ulysses as an antidote to the 
 enchantress Circe's beverage, was the root of the wild Rue. In 
 olden times, Rue {Ruta graveolens) was called Herb of Grace, from the 
 fadl that the word rue means also " repentance," which is needful to 
 obtain the grace of God. It was also known as the Serving-men's 
 Joy, but was specially held in high repute by women, who attributed 
 to it all sorts of miraculous quahties. R. Turner states that "it 
 preserves chastity, being eaten ; it quickeneth the sight, stirs up 
 the spirits, and sharpeneth the wit. . . . It is an excellent 
 antidote against poisons and infeaions ; the very smell thereof is 
 a preservation against the plague in the time of infedlion." Its 
 virtues as a disinfe^ant are noted in the quaint rhyme of old 
 
 Tusser : — 
 
 " What savour is belter, if physicke be true, _^ 
 
 For places infected, than Wormwood and Rue ? 
 
 Dioscorides recommended the seed as a counterpoison against 
 deadly medicines, the bitings of serpents, scorpions, wasps, &c. : 
 and Gerarde adds, " It is reported that if a man bee anointed with 
 
 2 M — 2 
 
532 pfant Isore, Tsiegef^f, dHil Isi^rio/. 
 
 the juice of Rue, these will not hurt him, and that the serpent is 
 driven away at the smell thereof when it is burned : insomuch that 
 when the weasell is to fight with the serpent, shee armeth her selfe 
 
 by eating Rue, against the might of the serpent." The famous 
 
 counter-poison of Mithridates, King of Pontus, was composed of 
 twenty leaves of Rue, two Figs, two Walnuts, twenty Juniper- 
 berries, and a little salt. Rue entered into the composition of the 
 once noted " vinegar of the four thieves." It is said that four 
 thieves, during the Plague of Marseilles, invented this anti-pesti- 
 lential vinegar, by means of which they entered infected houses 
 without danger, and stole all property worth removing. Piperno, 
 a Neapolitan physician, in 1625, recommended Rue as a specific 
 against epilepsy and vertigo : it sufficed for the patient to suspend 
 some round his neck, renouncing at the time, in a stated formula, 
 the devil and all his works, and invoking the Lord Jesus. This 
 same docftor advocated the employment of Rue to cure dumbness 
 
 caused by enchantment. In England, Rue was thought to be 
 
 efficacious in the jcure of madness. Drayton gives the magic 
 potion : — 
 
 " Then sprinkled she the juice of Rue 
 
 With nine drops of the midnight dew 
 
 From Lunarie distilling. " 
 
 In combination with Euphrasy, the herb appears to have been 
 considered potent as an eye lotion. 
 
 " Then purged with Euphrasy and Rue 
 The visual nerve, for he had much to see. — Milton. 
 
 In olden times, there was a tradition that Rue always throve best 
 when stolen from a neighbour's garden ; and it was popularly 
 believed that the gun-flint boiled in Vervain and Rue ensured the 
 
 shot taking effect. -In Venice, Rue is kept as a charm in a 
 
 house, to maintain its good fortune ; but it is reserved for the 
 single members of the family ; with it goes the luck of the house. 
 When a plant cannot be procured, care is taken that at least a 
 
 sprig is worn by some one between the stocking and leg. In 
 
 some parts of Italy, Rue is considered to be a protedlion against 
 
 the Evil Eye and witchcraft. In the Tyrol, anyone bearing a 
 
 bundle of herbs, comprising Rue, Broom, Maiden-hair, Agrimony, 
 
 and Ground Ivy, is enabled to see witches. Astrologers claim 
 
 Rue as a herb of the Sun, under Leo. 
 
 RUSH, — The sea-nymph Galatea was devotedly attached to 
 Acis, a young shepherd of Sicily, who warmly returned her affec- 
 tion. Unfortunately Galatea was passionately loved by the Cyclops 
 Polyphemus, whom she treated with the greatest disdain. One 
 day the Cyclops surprised the lovers who fled from his jealous 
 wrath. The giant, however, hurled a mass of broken rock after 
 Acis, and a fragment striking him, he was crushed to death. 
 Galatea, inconsolable for the loss of her lover, determined to change 
 
^fant bore, Tsfeg&ljti/, arii. T9ijn(y, 533 
 
 him into a stream. The blood of the mangled shepherd issuing 
 from the fragment of rock which had overwhelmed him gradually 
 changed into flowing water. Simultaneously 
 
 " The stone was cleft, and through the yawning chink 
 New Reeds arose on the new river's brink ; 
 The rock from out its hollow womb disclosed 
 A sound likfe water in its course opposed. 
 When (wondrous to behold) full in the flood 
 Up starts a youth, and navel-high he stood. 
 Horns from his temples rise ; and either horn 
 Thick wreaths of Reeds (his native growth) adorn." 
 
 The Flowering-rush (Butomus umbellatus) is considered to be the 
 plant which sprang from the blood of Acis. The ancients knew 
 it under name of the Juncusfloridus, and Gerarde calls it the water 
 
 Gladiole. The flower now known as Acis is a dwarf Amaryllid. 
 
 In olden times, before carpets were known, it was usual to 
 
 strew the floor with sweet Rushes, which diffused a fragrance. 
 When William the Conqueror was born in Normandy, where that 
 custom prevailed, at the very moment when the infant first saw the 
 light and touched the ground, he filled both hands with the Rushes 
 strewn on the floor, firmly grasping what he had taken up. This 
 was regarded as a propitious omen, and the persons present 
 declared the boy would become a king. This custom of strewing 
 sweet Rushes was in vogue during Elizabeth's reign, for we 
 find several allusions to it in Shakspeare's plays. Cardinal 
 Wolsey, when in the zenith of his power, had the strewings 
 of his great hall at Hampton Court renewed every day. It was 
 customary formerly to strew Rushes on the floors of Churches on 
 the Feast of Dedication, and on all high days. Till recently the 
 floor of Norwich Cathedral was strewn with Acorus Calamus on 
 feast days, or, if the Acorus was scarce, then with yellow Iris-leaves. 
 At the Church of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, Rushes are strewn 
 
 every Whitsuntide. In Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Westmoreland, 
 
 the old custom of Rush-bearing is observed, which apparently had 
 for its origin the ancient pradtice of carrying Rushes to adorn the 
 Church on the Feast of Dedication. The following account of a 
 Rush-bearing at Ambleside is taken from ' Time's Telescope, 
 for 1824: — "July 26, i823.^0n this and the following day, the 
 antient custom of Rush-bearing took place at Ambleside. At seven 
 o'clock on Saturday evening, a party of about forty young girls 
 went in procession to the Church, preceded by a band of music. 
 Each of the girls bore in her hands the usual Rush-bearings, the 
 origin and signification of which have so long puzzled the researches 
 of our antiquarians. These elegant little trophies were disposed in 
 the Church, round the pulpit, reading-desk, pews, &e., and had a 
 really beautiful and imposing effea. They thus remained durmg 
 the Sunday, till the service was finished in the afternoon, when a 
 similar procession was formed to convey these trophies home again. 
 We understand that formerly, in some parts of Lancashire, a 
 
534 pfant Isore, laeg&r^f, orTS. Tsyricy. 
 
 similar ceremony prevailed, under the same designation, in which 
 the Rush-bearings were made in the form of females, with a fanciful 
 rosette for the head; and on looking at these in Ambleside, some 
 faint resemblance of the female form may be traced in the outline. 
 No satisfactory explanation of this ceremony has ever yet been 
 given: the attempt at one is, that it is a remnant of an antient 
 custom, which formerly prevailed, of strewing the church-floors 
 with Rushes to preserve the feet from damp ; but we cannot per- 
 ceive what resemblance there is between the pratftice of strewing 
 the church with Rushes, and the trophies which are now carried 
 from time immemorial." To dream of Rushes portends un- 
 pleasantness between friends. 
 
 RYE. — The Rye-fields are thought by the superstitious Ger- 
 man peasantry to be infested by an evil spirit known as the Roggen- 
 wolf, or Rye-wolf, and in some distri(5ts the last sheaf of Rye is left 
 
 as a shelter for this field demon during the winter. In Germany, 
 
 when a horse is tired, the peasantry will place on his back some 
 crumbs of Rye bread, with a sure convi(5tion that his fatigue will 
 vanish. 
 
 SAD TREE.— The Indian Sad Tree {Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis) 
 is a species of Jasmine whose sweet-smelling flowers open at sunset 
 and fall at sunrise, so that it is unadorned during the day, and has 
 thus obtained the name of the Sad Tree. Its flowers, which re- 
 semble Orange-blossoms, are much used in temples. Thunberg 
 
 relates that the ladies of Batavia, when in the evening they pay 
 visits to one another, are decorated in a particular manner about 
 the head with a wreath of flowers of the Nyctanthes, run upon a 
 thread. " These flowers are brought every day fresh to town for 
 sale. The smell of them is inconceivably deUghtful, like that of 
 Orange and Lemon-flowers: the whole house is filled with the 
 fragrant scent, enhancing, if possible, the charms of the ladies' 
 
 company." At Goa, this flower is called Parizataco, a name given 
 
 to it from the following circumstances :■ — A governor, named Pari- 
 zatacos, had a beautiful daughter, who inspired the Sun with pas- 
 sionate love ; but after a time he transferred his affedlions to 
 another, and the poor deserted one was seized with such despair, 
 that at last she put an end to her existence. Over her grave 
 sprang up the Parizataco, or Night Jasmine, the flowers of which 
 have such a horror of the Sun, that they always avoid gazitig on it. 
 
 Saffron. — See Crocus. 
 
 SAGE. — Many species of Sage are highly esteemed in Euro- 
 pean countries for tlieir medicinal qualities, and most of the conti- 
 nental names of the plant are like the botanical one of Salvia, from 
 Salvo, to save or heal. The ancients ascribed to the herb manifold 
 virtues, and regarded it as a preserver of the human race (" Salvia, 
 
 Salvatrix, naHne conciliatrix."). In mediasval times, the plant, on 
 
 account of its numerous properties, obtained the name qf Oficinalis 
 
pPant Tsofe, Tsege'^/, cmsl l3ijri<y, 535 
 
 Christi, and was reported to have been blessed by the Virgin Mary. 
 
 So wholesome was the herb considered, that the school of 
 
 Salerno summed up its surpassing merits in the line — 
 
 " Cur morUtur homo cui Salvia crescit in horto ? " 
 
 " How can a man die who grows Sage in his garden ? " 
 
 Probably this saying gave rise to the piece of advice contained in 
 the old English proverb — 
 
 " He that would live for aye 
 Must eat Sage in May." 
 
 Parkinson remarks that " Sage is much used in the month of May, 
 fasting, with butter and Parsley, and is held of most to conduce 
 much to the health of man," and Turner says that " it restores 
 natural heat, and comforts the vital spirits, and helps the memory, 
 and quickens the senses ; it is vety healthful to be eaten in May 
 with butter, and also to be drank in ale." The Greeks of Crete 
 (where Sage is grown abundantly) are very careful to gather the 
 
 herb either on the first or second day of May, before sunrise. In 
 
 Sussex, to charm away ague fits, the peasantry eat Sage-leaves 
 fasting for nine mornings consecutively. In Franche-Comte, the 
 
 herb is believed to mitigate grief, moral as well as physical. In 
 
 Piedmont, there exists a tradition that if Sage, is placed in a glass 
 phial and buried beneath a dung-heap, a certain animal will grow, 
 the blood of which, if tasted by dogs, will cause them to lose con- 
 sciousness. There exists, also, a belief among Piedmontese girls 
 that in every Sage-leaf is concealed a little toad; and Robert 
 Turner, in his work on English plants (1687), states that " Rue is 
 good to be planted amongst Sage, to prevent the poison which 
 may be in it by toads frequenting amongst it, to relieve themselves 
 of their poison, as is supposed ; but Rue being amongst it, they 
 
 will not come near it." There is an old superstition that, 
 
 with the aid of Sage, young women may see their future husbands 
 by praaising the following extraordinary spell:— On Midsummer 
 Eve^ just after sunset, three, five, or seven young women are to 
 go into a garden, where there is no other person, and each is to 
 lather a sprig of Red Sage, and then, going into a rooni by them- 
 selves, set a stool in the middle of the room, and on it a clean 
 bason full of Rose-water, on which the sprigs of Sage are to be 
 put ; and tying a line across the room, on one side of the stool, each 
 maiden is to hang on it a clean smock, turned the wrong side out- 
 wards; then all are to sit down in a row, on the opposite side of 
 the stool, as far distant as the room will a low, in perfedt silence. 
 At a few minutes after twelve, each maid's future husband will 
 take her sprig of Sage out of the Rose-water and sprinkle her 
 
 smock with it. Sage is held to be a herb of Jupiter. 
 
 SAINFOIN.— As at present ' applied, the name Sainfoin 
 appertains to Hedysamm Onobrychis hut the ^^^^JfJ^' 3^1^ 
 to the Lucerne Medicago sahva. Sainfoin was, in earher times,. 
 
called Holy Hay ; the smell of this plant is supposed to excite the 
 braying of asses; hence the specific name is taken from two 
 Greek words, signifying an ass, and to bray. An Indian species 
 {H. gyrans), which grows on the banks of the Ganges, exhibits a 
 singular instance of spontaneous motion : its leaves constantly 
 move up and down, now with sudden jerks, anon with a gentle 
 waving motion. By day or night, and in whatever weather, this 
 plant is never at rest. 
 
 SAINTS' PLANTS. — In monastic days, certain plants re- 
 ceived the names of saints either from some peculiarity in their 
 strudture, or from their association with the objedls of which the 
 saint whose name the particular plant bore was patron. Thus St. 
 Anthony, the patron saint of pigs, gave his name to the Bunium 
 flexuosum (St. Anthony's Nut), and the Ranunculus hulbosus (St. 
 Anthony's Rape). St. James's-wort. was so called because it was 
 used for the diseases of horses, of which the saint was patron. St. 
 Thomas, St. Christopher, and St. Benedicft have each given their 
 names to plants. The Nigdla Damascena is St. Katherine's Flower, 
 from its resemblance to her wheel. The Saxifraga umbrosa obtained 
 the name of St, Patrick's Cabbage because it grew in the West of 
 Ireland, where St. Patrick lived. The Primula veris is St. Peter's- 
 wort from its resemiblance to a bunch of keys. Most of these 
 saintly names were, however, given to the plants because their day 
 of flowering is connecfted with the feast day of the saint. Hence 
 Hypericum quadrangulare is the St. Peter's-wort of the modern floras, 
 from its flowering on the twenty-ninth of June ; Hypericum per- 
 foratum is St. John's-wort, being gathered to scare away demons on 
 St. John's Eve ; Barbarea vulgaris, growing in the winter, is St. 
 Barbara's-cress, her day being the fourth of December, old style ; 
 and Centaurea solstitialis derives its specific Latin name, as well as 
 its popular name, St. Barnaby's Thistle, from its flourishing on the 
 longest day, the eleventh of June, old style, which is now the 
 twenty-second. 
 
 SAINT JOHN'S "WORT.— The common St. John's Wort 
 {Hypericum perforatum) has leaves marked with red blood-like spots, 
 which tradition avers always appear on the 29th August, the day 
 on which St. John was beheaded; but the plant derived its name 
 from Its being, according to ancient custom, gathered with great 
 ceremony on the eve of St. John's Day, the 24th of June, to be 
 hung up in windows as a preservative against evil spirits, phantoms, 
 spe(5tres, storms, and thunder ; whence it derived its ancient name 
 oi Fuga Diemonum (Devil's Flight). 
 
 " St. John's Wort, scaring from the midnight heath 
 The witch and goblin with its spicy breath." 
 
 For the same reason, the plant was also called Sol Terrestris, the 
 Terrestrial Sun, because it was superstitiously believed that all the 
 spirits of darkness vanish at the approach of the sun ; and St. 
 
John's Day falls on the summer solstice, the 24th day of June, the 
 last of the three days which mark the culminating point of the 
 solar ascension — the day when, in some latitudes, the sun never 
 sets, and the heavens are illuminated and radiant with its glory 
 through the night. The bright yellow blossom of the Hypericum 
 perforatum, with its glittering golden stamens, was not inappro^ 
 pnately called Sol Terrestris, as symbolising the sun (which, by its 
 effulgence, disperses all evil spirits), and St. John, the Baptist, of 
 whom the Scriptures say he was "a light to them which sit in dark- 
 ness." At the present time this plant is almost everywhere known 
 
 by the name conneeSling it with the saint. The peasantry of France 
 and Germany still gather it on St. John's Day to hang over their 
 cottage doors or in the windows, in the belief that its sandtity will 
 drive away evil spirits of all kinds, and will also propitiate their 
 
 patron saint. In Switzerland, young girls on the Eve of St. John 
 
 make nosegays composed of nine different flowers, of which the 
 principal one is the Hypericum, or St. John's Wort. These nine 
 flowers are plucked from nine different places. The posy is placed 
 beneath the maiden's pillow before she retires to bed, and she then 
 endeavours to sleep and dream : should she, in her dream, see a 
 young man, he will not fail soon to arrive and to make her his wife. 
 
 Somewhat similar customs to this, in connedtion with the Rose, 
 
 the Moss-Rose, and the Sage, exist in England, one of which is, 
 perhaps referred to by Harte, who, when alluding to certain 
 flowers, adds : — 
 
 " And that which on the Baptist's vigil sends 
 
 To nymphs and swains the vision of their friends." 
 
 In Lower Saxony, the peasant girls on the Eve of St. John hang 
 sprigs of Hypericum against the head of their bed or the walls of 
 their chambers ; if it remains fresh on the following morning, they 
 are persuaded they will be married within a year ; but if, on the 
 contrary, it droops and fades, they have no hope of marriage within 
 that time. 
 
 " The young maid stole through the cottage-door, 
 And blush'd as she sought the plant of power ; 
 ' Thou silver glow-worm, O lend me thy Hght ! 
 I must gather the mystic St. John's Wort to-night, 
 The wonderful herb whose leaf will decide 
 If the coming year will make me a bride." 
 
 In Italy, the Hypericum is called both St. John's Wort and the 
 Devil-chaser. On the Night of St. John it is worn about the 
 person, as a preservative from witchcraft and sorcery, and it is 
 
 suspended over doorways and windows with the same objedt. - 
 
 In Scotland, it is carried about as a charm against witchcraft and 
 enchantment, and the peasantry fancy it cures ropy milk, which 
 they suppose to be under some malignant influence. According 
 to Pennant, it is customary in Wales to stick sprigs of St. John s 
 Wort over every door on the Eve of St. John's; and Stowe, in his 
 'Survey of London,' tells us that, " on the Vigil of St. John the 
 
538 pPant bore, T9egeT|Ci/, onS kijrie/.. 
 
 Baptist, every man's door being shadowed with green Birch, long 
 Fennel, St. John's Wort, Orpine, white Lilies, and such like, 
 garnished upon with garlands of beautiful flowers, had also lamps 
 
 of glass with oil burning in them all the night." The peasantry 
 
 of the Isle of Man have a tradition that if you tread on the St. 
 John's Wort after sunset, a fairy horse will rise from the earth, 
 and, after carrying you about all night, will leave you in the 
 
 morning wherever you may chance to be at sunrise. St. John's 
 
 Wort was by old medical writers deemed of great utility m the 
 cure of hypochondriacal disorders, and B. Visontius commends the. 
 herb to one troubled with heart -melancholy. For this purpose it 
 was to be gathered on a Friday, in the hour of Jupiter, when he 
 comes to his effedlual operation (that is, about the full moon in 
 July) ; " so gathered, and borne or hung about the neck, it mightily 
 helps this affedtion, and drives away all phantastical spirits." 
 Another remarkable quality ascribed to the plant was its power of 
 curing all sorts of wounds : hence originated its old name of Tutsan, 
 a corruption of its French cognomen la Toute-saine, or All-heal. In 
 Sicily, they gather Hypericum perforatum, and immerse it in Olive- 
 oil, which is by this means transformed into an infallible balm for 
 wounds. A salve made from the flowers, and known as St. John's 
 Wort salve, is still much used and valued in English villages : it is 
 a very old remedy, whose praises have been spoken by Dioscorides 
 and Pliny, Gerarde, Culpeper, and all the old English herbalists. 
 As these flowers, when rubbed between the fingers, yield a red. 
 juice, it has, among fanciful medical men, obtained the name of 
 sanguis hominis (human blood). 
 
 SALLCW. — The Sallow [Salix caprea) is the Selja of the 
 Norsemen, an ill-omened plant possessing many magical properties. 
 No child can be born in safety where a branch of this sinister tree 
 is suspended ; and no spirit can depart in peace from its earthly 
 frame, if it be near them. It is the badge of the Scottish Clan 
 Gumming. • 
 
 SAL-TRKE.— The Saia or Sal {Shorea robusta) is one of the 
 sacred trees of India. According to the Buddhists' belief, it was 
 while holding in her hand a branch of the sacred SHa, that the 
 mother of Buddha gave birth to the divine infant prince. It was 
 beneath the shelter of two twin Sal-trees, that Buddha passed his 
 last night en earth, near Kucinagara, " beneath a rain of flowers, 
 with which the Sal-tree growing there covered his venerated body." 
 Thus we read in Da Gunha's ' Life of Buddha ' — " He then retired 
 to Kuginagara, and entered a grove of Sal-trees (Shorea robusta) ; 
 there, during the night, he received a gift of food from an artizan 
 named Ghanda, and was seized with illness. At early dawn next 
 day, as he turned on to his right side with his head to the north, 
 the SM-trees bending down to form a canopy over his body, he 
 ceased to breathe." It was not the season for S^l-trees to bloom. 
 
pfant Isore, Tsege^j-, anil l9ijri<y. . 539 
 
 but the twin trees beneath which he lay were covered with blossoms 
 from crown to foot. Blossoms fell down on him, a shower of flowers 
 fell from heaven, and heavenly melodies sounded over head as the 
 Perfedl One passed away. At the moment of his death, the earth 
 quaked, thunders rolled, and the wife of Brahma announced the 
 entry of Buddha into Paradise. 
 
 SAMI. — The Indians employ the wood of Sami (Mimosa 
 Suma) a species of Acacia for the produdlion of fire in their sacri- 
 fices. For this purpose they rub a stick of Asvattha (representing 
 the male element) against a stick of the Acacia Sami (regarded as 
 the female symbol), in accordance with the Indian legend which 
 relates how Pururavas, the Indian Prometheus, created fire by 
 rubbing two woods together. At Indian weddings, after the sacri- 
 fice has been made, the husband and wife take in their hands some 
 Rice (symbol of aljundance) and some leaves of Sami (symbol of 
 generation). Before building a house, it is customary to sprinkle 
 the site by dipping a branch of Sami into some holy water. In the 
 same way, the Indians sprinkle the spot when a grave is to be 
 made. 
 
 SAMPHIRE. — Samphire (Cnthmum maritimum) grows on the 
 rocky cliffs of our Southern shores, the name being a corruption of 
 St. Pierre. The plant, from its love of sea-cliffs, was long ago 
 dedicated to the fisherman saint, whose name in Greek {petros) 
 signifies a rock. Samphire used formerly to be gathered from the 
 cliffs at Dover by men suspended from the summit by a rope : 
 hence Shakspeare's lines in ' King Lear ' : — 
 
 _ " How fearful 
 And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! 
 The crows and choughs that wing the midway air 
 Show scarce so gross as beetles : half-way down 
 Hangs one that gathers Samphire — dreadful trade ! 
 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head. " 
 
 By astrologers Samphire is placed under the influence of Jupiter. 
 
 SAMOLUS. — The Samolus was a plant held in high esteem 
 by the Druids. It grew in damp places, and was only to be 
 gathered by a person fasting— without looking behind him — and 
 with his left hand. It was laid in troughs and cisterns where cattle 
 drank, and when bruised was a cure for various distempers. 
 
 S An DAL. — The Sandal- wood of India [Santalum album) is a 
 small tree celebrated by the poets on account of its beauty and the 
 perfume of its wood, which is used as incense in temples and also 
 for medicinal purposes. In Hindu temples, the Du, or god, is, before 
 the services, anointed with oil of Sandal-wood or with Sandal dust 
 and water, and adorned with flowers ; he is also presented with Betel- 
 leaves. The Chinese Buddhists give the Sandal a place in the cele- 
 brated groves of their Paradise, and they say that the chariot of the 
 Sun is made of gold and Sandal-wood. In an Indian religious fdte 
 
540 Sfant Tsore, Iseger^f, ari^ Isiji'iq/'. 
 
 called Mariatta Codam, the devotees anoint themselves with Saffron 
 ointment, and go about coUedling alms, in return for which they 
 distribute scented sticks, partly composed of Sandal-wood, which 
 are received with great veneration. In the Burman empire, 
 it is customary on the the 12th of April (the last day of their 
 calendar) for ladies to sprinkle with Rose-water and Sandal-wood 
 all they meet, to wash away the impurities of the past year, and 
 commence the new one free from sin. The Mussulmans of India 
 in all their religious ceremonies burn ood, an incense compound of 
 Sandal-wood, Aloe, Patchouli, Benzoin, &c. Sundul, or Sandal-wood 
 ointment, is likewise used in innumerable instances for religious 
 purposes ; and it is employed to exorcise evil spirits. Magic , 
 circles, squares, and figures are drawn on a plank with Sundul, and 
 the individual supposed to be possessed of a demon is made to sit 
 in the centre : then the exorciser pronounces an incantation in 
 Arabic, and burns some incense under the nose of the patient, who 
 solemnly inhales the fumes, and by that means smokes out the 
 demon. The Parsis, who are followers of Zoroaster, renew the 
 undying sacred fire of their altars with Sandal and other precious 
 woods. 
 
 SANICLE. — The healing virtues of the Sanicle (Sanicula) 
 have, in England, passed into a proverb : " He that hath Sanicle 
 needeth no surgeon;" whilst the French have a corresponding old 
 saying, recording its curative powers : — 
 
 " Qui a la Bugle et la Sanicle 
 Fait au c/iii-urgions la nicle." 
 
 " Who Bugle and Sanicle hath 
 May safely at the surgeons laugh." 
 
 In England, it was in former days called Self-heal, for according to 
 one old herbalist, it would " make whole and sound all wounds and 
 
 hurts, both inward and outward." Sanicle is held to be under 
 
 the rule of Venus. 
 
 SARDEA. — It is considered that the Sium latifoKum is the 
 plant known by the ancients as Sardea, which was supposed to 
 grow in Sardinia, and which possessed the singular power of pro- 
 voking sardonic laughter. ' Sallust speaks of this mystic plant as 
 resembling Celery. 
 
 SATYRION.— The appellation of Satyrion (from the Greek 
 Saturos, a Satyr) is applied to several species of Orchis, from their 
 reputed aphrodisiac character. The Romans believed that the 
 roots of these plants formed the food of the Satyrs, and, on account 
 of its exciting nature, prompted them to commit those excesses 
 
 which were one of their characfleristics. In Gerarde's ' Herbal,' 
 
 we read that most of these plants were used for the purpose of ex- 
 citing the amatory passions : some of them were called Serapiades, 
 because " sundry of them do bring forth floures resembling flies 
 and such like fruitful and lascivious insedts, as taking their name 
 
pPant Tsore, lasg^r^f, ani. T^ijncy. 541 
 
 from Serapias [Serapis] , the god of the citizens of Alexandria, in 
 Egypt, who had a most famous temple at Canopus, where he was 
 worshipped with all kinds of lascivious wantonnesse, songs and 
 dances." Turner says of the roots of Satyrion, that all the species 
 have a double root, which alter every year, " when one waxeth 
 full, the other perisheth and groweth lank." The full root, he 
 says, powerfully excites the passions, but the lank ones have 
 
 exacftly the opposite effedt. Astronomers place Satyrion under 
 
 the rule of Venus, 
 
 SAVIN. — The Savin {jfuniperus Sabina), in some parts of 
 Italy, is held in great abhorrence as a plant of evil repute : it is 
 called the " Devil's-tree," and the " Magician's Cypress," on account 
 of the great use of it made in olden times by sorcerers and witches 
 
 when working their spells. Savin is reputed by astrologers to 
 
 be a herb of Mars. 
 
 SAVORY.— Savory or Satureia was considered by the ancients 
 as a herb belonging to the Satyrs; hence matrons were specially 
 warned to have nothing to do with it, as the plant was supposed 
 
 to have disastrous effedts on those about to become mothers. 
 
 Savory is held to be under the dominion of Mercury. 
 
 SAXIFRAGE. — Of the genus Saxifraga, twenty species are 
 indigenous to Great Britain. In olden times, it was noticed that 
 these plants split rocks by growing in their cracks, so, on the doc- 
 trine of signatures, certain of the species were supposed to be 
 efficacious in cases of calculus, and were indeed highly esteemed 
 on that account by the Roman physicians. In England, the name 
 Breakstone was bestowed on them for the same reason ; the plants 
 most employed by the herbalists being the Meadow Saxifrage, or 
 Mead Parsley, the White Saxifrage, and the Burnet Saxifrage, 
 To this family of plants belongs S. umhrosa, the familiar London 
 Pride, known also by the names of None-so-pretty, Prattling 
 Parnell, and St. Patrick's Cabbage (from its growing in the West 
 
 of Ireland). Astrologers state that the Moon governs the 
 
 Saxifrages. 
 
 Scorpion Grass. — See Forget-me-Not. 
 
 Sea Holly. — See Eryngo. 
 
 SEA POPPY. — The Sea Poppy or Horned Poppy {Glaucium) 
 is named after Glaucus, a Bceotian fisherman, who, whilst pursuing 
 his calling, observed that all the fishes which he laid on the grass 
 received fresh vigour as they touched the ground, and immediately 
 escaped from him by leaping back into the sea. He attributed the 
 cause of it to some herb growing among the grass, and upon tasting 
 the foliage of the Sea Poppy, he found himself suddenly moved with 
 an intense desire to live in the sea. Upon this he leaped into the 
 water, and was made a sea god by Oceanus and Tethys. This 
 Glaucium or Sea Poppy was called in the middle ages Ficus infemalis : 
 
542 pPant l9ore, IsegelJ^/, oriel Tsqrioy. 
 
 it was supposed to possess magical properties, and was prized by 
 witches and sorcerers, who used it in their incantations. Ben 
 Jonson, in the ' Witches' Song,' says : — 
 
 " Yes, I have brought to help our vows, 
 Homed Poppy, Cypress-boughs, . 
 The Fig-tree wild that grows on tombs, 
 And juice that from the Larch-tree comes." 
 
 Borlase tells us that, in the Scilly Isles, " this root (the Sea Poppy), 
 so much valued for removing all pains in the breast, stomach, and 
 intestines, is good also for disordered lungs, and is so much better 
 here than in other places, that the apothecaries of Cornwall send 
 hither for it ; and some people plant them in their gardens in 
 Cornwall, and will not part with them under sixpence a root. A 
 very simple notion they have with regard to this root, which falls 
 not much short of the Druids' superstition in gathering and pre- 
 paring their Selago and Samolus. This root, you must know, is 
 accounted very good both as an emetic and cathartic. If, therefore, 
 they design that it shall operate as the former, their constant 
 opinion is that it should be scraped and sliced upwards — that is, 
 beginning from the root, the knife is to ascend towards the leaf ; 
 but if it is intended to operate as a cathartic, they must scrape the 
 root downwards." 
 
 SELAGO. — Selago was the name of a herb held in great 
 repute by the Druids, and intimately connecfled with some of their 
 mysterious rites. It was known as the Golden Herb or Cloth of 
 Gold, and was reputed to confer the power of understanding the 
 language of birds and beasts. It is variously supposed to have been 
 the Club- Moss {Lycopodium Selago), the Camphorosma Monspeliaca, or 
 a kind of Hedge Hyssop, which used in olden times to be called 
 Gratiola and Dei Gratia, and was regarded as a charm as well as a 
 medicine. Pliny, in his ' Natural History ' (xxiv., 62), te'.ls us with 
 respecSl to the Druidic Selago, that it resembles Savin ; and that it 
 is gathered as if by stealth, without the use of iron. The person 
 who gathers it must go barefoot, with feet washed, clad in white, 
 having previously offered a sacrifice of bread and wine, and must 
 pluck the plant with his right hand through the left sleeve of his 
 tunic. It is carried in a new cloth. The Druids of the Gauls 
 asserted that it was to be regarded as useful against all diseases, 
 
 and that its smoke was a remedy for all affedtions of the eyes. 
 
 In Johnson's edition of Gerarde's ' Herbal,' it is said that the Club 
 Moss, or Heath Cypress, is thought to be the Selago mentioned by 
 Pliny. " The catkins of this plant are described as being of a 
 yellowish colour; and it is stated to be found growing in divers 
 woody, mountainous places of Germany, where they call it Wald 
 
 Seuenbaum, or Wilde Savine." In his work on the Druids, 
 
 called the ' Veil of Isis,' Mr. Reade gives a similar account of the 
 gathering of the Selago, excepting that he states it was cut with 
 a brazen hook. He further tells of a mysterious sisterhood of 
 
Druidesses who inhabited the island of Sena (now Sain) at the 
 mouth of the River Loire, where there was a Druidic oracle. 
 These Sibyls devoted themselves chiefly to the service of the 
 Moon, and worshipped her under the name of K6d or Ceridwen, 
 the Northern name for the Egyptian Isis. They consecrated a 
 herb to her called Belinuncia, in the poisonous sap of which they 
 dipped their arrows to render them deadly. It was one of their 
 rites to procure a virgin, and to denude her as an emblem of the 
 moon in an unclouded sky. Then they sought for the mystic 
 Selago, or Golden Herb. She who pressed it with her foot slept, 
 and heard the language of animals. If she touched it with iron, 
 the sky grew dark and a misfortune fell upon the world. 
 
 " The herb of gold is cut : a cloud 
 Across the sky hath spread its shroud 
 To war." 
 
 When they had found the precious herb, the virgin traced the circle 
 round it, and covering her hand in a white linen cloth which had 
 never before been used, rooted it out with the tip of her little 
 finger — a symbol of the crescent moon. Then they washed it in a 
 running spring, and halving gathered green branches, plunged into 
 a river and splashed the virgin, who was thus supposed to resemble 
 the moon clouded with vapours. When they retired, the virgin 
 walked backwards, " that the moon might not return upon its path 
 in the plain of the heavens." 
 
 Self-heal. — See Sanicle. 
 
 SENSITIVE-PLANT. — The leaves of most species of the 
 'genus Mimosa are more or less sensitive to the touch, but 
 M. pudica is the true Sensitive Plant, of which Browne writes : — 
 
 " Looke at the Feeling-plant, which learned swaines 
 Relate to growe on the East Indian plaines, 
 Shrinkes up his dainty leaves if any sand 
 You throw thereon, or touch it with your hand." 
 
 SERVICE-TREE.— The true Service-tree is thought by 
 some to have obtained its name from the Latin word cervisia, 
 because from ancient times its fruit has been used for makmg a 
 fermented liquor of the nature of beer. In France, the Service or 
 Sorb-tree is called Sorbier or Cormier, and an excellent drmk, some- 
 thing like Cider, is made from its berries. De Gubernatis tells 
 
 us that among the Fins the Sorb is specially reverenced above all 
 trees. In the poem ' Kalevala' allusion is made to a nymph 
 of the Sorb-tree (Sorbus termimlis), who is regarded as the pro- 
 tectress of cattle. The Finnish shepherd sticks his staff of Sorb- 
 wood in the middle of a field, and offers up his prayers for the 
 safety of his flock. A branch of the Sorb-tree is the symbol of the 
 lightning, which, according to the Vedic legend, first brought fire 
 to the earth, whilst imparting it to certain privileged trees-on 
 which it fell, not to destroy them, but to conceal itself. Among 
 
544 pfant teofe, IsegeT^/, cmi. biji-iq/". 
 
 the superstitious Scandinavian and German peasantry the Sorb 
 is esteemed a magical tree, typical of fecundity and generation; it 
 is also regarded as a funereal tree, and Mannhardt relates an Ice- 
 landic legend, according to which the Sorb sprang ^rom the bodies 
 of two young men, who, although quite innocent, had been con- 
 demned to death. 
 
 SESAME.— It is from the delightful story of 'The Forty 
 Thieves,' in the ' Arabian Nights' Entertainment,' that most Eng- 
 lish people have become acquainted with the Sesame — the wondrous 
 plant that at the command of Ali Baba — " Open, Sesame ! " — 
 gained him an entrance to the secret treasure-cave. In this capa- 
 city of opening the doors of caverns, &c., the Sesamum-fiower 
 resembles the Springwort, and, like that mystic plant, would 
 seem to be an embodiment of lightning, if we may judge from 
 
 its Indian name of Vajrapushpa, Thunderbolt-flower. Gerarde, 
 
 in his 'Herbal,' speaks of it as "the oily pulse called Sesamum" 
 (or Sesama), and says " it is one of the summer grains, and is sown 
 
 before the rising of the seven stars, as Pliny writeth." The plant 
 
 is a native of the East Indies, and the Hindus say that it was 
 created by Yama, the god of death, after a lengthy penance. They 
 employ it specially in funeral and expiatory ceremonies as a purifi- 
 cator and as a symbol of immortality. In their funeral rites in 
 honour of the departed, they pour Sesame grain into the three 
 sacrificial vases, wherein the sacred Kusa and the holy oil have 
 already been placed, the while invoking the pulse as " the Sesame 
 consecrated to the god Soma." At the annual festival in honour of 
 the childless god Bhishma, the four Indian castes pray for the de- 
 parted god, and by this adl of piety procure for themselves abso- 
 lution for all sins committed during the past year, provided that, at 
 the conclusion of the ceremony, an offering is made of water. 
 Sesame, and Rice. Sesame, with Rice and honey, enters into the 
 composition of certain funeral cakes offered to the Manes in the 
 ceremonies, but eaten bythe persons present. The Indian funeral 
 offering, made at six different periods, is called " the offering of six 
 Sesames," and if this is faithfully made, the natives hope to be 
 delivered from misfortune on earth and to be rewarded with a place 
 in the heaven of Indra. At an Indian funeral, when the corpse has 
 been burnt, the devotees bathe in a neighbouring river, and leave 
 on its banks two handfuls of Sesame, as nourishment for the soul 
 of the departed whilst on its funeral journey, and as a symbol of 
 the eternal life offered to the deceased. 
 
 SHAMROCK.— The word Shamrock (which means Little 
 Trefoil) is from the Erse seamrog, a diminutive of seamar, Trefoil. 
 The Shamrock, or Trefoil, in heraldry, is the badge of the king- 
 dom of Ireland, and St. Patrick, the patron saint of that isle, 
 is represented in the habit of a bishop, holding a Trefoil — St. 
 Patrick's Cross, as it is called by Irishmen. It is said that St. 
 
pfaat Tsore, Tsege^y, anil laqno/. 545 
 
 Patrick, when on an evangelising mission in Ireland, made the 
 do<5lrine of the Trinity, one day, the subjedl of his discourse. 
 Finding his hearers unable to understand it, he plucked a leaf of 
 Shamrock, and used it as an illustration. So easy and simple was 
 the application, that their difficulties were removed, and they 
 accepted Christianity. Ever since, the Shamrock has been the 
 national emblem of Irishmen, and has been worn by them for many 
 centuries on the 17th of March, which is the anniversary of St. 
 Patrick. As to what was the herb which furnished the saint with 
 so excellent an illustration of the Three in One, there is amongst 
 botanists much dispute, but the plants that for a long time past 
 have been sold in Dublin and London on St. Patrick's Day as the 
 national badge are the Black Nonsuch {Medicago lupidina), and the 
 Dutch Clover {Trifolium repens). Several writers have advocated 
 the claims of the Wood Sorrel [Oxalis acetosella), which is called by 
 the old herbalists Shamrog, and is proved in olden times to have 
 been eaten by the Irish, — one old wrier, who visited their country 
 in the sixteenth century, stating that it was eaten, and that it was 
 a sour plant. Wood Sorrel is a sour-tasting plant, is indigenous to 
 Ireland, and is trifoliated. It grows in woods, where the people 
 used to assemble, and where the priests taught and performed their 
 mystic rites ; and therefore it may have been the plant plucked by 
 St. Patrick. It has also been contended that the Watercress 
 (called "Shamrock" by Holinshed in 1586) was the plant gathered 
 by the saint, but as its leaf is not trifoliate, this claim has not 
 found much favour. The plant which is figured upon our coins, 
 both English and Irish, is an ordinary Trefoil. Queen Vidloria 
 placed the Trefoil in her royal diadem in lieu of the French Fleur- 
 de-lis. 
 
 SHEPHERD'S PURSE.— The Capsella Bursa is commonly 
 known as Pickpocket or Pickpurse, from its robbing the farmer by 
 stealing the goodness of his land. It was known to our forefathers 
 by the names of St. James's-wort, Poor Man's Parmacetty, Tojrwort, 
 and Caseweed, and was considered to be " marvellous good for 
 inflammation." (See Clappei>epouch.) 
 
 SHOLOA.— The Sholoa is a medicinal plant, employed by 
 the Bushmen of South Africa. Before going into battle, they rub 
 their hands with Sholoa, in order to be able to chafe the badly 
 wounded to preserve their life. When they dig up this plant, they 
 deem it necessary, to avert danger from themselves, to replant 
 immediately a portion of the root, so that it may spring up again. 
 Tradition says that a man who neglefled this precaution was found 
 speechless and motionless enveloped in the toils of serpents. These 
 serpents were killed by the Bushmen in order to regain possession 
 of the root, which was replanted. Their women are afraid of these 
 roots, when freshly dug up ; they are, therefore, always put into a. 
 bag before being taken into a hut. 
 
 ° 2 N 
 
546 pPant Tsoi-e, begeTjt)/, dni. h\^tiaf, 
 
 SNO'WDROP. — The Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) was for- 
 merly held sacred to virgins, and this may account for its being 
 so generally found in the orchards attached to convents and old 
 monastic buildings. 
 
 " A floVr that first in this sweet garden smiled, 
 To virgins sacred, and the Snowdrop styled." — Tickell. 
 
 It is also dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and a monkish tradition 
 asserts that it blooms on the second of February, or Candlemas 
 Day, the day kept in celebration as that on which the holy Virgin 
 took the child Jesus to the Jewish Temple and there presented an 
 offering. Hence the flower is called the Fair Maid of February ; 
 as on the Day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary her image used 
 to be removed from the altar, and Snowdrops strewed over the 
 
 vacant place. The legendary account of the flower's creation is 
 
 as follows :— " An angel went to console Eve when mourning over 
 the barren earth, when no flowers in Eden grew, and the driving 
 snow was falling to form a pall for earth's untimeous funeral after 
 the fall of man ; the angel, catching as he spoke a flake of falling 
 snow, breathed on it, and bade it take a form, and bud and blow. 
 Ere the flake reached the earth Eve smiled upon the beauteous 
 plant, and prized it more than all the other flowers in Paradise, 
 for the angel said to her : — 
 
 " ' This is an earnest. Eve, to thee, 
 That sun and summer soon shall be. ' " 
 
 The angel's mission being ended, away up to heaven he flew ; but 
 
 where on earth he stood, a ring of Snowdrops formed a posey." 
 
 An old name for the plant was the Winter Gilliflower. Dr. Prior • 
 thinks that the name Snowdrop was derived from the German 
 Schneetropfen, and that the " drop " does not refer to snow, but to 
 the long pendants, or drops, worn by the ladies in the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, both as earrings and hangings to their 
 brooches, and which we see represented so often by Dutch and 
 
 Italian painters of that period. In some parts of England it is 
 
 considered by the peasantry unlucky to take the first Snowdrop 
 into a house — ^the flower being regarded as a death-token, inasmuch 
 as it looks like a corpse in its shroud. 
 
 SOLAN UM. — To this family belong the Love Apple, the 
 Mad Apple, and the Bitter-Sweet. Several species of the genus 
 Solatium axe poisonous and highly dangerous plants. It is related 
 that when Sweno, king of Norway, was besiegfing Duncan of Scot- 
 land in the town of Betha, Macbeth, his cousin, managed to leave 
 the town, whereupon Duncan began to treat with the enemy as to the 
 terms of a surrender, promising them a supply of provender. The 
 Danes accepted the terms, and Duncan sent them their provi- 
 sions, which they duly partook of ; but soon after they were over- 
 come by a profound lethargic sleep, for their wine and ale had 
 been drugged with Solatium. In this condition they fell an easy 
 
pPant l9oi'e, IsegeT^V, cmi. T3ijpi<y, 547 
 
 rey to Macbeth, who attacked them and utterly routed their forces, 
 "en only of the soldiers, who had entertained suspicions with 
 igard to Duncan's gift of supplies, remained in their senses, and 
 lese carried off King Sweno, in a lifeless condition, to the mouth 
 f the river Tay, and thence conveyed him home in a fishing- 
 oat. 
 
 SOLOMON'S SEAL.— The appellation of Solomon's Seal 
 as been given to the Convallaria Polygonatum, because, on cutting 
 le roots transversely, some scars are seen resembling the device 
 nown as Solomon's Seal — a name given by the Arabs to a six- 
 olnted star, formed by two equilateral triangles intersecting each 
 ther. To the old herbalists these marks (according to the doctrine 
 f signatures) were an indication of the plant's virtues or uses : it 
 ras sent to seal or consolidate wounds. Gerarde says: "That 
 fhich might be written of the herbe as touching the knitting of 
 ones, and that truely, would seeme with some incredible; but 
 ommon experience teacheth that in the world there is not to be 
 Dund another herbe comparable to it for the purposes aforesaid ; 
 nd therefore, in briefe, if it be for bruises inward, the roots must 
 le stamped, some ale or wine put thereto, strained, and given to 
 rink. It must be given in the same manner to knit broken bones, 
 gainst bruises, black or blew marks gotten by stripes, falls, or 
 uchlike; against inflammation, tumours, or swellings, that happen 
 nto members whose bones are broken, or members out of joynt, 
 fter restauration : the roots are to be stamped small, and applied 
 lultesse or plaister wise, wherewith many great workes have been 
 
 lerformed beyond credit." The plant is also known by the 
 
 ame of Lady's Seal, Seal-wort, White-root, Ladder-to-heaven, 
 
 nd Jacob's-ladder. By astrologers it is held to be under the 
 
 ule of Saturn. 
 
 SOMA. — The Soma, or Moon Plant, is one of the most sacred 
 ilants of India. It is supposed to be the Sarcosiemma vimimle, or 
 lyanchum vimimle {Asclepias acida), which grows on the Coromandel 
 ills and in the Punjab. According to Dr. Haug, the plant at present 
 sed by the sacrificial priests of the Dekhan is not the sacred Soma 
 f the Vedas, although it appears to belong to the same order. In the 
 lindu religion, by a truly mystic combination. Soma represents 
 t once the moon or moon-god, the genius presiding over the 
 ;oma, and the plant itself. In the Vedic hymns to Soma, the 
 otion of the plant predominates, but intermixed are references 
 ^hich are only applicable to the lunar charadter of the divinity, 
 'he description of the plant given in Garrett s ' Classical Dic- 
 ionary of India ' is as follows :— " It grows to the height of about 
 3ur or five feet, and forms a kind of bush consisting of a number 
 f shoots, all coming from the same root ; their stem is solid, like 
 ood t^; bark greyish, they are without leaves, the sap appears 
 Sh, has a viry stringe/t taste, is bitter but not sour; ,t is a 
 
 2 N '3 
 
very nasty drink, but has some intoxicating effedl. The sap 
 referred to is sharp and acid, and, according to Decandolle, would 
 be poisonous if taken in large quantities ; in many cases the nerves 
 are afFecfted by it, as if by a narcotic ; but it is benumbing in its 
 influence, as it hinders the a(5Vivity of the nerves, without inducing 
 sleep." From this sacred plant, which has the mystic five white 
 petals, is obtained a milky exudation (symbolising the motherhood 
 of Nature) , out of which is made the Vedic Amrita, a divine beverage 
 that confers immortality; and, probably on this account, the plant 
 itself is worshipped as a god. Thus we find it so addressed in a 
 hymn from the Rigveda, translated by Muir ; — 
 
 " We've quaffed the Soma bright, 
 
 And are immortal grown ; 
 We've entered into light. 
 
 And all the gods have known. 
 What mortal now can harm. 
 
 Or foeman vex us more ? 
 Through thee beyond alarm, 
 
 Immortal god ! we soar." 
 
 The Soma sap is used as the Soma drink for the initiation of the 
 Djoga ; it is said to produce the magical condition in which, raised 
 above the imiverse to the great centre, and united with Brahma, 
 
 the seer beholds everything. In the Hindu worship, libations 
 
 to the gods were of three kinds — butter, honey, and the fermented 
 juice of the Soma-plant. The butter and honey were poured upon 
 the sacrificial fire ; the Soma juice was presented in ladles to the 
 deities invoked, part sprinkled on the fire, part on the Kusa, or 
 Sacred Grass, strewed upon the floor, and the rest invariably 
 drunk by those who had condudled the ceremony. The exhila- 
 rating properties of the fermented juice of the Soma filled the wor- 
 shippers with delight and astonishment; and the offering of this 
 sacred liquid was deemed to be especially pleasing to the Hindu 
 
 gods. In the lunar sacrifices, the Soma drink was prepared with 
 
 mystical ceremonies, with invocations of blessings and curses, by 
 which the powers of the world above and below were incor- 
 porated with it. According to their intended use, various herbs 
 were mixed with the principal ingredient. Windischmann remarks 
 that the use of the Soma was looked upon in early ages as a holy 
 adtion, and as a sacrament, by which the union with Brahma was 
 produced ; thus, in Indian writings, passages similar to the fol- 
 lowing, often occur: "Prajapati himself drinks this milk, the 
 essence of all nourishment and knowledge — the milk of immor- 
 tality." The Gandharvas, a race of demigods, are represented 
 
 in certain of the Vedic legends as custodians of the Soma or Amrita, 
 and as keeping such close watch over the divine beverage, that 
 only by force or cunning can the thirsty gods obtain a supply of 
 
 the immortalising drink. One of the Hindu synonymes of Soma 
 
 is madhu, which means a mixed drink ; arid this word is fhe methu 
 of the Greeks, and the mead of our own Saxon, Norse, and Celtic 
 ancestors. 
 
Pfant teoi-e, Tsege^/, dKi. biji-ie/. 549 
 
 .„^/^.?^^"T "^'^^^y to August the meadows are often 
 ruddy with the Sorrel (Rumex Acetosa), the red leaves of which 
 
 Pr"*^'^ . #^^f'..°^J^^ Irish rebels who fell on Tara Hill, in 
 the " Nmety-Eight; the popular and local tradition being that the 
 plants sprang from the blood of the patriots shed on that occasion. 
 borrel is under the planetary influence of Venus. 
 
 SOW-THISTLE — Theseus, king of Athens, is said to have 
 received as a gift from the hands of Hecate, the Sow-thistle (Sonchits 
 ileraceus) and the Sea Fennel [Cnthmum maritimum). Like the 
 Sesame, the Sow-thistle, according to tradition, sometimes conceals 
 narvels or treasures ; and in Italian stories are found the exclama- 
 :ion, " Open Sow-thistle," used with the same magical results as 
 ittend the invocation of the Sesame. A Russian legend states 
 :hat the Devil considers the Sow-thistle to be peculiarly his pro- 
 aerty, although in so doing he is in error (see Oats and Reed). 
 
 The Sow-thistle is considered by astrologers to be under th© 
 
 iominion of Venus. 
 
 SpUTHERN WOOD.— The Ahntanum (Southernwood) is 
 I species of Wormwood, to which the Greeks and Romans, and in 
 nore recent times the Germans and French, attributed wonderful 
 nagic properties. According to Pliny, it should be classed as an 
 iphrodisiac plant, for, if it be placed under a mattress, it will evoke 
 ■ensual passions. Gerarde says the same thing ; and adds that " it 
 lelpeth against the stinging of scorpions," and that, " being 
 strewed upon the bed, or a fume made of it upon hot embers, it 
 Iriveth away serpents." Lucan refers to this latter qyahty in the 
 bllowing lines (Book 9) : — 
 
 " There the large branches of the Idng-lived hart, 
 With Southernwood their odours strong impart t 
 The monsters of the land, the serpents fell. 
 Fly far away, and shun the hostile smell. " 
 
 ilacer Floridus states that it will drive away serpents; andBauhin 
 
 larrates that it used to be employed against epilepsy. From 
 
 in ointment made with its ashes, and used by young men to 
 iromote the growth of a beard, the plant obtained the name of 
 
 ^ad'sLove. Astrologers place Southernwood under the rule 
 
 f Mercury. (See also Mugwort and Wormwood,) 
 
 SPEED^A^ELL. — The Veronica Ckamadrys appears in olden 
 imes to have been called " Forget-rae-Not," a name that has since 
 een universally applied to the Myosotis. Now-a-days it is some- 
 imes called by country folk Cat's-eye. The plant derives its name 
 f Speedwell from the fadl of its. corolla falling off and flying away 
 s soon as it is gathered ; " Speedwell " being the old-fashioned 
 quivalent of " Good-bye ! " The bright blue blossom of the Ger- 
 lander Speedwell is in some places better known as Veronica, an 
 ppell^tion derived from Vera (Latin) and Icon (Greek), and signi- 
 ^ing " trueimagCi" — —When our Saviour was on his way to Mount 
 
550 Of ant Tsoi"©, TsegeT^Vs '^^ Is ^ fie/. 
 
 Calvary, bearing his cross, he passed by the door of Veronica, a com- 
 passionate woman, who beholding with pity the Lord's distressed 
 condition; and the drops of agony on His brow, wiped His face with a 
 kerchief, or napkin, and the features of the Redeemer remained 
 miraculously impressed upon the linen. The kerchief itself was 
 styled the Sudarium, and from some resemblance of the blossom of 
 the Germander Speedwell to this saintly relic, bearing the features 
 
 of Christ, the plant received the name of Veronica. Francus wrote 
 
 an entire work on the virtues of the Veronica orientalis, which is said 
 to have cured a King of France of the leprosy and to have given 
 children to a barren wife. R. Turner calls the plant Fluellin, or 
 Lluellin — a name, he remarks, " the Shentleman of Wales have 
 given it because it saved her nose, which disease had almost gotten 
 from her." 
 
 SPIGNEL. — Spignel (Meum athamanticum) is also known as 
 Mew, Bear-wort, or Bald-money. The latter name is of obscure 
 etymology, but we may safely rejedl the derivation which some 
 writers have suggested from the name of the god Baldr, the Scan- 
 dinavian Apollo. Spignel is held to be under the rule of Venus. 
 
 (See Baldmoney). 
 
 SPIKENARD.— We read in Canticles: "While the king 
 sitteth at his table, my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof." 
 And again: " Thy plants are an orchard of Pomegranates, with 
 pleasant fruits ; Camphire, with Spikenard, Spikenard and Saffron." 
 The true nature of Spikenard has for ages been the subjedl of much 
 controversy; but it is now generally accepted that it was obtained 
 from the Valeriana Jatamansi. Ptolemy notices these odoriferous 
 plants, the best of which grew at Rangamati, and on the borders of 
 the country now called Bootan. Pliny says there are twelve 
 varieties of it — the best being the Indian, the next in quality the 
 Syriac, then the Gallic, and in the fourth place, that of Crete. He 
 thus describes the Indian Spikenard : " It is a shrub with a heavy 
 thick root, but short, black, brittle, and yet unctuous as well; it 
 has a musty smell, too, very much like that of the Cyperus, with a 
 sharp acrid taste, the leaves being small, and growing in tufts. 
 The heads of the Nard spread out into ears; hence it is that Nard 
 is so famous for its two-fold produdlion, the spike or ear, and the 
 leaf." The price of genuine Spikenard was then one hundred 
 denarii per pound, and all the other sorts, which were merely 
 herbs, were infinitely cheaper, some being only worth three denarii 
 per pound. Galen and Dioscorides give a somewhat similar 
 account of Spikenard or Nardosiachys, but the latter states that 
 the so-called Syrian Nard came in reality from India, whence it 
 was brought to Syria for shipment. Mr. E. Rimmel, in his ' Book 
 of Perfumes,' points out that "the ancients appear to have 
 confounded Spikenard with some of the fragrant Grasses of India, 
 which would account for the report that Alexander the Great, when 
 
pPant feore, Isege't^/, anel feqrio/". 55 1 
 
 le invaded Gedrosia, could smell from the back of his elephant the 
 ragrance of the Nard as it was trod upon by the horses feet. This 
 irror was shared by Linnaeus, who did not attempt to classify the plant, 
 )ut was inclined to think it was the same as the Andropogon Nardus, 
 ;ommonly called Ginger Grass. Sir William Jones, the learned 
 )rientalist, turned his serious attention to this question, and after 
 I laborious investigation succeeded in establishing beyond doubt 
 hat the Spikenard of the ancients was a plant of the Valerianic order, 
 ;alled by the Arabs Sumbul, which means 'spike,' and by the Hindus 
 fatamansi, which signifies ' locks of hair,' both appellations being 
 lerived from its having a stem which somewhat resembles the tail 
 )f an ermine, or of a small weasel. He, consequently, gave it the 
 lame of Valeriana fatamansi, under which it is now generally classed 
 3y botanists. It is found in the mountainous regions of India, 
 jrincipally in Bootan and Nepaul. Its name appears to be derived 
 ;rom the Tamil language, in which the syllable nay denotes any 
 :hing possessing fragrance, such as ndrtum pillu, 'Lemon Grass;' 
 >tdrum panei, ' Indian Jasmine;' ndrtum manum, ' Wild Orange,' &c. 
 [t is highly propable, however, that the word Spikenard was often 
 ipphed by the ancients as a generic name for every sort of per- 
 fume, as the Chinese now designate all their scents by the name of 
 heang, which properly means incense, it being for them the type of 
 
 ill perfumes." In an Indian poem, the hero, compelled to go 
 
 upon his travels immediately after wedding the girl of his heart, 
 takes leave of her in his garden, and showing her a Spikenard 
 of his own planting, enjoins her to watch over it with loving 
 care ; for as long as it thrives all will go well with him, but should 
 it wither some fatal misfortune will certainly befall him. Years 
 pass away before he can turn his steps homewards. Then he 
 assumes the garb of a mendicant, goes to his home, gains admis- 
 sion to the garden, and there sees his faithful wife weeping over 
 the precious Spikenard, grown into a mighty plant, telhng its own 
 tale. The finish can well be guessed. 
 
 SPRINGWORT.— The Springwort, or Blasting-root, is 
 Famed in German legends for its magical power of opening locks, 
 however strong, hidden doors, rocks, and secret entrances to 
 caves where are stored inexhaustible treasures. In Kelly's ' Indo- 
 European Tradition,' we read that as a rule the Springwort has 
 been regarded as an unknown species of plants, and therefore 
 most difficult to find ; but some few accounts specify known 
 plants, and Grimm mentions the EuphorUa Lathyns which he 
 identifies with the Sferracavallo of the Itahans, so named because it 
 aas so potently on metals, that horses, if they tread on it, have their 
 shoes drawn off. (The Sferracavallo, however, was stated by Mentzel 
 in 1682 to be a Vetch now known as the H%ppocrep%s). The Spring- 
 wort is procured by plugging up the hole m a tree in which a green 
 DT black woodpecker has its nest with young ones in it. As soon 
 as the birTfs aware of what has been done, it flies off in quest of 
 
552 pfant Tsocc, Isege^/, anel Tsijriq^. 
 
 a wondrous plant, which men might look for in vain, and returning 
 with it in its bill, holds it before the plug, which immediately 
 shoots out from the tree, as if driven by the most violent force. 
 But if one conceals himself before the woodpecker returns, and 
 scares it when it approaches, the bird will let the root fall ; or a 
 white or red cloth ^representing water or fire) may be spread below 
 the nest, and the bird will drop the root upon the cloth after it has 
 served its own turn. This is Grimm's version of the matter, and 
 Pliny's account coincides, except that he adds that the plug is 
 driven out with an explosion, caused, as one may conclude, by 
 the eleiftricity contained in the plant which is applied to it by 
 the bird. Now it is worthy of remark that the woodpecker is 
 mythically alleged to be a fire- or lightning-bearer; and so is 
 called by the Romans Picus Martius, after the god Mars, and 
 Picus Feronius, from the Sabine goddess Feronia, who had a 
 certain control over fire. In the Sanscrit, a species of Euphorbia 
 is called the Thunderbolt Thorn, and some others are termed 
 Thunderbolt-wood. It is curious to notice, by the way, that the 
 Indian name of the Sesame-flower, Vajrapushpa, connecfts with the 
 thunderbolt the flower that opens treasure-caves. In Swabia, 
 they say that the hoopoe brings the Springwort, and lets it 
 fall into water or fire to destroy it : to obtain it, therefore, one 
 must have in readiness a pan of water, or kindle a fire ; the 
 original notion having been that the bird must return the plant 
 to the element- from which it springs, — ^that being either the 
 water of the clouds, or the lightning-fire enclosed therein. The 
 conneftion between the Springwort and the lightning is also 
 manifested in an old Swabian tradition, that when the plant is 
 buried in the ground at the summit of a mountain, it draws down 
 the lightning, and divides the storm, causing it to pass off to right 
 
 and left. IntheOberpfalz, the Springwort is ca\\e.dJohanniswurzd, 
 
 because it is there believed that it can only be found among the 
 Fern on St. John's Night. It is said to be of a yellow colour, and 
 to shine in the night like a candle, resembling in this respedl the 
 Mandrake. Moreover, it never stands still, but darts about con- 
 tinually to avoid the grasp of men. Here then, in the luminosity 
 and the power of rapid movement attributed to the Springwort, we 
 
 see the embodiment of eledlricity in the plant. In Switzerland, 
 
 the Spreng-wurael is carried in the right pocket, to render the bearer 
 invulnerable to dagger or bullet ; and in the H arz mountains it is said 
 to reveal treasures, With regard to this magical property of dis- 
 closing concealed treasures, a story is related by Kuhn in his North 
 German Legends, from which we learn that a shepherd who was driv- 
 ing his flock over the; Ilsenstein, having stopped to rest, leaning on his 
 Staff, the mountain suddenly opened, for there was a Springwort in 
 his staff without his knowing it. Inside the mountain he discovered 
 an enchanted princess, who bade him take as much gold as he 
 pleased ; so he filled his pockets, and then prepared to retire ; but he 
 
pPant bofe, Isegeljt!/, o-'^^ Tstjne/-. 55^ 
 
 had forgotten his staff with the Springwort in it, which he had laid 
 agamst the wall when he stepped in ; so that just as he was on the 
 point of stepping out of the opening, the rock suddenly slammed 
 together, and cut him in two. In this version of the German 
 legend, the Luckflower is identified with the Springwort. 
 
 SPURGE LAUREL.— The Spurge Laurel, called in Den- 
 mark Ty-ved, is sacred to Tyr, the god of war. This plant is the 
 badge of the Scottish Clan Graham. 
 
 SQUILL. — The Scilla marUima, or Sea Onion, was of old con- 
 secrated in Egypt to the god Typhon. The mummies of Egyptian 
 women often hold the Squill in one hand, probably as an emblem 
 of generation. The Egyptians planted the Squill in groves, and 
 hung it in their houses to preserve them from evil spirits. In 
 Arcadia, at the festival of the god Pan, the statue of the deity was 
 decorated with Squills. 
 
 STAR OF BETHLEHEM.— The Ornithogalum umhellatum 
 is called the Star of Bethlehem on account of its white stellate 
 flowers resembling the pidlures of the star that indicated the birth 
 of the Saviour of mankind. As the plant is abundant in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Samaria, it was thought by Linnaeus and also by 
 several biblical commentators to be the "dove's dung" mentioned 
 as the food of the famished inhabitants of that city during the siege 
 recorded in the Book of Kings. The Star of Bethlehem is horo- 
 logical — it never unfolds its petals before eleven o'clock, and hence 
 has acquired the nickname of the Eleven o'Clock Lady. 
 
 STOCK. — The Stock, or Stock-Gilliflower (Mathiola), was one 
 of the earliest inmates of English gardens, where it was known as 
 the Gilliflower, a word corrupted from the French name of the 
 flower, Giroflee. 
 
 " The white and purple Gillyflowers, that stay 
 In blossom — lingering summer half away." 
 
 The principal kinds grown in gardens are the Queen's Stock-Gilli- 
 flower, of which the Brompton Stock and the White Stock are 
 varieties, and the annual, or Ten-weeks' Stock (M. annua). The 
 old English name of GilHflower was famiharly given to several 
 other plants dear to early English gardeners: thus we find it 
 applied to the Carnation, the Pink, the Rocket, the Wall-flower, 
 the Ragged Robin, and some others. Parkinson (who is the first 
 writer to mention the double Stock) remarks of the flower: "We 
 call it in English generally Stock-Gilloflower (or as others do, 
 Stock Gillover), to put a difference between them and the Gillo- 
 flowers and Carnations, which are quite of another kindred." The 
 word GilHflower afterwards became corrupted to July-flower, and 
 
 was so written by the poet Drayton. Baron Cuvier had a great 
 
 partiality for the double Stock : it had been the favourite flower ot 
 his mother, and the great naturalist, on that account, always prized 
 
554 pfant bore, Isege'rjti/, ciri^ bi^ricy. 
 
 the fragrant plant, and whilst it was in season made it a rule to 
 have a bunch on his table, that he might inhale its grand perfume. 
 
 STONECROP. — Like the House-leek, the Stonecrop was 
 supposed to be a protecflive against thunder and lightning, and 
 hence was planted on the roofs of cottages, stables, &c. The old 
 herbaUsts valued the small Houseleek, or Stonecrop, as a cure for 
 ague and expeller of poisons. It was used as an outward appli- 
 cation, and, when boiled in beer, was considered good for pesti- 
 lential fevers. Among country folks the plant was known as Wall 
 Pepper (from its pungent flavour). Jack of the Buttery, Gold Chain, 
 and Prick Madam, the last name being a corruption of the French 
 
 Trique Madame. Stonecrop is held by astrologers to be under the 
 
 dominion of the Moon. 
 
 STORAX. — The Styrax, or Storax-tree, has been held in great 
 estimation from the time of Dioscorides and Pliny, both of whom 
 described it. Although the tree is indigenous to many of the 
 southern parts of Europe, yet the precious and deliciously fragrant 
 gum that exudes from it, known as Storax-tears, can only be 
 obtained in perfeeftion from Asiatic Turkey. Old Gerarde says 
 "of this gum, there are made sundry excellent perfumes, pomanders, 
 sweet waters, sweet bags, sweet washing-balls, and divers other 
 
 sweet chains and bracelets." Storax-tears are still used as 
 
 incense in the churches and mosques of Asia Minor. 
 
 STRA'W. — In the Hdvamdl, or the ' Divine Discourse of 
 Odin,' who gave these precepts of wisdom to mankind, it is stated 
 that " Straws dissolve enchantment." Hence, probably, was 
 derived the custom of laying two Straws crosswise in the path 
 where a witch was expected to pass, under the belief that by 
 stepping over Straws, arranged so as to form the sign of the Cross, 
 a witch was rendered powerless. In Ireland, on May-eve (men na 
 Beal Una), the ceremony is practised of making the cows leap over 
 lighted Straw or faggots. In Cornwall, lasses desirous of know- 
 ing when they are to be married, are accustomed to repair either 
 to Madron Well, or to a well at St. Austell : there two pieces of 
 Straw, about an inch long, are crossed and fastened by a pin. 
 This Straw cross is then dropped into the water, and the rising 
 bubbles carefully counted, as they mark the number of years which 
 
 will pass ere the arrival of the happy day. In Devonshire, to 
 
 charm warts away, they take a Wheat Straw with as many knots 
 as there are warts on the hand to be dealt with, name over the 
 Straw the person afflicted, and then bury it : as it decays, the warts 
 
 will disappear. In the county of Donegal, Ireland, a sufferer from 
 
 warts procures ten Straws, ties a knot in each, throws the tenth 
 away, and carefully rubs the warts with the other nine knotted 
 Straws ; this done, he makes a white paper parcel of the Straws, 
 and throws it upon the high road, sure that the person who picks 
 up and opens the parcel will become the possessor of the warts. 
 
Pfant teofe, Isegel^/, arii. Tsijriq/", 555 
 
 -An old German cure for sleeplessness was to place beneath 
 
 the pillow a " composing wisp," that is Straw which workwomen 
 put under the burdens on their backs ; but taken from people 
 
 unknown to them. If a hen wants to sit, the German peasants 
 
 make her nest of Straw out of the bed of the husband and 
 wife : if cock chickens are wished, from the man's side ; if hen 
 chickens, from the wife's side. A Swedish popular tale nar- 
 rates how a king's son, passing a cottage one day, saw a pretty- 
 girl sitting on the roof spinning. Curious to know why she 
 chose so unusual a place, he enquired of the girl's mother, who 
 told him that she sat there to let the people see how clever she 
 was; adding, "She is so clever that she can spin gold from clay 
 and long Straw." The truth was, the girl, although good-looking, 
 was idle in the extreme, and had been set to spin on the roof of 
 the cot so that all the world might judge of her sloth. The king's son, 
 however, knew naught of this, and being captivated by the girl's 
 pretty face, he resolved, if she could really spin gold from long 
 Straw and clay, to take her to the palace, and make her his 
 consort. The mother having given her consent, the girl accom- 
 panied the prince to the royal residence, where she was given a 
 bundle of Straw, and a pailful .of clay, in order to prove if she 
 were so skilful at spinning as her mother had said. The poor girl, 
 knowing her incompetence, soon began to weep when left by 
 herself in her chamber ; whereupon suddenly a little ugly and de- 
 formed old man stood before her, and demanded to know the 
 cause of her grief. The girl told him ; and forthwith the old man 
 produced a pair of gloves, which he gave to the girl, saying, 
 "Fair maiden, weep not: here is a pair of gloves; when thou 
 hast them on, thou wilt be able to spin from long Straw and 
 clay. To-morrow night I will return, when, if thou hast not found 
 out my name, thou shalt accompany me home, and be my 
 bride." The brave girl shuddered, but agreed to the old man's 
 condition, and he went his way. Then she pulled on the gloves, 
 and, without difficulty, soon spun up all the Straw and clay into 
 the finest gold. There was great joy in the palace, and the king's 
 son was delighted that he had obtained so charming and so skilful 
 a wife ; but the young maiden did nothing but weep at the dread pro- 
 sper of being claimed by the ugly, undersized old man. Late in the 
 day, the king's son returned from the chase, and seeing his bride 
 so rnelancholy, began to tell her of an adventure he had just met 
 with in the forest. Said he: "I suddenly came upon a very httle 
 ugly old man dancing round a Juniper-bush, singing a curious song, 
 at the end of which he loudly bawled, ' I am called Titteh Tun.' 
 Then the pretty maid's face brightened up, for she knew that 
 she had learnt the name of her mysterious visitor. So she set to 
 work to spin more gold from Straw and clay alone in her chamber, 
 and kept repeating the old man's name, so that she might not forget 
 it At midnight the door of her room noiselessly opened, and the 
 
hideous old man entered with beaming eyes. On beholding him the 
 girl sprang up, and said: " Titteli Ture, Titteli Ture, here are thy 
 gloves." When the dwarf heard his name pronounced, he was 
 overcome with passion, and bursting through the roof of the apart- 
 ment, hastened away through the air. The maiden was espoused 
 by the king's son the following day, and nothing more was ever 
 seen of Titteli Ture. 
 
 STRAWBERRY. — Strawberries were reputed to be the 
 favourite fruit of the goddess Frigg, who presided over marriages. 
 In German legends. Strawberries symbolise little children who 
 have died when young. According to one of these legends, before 
 St. John's Day mothers who have lost their little ones take care 
 not to eat Strawberries, because they think that young children 
 ascend to heaven concealed in Strawberries. Mothers who eat 
 Strawberries are considered to have wronged the Virgin Mary, to 
 whom the Strawberry is dedicated, and who would assuredly re- 
 fuse an entry into heaven to those children whose mothers had 
 defrauded her of the fruit specially set apart for her. A repre- 
 sentation of the leaf of the Strawberry is set in the gold coronets 
 worn by certain of the English nobility : a duke's coronet has eight 
 leaves, an -earl's eight, and that of a marquis four. Strawberry- 
 leaves and the Flower-de-luce are used in the coronets of the 
 younger members of the royal family. Don John, son of King 
 
 John I. of Portugal, adopted the Strawberry as his device, to show 
 is devotion to St. John the Baptist, who lived on fruits. It is 
 mentioned by HoUinshed, and the fadt has been dramatised by 
 Shakspeare, that Glo'ster, when he was contemplating the death of 
 Hastings, asked the Bishop of Ely for Strawberries. 
 
 "My lord of Ely, when I was last in Holbom, 
 I saw good Strawberries in your garden there." 
 
 Linnaeus was cured of frequent attacks of gout by the use of Straw- 
 berries, and the fruit is accounted an excellent remedy in putrid 
 
 fevers. To dream of Strawberries is reputed to be a good omen : 
 
 to a youth they are supposed to denote that " his wife will be 
 
 sweet tempered, and bear him many children, all boys." A 
 
 legend of the Fichtelgebirge (a mountain range at the juncftion of 
 Saxony, Bavaria, and Bohemia) records that one Midsummer Day 
 a woman went with her child to look for Strawberries in a wood. 
 She chanced to light upon some plants, which when plucked in the 
 night, were not to be exhausted ; and after awhile she perceived a 
 cavern which she entered with her child. Here, to hejr astonish- 
 ment, lay heaps of gold scattered about ; and three white maidens 
 gave her permission to take as much of the treasure as she 
 could colledt with one grasp. Her greed, however, induced her to 
 make three swoops, and then, fearful of the consequences, and for- 
 getting her child, she rushed out of the hollow, when the entrance 
 was immediately closed upon her, and a warning voice informed 
 
pPant boi"©, TsegeTjCi/, anel l3ijn<y, 557 
 
 her that she could not regain her child until the next St. John's Day. 
 When this day arrived, the woman repaired to the cave, and found to 
 her joy the entrance once more open, and her little one awaiting her 
 with a rosy Apple in its hand. Disregarding the treasures scattered 
 in the cave, the mother rushed with outstretched arms towards her 
 child, and the white maidens finding that the mother's love was 
 
 stronger than her greed handed over the little one to her. There 
 
 is, in this distridt, another legend anent the gathering of Straw- 
 berries, which will be found under the head of Club Moss. 
 
 SUGAR-CANE.— In the Sugar plantations of the Indies, 
 several superstitious ceremonies are preserved. It being customary 
 to reserve a few plants, it sometimes happens after the fields are 
 planted, that there remain several superfluous canes. Whenever 
 this happens, the husbandman repairs to the spot on the I ith of 
 June, and having sacrificed to the Nagbele, the tutelar deity of the 
 Sugar-cane, he immediately kindles a fire, and consumes the whole. 
 If a Sugar-cane should flower again at the end of the season, and 
 produce seeds, it is looked upon as a funereal flower, and as 
 portending misfortune to the owner of the estate or his family. If, 
 therefore, a husbandman sees one of these late-flowering canes, he 
 plucks it up, and buries it without allowing his master to know 
 anything of the unfortunate occurrence, willingly taking to himself 
 
 any ill-luck which may accrue. The bow of Kimadeva, the 
 
 Indian Cupid, is sometimes represented as being formed of Sugar- 
 cane, sometimes of flowers, with a string composed of bees. His 
 five arrows were each tipped with a blossom, presented to KlLma- 
 deva by Vasanta (Spring). 
 
 " He bends the luscious cane, and twists the string 
 
 With bees ; how sweet ! but ah ! how keen their sting. 
 
 He, with hve flow'rets tips thy ruthless darts, 
 
 Which through five senses pierce enraptured hearts ; 
 
 Strong Champa, rich in odorous gold ; 
 
 Warm Amer, nursed in heavenly mould ; 
 
 Dry Maktser, in silver smiling ; 
 
 Hot Kilticum. our sense beguiling ; 
 
 And last, to kindle fierce the scorching flame. 
 
 Love Shaft, which gods bright Bela name."— iiV W.Jones. 
 
 SUNFLOWER. — The Helianthus annuus derived its name 
 oT Sunflower from its resemblance to the radiant beams of the 
 Sun, and not, as is popularly supposed and celebrated by poets, 
 from its flowers turning to face the Sun — a delusion fostered by 
 Darwin, Moore, and Thompson, the latter of whom tells us that 
 unlike most of the flowery race — 
 
 "The lofty follower of the Sun, 
 Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves, 
 Drooping all night, and, when he warm returns. 
 Points her enaraour'd bosom to his ray." 
 
 The Helianthus has also been falsely identified with the Sunflower 
 of classical story — the flower into which poor Clytie was trans- 
 
formed when, heart-broken at the desertion of her lover Phcebus, 
 she remained rooted to the ground, and became, according to 
 Ovid, metamorphosed into a flower resembling a Violet. " Held 
 firmly by the root, she still turns to the Sun she loves, and, changed 
 herself, she keeps her love unchanged." Now the Helianthus, or 
 modern Sunflower, could not have been the blossom mentioned by 
 Ovid, inasmuch as it is not a European plant, was not known in 
 his day, and first came to us from North America. In its native 
 country of Peru, the Helianthus is said to have been much 
 reverenced on account of the resemblance borne by its radiant 
 blossoms to the Sun, which luminary was worshipped by the 
 Peruvians. In their Temple of the Sun, the officiating priestesses 
 were crowned with Sunflowers of pure gold, and they wore them 
 in their bosoms, and carried them in their hands. The early 
 Spanish invaders of Peru found in these temples of the Sun 
 numerous representations of the Sunflower in virgin gold, the 
 workmanship of which was so exquisite, that it far out-valued the 
 precious metal of which they were formed. Gerarde, writing in 
 1 597, remarks:—" The floure of the Sun is called in Latine Flos 
 Solis; for that some have reported it to turn with the Sunne, which 
 I could never observe, although I have endeavoured to finde out 
 the truth of it : but I rather thinke it was so called because it 
 resembles the radiant beams of the Sunne, whereupon some have 
 called Corona Solis and Sol Indianus, the Indian Sunne-floure : others 
 Chrysanthemum Peruviamim, or the Golden Flower of Peru : in English, 
 the Floure of the Sun, or the Sun-floure." (See Heliotrope.) 
 
 SYCAMORE. — Sycamore is properly the name of an Egyp- 
 tian tree, the leaves of which resemble those of the Mulberry and 
 the fruit that of the wild Fig; whence it was named from both 
 
 Sukomoros; sukon signifying a Fig, and moros a Mulberry-tree. 
 
 Thevenot gives an interesting tradition relating to one of these 
 trees. He writes : — " At Matharee is a large Sycamore, or Pharaoh's 
 Fig, very old, but which bears fruit every year. They say, that upon 
 the Virgin passing that way with her son Jesus, and being pursued 
 by the people, this Fig-tree opened to receive her, and closed her 
 in, until the people had passed by, when it re-opened; and that 
 it remained open ever after to the year 1656, when the part 
 of the trunk that had separated itself was broken away." Tke 
 tree is still shown to travellers a few miles north-east of Cairo. 
 Another version relates that the Holy Family, at the con- 
 clusion of their flight into Eg3rpt, finally rested in the village of 
 Matarea, beyond the city of Hermopolis, and took up their resi- 
 dence in a grove of Sycamores, a circumstance which gave the 
 Sycamore-tree a certain degree of interest in early Christian 
 times. The Crusaders imported it into Europe, and Mary Stuart, 
 probably on account of its sacred associations, brought from France 
 and planted in her garden the first Sycamores which grew in 
 Scotland. From the wood of this Egyptian Fig-tree or Sycamore 
 
pPant Tsore, h&Q&r^f, oriel T9ijri<y. 559 
 
 (Ficus Sycomoms), which is very indestru(5lible, the coffins of the 
 
 Egyptian mummies were made. By a mistake of Ruellius the 
 
 name Sycamore became transferred to the .Great Maple {Acer 
 psetidoplatanus), which is the tree commonly known in England as 
 the Sycamore or Mock-Plane. This mistake, Dr. Prior considers, 
 may perhaps have arisen from the Great Maple having been, on 
 account of the density of its foliage, used in the sacred dramas 
 of the Middle Ages to represent the Fig-tree into which Zaccheus 
 climbed on the day of our Saviour's triumphal entry into Jerusalem 
 — the Ficus Sycomorus mentioned above. 
 
 " Here a sure shade 
 Of barren Sycamores, which the all-seeing sun 
 Could not pierce through. — Massinger. 
 
 In Scotland, the most remarkable Sycamores are those called 
 Dool-trees or Grief-trees. They were used by the powerful barons 
 in the west of Scotland for hanging their enemies and refracftory 
 
 vassals on. The Great Maple is called in France, as with us, 
 
 Sycamore or Faux Platane (Mock- Plane) ; the Italians call the same 
 tree Acero Fico (Fig-Maple) ; but in both these countries there grows 
 the Melia Azadirachta, or False Sycamore, which is called the Sacred 
 Tree in France, and the Tree of Our Father in Italy. In Sicily, 
 it is known as the Tree of Patience, and is regarded as emblematic 
 
 of a wife's infidelity and a husband's patience. To dream of the 
 
 Sycamore-tree portends jealousy to the married ; but to the virgin 
 it prognosticates a speedy marriage. (See also Maple). 
 
 SYRINGA. — The Arcadian nymph Syrinx pursued by Pan, 
 who was enamoured of her, fled to the banks of the river Ladon. 
 Her flight being there stopped, she implored relief from the water- 
 nymphs, and was changed into a Reed, just as Pan was on the 
 point of catching her. Ovid thus describes her transformation : — 
 
 " Now while the lustful god, with speedy pace, 
 Just thought to strain her in a strict embrace, 
 He fiUe'd his arms with Reeds, new rising on the place; 
 And while he sighs his ill -success to find. 
 The tender canes were shaken by the wind, 
 And breathed a mournful air, unheard before ; 
 That much surprising Pan, yet pleased him more. 
 Admiring this new music, 'Thou,' he said, 
 'Who can'st not be the partner of mjr bed. 
 At least shall be the consort of my mind ; 
 And often, often to my lips be joined.' 
 He formed the Reeds, proportioned as they are, 
 Unequal in their length, and waxed with care. 
 They still retain the name of his ungrateful fair. —Dryden. 
 
 The Philadelfihus coromrius is the shrub into which, according to 
 Ovid, the nymph Syrinx was metamorphosed. The stems ol this 
 shrub are used in Turkey for making pipe-sticks. Evelyn applied 
 the name Syringa also to the Lilac, which for the same reason was 
 called " Pipe-tree." 
 
560 pfant bore, hegeipf, anS. btjhc/'. 
 
 TAMARIND. — The Tamarindus Indica is in Ceylon dedicated 
 to Siva, as the god of destrucftion. The natives of India have a 
 prejudice against sleeping under the Tamarind, and the acid damp 
 from the tree is known to affedl the cloth of tents that are pitched 
 under them for any length of time. So strong is the prejudice of the 
 natives against the Tamarind-tree, that it is difficult to prevent 
 them from destroying it, as they believe it hurtful to vegetation. It is 
 chiefly cultivated for its seed-pods, which are used medicinally, and 
 
 for food. Dreams connedted with Tamarinds are of ill omen, 
 
 portending trouble, loss, and disappointment. The Tamarind is 
 
 held to be under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 TAMARISK. — The Tamarix orientalis is also known as the 
 Tamarisk of Osiris. The ancient Eyptians believed that at the 
 commencement of the world Osiris was born from the midst of chaos, 
 from whence also proceeded his wife Isis, the Queen of Light, 
 and Typhon, the Spirit of Darkness. Osiris was the ruler of all 
 the earth ; but Typhon, being jealous of him, seized him by strategy, 
 nailed him in a chest, and cast it into the Nile, that it might float 
 out to sea. Isis in despair wandered all over the country, searching 
 for the dead body of her husband, and at length heard that the 
 chest had been cast on shore at Byblos, and had there lodged in 
 the branches of a Tamarisk-bush, which quickly shot up and be- 
 came a large and beautiful tree, growing round the chest so that it 
 could not be seen. The king of the country, amazed at the vast 
 size of the Tamarisk-tree, ordered il to be cut down and hewn into 
 a pillar to support the roof of his palace, the chest being still con- 
 cealed in the trunk. Here it was discovered by Isis, who cut 
 open the pillar, and took the coffin with her to Egypt, where she 
 hid it in a remote place ; but Typhon found it, and divided the 
 corpse of Osiris into fourteen pieces. After a long and weary 
 search, in which Isis sailed over the fenny parts of the land in a boat 
 made of Papyrus, she recovered aU the fragments except one, 
 
 which had been thrown into the sea. The Tamarix Gallica is called 
 
 the Tamarisk of Apollo : the Apollo of Lesbos is represented with 
 a branch of Tamarisk in his hand. Nicander called the Tamarisk the 
 Tree of Prophecy. In Persia, the Magian priests (who claimed super- 
 natural power) arrived at a knowledge of future events by means 
 of certain manipulations of the mystic haresma, or bundle of thin 
 Tamarisk twigs, the employment of which was enjoined in the 
 
 Zendavesta books as essential to every sacrifical ceremony. 
 
 Herodotus informs us that the Tamarisk was employed for a 
 similar purpose by other nations of antiquity ; and Pliny states 
 that the Egyptian priests were crowned with its foliage. Ac- 
 cording to tradition, it was from Tamarisk-trees that the showers of 
 
 Manna descended on the famishing Israelites in the desert. At 
 
 the present day, the Manna of Mount Sinai is produced by a variety 
 
 of Tamarix Gallica : it consists of pure mucilaginous sugar. 
 
 Astrologers state that the Tamarisk is under the rule of Saturn. 
 
pPant bore, Isegef^/, aria bijrio/. 561 
 
 TANSY. — The herb Tansy (Tanacetum) has derived its name 
 from the Greek athanasia, immortahty, it being supposed that this 
 herb was referred to in a passage in Lucian's Dialogues of the 
 Gods, where Jupiter, speaking of Ganymede, says to Mercury, 
 "Take him away, and when he has drunk of immortahty 
 [athanasia] , bring him back as cup-bearer to us." In the Catholic 
 Church the herb is dedicated to St. Athanasius, and in Lent cakes 
 are flavoured with it. Gerarde says that the name athanasia was 
 given to the plant because the flowers do not speedily wither : 
 he also tells us that "in the Spring time are made with the 
 leaves hereof newly sprung up, and with egs, cakes or tansies, 
 
 which be pleasant on taste, and good for the stomacke." 
 
 In some country places, it is customary to eat Tansy pudding 
 at Easter, in allusion to the " bitter herbs " at the Passover. In 
 Sussex, a charm against ague is to wear Tansy-leaves in the shoe. 
 
 In some parts of Italy, people present stalks of the Wild 
 
 Tansy to those whom they mean to insult. The Tansy is held 
 
 to be a herb of Venus. 
 
 TEA. — A Japanese Buddhist legend attributes the origin of 
 the Tea-plant {Thea Sinensis) to the eyelids of a devotee, which fell 
 to the ground and took root. The legend relates that about 
 A.D. S 19 a Buddhist priest went to China; and, in order to dedicate 
 his soul entirely to God, he made a vow to pass the day and night 
 in an uninterrupted and unbroken meditation. After many years 
 of such continual watching, he was at length so tired, that he fell 
 asleep. On awaking the following morning, he was so grieved 
 that he had broken his vow, that he cut off" both his eyelids and 
 threw them on the ground. Returning to the same spot on the 
 following day, he was astonished to find that each eyelid had 
 become a shrub. This was the Tea-shrub (until then unknown in 
 China) — the leaves of which exhibit the form of an eyelid bordered 
 
 with lashes, and possess the gift of hindering sleep. One Ibn 
 
 Wahab, who travelled in China some time in the ninth century, 
 makes the first authentic mention of Tea as a favourite beverage 
 of the Chinese. He describes it as the leaf of a shrub more bushy 
 than the Pomegranate; and says that an infusion is made by 
 pouring boiling water upon it. 
 
 TEREBINTH. — The Terebinth {Pistacia Terebinthus) is a 
 tree much venerated by the Jews. Abraham pitched his tent 
 beneath the shade of a Terebinth at Mamre, in the valley of 
 Hebron, and an altar was afterwards eredted close by. The spot 
 whereon the tree of Abraham had flourished was in the tinie of 
 Eusebius still held in great reverence and sandtity, and a Christian 
 church was erecTled there. Josephus, in his ' History of the Jews,' 
 recounts that the Terebinth of Abraham had flourished ever since 
 the creation of the world ; but a second legend states that it sprang 
 from the staff" of one the angels who visited Abraham . At Sichem 
 
 20 
 
562 pPant bore, Isegel^O/, ani. bijrio/. 
 
 is shown the Terebinth of Jacob, near which Joshua raised an altar. 
 The angel appeared to Gideon to encourage him to engage in battle 
 near a Terebinth-tree at Ophra, and on this spot, after the vidlory, 
 Gideon raised an altar. The Jews, by preference, bury their dead 
 beneath the shadow of a Terebinth. 
 
 THISTLE. — The Thistle {Carduus), in the first days of man, 
 was sent by the Almighty as a portion of the curse passed upon 
 him when he was made a tiller of the soil. God said, " Thorns 
 and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee (Gen. iv.). One species, 
 the Milk Thistle {Carduus Marianus), is distinguishable by the milky 
 veins of its leaves, which were supposed to have derived their 
 peculiar colour from the milk of the Virgin Mary having fallen 
 upon them. This is sometimes called the Scotch Thistle, but it is 
 not so : it grows on the rocky cliffs near Dumbarton Castle, where, 
 if tradition be true, it was originally planted by the unfortunate 
 Mary, Queen of Scots. The Thistle of Scotland is believed to be 
 the Onopordum Acantkium, the Cotton Thistle, which grows by the 
 highways : this is the national insignia, and its flower-cup and 
 bristling leaves accord well with the motto, ' ' Nemo me impune lacessit." 
 Tradition says that the Thistle, with the motto rendered in homely 
 Scotch, " Wha daur meddle wi' me ? " was adopted as the symbol of 
 Scotland from the following circumstance : — A party of invading 
 Danes attempted to surprise the Scotch army by night. Under 
 cover of darkness, they approached the slumbering camp, but one 
 of them trod upon a prickly Thistle, and his involuntary cry of 
 pain roused some of the Scots, who flew to arms, and chased the 
 foe from the field. The Onicus acaulis, or stemless Thistle, is by 
 some considered to be the true Scotch Thistle, as it accords best 
 with the legend of the defeated Norsemen, and is, besides, the 
 Thistle seen in the gold bonnet-piece of James V. Carduus acan- 
 thoides and C. nutans are by others supposed to be the 
 
 " Proud Thistle, emblem dear to Scotland's sons, 
 Begirt with threatening points, strong in defence, 
 Unwilling to assault." 
 
 The Thistle has given its title to a Scotch order of knighthood, 
 which is said to have been instituted by Achaius, king of the 
 Scots, when he obtained a vitftory over Athelstan. The insignia 
 borne by the knights of the Order of the Thistle is a gold collar, 
 with Thistles and a sprig of Rue interlaced. A gold medal is also 
 
 worn, bearing a figure of St. Andrew. Mannhardt states that 
 
 in Mecklenburg there is a legend current which relates that in a 
 certain wild and barren spot, where once a murder had been com- 
 mitted, there grows every day at noon a strangely-formed Thistle : 
 on the weird plant are to be seen human arms, hands, and heads, 
 and when twelve heads have appeared, the ghastly plant myste- 
 riously vanishes. A shepherd, one day, passed the spot where the 
 mystic Thistle was growing. His staff became tinder, and his 
 
pPant Tsore, Isege'rjti/, anS ]S\^t\af. 563 
 
 arms were struck with paralysis. According to Apuleius, the wild 
 
 Thistle, carried about the person, possessed the magical property 
 
 of averting all ills from the bearer. In Esthonia, they place 
 
 Thistles on the Corn that has first ripened, to drive away any evil 
 
 spirit that may come to it. In divining, by an old English rite, a 
 
 girl, to find out which of three or four persons loves her best, takes 
 three or four heads of Thistles, cuts off their points, gives each 
 Thistle the name of one o£ these persons, and lays them under her 
 pillow. That Thistle which bears the name of the person loving 
 her most will put forth a fresh sprout. To dream of being sur- 
 rounded by Thistles is a lucky omen, portending that the dreamer 
 
 will be rejoiced by some pleasing intelligence in a short time. 
 
 Astrologers state that Thistles are under the rule of Mars. 
 
 THORN. — According to a German tradition, the Black 
 Thorn springs from the blood of the corpse of- a heathen slain in 
 battle. In Germany, the Easter fire was anciently called Buck- 
 thorn because it was always kindled with that wood, as it is to this 
 day at Dassel, in Westphalia. Kuhn thinks the tree itself {Bocksdorn) 
 was so called from the sacrificial buck-goat which was burned upon 
 
 its wood in heathen times. The Celts have always reverenced 
 
 the Thorn-bush, and its wood was used by the Greeks for the 
 drilling-stick of their pyreia, an instrument employed for kmdlmg 
 the sacred fire. The Thorn was also held by the Greeks to be a 
 preservative against witchcraft and sorcery. Nevertheless, m some 
 parts of England, witches were formerly reputed to be fond ot a 
 Thorn-bush, and both in Brittany and in some parts of ire and it 
 is considered unsafe to gather even a leaf from certain old and 
 solitary Thorns, which grow in sheltered hollows of the moorland, 
 and are the fairies' trysting places. To this day, it is thought in 
 many rural districfls to be a death-token, and therefore to take a 
 branch or blossom into a house is deemed to be unlucky.-— 
 Josephus tells us that the " bush " out of which the Lord appeared 
 to Moses in a flame of fire was a Thorn. He writes: " A wo'iderful 
 prodigy happened to Moses : for a fire fed upon a Thorn-bush 
 vet did the green leaves and the flowers continue untouched, and 
 fhefiredidiotat all consume the fruit br^n-hes."— -According 
 to Aryan tradition, the Hawthorn sprang froni the lightning, and 
 as wit^h other trees of like mythical descent, it was considered a 
 Drotedlive against fire, thunderbolts, and hghtning. bir Jonn 
 ^aundevile bears witness to this old belief when, spef mg ° the 
 Albespyne, or Whitethorn, he says :-" For ^e that beareth a 
 braunche on hym thereof, no thondre, ne no '^^''^' f^^f^'^^^l'^^i 
 dere [harm] hym; ne in the hows tha^ yt is y""^ may non evu 
 ghost entre.'— The Whitethorn or Hawthorn has long had he 
 reputation of being a sacred tree and the Pl^'?*^ whichj^^ad the 
 mournful distinction of supplying the crown of Thorns worn by our 
 Saviour at His crucifixion.. Many other plants, however, i^^^^^^ 
 been credited with this distindlion, including the l^uc^';°'^"^ 
 
564 pfant Tsore, Tsegel^b/, anS. Tsijiflc/', 
 
 (Rhamnus Paliurus and Rhavtmes Spina Christi), and the Paliurus acu- 
 
 leatus, or Christ Thorn. In the thirteenth century, there existed 
 
 among Christians a strong passion for rehcs, and when the Emperor 
 Baldwin II. came to beg aid from Louis IX. (St. Louis of France), 
 he secured his goodwill at once by offering him the holy Crown 
 of Thorns, which for several centuries had been preserved at Con- 
 stantinople, and had been pledged to the Venetians for a large sum 
 of money. Louis redeemed this precious and venerable relic, aided 
 Baldwin with men and money, and then triumphantly brought the 
 crown of Thorns to Paris, carrying it himself from Sens, barefoot 
 and bareheaded. Having also been so fortunate as to obtain a 
 small piece of the true Cross, he built in honour of these treasures 
 the exquisite chapel since called La Sainte Chapelle. In pidtures of 
 St. Louis, he is usually depitfted with his special attribute, the 
 
 Crown of Thorns, which he reverently holds in one hand. In 
 
 Brittany, there is a superstition current which will explain the 
 cause why the robin has always been a favourite and protege of 
 man. It is said that while our Saviour was bearing His Cross, one 
 of these little birds took from His Crown one of the Thorns steeped 
 in His blood, which dyed the robin's breast ; and ever since the 
 
 redbreasts have been the friends of man. St. Catherine of 
 
 Siena is frequently represented with the Crown of Thorns, in refer- 
 ence to the legend that, having been persecuted and vilified by 
 certain nuns, she laid her wrongs, weeping, at the feet of Christ. 
 He appeared to her, bearing in one hand a crown of gold and jewels, 
 in the other His Crown of Thorn s, and bade her choose between them . 
 She took from His hand the Crown of Thorns, and pressed it hastily 
 on her own head, but with such force that the Thorns penetrated 
 
 to her brain, and she cried out with the agony. In a painting of 
 
 Murillo, Santa Rosa de Lima is depidted crowned with Thorns, in 
 allusion to the legend that when compelled by her mother to wear 
 a crown of Roses, she so adjusted it on her brow that it became a 
 
 veritable crown of Thorns. In representations of St. Francis of 
 
 Assisi, the Crown of Thorns is sometimes introduced, the saint ' 
 having been considered by his followers as a type of the Redeemer. 
 
 In many parts of England charms or incantations are employed 
 
 to prevent a Thorn from festering in the flesh. The following are 
 some of the magic verses recited : — 
 
 " Happy man that Christ was born, 
 
 He was crowned with a Thorn. 
 
 He was pierced through the skin, 
 
 For to let the poison in. 
 
 But his five wounds, so they say, 
 
 Closed before He passed away. 
 
 In with healing, out with Thorn, 
 
 Happy man that Christ was bom." 
 " Unto the Virgin Mary our Saviour was born, 
 And on His head He wore a crown of Thorn : 
 If you believe this true and mind it well. 
 This hurt will never fester nor swell." 
 
pPant Isore, heg&J^j, omS bijric/. 5^5 
 
 " Our Saviour was of a virgin born. 
 
 His head was crowned with a crown of Thorn ; 
 
 It never canker'd nor fester'd at all, 
 
 And I hope in Christ Jesus this never shall," 
 " Christ was of a virgin born, 
 
 And He was pricked by a Thorn, 
 
 And it did never bell [throb] nor swell, , 
 
 As I trust in Jesus this never will. ' 
 " Christ was crown'd with Thorns, 
 
 The Thorns did bleed, but did not rot. 
 
 No more shall thy finger. 
 
 In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 
 
 in Herefordshire, the burning of a Thorn-bush is supposed to adl 
 as a charm against smut or mildew in Wheat. When the crop is 
 just springing out of the ground, the fanner's servants rise before 
 daybreak, and cut a branch of some particular Thorn ; they then 
 make a large fire in the field, in which they burn a portion of it, 
 
 and hang up the remaining portion in the homestead. Tradition 
 
 affirms that, at Hemer, in Westphalia, a man was engaged in 
 fencing his field on Good Friday, and had just poised a bunch of 
 Thorns on his fork, when he was at once transported to the Moon. 
 Some of the Hemer peasants declare that the Moon is not only 
 inhabited by this man with his Thorn-bush, but also by a woman 
 who was churning her butter one Sabbath during Divine Service. 
 Another legend relates how the Man in the Moon is none other 
 than Cain with a bundle of Briars. To dream you are sur- 
 rounded by Thorns, signifies that you will be rejoiced by some 
 pleasing intelligence in a very short time. 
 
 THORN APPLE.— Gerarde, in his ' Herbal,' ealls the Datura 
 Stramonium Thorny Apple of Peru : he speaks of it as a plant of 
 a drowsy and numbing quality, resembling in its efFecfts the Man- 
 drake, and he tells us that it is thought to be the H'i^pomanes,^ which 
 Theocritus mentions as causing horses to go mad. The words of 
 the poet are thus translated by the old herbalist :— 
 
 " Hippomanes 'mongst th' Arcadian springs, by which ev'n all 
 The colts and agile mares ia mountains. mad do fall." 
 
 The juice of Thorn-Apples Gera^rde, guarantees, when boiled" with 
 hog's grease and mada into a salve, will cure inflammations, 
 burnings and scaldings, " as well of fire, water, boiling lead, gun- 
 powder, as that which comes by lightning." In India, the Datura is, 
 sometimes employed by robbers a.s a magical means of depriving 
 their vi(5tims of all power of resistance : their mode of operation 
 being to induce them to chew and swallow a portion of the plant,, 
 because those who eat it lose their proper senses, become silly 
 and given to inordinate laughter, feel a strong desire to be generous 
 and open-handed, and finally will allow anyone to pillage them. 
 The Indians apply to the Datura the epithets of the Drunkard, the 
 Madman, the Deceiver, and the Fool-maker. It is also called the tuft, 
 of Siva (god of destrudtion). The Rajpoot mothers, are said to bs- 
 
566 pfant bore, begelj^/, anS Isijriq/-. 
 
 smear their breasts with the juice of the leaves, in order to destroy 
 their new-born infant children. Acosta states that the Indian 
 dancing girls drug wine with the seeds of the Datura Stramonium. 
 He adds that whoever is so unfortunate as to partake of it is for 
 some time perfedtly unconscious. He often, however, speaks with 
 others, and gives answers as if he were in full possession of his 
 senses, although he has no control over his adtions, is perfe(5tly 
 ignorant of whom he is with, and loses all remembrance of what has 
 
 taken places when he awakes. The Stramonium, or Thorn- 
 
 Apple, is one of the plants commonly conneefted with witchcraft, 
 death, and horror. Harte, describing the plants growing about the 
 Palace of Death, says : — 
 
 "Nor were the Nightshades wanting, nor the power 
 Of thorn'd Stramonium, nor the sickly flower 
 Of cloying Mandrakes, the deceitful root 
 Of the monk's fraudful cowl, and Plinian fruit" {^Amotnum PHni{\. 
 
 THYME. — Among the Greeks, Thyme denoted the graceful 
 elegance of the Attic style, because it covered Mount Hymettus, 
 and gave to the honey made there the aromatic flavour of which 
 the ancients were so fond. " To smell of Thyme" was, therefore, a 
 commendation bestowed on those writers who had mastered the 
 
 Attic style. With the Greeks, also, Thyme was an emblem of 
 
 activity; and as this virtue is eminently associated with true 
 courage, the ladies of chivalrous times embroidered on the scarfs 
 which they presented to their knights, the figure of a bee hovering 
 about a spray of Thyme, in order to inculcate the union of the 
 
 amiable with the active. In olden times, it was believed that 
 
 Thyme renewed the spirits of both man and beast; and the old 
 herbalists recommended it is a powerful aid in melancholic and 
 
 splenetic diseases. Fairies and elves were reputed to be specially 
 
 fond of Wild Thyme. Oberon exclaims with delight : — 
 
 " I know a bank whereon the Wild Thyme blows, 
 Where OxHps and the woody Violet grows, 
 Quite over-eanopied with lush Woodbine. 
 With sweet Musk-Roses, and with Eglantine.'' 
 
 The fairy king's musical hounds would willingly forsake the richest 
 blossoms of the garden in order to hunt for the golden dew in the 
 flowery tufts of Thyme. Of witches is is said, that when they 
 
 " Won't do penance for their crime, 
 They bathed themselves in Oregane and Thyme.'' 
 
 In the South of France, when a summons to attend a meeting of 
 the votaries of Marianne is sent, it is accompanied by tufts of 
 Wild Thyme, or FerigmU, that being the symbol of advanced 
 Republicanism. 
 
 TOADSTOOL. — The name of Toadstool was originally 
 iapplied to all descriptions of unwholesome Fungi, from the popular 
 
pfant teofs, Isegel^ti/j o^ Tsijricy. 567 
 
 belief that toads sit on them. Thus Spenser, in his ' Shepherd's 
 Calendar,' says : — 
 
 " The griesly Todestool grown there mought I see, 
 And loathed paddocks lording on the same." 
 
 F"ungi are in some parts of the country called Paddock-stools from 
 the same notion that toads are fond of sitting on them ; and in the 
 Western counties they bear the name of Pixie-stools. In Sussex, 
 the Puff-ball [Lycoperdon) is called Puck's-stool ; and in other places 
 these fungi are known among country folks as Puckfists. These 
 names tend to identify Puck, the mischievous king of the fairies, 
 with the toad {pogge), which is popularly believed to be the imper- 
 sonation of the Devil himself: hence Toad-stools, Paddock-stools, 
 Puck's-stools, Puckfists, and Pixie-stools have been superstitiously 
 thought to be the droppings of elves or of Satan, and in some dis- 
 tri(fts are known as Devil's droppings. 
 
 TOBACCO. — With the Aborigines of Southern America, the 
 Tft)acco (Nicotiana) was regarded as a sacred plant, and Darwin 
 has described how, in the pampas of Patagonia, he saw the sacred 
 tree of Wallitchon. This tree grew on a hill in the midst of a vast 
 plain, a:nd when the Indians perceived it afar off, they saluted it 
 with loud cries. The branches were covered with cords, from 
 which were suspended votive oiTerings, consisting of cigars, bread, 
 meat, pieces of cloth, &c. In a fissure of the tree they found spirits 
 and vegetable extra<5ts. When smoking, they blew the Tobacco 
 smoke towards the branches. All around lay the bleached bones 
 
 of horses that they had sacrificed to the sacred tree. The 
 
 Indians believe that this worship ensures good luck to themselves 
 and their horses. In other parts of America, the Indians throw 
 Tobacco as an offering to the spirit supposed to inhabit the water- 
 falls and whirlpools. M. Cochet, a French traveller, recounts 
 
 that the Indians of Upper Peru, entertain a religious reverence 
 for Tobacco. They consider it an infallible remedy for the sting 
 of serpents, and each year a festival-day is consecrated to the 
 plant. On that day they construct, in the most secluded portion 
 of the forest, a round hut, adorned with flowers and feathers. At 
 the foot of the central pillar which supports the hut is placed a 
 basket richly decorated, containing a roll of Tobacco. Into this 
 hut troop in one by one the Indians of the district, and before the 
 ghring gf the sacred Tobacco perform their customary acts of 
 worship. — ^In reference to the use of Tobacco by pagan priests 
 in the delivery qf their oracles, Gerarde tells us that the " priests 
 and enchanters of hot countries do take the fume thereof until they 
 be drunke, that after they have lien for dead three or foure houres, 
 they may tell the people what wonders, visions, or illusions they 
 have seen, and so give them a prophetical direaion or foretelhng 
 (if we may trust to the Divell) of the successe of their busmesse." 
 1 Jn the Ukraine, Tobacco is look.ed upon as an ill-omened 
 
568 pfant bore, Isegel^/, dnSi Isijncf. 
 
 plant, and the Raskolniks call it the Herb of the Devil, and make 
 offerings of it to appease " genis, spirits, and demons of the 
 
 forest." Until the time of Peter the Great, the use of Tobacco 
 
 was forbidden in Russia, and those who transgressed the law had 
 their noses split. 
 
 TREACLE-MUSTARD.— The names of French Mustard, 
 Treacle-Mustard, and Treacle Worm-seed were given to the Erysi- 
 mum cheiranthoides, the two last because, in mediaeval times, the seed 
 of this plant formed one of the seventy-three ingredients of the 
 far-famed " Venice treacle," a noted antidote to all pwisons, believed 
 to cure " all those that were bitten or stung of venomous beastes, or 
 had drunk poisons, or were infedted with the pestilence." The 
 origin of this counter-poison was the famous Mithndaticum, a pre-' 
 paration invented by Mithridates, king of Pontus. Andromachus 
 added to this comparatively simple compound other ingredients, 
 and especially vipers ; changing, on that account, the name to 
 Theriaca (from the Greek tkerion, a small animal). Dr. Prior tells 
 us that this remedy, which was known in England originally as 
 Triacle, was the source of many popular tales of sorcerers eating 
 poison, and was retained in the London Pharmacopoeia till about 
 a century ago. 
 
 TREFOIL. — Among the Romans, the Grass crown made of 
 Trefoil-leaves was esteemed a mark of very high honour. (See 
 Clover and Shamrock). 
 
 TROLL-FLOWER The Globe-flower {TrolUus Europaus) 
 
 acquired the sobriquet of Troll-flower in allusion to the Trolls, 
 who were malignant eJves, and because of the plant's acrid 
 poisonous qualities. (See Globe Flower). 
 
 TRUE-LovE.^See Herb Paris. 
 
 TUBEROSE. — The name Tuberose is simply a corruption 
 of the plant's botanical title PoUanthes tuherosa. The Malayans call 
 this sweet-scented flower " The Mistress of Night : " when worn 
 in the hair by a Malayan lady, the blossom is an indication to her 
 lover that his suit is pleasing to her. The Tuberose is a native of 
 India, whence it was first brought to Europe towards the close of 
 the sixteenth century. Its blossoms were at first single, but La 
 Cour, a Dutch florist, obtained the double-flowering variety from 
 seed. Sq tenacious was he of the roots, that even after he had pro- 
 pagated them ao freely as to have more than he could plant, he 
 caused them to be cut to pieces in order that he might have the 
 pleasure of boasting that he was the ojily person in Europe who 
 possessed this flower, 
 
 TULASI. — The Indian name of the Holy Basil (Ocimum 
 sanctum) is Tulasi, under which appeHation. thi§ sacred plant is wor- 
 ghipped as a goddess. (See Basil), 
 
TULIP.^-The origin of the brilliant and dazzling Tulip has 
 been given us by the poet Rapin, who relates that the flower was 
 a modest Dalmatian nymph, metamorphosed into a Tulip to 
 save her from, the importunities of Vertumnus. The story is thus 
 told by the Jesuit poet : — 
 
 " Dalmatia claims the nymph, whom heretofore 
 A bright Timavian dame to Proteus bore ; 
 To her the changing sire his gift conveys, 
 In every dress and every form to please : 
 Disguised Vertumnus, wandering round the world, 
 On the Dalmatian coast by Fate was hurled. 
 Where by her mother's stream the virgin played ; 
 The courting god with all his arts assayed 
 (But unsuccessful still) the haughty maid. 
 Yet, as the changing colours pleased her eyes. 
 He put on every form that might surprise, 
 Dres't in all Nature's sweet varieties : 
 To suit his mind to her wild humour strove. 
 No complaisance forgot, no policy of love ; 
 But when he saw his prayers and arts had failed, 
 Bold with desire his passion he revealed. 
 Confessed the secret god, and force applied. 
 To heaven for aid the modest virgin cried: 
 ' Ye rural powers, preserve a nymph from shame ! ' 
 And, worthy of her wish, a flower became. 
 Her golden caul that shone with sparkling hair. 
 The lace and ribbons which adorned the fair. 
 To leaves are changed ; her breast a stem is made, 
 Slender and long, with fragrant greens arrayed ; 
 Six gaudy leaves a painted cup compose. 
 On which kind nature every dye bestows ; 
 For though the nymph transformed, the love she bore 
 To colours still delights her as before. " 
 
 The Tulip is a favourite flower of the East, and is believed ori- 
 ginally to have come from Persia. The French formerly called the 
 flower Tulipan, which, as well as the English name, is derived from 
 
 Thoulyban, the word used in Persia for turban. The Tulip is 
 
 considered to be one of the flowers loved by fairies and elves, 
 
 who prote(fl those that cultivate them. In Turkey, the flower 
 
 is held in the highest estimation, and a Feast of Tulips used 
 to be celebrated annually in the Sultan's seraglio, when the 
 gardens were brilliantly illuminated and decorated with Oriental 
 magnificence, and the fete was attended by the Sultan and his 
 
 harem. The garden Tulip is a native of the Levant : Linnaeus 
 
 says of Cappadocia. It is very common in Syria, and is supposed 
 by some persons to be the " Lily of the field " alluded to by Jesus 
 Christ. In Persia, the Tulip is considered as the emblem of con- 
 suming love. When a young man presents one to his mistress, he 
 gives her to understand, by the general colour of the flower, that he 
 is impressed with her beauty, and by the black base of it that his 
 
 heart is burnt to a coal. In India, the Tulip seems to typify 
 
 unhappy love. In the ' Rose of Bakawali,' a Hindustani story, 
 the author, while describing the beautiful fairy of the heaven, 
 
570 pfant Tsore, Tsccfe?2&/> °^^ bijriq/". 
 
 Bakawali, says " the Tulip immersed itself in blood because of the 
 jealousy it entertained of her charming lips ! " When bidding adieu 
 to the fairy, Taj-ul-muluk says : ' I quit this garden carrying in my 
 heart, like the Tulip, the wound of unhappy love — I go, my head 
 
 covered with dust, my heart bleeding, my breast fevered.' " The 
 
 Tulip is supposed to have been brought from Persia to the Levant, 
 and it was introduced into Western Europe about the middle of 
 the sixteenth century by Busbeck, ambassador from the Emperor 
 of Germany to the Sublime Porte, who to his astonishment found 
 Tulips on the road between Adrianople and Constantinople 
 blooming in the middle of winter. In Europe, they soon became 
 
 universal favourites, and were imported into England in 1577. ^^ 
 
 Holland, about the middle of the seventeenth century, a perfecTt 
 mania for possessing rare sorts seized all classes of persons. 
 From 1634 to 1637 inclusive all classes in all the great cities of 
 Holland became infedled with the Tulipomania. A single root of 
 a particular species, called the Viceroy, was exchanged, in the true 
 Dutch taste, for the following articles: — 2 lasts of Wheat, 4 of Rye, 
 4 fat oxen, 3 fat swine, 1 2 fat sheep, 2 hogsheads of wine, 4 tuns of 
 beer, 2 tons of butter, looo pounds of cheese, a complete bed, a suit 
 of clothes, and a silver beaker — value of the whole, 2500 florins. 
 These Tulips afterwards were sold according to the weight of the 
 roots. Four hundred perits (something less than a grain) of 
 Admiral Liefhen, cost 4400 florins; 446 ditto of Admiral Vander Eyh, 
 1620 florins ; 106 perits Schilder cost 161S florins ; 200 ditto Semper 
 Augustus, 5500 florins; 410 ditto Viceroy, 3000 florins, &c. The 
 species Semper A ugustus has been often sold for 2000 florins ; and it 
 once happened that there were only two roots of it to be had, the 
 one at Amsterdam, and the other at Haarlem. For a root of this 
 species one agreed to give 4600 florins, together with a new carriage, 
 two grey horses, and a complete harness. Another agreed to give 
 for a root twelve acres of land ; for those who had not ready money 
 promised their moveable and immoveable goods, houses and lands, 
 houses and lands, cattle and clothes. The trade was followed not 
 only by mercantile people, but also by all classes of society. ^A 
 first, everyone won and no one lost. Some of the poorest pei.ple 
 gained, in a few months, houses, coaches and horses, and figured 
 away like the first charadlers in the land. In every town some 
 tavern was seledled which served as an exchange, where high and 
 low traded in flowers, and confirmed their bargains with the moat 
 sumptuous entertainments. They formed laws for themselves, and 
 had their notaries and clerks. During the time of the Tulipomania, a 
 speculator often offered and paid large sums for a root which he never 
 received, nor ever wished to receive. Another sold roots which 
 he never possessed or delivered. Often did a nobleman purchase 
 of a chimney-sweep Tulips to the amount of 2000 florins, and sell 
 them at the same time to a farmer, and neither the nobleman, 
 chimney-sweep, nor farmer had roots in their possession, or wished 
 
to possess them. Before the Tulip season was over, more roots 
 were sold and purchased, bespoke, and promised to be delivered, 
 than in all probability were to be found in the gardens of Holland ; 
 and when Semper Augustus was not to be had, which happened twice, 
 no species perhaps was oftener purchased and sold. In the space 
 of three years, as Hunting tells us, more than ten millions were 
 expended in this trade, in only one town of Holland. The evil 
 rose to such a pitch, that the States of Holland were under the 
 necessity of interfering ; the buyers took the alarm ; the bubble, like 
 the South Sea scheme, suddenly burst ; and as, in the outset, all 
 were winners, in the winding up, very few escaped without loss. 
 
 TUTSAN. — The Hypericum Androscemum Vi3.s in former days 
 called Tutsan, or Tutsayne, a word derived from the French name, 
 Toute-saine, which was applied to the plant, according to Lobel, 
 " because, like the Panacea, it cures all sickness and diseases." 
 The St. John's Wort {H. perforatum) was also called Tutsan. 
 
 TURNIP. — The Turnip {Brassica Rapa) was considered by 
 Columella and Pliny as next to corn in value and utility. Pliny 
 mentions some of the Turnips of his times as weighing forty 
 
 pounds each. In Westphalia, when a young peasant goes 
 
 wooing, if Turnips be set before him, they signify that he is totally 
 
 unacceptable to the girl he would court. To dream of Turnips 
 
 denotes fruitless toil. 
 
 UNSHOE-THE-HORSE. — The Hippocrepis comosa, horn 
 its horseshoe-shaped legumes, is supposed, upon the dodtrine of 
 signatures, to have the magical power of causing horses to cast 
 their shoes. This Vetch is the Sferracavallo of the Italians, who 
 ascribe to it the same magical property. Grimm, however, con- 
 siders that the Springwort (Euphorbia Lathyris) is, from its powerful 
 a(5lion on metals, the Italian Sferracavallo. The French give a 
 similar extraordinary property to the Rest-Harrow {Ononis arvensis) ; 
 and it is also allotted to the Moonwort {Botrychium Lunaria) : — 
 " Whose virtue's such, 
 It in the pasture, only with a touch, 
 Unshoes the new-shod steed."— fVilAfrs. 
 
 UPAS.— The deadly Upas of Java has the terrible reputation 
 of being a tree which poisons by means of its noxious exhalations. 
 Two totally distinct trees have been called the Upas,— one, the 
 Antjar (Autiaris toxicaria), is a tree attaining a height of one 
 hundred feet ; the other, the Chetik, is a large creepmg shrub 
 pecuhar to Java. Neither of them, however, answers to the oescnp- 
 tion of the poisonous Upas, which rises in the " Valley of Death, 
 and which was seen and reported on by Foersch, a Dutch physician, 
 who travelled in Java at the end of the last ^enttiry. Foersch 
 wrote that this deadly Upas grew in the midst of a frightful desert. 
 No bird could rest in its branches, no plant couM subsist, no 
 animal live in its neighbourhood: it blighted everything near with 
 
5/2 Of ant Tsore, Tsegel^b/j oKsl "h^f'taf. 
 
 its malaria, and caused the birds of the air that flew over it to 
 drop lifelessly down. Leagues away, its noxious emanations, borne 
 by the winds, proved fatal. When a Javanese was condemned to 
 death, as a last chance, his pardon was offered to him if he would 
 consent to go into the Valley of Death, and gather, by means of 
 a long Bamboo-rod, some drops of the poison of the Upas. 
 Hundreds of unhappy creatures are said to have submitted to this 
 trial, and to have miserably perished. 
 
 VALERIAN. — The ancient name of this plant, according 
 to Dioscorides, was Pku, and in botanical phraseology Garden 
 Valerian is still Valeriana Phu. The Latins called the plant 
 Valeriana, some say from its medicinal value, others from one 
 Valerius, who is reputed first to have used the herb in medicine ; 
 but the derivation is really uncertain. The old English name of 
 the plant was Setewale, Setwal, or Set-wall. Chaucer writes : — 
 
 " Ther springen herbes grete and smale. 
 The Licoris and the Setewale." 
 
 And, speaking of the Clerk of Oxenforde, he says : — 
 
 " And he himself was swete as is the rote 
 Of Licoris, or any Setewale." 
 
 Gerarde tells us that the plant was known in his day by the name 
 of Valerian, Capon's Tail, and Setwall, but that the last name 
 really belonged to the Zedoavia, which is not Valerian. The old 
 herbalist also records that the medicinal virtues of Valerian were, 
 among the poorer classes in the North, held in such veneration, 
 " that no broths, pottage, or physical meats are worth anything if 
 Setwall were not at an end : whereupon some woman poet or other 
 hath made these verses : — 
 
 ' They that will have their heale 
 Must put Setwall in their keale. ' " 
 
 Cats are so fond of the perfume of Valerian, that they are said to 
 dig up the roots, rolling on them with ecstatic delight, and gnawing 
 them to pieces. The adtion of the Valerian-root (which the her- 
 balists found out was very like a cat's eye) on the nervous system 
 of some cats undoubtedly produces in time a kind of pleasant in- 
 toxication. Rats are also attradted by the odour of this plant. 
 Astrologers say that Valerian is under the rule of Mercury. 
 
 Venus' Plants. — See Lady's Plants. 
 Veronica. — See Speedwell. 
 
 VERVAIN. — The Vervain, or Verbena, has from time im- 
 memorial been the symbol of enchantment, and the most ancient 
 nations employed this plant in their divinations, sacrificial and 
 other rites, and in incantations. It bore the names of the Tears 
 of Isis, Tears of Juno, Mercury's Blood, Persephonion, Demetria, 
 and Cerealis. The Magi of the ancient Elamites or Persians made 
 great use of the Vervain in the worship of the Sun, always carrying 
 
pfant Isofe, Tsegcl^/, anil '\s)^t\cJ•, 573 
 
 branches of it in their hands when they approached the altar. The 
 magicians also employed the mystic herb in their pretended 
 divinations, and affirmed that, by smearing the body over with the 
 juice of this plant, the person would obtain whatever he set his 
 heart upon, and be able to reconcile the most inveterate enemies, 
 make friends with whom he pleased, and gain the affedtions, and 
 cure the disease of whom he listed. When they cut Vervain, it 
 was always at a time when both sun and moon were invisible, 
 and they poured honey and honeycomb on the earth, as an atone- 
 ment for robbing it of so precious a herb. The Greeks called it 
 
 the Sacred Herb, and it was with this plant only that they cleansed 
 the festival-table of Jupiter before any great solemnity took place ; 
 and hence, according to Pliny, the name of Verbena is derived. 
 It was, also, one of the plants which was dedicated to Venus. 
 Venus Victrix wore a crown of Myrtle interwoven with Vervain. 
 
 With the Romans, the Vervain was a plant of good omen, 
 
 and considered stridtly sacred : — 
 
 " Bring your garlands, and with reverence place 
 The Vervain on the altar." 
 
 They employed it in their religious rites, swept their temples and 
 cleansed their altars with it, and sprinkled holy water with its 
 branches. They also purified their houses with it, to keep off evil 
 spirits ; and in order to make themselves invulnerable, they carried 
 about their persons a blade of Grass and some Vervain. Their 
 ambassadors, or heralds-at-arms, wore crowns of Vervain when 
 they went to offer terms of reconciliation, or to give defiance to 
 their enemies, a custom thus noticed by Drayton : — 
 
 " A wreath of Vervain heralds wear. 
 Amongst our garlands named ; 
 Being sent that dreadful news to bear, 
 Offensive war proclaimed." 
 
 Virgil mentions Vervain as one of the charms used by an en- 
 chantress : — 
 
 " Bring running water, bind those altars round 
 With fillets, and with Vervain strew the ground." 
 
 The Druids, both in Gaul and in Britain, regarded the Vervain 
 with the same veneration as the Hindus do the Kusa or Tulasi, and, 
 like the Magi of the East, they offered sacrifices to the earth before 
 they cut this plant. This ceremony took place in Spring, at about 
 the rising of the Great Dog Star, but so that neither sun nor moon 
 would be at that time above the earth to see the sacred herb cut. 
 It was to be dug up with an iron instrument, and to be waved 
 aloft in the air, the left hand only being used. It was also ordamed 
 by the Druidical priests, for those who collected it, "that before they 
 take up the herb, they bestow upon the ground where it groweth 
 honey with the combs, in token of satisfadlion and amends for the 
 wrong and violence done in depriving her of so holy a herb. Ihe 
 leaves stalks, and flowers were dried separately in the shade, and 
 
574 pPant bore, hegeT^f, ani. Tsijrie/. 
 
 were used for the bites of serpents infused in wine." Another 
 account states that the Druidesses held Vervain in as great venera- 
 tion as the Druids did the Mistletoe. They were never permitted 
 to touch it. It was to be gathered at midnight, at the full of the 
 moon, in this manner : — A long string with a loop in it was thrown 
 over the Vervain-plant, and the other end fastened to the left great 
 toe of a young virgin, who was then to drag at it till she had up- 
 rooted it. The eldest Druidess then received it in a cloth, and 
 carried it home, to use it for medicinal purposes and offerings to 
 their gods. In the Druidic procession, to the gathering of the 
 Mistletoe, the white-clad herald carried a branch of Vervain in 
 his hand, encircled by two serpents. The priests, when performing 
 their daily funcflions of feeding the never-dying fires in the Druidic 
 temples, prayed for the space of an hour, holding branches of 
 Vervain in their hands. Pliny tells us that the Druids made use 
 of it in casting lots, as well as in drawing omens and in other 
 pretended magical arts ; he also says that if the hall or dining 
 chamber be sprinkled with the water wherein Vervain lay steeped, 
 all that sat at the table should be " very pleasant and make merry 
 more jocundly." 
 
 " Lift up your boughs of Verrain blue. 
 Dipt in cold September dew ; 
 And dash the moisture, chaste and clear, 
 O'er the ground and through the air."— Mason. 
 
 In mediaeval days, the sacred charadter of Vervain was still main- 
 tained, and the plant was greatly prized, and used in compounding 
 charms and love-philtres. Known in our country as Holy Herb 
 and Simpler's Joy, it was credited with great medicinal virtues. 
 " Black melancholy rusts, that fed despair 
 Through wounds' long rage, with sprinkled Vervain cleared."— Z>aw»a«/. 
 
 Its juice was given as a cure for the plague, and the plant was 
 prescribed as a remedy in some thirty different maladies, and was 
 suspended round the neck as an amulet. Gerarde, however, tells 
 "^i o ^ ^^^^^ '^^'^ '■^'^^^^ 't ^s a secret and divine medicine;" 
 and R. Turner writes (1687) :— " It is said to be used by witches to 
 do mischief, and so may all other herbs if by wicked astrologers 
 used to accomplish their wretched ends." But notwithstanding 
 that It was used by witches and wizards in their incantations and 
 spells, and was in fadt called the Enchanter's Plant, Vervain was 
 considered to possess the power of combating witches: thus 
 Aubrey says : — 
 
 " Vervain and Dill 
 Hinder witches from their will." 
 
 and Michael Drayton writes :- 
 
 and again — 
 
 "Here holy Vervayne, and here Dill, 
 'Gainst witchcraft much avayling." 
 
 " The Nightshade strews to work him ill, 
 Therewith the Vervain and the Dill 
 That hindreth witches of their will." 
 
On the Eve of St. John (June 23rd), Vervain was for a long time 
 associated with the observances of Midsummer Eve. Thus we 
 read in ' Ye Popish Kingdome : ' — 
 
 " Then doth ye joyfull feast of John ye Baptist take his tume 
 When bonfires great with loftie flame in every towne doe burne, 
 And young men round about with maides doe dance in every streete. 
 With garlands wrought of Mother-wort, or else with Vervain sweete." 
 
 J. White, Minister of God's Word, writes in 1624: — "Many also 
 use to weare Vervein against blasts ; and when they gather it for 
 this purpose firste they crosse the herb with their hand, and then 
 they blesse it thus : — 
 
 ' Hallowed be thou, Vervein, 
 As thou growest on the ground, 
 For on the Mount of Calvary 
 There thou wast first found 
 Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 And staunchedst his bleeding wound. 
 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
 1 take thee from the ground.' " 
 
 In many rural distridts, Vervain is still regarded as a plant possess- 
 ing magical virtues as a love philtre. It has the reputation 
 of securing affeeflion from those who take it to those who ad- 
 minister it. The gun-flint boiled in Vervain and Rue ensures the 
 shot taking effedt. The root of Vervain tied with a white satin 
 ribbon round the neck acSts as a charm against ague. Vervam and 
 baked toads, worn in silken bags around the neck, are a cure for the 
 evil. In the northern provinces of France, the peasants still con- 
 tinue to gather Vervain under the different phases of the moon, 
 using certam mysterious ejaculations known only to themselves 
 whilst in the aa of collefling the mystic herb, by whose assistance 
 they hope to effedt cures, and charm both the flocks and the rustic 
 
 beauties of the village. The Germans present a hat of Vervam 
 
 to the newly-married bride, as though placing her under the pro- 
 teaion of Venus Viflrix, the patroness of the plant. — ;-Gerarde 
 tells us that in his time it was called " Hohe Herbe, Juno s Teares, 
 Mercurie's Moist Bloude, and Pigeon's Grasse, or Columbine, 
 because Pigeons are delighted to be amongst it, as also to eate 
 thereof."— —Astrologers place Vervain under the dominion ot 
 
 Venus. . J 
 
 VINE —The Vine was held by the ancients sacred to 
 Bacchus, and the old historians all connecft the jovial god with 
 the "life-giving tree": he is crowned with Vine-leaves, and he 
 holds in hfs haid abunch of Grapes, whilst his merry followers 
 are decked with garlands of the traihng Vine, and love to 
 quafftlrh thdr mfster the divine juice of its luscious violet and 
 eolden fruit, styled by Anacreon "the liquor of Bacchus ine 
 fieathen'wrfters all paid honour to the Vme -d attribu^^^^^ 
 the earliest deified sovereigns of each country the gilt ot tnis am 
 brosial tree Thus Saturn is said to have bestowed it upon Crete , 
 
Janus bore it with him to Latium ; Osiris similarly benefitted 
 Egypt ; and Spain obtained it through Geryon, her most ancient 
 monarch. Old traditions all point to Greece as the native place 
 
 of the Vine, and there it is still to be found growing wild. There 
 
 are many allusions to the Vine in the Scriptures. Noah, we find, 
 planted a Vineyard (Gen. ix., 20) ; enormous bunches of Grapes 
 were brought by the Israelitish spies out of Palestine ; Solomon 
 had a Vineyard at Baalhamon. " He let out the Vineyard unto 
 keepers ; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring one thousand 
 pieces of silver " (Cant, viii., 11). The Bible contains many illus- 
 trations borrowed from the husbandry of the Vineyard, showing 
 that Vine culture was sedulously pursued, and formed a fruitful 
 source of wealth. In Leviticus xxv., 4, 5, we find a command that 
 every seventh year the Vines were to be left untouched by the 
 
 pruning knife, and the Grapes were not to be gathered. Of the 
 
 ancient pagan writers who have alluded to the Vine in their works, 
 Cato has left abundant information as to the Roman Vine-craft, 
 and Columella, Varro, Palladius, Pliny, and Tacitus have all given 
 details of the Vine culture of the ancients. More than sixty 
 varieties of the Vine appear to have been known to the Greeks and 
 Romans, one of which, called by Columella and Pliny the Amethys- 
 tine, has certainly been lost, for they record that the wine from its 
 
 Grapes never occasioned drunkenness. The Elm was preferred 
 
 to any other tree by the ancients as a prop for Vines, and this con- 
 nexion has led to numerous fanciful notices by the poets of all 
 ages. Statins calls it the " Nuptial Elm ; " Ovid speaks of " the 
 lofty Elm, with creeping Vines o'erspread ;" Tasso says : — 
 
 " As the high Elm, whom his dear Vine hath twined 
 Fast in her hundred arms, and holds embraced. 
 Bears down to earth his spouse and darling kind, 
 If storm or cruel steel the tree down cast, 
 And her full grapes to nought doth bruise and grind, 
 Spoils his own leaves, faints, withers, dies at last, 
 And seems to mourn and die, not for his own 
 But for her loss, with him that lies o'erthrown."^ — Fairfax. 
 
 Beaumont tells us that — 
 
 "The amorous Vine, 
 Did with the fair and straight-limbed Elm entwine.'' 
 
 Cowley speaks of the "beauteous marriageable Vine," and Browne 
 writes of " the amorous Vine that in the Elm still weaves." 
 Horace, however, connedts the Vine with the Poplar, instead of the 
 Elm. Milton, describing the pursuits of our first parents in Eden, 
 says : — 
 
 ■ " They led the Vine 
 
 To wed her Elm ; she, spoused, about him twines 
 
 Her marriageable arms, and with her brings 
 
 Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn 
 
 His barren leaves." 
 
 In the MytJwlogie des Plantes, we find it stated that the Persians 
 trace the use of wine in Persia to the reign of the blessed 
 
Jemshid. A woman who wished to poison herself drank some 
 wine, thinking that it was poison ; but she only fell into a profound 
 sleep, and thus the Persians learnt in Jemshid's reign the use of 
 ithe juice of the Grape. Olearius, in 1637, heard in Persia the 
 following legend : — To console the poor and unhappy, God sent on 
 earth the angels Aroth and Maroth, with the injundtions not to kill 
 anyone, not to do any injustice, and not to drink any wine. A 
 beautiful woman, who had quarrelled with her husband, appealed 
 for justice to the two angels, and asked them to partake of some 
 wine. The angels not only consented, but, after having indulged 
 rather freely, began to ask other favours of the lovely woman. After 
 a little hesitation, she agreed to comply, provided that the angels 
 should first show her the way to ascend to heaven, and to descend 
 again to the earth. The angels assented; but when the woman, 
 who was as virtuous as she was beautiful, reached heaven, she 
 would not descend again to earth, and there she remains, changed 
 
 into the most brilliant star in the skies. With the Mandans, 
 
 a tribe of American Indians, the Vine is connedted with the tradi- 
 tion concerning their origin. They believe that the whole nation 
 resided in one large village, underground, near a subterraneous 
 lake. A Grape Vine extended its roots down to their habitation, 
 and gave them a view of the light. Some of the most adventurous 
 climbed up the Vine, and were, delighted with the sight of the earth, 
 which they found covered with buffaloes, and rich with all kinds of 
 fruit. Returning with the Grapes they had gathered, their country- 
 men were so pleased with the taste of them, that the whole nation 
 resolved to leave their dull residence for the charms of the upper 
 region. Men, women, and children, therefore forthwith proceeded 
 to ascend by means of the Vine, but when about half the nation 
 had reached the surface of the earth, a verj^ stout woman, who was 
 laboriously clambering up the Vine, broke it with her weight, and 
 debarred herself and the rest of the nation from seeing the light of 
 the sun. Those who had reached the earth's surface made them-. 
 selves a village, and formed the tribe of the Mandans, who, when 
 they die, expe<5t to return to the original settlement of their fore- 
 fathers; the good reaching the ancient village by means of the 
 subterranean lake, which the burden of the sins of the wicked will 
 
 not enable them to cross. Wild Vines differ in many respedlis, 
 
 from the cultivated Vine ; several distinct species are found in 
 Java, India, and America ; one first found on the banks of the 
 Catawba, from which the famous Catawba wine is made, is now 
 extensively cultivated on the Ohio, or La Belle Riviere ; its pro-- 
 dudt has been lauded by Longfellow, who sings— 
 " There grows no Vine 
 
 By the haunted Rhine, 
 
 By Danube or Guadalquiver, 
 Nor an island or cape 
 That bears such a Grape 
 
 As grown by the Beautiful River." 
 
578 ^?ant Isore, teegel^/, oiQ h^t'iof. 
 
 The wood of the Vitis sylvesfris was used by the Greeks in the in- 
 strument they employed for producing fire. The Aryan method of 
 kindling sacred fire by wood fri(5lion was pra(5tised both by Greeks 
 and Romans down to a late period. The Greeks called their 
 kindling instrument pyreia, and the drilling stick which worked in 
 it trufanon ; and according to Theophrastus and Pliny, the lower 
 part oi the pyreia was formed of the wood of the wild Vine, Ivy, or 
 
 Athragene. To dream of Vines denotes health, prosperity, 
 
 abundance, and fertility, " for which," says a dream oracle, " we 
 have the example of Astyages, King of the Medes, who dreamed 
 that his daughter brought forth a Vine, which was a prognostic of 
 the grandeur, riches, and felicity of the great Cyrus, who was bom 
 
 of her after this dream." Culpeper states that the Vine is " a 
 
 gallant tree of the Sun, very sympathetica] with the body of man ; 
 and that is the reason spirits of wine is the greatest cordial among 
 all vegetables." 
 
 VIOLET. — ^According to Rapin, the Violet was once a fair 
 nymph, who was changed by Diana into this flower to avoid the 
 importunities of Apollo. The poet thus describes the metamor- 
 phosis : — 
 
 " Next from the Vi'let choice perfumes exhale ; 
 She now disguised in a blue dusky veil 
 Springs through the humble grass an humble flow'r, 
 Her stature little and her raiment poor. 
 If truth in ancient poems is convey'd. 
 This modest flower was once a charming maid, 
 Her name lanthis, of Diana's train, 
 The brightest nymph that ever graced a plain ; 
 Whom (while Fherean herds the virgin fed) 
 Apollo saw, and courted to his bed ; 
 But, loVd in vain, the frighted virgin fled 
 To woods herself and her complaints she bore 
 And sought protection from Diana's pow'r, 
 Who thus advis'd : ' From mountains, sister, fly ; 
 Phoebus loves mountains and an open sky.' 
 To vales and shady springs she bashful ran, 
 In thickets hid her charms, but all in vain : 
 For he her virtue and her flight admir'd. 
 The more she blush'd, the more the god was fired. 
 And now his love and wit new frauds prepare, 
 The goddess cried, ' Since beauty's such a snare, 
 Ah, rather perish that destructive grace." 
 Then stain'd with dusky blue the virgin's face : 
 Discoloiir'd thus an humbler state she prov'd, 
 Less fair, but by the goddess more belov'd ; 
 Changed to a Violet with this praise she meets. 
 Chaste she retires to keep her former sweets. 
 The lowest places with this flower abound. 
 The valuable gift of untili'd ground ; 
 Nor yet disgraced, though amongst Briars brought forth. 
 So rich her odour is, so true her worth." 
 
 Ion, the Greek name for the Violet, is reputed to have been 
 bestowed on it because, when Jupiter had metamorphosed lo into 
 
Pfant boi4, beger^;-, cmil h^t\af, 579 
 
 a white heifer, he caused sweet Violets to spring from the earth in 
 order to present her with herbage worthy of her. 
 " We are Violets blue, 
 
 For our sweetness found. 
 
 Careless in the morning shades, 
 
 Looking on the ground ; 
 
 Love's dropp'd eyelids and a kiss, 
 
 ouch our breath and blueness is. 
 
 lo, the mild shape, 
 
 Hidden by Jove's fears, 
 
 Found us first i' the sward, when she 
 
 For hunger stooped in tears ; 
 
 Wheresoe'er her lips she sets 
 
 Said Jove, be breaths called Violets." 
 In one of the poems of his ' Hesperides,' however, Herrick gives 
 a different version of the origin of Violets. According to the 
 wavward fancy of this old poet, Violets are the descendants of some 
 unfortunate girls, who, having defeated Venus in a dispute she 
 had with Cupid on the delicate point as to whether she or they 
 surpassed in sweetness, were beaten blue by the goddess in her 
 
 jealous rage Some etymologists trace the Greek names Ion to 
 
 la, the daughter of Midas, who was betrothed to Atys, and trans- 
 tormed by Diana into a Violet in order conceal her from Phoebus 
 
 Another derivation of the name is found in the story that some 
 
 nymphs of Ionia, who lived on the banks of the river Cytherus first 
 presented these flowers to Ion, who had led an Ionian colony into 
 Attica.-- — The Greek grammarian Lycophron, who lived in the 
 time of Ptolemy Philadelphus (about 280 years b.c), was fond of 
 making anagrams, and from the name of the Queen Arsinoe ex- 
 traaed " Violet of Juno." Shakspeare, calls these favourite flowers 
 
 " Violets dim, 
 But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 
 Or Cytherea's breath." — Winter's Tale. 
 
 In all eastern countries, the Violet is a favourite flower, and a 
 sherbet flavoured with its blossoms is a common drink at Persian 
 and Arabian banquets. So delicious is this beverage, that Tavernier 
 specially remembers that it is drunk by the Grand Seignior himself. 
 There is a legend, that Mahomet once remarked: " The excellence 
 of .the extraift of Violets above all other extradls is as the excel- 
 lence of me above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in Summer, 
 and it is hot in Winter." Another Oriental saying is, " The ex- 
 cellence of the Violet is as the excellence of El Islam above all 
 other religions."— — At the floral games, instituted at Toulouse by 
 Clemence Isaure in the early part of the fourteenth century, in the 
 time of the Troubadours, the prize awarded to the author of the 
 best poetical composition consisted of a golden Violet. The fair 
 founder of these games is stated, whilst undergoing a weary im- 
 prisonment, to have sent her chosen flower, the Violet, to her 
 knight, that he might wear the emblem of her constancy ; and the 
 flower thus became, with the Troubadours, a symbol of this virtue. 
 
 2 p— 2 
 
580 pPant T9ore, teegel^t)/, cm^ Tsijrio/', 
 
 These floral games are still celebrated every year. Along with 
 
 other flowers, the Violet was assigned by the ancients to Venus. 
 
 It is said that Proserpine was gathering Violets as well as Narcissus 
 
 when she was seized by Pluto. The Athenians more especially 
 
 afFedled the Violet ; everywhere throughout the city of Athens they 
 set up tablets engraven with the name, and preferred for them- 
 selves above all other names, that of "Athenian crowned with 
 Violets." The Romans, also, were extremely partial to the Violet, 
 and cultivated it largely in their gardens. A favourite beverage 
 
 of theirs was a wine made from the flower. The Violet was, 
 
 in olden days, regarded in England as an emblem of constancy, 
 as we find by an old sonnet : — 
 
 " Violet is for faithfulnesse, 
 Which in me shall abide ; 
 Hoping likewise that from your heart 
 . You will not let it slide." 
 
 \The Viplet is considered to be a funeral flower, ^nd we find that 
 in mediaeval tirries it was among the flowers used in the old cere- 
 mony called " Creeping to the Crosse," when on Good Friday 
 priests clad in crimson, and " singing dolefully," carried the image 
 of the Cross, accompanied by another image representing a person 
 just dead — 
 
 " With tapers all the people come, 
 
 And at the barriers stay, 
 Where down upon their knees they fall, 
 
 And night and day they pray ; 
 And Violets and ev'ry kind 
 
 Of flowers about the grave 
 They strawe, and bring in all 
 
 The presents that they have." 
 
 It was formerly commonly believed in England that when Violets 
 and Roses flourished in Autumn, there would be some epidemic in 
 the ensuing year. In Worcestershire, the safety of the farmer's 
 young broods of chickens and ducks is thought to be sadly endan- 
 gered by anyone taking less than a handful of Violets or Primroses 
 
 into his house. Pliny had so high an opinion of the medicinal 
 
 virtues of the Violet, as to assert that a garland of Violets worn 
 about the head prevented headache or dizziness. In the time of 
 Charles 11., a conserve, called Violet-sugar or Violet-plate, was 
 
 recommended by physicians to consumptive patients. The 
 
 Violet has always been in high favour with the French, and is now 
 the recognised badge of the Imperial party. The flower became 
 identified with the Bonapartists during Napoleon the First's exile 
 at Elba. When about to depart for that island, he comforted his 
 adherents by promising to return with the Violets : — 
 
 " Farewell to thee, France ! but when liberty rallies 
 Once more in thy regions, remember me then ; 
 The Violet grows in the depths of thy valleys, 
 Though witheied, thy tears will unfold it again." — Byron. 
 
pPant bore, begal^/, ooi bijrio/, 581 
 
 His followers, perhaps remembering that " Violet is for faithful- 
 ness," henceforth adopted the flower as their badge, and during 
 his exile were accustomed to toast his health under the name of 
 Caporal Violette, or_^iiheJowerthayBturns with the Sp ring. " _-So 
 well understood did the poUtlcaT significance oT the flower become, 
 that when Mddle. Mars appeared on the stage wearing Violets on 
 her dress, she was loudly hissed by the body-guard of King Louis. 
 It is said that the Empress Eug6nie, when wooed by Napoleon III., 
 signified her willingness to share with him the throne of France by 
 appearing one evening wearing Violets in her dress and hair, and 
 carrying Violets in her hands. Afterwards, when living at Chisel- 
 hurst, Violet bouquets were sent in profusion to the Imperial 
 exiles, and, mingled with immortelles, were piled upon the tomb 
 
 of Napoleon III. The famous aeflress, Clairon, was so fond of 
 
 the Violet, that one of her worshippers took pains to cultivate it 
 for her sake, and for thirty-seven years never failed to send her a 
 bouquet of Violets every morning during their season of bloom ; an 
 offisring so greatly appreciated by its recipient, that she used to 
 strip off the petals every evening, make an infusion of them, and 
 
 drink it like tea. To dream of admiring the Violet in a garden 
 
 is deemed a prognostic of advancement in life. -By astrologers 
 
 the V iolet is held to be under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 VIPER'S BUGLOSSl^The EcMum"'vulgare, or Viper's 
 Bugloss, is one of the handsomest of English wild flowers. Its seed 
 resembling the head of the viper, it was supposed on the docftrine of 
 signatures to cure the bite of that reptile : whilst its spotted stem 
 indicated to the old herbalists and simplers that the plant was 
 specially created to counteracft the poison of speckled vipers and 
 snakes. Dioscorides affirmed that anyone who had taken the herb 
 before being bitten would not be hurt by the poison of any serpent. 
 
 The French call it la Viperine, and the Italians Vipevina.- In 
 
 England it is also known as Snake's Bugloss and Cat's Tail. 
 
 According to astrologers, the Viper's Bugloss is a herb of the Sun. 
 
 VIPER'S GRASS. — Scorzonera edulis has obtained its Latin 
 name from the Italian Scorzom, a venomous serpent whose bite the 
 grass is supposed to heal, and whose form its twisted roots are thought 
 to resemble. According to Monardus, a Spanish physician, quoted 
 by Parkinson, the English name of Viper's Grass was given to it 
 because " a Moor, a bond-slave, did help those that were bitten 
 of that venomous beast, the viper, which they of Catalonia called 
 Escuerso, with the juice of this herbe, which both took away the 
 poison, and healed the bitten place very quickly, when Treakle and 
 other things would do no good." 
 
 Virgin Mary's Plants.— See Lady's Plants. 
 
 Virgin's Bower. — See Clematis. 
 
 Wake Robin.— See Arum. 
 
582 pfant bore, TaRger^f, ansL biji'icy. 
 
 WALLFLOWER.— The Wallflo-wer Cheiranthus Cheiri) 
 belongs to the family of Stocks, and was, in facft, introduced from 
 Spain under the name of Wall Stock-Gillofer, which afterwards 
 became Wall Gilliflower, and finally Wallflower. In Turner's 
 
 ' Herbal,' it is called Wall-Gelover and Hartis Ease. Tradition 
 
 gives a poetical origin to this flower. It tells that, in bygone days, 
 a castle stood near the river Tweed, in which a fair maiden was 
 kept a prisoner, having plighted her troth and given her heart's 
 affecflion to the young heir of a hostile clan ; but blood having been 
 shed between the chiefs on either side, the deadly hatred cherished 
 in those lawless days forbade all thoughts of the union. The gallant 
 tried various stratagems to get possession of his betrothed, all of 
 which failed, until at last he gained admission to the castle dis- 
 guised in the garb of a wandering troubadour, and as such he sang 
 before his lady-love, and finally arranged, with the aid of a serving- 
 woman, that the maiden should effe^ her escape, while he should 
 await her arrival with a noble courser and armed men. Herrick 
 tells us the conclusion of the story in the following lines : — 
 
 " Up she got upon a wall. 
 Attempted down to slide withal. 
 But the silken twjt untied, 
 So she fell and, bruised, she died. 
 Love in pity of the deed, 
 And her loving luckless speed, 
 Turn'd her to this plant we call 
 Now the Flower of the Wall," 
 
 From the fa<5t that Wallflowers grew upon old walls, and were 
 seen on the casements and battlements of ancient castles, and 
 among the ruins of abbeys, the riiinstrels and troubadours were 
 accustomed to wear a bouquet of these flowers as the emblem of 
 
 an afFe(5tion which is proof against time and misfortune. Dreams 
 
 of Wallflowers imply — to a lover that the objedl of his afFedtion 
 will be true and constant ; to a sickly person that recovery will 
 shortly follow; to a lady who dreams that she is plucking the 
 flower for her bouquet, that the worthiest of her admirers has yet 
 
 to propose to her. According to astrologers, the Moon governs 
 
 the Wallflower. 
 
 WALNUT.— The origin of the Walnut-tree is to be found 
 in the story of Carya, the youngest of the three daughters of 
 Dion, king of Laconia. These sisters had received the gift of pro- 
 phecy from Apollo as a reward for the hospitality their father had 
 shown to the god, but on the condition that they were never to mis- 
 use the divine gift, and never to enquire into matters of which it 
 became their sex to remain ignorant. This promise was broken 
 when Bacchus convinced Carya of his love for her. The elder 
 sisters, being jealous, endeavoured to prevent Bacchus from 
 meeting Carya, and he in revenge turned them into stones, and 
 transformed his beloved Carya into the tree so called in Greek— the 
 
pPant Tsore, TscgelJC)/', dnS. btjrio/'. 583 
 
 Nux, or Walnut-tree of the Latins, the fruit of which was con- 
 sidered by the ancients, in consequence of these intrigues, to pro- 
 mote the powers of love, It is necessary, in considering the folk- 
 lore of the Walnut, to separate the tree from the nut. The tree is 
 feared as a tree of ill omen, and is regarded as a favourite haunt of 
 witches. The shade of the Walnut-tree was held by the Romans 
 to be particularly baneful. The Black Walnut will not let anything 
 grow under it, and if planted in an orchard will kill all the Apple- 
 trees in its neighbourhood. The Nut is, on the contrary, con- 
 sidered propitious, favourable to marriage, and the symbol of 
 fecundity and abundance. The ceremony of throwing Nuts at a 
 wedding, for which boys scrambled, is said to have been of 
 Athenian origin. A similar custom obtained among the Romans, 
 at whose marriage festivities Walnuts were cominonly strewed. 
 Catullus exclaims : — 
 
 " Let the air with Hymen ring 
 
 Hymen, lo Hymen, sing. 
 
 Soon the Nuts will now be flung; 
 
 Soon the wanton verses sung ; 
 
 Soon the bridegroom will be told 
 
 Of the tricks he played of old. 
 
 License then his love had got, 
 
 But a husband has it not : 
 
 Let the air with Hymen ring, 
 
 Hymen, lo Hymen, sing." — Leigi Hunt. 
 
 Virgil alludes to the custom of scrambling for Nuts at weddings, in 
 his Eighth Pastoral : — 
 
 " Prepare the lights 
 
 O Mopsus ! and perform the bridal rites ; 
 
 Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling boys." 
 
 Prof. De Gubernatis says, that the young bridegroom of modern 
 Rome throws Nuts on the pathway, evidently as a symbol of 
 fecundity. In Piedmont, there is a saying that "Bread and Nuts 
 are food for married people." In Sicily, at Modica, they strew Nuts 
 and Corn in the path of the newly-married couple. In Greece, the 
 bride and bridegroom distribute Nuts among those assisting at the 
 marriage rites. In Roumania, Nuts are distributed at weddings; 
 and among the Lettish peasantry, Nuts and Gingerbread-Nuts are 
 
 presented to wedding-guests. A Lithuanian legend recounts that 
 
 at the deluge, as men were being drowned, Perkun (the chief deity of 
 the race) was eating Nuts. He dropped the shells in the raging waters, 
 and in the shells certain virtuous people escaped, and afterward re- 
 peopled the earth. De Gubernatis, referring to this legend, says that 
 here the Walnut becomes undoubtedly an emblem of regeneration : 
 " This is the reason why, in Belgium, on Michaelmas Day (a 
 funereal day) , young girls take marriage auguries from Nuts. Havmg 
 mingled some full Nuts with others which have been emptied, 
 and the shells carefully fastened together again, they shut their 
 eyes, and seledl one at hazard. If it happens to be a full Nut, it 
 betokens that they will soon be happily married, for it is bt. 
 
584 pfant Tsore, Tsege?^/, anS bijncy. 
 
 Michael who has given them good husbands." In Italy, a Nut with 
 three segments is considered most lucky. Carried in the pocket, 
 it preserves its owner from lightning, witchcraft, the Evil Eye, and 
 fever; it facilitates conquest, gives happiness, and performs other 
 benign services. In Bologna, it is thought that if one of these 
 Nuts be placed under the chair of a witch, she will be unable to 
 get up; and it thus becomes an infallible means of discovering 
 
 witches. The Walnut has become in Europe, and especially 
 
 in Italy, an accursed tree. The ancients thought it was dear to 
 Proserpine and all the deities of the infernal regions. In Ger- 
 many, the Black Walnut is regarded as a sinister tree, just as the 
 
 Oak is looked upop as a tree of good omen. At Rome, there is a 
 
 tradition that the church Santa Maria del Popolo was built by order 
 of Paschal II., on the spot where formerly grew a Walnut-tree, round 
 which troops of demons danced during the night. Near Prescia, 
 in Tuscany, we are told by Prof. Giuliani, there is a Walnut-tree 
 where witches are popularly supposed to sleep : the people of 
 the distridl say that witches love Walnut-trees. At Bologna, 
 the peasantry think that witches hold a no<fturnal meeting beneath 
 the Walnut-trees on the Vigil of St. John. But among all other 
 Walnut-trees, the most infamous and the most accursed is the 
 Walnut of Benevento, regarding which there are many tales of its 
 being haunted by the Devil and witches. It is said that St. Barbatus, 
 the patron of Benevento, who lived in the time of Duke Romuald, 
 was a priest who was endowed with the power of exorcising devilg 
 by his prayers. At that time the inhabitants still worshipped a 
 Walnut-tree on which was to be distinguished the effigy of a viper, 
 and beneath this tree the people performed many superstitious and 
 heathenish rites. The Emperor Constantius laid siege to Benevento ; 
 the citizens were in despair, but Barbatus rebuked them, and per- 
 suaded them that God had taken this means to punish them for their 
 idolatry ; so, with Romuald, they agreed to be converted to Chris-. 
 tianity, and made Barbatus bishop of the town. Then Barbatus 
 uprooted the accursed Walnut-tree, and the Devil was seen in the 
 form of a serpent crawling away from beneath its roots. Upon 
 being sprinkled with holy water, however, he disappeared ; but 
 through his satanic power, whenever a meeting of demons is 
 desired, or a witches' sabbath is to be held, a Walnut-tree as large 
 and as verdant as the original appears by magic on the precise spot 
 
 where it stood. A Walnut-tree with very different associations 
 
 once grew in the churchyard on the north side of St. Joseph's Chapel 
 at Glastonbury, This miraculous tree never budded before the feast 
 of St. Barnabas (June iith), and on that very day shot forth leaves 
 and flourished like others of its species. Queen Anne, King James 
 and many high personages are said to have given large sums of 
 money for cuttings from the original tree, which has long since, 
 disappeared, and has been succeeded by a fine Walnut of the 
 ordinary sort. According to an old custorn (which at one time 
 
pfant Tsofe, TsegelltJ/, anS Tsijricy. 585 
 
 prevailed in England), every household in the districfl of Lechrain, 
 in Bavaria, brings to the sacred fire which is lighted at Easter a 
 Walnut-branch, which, after being partially burned, is carried 
 home to be laid on the hearth-fire during tempests, as a prote<5tion 
 
 against lightning. In Flanders, as a charm against ague, the 
 
 patient catches a large black spider, and imprisons it between the 
 two halves of a Walnut-shell, and then wears it round his neck. 
 
 In our own land, it is a common belief among country 
 
 people that whipping a Walnut-tree tends to increase the crop and 
 improve the flavour of the Nuts. This belief is found embodied 
 in the following curious distich : — 
 
 " A woman, a spaniel, and a Walnut-tree, 
 The more you whip them, the better they be.'' 
 
 Evelyn, alluding to this custom, says it is thought better to beat 
 the Nuts off than to gather them from the tree by hand. " In Italy," 
 he tells us, " they arm the tops of long poles with nails and iron 
 for the purpose, and believe the beating improves the tree, which 
 I no more believe than I do that discipline would reform a shrew." 
 
 The Brahmans of the Himalaya observe a festival called the 
 
 Walnut Festival, Akrot-ka-pooja, at which, after offering a sacrifice, 
 the priest, with a few companions, takes his place in the balcony 
 of the temple, and all the yoimg men present pelt them liberally 
 with Walnuts and green Pine-cones, which the group in the balcony 
 
 rapidly colledl and return in plentiful volleys. To dream of 
 
 Walnuts portends difficulties and misfortunes in life: m love 
 affairs, such a vision implies infidelity and disappointment. 
 Water Lily. — See Nymphaea. 
 Waybread. — See Plantain. 
 
 WHORTLEBERRY.— Whort or Whortleberry (the Anglo- 
 Saxon Heorutberge is another name for the Bilberry or Blaeberry, 
 (Vaccinium Myrtillus). A species of Whortleberry, called Ohelo 
 (Vaccinium reticulatum), is found in Hawau, springing up from the 
 decomposed lava of the volcanoes of that island. Its flame- 
 eoloured berries are sacred to P61e,the goddess of the volcano, and 
 in heathen days no Hawaiian dared taste one till he had offered 
 some to the goddess, and craved her permission to eat them. Miss 
 Sdon Gumming relates that when Mr. Ellis visited the island in 
 1822, he and his trusty friends rejoiced on discovering these large 
 fuicy berries, but the natives implored them not to touch hem lest 
 some dire calamity should follow. Though themselves famt and 
 DaTched they dared not touch one till they reached the edge of the 
 crater whS gathering branches loaded with the tempting dus ers, 
 they b'rlke the^m'in twf, and throwing half over the precipice hey 
 rallpd P616's attention to the offering, and to the taet tnat tney 
 craved her permission to eat of her Ohelos. (See also Bilberry.) 
 
 WIDOW'S FLOWER—The Indian or Sweet Scabious 
 iScaZlat^opu^puna) is called by the Italians F^or Mia Vedova, and 
 
586 pPant Isore, Iscgetjly, anal biji-ic^. 
 
 by the French Fleuy de Veuve, or Widow's Flower. Phillips says of 
 these flowers that they present us with "corollas of so dark a purple, 
 that they nearly match the sable hue of the widow's weeds ; these 
 being contrasted with anthers of pure white gives the idea of its 
 being an appropriate bouquet for those who mourn for their 
 deceased husbands, and this we presume gave rise to the Italian 
 and French name of Widow's Flower." 
 
 WILLOW. — The Willow seems from the remotest times to 
 have been considered a funereal tree and an emblem of grief. So 
 universal is the association of sadness and grief with the Willow, 
 that " to wear the Willow " has become a familiar proverb. Under 
 Willows the captive Children of Israel wept and mourned in 
 Babylon. Fuller, referring to this melancholy episode in their 
 history, says of the Willow: — " A sad tree, whereof such as have 
 lost their love make their mourning garlands ; and we know that 
 exiles hung their harps on such doleful supports. The very leaves 
 of the Willow are of a mournful hue." Virgil remarks on 
 " The Willow with hoary bluish leaves ; " 
 
 and Shakspeare, when describing the scene of poor Ophelia's 
 death, says: — 
 
 " There is a Willow grows ascant the brook, 
 That shows his hoar leaves in the grassy stream." 
 
 Chatterton has a song of which the burden runs : — 
 
 " Mie love ys dedde. 
 Gone to his death-bedde 
 
 Al under the Wyllowe-tree.'' 
 
 Spenser designates the gruesome tree as "the Willow worn of 
 forlorn paramours;" and there are several songs in which despair- 
 ing lovers invoke the Willow-tree. 
 
 "Ah, Willow, Willow! 
 The Willow shall be 
 A garlStad for me, 
 Ah, WiUow ! Willow." 
 
 Herrick tells us how garlands of Willow were worn by negledled or 
 bereaved lovers, and how love-sick youths and maids came to weep 
 out the night beneath the Willow's cold shade. The following wail 
 of a heart-broken lover is also from the pen of the old poet : — 
 
 " A Willow garland thou did'st send 
 Perfumed, last day, to me. 
 Which did but only this portend — 
 I was forsook by thee. 
 Since it is so, 1 11 tell thee what : 
 To-morrow thou shalt see 
 Me wear the Willow ; after that, 
 To die upon the tree. 
 As hearts unto the altars go. 
 With garlands dressed, so I, 
 With my Willow-wreath, also 
 Come forth and sweetly die." 
 
Pfant Tsore, Isegel^/, drii. h^r'xaf, 587 
 
 Jason, m his voyage in search of the golden fleece, passed the 
 weird grove of Circe, planted with funereal Willows, on the tops 
 of which the voyagers could perceive corpses hanging. Pausanias 
 speaks of a grove consecrated to Proserpine, planted with Black 
 Poplars and Willows; and the same author represents Orpheus, 
 whilst in the infernal regions, as carrying a Willow-branch in his 
 hand. Shakspeare, in allusion to Dido's being forsaken by jEneas, 
 says: — 
 
 " In such a night, 
 Stood Dido, with a Willow in her hand, 
 Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her love 
 To come again to Carthage." 
 
 The Willow was considered to be the tree of Saturn. The Weep- 
 ing Willow {Salix Babylonica), as being a remedy for fluxes, was, 
 however, consecrated to Juno Fluonia, who was invoked by Roman 
 
 matrons to stop excessive hemorrhage. The Flemish peasantry 
 
 have a curious custom to charm away the ague. The sufferer goes 
 early in the morning to an old Willow, makes three knots in one 
 of its branches, and says " Good morning Old One ; I give thee the 
 cold, Old One." The Willow wand has long been a favourite in- 
 strument of divination. The direcftions are as follows : — Let a 
 maiden take a Willow-branch in her left hand, and, without being- 
 observed, slip out of the house and run three times round it, 
 whispering all the time, " He that's to be my gnde man come and 
 grip the end of it." During the third run, the likeness of her future 
 
 husband will appear and grasp the other end of the wand. De 
 
 Gubernatis says that at Brie (Ile-de-France), on St. John's Eve, the 
 people burn a figure made of Willow-boughs. At Luchon, on 
 the same anniversary, they throw snakes on a huge effigy of a 
 Willow-tree made with branches of Willow ; this is set on fire, and 
 
 while it is burning the people dance around the tree. In China, 
 
 the Willow is employed in their funeral rites, the tree having been 
 there considered, from the remotest ages, to be a symbol of immor- 
 tality and eternity. On this account they cover the coffin with 
 branches of Willow, and plant Willows near the tombs of the de- 
 parted. They also have a custom of decorating the doors of their 
 houses with Willow-branches on Midsummer Day. With them the 
 Willow is supposed to be possessed of marvellous properties, 
 amongst which is the power of averting the ill effedts of miasma 
 
 and pestilential disorders. To dream of mourning beneath a 
 
 Willow over some calamity is considered a happy omen, implying 
 the speedy receipt of intelligence that will cause much satisfa<5bon. 
 
 By astrologers the Willow is placed under the dominion of the 
 
 moon. 
 
 Wind Flower.— See Anemone. 
 
 Witch-Hazel.— See Hornbeam. Witch- or WYCH-tLM, 
 Ultnus montana. 
 
 Wolf's Bane.— See Monk's Hood. 
 
 Woodbine. — See Honeysuckle. 
 
^88 pPant Isore, TsegeT^/, ansl T9u|rio/, 
 
 WORM"WOOD. — The old Latin name of Wormwood was 
 Absinthium, and a variety known as A. Ponticum is alluded to by 
 Ovid as being particularly bitter: — 
 
 " Untilled barren ground the loathsome Wormwood yields, 
 And well 'tis known how, through its root, bitter become the fields." 
 
 Johnston, in his Thaumatogyaphia naturalis, notes a curious super- 
 stition, according to which we are assured that an infant will not 
 during its life be either hot or cold provided that its hands are 
 rubbed over with the juice of Wormwood before the twelfth week 
 of its life has expired. The ancients mingled Wormwood in their 
 luscious wines, or used it before or after drinking them in order to 
 countera<5l their effe(5ls. Sprays of Wormwood are often seen 
 suspended in cottages to drive away moths and other insedls. 
 
 " Where chamber is sweeped, and Wormwood is throwne. 
 No flea for his life dare abide to be knowne." 
 
 Its powerful odour is so disliked by all kinds of inse(5ls that country 
 people often place Wormwood in their drawers to protedt their 
 clothes, &c., from moths : hence its French name, Garde-robe, 
 Gerarde says that, mixed with vinegar, it is a good antidote to the 
 poison of Mushrooms or Toadstools, and taken with wine counter- 
 adls the poisonous effedls of Hemlock and the bites of the shrew 
 
 mouse and sea dragon. Branches of Sea Wormwood {Absinthium 
 
 marinum) were, according to Pliny, carried in processions by Egyp- 
 tian priests dedicated to the service of the goddess Isis. A species 
 called Sementina was formerly called Holy Wormwood, and its 
 seed Holy Wormseed {semen sanetum) — for what reason is not 
 
 known. Dreams connedted with Wormwood are considered of 
 
 good augury, implying happiness and domestic enjoyment. As- 
 trologers adjudge Wormwood to be a herb of Mars. 
 
 YARROW.— The Yarrow, or Milfoil {Achillea Millefolium), is 
 a plant which delights to find a home for itself in churchyards. 
 Probably on account of this peculiarity it has been sele(5ted to 
 play an important part in several rustic incantations and charms. 
 In the South and West of England, damsels resort to the following 
 mode of love-divination : — The girl must first pluck some Yarrow 
 from a young man's grave, repeating the while these words : — 
 
 " Yarrow, sweet Yarrow, the first that I have found, 
 In the name of Jesus Christ I pluck it from the ground; 
 As Jesus loved sweet Mary, and took her for His dear, 
 So in a dream this night, I hope my true love will appear." 
 
 She must then sleep with the Yarrow under her pillow, and in her 
 
 dreams her future husband will appear. Another formula states : 
 
 The Yarrow must be plucked exacftly on the first hour of morn: 
 place three sprigs in your shoe or glove, saying : — 
 
 " Good morning, good morning, good Yarrow, 
 And thrice good morning to thee; 
 Tell me, before this time to-morrow. 
 Who my true love is to be." 
 
pfant bore, begcT^ti/) °^ bijric/. 589 
 
 Observe, a young man must pluck the Yarrow off a young maiden's 
 grave, and a female must seledt that off a bachelor's. Retire home 
 to bed without speaking another word, or it dissolves the spell; 
 put the Yarrow under your pillow, and it will procure a sure dream 
 
 on which you may depend. In another spell to procure for a 
 
 maiden a dream of the future, she is to make a posey of various 
 coloured flowers, one of a sort, some Yarrow off a grave, and a 
 sprig of Rue, and bind all together with a little hair from her 
 head. She is then to sprinkle the nosegay with a few drops 
 of the oil of amber, using her left hand, and bind the flowers 
 round her head when she retires to rest in a bed supplied with 
 clean linen. This spell it is stated will ensure the maid's future 
 
 fate to appear in a dream. The Yarrow acquired the name 
 
 of Nosebleed from its having been put into the nose to cause 
 bleeding, and to cure the megrim, as we learn from Gerarde. 
 Dr. Prior adds, that it was also called Nosebleed from its being 
 used as a means of testing a lover's fidelity, and he quotes 
 from Forby, who, in his ' East Anglia,' says that, in that part 
 of England, a girl will tickle the inside of the nostril with a leaf 
 of this plant, crying: — 
 
 " Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow ; 
 If my love love me, my nose will bleed now." 
 
 By a blunder of the mediaeval herbalists, the name and remedial 
 charadter of the Horse-tail, which was formerly called Herba sangui- 
 nana and Nosebleed, were transferred without reason to the Yarrow, 
 
 which has since retained them. The Yarrow is also known as 
 
 Old Man's Pepper, and was formerly called the Souldier's Wound- 
 wort. The Highlanders make an ointment from it; and it was 
 similarly employed by the ancient Greeks, who said that Achilles 
 first made use of this plant as a wound herb, having learnt its 
 virtues of Chiron, the Centaur — hence its scientific name Achillea. 
 
 Astrologers place the herb under the dominion of Venus. 
 
 To dream of gathering Yarrow for medicinal purposes denotes that 
 the dreamer will shortly hear of something that will give him or 
 her extreme pleasure. 
 
 YEW. The dark and sombre Yew-tree has from the 
 
 remote past been invested with an essentially funereal character, 
 and hence is appropriately found in the shade of churchyards and 
 in propinquity to tombs. Blair, addressing himself to the grave, 
 
 says : — 
 
 " Well do I know thee by thy trusty Yew, 
 Cheerless, unsocial plant, that loves to dwell 
 'Midst skulls and coffins, epitaphs, and worms ; 
 Where light-heeled ghosts, and visionary shades, 
 Beneath the wan cold moon (so fame reports), 
 Embody'd, thick, perform their mystic rounds. 
 No other merriment, dull tree, is thine." 
 
590 pPant bore, Isegeqt)/, oHi byricy. 
 
 The Egyptians regarded it as a symbol of mourning, and the idea 
 descended to the Greeks and Romans, who employed the wood as 
 fuel for their funeral p5n:es. The Britons probably learned from 
 the Romans to attach a funereal signification to the Yew, and 
 inasmuch as it had been employed in ancient funeral rites, they 
 regarded the tree with reverence and probably looked upon it as 
 sacred. Hence, in course of time, the Yew came to be planted in 
 churchyards, and, on account of its perpetual verdure, was, like the 
 Cypress, considered as a symbol of the resurrecftion and immortality, 
 
 " Dark Cypresses the skirting sides adorned, 
 And gloomy Yew-trees, which for ever mourned." — Harle. 
 
 R. Turner remarks that if the Yew " be set in a place subjedt to 
 poysonous vapours, the very branches will draw and imbibe them : 
 hence it is conceived that the judicious in former times planted it 
 in churchyards on the west side, because those places being fuller 
 of putrefadlion and gross oleaginous vapours exhaled out of the 
 graves by the setting sun, and sometimes drawn into those meteors 
 called igms fatui, divers have been frightened, supposing some 
 dead bodies to walk ; others have been blasted, &c." Prof. 
 Martyn points out that a Yew was evidently planted near the 
 church for some religious purpose ; for in the ancient laws of 
 Wales the value of a consecrated Yew is set down as £i, whilst that 
 of an ordinary Yew-tree is stated as only fifteen pence. " Our 
 forefathers," says he, "were particularly careful to preserve this 
 funereal tree, whose branches it was usual to carry in solemn pro- 
 cession to the grave, and afterwards to deposit therein under the 
 bodies of their departed friends. Our learned Ray says, that our 
 ancestors planted the Yew in churchyards because it was an ever- 
 green tree, as a symbol of that immortality which they hoped and ex- 
 pe(5ted for the persons there deposited. For the same reason this and 
 other evergreen trees are even yet carried in funerals, and thrown 
 into the grave with the body; in some parts of England and in 
 Wales, planted with flowers upon the grave itself." Shakspeare 
 speaks of a " shroud of white, stuck all with Yew," from which one 
 would infer that sprigs of Yew were placed on corpses before burial. 
 Branches of Yew were, in olden times, often carried in procession on 
 Palm Sunday, instead of Palm, and as an evergreen Yew was some- 
 times used to decorate churches and houses at Christmas-time. 
 
 Parkinson remarks that in his time it was used "to deck up houses 
 in Winter ; but ancient writers have ever reckoned it to be dan- 
 gerous at the least, if not deadly." Many of the old writers were 
 of Parkinson's opinion as to the poisonous characfler of the Yew. 
 Caesar tells how Cativulcus, king of the Eburones, poisoned him- 
 self by drinking a draught of Yew. Dioscorides says that a decoc- 
 tion of the leaves occasions death ; Galen pronounces the tree to 
 be of a venomous quality and against man's nature ; and White, in 
 his ' History of Selborne,' gives numerous instances in which the 
 Yew has proved fatal to animals. Gerarde does not consider the 
 
pfant Tsore, TsegeT^^/, oriE Isijriq/-, 591 
 
 berries poisonous, but thinks non-ruminating animals are injured 
 by eating the foHage. He tells us that " Nicander, in his booke of 
 counter-poisons, doth reckon the Yew-tree among the venomous 
 plants, setting downe also a remedy, and that in these words, as 
 Gorraeus hath translated them : — 
 
 ' Shun the poys'nous Yew, the which on Oeata grows, 
 Like to the Firre, it causes bitter death, 
 Unlesse besides they use pure wine that flowes 
 From empty'd cups, thou drinke, when as thy breath 
 Begins to fade, and passage of thy life 
 Grows straight.' " 
 
 Virgil attributed the notoriously unwholesome qualities of the honey 
 of Corsica to the bees feeding upon the Yew, and he warns bee- 
 keepers ^to be careful that no Yew-trees grow near their hives. 
 Owing to its being so frequently found in churchyards, a ghastly 
 superstition has arisen respedling this sinister tree : it is said that 
 it preys and invigorates itself upon the dead who lie beneath its 
 sombre shade. Thus, in ' /« Memonam,' we read : — 
 
 " Old Yew, which graspest at the stones 
 That name the underlying dead. 
 Thy fibres net the dreamless head. 
 Thy roots are wrapt about the bones," 
 
 Even in the principal use the Yew was put to, the tree maintained 
 its connedlion with death, for from its wood man fashioned an instru- 
 ment of warfare and destrudtion. Its great pliancy and toughness 
 made it particularly suitable for bows, and for this purpose it was 
 unrivalled. Virgil tells us that in his time " the Yews were bent 
 into Ituraean bows "; Chaucer speaks of " the Shooter Yew ;" and 
 Browne writes of 
 
 " The warlike Yewgh by which more than the lance 
 The strong-armed English spirits conquered France." 
 
 Camden has recorded a grim legend in connexion with the name 
 of Halifax. It seems that a certain amorous clergyman fell in love 
 with a pretty maid who refused his addresses. Maddened by her 
 refusal he cut off her head, which being hung upon a Yew-tree 
 tiU it was quite decayed, the tree was reputed as sacred, not only 
 whilst the virgin's head hung on it, but as long as the tree itself 
 lasted: to which the people went in pilgrimage, pluckmg and 
 bearing away branches of it as a holy relique, whilst there re- 
 mained any of the trunk ; persuading themselves that those small 
 veins and filaments resembling hairs were the hairs of the virgin. 
 But what is yet stranger, the resort to this place, then called Houton, 
 a despicable village, occasioned the building of the now famous town 
 of Halifax, in Yorkshire, the name of which imports " holy hair." 
 
 .In the cloister of Vreton, in Brittany, there grew a Yew-tree 
 
 which was said to have sprung from the staff of St. Martin. Be- 
 neath it the Breton princes were accustomed to offer up a prayer 
 before entering the church. This tree was regarded with the 
 
592 
 
 Ofant bore, begeT^S/, ctriS teijricy. 
 
 highest reverence ; no one ever plucked a leaf from its sombre 
 boughs, and even the birds refrained from pecking the scarlet 
 berries. A band of pirates, however, happening to visit the locality, 
 two of them spied the tree, and forthwith climbed into its venerable 
 boughs and proceeded to cut bow-staves for themselves : their 
 audacity speedily brought about its own punishment, for they both 
 
 fell and were killed on the spot. Both in old Celtic and in 
 
 Anglo-Saxon the Yew-tree was called Iw. By early English authors 
 its name was variously spelt Yew, Yeugh, Ewgh, Ugh, and Ewe. 
 
 In Switzerland, it is known as William Tell's Tree. Dream 
 
 oracles state that there is but one signification to dreams concern- 
 ing the Yew, viz., that it is the certain forerunner of the demise of 
 an aged person, through which the dreamer will derive substantial 
 benefits. 
 
 YGGDRASILL.— The mythical Scandinavian World-tree, 
 or Mundane Ash, is the greatest and best of all trees : beneath it 
 the gods assemble in counsel ; its branches spread over the whole 
 world and reach above heaven; and its roots penetrate to the 
 infernal regions. On its summit is perched an all-seeing eagle, 
 with a hawk between his eyes. A squirrel continually carries news 
 to him, while serpents coiled round the vast trunk endeavour to 
 destroy him. Serpents, also, constantly gnaw the roots, from 
 which come the fountains of wisdom and futurity. The Norns 
 always keep a watch upon the Yggdrasill : they fix the lifetime of 
 all men, and dispense destinies. Under the tree is hidden the 
 horn which shall be sounded and rouse the world at the last great 
 conflidl. 
 
#aie^ to begeaiL/ aac} Mlj%. 
 
 Acis and Galatea, 532 
 
 Adam, Eve, the Wolf, and the Dog, 362 
 
 Adam's Tree, 303 
 
 Ajax, 404 
 
 Albertus Magnus, 133 
 
 All Baba and the Sesame, 544 
 
 Amaracus, 433 
 
 Amaranthus, 212 
 
 Andromeda, 214 
 
 Arabian Priests and Cinnamon, 283 
 
 Argonauts, 81, 249 
 
 Arjuna, the Betel Thief, 25 1 
 
 Aroth, Maroth, and the Beauty, 577 
 
 Aspen and the Flight into Egypt, 230 
 ,, ,, Passion, 229 
 
 Aspic and Balm-tree, 239 
 
 Asses and Hemlock, 145 
 
 Atalanta and Hippomenes, 218 
 
 Atys and Agdistis, 210 
 „ „ Cybele, 495 
 
 Baldr and the Mistletoe, 440 
 
 Balm Trees of Cairo, 124 
 
 Bacfaelier and the Anemone, 216 
 
 Bacchus and the Pomegranate, 499 
 
 Batou and the Cedar, 275 
 
 Bertram and the Heartsease, 484 
 
 Birth of Vishnu, 241 
 
 Blacksmith changed to a Bear, 250 
 
 Bonze and the Mouse, 513 
 
 Bosworth Field, 360 
 Buddha, 4, 420, 491 
 ,, and M4ra, 4 
 Bushman Rice, 514 
 Callimachus and the Acanthus, 206 
 Calchas and Mopsus, 335 
 Ceres and Proserpine, 504 
 Chang Ching and the Fairy, 449 
 Charlemagne and the Thistle, 269 
 Chinese Trees of Love, 274 
 Clairon and the Violets, 581 
 Clovis, 387 
 
 Clytie and Phcebus, 365 
 Cosmogonic Lotus, 419 
 Cossacks and Tartars, 286 
 Crocus and Smilax, 299 
 Crown Imperial, 347 
 
 Cyanus and the Cornflower, 277 
 Cyparissus, 302 
 Czekanka, 326 
 Danes and the Thistle, 562 
 Daphne and Phoebus, 404 
 Daughter of the Laurel, 408 
 Death of Buddha, 539 
 Devil and Blackberries, 258 
 
 ,, ,, the Oats, 472 
 
 ,, ,, the Reed, 512 
 Devil's Brother, 451 
 Dewadat and Buddha, 268 
 Diarmuid and Grainne, 531 
 Duke of Tuscany's Gardener,' 392 
 Dryope, 417 
 
 Earl of Essex's Horses, 445 
 Elm of Ethiopia, 131 
 Emperor of China, 447 
 Envious Sisters, 436 
 Erisichthon, 77 
 Esthonian Peasant, 254 
 Eugenie and Napoleon III., 581 
 Eve and the Snowdrop, 546 
 Fairy Wife, 356 
 
 ,, Widower, 333 
 Faithful Wife, 551 
 Falcon and Soma, 439 
 Fatal Elopement, 582 
 Father Garnet's Straw, 134 
 Fig of Paradise, 127 
 Fir-tree Elf, 65 
 First Roses, 515 
 Flora and Zephyr, 215 
 Forget-me-not, 342 
 Fulke and the Plantagenets, 260 
 Garden of the Lower Regions, 223 
 Gefroi and the Broom, 260 
 Glastonbury Thorn, 352 
 Glaucus, 541 
 Golden Apples, 477 
 Grey Horse, 265 
 Hanpang and Ho, 274 
 Hercules and Cerberus, 442 
 Holy Family and Date Palm, 312 
 
 ,, Rose of Jericho, 528 
 Honor Garrigan and the Blackberries, 259 
 2 Q 
 
594 
 
 pPant Isote, Iseg&tfb/, anel Tayric/-, 
 
 Hoopoe and Springwort, 142 
 
 Hop-o'-my-Thumb, 263 
 
 Hulda and the Selige Fraulein, 340 
 
 Hyacinthus, 383 
 
 lanthis, 578 
 
 Ice Mountain, 223 
 
 Iduna and the Apples, 217 
 
 India and Namuchi, 207 
 
 lo, S78 
 
 losbert, 519 
 
 Isabella and the Basil, 246 
 
 Iseult and Tristan, 389 
 
 Isis and Osiris, 56<5 
 
 James, Duke of Monmouth, 257 
 
 Jehanghir and Attar of Roses, 521 
 
 Jesus Christ and the Broom, 260 
 >> ,> ,, Apples, 222 
 
 Juno and Hercules, 397, 412 
 
 Jussieu and the Cedar, 274 
 
 Kang Won and the Cassia, 271 
 
 Khatties, The, Ii6 
 
 King Midas and the Barber, 511 
 ,, Oswald and the Moss, 445 
 
 Kissos, 388 
 
 La Cour and the Tuberose, 568 
 
 Ladislas and the Plague, 350 
 
 Laurel Maiden, 75 
 
 Leucothea, 346 
 
 Lieschi, the Geni of the Forest, 253 
 
 Life-giving Herb, 144 
 
 Lords of Linden, 416 
 
 Lotus and Priapus, 417 
 
 Luckflower, 112 
 
 Lycurgus and the Cabbage, 264 
 
 Macbeth and Sweno, 546 
 
 Magic Fern-seed, 330 
 „ Flute, 431 
 „ Mustard-seed, 453 
 „ Pumpkin, 507 
 ,, Thistle, 562 
 „ Violin-bow, 81 
 
 Main de Gloire, 428 
 
 Malvina and Oscar, 308 
 
 Mandrake, 426 
 
 Maria Theresa and the Camellia, 266 
 
 Maschia and Maschiana, 301 
 
 Mc Donough's Baby, 361 
 
 Melampus and Hellebore, 368 
 
 Melius andthe Apple, 2i8 
 
 Mercury and his Rod, 362; 
 
 Mexican Water Age, 435 
 
 Mignonette, 437 
 
 Milkmaid and Enchanted Cow, 288 
 
 Millet-thief, 438 
 
 Milto, 518 
 
 Minerva and the Olive, 473 
 
 Monastery of St. Christine, 257 
 
 Murdered Virgin, $91 
 
 Myrene, 454 
 
 Myrrha, 4S3 
 
 Narcissus, 457 
 
 Novice and the Styrax, 131 
 
 Oak of Signa, 469 
 
 Olive-bearing Birds, 143 
 
 Ominous Red Rose, 199 
 
 Orchis and Acolasia, 478 
 
 Origin of the Tea-shrub, 561 
 
 Orpheus and the Elms, 323 
 
 Osmund and the Danes, 479 
 
 Pseon and jEscuIapius, 493 
 
 Pseonia and Phcebus, 493 
 
 Parizataco, 534 
 
 Pales and the Fishermen, 209 
 
 Pelops and Myrtillus, 252 
 
 Pel6, Goddess of the Volcano, 585 
 
 Perkun and the Deluge, 583 
 
 Phaethon and the Heliades, 502 
 
 Philemon and Baucis, 414 
 
 Phyllis and Demophoon, 210 
 
 Picts and Heather Beer, 365 
 
 Pilgrim and the Palm, 481 
 
 Polydorus and Polymnestor, 295 
 
 Postomani, 50S 
 
 Prophetic Trees of Basle, 198 
 
 Proserpine and the Pomegranate, 500 
 
 Pyramus and Thisbe, 447 
 
 Pythagoras and the Beans, 247 
 
 Queen Christiania's Diamonds, 213 
 „ of Sheba and Solomon, x8, 19, 303 
 ,, of the Serpents, 451 
 
 Ranunculus, 510 
 
 Rhodanthe, 515 
 
 Rhoecus and Jupiter, 463 
 
 Rosa Marina, 527 
 
 Rose and the Sun, 516 
 „ Elf, 66 
 „ of Bakawali, 570 
 
 Riibezahl, 509 
 
 Russalka and Basilek, 278 
 
 Sacaibu and the First Men, 296 
 
 Santon Akyazli, 381 
 
 Sappho and Phaon, 327 
 
 Satan and the Eglantine, 317 
 
 Savitri, 65 
 
 Seth and the Angel, 18, 19 
 Seven Oaks, 471 
 
 ,, Sisters, 324 
 Shepherd of Ilsenstein, 552 
 Shepherdess and the Oak, 468 
 Side, 500 
 
 Sister of the Flowers, 76 
 Sivika and the Magic Wheat, 293 
 Stone Tree, 126 
 
 St. Benedict and Antidotes to Poison, ■zja 
 St. Benedict and the Rose-briar, 1:2? 
 St. Brigid, 468 ^ 
 
 St. Cecilia, 133 
 St. Christopher, 482 
 
C^enefaf (insLe^. 
 
 595 
 
 St. Dorothea, 133, 222 
 
 St. Dunstan and the Devil, 223 
 
 St. Dunstan and the Apple-trees, 223 
 
 St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 133, 519 
 
 St. Francis of Assisi, 519 
 
 St. Leonard and the Dragon, 414 
 
 St. Margaret of Cortona, 432 
 
 St. Martin's Yew, 591 
 
 St. Patrick and the Shamrock, S4S 
 
 St. Peter's Mother, 410 
 
 St. Rosa di Lima, 519 
 
 St. Serf, 219 
 
 St. Thomas and the Madonna, 413 
 
 St. Thomas and his Tree, 130 
 
 Syrinx and Pan, 5S9 
 
 Thlaspis, 268 
 
 Thorn of Cawdor Castle, 362 
 
 Titteli Ture, 555 
 
 Tree of Adam, 17, 19 
 
 ,, ,, Tiberias, 132 
 Trees and the Cross, 386 
 
 ,, and the Crucifixion, 48 
 
 ,, and their Monarch, 474 
 
 ,, of the Sun and Moon, 123 
 Ulysses and the Lotos Eaters, 418 
 
 „ and the Moly, 442 
 Venus and Adonis, 214, 341, 411 
 
 ,, „ the Rose, 516 
 
 „ „ the Violet Nymphs, S79 
 Venus' Mirror, 267 
 
 Veronica, 550 
 
 Vertumnus and the Nymph, 307 
 
 Virgin Mary and St. John, 483 
 
 the Cherry-tree, 279 
 the Fig-tree, 558 
 the Juniper, 395 
 the Lupine, 423 
 the Orange-tree, 478 
 the Palm, 481 
 the Pine, 496 
 the Rosemary, 526 
 the Strawberry, 556 
 
 Walnut-tree of Benevento, 584 
 
 Wandering Jew, 238 
 
 Wang Chih and the Date-stone, 312 
 
 Watcher of the Roads, 325, 498 
 
 Water Lily of Paradise, 463 
 
 White Maidens of the Fichtelgebirge, 556 
 
 Wild Woman and the Shepherdess, 253 
 
 William the Conqueror, 533 
 
 Willow Nymph, 81 
 
 Witches and Alder Wood, 209 
 
 Withered Tree of the Sun, 130, 131 
 
 Wonderful Linden-tree, 415 
 
 Woodpecker and the Spring-wort, 141, 
 
 World of the Lower Regions, 577 
 Xerxes and the Plane-tree, 497 
 Zoroaster, 521 
 
 ^veaeraf Jni.e^. 
 
 Aaron, 130, 342, 501 
 Abraham, 20, 61, 561 
 Adam, nS, 24°. 3". 335. 362. 456. 
 
 475. SOI, 
 Adam in Eden, 15 
 
 ,, Tree of, 17, et sff. 
 Africans, 80 ,, , t-. ^ 
 
 All Saints', or All Hallows', Day, 60 
 Almanacks, 137, 167 
 Animal-bearing Tree, 210 
 Animals, 14S, ei sej. 
 Annunciation, 56, 269 
 Anthropological Trees, 116 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, 27 
 Antony, 27, 517, 522 
 Apollo 24, 295, 384, 481, S60 
 Apple Lore, 217 
 Argonauts, 81, 249, 40S, 40S 
 Arvales, 292, 335 
 
 Ascension Day, 58, 213 
 Asgard, 9 
 Asherah, 6 
 Asoka, S, 229 
 Assyrians, 24, 346, 387 
 
 „ Sacred Tree of the, 6 
 Astrology, 164 
 Asvattha, S, 236 
 Atalanta, 477 
 Augury by Birds, 138 
 Avalon, 9, 218, 490 
 Bacchus, 25, 388, 435, 496, 499, 517 
 Baldr, 24 
 
 Balm, 123, 124, 239 
 Barnacle Tree, 118 
 Barometz, 121, 243 
 Battle Field Flowers, 505, 524, 549 
 Bertha, 24, 40, 339 
 Bethlehem, 41, 43 
 
596 
 
 SPant laote, TsegeT^^/, and 'teiji'icy. 
 
 Birds, 137, et sef. 
 
 Black Dwarfs, 67 
 
 Bongos, 80 
 
 Brahma, 22, 106, 180, 252, 419 
 
 Bridal Floral Ceremonies, 33 
 
 Buddha, 4, 229, 241, 419, 490, 538 
 
 Buddhists, 4, 5, 2Z, 293, 300, 419, 490, 
 
 538. 539 
 
 Buddhists, World Tree of the, 4 
 
 Bujan, 10 
 
 Burial Customs, 194, 196, 497 
 
 Burmans, 22, 79, 268 
 
 Butterfly Tree, 121 
 
 Calumny-destroyer, 109 
 
 Calvary, 48, 228, 375, 479, 550 
 
 Candlemas Day, 256, 546 
 
 Centaurs, 2$ 
 
 Cerberus, 94 
 
 Ceremonies, Floral, 26, ei seq, 
 
 Ceres, 25, 292, 306, 455, 458, 5°°. S04 
 
 Chaldseans, 107, 113, 176, 294 
 
 Chaplets, 36 
 
 Charles II., 471 
 
 Charms and Spells, 96, 234, 259, 261, 
 287, z88, 309, 313, 318, etseq., 327, 332, 
 339. 349. 357. 364. 368, 369. 37° 372, 
 377. 383. 396, 399. 400. 407, 417. 427, 
 431, 439, 442, 450, 460, 463, 489, 490, 
 493. 498. 506, 511, 512. 523. 527. 528, 
 530. 532. 537. 554. 564. 567. 573 
 
 Cheese-colouring, 249 
 
 Chinese, 23, 113, 117, 178, 226, 240, 
 241, 271, 289, 351, 425, 437, 459 
 
 Chiron, 25, 277 
 
 Christian Church, Plants of the, 40, 55, 
 
 57. 440. 533 , 
 Christmas, 44, 60, 377, 462 
 Christmas-tree, 337 
 Churchyards, 192, 590 
 Circe, 91, 94, 325, 358, 426 
 Cleopatra, 27, 517, 522 
 CofBns, 192 
 Com Spirits, 81 
 Corpus Christi Day, 59 
 Corpus Domini Procession, 32 
 Cosmogonic Trees, I — 8 
 Cross Oaks, 61, 469 
 Cross, Wood of the, 46, 273, 304, 386, 
 
 471, 475, 483, 503, 530 
 Crown of Thorns, 44, 359, 377, 512,, 524 
 
 564 
 Crucifixion, 47, 374, 385, 479 
 Cruciform Flowers, 55, 180 
 Cuckoo, 137, 300 
 Cupid, 267, 305, 517, 579 
 Cybele, 24, 28, 292, 517 
 Danes, 310, 479, 546 
 David, 17, 303 
 Dead Sea Fruit, 124, 225 
 
 Dead, The, 193, 230, 246, 247, 248, 358, 
 
 488 
 Death Portents, 198 
 Deborah, 190, 464 
 Dedication, Feast of, 57 
 Demons, 4, 16, 80, 83, 279, 331, 336, 
 
 396. 451. 490. 534 
 Devil, Plants of the, 82, et seq., 332, 462, 
 
 472, 549 
 Dew, 30, 59 
 Diana, 24, 228, 440, 444 
 Dictionary of Flowers, 185 
 Disease-bearing Trees, 81, 97, 259, 386, 
 
 470 
 Distillatory Plant, 127 
 Divination by Plants, 52, loi, 108, 138 
 
 188, 221, 231, 248, 258, 264, 290, 291, 
 
 294, 295. 309< 370, 377. 381, 383. 398, 
 446, 450, 462, 476,479, 489, 498, 504, 
 506, S13. 522, 523. 527. 535. 537. 563 
 
 Divining Rod, 1 13, 354, 363, 501 
 
 Doctrine of Plant Signatures, 154, et seq. 
 
 Dragons, 152, 314 
 
 Dream-procuring Plants, 102, 105, 107, 
 
 324 
 
 Dreams, 211, 225, 226, 249, 257, 260, 
 265, 271, 280, 288, 290, 295, 300, 301, 
 306, 308, 310, 322, 336, 337, 338, 349, 
 355. 357. 364. 372. 38s. 392, 397, 408, 
 413, 429, 433. 436, 449, 452, 457, 460, 
 461, 463, 472, 473, 476, 477, 478, 483, 
 486, 490, 497, 499, 502, 508, 509, 510, 
 SI I, 512, 524, 527, 534, 559, 560, 563. 
 565, 57', 578, 581, 582, 585. 587, 588. 
 
 ^589.592 
 
 Druids, 107, 113, 137, 181, 218, 250 
 289, 441, 467, 529, 539, 542, 573 
 
 Dryads, 74, 307 
 
 Easter, 58, 486 
 
 Ecstasies, 105, 178, 371, 406 
 
 Eden, 11 
 
 Egyptians, 23, 26, 105, l8l, 195 215, 
 
 299, 346, 349, 371, 373, 387, 421, 459. 
 
 476, 485, 488, 553, 560 
 Eiresione, 31, 32 
 Elder Mother, 80, 318 
 
 ,, Queen, 80, 318 
 Eleusinian Mysteries, 292 
 Elves, 64, et seq., 318, 470 
 Elysian Fields, 189, 457 
 Embalming, 178, 195 
 Eve, 15, 16, i8, 240, 362 
 Evil Eye, 91, 102, 108, no, 212, 227, 
 
 253, 333. 357. 450, 509, 513. 529. 532 
 Fabulous, Wondrous, and Miraculous 
 
 Plants, 116, et seq. 
 Fairies, 50, 64, et seq,, 264, 288, 333, 
 
 344. 356, 361, 526, 538. 566 
 Fairy Revels, 67 
 
(SJenefaf (^ni.e^. 
 
 597 
 
 . Fairy Plants, 69 
 „ Unguent, 71 
 Fates, The, 25, 385, 426. 4S8 
 Father Garnet's Straw, 134, et seq. 
 Fauns, 74, 497 
 Festaroli, 39 
 Festivals, Floral, 34 
 ,, Church, 57 
 Fijians, 290 
 
 Fire, 236, 347, 359, 376, 394, 396, 460, 
 467, 480, 489, SOI, 513, 514, 540, 
 
 _S43. $1'2' 
 
 Fire Generator, 236, 491, S39 
 Flora, 28 
 
 Floralia, Festival of, 29 
 Floral Ceremonies, Wreaths, and Gar- 
 lands, 26, et seq. 
 Floral Symbols, 180 
 
 , , Games and Festivals, 34 , 2 1 2, 5 20, 
 ,, Vocabulary, 185 
 Flowrers, Dictionary of, 185 
 Flowers of the Saints, 53, et seq. 
 
 „ of the Church's Festivals, 57, 
 et seq. 
 Forbidden Fruit, i6 
 Frau Holda's Tree, 7 
 Freemasonry, 19S, 295 
 Freyja, 24, 40, 42, 499 
 Frigg, 24, 440, 479. 556 
 Funeral Pyre, 39, 195. 359 „ 
 
 „ Trees and Plants, 189, et seq., 
 
 473. 48s. 494. 497. S03, S04. S°1< Szz. 
 
 52s. S44 
 Furies, The, 25 
 Games, Greek and Roman, 38 
 Gandharvas, 25, 236, 548 
 Garlandof Julia, 184 
 Garlands, Chaplets, and Wreaths, 36, 
 
 et seq. 
 Garnet's Straw, 134 
 Garofalo, 270 
 Gipsies, 47 , ^ 
 
 Glastonbury, 63, 352, 362 
 Gold, III 
 
 Golden Herb, 289 542 „ 
 
 „ Apple, 123, 477. SOI, 508 
 „ Rose, 518 
 Good Friday, 44. ^54 
 Goose Tree, 118 
 Gospel Oaks, 60, 468 
 Graces, The, 517 
 Graves, 193, 379. 4»S 
 Greeks, Mother Tree of the, 6 
 
 Floral Ceremonies of the, 27 
 '' Games of the, 38 
 ,\ Passion for Flowers among the, 
 
 '^'' Sacred Plants of the, 24 
 
 " Wreaths and Garlands of the, 37 
 
 Groves, Sacred, 76 
 
 Hags, 91, 94, 97, 358, 449 
 
 Hallowe'en, 220, 264, 462 
 
 Hamadryads, 74 
 
 Haoma, 5, 9, 378 
 
 Hecate, 91, 385, 549 
 
 Heliogabalus, 27, 517 
 
 Herbalists, 97, 161 
 
 Herbals, 160 
 
 Hercules, 25, 217, 305, 397, 474, 477, 
 
 481, 48s. 508 
 Hesperides, 9, 12-?, 217, 477, 508 
 Hindus, 3, 22, 39, 79, 173, 177, 180, 
 188, 213, 214, 227, 228, 229, 236, 237, 
 239, 241, 24s, 251, 252, 293, 296, 312, 
 313. 31S. 339. 356, 373. 391, 398. 400. 
 419, 423, 428, 439, 473, 480, 513, 539, 
 544, 547 
 Hindu World Tree, 3 
 Holdikens, 92 
 Holy Family, 41 
 Hulda, 24, 318, 319, 339, 34° 
 Huzza, 206 
 Hyacinthia, 384 
 Iduna, 217 
 Ilpa, 3 
 Incense, 26, 178, 346, 39s, 454. 525. 
 
 539. 551 
 
 Indians, 79, 240, 289, 315, 488, 5^° 
 ,, South American, 263, 265, 271, 
 281, 297, 311 
 
 Indra, 22, 293 
 
 Inscriptions in Plants, 127 
 
 Iranians, World Tree of the, 5 
 
 Iris, 387 
 
 Irminsul, 7, 23, 471 
 
 Isis, 337. 341, 346, 42'. 560 
 
 Janus, 25 
 
 Japanese, 36, 124, 178, 266, 282, 446, 
 488, 499 
 
 Japanese New Year's Festival, 36 
 
 Jerusalem, 393 
 
 Jesus Christ, 41, 43. 386, 478, 481, 496 
 
 Jews, 8, II, 13, 21, 23, 24, SO, 61, 131, 
 180, 181, 190, 20s, 211, 225, 238, 240, 
 247, 256, 258, 263, 270, 271, 273, 282, 
 283, 291, 300, 303, 311, 321, 336, 339, 
 346. 349. 355. 359. 362, 364. 36S. 37o, 
 373, 380. 385. 386. 393. 394. 39&. 4o5. 
 409, 426, 452, 453, 456, 459, 404. 474. 
 476, 483, 497, 501, 52s. 528, 558, 560 
 
 Job, 340, 393 
 
 Jonah, 393 
 
 Joseph, 40, 41, 342, 473. 478. 481 
 
 Joseph of Arimathea, 352, 362 
 
 Judas Iscariot, 49, 317. 321, 394 
 
 Julie de Rambouillet, 348 
 
 Juno, 24, 25, 40, 217, 38s. 397, 424, 
 444, 477, 500 
 
598 
 
 pPant Tsore, TsegeT^/, and. "knjr'iaj; 
 
 Jupiter, 24, 25, 217, 30s, 385, 397, 474, 
 
 477, 4«i 
 Kalpadruma, 3 
 
 Kamadeva, 39, 177, 420, 429, 557 
 Khatties, 117 
 Krishna, 245 
 
 Language of Flowers, 176, 185 
 Lamb-bearing Tree, 122 
 Lamb, Vegetable, 121, 243 
 Leap Year, 248 
 Lent, 411, 458 
 Lepers, 285 
 
 Lightning, iii, 138, 142, 235, 359, 363, 
 376, 382, 407, 440, 460, 461, 480, 489, 
 ^ S30, 543. 544, 552, 554, 563 
 Loki, 82, 217, 461, 472 
 Lotos-eaters, 418 
 Love, loi, 108 
 
 Love Charms, loi, 107, 108, 231, 301, 
 302, 326, 370, 381, 383, 446, 462, 479, 
 506, 522, 523, 575 
 Love Philtres, 94, 107 
 Luckflower, 422, 553 
 Lunacy, 248 
 Ltmar Herb, 125 
 
 ,, Influence on Plants, 167 
 Madness, 88, 100, 368 
 Madonna, 43 
 Magi, 347 
 Magical Plants, 105 
 Magic Wands and Divining Rods, 113, 
 
 ei seq, 
 Mahadeva, 39, 242 
 Mahomet, 10, 24, 425, 514, 516 
 Man in the Moon, 174, 265, 271, 565 
 Manna, 429, 448 
 Marcon, 341 
 
 Marriages, 33, 251, 293, 295, 315, 329, 
 359, 433, 455, 461, 466, 478, 5°!, S'3, 
 525 
 Mars, 24 
 Martyrs, 54 
 
 Mary Magdalene, 43, 296, 424, 444 
 Mary. See Virgin Mary. 
 May-day Customs, 29, 30, 31, 58, 360 
 May Tree, 31, 359, 435 
 Medea, 91, 329 
 Memorial Trees, 60 
 Mercury, 25, 362 
 Michaelmas, 258 
 Midsummer, 50, 60, 69, 83, 96, in, 
 
 , 29s, 331, 361, 370, 479, 489, 522,535 
 Mmerva, 25, 473 
 
 Miraculous Trees and Plants, 129, et seq. 
 
 Mithridates, 161, 532, 568 
 
 Moly, 442, 531 
 
 Moon, Man in the, 174, 265, 271, 565 
 
 ,, and Gardening, 167 
 
 „ and Seed Sowing, 170 
 
 Moon Plants, 125, 166, 172, 271, 444 
 
 ,, Tree, Hindu, 4 
 Monstrosities, 129 
 Moses, 17, 115, 262, 283, 485 
 Moss Folk, 66, 289, 445 
 Mother Tree of the Greeks, Romans, and 
 
 Teutons, 6, et seq. 
 Mundane Tree, Norse, 2 
 Naiades, 72 
 Neptune, 24, 25, 473 
 Nero, 27, 517 
 Nightingale, 138 
 Noah, 115, 475, 576 
 Norse Gods, Plants of, 24 
 
 „ World Tree, 2 
 Noxious, Deadly, and Ill-omened Plants, 
 
 86, et seq. 
 Odin, 24 
 
 Old English Funeral Customs, 196, et seq. 
 Old Herbals, The, and Herbalists, 160, 
 
 et seq. 
 Oracles, 106, 249, 406, 465, 475 
 Ordeal by Fire, 434 
 Ormuzd, I, 9, 21, 301 
 Osiris, 346, 421, 560 
 Oyster-bearing Tree, 120 
 Palasa, 5, 480 
 Palm Sunday, 58 
 Pan, 25, 344 
 Paradise, 12, 319 
 „ Celtic, 9 
 „ Grseco-Roman, 9 
 ,, Hindu, 10 
 ,, Iranian, 9 
 ,, Mosaic, 10 
 ,, of Mahomet, 10 
 ,, Russian, 9 
 Parsis, 9, 21, 293, 306, 378 
 Peascod Wooing, 489 
 Persians, 24, 79, 193, 226, 306, 376, 572 
 Phoenix, 284 
 Phooka, 258 
 Pixies, 64, et seq., 567 
 Planetary Government of Plants 
 Planets, 164, et seq. 
 
 Plants of the Christian Church, 40, et seq. 
 ,, of the Crucifixion, 47, et seq. 
 ,, of the Virgin Mary, 41, ?/ j^y. 
 „ of St. John the Baptist, 50, et seq, 
 ,, of the Devil, 82, et seq. 
 „ of the Fairies and Naiades, 65, 
 
 et seq. 
 „ of the Water Nymphs and Fays, 
 
 71, et seq. 
 „ of the Witches, 90, et seq. 
 „ used for Charms and Spells, 96, 
 
 et seq. 
 „ antagonistic to Witchcraft, 102, 
 et seq. 
 
6[erieraf #ni.e^. 
 
 599 
 
 Plants bearing Inscriptions and figures, 
 127, et seq. 
 ) > connected with Birds and Animals, 
 
 137, et seq. 
 ,, of Our Saviour, 43, ^/ jfj^. 
 ,, and the Planets, l(>\, et seq, 
 ,, of the Moon, 172, et seq, 
 „ as Death Portents, 198, et seq. 
 Plant Signatures, 154 
 ,, Symbolism and Language, 176, 
 et seq. 
 Pluto, 24, 316, 424 
 Poisonous Trees, 86 
 Pomona, 76 
 Portents, 198, 407, 414, 435, 452, 47 1, 
 
 486, 490, 506, 523, 557, 563 
 Priapus, 25, 305 
 Procca, 67 
 Prophecy, 370, 406 
 Prophets, 106, 406 
 Proserpine, 24, 25, 292, 424, 458, 500, 
 
 504 
 Puck, 82, 484, 567 
 Purification, 43, 56 
 Quack Doctors, 97 
 Rhabdomancy, 113 
 Robin, 140, 564 
 
 Rogation Week, 58, 220, 348, 437 
 Romans, Anthropological Tree of the, 7 
 ,, Floral Ceremonies of the, 27 
 ,, Sacred Plants of the, 24 
 , , Wreaths and Garlands of the, 36 
 Rosary, 43, 519, 531 
 Rose Elf, 66 
 Rose-pelting, 35 
 Rosiire, 35, 519 
 Royal Oak Day, 59, 471 
 Russalkis, 71 
 Russalka, 278 
 Rush-bearing, 58, 533 
 Sacred Groves and their Denizens, 76, 
 
 et seq. 
 Sacred Trees and Plants of the Ancients, 
 
 21, et seq. 
 Saffron Walden, 300 
 Saint Andrew, 56 
 „ Anne, 54 
 ,, Athanasius, 561 
 „ Barbara, 54, 375 475. 
 „ Barbatus, 584 
 ,, Barnabas, 54. S^. 59. 5^4 
 ,, Bartholomew, 56 
 „ Benedict, 53, 374. 525 
 ,, Bernard, 413 
 ,, Cecilia, 133 
 ,, Christopher, 53, 374 
 „ Clara, 413 
 „ David, 410 
 ,, Dominic, 43, 413 
 
 Saint Dorothea, 133, 518 
 ,, Dunstan, 223 
 
 ,, Elizabeth of Hungary, 133, 519 
 „ Francis, 53, 413 
 „ George, 53 
 „ Gerard, 53, 374 
 ,, Hilarion, 411 
 „ James, 53, 56, 59, 510 
 „ Jerome, 413 
 
 , , John the Baptist, 50, 60, 270, 
 330, 423, 536, 556 
 ,, John the Evangelist, 56, 483 
 ,, Joseph, 40, 413 
 ,, Joseph of Arimathea, 62 
 „ Jude, 56 
 
 ,, Katherine, 54, 398, 413 
 ,, Leonard, 414 
 ,, Louis de Gonzague, 413 
 ,, Louis de Vincennes, 62 
 ,, Luke, 56 
 
 „ Margaret, 54,374. 4^4. 43' 
 ,, Mark, 56 
 ,, Martin, 62, 130, 280 
 ,, Matthew, 56 
 „ Medard, 35, 519 
 
 „ Michael, 18, 54, 56 
 
 „ Mungo, 73 
 
 ,, Nicholas, 413, 489 
 
 „ Patrick, 54, 363, 541, 544 
 
 „ Paul, 54, 56, 59 
 
 ,, Peter, 54, 56, 279, 539 
 
 ,, ,, of Vincennes, 62 
 
 ,, Philip, 59 
 
 „ Robert, 54, 375 
 
 „ Rosa, 519 
 
 ,, Rosalia, 519 
 
 „ Serf, 130 ' 
 
 „ Simon, 56, 280, 475 
 
 „ Stephen, 56 
 
 „ Thomas, 54, 56, 130, 268, 413 
 
 „ Urban, 133 
 
 ,, Veronica 48 
 
 ,, Winifred, 55 
 
 ,, John'sEveandDay, 50, 60, 69, 83, 
 
 96, III, 331, 361, 4°o. 409. 489. 49°. 
 
 536 
 Saints, Flowers of, S3, 53^ 
 Saints' Floral Directory, 56 
 Sardanapalus, 27 
 Saturn, 24 
 
 Satyrs, 74, 540, 541 . 
 
 Saxons and Apples, 218 
 Scriptures, Floral Symbols of the, 181 
 Serpents, 2, 18, 84, 121, 152, 153, 155, 
 
 160, 161, 162, 163, 206, 208, 226, 227, 
 
 231, 232, 233, 251, 258, 262, 299, 313. 
 
 328, 329. 359, 364. 369. 376. 380. 396. 
 
 397, 409, 415. 450. 485. 531. 549. 508, 
 
 574. 581, 584. 587. 592 
 
6oo 
 
 pfant Isope, IsegeT^/^ ansl Tsijrie/'. 
 
 Seed-sowing and the Moon, 1 70 
 
 Selenite, 173 
 
 Serpent-bearing Tree, 121 
 
 Seth, 17, 18, 19, 303 
 
 Shakspeare, Floral Emblems of, 184 
 
 Sheba, Queen of, 18, 19, 303 
 
 Shefto, 344 
 
 Sif, 24 
 
 Signatures of Plants, 154 
 
 Siva, 24s, 560 
 
 Skull, Moss on Human, 445 
 
 Solomon, 17, 19, 62, iii, 263, 273, 283, 
 
 303 
 Soma, 3, 106 
 Somnus, 25 
 Spells, 96 
 Spirits, 78, 83 
 StUl Folk, 67 
 Stone Tree, 126 
 Stromkarl, 71 
 Sun, 126, 166, 228, 309, 326, 366, 481, 
 
 558, 
 Superstitions connected with Plants, 97 
 Sybarites, 521 
 Sylvans, Wood Nymphs, and Tree 
 
 Spirits, 74, et seg. 
 Symbolism, 176 
 Teutons, Mother Tree of the, 7 
 
 „ Sacred Plants of the, 24 
 Tooba, 10, 13 
 Tree of Life, 13 
 
 Knowledge, 15, 241, 355 
 
 ,, Adam, \T,etseq. 
 
 ,, Death, 190 
 
 ,, Judas Iscariot, 49, et seq. 
 Trees of Paradise, and Tree of Adam, 
 
 9, et seq. * 
 Trees, Celebrated, 61 
 
 ,, Memorial, 60 
 
 „ Fabulous, 116 
 Toulouse, Floral Games of, 34, 212, 520, 
 
 579 
 Triumphs, Roman, 28 
 Toads, 82, 153, 566 
 Trinity, 287, 375, 545 
 Trinity Sunday, 59, 287 
 Tree Spirits, 58 
 
 „ „ Indian, 59 
 ,, Burman, 59 
 
 ,, ,, African, 60 
 
 ,, ., German, 60 
 Trolls, 64, 353, 568 
 Tombs, 189, 193, 379, 522 
 
 Thunder, iii, 361, 460, 544, 552, 554 
 Treasure-Caves, 112, 544, 552, 556 
 Tyr, 24 
 Thor, 24, 293, 305, 318, 362, 389, 460, 
 
 461, 489, 529 
 Tulipomania, 570 
 TulasJ, 245, 568 
 Unshoeing Horses, 113, 381, 444, 445, 
 
 SSI. 571 
 Vegetable Monstrosities, 129 
 Virgin Mary, 40, 41, 142, 362, 363, 395, 
 
 402,412, 433,437, 469, 518, 519, 526, 
 
 S3S> 546, 556 
 Venice Treacle, 162, 568 
 Venus, 24, 40, 42, 216, 218, 402, 411, 
 
 454. 477, S>6 
 Vishnu, 22, 177, 241, 245, 419 
 Wassail Bowl, 220, 526 
 Wassailing, 219 
 Wreaths, 36 
 
 Weddings. See Marriages. 
 Well-flowering, 32 
 Whitsuntide, 59, 254, 256, 261 
 Water Nymphs, 71 
 Wells, Nymphs of, 72 
 Wells, 33, 73, 554 
 Wands, 113, 363 
 Waterloo, 505 
 War of the Roses, 520 
 Witches, Plants of, 91, et seq. 209, 277, 
 
 358. 369, 373, 403. 444, 492, 509, 54', 
 542 
 
 Witches, Plants antagonistic to, 102, 252, 
 258, 287, 313, 333, 374, 377, 495, 532, 
 
 537, 554 
 Witches' Children, 92 
 
 ,, Chain, loi 
 
 ,, Charms, loi 
 
 „ Gowan, 353 
 
 „ Potions, 93 
 
 ,, Spells, 96 
 
 ,, Steeds, 92 
 Widows, Hindu, 250, 285 
 Wise Women, 97 
 Woden, 24 
 
 Wood of the Cross, 46, et seq. 
 Wood Nymphs, 74 
 Wondrous Plants, 123 
 World Trees of the Ancients, 1, et seq. 
 Yama, 188 
 Yule Log, 235 
 
 Yggdrasill, 2, 7, i8g, 232, 592 
 Zoroaster, 5, 21, 26, 306, 376, 378, 521, 
 540 
 
pfant Isofe, l9eger|t)/, cmsl Isiji'icy. 
 
 60 1 
 
 ^Qc^c^ of pPaat Rame/. 
 
 \^For Pettis named after Birds and Animals^ refer io ciiapier on that subjedtf. 136.] 
 
 Aaron, 228 | 
 
 Acacia, 23, 37, 158, 195, 
 
 205, S39 
 Acanthus, 46, 206 
 Achillea matrkaria, 174 
 Achyranthes, zo6 
 Acis, 532 
 Aconite, 443 
 Acorn, loi, 102 
 Acorus, ISS, IS9. 207 
 Adder's Tongue, 93, 95, 158, 
 
 207 
 Adonis, 341 
 jSgopodium Podagraria, 53, 
 
 374 
 Affodilly, 458 
 African Marigold, 198 
 Agaric, 56 
 Agnus Castus, 100, 106, 159, 
 
 208 
 Agrimony, 104, 1S9, 161, 
 
 208, 328 
 Air-bell, 358 
 Aish-weed, 374 
 Afamoda, 372 
 Albesp3me, 45, 218, 360 
 Albranke, 96 
 Alder, 24, 92, 209 
 Alecrim, 526 
 Alehoof, 391 
 Alexandrian Laurel, 263 
 Alisma, 236 
 Alisson, 212 
 Alkanet, 255 
 AUer, 209 
 Allgood, 3SS 
 All-heal, 162, 442, 538 
 Almond, 43, 181, 210 
 Aloe, 158, 191,211 
 Alyssum, 212 
 Amaracus, 27 
 
 Amaranth, 56, 58, 194, 2«2 
 Ambrose, 213 
 Ambrosia, 213 
 Amelias, 43, 213 
 Ameos, 376 
 Amorphophallus, 214 
 Amrita, 213 
 Amyris, 238 
 Anagallis, 367 
 Andhas, 214 
 
 Andromeda, 214 
 Anemone, 37, 70, 108, 193, 
 
 198, 214 
 Angelica, 162, <2i6 
 Angelica Archangelica, 227 
 Anise, 158 
 Antchar, 87 
 Anthyllis, 217 * 
 
 Antirrhinum, 95, 158 
 Apamarga, 206 
 Apium risus, go 
 Apple, 16, 24, 44, 60, 113, 
 
 116, 167, 199, 217, et seq. 
 „ of Sodom, 125, 225 
 ,, of Jerusalem, 237 
 Apricot, 225 
 Aquapura, 88 
 Aralda, 345 
 Arbol de Leche, 298 
 Arbor Vita, 43, 60, 191, 226 
 Arbutus, 226 
 Archangel, 54, 227 
 Areca, 227 
 Argentina, 109 
 Aristolochia, 227 
 Arjunt, 214 
 Arka, 228 
 Aronswurzel, 228 
 Artemisia, 113, 228 
 Arum, 90, 95, 228 
 Arundhati, 228 
 Asclepias acida, 106 
 Ash, 6, 24, 47, 62, 96, 103 
 
 n6, 126, 159, 231 
 Ashur, 256 
 Asoka, 5, 22, 107, 229 
 Asparagus, 158 
 Aspen, 47, 49, SO. 229. So3 
 Asphodel, 181, 189, 230 
 Ass-bane, 87 
 Ass-Parsley, 14S 
 Ass's Foot, 14s 
 Aster, 231 
 Asvattha, £, 236 
 Auguilanneuf, 44I 
 Auricula, 236 
 Avaka, 236 
 Avens, 53, 373 
 Azalea, 91, 236 
 Baccharis, 236 
 Bachelor's Buttons, tf>, 510 
 
 Bacia-Nicola, 246 
 
 Baharas, III 
 
 Balbaja, 237 
 
 Baldmoney, 237, 350, 550 
 
 Balis, 237 
 
 Balm, 44, 123, 124, 237 
 
 ,, of Gilead, 238 
 Balsam, 207, 237 
 
 „ Apple, 237 
 Bamboo, 36, 239 
 Banana, 14, 15, 179, 240 
 Baneberry, 53 
 Bank-cress, 327 
 Banyan, 16, 240 
 Baobab, 23, 242 
 Barberry, 46, 243 
 Barley, 138, 168, 243 
 Barnacle-tree, 118 
 Barometz, 121, 243 
 Banvurzel, 96 
 Basil, 22, 195, 244 
 Basilek, 278 
 Basilica, 51 
 Bauhinia, 247 
 Bawm, 23S 
 Bay, 24, 37, 60, no. III, 
 
 199 
 Beans, 41, 158, 159, 168, 
 
 195, 200, T,!,"] Bech, 451 
 Bear-wort, 550 
 Bear's Breech, 206 
 
 „ Ear, 158 
 
 „ Garlic, 349 
 Bech, 451 
 Bedstraw, 41, 249 
 Beech, 24, 38, III, 249 
 Beet, 158 
 Beh, 369 
 Belinuncia, 250 
 Bella Giulia, 514 
 Bell-flowers, 266 
 Bel-tree, 250 
 Belt of St. John, 52 
 Betel, 251 
 
 Betony, 95, 161, 251 
 Bignonia, 252 
 Bilberry, 252, 585 
 Bindweed, 158 
 Birch, 31, 51, 60, 191, 252 
 Birk, 255 
 Bishop's Leaves, 252 
 
 2 R 
 
6o2 
 
 ^?ant bore, h&g&r^f, dnS. byricy. 
 
 Bishop's Weed, 376 
 Wort, 398 
 
 Bittersweet, 159, 546 
 
 Bitter Vetch, 255 
 
 Blackberry, 83, 200, 258 
 
 Black-thorn, 113 
 
 Bladder-wort, 158 
 
 Blaeberry, 252, 585 
 
 Blasting-root, 551 
 
 Blessed Herb, 54, 373 
 
 BlUz-mehl, 28S 
 
 Blood-drops of Christ, 48 
 
 Blood-root, 155 
 
 Bloody Men's Fingers, 228 
 
 Blue-bell, 255 
 
 Blue-bottle, 277 
 
 Bluet, 278 
 
 BlutstrSpfihen, 341 
 
 Bohdda Tharanal, 268 
 
 Bois bini, 194 
 
 Bombax, 159, 192 
 
 Borage, 158, 255 
 
 Borgie-weed, 88 
 
 Boriza, 126 
 
 Bo-tree, 22, 491, 492 
 
 Botrys, 158 
 
 Box, 46, 58, 59, 60, 194, 
 
 197, 256 
 Boxthom, 46 
 Bracken Fern, 1 79, 257 
 Bramble, 46, 258 
 Brank-ursine, 46, 206 
 Brassica, 158 
 Breakstone, 156 
 Briony, 156, 159, 261 
 Brilalzar yEgyptiaca, 157 
 Brompton Stock, 553 
 Broom, 58, 95, 104, 159, 
 
 200, 260 
 Brown John or Jolly, 317 
 Brown-wort, 156 
 Buckrams, 349 
 Buck-thorn, 46, 261, 564 
 Bugloss, 261 
 Bullock's Eye, 382 
 
 „ Lung -wort, 155, 
 
 449 
 Bull's Blood, 380 
 Bulrush, 92, 262, 512 
 Burdock, 262 
 Buriti, 263 
 Burnet, 263 
 Burst- wort, 156 
 Bu^sorah Gall-nut, 225 
 Butea frmidosa, 5 
 Butcher's Broom, 263 
 Buttercup, 510 
 Cabbage, 60, 68, 170, 174, 
 
 264 
 
 Cactus, 265 
 
 Calf's Snout, 217 
 
 Calla ^thiopica, 228 
 
 Call-me-to-you, 484 
 
 'Camellia, 266 
 
 Campanida, 40, 54, 266 
 
 Camphor, 173, 267 
 
 Campion, 56 
 
 Canddaria, 449 
 
 Candelabrum ingens, 52, 423 
 
 Candle Mustard, 267 
 
 Candleweek^ower, 449 
 
 Candy-tuft, 267 
 Canker- weed, 179 
 Canna, 268 
 
 Cantg^ury Bells, 54, 156, 
 267, 268 
 
 CapUlus Veneris, 424 
 
 Caprifolium, 379 
 Cardamine, 268 
 Cardamom, 91 
 Cardinal-flower, 269 
 Cardon, 170 
 Care, 530 
 Care-tree, loz 
 Carline Thistle, 269 
 Carnation, 44, 198, 269 
 Carob, 49, 270 
 Carpenter's Herb, 156 
 Carrion-flower, 88 
 Carrot, 108, 270 
 Case-weed, 545 
 Cashew, 46, 271 
 Cassava, 271 
 Cassia, 196, 271 
 Cassolette, 514 
 Cast-me-down, 409 
 Casuarina, 191 
 Catch-fly, 272 
 Cat Mint or Nep, 272 
 Cat's Eye, 549 
 „ Foot, 391 
 „ Tail, S12, 581 
 Cedar, 17, 23, 46, 47, 60, 
 
 192, 196, 272 
 Celandine, 95, 100, 143, 155, 
 
 276 
 Centaury, 277 
 Centinode, 399 
 Centocchio, 108 
 Cerealis, 572 
 Cereus, 278 
 Certagon, 86, 109 
 Ceterach, 159 
 Ch&bairje, 263 
 Cha-Hwa, 2lb^ 
 Chamelsea, 278 
 Chamomile, 159, 198, 278 
 Champak, 107, 193, 279 
 
 Chenomychon, III, 144 
 Chervil, 95 
 
 Cherry, 41, 44, 137, 279 
 Chesnut, 280 
 Chivrefeuille, 379 
 Chickweed, 145, 159 
 Chicory, 325 
 Chinchona, 282 
 Chivfes, 159 
 Chohobba, 281 
 Choke Pear, 281 
 Chpra, 142 
 Christmas, 377 
 
 ,, Rose, 368 
 Christ-dorn, 46, 377 
 Christ-wurzel, 44 
 Christ's Blood drops, 375 
 
 „ Herb, 281 
 
 ,, Ladder, 2S1 
 
 „ Palm, 281 
 
 „ Thorn, 46, 281 
 Chrysanthemum, 37, 56, 91, 
 
 282 
 Cinnamon, 27, 95, 283 
 Cinquefoil, 159, 284 
 Circeium, no 
 Cisttis, 284 
 Citron, 284 
 Clappedepouch, 285 
 Clavis Diaboli, 85 
 Clear-eye, 156 
 Clematis, 286 
 Close Sciences, 514 
 Clot-bur, 263 
 Cloth of Gold, 542 
 Clove, 286 
 
 „ Gilliflower, 269 
 Clover, i8i, 287, 288, 379 
 
 „ Four-leaved, 71,1 10, 
 159, 287 
 Club Moss, 288 
 Cock's Comb, 145, 213 
 
 „ Head, 145 
 
 „ Foot, 145 
 Cocoa-nut Palm, 289 
 Cockle, 290 
 Ccelifolium, 341 
 CoflTee, 290 
 Cohobba, 88 
 Colchicum, 290 
 Colewort, 170, 264 
 Coltsfoot, 291 
 Columbine, 291, 575 
 Comfrey, 297 
 Concordia, 109, 291 
 Conjugalis Herba, 291 
 Convolvulus, 37 
 Coriander, 99, 291 
 Com, 16, 292 
 
(insLeg of ^fant Rame/. 
 
 603 
 
 Corn Feverfew, 91 
 » Flag, 352 
 „ Flower, 158, 277, 
 
 29S 
 Corn Marigold, 282 
 
 ,, Rose, 504 
 Cornel, 24, 295 
 Coronation, 269 
 Costmary, 174, 296 
 Costus, 271, 296 
 Cotton, 296 
 
 Couronne Imp€riale, 348 , 
 Coventry-bells, 267 
 Cows-and-Calves, 228 
 Cowslip, 30, S4. 70, 297 
 
 „ of Jerusalem, 297 
 Cow-tree, 297 
 Cranberry, 298 
 Cranesbill, 14S, 298 
 Cress, 158, 298 
 Crocus, 27, 156,^ 158, 299 
 Cross-flower, 58, 375, 437 
 „ wort, 375 
 ,, of Malta, 423 
 Crow Bells, 145 
 „ Berry, 145 
 ,, Flowers, 184, 510 
 „ Foot, 145. 510 
 „ Garlic, 145 
 ,, Leeks, 145 
 „ Needles, 14S 
 „ Toes, I4S „ 
 Crown Imperial, 183 
 Cuckoo-buds, 30, 137, 268, 
 
 300, 510 
 Cuckoo-flower, 95, 137, 268, 
 
 300 
 Cuckoo Gilliflower, 300 
 Cuckoo's Bread- and-Cheese- 
 
 tree, 138 
 Cuckoo's Bread - and - Meat, 
 
 137, 300 
 Cuckoo's Grass, 137. 3°° 
 „ Pint, 228, 300 
 ,, Pintle, 228, 300 
 „ Sorrel, 137 
 Cucumber, 300 
 Cuddle-me-to-you, 484 
 Cudweed, Alpine, 316 
 Cumin, 301 
 Currant, 159, 3°' 
 Cycory, 170 „ 
 
 Cyclamen, 91, 99, '03. •o'*' 
 
 IS9. 30> , „ 
 
 Cypress, 17, 24, 44, 40. 47. 
 
 91, 93. 95. 189. 191. '92, 
 
 19s. 302 ^ 
 Czekanka, 326 
 Daffadowndilly, 458 
 
 Dafibdil, 55, 58, 199, 458 
 Daffodilly, 307, 458 
 Dahlia, 307 
 
 Daisy, 24, 158, 184, 307 < 
 Damascus Violet, 308 
 Damask Violet, 368, 514 
 Dame's Rocket, 514 
 
 „ Violet, 308, 350,514 
 Damouck, 87 
 
 Dandelion, 151,158,159,309 
 Dane-weed, 310 
 ,, wort, 310* 
 Dane's Blood, 310 
 Daoun Setan 459 
 Daphne, 310 
 Darnel, 356 
 Date, 311, 482 
 Datura, 90, 565 
 Day's-eye, 308 
 Dead Tongue, 312 
 Deadman's Flower, 345 
 Deadly Nightshade, 91, 95, 
 
 460 
 Death's Herb, 85, 460 
 Demetria, 572 
 Dent de Lion, 151, 309 
 Deodar, 312 
 Devil's Apron, 459 
 
 „ Berty, 85 
 
 „ Bit, 85, 359 
 
 „ Bit Scabious, 85 
 
 „ Butter, 86 
 
 „ Candle, 85 
 
 „ Cherry, 85 
 
 „ Claws, 85 
 
 ,, Darning-needles, 85 
 
 „ Droppings, 82 
 
 „ Dung, 84 
 
 „ Dye, 85 
 
 „ Guts, 85 
 
 „ Milk, 86 
 
 ,, Snuff-boxes, 86 
 
 „ Tree, 85, 541 
 
 Devil-chaser, 86, 109, 537 
 „ in-the-Bush, 85 
 
 Dewberry, 355 
 
 Dhak, 313 
 
 Dill, 103, 313. 574 
 
 Discipline des Religieuses, 1 1 
 
 Discordia, 109 
 
 Distilling-plant, 127 
 
 Dittander, 313 
 
 Dittany, 24, 173. 3'3 
 
 Dock, 313 
 
 Dodder, 159 
 
 Dodecatheon, 297 
 
 Dog-grass, 24 
 
 Dog's-mouth, 217 
 
 Doi^ts de la Vierge, 344 
 Donderbloem, 382 
 Donnerbesen, 440 
 Donnerkraut, III 
 Dracaena, 314 
 Dragon's Blood, 314 
 Tears, 314 
 Drs^on-tree, 23, 314 
 Dream Herb, lt^ 
 „ Tree, 324 
 Dryas, 314 ^ 
 
 Duckweed, 145 ^ 
 Durian, 314 
 Duma, 315 
 Dwale-berry, 85 
 Dwarf Bay, 310 
 
 „ Elder, 310 
 Dyer's Alkanet, 91 
 Earth-Apple, 279 
 
 „ Nut, 159 
 Eberwurzel, 96 
 Ebony, 315 
 Edelweiss, 58, 316 
 Egg-plant, 317 
 Eglantine, 45, 317 
 Eglatere, 317 
 Eisenkraut, 511 
 Elder, 47, 49. 80, 87, 92, 
 
 103,. 110, 318 
 Elecampane, 159, 322 
 Elfenkraut, 69 
 Elfgras, 69 
 Elf-grass, 69 
 Elfin-plant, 526 
 Elichrysum, 323 
 Elm, 31, 192, 323 . , 
 Enchanter's Nightshade, 325 
 
 „ plant, 574 
 Endive, 158, 325 
 Epine Noble, 359 
 Eragrostis, 327 
 Eryngo, 327 
 Ei-ysimum, 327 
 Erythrina Indica, 213 
 Ethiopian Pepper, 9.1 
 Eugenia, 79, 109, 328 
 Eupatorium, 328 
 Euphorbia, 328 
 Euphrasy, 158, 329 
 Euphrosynum, 255 
 Everlasting- flower, in, 194. 
 
 328 
 Ewe, 592 
 
 Ewgh, 592 / 
 
 Eye of the Star, 380 
 Eyebright, 143. '79. 329 
 Fair Maids of France, 329 
 „ „ „ February, 54, 
 
 329. 546 
 
6o4 
 
 pfant Isore, l^eger^f, dnS. bijrie/. 
 
 Fairy Bath, 70 
 
 „ Butter, 70 
 
 „ Cap, 70, 344 
 
 „ Cup, 69 
 
 „ Fire, 70 
 
 „ Flax, 70 
 
 „ Herb, 70 
 
 „ Rings, 68, 356 
 
 ,, Steeds, 68 
 Fairies' Horse, 92 
 Feabeny, 355 
 Feldwode, 94, 329, 350 
 Fennel, 51, 60, 158, 162, 329 
 
 ,, flower, 398 
 Fenugreek, 27, 159 
 Fern, 50, 53, 68, 95, 157, 
 
 159. 33° 
 Fern of God, 179 
 Fern, Maidenhair, 424 
 Fever-few, 282 
 Ficus Indica, 240 
 
 ,, Religwsa, 490 
 Fig. 14. IS. 49. <>2. 93. 95. 
 
 159, 334 
 Fig-wort, 156 
 Filbert, 337 
 Filius ante Pairem, 300 
 Fingerhut, 344 
 Fior di morlo, 195 
 Fir, 24, 60, 65, 158, 19s, 
 
 337 
 Five-finger Grass, 356 
 Flame-tree, 339 
 Flamy, 484, 
 Flax, SI, 52, 158, 339 
 Fleabane, 53, 179, 340 
 Flea wort, 91 
 Fleur-de-Luce or Lys, 341, 
 
 387 
 Flor de las cinco llagas, 48, 
 
 4B8 
 Flor de Pesadilla, 93 
 Floramor, 213 
 Flos Adonis, 341 
 Flower of Constantinople,423 
 
 of Bristow, 423 
 
 of St. John, 52 
 
 Gentle, 213 
 
 Velure, 213 
 
 de Luce, 341, 388, 
 
 556 
 Flowers of Heaven, 341 
 Forget-me-not, 156, 342, 
 
 484. 549 
 Forglemm mig icke, 342 
 Foxglove, 70, 344 
 Frangipanni, 345 
 Frankincense, 27, 345 
 Fraxinella, 347 
 
 Freyja's Hair, 445 
 
 Friar's Cowl, 228 
 
 Frigg's Grass, 479 
 
 Fritillary, 347 
 
 Frog Bit, 158 
 
 Fuga Damonum, 103, 1 10, 
 368, 536 
 
 Fumitory, 348 
 
 Furrs, 356 
 
 Furze, 356 
 
 Furze-bush, 356 
 
 Gang-flower, 58, 348, 437 
 
 Gants de Notre Dame, 344 
 
 Galingale, 159 
 
 Gall-Apple, 95, 225 
 
 Garlic, 23, no, 154, 159,349 
 
 Gelotophyllis, 90 
 
 Genlt, 260 
 
 Gentian, 158, 350 
 
 Gentiana amarella, 96 
 
 Geranium, 24, 158, 159 
 
 Gethsemane, 228, 375, 479 
 
 Gill-by-the-Ground, 390 
 
 Gilliflower, 198, 269, 350 
 „ Clove, 269, 350 
 „ Marsh, 350 
 „ Queen's,350,Si4 
 „ Rogue 3,350,514 
 „ Stock, 350, 553 
 
 WaU, 350 
 „ Water, 350 
 „ Winter, 514, 546 
 
 Gilofre, 269, 350 
 
 Ginger, 159 
 „ grass, 551 
 
 Ginseng, 351 
 
 Gipsy-plant, 286 
 
 Giroflee, 350, 553 
 
 Gith, 290 
 
 Gladiolus, 352 
 
 Glastonbury-thom, 62, 352 
 
 Globe Amaranth, 213 
 „ Flower, 39, 353 
 
 Goat's Beard, 158, 354 
 
 .. Joy. 372 
 
 „ Rue, 144 
 Goblin Gloves, 70, 345 
 God's Floure, 323 
 Godeseie, 156 
 Gold, 432 
 „ Cup, 510 
 „ Knob, 510 
 , , of Pleasure, 354 
 Golden Flower, 323 
 
 ,, Flower Gentle, 354 
 „ ■ Herb, in, 542 
 ,, Maidenhair, 354 
 „ Mothwort, 323 
 „ Rod, 113, 354 
 
 Goldilocks, 354 
 
 Golding, 432 
 
 Goldy Flower, 373 
 
 Goltibetz, 354 
 
 Good Henry, or Good King 
 
 Harry, 355 
 Good-night, 387 
 Gool-achin, 355 
 Gooseberry, 355 
 Goose-grass, 144 
 
 „ Tansy, 144 
 Gopher, 305 
 Gorse, 356 
 Gory Dew, 356 
 Goss, 356 
 
 Go-to-bed-at-noon, 354 
 Goules or Goulan, 432 
 Gout-wort, 374 
 Gowan, 353, 354 
 Grace of God, 55 
 Grapes, 16, 169, 355 
 
 „ of St. John, 52 
 Grass, 68, 356 
 
 „ of Parnassus, 158 
 Great Bur, 263 
 
 „ Dragon, 155 
 
 ,, Herb, 70 
 
 „ Maple, 559 
 Grim the Collier, 359 
 Grip-grass, 356 
 Ground-heele, 357 
 Ground Ivy, 95, 104, 159, 
 
 390 
 Groundsel, 43, 357 
 Guabana or Guarabana, 358 
 Guelder-Rose, 59, 358 
 Guinea Hen, 145 
 Gyllofer, 269, 350 
 Hsemanthus, 358 
 Hag Taper, 94, 358 
 Hair-bell, 358 
 Half-Moon, 173 
 Hallelujah, 358 
 Hard-head, 381 
 Harebell, 53, 55, 67, 358, 
 
 385 
 Hart's Tongue, 158 
 Hartis Ease, 582 
 Hassocks, 356 
 Hawkweed, 144, 159, 359 
 Hawthorn, 58, 93, 195, 359, 
 
 563 
 Haymaids, 362, 390 
 Hazel, 103, no, 114, 362 
 Heart's-ease, 484 
 Heath, 56 
 
 „ Bell, 267 
 Heather, 365 
 Hedge Maids, 362 
 
Inc^e^ of pfant name/. 
 
 605 
 
 Hedge Mustard, 327 
 
 „ Taper, 358 
 Hederick, 509 
 Heermiinnchen, 279 
 Hade, 365 
 Helenium, 322, 365 
 Heliotrope, 23, 24, 343, 365 
 Hellebore, 56, 158, 159, 368 
 Helmet-flower, 369 
 Hemlock, S3. 93. 9S. 3 12. 
 
 369 
 Hemp, 22, 52, 105, 370 
 Hen Bit, 145 
 
 „ Foot, 14s 
 Henbane, 93, 95, 372 
 Henna, 24, 373 
 Henne-bush, 373 
 Hepatica, 59, 158 
 Herb Bennett, 373 
 Carpenter, 374 
 Christopher, 56, 374 
 Gerarde, 374 
 Margaret, 54, 374 
 Paris, 103, 37S 
 Peter, 54. 375 
 Robert, 54, 375 
 St. Barbara, 375 
 Trinity, 55, 376, 484 
 Twopence, 376 
 ■ffiilliam, 376 
 of Forgetfulness, 451 
 of Mary, 42 
 of Oblivion, no 
 of St. John, SI, 52 
 of the Blessed Mary,42 
 „ Cross, 47, 374 
 „ Devil, 84 
 „ Madoima, 42 
 „ Witches, 84 
 Htrba benedicta, 54, 369, 373 
 bona and sancta, 439 
 Briiannica, III 
 Clavorum, 113 
 Clytice, 366 
 Impia, 329 
 Sancta Maria, 440 
 Herbe au Chantre, 327 
 au Dragon, 153 
 aux Ladres, 357 
 d Amour, 436 
 de Marie Magdalene, 
 
 43 
 Heron's Bill, 14S 
 Hig or High Taper, 358 
 Hindbeny, 511 
 Hirschwurzel, 96 
 Holly, 44. 46. 56. 6O' '°'' 
 
 no, 376 
 Holm Oak, 385 
 
 Holme, 376 
 
 Holy Ghost, 162, 378 
 
 „ Grass, 58, 356, 378 
 
 „ Hay, 378, 536 
 
 „ Herb, 574 , 
 
 ,, Hock, or Hoke, 55, 378 
 
 „ Rope, 55, 378 
 
 „ Seed, 378 
 
 „ Thistle, 378 
 
 „ Tree, 60, 378 
 Homa, or Haoma, 378 
 Honesty, 378 
 Honeysuckle, 96, 159, 287, 
 
 379 
 Hook.weed, 374 
 Hop, 380 
 Horehound, 380 
 Hornbeam, 31 
 
 „ or Haidbeam, 380 
 Homed Poppy, 93, 95, S41 
 Horn flower, 228 
 Horse Beech, 380 
 
 „ - Chesnut, 380 
 
 „ Killer, 87 
 
 „ Knot, 381 
 
 „ Radish, 381 
 
 „ Shoe Vetch, 381, 571 
 
 „ Tail, 24 
 
 „ Tongue, 158 
 Hound's Tongue, 158, 159, 
 
 382 
 Houseleek, in, 382 
 Hulver, or Hulfeere, 376 
 Hunger-Grass, 179 
 Hur Bur, 263 
 Hurt-sickle, 278 
 Hyacinth, 158, 383 
 Hypericum, 51, 158 
 Hyssop, 46, 198, 385 
 Ilex, 385 
 
 Immortdks, 1 94, 328 
 Impatiens, 237 
 Ingudi, 386 
 Ipecacuanha, 386 
 Ipomsea, 386 
 Iris, 24, 43. «S8. 159. 387 
 Iron-head, 381 
 Irrkraut, 333 
 Irrwurzel, 498 
 Ivy, 24, 30, 59, 388 
 Jacinth, 358, 385 
 Jack-by-the-Hedge, 327 
 Jacob's Ladder, 391, 547 
 Jambi, 227 
 Jamboa, 23 
 Jambu, 391 
 Jasmine, 39, 107, 159. 193. 
 
 391 
 Jatropha wens, 87 
 
 Jerusalem Artichoke, 393 
 „ Cowslip, 393 
 „ Cross, 393 
 Oak, 393 
 » Sage, 393 
 Star, 393 
 Jesuit s Bark, 282 
 Jew's Eats, 393 
 
 „ Myrtle, 263 
 Joan's Silver Pin, 393 
 Job's Tears, 340, 393 
 Johannis-blut, 51 
 Johannis-wurzel, III 
 Jonah's Goiird, 393 
 Joseph's Flower, 354 
 Jove s Flower, 397 
 Judas-tree, 50, 92, 394 
 Jujube, 395 
 Julienne,.$H 
 July-flower, 553 
 Jump-up-and-kiss-me, 484 
 Juniper, 25, 41, 44, 91, loi, 
 
 no, 158, 181, 195. 395 
 Juno's Rose, 397 
 
 „ Tears, 397, 572 
 Jupiter's Beard,2i7, 382, 397 
 „ Distaff, 398 
 „ Eye, 382, 397 
 „ Staff, 398 
 Kail, 60, 398 
 K&malatd, 386 
 Kataka, 398 
 
 Katherine's Flower, 54, 398 
 Kecksies, 370 
 Kernel-wort, 399 
 Kerzereh, 399 
 Ketaki, 399 
 Kex, 370 
 Key-flower, 112 
 Kulda, i^\ 
 Kidney-vetch, 156, 217 
 
 „ wort, 159 
 King Cup, 59, 399. 51° 
 Kiss-me-at-the-garden-gate, 
 
 484 
 Kiss-me-ere-I-rise, 484 _ 
 Kiss-me-twice-before-I-rise, 
 
 398 
 Knee-holly, 263 
 
 „ holme, 263 
 
 ,, hulver, 263 
 Knight's Spurs, 404 
 Knot-grass, 399 
 Kovidara, 400 
 JCuddum, 400 
 Kunalnilaa, 51 
 Kusa-grass, 22, 400 
 Kushtha, 296, 401 
 Ladder to Heaven, 547 
 
6o6 
 
 pfant bore, begel^Ci/j ari^ bijfie/. 
 
 Lad's I^ve, 549 
 
 Lady Laurel, 310 
 
 Lady's Bedstraw 41, 249, 
 „ Bower, 402 
 ,, Bunch of Keys, 42 
 ,, Comb, 42 
 ,, Cushion, 42 
 „ Fingers, 42, 217 
 „ Garters, 402 
 „ Hair, 42 
 ,, Laces, 402 
 „ Looking-glass, 42 
 ,, Mantle, 42, 43 
 „ Nightcap, 402 
 „ Seal, 42, 402, 547 
 „ Slipper, 42 
 ,, Smock, 42, 55, 268 
 „ Tears, 43 
 „ Thimble, 402 
 ,, Thistle, 41, 158 
 ,, Tresses, 42, 402 
 
 Lamb Toe, 217 
 
 Lamiiim album, 227 
 
 ,, Galeobdolon, 227 
 
 L&ng Fredags Ris, 44 
 
 Larch, 93, 95, 403 
 
 Larks Claw, 145, 404 
 „ Heel, 14s, 404 
 „ Spur, 14s, 404 
 „ Toe, 14s, 404 
 
 Larmes de Sle. Marie, 43 
 
 Laurel, 23, 24, 32, 60, 75, 
 106, 404 
 
 Laurustine, 56 
 
 Lavender, 59, 91, 409 
 
 Leek, 409 
 
 Lentil, 23, 411 
 
 Lent Lily, 411 
 
 Leopard's Bane, 159 
 „ Foot, 510 
 
 Le'pan-tree, 79 
 
 Lettuce, 157, 158, 19S, 411 
 
 Libbard's Bane, 93 
 
 Life Everlasting, 416 
 
 Lilac, 59 
 
 Lily, 24, 27, 43, 51, 55, 59. 
 412 
 
 Lily of the May, 59 
 
 „ Valley, 43, S3, 
 59, loi, 158, 199, 414 
 
 Lime, 158, 414 
 
 Linden, 415 
 
 Ling, 365 
 
 Lion-foot Cudweed, 91 
 
 Lion's Snap, 217 
 
 Live-for-ever, 328 
 
 Live-in-Idleness, 484 
 
 Live-long, III, 319, 328, 416 
 
 Liver-wort, 155, 158, 208 
 
 Llysan gwaed gwyr, 310 
 
 Loco, 88 
 
 Locust, 205 
 
 London Pride, 416, 541 
 
 ,, Rocket, 514 
 Long Purples, 184 
 Loosestrife, 376, 417 
 Lords-and-Ladies, 228 
 Lotos, no, 417 
 Lotus, 23, 26, 37, 107, 158, 
 
 180, 418 
 Love, 422 
 Loveage, 422 
 Love-and-Idle, 422, 484 
 Love Apple, 422, 546 
 Love Grass, 327 
 Love-in-a-Mist, 422 
 Love-in-idleness, 422, 484 
 Love-lies-bleeding, 213, 422 
 Loveman, 422 
 Luckan Go wan, 353 
 Luck-flower, 112, 343, 422 
 Lucky HandSj 333 
 Lunary, 378 
 
 „ Lesser, 444 
 Lungwort, 155, 158, 297 
 Lupine, 159, 422 
 Lusmore, 70, 344 
 Lychnis, 55, 56, 423 
 Lycoris, 193 
 Lythrum SUicaria, 96 
 Mad Apple, 317, 546 
 Maghet, 174, 424 
 Magician's Cypress, 541 
 Magnolia, 87, 423 
 Mahwah, 423 
 Mai-blume, 31 
 Maidenhair, 24, 91, 104, 108, 
 
 424 
 Maids, or Maithes, 424 
 Main de Gloire, 428 
 Main de Ste. Marie, 43 
 Mallow, 158, 425 
 Malobathrum, 155 
 Mains Henricus, 355 
 Manchineel, 87, 425 
 Mandrake, 91, 93, 95, 108, 
 
 no, 113, 157, 425 
 Mango, 107, 428 
 Manna, 429 
 Maple, 429 
 Maracot, 181 
 Marguerite, 174, 424, 431 
 Marien-blumen, 42 
 Marien-gras, 42 
 Marien Magdalenen Kraut 
 
 and Apfd, 43 
 Marigold, 39, 56, 367, 432 
 Mariu Stakkr, 42 
 
 Marjoram, 158, 433 
 
 Marsh Mallow, 433 
 „ Marigold, 434 
 
 Martagon, 113 
 
 Mary-buds, 42 
 
 Mary Gowles, 432 
 
 Mastic, 434 
 
 Mather, 174, 424 
 
 Matza Franca, 225 
 
 Maudeline-wort, 174, 424 
 
 Mauritia, 435 
 
 May, 29, 31, 58, 360, 435 
 
 Maydweed, 174, 424, 435 
 
 May-flower, 31, 435 
 
 May Lily, 31 
 
 May-weed, 174, 424, 435 
 
 Meadow-cress, 269 
 
 Meadow Pink, or Campion, 
 509 
 
 Mead Parsley, 541 
 
 Medusa Head, 328 
 
 Meisterwumel, 96 
 
 Melon, 156, 159, 436 
 
 Menthe de Notre Dame, 42 
 
 Mercury, 162, 355 
 
 Mercury's Blood, 572 
 
 Mew, 237, 550 
 
 Mezereon, 310 
 
 Michaelmas Daisy, 56 
 
 Midsummer Daisy, 56 
 „ Men, 479 
 
 Mignonette, 198, 436 
 
 Milium soils, 157 
 
 Milk Thistle, 437, 562 
 
 Milk-wort, 348, 437 
 
 Millefoil, 95 
 
 Millet, 437 
 
 Miltwaste, 145 
 
 Mimosa, 23, 438 
 
 Mimusops, 439 
 
 Mindi, 373 
 
 Mint, 91, 439 
 
 Mistletoe, 47, 95, loi, 102, 
 103, 107, 113, 141,440 
 
 Mistress of Night, 568 
 
 Mock-plane, 559 
 
 Moly, 442 
 
 Mondveilchen, \T2, 
 
 Money-flower, 378 
 „ wort, 376 
 
 Monkey Cactus, 27S 
 
 Monkshood, 24, 93, 443 
 
 Moo-le-hua, 392 
 
 Moon- Daisy, 174 
 
 Moon's Beloved, 173 
 ,, Flower, 173 
 „ Laughter, 173 
 
 Moonwoit, 93,95. "3.378, 
 444, 571 
 
^n^e^ of ^fant Rame/, 
 
 607 
 
 Moriche Palm, 23, 435 
 Moss, 44, 60, 445 
 
 ,, Rose, 52, 446 
 Mother- wort, 15S, 44© 
 Mountain Ash, 47, 192, 529 
 Mouse-ear, 113, 343, 447 
 „ „ Scorpion - Grass, 
 
 343 
 Mugwort, 173, 449 
 Mulberry, 22, 447 
 Mullein, 94, 449 
 
 „ Petty, 297 
 Musa sapientum, 5 
 Mushroom, 451 
 Musk, 158 
 
 ,, Mallow, 91 
 Mustard, 452 
 Myrobalan, 453 
 Myrtle, 24, 37, 39, 60, 181, 
 
 193. «94. 454 
 Myrrh, 27, 196, 453 
 Nabkha, 46, 205 
 Napellus, 157 
 Narcissus, 25, 158, 457 
 Nard, 550 
 
 Nasturtium, 158, ijg, 459 
 Navel-wort, 108, 159 
 Neem, 459 
 Nelumbo, 23, 459 
 NetUe, 184, 459 
 Nigella, 158 
 
 Nightshade, 91, 93, 157, 460 
 Nimbu, 461 
 Nipa Palm, 461 
 Nipple- wort, 156 
 Nit-grass, 179 
 Nitraria tridentata, 87 
 Noble Liver- wort, 158 
 Noli me tangere, 237 
 None-so-pretty, 541 
 Nonsuch, 423, 545 
 Noniiscordar di me, 343 
 Noon-day-flower, 354 
 Nopal-plant, 266 
 Nosebleed, 589 
 Nutmeg, 136, 461 
 Nuts, 60, 157, 199, 461 
 Nyctegredum, III 
 Nydilopa, ill 
 Nymphasa, 463 
 Oak, 21, 25, 46, 59, 61, 65, 
 
 77, 107, 190. 192, 463 
 Oaks, Gospel, 61 
 
 „ Celebrated, 61 
 
 ,, Cross, 61 
 Oats, 472 . . , 
 Oculus Chnsti, 150 
 (Eil de Christ, 231 
 Officinalis Christi, 534 
 
 Ohelo, 585 
 
 Old Man's Beard, 286, 398 
 „ „ Head, 278 
 „ „ Pepper, 589 
 
 Oleander, 40, 87, 473 
 
 Olibanum, 346 
 
 Olive, 17, 25, 37, 38, 39, 46, 
 47, 142, 473 
 
 One-berry, 375 
 
 Onion, 23, 476 
 
 Ophiusa, 89 
 
 Ophrys, 159 
 
 Opium, 105 
 
 Orach, 156 
 
 Orange, 39, 193. I9S. 477 
 
 Orchis, 24, 99, 478 
 
 Organy, 158 
 
 Origanum, 95, loi, 158 
 
 Orpine, 51, 52, 60, in, 479 
 
 Osier, 113 
 
 Osmund Fern, 53, 56, 374, 
 
 479 , 
 Our Lady s Bedstraw, 41, 249 
 
 ,, „ Bunch of Keys,42 
 
 „ „ Comb, 42 
 
 ,, ,, Cushion, 42 
 
 „ „ Fingers, 42 
 
 „ „ Hair, 42 
 
 „ „ Lookmg-glass,42 
 
 „ „ Mantle, 42, 143 
 
 ,, „ Seal, 42, 547 
 
 » >, Slipper, 42 
 
 „ „ Smock, 42, 55, 
 
 268, 269 
 „ „ Tears, 43 
 „ „ Thistle, 41, 158 
 „ „ Tresses, 42, 402 
 
 Ox-eye Daisy, 52, 282 
 
 Paddock-stool, 82, 567 
 
 Pagod-tree, 242 
 
 Paigle, 297 
 
 Palasa, 5, 480 
 
 Palm, 23, 25, 38, 58, 62, 
 124, 481 
 ,, Palmyra, 5 
 
 J'alma Christi, 109 
 
 Palo de Vaca, 297 
 
 Panaccea, 157 
 
 Pansy, 70, 483 
 
 Paporot, 50, 112 
 
 Papyrus, 484 
 
 Paralytica, 236 
 
 Parsley, 38, 157, '98, 4^5 
 
 Parsnip. 159 
 
 Pasque-flower, 58, 486 
 
 Passion-flower, 48, 56, 181, 
 
 486 
 Passion-flower, English, 228 
 
 Paulownia, 488 
 
 Pavetta Indica, 488 
 
 Pawnee, 483 
 
 Pea, 168, 488 
 
 Peach, 23, 99, 490 
 
 Pear, 116, 490 
 
 Peascod, 489 
 
 Feci, no 
 
 Peepul, 5, 14, 22, 79, 490 
 
 Pellitory, 100 
 
 Pennyroyal, 95, 492 
 
 Peony, 53, 100, no, 141, 
 
 158, 198, 492 
 Pepper-wort, 313 
 Periwinkle, 390, 494 
 Persephonion, 572 
 Persicaria, 158 
 Pestilence-weed, 494 
 Pettigree, 263 
 Phallus impudicus, 88 
 Pharaoh's Fig, 62, 123 
 Pharisees' Rmgs, 357 
 Pheasant's Eye, 145 
 Phlox, 95 
 Phu, 572 
 Phytolacca, 494 
 Pickpocket, 545 
 Pigeon's-grass, 575 
 Pile-wort, 179, 277 
 Pimpernel, 103, 494 
 Pimpinella, 263 
 Pine, 24, 25, 36, 38, 46, 60, 
 
 495 
 Pink, 25, 194, 497 
 Pink-of-my-John, 484 
 Pipe-tree, 561 
 Pixie Stool, 82, 567 
 IHzzu'ngurdu, 107 
 Plakun, 50, 112 
 Plane, 497 
 
 Plantain, 79, 159, 498 
 Ploughman's Spikenard, 237 
 Plum, 499 
 Poa, 142 
 Pook Needle, 82 
 Poley, 91 
 Polyanthus, 194 
 Poly gala, 157 
 Polypodium dichotomon, 36 
 
 ,, vulgare, 41, 499 
 Polypody, 159 
 Pomegranate, 16, 24, 25, 
 
 158, 499 . ,, ^ 
 
 Pommier de Mane Magda- 
 
 leine, 43 
 Pompion, 170 
 Pompon, 282 
 Pomum mirabile, 257 
 Poor Man's Parmacetty, 286, 
 
 545 
 
6o8 
 
 pfant Tsore, l9eger|t)/, cffTS. bqricy. 
 
 Poor Man's Pepper, 313 
 „ „ Treacle, 349 
 Poplar, 25, 116, 502 
 Poppy, 25, 93, 108, 1S7. 158 
 
 159. 504 
 Portulaca, 158 
 Potato, 506 
 Prattling Pamell, 541 
 Prickly Pear, 266 
 Priest's Pintle, 228 
 Prikrit, 109 
 Primrose, 506 
 Prince's Feathers, 213 
 Procession Flower, 58, 348, 
 
 437 
 Provinsa, 107, 109 
 Prunella, 158 
 Pteris Esculenta, 507 
 PuckHst, 82, 567 
 Puck's Stool, 82, 567 
 Puff-ball, 82 
 Pulsatilla, 507 
 Pumpkin, 22, 507 
 Purslane, to8, 508 
 Queen's Stock Gilliflower, 
 
 SS3 
 Quick-beam, 508 
 Quicken-tree, 508, 529 
 Quince, 99, 508 
 Radish, 159, 509 
 Ragged Robin, 509 
 Raging Apple, 317 
 Rag-wort, or Rag-weed, 92, 
 
 509 
 Ram of Libya, 281 
 Ramp, 228 
 Rampion, 510 
 Ramsies, or Ramsins, 349 
 Ranunculus, 55, 158, 159, 
 
 510 
 Raspberry, 511 
 Rasriutrava, 112, 511 
 Rattle Weed, 88 
 Rayhan, 246 
 Reed, 511 
 
 Reed Mace, 46, 512 
 Peine Marguerite, 231 
 Rest Harrow, 571 
 Rhamnus, 25, 512 
 Rhubarb, 158 
 Rice, 513 
 Robin Redbreast's Cushion, 
 
 100 
 Rocket, 25, 514 
 Rodden, 529 
 Rogation Flower, 58, 348, 
 
 437 
 Roodselken, 48 
 Root of the Holy Ghost, SS 
 
 Rosa Maries, 41 
 
 Rose, 24, 25, 43, 54, 59, 
 
 138, 158, 181, 183, 193, 
 
 19s. 199, 515 
 
 „ Apple, 23 
 
 „ de Noel, 44 
 
 „ of Jericho, 44, 528 
 
 „ „ Sharon, 528 
 Rose-bay, 87 
 Rose-briar, 46, 49, 524 
 Rosemary, 60, 196, 197, ig8, 
 
 52s 
 
 Rowan, 23, io2, 529 
 
 Ruddes, 432 
 
 Rudraksha, 531 
 
 Rue, 104, 531 
 
 Rush, 44, 57, 532 
 
 Kye, 534 
 
 Saber, 181, 211 
 
 Sacred Bean, 459 
 
 Sad Tree, 534 
 
 Saffron, 27, 91, 299 
 
 Sage, 158, l6i, 534 
 ,, of Jerusalem, 297 
 ,, of Bethlehem, 297 
 
 Sainfoin, 43, 535 
 
 St. Andrew's Cross, 56 
 ,, Anne's Needlework, 54 
 „ Anthony's Nut, 53, 536 
 „ „ Turnip, 511, 
 
 536 
 ,, Barbara s Hedge - mus • 
 tard, 327 
 „ Barbara's Cress, 54, 375, 
 
 536 
 „ Bamaby's Thistle, 54, 
 
 536 
 ,, Francis' Thorn, 53 
 „ George's Tree, 53 
 
 Violet, 53 
 ,, James's Wort, 53, 286, 
 
 510, 536, 545 
 „ John's Wort;, 51, 52, 56, 
 
 60, 95, 103, 536 
 „ John's Hands, 333 
 ,, Katharine's Wheel, 536 
 ,, Patrick's Cabbage, 54, 
 
 536, 541 
 ,, Paul's Betony, 54 
 „ Peter's Wort, 54, 536 
 „ Thomas's Onion, 476 
 ,, Winifred's Hair, 55 
 
 Sallow, 58, 109, 538 
 
 Salsafy, 367 
 
 Sal-tree, 538 
 
 Salutaris, 173 
 
 Sambac, 392 
 
 Sami, 113, 205, 236, 539 
 
 Samolus, 539 
 
 Samphire, 54, 539 
 
 Sanct Benedicten-Kraut, 374 
 
 Sandal, 539 
 
 Sanguis jiominis, 52 
 
 Sanicle, 158, 159, 540 
 
 Sanicula Alpina, 236 
 
 Sardea, 540 
 
 Satyrion, 108, 159, 540 
 
 Savell, 170 
 
 Savin, 95, 157, 541 
 
 Savory, 541 
 
 Saxifrage, 157, 541 
 
 Scabious, 158, 159 
 
 Schliisselblutne, 112 
 
 Scorpion-grass, 156, 342 
 
 Scotch Thistle, 562 
 
 Screw Moss, 56 
 
 Scurvy-grass, 160 
 
 Sea Fennel, 549 
 
 „ Holly, 327 
 
 „ Moss, 158, 
 
 » Poppy. 541 
 Seal-wort, 547 
 Seebright, 156 
 Seed of Horus, 380 
 
 ,, ,, the Sun, 226 
 Selago, in, 137, 542 
 Selenile, 173 
 Self-heal, 374 
 Selja, 538 
 Sempervivum, 158 
 Sengreene, 382 
 Senna, 158, 271 
 Sensitive-plant, 543 
 Serpentaria, 376 
 Service-tree, 543 
 Sesame, 91, 112, 544 
 Setwall, or Setewale, 572 
 Sferracavallo, 113, 382, 551, 
 
 571 
 Shamrock, 180, 544 
 She- Devil, 85 
 Shepherd's Purse, 159, 545 
 Shittah Tree, 60 
 Sholoa, 545 
 Sickle-wood, 374 
 Sidj, 328 
 Silver Bush, 217 
 
 „ Plate, 378 
 
 ,, Weed, 109 
 Simpler's Joy, 574 
 Singer's Plant, 327 
 Sistra, 237 
 
 Skull-cap-flower, 369 
 Slayer of Monsters, 173, 349 
 Sleep-Apple, 93 
 
 „ Ihom, 93 
 Sloe, 200 
 Smilax, 91, 157 
 
^ac^e^ of pPant Rams/. 
 
 609 
 
 Snake's Bugloss, 581 
 
 Snap Dragon, 217 
 
 Sneeze-wort, 153 
 
 Snowdrop, 43, 54, $6, 546 
 
 Soap-wort, 159 
 
 Solanum, 546 
 
 Solisequus, 367 
 
 Solomon's Seal, 547 
 
 Solstice, 325 
 
 Sol Terreslris, 537 
 
 Soma, 2, 22, 106, 173, 547 
 
 Sonchus, 157 
 
 Sonnenkraut, 325 
 
 Son-trava, 107 
 
 Sops-in-Wine, 269 
 
 Sorb, III, 543 
 
 Sorcerer's Violet, 108 
 
 Sorrel, 549 
 
 Southernwood, 52, 549, 588 
 
 Sow Bread, 301 
 
 Sow Thistle, 44, 549 , 
 
 S parages, 170 
 
 Sparrow-wort, 56 
 
 „ Tongue, 145 
 Speedwell, 48, 342, 549 
 Sperage, 170 
 Spignel, 24, 550 
 Spikenard, 27, 550 
 Spina Christi, 46 
 Spleen-wort, 156, 159 
 Sponsa Solis, 326 
 Sposa di Sole, 434 
 Spreng-wursel, 552 
 Spring-wort, 113, 141, 551, 
 
 ' 571 
 
 Spurge, 310, 367 
 „ Laurel, 553 
 „ Olive, 278, 310 
 
 Squill, 553 
 
 Stachys Sylvatwa, 227 
 
 Stapelia, 88 
 
 Star Apple, 298 
 
 „ of Bethlehem, 43, 553 
 ,, of Jerusalem, 354 
 „ of the Earth, 373 
 
 Star-wort, 56, 367 
 
 Starch-wort, 228 
 
 Staunch, 217 
 
 Stepmother, 484 
 
 Sticadove, 409 
 
 Stock, 553 
 
 „ Gilliflower, 169 
 
 Stonecrop, III, SS4 
 Storax, 554 
 Stramonium, 106 
 Straw, 554 „ , 
 
 Stra\yberry, 41. 158, 55° 
 
 „ tree, 226 
 
 Strumea, 501 
 
 Strychnos TienU, 86 
 Succoiy, 325 
 Sugar-cane, 557 
 Sunflower, 56, 158, 166, 366, 
 
 SS7 
 Supercilittt» Veneris, 24 
 Supyari, 227 
 Swallow-herb, 276 
 „ wort, 159 
 Sweet Basil, 55 
 
 „ Calamus, 217 
 
 „ Cicely, 55 
 
 „ Flag, 207 
 
 ,, John, 416 
 
 „ Margery, 55 
 
 ,, William, 198 
 Swine- Bread, 301 
 Sword-Flag, 352 
 Sycamore, 558 
 Syringa, 559 
 Tamarind, 560 
 Tamarisk, 49, 192, 560 
 Tansy, loi, 561 
 Tea, 561 
 Tears of Isis, 572 
 Teasel, 158 
 Te-na-tsa-li, 109 
 Terebinth, 61, 346, 561 
 Teufelstttilch, 85 
 Theomat, 109 
 Therionarca, 90 
 Thistle, 41, 562 
 Thorn, 46, 95, II4> 1 74. 5^3 
 
 „ Apple, 565 
 Three-faces-under-a-hood, 
 
 Throat-wort, 156, 267 
 
 Thunder-flower, 382 
 
 Thunderbolt-flower, 544 
 „ thorn, 552 
 
 „ wood, 552 
 
 Thya, 226 
 
 Thyme, 43, 198, 5^6 
 
 Tirlic, 50 
 
 TUhymallus, 157, 158, 367 
 
 Tittle-my-fancy, 484 
 
 Toad-Flax, 156 
 
 Toad's Mouth, 217 
 
 Toadstool, 82, 566 
 
 Tobacco, 567 
 
 Tooth-cress, 179 
 
 Toothed Moss, 158 
 „ Violet, 158 
 
 Tormetitilla, 159 
 
 Toy-wort, 54S 
 
 Treacle Mustard, 159, 102, 
 568 
 
 Trefoil, 180, 287, 568 
 
 Tiiacle, 162, 568 
 
 Triphera, 157 
 Tripolium, 157 
 Troll-flower, 82, 353, 568 
 True-love, 375 
 Trumpet-flower, 252 
 Tuberose, 568 
 Tulasi, 109, 244, 568 
 Tulip, 56, 569 
 Tunhoof, 391 
 Turmeric, 79 
 Turnesole, 198, 366 
 Turnip, 156, 159, 571 
 Tussack-grass, 356 
 Tutsan, 52, 156, 538, 571 
 Twopenny-grass, 376 
 Typha, 262 
 Tziganka, 286 
 Ugh, 592 
 
 Unser Frauen Milch, 41 
 ,, „ Miiniz, 42 
 ,, ,, Rauch, 42 
 Unshoe-the-Horse, 571 
 
 Upas, 86, 571 
 
 „ Antjar, 86, 571 
 Vakula-tree, 79 
 Valerian, 53, 108, 109, 158, 
 572 
 
 Velvet-flower, 213 
 
 Venus' Comb, 42 
 
 ,, Looking-glass, 267 
 
 Verfluchte Jungfer, 325 
 
 Vergiss mein nicht, 342 
 
 Veronica, 550 
 
 Vervain, 39, 47. SI.9S. >03. 
 113. S72 
 
 Vibro, III 
 
 Vine, 25, 112, 158, 575 
 
 Violet, 158, 578 
 
 Violate de Damas, 308 
 ,, des Sorciers, 108 
 
 Viper's Bugloss, 158, 581 
 ,, Grass, 581 
 
 Virgin's Bower, 43, 55, 286 
 Pinch," 55 
 
 Wake Robin, 228 
 
 Wak Wak, 117 
 
 Wallflower, 582 
 
 Wall Gilliflower, 582 
 „ Stock Gillofer, 582 
 
 Walnut, 63, 158, 192, 582 
 
 Walpurgiskraut, 333 
 
 Wart-wort, 366 
 
 Water Gladiole, 533 
 „ Lily, 463 
 
 Waybread, 498 
 . Wegeleuckte, 325 
 
 Wegewarte, 325 
 
 Wheat, 52, 168 
 
 Whin, 356 
 
 2 S 
 
6io 
 
 pPant laore, TsegeT^ti/) ariS laijtta/. 
 
 White-root, 547 
 
 „ Satin-flower, 378 
 
 „ Thorn, 32, 44, 138, 
 
 Whortleberry, 585 
 Widow's Flower, 585 
 Widow-wail, 278 
 Wiggin, 530 
 William Tell's Tree, 592 
 Willow, 25, 157, 197, 586 
 Wind-flower, 70, 215 
 Wine-berry, 355 
 Winter Cherry, 158 
 
 Wishing Thorn, 114 
 
 Witchen or Wicken, 508, 529 
 
 Witch- Hazel, 380 
 
 Witches' Butter, 86 
 Bells, 34S 
 „ Gowan, 353 
 „ Herb, 84 
 „ Thimble, 359 
 
 Wolfs Bane, 53, 91, 93, 159, 
 
 443 
 Woodbine, 96, 379 
 Woodroof, 43, 59 
 Wood Sorrel, 48, 545 
 
 Wormwood, 51, 52, 378, 578 
 Wound-wort, 217 
 „ weed, 354 
 Yarrow, 102, 588 
 Yellow Rattle, 56 
 Yeugh, 592 
 Yew, 58, 62, 95, 191, 195, 
 
 197. 589 
 Yggdrasill, 592 
 Yoke- Elm, 380 
 Zaclon, 112 
 Zauberwurzel, I lo 
 Zedoaria, 572 
 
Grrafct. 
 
 Page Line 
 36 23 for dicotomoH^ read dickotoTtioH. 
 
 41 for A striking^ example, read The 
 
 same superstition occurs also in 
 
 Denmark, where a striking example. 
 
 43 for Hylde-vinde (Elder-queen), read 
 
 Hylde-qvinde (Elder-woman). 
 24 for Trollins^ read Trolhus. 
 
 3 for Verd&in read Vervain. 
 27, and pir 382, I. x8 and 37, for Miraldus, 
 read Mizaldus. 
 ' 74 35 for Paderhom, read Paderborn. 
 '77 3 y&r racs, rtfrtrf race. 
 J98 1 1 for Camomile, read Chamomile. 
 
 80 
 
 ib. 
 
 82 
 104 
 '59 
 
 Page Line 
 
 ao7 I ^r Vriitra, readVr\\.x?^, 
 
 237 1 1 for Balbaga, read Balbaja. 
 
 261 37 for palinurus^ read paliurus. 
 
 263 46 for Knee-pulver, read Knee-hulver. 
 
 306 41 for doiem, read Aowry. 
 
 343 3 >&rICKY-FLOWKR,rfffldtLuCK-FLOWEK. 
 
 SW I5 ^J* feed, r^rtrf feeds. 
 
 417 I Shakspeare's '* Lon^ Purples " is sup- 
 posed to be the Orchis mascula, 
 
 462 6 T^y Iceland, rsrtrf Ireland. 
 
 489 13 for Saurkraut, read Sauerkraut. 
 
 531 I3 yfcr Irdand. «rtrf Iceland. 
 
 57X 39 far Autiaris, read Anfiaris. 
 
nTIII]I?j5P0Si8)»!fflBeB«SmB»» 
 
 iwfflnMBiiimwiAiwismwi 
 
 i|!|«8IIBil^#ji.4li 
 
 !lfl