XVI. Funeral Trees and Plants (part 2 of 3)

XVI. Funeral Trees and Plants (part 2 of 3)

=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 fact of our Lord having cursed an unproductive Fig-tree,--the tradition being that, after this malediction, 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. Pitré, 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 malediction, 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 Judasbeeren.----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 Arbor Judæ, the Judas-tree, is the Cercis Siliquastrum (Wild Carob-tree). “It may,” says the old herbalist, “be called in English Judas-tree, for that it is thought 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 Paliurus, 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 stabulis 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 protective 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 persecutions of King Ahab, and we read in 1 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 began 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 malediction 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 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 practices 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 object 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 successive 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 protected the Prophet Elijah.----In Tuscany, the Juniper receives a benediction in church on Palm Sunday.----In Venetia, Juniper is burnt to purify the air, recalling the ancient Roman custom of burning it instead of incense on the altars.----In Norway and Sweden, the floors are strewed with the tops of Juniper, which diffuse a pleasant fragrance.----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 suspects 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 infection 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 actual 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 Dodonæan Jupiter is usually depicted with a wreath of Oak-leaves; the Olympian Jove wears a wreath of Olive, and his mantle is decorated with various flowers, particularly the Lily; to Jupiter Ammon the Beech is dedicated. The House-leek (Sempervivum 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 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 expected, 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 Nigella Damascena has been called Katharine’s or St. Katherine’s-flower, from the persistent 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 ornament conspicuously the Garden of Paradise. An odoriferous water is distilled from the flowers, and the bark is used medicinally.

=KERNEL-WORT.=--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 properties. 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 mediæval 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.

KISS-ME-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 decoction was, in olden times, believed to be efficacious 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.”

=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, protector 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 protect them from all infantile diseases. Kounalnitza is also gathered as a protection against sorcerers, who by their cries scare reapers and workers in the fields.”

=KUDDUM.=--The Kuddum, or Cadamba (Anthocephalus Cadamba), is one of the most sacred trees of India. According to the Chinese Buddhist scriptures, there grows to the east of the mountain 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, and 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 cynosuroides) 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 of ‘Sakuntalâ,’ written by Kâlidâsa 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 Sakuntalâ’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 Vedic 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 Vâyu, 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 protect thee!” According to the Vedas, a house ought to be erected 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 Barhis, 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 Barhis is sometimes even employed to signify in a general manner the sacrifice itself.

=KUSHTHA.=--Wilson identifies the Indian mythological tree Kushtha with the Costus speciosus, a swamp plant bearing snow-white 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.” Statice 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 vulneraria and Digitalis purpurea) are Lady’s Fingers. Neottia spiralis, with its flower-spikes rising above each other like braided hair, is Lady’s Tresses; and the Maidenhair Fern is Our Lady’s Hair. Dodder (Cuscuta), from its string-like stems, is called Lady’s Laces; and Digraphis arundinacea, from the ribbon-like striped leaves, Lady’s Garters. In Wiltshire, Convolvulus sepium is called Lady’s Nightcap. Cypripedium Calceolus, from the shape of its flower, is called Lady’s Slippers; and Cardamine 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 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 Cæsar, 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 Cæsar found it.”----Tiberius constructed 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 Briançon; 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) Horned 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 Fräulein, 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 Mythothologie des Plantes, relates that a group of seven Larches constituted for the Ostiaks a sacred grove. Everyone passing was expected to leave an arrow, and formerly it was customary to suspend skins there, so that in course of time an immense quantity was accumulated. 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 Bérézof: 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 conformation: about six feet from the ground the trunk of the tree became divided into two limbs, which joining again a little higher 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 Linnæus 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.

“_Dic quibus 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 Delphininium 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 Hector, the intrepid 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 Hector; the blood spurting from his self-inflicted 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, however, 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. 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 Cæsar’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 Phœbus 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 baie, a berry. By the Greeks and Romans the tree was considered sacred. The Romans decorated with Laurel the gods Apollo and Bacchus, the goddesses Libertas and Salus, Æsculapius, Hercules, &c. The victors of the Pythian games, held to commemorate Apollo’s triumph over the Pythons, wore crowns of Laurel, Palm, or Beech. Paris (called in Homer, Alexander) was crowned with Alexandrian Laurel (Ruscus racemosus), as victor in the public games, whence its names in Apuleius, Daphne Alexandrina and Stephane Alexandrina. Of all the honours decreed to Cæsar by the Senate, he is said to have valued most the privilege of wearing a crown of Alexandrian Laurel, because it covered his baldness, which was reckoned a deformity among the Romans as well as among the Jews. This is the Laurel generally depicted on busts, coins, &c. The palace gates of the Cæsars, and the high pontiffs were decorated with Laurel. Victorious Roman generals sent their letters and dispatches to the Senate enclosed in Laurel-leaves. The letter announcing the victory was called literæ laureatæ, and its bearer carried a branch of Laurel, which was placed in the breast of Jupiter Optimus 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 Œdipus, 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, was sometimes called Daphne (Laurel).

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; and Claudian, venturi præscia Laurus. Fulgentius states, that a Laurel-leaf placed beneath the pillow will cause coming events to be foreseen in a dream; thereby greatly assisting the prediction of future events. Diviners, like the priests of Apollo, wore Laurel wreaths, and Laurel was used in the composition 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 structure 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 ascending vapour, she fell into an ecstacy, and prophesied. After a temple of stone had been constructed, the Pythia prophesied in an inner and secluded cell, the only opening to which, accessible to questioners, was covered with Laurel-leaves. The Laurel being sacred to Apollo as well as to Æsculapius, was used in the temples of both these divinities, partly to induce sleep and dreams, partly to produce beneficial effects 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 erected in the forecourt of the temple at Delphi.

The Bœotian fêtes, 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 Ætolians had invaded Bœotia, but both invaders and defenders suspended hostilities to celebrate the festival of Apollo, and having cut down Laurel-boughs from Mount Helicon, they walked in procession in honour of the divinity: that same day the Bœotian general, Polemates, dreamed that a youth presented him with a suit of armour, and commanded the Bœotians to offer prayers to Apollo, and to walk in procession, with Laurel-boughs in their hands, every ninth year. Three days 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 protected his head with Laurel-leaves. In Sicily, it has long been popularly believed that the shrub is a protection from thunder and lightning. The same superstition survived till recently in our own country. W. Browne tells us that “Baies being the material of poets’ ghirlands, are supposed not subject 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 effectual against all poisons of venomous creatures, as also against the pestilence and other infectious diseases.”

The decay of the Bay-tree, which is generally rapid, was formerly 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 Emperor Claudius was advised by his physicians during a raging pestilence 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 15th of May, merchants used to celebrate a festival in honour of Mercury, and proceeding to a public fountain, 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 associations, it became the fashion to crown young doctors 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 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 days 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 immediately began to quarrel among themselves: the quarrel ceased, however, directly the branch was thrown away.

Petrarch made the Laurel the constant theme of his verse, associating 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 Christian 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 victory 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 handsome 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 deserted girl; “the night is already flying, and if I remain longer here I shall dissolve away into dew.” “Away, young and beautiful girl,” 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 Lavender” 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. Stœchas), which formerly grew in great abundance on the islands near Hyères, in France, that were named after the plant, the Stœchades. 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 Portugal, 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 counteract the effect of the Evil Eye on little children.----The Kabyle women attribute to Lavender the property of protecting 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. 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 Welshmen on St. David’s Day (March 1st), 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 victory 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 Cymortha, 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 respect obtained for him the satirical name of Porrophagus, the Leek Eater. Martial, referring to the disagreeable effects 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 subject 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 potherbs. 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 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 Resurrection, 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 traditionally 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 inflicted by a wild boar that had come to feed on the Lettuces, and so surprised the beautiful 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 mediæval days, it was superstitiously thought that an evil spirit lurked in a bed of Lettuces, and a species known by women as Astylida was believed to affect 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, probatum 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 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 nectareous 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 Hercules 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 (lactea 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 the 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 dedicated 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 Iris, or Fleur 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 Visitation of Our Lady. According to the Romish legend, St. Thomas, who was absent at the death of the Virgin, would not believe in her resurrection, 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 kneeling 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 depicted with the Lily in his hand; his staff, according to the legend, having put forth Lilies. Later painters of this school depict 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 pictures of St. Bernard.----As protector 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 characteristic 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 Solentine.----Lilies being emblematic of the Virgin, an order of knighthood was instituted by Ferdinand of Aragon, in 1403, called the “Order of the Lily,” the collar of which was composed of Lilies and gryphons.----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, 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 mediæval 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 superstition 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 affections. 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 aurea. It was esteemed as a preventive against all infectious distempers. Camerarius recommends an oil made of the flowers as a specific against gout and such-like diseases. His prescription is as follows:--“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, entertained 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 neighbouring hill, where they saw their neighbours’ dwellings 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 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 Tyanæan 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 they 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 mythology, 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 protective 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 overshadow a considerable portion of the country.----At Süderheistede, 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. Connected 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 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 kapellmeister. 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 Elector, 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 act, 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 supposed to have been given to the Sedum Telephium from its remaining alive when hung up in a room. Parkinson, in his ‘Paradisus,’ 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 aspect.” 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.)

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 unrulinesse 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 Neptune, was unfortunate enough to attract the notice of Priapus, who attempted to offer her violence. Flying terrified from the deformed 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 Andræmon, passing the tree one day, in company with her sister Iole, stopped to pluck the fruit to please her infant son Amphisus, whereupon she became suddenly changed into a Lotos-tree. Iole 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 distinct 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 certain monuments to be seen, and an altar to Ulysses, besides a great abundance of Lotos-trees, whose fruit is wonderfully sweet. According to Homer, the Lotos-eater became oblivious of the world and its cares; and he relates how the seductive 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 everlasting. 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 Nymphæa Lotus of Linnæus, and, according to Grecian mythology, owed its origin to a young girl who was deeply in love with Hercules, and who, dying of jealousy, was transformed into the Lotus. With the Greeks, the flower was the symbol of beauty and of eloquence, perhaps because it was reputed to flourish in the fields of Helicon. Young girls twined these flowers into garlands. Theocritus 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 object 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 presence 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 Mahâbhârata as blazing with golden edifices studded with innumerable gems. Descending from the superior heaven the waters of the Ganges flow through this Paradise, and here are also lovely diminutive 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-lilies, is Vishnu, and on the right hand is his wife, the goddess Lakshmî, 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 on 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).----The emblem of the Sun was called Sûramani (the jewel of the Sun), but when the Svâbhâvikas 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. Jehovah The Jewel Lotus Amen.

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 extraordinary contrivance, the praying-wheel, was invented. In accordance 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 connected 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 Nâg-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 Swayambhû, in the form of a luminary, on the day of the full moon in the month of Asvins.----Another Buddhist legend relates that the King Pându 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.----Kâmadeva, 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 surrounding 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 structures, and hence its spreading tendrils and perfect 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 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 Nymphæa that 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 Nymphæa. The god Osiris (the Egyptian Phœbus) 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 approaching 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 cultivated three species of Nymphæaceæ--the Nymphæa cerulea, or blue-flowered Lotus; the Nymphæa Lotus, a white-flowered variety, which still grows profusely in Lower Egypt, and which is the flower represented in the mosaic pavement at Præneste; and, lastly, the Nelumbium 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 been 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 throwing it into the water, may be 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, China, 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, 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, alternating with each other.

=LOVE PLANTS.=--The Clematis Vitalba 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 Solanum 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 appearance, 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 Kyffhäuser, on the Quästenburg, and even on the north side of the Harz. It was from this legend that, according to Grimm, the little blue flower “Forget-me-not” originally received its name, which at first was indicative 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 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 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 Ialysus, 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 contract 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 maledictions 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 Jerusalem and Cross of Malta. By old writers it was known as Flower or Campion of Constantinople, Flower of Bristow, and Nonsuch.

=MAGNOLIA.=--The Magnolia grandiflora 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 neighbourhood 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.

=MAHWAH.=--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 Almond-like fruit is eaten, and an oil is obtained from it: the wood is hard, and is used by the Indians in constructing their huts. Among certain uncivilised hill tribes, the Mahwah is regarded as equal to a deity, so great is their affection 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.=--Adiantum, 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 Chamomilla), Maudlein, or Costmary (Balsamita), Maudlin-wort or Moon Daisy (Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum), the Maudlin, or Herba divæ Mariæ (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 protected the thievish crow because of the legend that a crow had brought them the first seed of the sacred plant.----At 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 ceremony 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 Mancinella) 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 Parcæ, the arbiters of the life and death of mankind. Clothed in sombre black robes, and 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 vegetable, and, in fact, 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 ‘Lalla 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 Mandrake 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 describes 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 effect was maddening--

“And shrieks like Mandrakes, torn out of the earth, That living mortals, hearing them, ran mad.”

One other terrible attribute of this ill-omened plant was its power, by its pestilential effects, 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, in his directions for the site of gardens, says they may be formed where

“The Mandrakes flowers Produce, whose root shows half a man, whose juice With 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 narcotic and restorative alone induced the gathering of so dangerous a root.----In mediæval times, when ignorance and credulity were dominant in Europe, the mountebank quack doctors palmed on the credulous fictitious 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 Genlis 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 Mandragora (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 dislodged 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 off evil spirits, acting 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 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 sand bath.----In France, under the names of Main de gloire or Maglore, the Mandrake became a species of elf; and, till the eighteenth century, there existed a wide-spread superstition among the peasantry connected 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 fact 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 fell 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 Kâmadeva is represented as having five arrows, each tipped with the blossom of a flower which pierce the heart through one of 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.”

Kâmadeva 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 production 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 effected.

=MANNA.=--Some naturalists consider that the Manna miraculously 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 exudations which cover certain trees, has at all times been a subject of wonder, and for a long time it was thought that these saccharine tears, which appear so quickly, were simply deposits from the atmosphere. The Manna used in medicine is principally procured from the flowering Ash (Fraxinus ornus), which is cultivated for the purpose in Sicily and Calabria: the puncture of an insect of the cochineal family causes the sap to exude. The Manna of Mount Sinai is drawn from the Tamarisk by puncture 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 Briançon. A sweet substance 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 Pantherine 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 10,000 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 mediæval 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 superstitious 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 conspicuous 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 kingdoms. 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 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. Meanwhile, 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, Take off in wine, a present med’cine known.”

=MARGUERITE.=--The Daisy (Bellis perennis), which Chaucer called “douce Margarette,” derives its French name of Marguerite from its supposed resemblance to a pearl. In Germany, indeed, it is known as the Meadow-pearl, and Chaucer, in describing the flower, says:--

“And of a perle fine orientall, Her white croune was imaked all.”

The Greek word for pearl, Margarites, 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 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 mediæval days was very popular, 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 connected with several eminent women of the name of Margaret. Margaret of Anjou wore the flower as her device, 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 erecta) is regarded as a sacred flower in Northern India, where the natives adorn the trident emblem of Mahâdeva 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 Chrusanthemon, or Gold Flower, of the Greeks.----In mediæval times, this flower, along with numerous others, was dedicated by the monks and nuns 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.----Shakspeare, 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 with him rises weeping.”

Linnæus 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 expected. 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, “Je 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 unfortunate Mexicans who fell victims 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 odoriferous 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: 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 Marjoram, which in some countries is the symbol of honour.----Astrologers place the herb under the rule of Mercury.

=MARSH MALLOW.=--The name Althæa (from a Greek root meaning to cure) was given to this plant on account of its manifold healing properties, which were duly appreciated by the old herbalists. It was sometimes called Bismalva, being held to be twice as good in medicinal properties as the ordinary Mallow. As an ointment, it was celebrated for mollifying heat, and hence it became invaluable as a protection to those who had to undergo the ordeal of holding red-hot iron in their hands. This ordeal was practised 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 innocence, to take up red-hot iron in their hands: a similar ordeal was extant in the Middle Ages, when invalids and delicate persons, particularly monks and ecclesiastics, were exempted from the usual mode of single combat, and were required to test their innocence by holding red-hot iron in their hands. These trials were made in the church during the celebration of mass, inspection being made by the clergy alone. The suspected 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 action 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 perfectly safe.----According to a German tradition, an ointment made of the leaves of the Marsh Mallow was employed to anoint the body of anyone affected 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 Phœbus 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 Dictynna, 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 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.

=MAURITIA.=--The Moriche Palm (Mauritia flexuosa) 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 Suffolk, 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, Epigæa 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 signifying 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 Maydweed. (See MAITHES, COSTMARY, and MOON DAISY.)

=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 Ali 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 unfortunate 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 affected; he embraced his children, and forthwith hastened with all speed to his wife, whose pardon he implored. Then he ordered public fêtes 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 prognostic of recovery by reason of their humidity or juicy substance.

MIDSUMMER MEN.--See Orpine.

=MIGNONETTE.=--The Mignonette, or Little Darling, is supposed 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 Nordburg, 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 selecting flowers for which their admirers were expected to improvise mottoes. Charlotte was invited to follow the example of her betters. Amelia von Nordburg had selected 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 Mignonette in her dress. Noticing as she did so that her coquettish cousin was neglecting 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: “Elle ne vit qu’un jour, et ne plait qu’un moment;” and then presented her with this motto for her own Mignonette: “Ses qualités surpassent ses charmes.” His wilful fiancée took offence at the Count’s discrimination, and revenged herself by treating him with studied coldness and neglect; the result being that the Count transferred his affections to the dependent Charlotte, whom he soon afterwards married, and to celebrate the event added a spray of Mignonette to the ancient arms of his family.

=MILK THISTLE.=--The Thistle Silybum Marianum 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 vulgaris), bore the names of Cross-flower, Rogation-flower, Gang-flower, and Procession-flower, which were given it because, according 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, perambulated the limits of the parish with the Holy Cross and Litanies, and invoked the blessing of God upon the crops; on which occasion, Bishop Kennett tells us, the maidens made garlands and nosegays 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 Hedge Hyssop.” The plant was called Milkwort from an old belief that it increased the milk of mothers who took it.----A Javanese species, Polygala venenata, is greatly dreaded by the natives of Java for its poisonous effects; 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 consider 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 respective vigils; and on each occasion the theft was repeated, and further portions 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 determined 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 rattled 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 enchanter. 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 mythology, 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 from the demons who kept it shut up: the attempt was successful, but the falcon, whilst flying off 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 perfect 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 product 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 Herba bona and Herba sancta, and the ancients were wont to weave garlands of its foliage to be worn by brides--corona Veneris. In later days, the herb was dedicated to the Virgin, under the name of Herba Sanctæ Mariæ.----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 superstition. 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 Frîgg 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 Hödr, 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 Frîgg; 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, Donnerbesen; 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 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 sanctity, 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 Mistletoe 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 victims, 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 properties, they placed it in water, and distributed this water to those who deserved it, to act as a charm against the spells of witches and sorcerers. If any portion of this plant came in contact with the earth, it was considered as ominous of some impending national disaster.----The practice 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 Worcestershire 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 fêtes held in commemoration of the ceremony of the sacred Mistletoe, and which was called Auguilanneuf (Gui de l’an neuf).----In Holstein, the peasantry call the Mistletoe the “Spectre’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 Æneid, as well as by Ovid and other ancient writers. Albertus Magnus states that the Mistletoe, which the Chaldæans called Luperax, the Greeks Esifena, and the Latins Viscus Querci, like the herb Martagon (Moonwort), possessed the property 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 sanctæ 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 suspended in the house to protect 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 companions, 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; Moly the name, to mortals hard to find, But all is easy to th’ ethereal kind.”--Pope.

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 Homericum). The identity of the plant has, however, long been a matter for speculation among botanists of all ages. Dodonæus, Anguillara, and Cæsalpinus consider it to be Allium magicum; Matthiolus and Clusius, Allium subhirsutum; Sprengel, Allium nigrum; and Sibthorp, a plant which he names Allium Dioscoridis. Various treatises have appeared on the subject, in one of which the Moly is thought to be identified with the Lotus. Milton, in his ‘Comus,’ mentions a magical plant, designated Hæmony, 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 Echydnæan monster’s jaws Derived its origin, and this the cause. Through a dark cave a craggy passage lies To ours ascending from the nether 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 novercæ.”

In Greece, the Wolf’s Bane is credited with many malignant influences, 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 destruction.----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 pictures 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 functions 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 affections.----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 extract 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, referring to the mystical character 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 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! tell us where thou hidst the smith, Hammer and pincers, thou unshodd’st them with. Alas! 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 Sifjar haddr, 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 Moosweibchen are 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 presents to their protégés.----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 falling 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 morn.”

=MOTHERWORT.=--According to Parkinson, the Motherwort (Leonurus 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. 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 prolonging 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-flowers. 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 prediction 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 Mulberry-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 upon the leaves of Mulberry-trees during the night, from whence it is afterwards collected.----Pliny called the Mulberry the wisest of trees, because 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, sing to them that the Devil requires them for the purpose of blacking his boots.----According to Gerarde, “Hegesander, in Athenæus, 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 recklessly cut down in 1759; 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.”

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 shên (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 productive.” Ching made the congee, and afterwards had a great crop of silkworms. Hence came the Chinese custom of making thickened congee on the fifteenth of the first month.

=MULLEIN.=--The Mullein (Verbascum) was formerly employed 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 (V. 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 insect. 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 decoction 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, mater 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.

“That with the yellow crown, named from the queen Who built the Mausoleum.”--Smith’s ‘Amarynthus.’

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 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 effect of the evil eye of men. The plant was also considered a charm against the ague.--T--here 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 Holland. 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 writer 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 exactly 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 preserve 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 district 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 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 luminous 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 Tchornobil (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, Tchornobil; 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 object. 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, recollecting 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 manufactured 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, Porphyrius calls Mushrooms sons of the gods.----In Indo-European mythology, the Sun-hero is represented as sometimes 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 parts of England it is believed that the changes of the moon 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 attract and detach any poison from the Mushrooms, and thus render them innocuous.----Bacon characterises 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 Mustard-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 incarcerated; having been condemned by Indra to remain there transformed 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 extracted. According to the custom of his class, the husbandman 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, however, is much employed in Indian medicines. According to Hindu tradition, the wife of Somaçarman struck twice with a wand a Myrobalan-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 Balsamodendron 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 Sabæan 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 wide, A firm foundation for the trunk provide: Her solid bones convert to solid wood, To pith her marrow, and to sap her blood: 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.”--Dryden.

Myrrh is one of the ingredients of the sacred ointment or oil of the Jews, 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 Myrrh and Aloes, about an hundred pounds weight, that his body might be embalmed.----Myrrh formed part of the celebrated Kuphi of the Egyptians--a preparation used in fumigations and embalmings. At the fête 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 mediæval 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 affection, 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 consecrated 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 selected 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 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 Horæ, 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 protégés) 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 of Myrrha, the incestuous mother of Adonis, the married women crowned themselves with Myrtle. Virgil represents the victims 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 entwined Myrtle with their Laurel wreaths. When Aristogiton and Harmodius set forth to free their country from the tyranny of the Pisistratidæ, 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 invigorating qualities. On the 1st of April, Roman ladies, after bathing beneath the Myrtle-trees, crowned themselves with the leaves, and proceeded to the shrine of Venus to offer sacrifice. The Roman bridegroom decked himself with Myrtle on his bridal day; and the hero wore it as a badge of victory, and sometimes interweaved it with Laurel in honour of Venus and Mars. When the 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 themselves with its boughs. The tree was sacred to the Sabine Mars Quirinus; 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 victory, but only when blood had not been shed.----Pliny relates that Romulus planted in Rome two Myrtles, one of which became the favourite of the patricians, the other of the people. When the nobles won, the people’s Myrtle drooped; when, on the other hand, the people were victorious, 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, Phædra, 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 Phædra at Trœzen.----The same writer relates that a Myrtle which had been the hiding place of a hare was selected 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 frequently used in Hebrew religious ceremonies. Branches of this and other Evergreens are used in the erection 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 odoriferous 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 Love 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.

Hence in Elysian fields are Myrtles said To favour lovers with their friendly shade, There Phædra, 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 Bœotia, 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 rejected 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 reflection 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 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 unsuspecting 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 Ætna’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 with 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 referred 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 consecrated 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” (Œdipus Coloneus).----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 Narcissus is essentially the flower of Lent; but when mixed with the Yew, which is symbolical of the Resurrection, 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 of Asphodelus.

=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.”

The 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 “Tropæolum” (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.----Linnæus has recorded that his daughter Elizabeth Christina observed the flowers of the Nasturtium emit spontaneously, at certain intervals, sparks like electric ones, visible only in the evening.

=NEEM.=--The Neem-tree (Azardirachta 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 (Nelumbium 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 sanctity in Egypt amongst the priests of a religion long since defunct; and the plant itself has long been extinct 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, according 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 NYMPHÆA).

=NETTLE.=--The Nettle is one of the five plants which are stated by the Mishna to be the “bitter herbs” ordered to be partaken of by the Jews at the Feast of the Passover.----In Ireland, the Nettle of Timor is known as Daoun Setan, or the Devil’s Apron; and in the southern parts of the island it is a common practice for schoolboys, once a year, to consider themselves privileged to run 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 (Urtica pilulifera) is the most venomous of British Nettles, and is found abundantly 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 friction 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 playen 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 Germany Nettle-seed is believed to excite the passions and to facilitate births.----In dream lore, to fancy you are stung by Nettles indicates 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 Belladonna), 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 desirous of poisoning the Danes, treacherously took the opportunity, 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 prophesied, 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 of 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 fruticans), 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 dormant 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 tree.----The strength of the Nutmeg in the season is said so to overcome the birds of Paradise, that they fall helplessly intoxicated.----To dream of Nutmegs is stated to be a sign of many impending 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 actual embodiment of lightning: 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 Westphalia and other parts of Germany, a few Nuts are mixed with the seed-corn to act as a charm in making it prolific.----In Hertfordshire 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 affection. If the Nuts named after the girl and her swain burn together, they will be married. This divination is still practised in Scotland on Hallowe’en, whose mysterious rites Burns has immortalised in his poem, containing these lines:--

“Some merry friendly countree folks Together did convene To burn their Nits and pu’ their stocks, And haud 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 (October 31st) were known and practised 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 thy 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 endeavours 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 character inhabited 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 immortality. 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 attracting 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 a double 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 subject 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 happiness 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.

=NYMPHÆA.=--The Nymphæa cœrulea 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 Nymphæas.----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 scentless flower of the lake, which blossoms at the gates of Paradise to judge the rest, and that she will enquire strictly what they have done with their odours.

=OAK.=--Rapin tells us that among 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 Rhœcus, from his monstrous body grows A vaster trunk, and from his breast arose 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 almost all the nations of heathendom, and by the Jewish patriarchs. It was underneath the Oaks of Mamre that Abraham dwelt a long time, and there he erected an altar to the Lord, and there he received the three angels. It was underneath an Oak that Jacob hid the idols of his children, for this tree was held sacred and inviolable (Gen. xxxv., 2-4). Under the “Oak of weeping,” the venerable Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, was interred. The messenger of the Lord that appeared to 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 Bœotia to the quarrels between Jupiter and Juno. After the rain had ceased and the water subsided, an oaken statue became visible, erected, 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 ensure nourishment and fecundity. They called it, indeed, the mother-tree, and they regarded it as a tree from which the human race had 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 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 religious and other ceremonies. The Arcadians believed that by stirring with an Oak-branch the waters 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 Dodonæan Jove.

The Pelasgic oracle 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 as pelias, in the Attic dialect, means dove, the fable arose that the doves prophesied in the Oak groves of Dodona. Respecting the origin of this oracle, Herodotus narrates that two priestesses of Egyptian Thebes were carried away by Phœnician 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 Dodonæan 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 Dodonæan 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 Dodonæan 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.”

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 instrumentality 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 sown.”--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.”--Tighe.

A Roman who saved the life of another was adjudged a crown of Oak-leaves: thus Lucan writes:--

“Straight Lælius 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 burdens, 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.”--Tighe.

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 character, and it was connected 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 abiding-place of the terrible Northern god, and was, consequently, regarded with superstitious awe. Bishop Otho, of Bamberg, in the year 1128, found at Stettin pagan temples, situate near an Oak and a fountain, 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 inhabited by evil spirits and demons; and, in course of time, the people 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-fé, we are told that fagots of “grey” Oak were always selected. 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 character, 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 scattered 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 still 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 in the form of a cross beside the main stem. If the two horizontal arms were not sufficiently adapted to the figure, they fastened a crossbeam 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 directed 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 character, 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 object 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 light 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 sanctuary of all the country, and had its priest, its festivals, and its sacrifices. The inner sanctuary, 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 Deum. 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 Rome, about seventeen years ago, a young shepherdess, during a storm, sought shelter under an Oak, and prayed to the Madonna. Whilst she 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 curé examined her, and from his representations 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 district 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 district once occupied by the Celts, and consequently Druidic, the sacred character 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 districts, 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 of 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.

The time-honoured belief in the sacred and supernatural attributes 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 juncture of cross-roads, were formerly resorted to by people 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, Hamadryads, 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 represents Melia “deeply sighing for her coeval Oak,” and tells us that

“The Dryads laugh when vernal showers 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 destruction 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, apostrophising the monarch of the forest, exclaims:--

“The fairies from their nightly haunt, In copse, or dell, or round the trunk revered Of Herne’s moon-silvered Oak, shall chase away Each fog, each blight, and dedicate to peace Thy classic shade.”

In these lines 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, in the New Forest, is said, like the Glastonbury Thorn, to mark the birthday of our Lord by budding on Christmas Day. Another, renowned as the Royal Oak, is reverenced 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 victuals 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 restoration, and his preservation in the Boscobel Oak, which is still extant.

Seven Oaks have given a name to a village in Kent; and Dean Stanley has described a row of seven Oaks standing at a particular 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 respect 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 præadmonition 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 handfuls of small Oak-buttons mingled with Oats given to black horses will change them in a few days to a fine dapple-grey. Bacon says that there is an old tradition 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 “a 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 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 comes 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 ancient 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 besought 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 noticeable: 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 insect. In olden times, conjurors and wizards predicted events 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 breathing 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 insect.----To dream of a field of ripe Oats just ready for the sickle is a most favourable 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 inadvertently eating of its foliage are killed by it. The Italians bestow a similar name on the plant--Ammazza l’Asino, Ass-bane. Gerarde remarks that the flowers and leaves prove fatal to many quadrupeds, 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 directly 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 of 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 cultivation 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 Oleæ 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 Olive-branch remains the emblem of that period of peace and plenty which the world still hopes for.----The most sacred of the Athenian Olives 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 selected 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 Israelites 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 association 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 unprotected on the rough hillside; but they will remain so long as their already protracted 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 affecting of the sacred memorials in or about Jerusalem.”----According to the Jewish legend of Abimelech, 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 Olive-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 Provençaux, 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 Olive, and out of the wood of the Olive the cross was made.----According 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 regenerator of the human race; and from the same Olive 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 Olive 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 lightning--a prayer being offered up at the same time to St. Barbara and St. Simon.----In some parts of Italy, young girls employ an Olive-branch as a means of divination. Having moistened a spray of Olive 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 celibacy. 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 from 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, announcing trouble 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 character and as a symbol of the Universe. With them it was a common object of worship, and their veneration for this and other vegetable products 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 discontented 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 effects. 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 husbands 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 divination 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 fond arms embrace.”

In the South of England this species of divination is still extant, but the procedure is different. When the Onions are bought, the purchaser must take care to go in by one door of the shop and come out by another--a shop being selected 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 association 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--Ægle, 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 elsewhere. Milton alludes to the Orange as a tree

“Whose fruit, 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 ‘Faërie Queene’:--

“Next thereunto did grow a goodly tree, With branches broad dispread and body great, Clothèd 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[17] 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’ Eubœan young man wan [won] Swift Atalanta, when, through craft, he her outran.

“Here also sprang that goodly golden fruit With which Acontius got his lover true, Whom he had long time sought with fruitless suit; Here eke that famous golden Apple grew, The which among the gods false Até threw, For which th’ Idæan 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.”

[17] The garden of Proserpina.

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 foliage; 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 origin 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 conduct so incensed the Bacchanals 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 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 such excited them to those excesses which were characteristic of the attendants of Bacchus. Hence, the Orchis-root not unnaturally became famous as a powerful stimulating medicine, and is so described by all herbalists from the time of Dioscorides.----A very old tradition exists that Orchids sprang from the seed of the thrush and the blackbird.----Bishop Fleetwood writes of these curious flowers that they represent apes, birds, wasps, bees, flies, butterflies, gnats, spiders, grasshoppers, and other insects; “but the most curious sort is that which is called Anthropophora, because it represents a man or a woman very exactly.” 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 1671, engraved by order of the Academia Curiosorum Naturæ, and were described as Orchis Anthropophorus Mas., and O. A. Fœmina.”----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 affections 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 Osmunda 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 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 occupied in ferrying the troops across the lake. When the last company 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 waterman,” 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 Butea frondosa 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 transformed 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 religious ceremonies, particularly in one connected 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, selected 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 protect the cattle. The object 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 respect, 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.)

=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 Victoria, called also Dea Palmaris.----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 act of devotion on the part of the Palm, gave the tree his benediction, 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 Revelation 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 heroes, the Palm is represented as borne by those who suffered martyrdom; and, in some instances, by those conspicuous for their victory 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 replied: “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, and thou shalt enter into Paradise, where thy Son awaits thy coming.” After conversing with the Holy Mother, the angel departed 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 Purâna, the fruitfulness of the Date Palm is alluded to. The youthful Bala Râma 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 predicts much success and good fortune.

=PANSY.=--The Pansy (Viola tricolor) derives its name from a corruption of the French word pensées, thoughts: thus poor Ophelia says:--

“Pray you love, remember, And there’s Pansies,--that’s for thoughts.”--Shakspeare.

Spenser designated the flower “the pretty Pawnce;” 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.”

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 projecting and stooping forward. Bertram, who was originally a farmer, while superintending his servants in the field, and giving them directions, 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 construction and habits of plants which afterwards rendered him so famous, and won for him the friendship of Linnæus.----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 considered 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 constructed of the Reeds of the Papyrus (Papyrus antiquorum), and that the crocodiles, out of respect and fear of the goddess, dared not approach the bark.----The Papyrus is the Rush described in the Hebrew Scriptures by the word Gôme, and in an ark of Gôme 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 particular 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 amongst the Peruvians exactly resemble the pictured 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 manufactured 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 commerce 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 selected 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 victor 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 expression meaning to be on the point of death. Plutarch tells of a panic created in a Greek force marching against the enemy by their 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 connected 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 Paschal 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 cœrulea) 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 therefore conceived it to be his duty to present the Flos Passionis to the world as the most wondrous example of the Croce trionfante discovered 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 our Lord on the Cross. The colour of the column, the crown, and the nails is a clear green. The crown itself is surrounded 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 theologians of Italy soon brought about the introduction 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 orators, 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 says: “The nails on the top are represented so exactly, that nothing more perfect 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 delectable fruit to us.” In his ‘Paradisus 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 delightfull,” 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.

The Granadilla, or Passion Flower.

From Zahn’s ‘Speculæ Physico-Mathematico-Historicæ.’]

=PAULOWNIA.=--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 Paulownias are famous throughout Japan for the hardness and beauty of their wood: they attain a height of about thirty feet, and produce dark lilac flowers, 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 it upon the summit of four posts. A tree, usually the Pavetta Indica, is 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 partake of Peas.----The Pea, like most trailing and climbing plants, has always traditionally been connected with celestial fire. According to a mediæval 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 connected 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 sometimes 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 sweetheart 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 different 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 husband. A curious custom, known as “Peascod wooing,” was formerly 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 proper 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 superstitious belief in Sicily, that anyone afflicted with goître, 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 goître away with it, and so delivers the sufferer from the affliction. 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 consecrated 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 Département de l’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 sanctity by the Buddhists, near whose temples it is always found. It is this tree--the Bodhidruma, the Tree of Wisdom--under which Buddha sat absorbed in a species of intellectual 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 tree: they say that at the hour of Buddha’s nativity, whilst around Kapilavastu suddenly arose magnificent woods, an enormous Asvattha, 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 Gubernatis tells us that there is represented in the Kâthaka 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 constructed 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 Nâgas, 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 constructed, north-west of the tree, a palace of gold, where Buddha stayed for seven days. Then he repaired to the lake Mukhalinda, where he sought the shadow of the tree Midella. Then the rain fell for seven days, and so the Nâga 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 ground. They sprinkled him with water, and when, after considerable 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 120 feet. The number of Bo-trees which have become objects 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 Anurâdhapura, 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 Pulegium) used formerly to be called Puliol Royal, and derived its name from the Latin word pulices, fleas--insects it was thought to be specially efficacious in destroying. In most of the Western Counties the plant is known as Organ-herb, and is much prized by old-women herbalists 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 exact 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 astrologers, Pennyroyal is a herb of Venus.

=PEONY.=--The Peony, or healing plant (Pæonia), commemorates the Homeric god Pæon, the first physician of the gods, who healed the divinities Ares and Hades of their wounds. Tradition asserts that the Peony is the floral descendant of Pæon, who was a pupil of the great Æsculapius. Pæon 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 Æsculapius, that he secretly caused the death of Pæon. Pluto, however, retained a grateful sense of his service, and so transformed his body into the flower which to-day bears his name.----Rapin has a totally different tale to tell as to the origin of the blooming Peony, although from what source he derived his information we are unable to discover. According to the French poet, Pæonia 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 Phæacia, 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 Phœbus’ 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 protected 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 protect 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 likewise 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.

=PERIWINKLE.=--In France, the Periwinkle is considered the emblem of the pleasures of memory and sincere friendship, probably in allusion to Rousseau’s recollection 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 (Tussilago 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. Lévy in Nicaragua in 1876, and named by him P. electrica, may well be called the electrifying plant. The discoverer, when gathering a branch, experienced a veritable electric 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 action 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 action is increased, and the plant presents a withered appearance until the fall of rain. Neither insect nor bird was seen by M. Lévy 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 considered 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 Pimpernell.”

Pliny records that sheep avoided the blue, and ate the scarlet, Pimpernel, 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, preserved 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 Pimpernell, 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 Sangaris, 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 as 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 mourning there the loss of her faithless lover, until Jupiter promised that the Pine 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 Phœbus’ self, the harmonious god, defied, And urged to have their skill in music tried. Phœbus 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.”--Rapin.

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 reproduction. The connection 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 Zagræus, 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 construction 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 (Æn. 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 Assyrian 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 Gubernatis remarks that, despite the legend of St. Martin, written by Sulpicius, who represented the Pine as a diabolic tree, Christianity itself has consecrated it. The town of Augsburg, which has for its badge a Pine-cone, is under the protection 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 Egypt 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 object 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 erected in honour of the Virgin, in the immediate vicinity.----King Crœsus threatened the inhabitants of Lampsacus that the destruction 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--“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 victors at the Isthmian games.----The Pine was one of the trees ordered to be used by the Jews in erecting their tents at the Feast of the Tabernacles.----According to tradition, the Pine seen in a dream portends dissolution.

=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 (Platanus orientalis) 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 conceived by Xerxes for a Plane-tree. Whilst marching through Lydia, he is said to have stopped his vast army of 1,700,000 soldiers, that 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 Waybread (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 disordering 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 Dioscorides 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 flower, 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 practised in Berwickshire by means of kemps or spikes of the Ribwort Plantain. Two spikes--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 prophecy, for, instead of espousing the betrayed maiden, he transformed 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 bestow. 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, Laden 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 enamoured 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 Eubœa, 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 Proserpine should spend six months of the year with her mother, but as she had 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 Menœceus. On account of this blood which seems to flow from its fruit, the Pomegranate has acquired a somewhat sinister signification. As a rule, however, the sanguineous juice and innumerable seeds of the Pomegranate are considered a happy augury of fecundity and abundance.----There is a tradition that the fruit of the 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 Pomegranate 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, Pomegranates, alternating with golden bells. A similar adornment of the fringes of their robes was affected by the ancient Kings of Persia, who united in their own person the regal and sacerdotal offices.----In Christian art, the Pomegranate depicted 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 their mouth, to cleanse them 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 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, René 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 Phaëthon (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 distracted 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.”--Addison.

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 victory. On his return from Hades, he wore a crown of Poplar-leaves, the outer portions of which were turned black by the smoke of the infernal regions, whilst the inner surface was blanched by the perspiration from the hero’s brow. At all ceremonies and sacrifices to Hercules, his worshippers wore garlands of Poplar-leaves, as did those who had triumphed in battle, in commemoration of the demi-god’s victory. 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 referred to the White Poplar when he accused the Children of Israel of 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 respecting the quivering foliage of the Populus tremula--the “Quiggen-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! 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 breeze 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 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.

* * * * *

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 Rhæa, or Corn-Rose, so necessary 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 depicted 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 (Night), 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 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 victory 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 like an ape, savage like a boar, and high-tempered like a queen.”----According to astrologers, the Poppy is a flower of the Moon.

=POTATO.=--Although introduced into Europe as late as 1584, the Potato (Solanum tuberosum) has been made the subject of several popular superstitions. In Birmingham and many other districts, 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 preservation against the same malady.----In Germany, they take precautions against the Potato demon or wolf (Kartoffelwolf): 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 metamorphosed 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; Primerole became changed to Primrolles, 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 destruction 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 occasion 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 expect disappointment.”----Browne tells us--

“The Primrose, when with six leaves gotten grace, Maids as a true-love in their bosoms place.”

Shakspeare makes it a funeral flower for youth:--

“With fairest flowers Whilst 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.”

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 object the dissemination of those constitutional principles which were so dear to the late Earl.----In Germany, the Primrose is called the Schlüsselblume, or Key-flower, in reference to the numerous legends of a flower opening the locks of doors to treasure-caves, &c.; resembling in its magical functions the Russian Rasrivtrava, 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 officiant 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 believed 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 existed a mighty man named Iaïa, whose only son died. 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. Iaïa, affrighted, returned home, and told what he had seen to his neighbours, 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. Iaïa followed, to prevent them from injuring the Pumpkin. The brothers, who had succeeded in lifting the gigantic vegetable, were frightened at seeing Iaïa approach, and let fall the Pumpkin, which was, in consequence, cracked in several places. From the fissures thus made poured forth such a volume of water, 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 considered 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 (Portulaca), 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 consecrated to Venus, and was looked upon by Grecian lovers as a love token. According to Athenæus, 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 Chrysomelon, 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 goddess, 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 connected with the Anglo-Saxon word wicce, a witch. Evelyn calls this tree the Quick-beam, and says that in Wales it is 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 detect witches. A wreath of Hederich is sometimes placed on cows before leaving their stalls to be milked, in order to protect them from the effect 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, Rübezahl, the Counter of Radishes; and the legend relates that on one occasion this Geni took advantage 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 Jacobæa) 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 were found effectual 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 25th. This connection 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 considered 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 quarrelsome 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 diminutive of rana, 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 Strumæ. 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 Crowfoot or Crowflower (the Coronopus of Dioscorides) is also a Ranunculus: 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 Gelotophyllis 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 without doubt the thing is clean contrary, for it causeth such convulsions, 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 Tarobolos Catamarlale, 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 Eisenkraut or Vervain, the Mistletoe, the Lunary or Moonwort, the Springwort, the Fern, and the Hazel. The word Rasrivtrava means literally the “Plant that Opens.”

=RASPBERRY.=--Formerly the Raspberry was very generally 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 whispering 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 leg, split a Reed, and applied it, with certain precautions, to the wounded part, accompanying the operation with a rustic incantation, 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 fact, 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 benefactor. 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 recollect 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 fact that Rubens and the early Italian painters, in their Ecce Homo pictures, depict 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.)

=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 bridegroom. 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 handful 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 exemption from the maladies of their sex. On the birth of a son, the Brahman father, after having banished the females from the apartment, 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 ablutions. 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, carrying 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 the 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 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 ingredients, and called Kuskussu, was revealed to Mahomet by the angel Gabriel 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 transformed 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 Bushman-rice. This beautiful woman is supposed to have been the wife of the star called Heart of the Dawn.----In England, the Oriental practice 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 happiness.----According to a work on the subject, to dream of eating Rice denotes abundance of instruction.

=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.

=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 born, 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, combined 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, Phœbus, 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 recounted 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 help 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 fulle of Roses.” Southey, in his 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 obstructed 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, connecting 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; Then, 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 springing from 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 inflicted 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 nectar 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.”--Moore.

Still another legend is to the effect that Cupid, whilst leading a dance in heaven, stumbled and overset a bowl of nectar, which, falling upon the earth, stained the Rose.

The Rose--the flower of love, poetry, and beauty--was specially 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 depicted crowned with Roses, and the chaplet of Hymen consisted generally of Marjoram or Roses, which latter flowers were used in his feasts. The Thracians crowned Bacchus (Sabazius) with Roses, and, in the vicinity of Pangæus, 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, Præneste, Malta, Cyrene, and Sybaris were all noted; but especially celebrated were those of Pæstum: to this day the insignia of Pæstum--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 Myrtle. The shrines of the gods and of illustrious men in Rome were surmounted 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 spectators. 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 Baiæ, 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 practice 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 entertainment 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 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 attracting 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 compelled 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 especially 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 mediæval 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. 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 Iosbert, 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, absolutely 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 sanctity. 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 temptations 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 Madonna.

The Rosary was introduced by St. Dominick, in commemoration 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 Benedictines, and are to this day in use among Mahometan devotees. St. Dominick invented a novel arrangement of the chaplet, and dedicated 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. Médard, Bishop of Noyon, France, instituted a festival at Salency, his birth-place, for adjudging a prize to the girl who should be acknowledged the most amiable, modest, and beautiful. The prize consisted of a simple crown of Roses, and the founder of the festival had the gratification of 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 Rosière has a douceur of three hundred francs presented to her. Of late years the institution of the Rosière 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. Shakspeare (in Henry VI.) 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 object 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 apostle of the Persians, and the introducer of the worship of the sacred fire, is connected in a legend with the Rose. An astrologer having predicted 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 having 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!”--Moore’s ‘Lalla 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 fiction. 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 in the palace garden filled with Rose-water. The action 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 extract from Roses their fragrant perfume by distillation. He selected the Rosa centifolia for his experiments, and succeeded in producing the delicious 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 1187, 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 practice 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 Switzerland, 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 young 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. 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 27th 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 predicts 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 hæmorrhages. 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 an evil omen if its leaves perchance fall to the ground. In Ireland, 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 Roncevalles, 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 10th 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 dubh, 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 predict 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 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 connected with an incident in the life of St. Benedict. 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 recollection 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 temptation 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.

=ROSEMARY.=--Rosmarinus, the botanical name of Rosemary, 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 Rosemary 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 character: 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.”--Kirke White.

In the Northern counties, mourners at funerals often carry a branch of Rosemary, and it is still customary in some rural districts 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 weddings, 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 protection 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 districts of Portugal, it is called Alecrim, a word of Scandinavian origin (Ellegrim), signifying Elfin-plant.----Rosemary occupied a prominent 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 “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 anything 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 contact 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 fact, 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 of procedure is as follows:--On the eve of St. Magdalen, three maidens, under the age of twenty-one, are to assemble in 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 effecting the same result on the first of July, consists in the gathering of a sprig 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 Resurrection Flowers, which grow among the sands of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, and are also found in Barbary. The Anastatica 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 becoming embedded in the sands, they germinate anew; hence its name Anastatica--Resurrection. 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 Ecclesiasticus: “I was ... as a Rose-plant in Jericho.” The Arabs call this plant Kaf Maryam (i.e., Mary’s hand); it is also known as Rosa-Mariæ (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 Resurrection 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 effect. 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 conviction that at the moment when it has fully expanded itself the expected 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., 1, and Isaiah xxxv., 1, as “Rose,” is thought by some to signify “Tulip.” Interpreters, indeed vary between Rose, Lily, 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 Jonquila), 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 plain 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 Mountain 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 object of great veneration with the Druids, who doubtless practised their sacred rites beneath its shade. This connection 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 Dictionary,’ 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 effects of witchcraft and the Evil Eye, and, in consequence, 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.”

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 superstitious 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 sorrowful 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 victims, 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 wonderful 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 completed 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, however, 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.

=RUDRÂKSHA.=--De Gubernatis tells us, that Rudrâksha, which means literally the Eye of Rudra (Siva), or the Tear of Rudra, is a name given, in India, to the fruit of the Eleocarpus, of which the natives manufacture 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, Rudrâkshas.

=RUE.=--It has been conjectured that the Moly, which, according 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 fact 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 qualities. 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 infections; the very smell thereof is a preservation against the plague in the time of infection.” Its virtues as a disinfectant are noted in the quaint rhyme of old Tusser:--

“What savour is better, 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 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-pestilential 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 doctor advocated the employment of Rue to cure dumbness caused by enchantment.----In England, Rue was thought to be efficacious in the cure 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 protection 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 affection. 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 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 like 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 Juncus floridus, 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 practice 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, 1823.--On 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, &c., and had a really beautiful and imposing effect. They thus remained during 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 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 perceive what resemblance there is between the practice of strewing the church with Rushes, and the trophies which are now carried from time immemorial.”----To dream of Rushes portends unpleasantness between friends.

=RYE.=--The Rye-fields are thought by the superstitious German peasantry to be infested by an evil spirit known as the Roggenwolf, or Rye-wolf, and in some districts 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 conviction 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 resemble 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 delightful, 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 Parizatacos, had a beautiful daughter, who inspired the Sun with passionate love; but after a time he transferred his affections 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 gazing on it.

SAFFRON.--See Crocus.

=SAGE.=--Many species of Sage are highly esteemed in European countries for their medicinal qualities, and most of the continental 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, Salvatvix, naturæ conciliatrix.”).----In mediæval times, the plant, on account of its numerous properties, obtained the name of Officinalis 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 morietur 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 very 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-Comté, 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 consciousness. 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 practising 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 gather a sprig of Red Sage, and then, going into a room by themselves, 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 outwards; then all are to sit down in a row, on the opposite side of the stool, as far distant as the room will allow, in perfect 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 Hedysarum Onobrychis, but the name was first given to the Lucerne Medicago sativa. Sainfoin was, in earlier 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 received the names of saints either from some peculiarity in their structure, or from their association with the objects 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 bulbosus (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. Benedict have each given their names to plants. The Nigella 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 resemblance to a bunch of keys. Most of these saintly names were, however, given to the plants because their day of flowering is connected 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 perforatum 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, spectres, storms, and thunder; whence it derived its ancient name of Fuga Dæmonum (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 inappropriately 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 darkness.”----At the present time this plant is almost everywhere known by the name connecting 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 sanctity 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 connection 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 light! 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 object.----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 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 in 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 effectual operation (that is, about the full moon in July); “so gathered, and borne or hung about the neck, it mightily helps this affection, 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).

=SALLOW.=--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 Cumming.

=SAL-TREE.=--The Sâla or Sâl (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 Sâla, that the mother of Buddha gave birth to the divine infant prince. It was beneath the shelter of two twin Sâl-trees, that Buddha passed his last night on earth, near Kuçinagara, “beneath a rain of flowers, with which the Sâl-tree growing there covered his venerated body.” Thus we read in Da Cunha’s ‘Life of Buddha’--“He then retired to Kuçinagara, and entered a grove of Sâl-trees (Shorea robusta); there, during the night, he received a gift of food from an artizan named Chanda, 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 Sâl-trees bending down to form a canopy over his body, he ceased to breathe.” It was not the season for Sâl-trees to bloom, 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 Perfect 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 production of fire in their sacrifices. 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 sacrifice has been made, the husband and wife take in their hands some Rice (symbol of abundance) 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 (Crithmum 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.

=SANDAL.=--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 celebrated groves of their Paradise, and they say that the chariot of the Sun is made of gold and Sandal-wood. In an Indian religious fête called Mariatta Codam, the devotees anoint themselves with Saffron ointment, and go about collecting 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 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 chirurgions 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 latifolium is the plant known by the ancients as Sardea, which was supposed to grow in Sardinia, and which possessed the singular power of provoking 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 characteristics.----In Gerarde’s ‘Herbal,’ we read that most of these plants were used for the purpose of exciting 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 insects, as taking their name 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 exactly the opposite effect.----Astronomers place Satyrion under the rule of Venus.

=SAVIN.=--The Savin (Juniperus 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 effects 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 doctrine 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. umbrosa, 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 Bœotian 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 infernalis: 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, Horned 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 preparing 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 connected 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), tells us with respect 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 affections 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 Kêd 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 having 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 making a fermented liquor of the nature of beer. In France, the Service or Sorb-tree is called Sorbier or Cormier, and an excellent drink, something 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 terminalis), who is regarded as the protectress 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 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 Icelandic legend, according to which the Sorb sprang from the bodies of two young men, who, although quite innocent, had been condemned to death.

=SESAME.=--It is from the delightful story of ‘The Forty Thieves,’ in the ‘Arabian Nights’ Entertainment,’ that most English 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 capacity of opening the doors of caverns, &c., the Sesamum-flower 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 purificator 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 departed god, and by this act of piety procure for themselves absolution 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 by the 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 kingdom 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. Patrick, when on an evangelising mission in Ireland, made the doctrine of the Trinity, one day, the subject 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 lupulina), 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 writer, 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 Victoria 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, Toywort, and Caseweed, and was considered to be “marvellous good for inflammation.” (See CLAPPEDEPOUCH.)

=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 neglected 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.

=SNOWDROP.=--The Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) was formerly 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 flow’r 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.

=SOLANUM.=--To this family belong the Love Apple, the Mad Apple, and the Bitter-Sweet. Several species of the genus Solanum are poisonous and highly dangerous plants. It is related that when Sweno, king of Norway, was besieging Duncan of Scotland 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 provisions, which they duly partook of; but soon after they were overcome by a profound lethargic sleep, for their wine and ale had been drugged with Solanum. In this condition they fell an easy prey to Macbeth, who attacked them and utterly routed their forces. Ten only of the soldiers, who had entertained suspicions with regard to Duncan’s gift of supplies, remained in their senses, and these carried off King Sweno, in a lifeless condition, to the mouth of the river Tay, and thence conveyed him home in a fishing-boat.

=SOLOMON’S SEAL.=--The appellation of Solomon’s Seal has been given to the Convallaria Polygonatum, because, on cutting the roots transversely, some scars are seen resembling the device known as Solomon’s Seal--a name given by the Arabs to a six-pointed star, formed by two equilateral triangles intersecting each other. To the old herbalists these marks (according to the doctrine of signatures) were an indication of the plant’s virtues or uses: it was sent to seal or consolidate wounds. Gerarde says: “That which might be written of the herbe as touching the knitting of bones, and that truely, would seeme with some incredible; but common experience teacheth that in the world there is not to be found another herbe comparable to it for the purposes aforesaid; and therefore, in briefe, if it be for bruises inward, the roots must be stamped, some ale or wine put thereto, strained, and given to drink. It must be given in the same manner to knit broken bones, against bruises, black or blew marks gotten by stripes, falls, or such like; against inflammation, tumours, or swellings, that happen unto members whose bones are broken, or members out of joynt, after restauration: the roots are to be stamped small, and applied pultesse or plaister wise, wherewith many great workes have been performed beyond credit.”----The plant is also known by the name of Lady’s Seal, Seal-wort, White-root, Ladder-to-heaven, and Jacob’s-ladder.----By astrologers it is held to be under the rule of Saturn.

=SOMA.=--The Soma, or Moon Plant, is one of the most sacred plants of India. It is supposed to be the Sarcostemma viminale, or Cyanchum viminale (Asclepias acida), which grows on the Coromandel hills and in the Punjâb. According to Dr. Haug, the plant at present used by the sacrificial priests of the Dekhan is not the sacred Soma of the Vedas, although it appears to belong to the same order. In the Hindu religion, by a truly mystic combination, Soma represents at once the moon or moon-god, the genius presiding over the Soma, and the plant itself. In the Vedic hymns to Soma, the notion of the plant predominates, but intermixed are references which are only applicable to the lunar character of the divinity. The description of the plant given in Garrett’s ‘Classical Dictionary of India’ is as follows:--“It grows to the height of about four or five feet, and forms a kind of bush consisting of a number of shoots, all coming from the same root; their stem is solid, like wood, the bark greyish, they are without leaves, the sap appears whitish, has a very stringent taste, is bitter but not sour; it is a very nasty drink, but has some intoxicating effect. 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 affected by it, as if by a narcotic; but it is benumbing in its influence, as it hinders the activity 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 universe 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 conducted the ceremony. The exhilarating properties of the fermented juice of the Soma filled the worshippers 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 incorporated 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 action, and as a sacrament, by which the union with Brahma was produced; thus, in Indian writings, passages similar to the following, often occur: “Prâjapati himself drinks this milk, the essence of all nourishment and knowledge--the milk of immortality.”----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; and this word is the methu of the Greeks, and the mead of our own Saxon, Norse, and Celtic ancestors.

=SORREL.=--From May to August the meadows are often ruddy with the Sorrel (Rumex Acetosa), the red leaves of which point out the graves of the Irish rebels who fell on Tara Hill, in the “Ninety-Eight;” the popular and local tradition being that the plants sprang from the blood of the patriots shed on that occasion.----Sorrel 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 (Sonchus oleraceus) and the Sea Fennel (Crithmum maritimum). Like the Sesame, the Sow-thistle, according to tradition, sometimes conceals marvels or treasures; and in Italian stories are found the exclamation, “Open Sow-thistle,” used with the same magical results as attend the invocation of the Sesame. A Russian legend states that the Devil considers the Sow-thistle to be peculiarly his property, although in so doing he is in error (see OATS and REED).----The Sow-thistle is considered by astrologers to be under the dominion of Venus.

=SOUTHERNWOOD.=--The Abrotanum (Southernwood) is a species of Wormwood, to which the Greeks and Romans, and in more recent times the Germans and French, attributed wonderful magic properties. According to Pliny, it should be classed as an aphrodisiac plant, for, if it be placed under a mattress, it will evoke sensual passions. Gerarde says the same thing; and adds that “it helpeth against the stinging of scorpions,” and that, “being strewed upon the bed, or a fume made of it upon hot embers, it driveth away serpents.” Lucan refers to this latter quality in the following lines (Book 9):--

“There the large 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 smell.”

Macer Floridus states that it will drive away serpents; and Bauhin narrates that it used to be employed against epilepsy.----From an ointment made with its ashes, and used by young men to promote the growth of a beard, the plant obtained the name of Lad’s Love.----Astrologers place Southernwood under the rule of Mercury. (See also MUGWORT and WORMWOOD.)

=SPEEDWELL.=--The Veronica Chamædrys appears in olden times to have been called “Forget-me-Not,” a name that has since been universally applied to the Myosotis. Now-a-days it is sometimes called by country folk Cat’s-eye. The plant derives its name of Speedwell from the fact of its corolla falling off and flying away as soon as it is gathered; “Speedwell” being the old-fashioned equivalent of “Good-bye!” The bright blue blossom of the Germander Speedwell is in some places better known as Veronica, an appellation derived from Vera (Latin) and Icon (Greek), and signifying “true image.”----When our Saviour was on his way to Mount Calvary, bearing his cross, he passed by the door of Veronica, a compassionate 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 reject the derivation which some writers have suggested from the name of the god Baldr, the Scandinavian 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 subject 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 production, 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 Nardostachys, 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 he invaded Gedrosia, could smell from the back of his elephant the fragrance of the Nard as it was trod upon by the horses feet. This error was shared by Linnæus, who did not attempt to classify the plant, but was inclined to think it was the same as the Andropogon Nardus, commonly called Ginger Grass. Sir William Jones, the learned orientalist, turned his serious attention to this question, and after a laborious investigation succeeded in establishing beyond doubt that the Spikenard of the ancients was a plant of the Valerianic order, called by the Arabs Sumbul, which means ‘spike,’ and by the Hindus Jatamansi, which signifies ‘locks of hair,’ both appellations being derived from its having a stem which somewhat resembles the tail of an ermine, or of a small weasel. He, consequently, gave it the name of Valeriana Jatamansi, under which it is now generally classed by botanists. It is found in the mountainous regions of India, principally in Bootan and Nepaul. Its name appears to be derived from the Tamil language, in which the syllable nár denotes any thing possessing fragrance, such as nártum pillu, ‘Lemon Grass;’ nárum panei, ‘Indian Jasmine;’ nártum manum, ‘Wild Orange,’ &c. It is highly probable, however, that the word Spikenard was often applied by the ancients as a generic name for every sort of perfume, as the Chinese now designate all their scents by the name of hëang, which properly means incense, it being for them the type of all 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 admission to the garden, and there sees his faithful wife weeping over the precious Spikenard, grown into a mighty plant, telling 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 Euphorbia Lathyris, which he identifies with the Sferracavallo of the Italians, so named because it acts 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 Hippocrepis). The Springwort is procured by plugging up the hole in a tree in which a green or black woodpecker has its nest with young ones in it. As soon as the bird is aware of what has been done, it flies off in quest of 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 electricity 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, connects 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 connection 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.----In the Oberpfalz, the Springwort is called Johanniswurzel, 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 respect the Mandrake. Moreover, it never stands still, but darts about continually 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 electricity in the plant.----In Switzerland, the Spreng-wurzel is carried in the right pocket, to render the bearer invulnerable to dagger or bullet; and in the Harz mountains it is said to reveal treasures.----With regard to this magical property of disclosing concealed treasures, a story is related by Kuhn in his North German Legends, from which we learn that a shepherd who was driving 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 had forgotten his staff with the Springwort in it, which he had laid against 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 Denmark Ty-ved, is sacred to Tyr, the god of war. This plant is the badge of the Scottish Clan Graham.

=SQUILL.=--The Scilla maritima, or Sea Onion, was of old consecrated 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 umbellatum is called the Star of Bethlehem on account of its white stellate flowers resembling the pictures of the star that indicated the birth of the Saviour of mankind. As the plant is abundant in the neighbourhood of Samaria, it was thought by Linnæus 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 horological--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, Giroflée.

“The white and purple Gillyflowers, that stay In blossom--lingering summer half away.”

The principal kinds grown in gardens are the Queen’s Stock-Gilliflower, 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 Gilliflower was familiarly 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 Gilloflowers and Carnations, which are quite of another kindred.” The word Gilliflower 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 of his mother, and the great naturalist, on that account, always prized 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 protective against thunder and lightning, and hence was planted on the roofs of cottages, stables, &c. The old herbalists valued the small Houseleek, or Stonecrop, as a cure for ague and expeller of poisons. It was used as an outward application, and, when boiled in beer, was considered good for pestilential 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 perfection 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.

=STRAW.=--In the Hávamál, 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 (neen na Beal tina), the ceremony is practised of making the cows leap over lighted Straw or faggots.----In Cornwall, lasses desirous of knowing 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.----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 narrates 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 accompanied 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 deformed 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 prospect 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 melancholy, began to tell her of an adventure he had just met with in the forest. Said he: “I suddenly came upon a very little ugly old man dancing round a Juniper-bush, singing a curious song, at the end of which he loudly bawled, ‘I am called Titteli Ture.’” 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 apartment, 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 refuse an entry into heaven to those children whose mothers had defrauded her of the fruit specially set apart for her.----A representation 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 his devotion to St. John the Baptist, who lived on fruits. It is mentioned by Hollinshed, and the fact 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 Holborn, I saw good Strawberries in your garden there.”

Linnæus was cured of frequent attacks of gout by the use of Strawberries, 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 junction 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 her astonishment, lay heaps of gold scattered about; and three white maidens gave her permission to take as much of the treasure as she could collect with one grasp. Her greed, however, induced her to make three swoops, and then, fearful of the consequences, and forgetting her child, she rushed out of the hollow, when the entrance was immediately closed upon her, and a warning voice informed 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 district, another legend anent the gathering of Strawberries, 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 11th 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 Kâmadeva, 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 Kâmadeva by Vasanta (Spring).

“He bends the luscious cane, and twists the string With bees; how sweet! but ah! how keen their sting. He, with five 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 Makeser, in silver smiling; Hot Kitticum our sense beguiling; And last, to kindle fierce the scorching flame, Love Shaft, which gods bright Bela name.”--Sir W. Jones.

=SUNFLOWER.=--The Helianthus annuus derived its name of 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 enamour’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 transformed when, heart-broken at the desertion of her lover Phœbus, 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 1597, 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 Peruvianum, 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 Egyptian 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.” The tree is still shown to travellers a few miles north-east of Cairo.----Another version relates that the Holy Family, at the conclusion of their flight into Egypt, finally rested in the village of Matarea, beyond the city of Hermopolis, and took up their residence 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 (Ficus Sycomorus), which is very indestructible, the coffins of the Egyptian mummies were made.----By a mistake of Ruellius the name Sycamore became transferred to the Great Maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), 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 refractory vassals on.----The Great Maple is called in France, as with us, Sycomore 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 filled 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 my 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 Philadelphus coronarius is the shrub into which, according to Ovid, the nymph Syrinx was metamorphosed. The stems of 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.”

=TAMARIND.=--The Tamarindus Indica is in Ceylon dedicated to Siva, as the god of destruction. The natives of India have a prejudice against sleeping under the Tamarind, and the acid damp from the tree is known to affect 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 connected 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 Egyptians 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 became 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 it to be cut down and hewn into a pillar to support the roof of his palace, the chest being still concealed 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 all 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 supernatural power) arrived at a knowledge of future events by means of certain manipulations of the mystic baresma, or bundle of thin Tamarisk twigs, the employment of which was enjoined in the Zendavesta books as essential to every sacrificial 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.----According 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.

=TANSY.=--The herb Tansy (Tanacetum) has derived its name from the Greek athanasia, immortality, 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 immortality [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. 519 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 erected close by. The spot whereon the tree of Abraham had flourished was in the time of Eusebius still held in great reverence and sanctity, and a Christian church was erected 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 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 victory, 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 Acanthium, 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 acanthoides 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 victory 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 committed, 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 mysteriously vanishes. A shepherd, one day, passed the spot where the mystic Thistle was growing. His staff became tinder, and his 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 of 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 surrounded 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 Buckthorn 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 kindling the sacred fire. The Thorn was also held by the Greeks to be a preservative against witchcraft and sorcery. Nevertheless, in some parts of England, witches were formerly reputed to be fond of a Thorn-bush, and both in Brittany and in some parts of Ireland 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 districts 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 wonderful prodigy happened to Moses: for a fire fed upon a Thorn-bush; yet did the green leaves and the flowers continue untouched, and the fire did not at all consume the fruit branches.”----According to Aryan tradition, the Hawthorn sprang from the lightning, and as with other trees of like mythical descent, it was considered a protective against fire, thunderbolts, and lightning. Sir John Maundevile bears witness to this old belief, when, speaking of the Albespyne, or Whitethorn, he says:--“For he that beareth a braunche on hym thereof, no thondre, ne no maner of tempest may dere [harm] hym; ne in the hows that yt is ynne may non evil ghost entre.”----The Whitethorn or Hawthorn has long had the reputation of being a sacred tree, and the plant which had the mournful distinction of supplying the crown of Thorns worn by our Saviour at His crucifixion. Many other plants, however, have been credited with this distinction, including the Buckthorns (Rhamnus Paliurus and Rhamnus Spina Christi), and the Paliurus aculeatus, or Christ Thorn.----In the thirteenth century, there existed among Christians a strong passion for relics, 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 Constantinople, 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 pictures of St. Louis, he is usually depicted 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 protégé 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 reference 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 Thorns, 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 depicted 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 born.”

“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.”

“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 act as a charm against smut or mildew in Wheat. When the crop is just springing out of the ground, the farmer’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 surrounded by Thorns, signifies that you will be rejoiced by some pleasing intelligence in a very short time.

=THORN APPLE.=--Gerarde, in his ‘Herbal,’ calls the Datura Stramonium Thorny Apple of Peru: he speaks of it as a plant of a drowsy and numbing quality, resembling in its effects the Mandrake, and he tells us that it is thought to be the Hippomanes, 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 in mountains mad do fall.”

The juice of Thorn-Apples Gerarde guarantees, when boiled with hog’s grease and made into a salve, will cure inflammations, burnings and scaldings, “as well of fire, water, boiling lead, gunpowder, as that which comes by lightning.” In India, the Datura is sometimes employed by robbers as a magical means of depriving their victims 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 destruction). The Rajpoot mothers are said to besmear 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 perfectly 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 actions, is perfectly 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 connected 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” [Amomum Plinii].

=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 Oxlips and the woody Violet grows, Quite over-canopied 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 it 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 Ferigoule, that being the symbol of advanced Republicanism.

=TOADSTOOL.=--The name of Toadstool was originally applied to all descriptions of unwholesome Fungi, from the popular 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.”

Fungi 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 impersonation 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 districts are known as Devil’s droppings.

=TOBACCO.=--With the Aborigines of Southern America, the Tobacco (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, and when the Indians perceived it afar off, they saluted it with loud cries. The branches were covered with cords, from which were suspended votive offerings, consisting of cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth, &c. In a fissure of the tree they found spirits and vegetable extracts. 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 waterfalls 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 shrine of the sacred Tobacco perform their customary acts of worship.----In reference to the use of Tobacco by pagan priests in the delivery of 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 direction or foretelling (if we may trust to the Divell) of the successe of their businesse.”----In the Ukraine, Tobacco is looked upon as an ill-omened 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 Erysimum cheiranthoides, the two last because, in mediæval times, the seed of this plant formed one of the seventy-three ingredients of the far-famed “Venice treacle,” a noted antidote to all poisons, believed to cure “all those that were bitten or stung of venomous beastes, or had drunk poisons, or were infected with the pestilence.” The origin of this counter-poison was the famous Mithridaticum, a preparation 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 therion, 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 Pharmacopœia 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 (Trollius Europæus) acquired the sobriquet of Troll-flower in allusion to the Trolls, who were malignant elves, 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 Polianthes tuberosa. 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. So tenacious was he of the roots, that even after he had propagated them so 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 only person in Europe who possessed this flower.

=TULASI.=--The Indian name of the Holy Basil (Ocimum sanctum) is Tulasi, under which appellation this sacred plant is worshipped 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 originally 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 protect 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 fête was attended by the Sultan and his harem.----The garden Tulip is a native of the Levant: Linnæus 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 consuming 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, 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.----In Holland, about the middle of the seventeenth century, a perfect 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 infected 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, 12 fat sheep, 2 hogsheads of wine, 4 tuns of beer, 2 tons of butter, 1000 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 Liefken, cost 4400 florins; 446 ditto of Admiral Van der Eyk, 1620 florins; 106 perits Schilder cost 1615 florins; 200 ditto Semper Augustus, 5500 florins; 410 ditto Viceroy, 3000 florins, &c. The species Semper Augustus 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, cattle and clothes. The trade was followed not only by mercantile people, but also by all classes of society. At first, everyone won and no one lost. Some of the poorest people gained, in a few months, houses, coaches and horses, and figured away like the first characters in the land. In every town some tavern was selected which served as an exchange, where high and low traded in flowers, and confirmed their bargains with the most 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 Munting 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 Androsæmum was 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, from its horseshoe-shaped legumes, is supposed, upon the doctrine 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, considers that the Springwort (Euphorbia Lathyris) is, from its powerful action 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.”--Withers.

=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 creeping shrub peculiar to Java. Neither of them, however, answers to the description 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 century. Foersch wrote that this deadly Upas grew in the midst of a frightful desert. No bird could rest in its branches, no plant could subsist, no animal live in its neighbourhood: it blighted everything near with 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 Phu, 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 Zedoaria, 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 action of the Valerian-root (which the herbalists found out was very like a cat’s eye) on the nervous system of some cats undoubtedly produces in time a kind of pleasant intoxication. Rats are also attracted 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 immemorial 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 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 affections, 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 atonement 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 strictly 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 enchantress:--

“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 ordained 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 satisfaction and amends for the wrong and violence done in depriving her of so holy a herb. The leaves, stalks, and flowers were dried separately in the shade, and were used for the bites of serpents infused in wine.” Another account states that the Druidesses held Vervain in as great veneration 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 uprooted 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 functions 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 Vervain blue, Dipt in cold September dew; And dash the moisture, chaste and clear, O’er the ground and through the air.”--Mason.

In mediæval days, the sacred character of Vervain was still maintained, 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.”--Davenant.

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 us that “the devil did reveal it as 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 fact 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:--

“Here holy Vervayne, and here Dill, ’Gainst witchcraft much avayling.”

and again--

“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 turne 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, I take thee from the ground.’”

In many rural districts, Vervain is still regarded as a plant possessing magical virtues as a love philtre. It has the reputation of securing affection from those who take it to those who administer it. The gun-flint boiled in Vervain and Rue ensures the shot taking effect. The root of Vervain tied with a white satin ribbon round the neck acts as a charm against ague. Vervain 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 continue to gather Vervain under the different phases of the moon, using certain mysterious ejaculations known only to themselves whilst in the act of collecting the mystic herb, by whose assistance they hope to effect cures, and charm both the flocks and the rustic beauties of the village.----The Germans present a hat of Vervain to the newly-married bride, as though placing her under the protection of Venus Victrix, the patroness of the plant.----Gerarde tells us that in his time it was called “Holie 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 of Venus.

=VINE.=--The Vine was held by the ancients sacred to Bacchus, and the old historians all connect the jovial god with the “life-giving tree”: he is crowned with Vine-leaves, and he holds in his hand a bunch of Grapes, whilst his merry followers are decked with garlands of the trailing Vine, and love to quaff with their master the divine juice of its luscious violet and golden fruit, styled by Anacreon “the liquor of Bacchus.” The old heathen writers all paid honour to the Vine, and attributed to the earliest deified sovereigns of each country the gift of this ambrosial 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 illustrations 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 Amethystine, 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 connexion has led to numerous fanciful notices by the poets of all ages. Statius 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, connects 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 Mythologie des Plantes, we find it stated that the Persians trace the use of wine in Persia to the reign of the blessed Jemshîd. 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 Jemshîd’s reign the use of the 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 injunctions 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 connected with the tradition 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 countrymen 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 very 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 themselves a village, and formed the tribe of the Mandans, who, when they die, expect to return to the original settlement of their forefathers; 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 respects 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 Rivière; its product 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.”

The wood of the Vitis sylvestris was used by the Greeks in the instrument they employed for producing fire. The Aryan method of kindling sacred fire by wood friction was practised 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 trupanon; and according to Theophrastus and Pliny, the lower part of 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 born of her after this dream.”----Culpeper states that the Vine is “a gallant tree of the Sun, very sympathetical 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 metamorphosis:--

“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 Ianthis, of Diana’s train, The brightest nymph that ever graced a plain; Whom (while Pherean herds the virgin fed) Apollo saw, and courted to his bed; But, lov’d 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; Phœbus 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: Discolour’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 untill’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 Io into 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, Such our breath and blueness is. Io, 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 wayward 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 Ia, the daughter of Midas, who was betrothed to Atys, and transformed by Diana into a Violet in order conceal her from Phœbus.----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 extracted “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 extract of Violets above all other extracts is as the excellence 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 excellence 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 imprisonment, 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. 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 affected the Violet; everywhere throughout the city of Athens they set up tablets engraven with the name, and preferred for themselves 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 Violet is considered to be a funeral flower, and we find that in mediæval times it was among the flowers used in the old ceremony 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 endangered 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 II., 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 withered, thy tears will unfold it again.”--Byron.

His followers, perhaps remembering that “Violet is for faithfulness,” henceforth adopted the flower as their badge, and during his exile were accustomed to toast his health under the name of Caporal Violette, or “the flower that returns with the Spring.” So well understood did the political significance of 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 Eugénie, 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 Chiselhurst, Violet bouquets were sent in profusion to the Imperial exiles, and, mingled with immortelles, were piled upon the tomb of Napoleon III.----The famous actress, 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 offering 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 Violet is held to be under the dominion of Venus.

=VIPER’S BUGLOSS.=--The Echium 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 doctrine 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 counteract 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 Vipérine, and the Italians Viperina.----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 Scorzone, 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.

=WALLFLOWER.=--The Wallflower (Cheiranthus Cheiri) belongs to the family of Stocks, and was, in fact, 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 affection 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 disguised 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 effect 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 twist 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 fact that Wallflowers grew upon old walls, and were seen on the casements and battlements of ancient castles, and among the ruins of abbeys, the minstrels and troubadours were accustomed to wear a bouquet of these flowers as the emblem of an affection which is proof against time and misfortune.----Dreams of Wallflowers imply--to a lover that the object of his affection 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 prophecy from Apollo as a reward for the hospitality their father had shown to the god, but on the condition that they were never to misuse 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 Nux, or Walnut-tree of the Latins, the fruit of which was considered by the ancients, in consequence of these intrigues, to promote 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, considered 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 commonly strewed. Catullus exclaims:--

“Let the air with Hymen ring Hymen, Io 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, Io Hymen, sing.”--Leigh 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 repeopled 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. Having mingled some full Nuts with others which have been emptied, and the shells carefully fastened together again, they shut their eyes, and select one at hazard. If it happens to be a full Nut, it betokens that they will soon be happily married, for it is St. 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 Germany, the Black Walnut is regarded as a sinister tree, just as the Oak is looked upon 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 district say that witches love Walnut-trees. At Bologna, the peasantry think that witches hold a nocturnal 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 devils 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 persuaded them that God had taken this means to punish them for their idolatry; so, with Romuald, they agreed to be converted to Christianity, 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 11th), 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 custom (which at one time prevailed in England), every household in the district 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 protection 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 young men present pelt them liberally with Walnuts and green Pine-cones, which the group in the balcony rapidly collect and return in plentiful volleys.----To dream of Walnuts portends difficulties and misfortunes in life: in love affairs, such a vision implies infidelity and disappointment.

WATER LILY.--See Nymphæa.

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 Hawaii, springing up from the decomposed lava of the volcanoes of that island. Its flame-coloured berries are sacred to Pélé, 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 Gordon Cumming relates that when Mr. Ellis visited the island in 1822, he and his trusty friends rejoiced on discovering these large juicy berries, but the natives implored them not to touch them lest some dire calamity should follow. Though themselves faint and parched, they dared not touch one till they reached the edge of the crater, where, gathering branches loaded with the tempting clusters, they broke them in two, and throwing half over the precipice, they called Pélé’s attention to the offering, and to the fact that they craved her permission to eat of her Ohelos. (See also BILBERRY.)

=WIDOW’S FLOWER.=--The Indian or Sweet Scabious (Scabiosa atropurpurea) is called by the Italians Fior della Vedova, and by the French Fleur 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 despairing lovers invoke the Willow-tree.

“Ah, Willow, Willow! The Willow shall be A garland for me, Ah, Willow! Willow.”

Herrick tells us how garlands of Willow were worn by neglected 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, I’ll 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.”

Jason, in 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 Æneas, 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 Weeping 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 instrument of divination. The directions 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 gude 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 immortality and eternity. On this account they cover the coffin with branches of Willow, and plant Willows near the tombs of the departed. 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 effects 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 satisfaction.----By astrologers the Willow is placed under the dominion of the moon.

WIND FLOWER.--See Anemone.

WITCH-HAZEL.--See Hornbeam. WITCH- or WYCH-ELM, Ulmus montana.

WOLF’S BANE.--See Monk’s Hood.

WOODBINE.--See Honeysuckle.

=WORMWOOD.=--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 Thaumatographia naturalis, notes a curious superstition, 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 counteract their effects. Sprays of Wormwood are often seen suspended in cottages to drive away moths and other insects.

“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 insects that country people often place Wormwood in their drawers to protect 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 counteracts the poisonous effects 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 Egyptian priests dedicated to the service of the goddess Isis. A species called Sementina was formerly called Holy Wormwood, and its seed Holy Wormseed (semen sanctum)--for what reason is not known.----Dreams connected with Wormwood are considered of good augury, implying happiness and domestic enjoyment. Astrologers 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 selected 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 exactly 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.”

Observe, a young man must pluck the Yarrow off a young maiden’s grave, and a female must select 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 mediæval herbalists, the name and remedial character of the Horse-tail, which was formerly called Herba sanguinaria 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 Woundwort. 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.”

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 pyres. 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 resurrection and immortality.

“Dark Cypresses the skirting sides adorned, And gloomy Yew-trees, which for ever mourned.”--Harte.

R. Turner remarks that if the Yew “be set in a place subject 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 putrefaction and gross oleaginous vapours exhaled out of the graves by the setting sun, and sometimes drawn into those meteors called ignes 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 £1, 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 procession 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 evergreen tree, as a symbol of that immortality which they hoped and expected 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 sometimes 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 dangerous at the least, if not deadly.” Many of the old writers were of Parkinson’s opinion as to the poisonous character of the Yew. Cæsar tells how Cativulcus, king of the Eburones, poisoned himself by drinking a draught of Yew. Dioscorides says that a decoction 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 berries poisonous, but thinks non-ruminating animals are injured by eating the foliage. 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 Gorræus 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 respecting this sinister tree: it is said that it preys and invigorates itself upon the dead who lie beneath its sombre shade. Thus, in ‘In Memoriam,’ 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 connection with death, for from its wood man fashioned an instrument of warfare and destruction. 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 Ituræan 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 connection 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 till 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, plucking and bearing away branches of it as a holy relique, whilst there remained 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. Beneath it the Breton princes were accustomed to offer up a prayer before entering the church. This tree was regarded with the 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 concerning 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 conflict.

[Tailpiece]

[Headpiece]

Index to Legends and Myths.

Acis and Galatea, 532

Adam, Eve, the Wolf, and the Dog, 362

Adam’s Tree, 303

Ajax, 404

Albertus Magnus, 133

Ali Baba and the Sesame, 544

Amaracus, 433

Amaranthus, 212

Andromeda, 214

Arabian Priests and Cinnamon, 283

Argonauts, 81, 249

Arjuna, the Betel Thief, 251

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

Bachelier 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 Mâra, 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 Phœbus, 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 Phœbus, 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

Eugénie 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

Hoopoe and Springwort, 142

Hop-o’-my-Thumb, 263

Hulda and the Selige Fräulein, 340

Hyacinthus, 383

Ianthis, 578

Ice Mountain, 223

Iduna and the Apples, 217

Indra and Namuchi, 207

Io, 578

Iosbert, 519

Isabella and the Basil, 246

Iseult and Tristan, 389

Isis and Osiris, 560

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 Wou and the Cassia, 271

Khatties, The, 116

King Midas and the Barber, 511

„ Oswald and the Moss, 445

Kissos, 388

La Cour and the Tuberose, 568

Ladislas and the Plague, 350