Part the Second. Encyclopædia of Plants (part 4)

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.