“And herbes coude I tell eke many on,As Egremaine, Valerian, and Lunarie,And other swiche, if that me list to tarie,Our lampes brenning bothe night and day,To bring about our craft if that we may,Our fournies eke of calcination,And of wateres albification.”Drayton also refers to the virtues of the plant:—“Enchanting Lunary here lies,In sorceries excelling.”The poet likewise tells us that this Lunary was considered efficacious in the cure of madness.“Then sprinkles she the juice of RueWith nine drops of the midnight dew,From Lunarie distilling.”There is a popular superstition that wherever the purple Honesty is found flourishing, the cultivators of the gardens are exceptionally honest.HONEYSUCKLE.—The Honeysuckle, or Woodbine (Lonicera), is so called on account of the honey-dew found so plentifully on its foliage. Originally, the word Honeysuckle was applied to the Meadow Clover (Trifolium pratense), which is still so called in the Western Counties. French Honeysuckle (Hedysarum coronarium) is a foreign forage-plant. Chaucer makes the Woodbine an emblem of fidelity:“And tho’ that were chapelets on his hedeOf fresh Wodebind be such as never wereTo love untrue in word, ne thought, ne dede,But ay, stedfast, ne for pleasaunce ne fere,Tho’ that they shudde their hertis all to tere,Would never flit, but ever were stedfast,Till that ther livis there assunder brast.”Caprifolium, a specific name of the Honeysuckle, was poetically used by old botanists because the leaf, or rather the stem, climbs over high places where goats fear not to tread: hence the plant is sometimes called by country folks, Goat’s-leaf. One of its French names, also, isChèvrefeuille, which countrypatoisabbreviates toCherfeu, or Dear Flame: hence the plant is presented by ardent lovers to their sweethearts as an intimation of the state of their affections.——The French are fond of planting Honeysuckle in their cemeteries, and Alphonse Karr describes it as a plant which seems to devote itself to the tomb, the most magnificent bushes being found in cemeteries. He further says: “There is a perfume more exciting, more religious, even than that of incense; it is that of the Honeysuckles which grow over tombs upon which Grass has sprung up thick and tufted with them, as quickly as forgetfulness has taken possession of the hearts of the survivors.”——In olden times, consumptive invalids, or children suffering from hectic fever, were thrice passed through a circular wreath of Woodbine, cut during the increase of the March moon, and let down over the body from head to foot. We read of a sorceress, who healed sundry women, by taking a garland of green Woodbine, and causing the patient to pass thrice through it: afterwards the garland was cut in nine pieces, and cast into the fire.——Woodbine appears to have been a favourite remedy with Scotch witches, who, in effecting magicalcures passed their patients (generally) nine times through a girth or garland of green Woodbine.——In Lower Germany, the Honeysuckle is calledAlbranke, the witch snare.——Astrologers consider Woodbine to be under the rule of Mercury.HOP.—The Hop (Humulus Lupulus) is referred to in an old English proverb:—“Till St. James’s day be come and gone,There may be Hops and there may be none.”The cultivated Hop, however, was not brought into England until the reign of Henry VIII., when it was imported from Flanders, as recorded in the distich:—“Hops and turkeys, mackerel and beer,Came to England all in one year.”The Hop-leaf has become in Russia proverbial as the best of leaves. King Vladimir, in 985, when signing a peace with the Bulgars, swore to keep it till stone swam on the water, or Hop-leaves sank to the bottom. It is a very old custom in Russia to cover the head of a bride with Hop-leaves—typifying joy, abundance, and intoxication.——Astrologers place Hops under the rule of Mars.HOREHOUND.—Horehound (Marrubium) is the Herb which the Egyptians dedicated to their god Horus, and which the priests called the Seed of Horus, or the Bull’s Blood, and the Eye of the Star. Strabo attributed to the plant magical properties as a counter-poison. Horehound is one of the five plants which are stated by the Mishna to be the “bitter herbs” ordered to be taken by the Jews at the Feast of the Passover. An infusion of its leaves has an ancient reputation as being valuable in consumptive cases, coughs, and colds, and, according to Gerarde, “is good for them that have drunke poyson, or that have been bitten of serpents.” It is a herb of Mercury, hot in the second degree and dry in the third.——To dream of Horehound indicates that you will suffer imprisonment.HORNBEAM.—Gerarde tells us that the Horn Beam (Carpinus Betulus) was so called from its wood having been used to yoke horned cattle, as well by the Romans in olden times as in his own time and country, and growing so hard and tough with age as to be more like horn than wood. Hence it was also called Hardbeam and Yoke-Elm. Evelyn says the tree was called Horse-Beech; and in Essex it is known as the Witch-Hazel.——In the country districts around Valenciennes, there is a pleasant custom on May-day morning, when, over the doorway of their sweethearts, rustic lovers hasten to suspend, as a sign of their devotion, branches of Hornbeam or Birch.HORSE-CHESNUT.—It has been suggested that the Horse-Chesnut (Æsculus Hippocastanum) derived its name from the resemblance of the cicatrix of its leaf to a horse-shoe, with all itsnails evenly placed. The old writers, however, seem to have considered that the Horse-Chesnut was so called from the Nuts being used in Turkey (the country from which we first received the tree) as food for horses touched in the wind. Thus we read in Parkinson’s ‘Paradisus’:—“They are usually in Turkey given to horses in their provender to cure them of coughs, and help them being broken winded.”——Evlia Effendi, a Moslem Dervish, who travelled over a large portion of the Turkish empire in the beginning of the seventeenth century, says: “The Santon Akyazli lived forty years under the shade of a wild Chesnut-tree, close to which he is buried under a leaden-covered cupola. The Chesnuts, which are as big as an egg, are wonderfully useful in the diseases of horses.” Tradition says that this tree sprang from a stick which the saint once thrust in the ground, that he might roast his meat on it.——The Venetians entertain the belief that one of these Nuts carried in the pocket is a sure charm against hemorrhoids.——When Napoleon I. returned to France on March 20th, 1814, a Horse-Chesnut in the Tuileries garden was found to be in full blossom. The Parisians regarded this as an omen of welcome, and in succeeding years hailed with interest the early flowering of theMarronnier du Vingt Mars.——(See alsoChesnut).HORSE-KNOT.—The flowers of the Horse-knotCentaurea nigraare also called Hard-heads and Iron-Heads, from the resemblance of the knotted involucre to an old weapon called Loggerhead, which consisted of a ball of iron fixed to a long handle, the precursor of the life-preserver, and the origin of the expression “coming to loggerheads.”——In the Northern Counties, the following rite is frequently observed by young people as a divination:—Let a youth or maiden pull from its stalk the flower of the Horse-Knot, cut the tops of the stamens with a pair of scissors, and lay the flower by in a secret place, where no human eye can see it. Let him (or her) think through the day, and dream through the night, of the beloved one: then, on looking at the flower the next day, if the stamens have shot out, the anxious sweetheart may expect success in love; but if not, disappointment. (SeeCentaury).HORSERADISH.—The Horseradish (Cochlearia Armoracia) is stated to be one of the five plants referred to by the Mishna, as the “bitter herbs” ordered to be partaken of by the Jews during the Feast of the Passover; the other four being Coriander, Horehound, Lettuce, and Nettle.——Horseradish is under the dominion of Mars.HORSE-SHOE PLANT.—The Horse-shoe Vetch (Hippocrepis) derives its scientific name from the Greek words,hippos, a horse, andcrepis, a shoe, in allusion to its singular pods, which resemble a number of horse-shoes united at their extremities. Gerarde grew this plant in his garden, but he tells us that it is a native of Italy and Languedoc, where it flourishes in certainuntilled and sunny places. Its Italian name isSferracavallo, and inDe Gubernatis’Mythologie des Plantes, we find a letter to the author from Mdme. Valérie de Gasparin, detailing the superstition current in Italy respecting this plant. The Countess writes:—“In our infancy, certain old people of the village spoke of the plant which pulls off horse-shoes. My brother tells me that this superstition is to be found in all countries. It takes its origin from the fact that the seed of the plant has the form of a horse-shoe.”——The plant is also reputed by some people to open locks. An identical superstition exists in England with regard to the Moonwort (Botrychium Lunaria), which is known as Unshoe-the-Horse. (SeeMoonwort).HOUND’S TONGUE.—TheCynoglossumwas probably so named on account of the form and soft texture of the leaf. It is called Hound’s Tongue not only in England, but all over the Continent, and the reason given by an old writer is, that “it ties the tongues of hounds; whether true or not, I never tried; yet I cured the biting of a mad dog with this only medicine.” Miraldus said, that if a portion of the plant were laid beneath the feet, it would prevent dogs from barking at the wearer. Robert Turner states that Hound’s Tongue “cures the biting of dogs, either mad or tame. I lay fourteen weeks once under a chyrurgeon’s hand for cure of a dog’s biting; but, at last, I effected the cure myself, by applying to the wound Hound’s Tongue leaves, changing them once in four-and-twenty hours.” The plant has a strong and disagreeable odour, which Gerarde tells us caused the Dutchmen to change the plant’s name, substituting for “Tongue” an impolite word, expressive of the odour of the foliage.——Cynoglossumis a herb of Saturn.HOUSELEEK.—The House-leek (Sempervivum) had, in olden times, the names of Jupiter’s Beard, Jupiter’s Eye, Bullock’s Eye, and Sengreene (a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and expressing the same idea as the plant’s Latin nameSempervivum, evergreen). The old Dutch name of the Houseleek,Donderbloem, Thunder-flower, refers to the popular belief that the plant was a preservative against thunder. Charlemagne ordered the Houseleek to be planted on the roof of every house on this account. Miraldus is stated to have declared that this lowly plant preserves what it grows upon from fire and lightning; and Sir Thomas Browne has left on record his belief that Houseleek is a “defensative from lightning.”——In olden times there existed a belief that Houseleek would suppress in children fevers given to them by witchcraft or sorcery. According to Albertus Magnus, he who rubbed his hands with the juice of the Houseleek would be insensible to pain when taking red-hot iron in his hands.——It is considered unlucky to uproot the Houseleek; and there is a curious notion, still in existence, that it is also unlucky to let it blow; the flower-stalk is,therefore, carefully cut off directly it begins to shoot up.——In Italy, on Midsummer Eve, rustic maidens employ Houseleek for divining purposes. They gather buds to represent their various lovers, and on the following morning the bud which has flowered the most freely indicates the future husband. In Tuscany, they pound the Houseleek the first Friday after the birth of an infant, and administer to it the expressed juice, which is thought to preserve the babe from convulsions, and to ensure it a long life.——According to astrologers, Houseleek is a herb of Jupiter.Hurt-Sickle.—SeeCentaury.HYACINTH.—From the time of Homer to the present day the Hyacinth has been celebrated in the lays of the poets. Mythology tells us that the flower sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, a comely Laconian youth, much beloved both by Apollo and Zephyr: preferring, however, the sun to the wind, he kindled in the breast of the latter god a feeling of jealousy and desire for revenge. The opportunity soon came. Unsuspecting Hyacinthus playing a game of quoits with Apollo, Zephyr, unperceived, seized the opportunity basely to cause his rival to become the innocent means of their common favourite’s death: for whilst a quoit thrown by the sun-god whirled through the air, Zephyr treacherously blew it from its course till it struck the head of the ill-fated Hyacinthus, and killed him, to the great sorrow of his innocent slayer. Unable to restore his favourite companion to life, Apollo, as a memorial of him, caused the flower which has since borne his name to spring from his blood. Rapin refers to the story as follows:—“If spring proves mild ’tis Hyacinthus’ time,A flower which also rose from Phœbus’ crime;Th’ unhappy quoit which rash Apollo threw,Obliquely flying, smote his tender brow,And pale alike he fell, and Phœbus stood,One pale with guilt, and one with loss of blood;Whence a new flower with sudden birth appears,And still the mark of Phœbus’ sorrow wears;Spring it adorns, and Summer’s scenes suppliesWith blooms of various forms and various dyes.”Ovid gives a slightly different version of the tragedy, which he narrates in the following lines:—“The mid-day sun now shone with equal lightBetween the past and the succeeding night;They strip, then, smoothed with suppling oil, essayTo pitch the rounded quoit, their wonted play:A well-pois’d disk first hasty Phœbus threw;It cleft the air, and whistled as it flew;It reach’d the mark, a most surprising length,Which spoke an equal share of art and strength.Scarce was it fall’n, when with too eager handYoung Hyacinth ran to snatch it from the sand;But the curst orb, which met a stony soil,Flew in his face with violent recoil.Both faint, both pale and breathless now appear,The boy with pain, the am’rous god with fear.He ran, and rais’d him bleeding from the ground,Chafes his cold limbs, and wipes the fatal wound:Then herbs of noblest juice in vain applies;The wound is mortal, and his skill defies.”* * * * * * * *“While Phœbus thus the laws of fate reveal’d,Behold the blood which stained the verdant fieldIs blood no longer; but a flower full blownFar brighter than the Tyrian scarlet shone.A Lily’s form it took; its purple hueWas all that made a diff’rence to the view.Nor stopp’d he here; the god upon its leavesThe sad expression of his sorrow leaves;And to this hour the mournful purple wearsAi,Ai, inscribed in funeral characters.Nor are the Spartans, who so much are famedFor virtue, of their Hyacinth ashamed;But still with pompous woe and solemn state,The Hyacinthian feasts they yearly celebrate.”—Ozell.The solemnities calledHyacinthialasted three days, during which the people ate no bread, but subsisted on sweetmeats, and abstained from decorating their hair with garlands, as on ordinary occasions. On the second day, a troop of youths entertained spectators by playing upon the harp and flute, and chanting choruses in honour of Apollo. Numbers appeared mounted upon richly-caparisoned horses, who sang rustic songs, and were accompanied by a throng dancing to vocal and instrumental music. Females engaged in chariot races, and the most beautiful maidens, sumptuously attired, drove about in splendidly adorned vehicles, singing hymns. Hundreds of victims were offered on the altars of Apollo; and the votaries with free-handed hospitality entertained their friends and slaves.——Many allusions are made by the poets to the mournful letters A I, supposed to be visible on the petals of“The languid Hyacinth, who wearsHis bitter sorrows painted on his bosom.”Hunt, after entering into the vexed question as to the particular flower alluded to by Ovid, quotes a passage from Moschus, which he thus translates:—“Now tell your story, Hyacinth, and showAi,Ai, the more amidst your sanguine woe.”There has been much diversity of opinion expressed about the Hyacinth of the ancient poets. The claims of the modern flower to be the purple blossom that sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus are disputed, and the general opinion is that the Martagon Lily was the plant referred to by the poet. The Gladiolus and the Larkspur, however, have both been named as the flower bearing the expression of grief A I, A I, on the petals.——Homer mentionsthe Hyacinth among the flowers which formed the couch of Jupiter and Juno.“Thick new-born Violets a soft carpet spreadAnd clust’ring Lotus swelled the rising bed,And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrowAnd flow’ry Crocus made the mountains glow.”In allusion to the crisped and curled blossoms of the Hyacinth, poets have been fond of describing curly hair as Hyacinthine locks. Milton writes:—“And Hyacinthine locksRound from his parted forelock manly hungClustering.”Byron makes the same comparison, and says the idea is common to both Eastern and Grecian poets. Collins has the same simile in his ‘Ode to Liberty.’“The youths, whose locks divinely spreading,Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen hue.”The old English Jacinth, or Harebell, called by the FrenchJacinthe des bois(Wood Hyacinth) is botanically distinguished asHyacinthus non scriptus, because it has not the A I on the petals, and is not therefore the poetical Hyacinth. (SeeHarebell).Hypericum.—SeeSt. John’s Wort.HYSSOP.—In the Bible, the name of Hyssop has been given to some plant that has not been identified, but is popularly associated at the present day withHyssopus officinalis. In many early representations of the Crucifixion, wild Hyssop has been depicted, it is presumed in mockery, as forming the crown worn by our Saviour. Parkinson, in his ‘Paradisus,’ says of the Golden Hyssop, that the leaves “provoke many gentlewomen to wear them in their heads and on their armes, with as much delight as many fine flowers can give.”——To dream of Hyssop portends that friends will be instrumental to your peace and happiness.——The plant is under Jupiter’s dominion.ILEX.—The Ilex (Quercus Ilex) is, perhaps, better known in England as the Evergreen or Holm Oak: in France, it is calledChêne vert. On account of its dark and evergreen foliage, the Ilex is regarded as a funereal tree, and a symbol of immortality, like the Cypress, the Cedar, and other conifers. It was consecrated to Hecate, and the Fates wore chaplets of its leaves. The drunken Silenus was wont, also, to be crowned with its foliage.——Virgil associates the Ilex with the raven, and tells us that from its dark foliage may be heard issuing the mournful croakings of that funereal bird. Ovid, on the other hand, informs us that, in the Golden Age, the bees, living emblems of the immortal soul, sought the Ilex, to obtain material for their honey.——Pliny speaks of a venerable Ilex which grew in the Vatican at Rome, which bore an inscription, and was regarded as a sacred tree; and of three ofthese trees at Tibur, which the inhabitants venerated as being almost the founders of the people.——The Ilex being very combustible, and attracting lightning, was thought to render thereby a service to man, in drawing upon itself the effects of the anger of the gods: hence it is somewhat remarkable that in Greece it is regarded as a tree of bad omen, and has the following legend attached to it:—When it was decided at Jerusalem to crucify Christ, all the trees held a counsel, and unanimously agreed not to allow their wood to be defiled by becoming the instrument of punishment. But there was a second Judas among the trees. When the Jews arrived with axes to procure wood for the cross destined for Jesus, every trunk and branch split itself into a thousand fragments, so that it was impossible to use it for the cross. The Ilex alone remained whole, and gave up its trunk for the purpose of being fashioned into the instrument of the Passion. So to this day the Grecian woodcutters have such a horror of the tree, that they fear to sully their axe or their hearth-stones by bringing them in contact with the accursed wood. However, according to theDicta Sancti Aegidii(quoted by De Gubernatis), Jesus Himself would seem to have a preference for the tree which generously gave itself up to die with the Redeemer; for we find that on most occasion when he appeared to the saints, it was near an Ilex-tree.——In Russia, the Ilex, so far from being regarded with disdain, is looked upon as a benefactor and worker of miraculous cures among children. In certain districts, whenever a child is ill, and especially when it is suffering from consumption, they carry it into the forest, where they cleave in two the stem of an Ilex, and pass the child thrice through the cleft, after which they close the cut stem, and bind it securely with cord. Then they carry the child round the tree thrice nine times (the number of days composing the lunar month). Lastly they hang on the branches the child’s shirt, so that the martyr-tree may generously take to itself all the disease hitherto afflicting the child.INGUDI.—In Bengal, they ascribe to the plant Ingudi (Terminalia, catappa) the extraordinary property of begetting infants. According to De Gubernatis, theTâpatasaruis also called the Tree of the Anchorite, because with an oil extracted from the crushed fruit the Indian ascetics prepare the oil for their lamps.IPECACUANHA.—The root of thePsychotria emeticais used generally as an expectorant, but in India in cases of dysentery: its sexsyllabic nomenclature has been thus immortalised by George Canning:—“Coughing in a shady grove,Sat my Juliana;Lozenges I gave my love:Ipecacuanha!”IPOMŒA.—The Ipomœas are nearly allied to theConvolvuli, and are among the most lovely of all shrubs. The rosy-redKâmalatâ,the Love’s Creeper of the Hindus, is a plant by which all desires are granted to such as inherit the Indian Paradise.Ipomœa Bona-nox, “Good-night,” is so named in allusion to its opening its flowers in the evening.IRIS.—The Iris of “all hues” derives its name from the goddess Iris, one of the Oceanides, a messenger of the gods, and the especial attendant of Juno. As goddess of the rainbow, she is represented with its variegated colours glistening in her wings. Thus Virgil says:—“Iris on saffron wings arrayed with dewOf various colours through the sunbeams flew.”Iris is usually depicted as descending from the rainbow, and her glorious arch is said not to vary more in its colours than the flower which bears her name. Columella observes—“Nor Iris with her glorious rainbow clothedSo fulgent as the cheerful gardens shineWith their bright offspring, when they’re in their bloom.”The Greeks plant the Iris on tombs, possibly because the goddess Iris was believed to guide the souls of dead women to their last resting-place, as Mercury conducted the souls of men. The Iris was one of the flowers dedicated to Juno, and with the ancients was wont to be employed as the symbol of eloquence or power; hence the Egyptians placed this flower on the brow of the Sphinx, and on the sceptres of their monarchs. The three leaves of the blossom represent faith, wisdom, and valour. The Iris is supposed to be the flower which forms the terminating ornament of the sceptre of the ancient kings of Babylon and Assyria.——The Franks of old had a custom, at the proclamation of a king, to elevate him upon a shield, or target, and place in his hand a reed of Flag in blossom, instead of a sceptre, and from thence the kings of the first and second race in France are represented with sceptres in their hands like the Flag with its flower, and which flowers became the armorial figures of France.——There is a legend that Clotilda, the wife of the warlike king Clovis, had long prayed for the conversion of her husband, and at length Clovis, having led his army against the Huns, and being in imminent danger of defeat, recommended himself to the God of his sainted wife. The tide of battle turned, he obtained a complete victory, and was baptised by St. Remi. On this occasion, owing to a vision of St. Clotilda, the Lilies (Iris) were substituted in the arms of France for the three frogs or toads which Clovis had hitherto borne on his shield. In the pictures of St. Clotilda, she is generally represented attended by an angel holding a shield on which are the threeFleurs de Lys. This occurred early in the sixth century. Louis VII., in consequence of a dream, assumed it as his device in 1137, when engaged in the second expedition of the Crusaders, and the Iris-flower soon became celebrated in France as theFleur de Louis, which wasfirst contracted intoFleur de Luce, and afterwards intoFleur de Lys, orFleur de Lis(Lily-flower—although it has no affinity to the Lily), and was incorporated in the arms of France, and formed one of the embellishments of the crown.——Pope Leo III. presented Charlemagne with a blue banner,seméeof goldenFleurs de Lys, and the banner coming from the Pope was supposed by the ignorant to have descended from heaven.——Other traditions respecting this blue banner relate that an angel gave it to Charlemagne, that St. Denis gave it to the kings of France, and that an angel brought it to Clovis after his baptism.——TheFleur de Lysappertains to the Bourbon race, and was made the ornament of the northern radius of the compass in honour of Charles of Anjou, who was King of Sicily at the time of this great discovery. When Edward III. claimed the crown of France in 1340, he quartered the ancient shield of France with the lion of England. After many changes of position, theFleur de Lysfinally disappeared from the English shield in the first year of the present century. (See alsoFlower de Luce).Iron-HeadandHard-Head.—SeeHorse-Knot.IVY.—Kissos (Greek for Ivy) was the original name of the infant Bacchus, who, abandoned by his mother Semele, was hidden under an Ivy-bush, which was subsequently named after him. Another Hellenic tradition makes Kissos a son of Bacchus, who, whilst dancing before his father, suddenly dropped down dead. The goddess Gæa (the Earth), compassionating the unfortunate youth, changed him into the Ivy, which afterwards received his name—Kissos.——The god Bacchus is said to have worshipped the Ivy under the name ofKissos; the plant was sacred to him, and he is represented crowned with the leaves of Ivy as well as with those of the Vine. The god’s thyrsus was also crowned with Ivy. In Greece and Rome, Black Ivy was used to decorate the thyrsus of Bacchus in commemoration of his march through India. This Ivy bears yellow berries, and is common in the Himalayas; it was, therefore, appropriately selected as the shrub wherewith to crown Alexander in his Indian expedition.——According to Plutarch, the priests of Jupiter were bound to shun the Vine (in order to preserve themselves from intoxication), and to touch the Ivy, which was believed to impart a sort of prophetic transport. Bacchus, therefore, crowned with Ivy, became a god both victorious and prophetic.——At the Dionysian festivals, the worshippers were crowned with Ivy, Vine-leaves, Fir, &c. Certain of the men engaged in the procession wore chaplets of Ivy and Violets, and the women—who, worked up into a kind of frenzy, executed fantastic dances—often carried garlands and strings of Ivy-leaves.——Pliny says that Ivy-berries, taken before wine, prevent its intoxicating effects. Probably the Bacchanals’ chaplet and the Ivy-bough formerly used as the sign of a tavern, both derivedtheir origin from the belief that Ivy in some form counteracted the effects of wine.——On this point, Coles says: “Box and Ivy last long green, and therefore vintners make their garlands thereof; though, perhaps, Ivy is the rather used because of the antipathy between it and wine.” Kennett tells us that, in olden times, “the booths in fairs were commonly dressed with Ivy-leaves, as a token of wine there sold, the Ivy being sacred to Bacchus; so was the tavern bush, or frame of wood, drest round with Ivy forty years since, though now left off for tuns or barrels hung in the middle of it. This custom gave birth to the present practice of putting out a green bush at the door of those private houses which sell drink during the fair.” De Gubernatis says, that the Ivy to be seen over the doors of Italian wine-shops has the same signification as the Oak-bough—it is a precaution to render the wine innocuous. Chéruel tell us that the French, in suspending Ivy at the door of their cabarets, intend it as a symbol of love.——Ivy, which clings and embraces, has been adopted as the emblem of confiding love and friendship.——There is an old Cornish tradition which relates that the beauteous Iseult, unable to endure the loss of her betrothed, the valiant Tristan, died broken-hearted, and was buried in the same church, but, by order of the king, their graves were placed far asunder. But soon from the tomb of Tristan came forth a branch of Ivy, and from the tomb of Iseult there issued another branch. Both gradually grew upwards, until at last the lovers, represented by the clinging Ivy, were again united beneath the vaulted roof of the sanctuary.——In Greece, the altar of Hymen was encircled with Ivy, and a branch of it was presented to the newly-married couple, as a symbol of the indissoluble knot. It formed the crown of both Greek and Roman poets; and in modern times, female love, constancy, and dependence have been expressed by it. Friendship is sometimes symbolised by a fallen tree, firmly embraced by the verdant arms of the Ivy, with the motto: “Nothing can part us.”——In Northern mythology, Ivy, on account of its black colour, was dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder, and offered to the elf who was supposed to be his messenger.——When, in Germany, they drive the cattle for the first time to pasture, they deck them with a branch of Ivy fashioned into a crown. They believe also that he who carries on his head a crown of Ivy acquires the faculty of recognising witches. In the Tyrol, a similar belief holds good, only there, Rue, Broom, Maidenhair, and Agrimony must be bound together with Ground-Ivy in a bundle, which is to be kept about the person.——In Ross-shire, it is a May-day custom for young girls to pluck sprays of Ivy with the dew on them that have not been touched by steel.——Ivy has long been used in decorating churches and houses at Christmas: thus old Tusser directs:—“Get Ivye and Hull [Holly], woman, deck up thine house.” It seems in the middle ages to have been regarded as a most favoured and auspicious plant; one old song couples the Ivy and Holly as plants welladapted for Christmas time, and the following mediæval carol sings loudly the plant’s praises:—“The most worthy she is in towne;He that sayeth other do amysse;And worthy to bear the crowne:Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy is soft and meke of speech,Ageynst all bale she is blysse;Well is he that may hyre rech.Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy is green, with coloure bright,Of all trees best she is,And that I prove will now be right.Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy beryth berrys black,God graunt us all His blysse,For there shall we nothing lack.Veni, coronaberis.”According to an old poem in the British Museum, however, Ivy was considered by some good people only fit to ornament the porches and outer passages of houses, but not the interior.“Nay my nay, hyt shall not be I wis,Let Holly have the maystry, as the maner ys.Holly stoud in the hall, fayre to behold,Ivy stoud without the dore, she ys ful sore a-cold.Nay my nay.”Corymbifer was a surname given to Bacchus, from his wearing a crown ofcorymbi, or Ivy-berries. These berries were recommended by old physicians as a remedy for the plague, and Pliny averred that when taken before wine, they prevented its intoxicating effects.——There is a popular tradition that an Ivy cup has the property of separating wine from water—the former soaking through, and the latter remaining. An old writer remarks that those who are troubled with the spleen shall find much ease by the continual drinking out of a cup made of Ivy, so as the drink may stand some time therein before it be drunk; for, he adds, “Cato saith that wine put into the Ivy cup will soak through it by reason of the antipathy that is between them;” this antipathy being so great that a drunkard “will find his speediest cure if he drunk a draught of the same wine wherein a handful of Ivy-leaves had been steeped.”——The ancient Scottish clan Gordon claim Ivy as their badge.——Ivy is under the dominion of Saturn. It is considered to be exceedingly favourable to dream of the evergreen climber, portending as it does, friendship, happiness, good fortune, honour, riches, and success.Ground-Ivy is a name which was formerly applied to the Periwinkle, and to the Ground Pine or Yellow Bugle (called till the beginning of the present century the Forget-Me-Not), but which was afterwards transferred to theNepeta Glechoma, a plant also known by the rustic names of Gill and Gill-by-the-ground, Haymaids,Cat’s-foot, Ale-hoof, and Tun-hoof. In olden times, it was put into ale, instead of hops, and was also used to clear ale. The juice of the leaves, tunned up in ale, was thought to cure the jaundice and other complaints.Jacinth.—SeeHyacinth.Jack-by-the-Hedge.—SeeErysimum.Jack-of-the-Buttery.—SeeStonecrop.JACOB’S LADDER.—ThePolemonium cœruleum, from its leaflets being arranged in successive pairs.JAMBU.—The Jambu (Eugenia Jambos) is included among the great Indian cosmogonic trees. It is called, says Prof. De Gubernatis, the Fruit of Kings, on account of the great size of its fruit. According to theVishnu purâna, the continentJambudvîpatook its name from the tree Jambu. The fruits of this tree are in point of fact very large, but the fruits of the Indian mythological Jambu attain to the size of an elephant; when they have ripened they fall from the mountain, and the juice which exudes feeds the river Jambu, whose waters are consequently richly endowed with salutary properties, and can neither be tainted nor defiled. We learn from theDîrghâgama-Sûtra, that the four cardinal points were not only represented by the four elephants which sustained the world, but by four trees of colossal bulk and grandeur. These four trees were theGhanta, theKadamba, theAmbala, and theJambu. TheJambusprang, it is said, from the south of the mountain Meru, of which the summit was believed to represent the zenith. In the cosmogonic forest of the Himalaya towers the stupendous bulk of the Jambu, and from its roots four great rivers, whose waters are inexhaustible, take their source. It bears during the entirekalpaof the renovation an immortal fruit, like unto gold, great as the vase calledMahâkala. This fruit falls into the rivers, and its pips produce the golden seed which is carried away to the sea, and which is sometimes washed up again, and to be found on its shores. This gold is of incalculable value, and has not its equal in the world for purity.——It appears, according to theSaptaçatakaof Hâla, that Indian lovers are fond of secreting themselves beneath the leaves of theEugenia Jambos, and that the young Indian bride becomes sad with jealousy when she sees her young husband approaching, with his ears decked with the leaves of the Jambu.JASMINE.—Perfumes and flowers play an important part in the poetry of India, and the Jasmine, which Hindu poets call the “Moonlight of the Grove,” has furnished them with countless images. Thus, inAnvár-i-Suhailî(translated by E. B. Eastwick), we read of a damsel entering the king’s chamber, whose face charms like a fresh Rosebud which the morning breeze has causedto blow, and whose ringlets are compared to the twisting Hyacinth buried in an envelope of the purest Musk:—“With Hyacinth and Jasmine her perfumed hair was bound,A posy of sweet Violets her clustering ringlets seemed;Her eyes with love intoxicate, in witching sleep half drowned,Her locks, to Indian Spikenard like, with love’s enchantments beamed.”De Tassy, the translator of the allegories of Aziz Eddin, points out that the Arabian wordyâs-minis composed of the wordyâs, despair, andmin, an illusion. In the allegories we read: “Then the Jasmine uttered this sentence with the expressive eloquence of its mute language: “Despair is a mistake.My penetrating odour excels the perfume of other flowers; therefore lovers select me as a suitable offering to their mistresses; they extract from me the invisible treasures of divinity, and I can only rest when enclosed in the folds and pleats which form in the body of a robe.”——An allusion to the Jasmine is made in the following poetic description of a young girl drooping from a sudden illness:—“All of a sudden the blighting glance of unpropitious fortune having fallen on that Rose-cheeked Cypress, she laid her head on the pillow of sickness; and in the flower-garden of her beauty, in place of the Damask-Rose, sprang up the branch of the Saffron. Her fresh Jasmine, from the violence of the burning illness, lost its moisture, and her Hyacinth, full of curls, lost all its endurance from the fever that consumed her.”——The Indians cultivate specially for their perfume two species of Jasmine—viz., theJasminum grandiflorum, orTore, and theJ. hirsutum, orSambac. TheMoo-le-hua, a powerful-smelling Jasmine, is used in China and other parts of the East as an adornment for the women’s hair.——It is believed that the Jasmine was first introduced into Europe by some Spaniards, who brought it from the East Indies in 1560.——Loudon relates that a variety of the Jasmine, with large double flowers and exquisite scent, was first procured in 1699 from Goa, by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and so jealous was he of being the sole possessor of this species, that he strictly forbade his gardener to part with a single cutting. However the gardener was in love, and so, on the birthday of his betrothed, he presented her with a nosegay, in the midst of which was a sprig of this rare Jasmine. Charmed with its fragrance, the girl planted the sprig in fresh mould, and under her lover’s instructions was soon able to raise cuttings from the plant, and to sell them at a high price: by this means she soon saved enough money to enable her to wed the gardener, who had hitherto been too poor to alter his condition. In memory of this tender episode, the damsels of Tuscany still wear a wreath of Jasmine on their wedding days, and the event has given rise to a saying that a “girl worthy of wearing the Jasmine wreath is rich enough to make her husband happy.”——Yellow Jasmine is the flower of the Epiphany.——To dream of this beautiful flower foretells good luck; to lovers it is a sure sign they will be speedily married.JERUSALEM.—Many plants are found to have been named in olden times after the Holy City. The Lungwort,Pulmonaria officinalis, is the Jerusalem Cowslip;Phlomisis Jerusalem Sage; andTeucrium Botrysis the Oak of Jerusalem, called so from the resemblance of its leaf to that of the Oak. In these three cases the prefix “Jerusalem” seems to have been applied for no particular reason—probably because the plants had an Eastern origin. Salsafy,Tragopogon porrifolius, is the Star of Jerusalem, so named from the star-like expansion of its involucre; andHelianthus tuberosusis the Jerusalem Artichoke, a plant of the same genus as the Sunflower, called Artichoke from the flavour of its tubers. The soup made from it is termed Palestine Soup. In the last two cases, Dr. Prior thinks the prefix “Jerusalem” is simply a corruption of the Italian wordgirasole, turn-sun, and has been applied to these plants from a popular belief that they turn with the Sun. TheLychnis Chalcedonicais the Jerusalem Cross, which has derived its name from the fact that a variety of it has four instead of five petals, of the colour and form of a Jerusalem Cross.JEWS’ EARS.—TheAuricula Judæis a Fungus resembling in shape the human ear, which grows usually upon the trunks of the Elder, the tree upon which Judas Iscariot is said by some to have hung himself. Sir John Maundevile relates that he actually saw the identical tree. Bacon says of this excrescence, “There is an herb called Jewes-Eare, that groweth upon the roots and lower parts of the bodies of trees, especially of Elders, and sometimes Ashes. It hath a strange propertie; for in warme water it swelleth, and openeth extremely. It is not greene, but of a darke browne colour. And it is used for squinancies and inflammations in the throat, whereby it seemeth to have a mollifying and lenifying vertue.”JOAN’S SILVER PIN.—The red-Poppy (Papaver Rhœas) has acquired the name of Joan’s Silver Pin, because, according to Parkinson, the gaudy flower is “fair without and foul within” (in allusion to its yellow juice). Joan’s Silver Pin was a contemptuous term applied to some tawdry ornament displayed ostentatiously by a sloven.JOB’S TEARS.—The pretty East Indian Grass,Coix lacryma, is called Job’s Tears on account of the formation of its hard beard-like seeds, of which Gerarde says “every graine resembleth the drop or teare that falleth from the eye.”——Among the Arabs, the Fleabane (Inula dysenterica) is also called Job’s Tears (SeeFleabane).JONAH’S GOURD.—According to the Greek version of the Scriptures, the plant under which Jonah sat was a Gourd, but the Vulgate considers it a species of Ivy. TheRicinus communis, the Castor-oil-tree, with its broad palmate leaves, has been, however,identified with theKikayon, which God caused to rise up and shelter Jonah.Joseph’s Flower.—SeeGoat’s Beard.JUDAS TREE.—The Fig, the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the Dog Rose, the Elder, and the Cercis have all been named as the tree from whose boughs the traitorous Judas, overcome with remorse, hung himself in guilty despair. The idea that the Fig-tree was the tree whereon Judas sought his fate, is a wide-spread one, and probably derives its origin from the fact of our Lord having cursed an unproductive Fig-tree,—the tradition being that, after this malediction, the tree lost its foliage, and soon died; that its wood, when put in the fire, produced smoke, but no flame; and that all its progeny from that time forth became wild Fig-trees.——A Fig-tree growing on the coast of Coromandel, bears the name of Judas’ Purse.——De Gubernatis, on the authority of Dr. J. Pitré, states that, according to a Sicilian tradition, Judas was not hung on a Fig, but on a Tamarisk-tree, calledVruca(Tamarix Africana), much more common than theTamarix Gallica. TheVrucais only a shrub; but, say the Sicilians, once upon a time it was a great tree, and very handsome. Since, however, the traitor Judas hung himself from its boughs, the tree, owing to a Divine malediction, became merely a shrub, ugly, mis-shapen, small, useless, not even capable of lighting even the smallest fire; from whence has arisen the proverb: “You are like the wood of theVruca, which neither yields cinders nor fire.”——A Russian proverb says: “There is a tree which trembles, although the wind does not blow.” In the Ukraine, they state that the leaves of the Aspen (Populus tremula) have trembled and shaken ever since the day that Judas hanged himself on a bough of that tree.——In Germany, the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) is a tree of ill repute, and according to tradition, one with which the Devil has had dealings. (SeeEglantine). There is a legend that Judas hanged himself on this tree; that in consequence it became accursed, and ever after turned to the earth the points of its thorns; and that from this cause its berries, to this day, are calledJudasbeeren.——In England and other countries, there has long existed a tradition that the Elder was the tree on which the traitor-disciple hanged himself. Sir John Maundevile, in his ‘Travels,’ declares that he saw the identical tree; and we read in ‘Piers Plowman’s Vision’:—
“And herbes coude I tell eke many on,As Egremaine, Valerian, and Lunarie,And other swiche, if that me list to tarie,Our lampes brenning bothe night and day,To bring about our craft if that we may,Our fournies eke of calcination,And of wateres albification.”
“And herbes coude I tell eke many on,As Egremaine, Valerian, and Lunarie,And other swiche, if that me list to tarie,Our lampes brenning bothe night and day,To bring about our craft if that we may,Our fournies eke of calcination,And of wateres albification.”
“And herbes coude I tell eke many on,
As Egremaine, Valerian, and Lunarie,
And other swiche, if that me list to tarie,
Our lampes brenning bothe night and day,
To bring about our craft if that we may,
Our fournies eke of calcination,
And of wateres albification.”
Drayton also refers to the virtues of the plant:—
“Enchanting Lunary here lies,In sorceries excelling.”
“Enchanting Lunary here lies,In sorceries excelling.”
“Enchanting Lunary here lies,
In sorceries excelling.”
The poet likewise tells us that this Lunary was considered efficacious in the cure of madness.
“Then sprinkles she the juice of RueWith nine drops of the midnight dew,From Lunarie distilling.”
“Then sprinkles she the juice of RueWith nine drops of the midnight dew,From Lunarie distilling.”
“Then sprinkles she the juice of Rue
With nine drops of the midnight dew,
From Lunarie distilling.”
There is a popular superstition that wherever the purple Honesty is found flourishing, the cultivators of the gardens are exceptionally honest.
HONEYSUCKLE.—The Honeysuckle, or Woodbine (Lonicera), is so called on account of the honey-dew found so plentifully on its foliage. Originally, the word Honeysuckle was applied to the Meadow Clover (Trifolium pratense), which is still so called in the Western Counties. French Honeysuckle (Hedysarum coronarium) is a foreign forage-plant. Chaucer makes the Woodbine an emblem of fidelity:
“And tho’ that were chapelets on his hedeOf fresh Wodebind be such as never wereTo love untrue in word, ne thought, ne dede,But ay, stedfast, ne for pleasaunce ne fere,Tho’ that they shudde their hertis all to tere,Would never flit, but ever were stedfast,Till that ther livis there assunder brast.”
“And tho’ that were chapelets on his hedeOf fresh Wodebind be such as never wereTo love untrue in word, ne thought, ne dede,But ay, stedfast, ne for pleasaunce ne fere,Tho’ that they shudde their hertis all to tere,Would never flit, but ever were stedfast,Till that ther livis there assunder brast.”
“And tho’ that were chapelets on his hede
Of fresh Wodebind be such as never were
To love untrue in word, ne thought, ne dede,
But ay, stedfast, ne for pleasaunce ne fere,
Tho’ that they shudde their hertis all to tere,
Would never flit, but ever were stedfast,
Till that ther livis there assunder brast.”
Caprifolium, a specific name of the Honeysuckle, was poetically used by old botanists because the leaf, or rather the stem, climbs over high places where goats fear not to tread: hence the plant is sometimes called by country folks, Goat’s-leaf. One of its French names, also, isChèvrefeuille, which countrypatoisabbreviates toCherfeu, or Dear Flame: hence the plant is presented by ardent lovers to their sweethearts as an intimation of the state of their affections.——The French are fond of planting Honeysuckle in their cemeteries, and Alphonse Karr describes it as a plant which seems to devote itself to the tomb, the most magnificent bushes being found in cemeteries. He further says: “There is a perfume more exciting, more religious, even than that of incense; it is that of the Honeysuckles which grow over tombs upon which Grass has sprung up thick and tufted with them, as quickly as forgetfulness has taken possession of the hearts of the survivors.”——In olden times, consumptive invalids, or children suffering from hectic fever, were thrice passed through a circular wreath of Woodbine, cut during the increase of the March moon, and let down over the body from head to foot. We read of a sorceress, who healed sundry women, by taking a garland of green Woodbine, and causing the patient to pass thrice through it: afterwards the garland was cut in nine pieces, and cast into the fire.——Woodbine appears to have been a favourite remedy with Scotch witches, who, in effecting magicalcures passed their patients (generally) nine times through a girth or garland of green Woodbine.——In Lower Germany, the Honeysuckle is calledAlbranke, the witch snare.——Astrologers consider Woodbine to be under the rule of Mercury.
HOP.—The Hop (Humulus Lupulus) is referred to in an old English proverb:—
“Till St. James’s day be come and gone,There may be Hops and there may be none.”
“Till St. James’s day be come and gone,There may be Hops and there may be none.”
“Till St. James’s day be come and gone,
There may be Hops and there may be none.”
The cultivated Hop, however, was not brought into England until the reign of Henry VIII., when it was imported from Flanders, as recorded in the distich:—
“Hops and turkeys, mackerel and beer,Came to England all in one year.”
“Hops and turkeys, mackerel and beer,Came to England all in one year.”
“Hops and turkeys, mackerel and beer,
Came to England all in one year.”
The Hop-leaf has become in Russia proverbial as the best of leaves. King Vladimir, in 985, when signing a peace with the Bulgars, swore to keep it till stone swam on the water, or Hop-leaves sank to the bottom. It is a very old custom in Russia to cover the head of a bride with Hop-leaves—typifying joy, abundance, and intoxication.——Astrologers place Hops under the rule of Mars.
HOREHOUND.—Horehound (Marrubium) is the Herb which the Egyptians dedicated to their god Horus, and which the priests called the Seed of Horus, or the Bull’s Blood, and the Eye of the Star. Strabo attributed to the plant magical properties as a counter-poison. Horehound is one of the five plants which are stated by the Mishna to be the “bitter herbs” ordered to be taken by the Jews at the Feast of the Passover. An infusion of its leaves has an ancient reputation as being valuable in consumptive cases, coughs, and colds, and, according to Gerarde, “is good for them that have drunke poyson, or that have been bitten of serpents.” It is a herb of Mercury, hot in the second degree and dry in the third.——To dream of Horehound indicates that you will suffer imprisonment.
HORNBEAM.—Gerarde tells us that the Horn Beam (Carpinus Betulus) was so called from its wood having been used to yoke horned cattle, as well by the Romans in olden times as in his own time and country, and growing so hard and tough with age as to be more like horn than wood. Hence it was also called Hardbeam and Yoke-Elm. Evelyn says the tree was called Horse-Beech; and in Essex it is known as the Witch-Hazel.——In the country districts around Valenciennes, there is a pleasant custom on May-day morning, when, over the doorway of their sweethearts, rustic lovers hasten to suspend, as a sign of their devotion, branches of Hornbeam or Birch.
HORSE-CHESNUT.—It has been suggested that the Horse-Chesnut (Æsculus Hippocastanum) derived its name from the resemblance of the cicatrix of its leaf to a horse-shoe, with all itsnails evenly placed. The old writers, however, seem to have considered that the Horse-Chesnut was so called from the Nuts being used in Turkey (the country from which we first received the tree) as food for horses touched in the wind. Thus we read in Parkinson’s ‘Paradisus’:—“They are usually in Turkey given to horses in their provender to cure them of coughs, and help them being broken winded.”——Evlia Effendi, a Moslem Dervish, who travelled over a large portion of the Turkish empire in the beginning of the seventeenth century, says: “The Santon Akyazli lived forty years under the shade of a wild Chesnut-tree, close to which he is buried under a leaden-covered cupola. The Chesnuts, which are as big as an egg, are wonderfully useful in the diseases of horses.” Tradition says that this tree sprang from a stick which the saint once thrust in the ground, that he might roast his meat on it.——The Venetians entertain the belief that one of these Nuts carried in the pocket is a sure charm against hemorrhoids.——When Napoleon I. returned to France on March 20th, 1814, a Horse-Chesnut in the Tuileries garden was found to be in full blossom. The Parisians regarded this as an omen of welcome, and in succeeding years hailed with interest the early flowering of theMarronnier du Vingt Mars.——(See alsoChesnut).
HORSE-KNOT.—The flowers of the Horse-knotCentaurea nigraare also called Hard-heads and Iron-Heads, from the resemblance of the knotted involucre to an old weapon called Loggerhead, which consisted of a ball of iron fixed to a long handle, the precursor of the life-preserver, and the origin of the expression “coming to loggerheads.”——In the Northern Counties, the following rite is frequently observed by young people as a divination:—Let a youth or maiden pull from its stalk the flower of the Horse-Knot, cut the tops of the stamens with a pair of scissors, and lay the flower by in a secret place, where no human eye can see it. Let him (or her) think through the day, and dream through the night, of the beloved one: then, on looking at the flower the next day, if the stamens have shot out, the anxious sweetheart may expect success in love; but if not, disappointment. (SeeCentaury).
HORSERADISH.—The Horseradish (Cochlearia Armoracia) is stated to be one of the five plants referred to by the Mishna, as the “bitter herbs” ordered to be partaken of by the Jews during the Feast of the Passover; the other four being Coriander, Horehound, Lettuce, and Nettle.——Horseradish is under the dominion of Mars.
HORSE-SHOE PLANT.—The Horse-shoe Vetch (Hippocrepis) derives its scientific name from the Greek words,hippos, a horse, andcrepis, a shoe, in allusion to its singular pods, which resemble a number of horse-shoes united at their extremities. Gerarde grew this plant in his garden, but he tells us that it is a native of Italy and Languedoc, where it flourishes in certainuntilled and sunny places. Its Italian name isSferracavallo, and inDe Gubernatis’Mythologie des Plantes, we find a letter to the author from Mdme. Valérie de Gasparin, detailing the superstition current in Italy respecting this plant. The Countess writes:—“In our infancy, certain old people of the village spoke of the plant which pulls off horse-shoes. My brother tells me that this superstition is to be found in all countries. It takes its origin from the fact that the seed of the plant has the form of a horse-shoe.”——The plant is also reputed by some people to open locks. An identical superstition exists in England with regard to the Moonwort (Botrychium Lunaria), which is known as Unshoe-the-Horse. (SeeMoonwort).
HOUND’S TONGUE.—TheCynoglossumwas probably so named on account of the form and soft texture of the leaf. It is called Hound’s Tongue not only in England, but all over the Continent, and the reason given by an old writer is, that “it ties the tongues of hounds; whether true or not, I never tried; yet I cured the biting of a mad dog with this only medicine.” Miraldus said, that if a portion of the plant were laid beneath the feet, it would prevent dogs from barking at the wearer. Robert Turner states that Hound’s Tongue “cures the biting of dogs, either mad or tame. I lay fourteen weeks once under a chyrurgeon’s hand for cure of a dog’s biting; but, at last, I effected the cure myself, by applying to the wound Hound’s Tongue leaves, changing them once in four-and-twenty hours.” The plant has a strong and disagreeable odour, which Gerarde tells us caused the Dutchmen to change the plant’s name, substituting for “Tongue” an impolite word, expressive of the odour of the foliage.——Cynoglossumis a herb of Saturn.
HOUSELEEK.—The House-leek (Sempervivum) had, in olden times, the names of Jupiter’s Beard, Jupiter’s Eye, Bullock’s Eye, and Sengreene (a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and expressing the same idea as the plant’s Latin nameSempervivum, evergreen). The old Dutch name of the Houseleek,Donderbloem, Thunder-flower, refers to the popular belief that the plant was a preservative against thunder. Charlemagne ordered the Houseleek to be planted on the roof of every house on this account. Miraldus is stated to have declared that this lowly plant preserves what it grows upon from fire and lightning; and Sir Thomas Browne has left on record his belief that Houseleek is a “defensative from lightning.”——In olden times there existed a belief that Houseleek would suppress in children fevers given to them by witchcraft or sorcery. According to Albertus Magnus, he who rubbed his hands with the juice of the Houseleek would be insensible to pain when taking red-hot iron in his hands.——It is considered unlucky to uproot the Houseleek; and there is a curious notion, still in existence, that it is also unlucky to let it blow; the flower-stalk is,therefore, carefully cut off directly it begins to shoot up.——In Italy, on Midsummer Eve, rustic maidens employ Houseleek for divining purposes. They gather buds to represent their various lovers, and on the following morning the bud which has flowered the most freely indicates the future husband. In Tuscany, they pound the Houseleek the first Friday after the birth of an infant, and administer to it the expressed juice, which is thought to preserve the babe from convulsions, and to ensure it a long life.——According to astrologers, Houseleek is a herb of Jupiter.
Hurt-Sickle.—SeeCentaury.
HYACINTH.—From the time of Homer to the present day the Hyacinth has been celebrated in the lays of the poets. Mythology tells us that the flower sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, a comely Laconian youth, much beloved both by Apollo and Zephyr: preferring, however, the sun to the wind, he kindled in the breast of the latter god a feeling of jealousy and desire for revenge. The opportunity soon came. Unsuspecting Hyacinthus playing a game of quoits with Apollo, Zephyr, unperceived, seized the opportunity basely to cause his rival to become the innocent means of their common favourite’s death: for whilst a quoit thrown by the sun-god whirled through the air, Zephyr treacherously blew it from its course till it struck the head of the ill-fated Hyacinthus, and killed him, to the great sorrow of his innocent slayer. Unable to restore his favourite companion to life, Apollo, as a memorial of him, caused the flower which has since borne his name to spring from his blood. Rapin refers to the story as follows:—
“If spring proves mild ’tis Hyacinthus’ time,A flower which also rose from Phœbus’ crime;Th’ unhappy quoit which rash Apollo threw,Obliquely flying, smote his tender brow,And pale alike he fell, and Phœbus stood,One pale with guilt, and one with loss of blood;Whence a new flower with sudden birth appears,And still the mark of Phœbus’ sorrow wears;Spring it adorns, and Summer’s scenes suppliesWith blooms of various forms and various dyes.”
“If spring proves mild ’tis Hyacinthus’ time,A flower which also rose from Phœbus’ crime;Th’ unhappy quoit which rash Apollo threw,Obliquely flying, smote his tender brow,And pale alike he fell, and Phœbus stood,One pale with guilt, and one with loss of blood;Whence a new flower with sudden birth appears,And still the mark of Phœbus’ sorrow wears;Spring it adorns, and Summer’s scenes suppliesWith blooms of various forms and various dyes.”
“If spring proves mild ’tis Hyacinthus’ time,
A flower which also rose from Phœbus’ crime;
Th’ unhappy quoit which rash Apollo threw,
Obliquely flying, smote his tender brow,
And pale alike he fell, and Phœbus stood,
One pale with guilt, and one with loss of blood;
Whence a new flower with sudden birth appears,
And still the mark of Phœbus’ sorrow wears;
Spring it adorns, and Summer’s scenes supplies
With blooms of various forms and various dyes.”
Ovid gives a slightly different version of the tragedy, which he narrates in the following lines:—
“The mid-day sun now shone with equal lightBetween the past and the succeeding night;They strip, then, smoothed with suppling oil, essayTo pitch the rounded quoit, their wonted play:A well-pois’d disk first hasty Phœbus threw;It cleft the air, and whistled as it flew;It reach’d the mark, a most surprising length,Which spoke an equal share of art and strength.Scarce was it fall’n, when with too eager handYoung Hyacinth ran to snatch it from the sand;But the curst orb, which met a stony soil,Flew in his face with violent recoil.Both faint, both pale and breathless now appear,The boy with pain, the am’rous god with fear.He ran, and rais’d him bleeding from the ground,Chafes his cold limbs, and wipes the fatal wound:Then herbs of noblest juice in vain applies;The wound is mortal, and his skill defies.”* * * * * * * *“While Phœbus thus the laws of fate reveal’d,Behold the blood which stained the verdant fieldIs blood no longer; but a flower full blownFar brighter than the Tyrian scarlet shone.A Lily’s form it took; its purple hueWas all that made a diff’rence to the view.Nor stopp’d he here; the god upon its leavesThe sad expression of his sorrow leaves;And to this hour the mournful purple wearsAi,Ai, inscribed in funeral characters.Nor are the Spartans, who so much are famedFor virtue, of their Hyacinth ashamed;But still with pompous woe and solemn state,The Hyacinthian feasts they yearly celebrate.”—Ozell.
“The mid-day sun now shone with equal lightBetween the past and the succeeding night;They strip, then, smoothed with suppling oil, essayTo pitch the rounded quoit, their wonted play:A well-pois’d disk first hasty Phœbus threw;It cleft the air, and whistled as it flew;It reach’d the mark, a most surprising length,Which spoke an equal share of art and strength.Scarce was it fall’n, when with too eager handYoung Hyacinth ran to snatch it from the sand;But the curst orb, which met a stony soil,Flew in his face with violent recoil.Both faint, both pale and breathless now appear,The boy with pain, the am’rous god with fear.He ran, and rais’d him bleeding from the ground,Chafes his cold limbs, and wipes the fatal wound:Then herbs of noblest juice in vain applies;The wound is mortal, and his skill defies.”* * * * * * * *“While Phœbus thus the laws of fate reveal’d,Behold the blood which stained the verdant fieldIs blood no longer; but a flower full blownFar brighter than the Tyrian scarlet shone.A Lily’s form it took; its purple hueWas all that made a diff’rence to the view.Nor stopp’d he here; the god upon its leavesThe sad expression of his sorrow leaves;And to this hour the mournful purple wearsAi,Ai, inscribed in funeral characters.Nor are the Spartans, who so much are famedFor virtue, of their Hyacinth ashamed;But still with pompous woe and solemn state,The Hyacinthian feasts they yearly celebrate.”—Ozell.
“The mid-day sun now shone with equal lightBetween the past and the succeeding night;They strip, then, smoothed with suppling oil, essayTo pitch the rounded quoit, their wonted play:A well-pois’d disk first hasty Phœbus threw;It cleft the air, and whistled as it flew;It reach’d the mark, a most surprising length,Which spoke an equal share of art and strength.Scarce was it fall’n, when with too eager handYoung Hyacinth ran to snatch it from the sand;But the curst orb, which met a stony soil,Flew in his face with violent recoil.Both faint, both pale and breathless now appear,The boy with pain, the am’rous god with fear.He ran, and rais’d him bleeding from the ground,Chafes his cold limbs, and wipes the fatal wound:Then herbs of noblest juice in vain applies;The wound is mortal, and his skill defies.”
“The mid-day sun now shone with equal light
Between the past and the succeeding night;
They strip, then, smoothed with suppling oil, essay
To pitch the rounded quoit, their wonted play:
A well-pois’d disk first hasty Phœbus threw;
It cleft the air, and whistled as it flew;
It reach’d the mark, a most surprising length,
Which spoke an equal share of art and strength.
Scarce was it fall’n, when with too eager hand
Young Hyacinth ran to snatch it from the sand;
But the curst orb, which met a stony soil,
Flew in his face with violent recoil.
Both faint, both pale and breathless now appear,
The boy with pain, the am’rous god with fear.
He ran, and rais’d him bleeding from the ground,
Chafes his cold limbs, and wipes the fatal wound:
Then herbs of noblest juice in vain applies;
The wound is mortal, and his skill defies.”
* * * * * * * *
“While Phœbus thus the laws of fate reveal’d,Behold the blood which stained the verdant fieldIs blood no longer; but a flower full blownFar brighter than the Tyrian scarlet shone.A Lily’s form it took; its purple hueWas all that made a diff’rence to the view.Nor stopp’d he here; the god upon its leavesThe sad expression of his sorrow leaves;And to this hour the mournful purple wearsAi,Ai, inscribed in funeral characters.Nor are the Spartans, who so much are famedFor virtue, of their Hyacinth ashamed;But still with pompous woe and solemn state,The Hyacinthian feasts they yearly celebrate.”—Ozell.
“While Phœbus thus the laws of fate reveal’d,
Behold the blood which stained the verdant field
Is blood no longer; but a flower full blown
Far brighter than the Tyrian scarlet shone.
A Lily’s form it took; its purple hue
Was all that made a diff’rence to the view.
Nor stopp’d he here; the god upon its leaves
The sad expression of his sorrow leaves;
And to this hour the mournful purple wears
Ai,Ai, inscribed in funeral characters.
Nor are the Spartans, who so much are famed
For virtue, of their Hyacinth ashamed;
But still with pompous woe and solemn state,
The Hyacinthian feasts they yearly celebrate.”—Ozell.
The solemnities calledHyacinthialasted three days, during which the people ate no bread, but subsisted on sweetmeats, and abstained from decorating their hair with garlands, as on ordinary occasions. On the second day, a troop of youths entertained spectators by playing upon the harp and flute, and chanting choruses in honour of Apollo. Numbers appeared mounted upon richly-caparisoned horses, who sang rustic songs, and were accompanied by a throng dancing to vocal and instrumental music. Females engaged in chariot races, and the most beautiful maidens, sumptuously attired, drove about in splendidly adorned vehicles, singing hymns. Hundreds of victims were offered on the altars of Apollo; and the votaries with free-handed hospitality entertained their friends and slaves.——Many allusions are made by the poets to the mournful letters A I, supposed to be visible on the petals of
“The languid Hyacinth, who wearsHis bitter sorrows painted on his bosom.”
“The languid Hyacinth, who wearsHis bitter sorrows painted on his bosom.”
“The languid Hyacinth, who wears
His bitter sorrows painted on his bosom.”
Hunt, after entering into the vexed question as to the particular flower alluded to by Ovid, quotes a passage from Moschus, which he thus translates:—
“Now tell your story, Hyacinth, and showAi,Ai, the more amidst your sanguine woe.”
“Now tell your story, Hyacinth, and showAi,Ai, the more amidst your sanguine woe.”
“Now tell your story, Hyacinth, and show
Ai,Ai, the more amidst your sanguine woe.”
There has been much diversity of opinion expressed about the Hyacinth of the ancient poets. The claims of the modern flower to be the purple blossom that sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus are disputed, and the general opinion is that the Martagon Lily was the plant referred to by the poet. The Gladiolus and the Larkspur, however, have both been named as the flower bearing the expression of grief A I, A I, on the petals.——Homer mentionsthe Hyacinth among the flowers which formed the couch of Jupiter and Juno.
“Thick new-born Violets a soft carpet spreadAnd clust’ring Lotus swelled the rising bed,And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrowAnd flow’ry Crocus made the mountains glow.”
“Thick new-born Violets a soft carpet spreadAnd clust’ring Lotus swelled the rising bed,And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrowAnd flow’ry Crocus made the mountains glow.”
“Thick new-born Violets a soft carpet spread
And clust’ring Lotus swelled the rising bed,
And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrow
And flow’ry Crocus made the mountains glow.”
In allusion to the crisped and curled blossoms of the Hyacinth, poets have been fond of describing curly hair as Hyacinthine locks. Milton writes:—
“And Hyacinthine locksRound from his parted forelock manly hungClustering.”
“And Hyacinthine locksRound from his parted forelock manly hungClustering.”
“And Hyacinthine locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustering.”
Byron makes the same comparison, and says the idea is common to both Eastern and Grecian poets. Collins has the same simile in his ‘Ode to Liberty.’
“The youths, whose locks divinely spreading,Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen hue.”
“The youths, whose locks divinely spreading,Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen hue.”
“The youths, whose locks divinely spreading,
Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen hue.”
The old English Jacinth, or Harebell, called by the FrenchJacinthe des bois(Wood Hyacinth) is botanically distinguished asHyacinthus non scriptus, because it has not the A I on the petals, and is not therefore the poetical Hyacinth. (SeeHarebell).
Hypericum.—SeeSt. John’s Wort.
HYSSOP.—In the Bible, the name of Hyssop has been given to some plant that has not been identified, but is popularly associated at the present day withHyssopus officinalis. In many early representations of the Crucifixion, wild Hyssop has been depicted, it is presumed in mockery, as forming the crown worn by our Saviour. Parkinson, in his ‘Paradisus,’ says of the Golden Hyssop, that the leaves “provoke many gentlewomen to wear them in their heads and on their armes, with as much delight as many fine flowers can give.”——To dream of Hyssop portends that friends will be instrumental to your peace and happiness.——The plant is under Jupiter’s dominion.
ILEX.—The Ilex (Quercus Ilex) is, perhaps, better known in England as the Evergreen or Holm Oak: in France, it is calledChêne vert. On account of its dark and evergreen foliage, the Ilex is regarded as a funereal tree, and a symbol of immortality, like the Cypress, the Cedar, and other conifers. It was consecrated to Hecate, and the Fates wore chaplets of its leaves. The drunken Silenus was wont, also, to be crowned with its foliage.——Virgil associates the Ilex with the raven, and tells us that from its dark foliage may be heard issuing the mournful croakings of that funereal bird. Ovid, on the other hand, informs us that, in the Golden Age, the bees, living emblems of the immortal soul, sought the Ilex, to obtain material for their honey.——Pliny speaks of a venerable Ilex which grew in the Vatican at Rome, which bore an inscription, and was regarded as a sacred tree; and of three ofthese trees at Tibur, which the inhabitants venerated as being almost the founders of the people.——The Ilex being very combustible, and attracting lightning, was thought to render thereby a service to man, in drawing upon itself the effects of the anger of the gods: hence it is somewhat remarkable that in Greece it is regarded as a tree of bad omen, and has the following legend attached to it:—When it was decided at Jerusalem to crucify Christ, all the trees held a counsel, and unanimously agreed not to allow their wood to be defiled by becoming the instrument of punishment. But there was a second Judas among the trees. When the Jews arrived with axes to procure wood for the cross destined for Jesus, every trunk and branch split itself into a thousand fragments, so that it was impossible to use it for the cross. The Ilex alone remained whole, and gave up its trunk for the purpose of being fashioned into the instrument of the Passion. So to this day the Grecian woodcutters have such a horror of the tree, that they fear to sully their axe or their hearth-stones by bringing them in contact with the accursed wood. However, according to theDicta Sancti Aegidii(quoted by De Gubernatis), Jesus Himself would seem to have a preference for the tree which generously gave itself up to die with the Redeemer; for we find that on most occasion when he appeared to the saints, it was near an Ilex-tree.——In Russia, the Ilex, so far from being regarded with disdain, is looked upon as a benefactor and worker of miraculous cures among children. In certain districts, whenever a child is ill, and especially when it is suffering from consumption, they carry it into the forest, where they cleave in two the stem of an Ilex, and pass the child thrice through the cleft, after which they close the cut stem, and bind it securely with cord. Then they carry the child round the tree thrice nine times (the number of days composing the lunar month). Lastly they hang on the branches the child’s shirt, so that the martyr-tree may generously take to itself all the disease hitherto afflicting the child.
INGUDI.—In Bengal, they ascribe to the plant Ingudi (Terminalia, catappa) the extraordinary property of begetting infants. According to De Gubernatis, theTâpatasaruis also called the Tree of the Anchorite, because with an oil extracted from the crushed fruit the Indian ascetics prepare the oil for their lamps.
IPECACUANHA.—The root of thePsychotria emeticais used generally as an expectorant, but in India in cases of dysentery: its sexsyllabic nomenclature has been thus immortalised by George Canning:—
“Coughing in a shady grove,Sat my Juliana;Lozenges I gave my love:Ipecacuanha!”
“Coughing in a shady grove,Sat my Juliana;Lozenges I gave my love:Ipecacuanha!”
“Coughing in a shady grove,
Sat my Juliana;
Lozenges I gave my love:
Ipecacuanha!”
IPOMŒA.—The Ipomœas are nearly allied to theConvolvuli, and are among the most lovely of all shrubs. The rosy-redKâmalatâ,the Love’s Creeper of the Hindus, is a plant by which all desires are granted to such as inherit the Indian Paradise.Ipomœa Bona-nox, “Good-night,” is so named in allusion to its opening its flowers in the evening.
IRIS.—The Iris of “all hues” derives its name from the goddess Iris, one of the Oceanides, a messenger of the gods, and the especial attendant of Juno. As goddess of the rainbow, she is represented with its variegated colours glistening in her wings. Thus Virgil says:—
“Iris on saffron wings arrayed with dewOf various colours through the sunbeams flew.”
“Iris on saffron wings arrayed with dewOf various colours through the sunbeams flew.”
“Iris on saffron wings arrayed with dew
Of various colours through the sunbeams flew.”
Iris is usually depicted as descending from the rainbow, and her glorious arch is said not to vary more in its colours than the flower which bears her name. Columella observes—
“Nor Iris with her glorious rainbow clothedSo fulgent as the cheerful gardens shineWith their bright offspring, when they’re in their bloom.”
“Nor Iris with her glorious rainbow clothedSo fulgent as the cheerful gardens shineWith their bright offspring, when they’re in their bloom.”
“Nor Iris with her glorious rainbow clothed
So fulgent as the cheerful gardens shine
With their bright offspring, when they’re in their bloom.”
The Greeks plant the Iris on tombs, possibly because the goddess Iris was believed to guide the souls of dead women to their last resting-place, as Mercury conducted the souls of men. The Iris was one of the flowers dedicated to Juno, and with the ancients was wont to be employed as the symbol of eloquence or power; hence the Egyptians placed this flower on the brow of the Sphinx, and on the sceptres of their monarchs. The three leaves of the blossom represent faith, wisdom, and valour. The Iris is supposed to be the flower which forms the terminating ornament of the sceptre of the ancient kings of Babylon and Assyria.——The Franks of old had a custom, at the proclamation of a king, to elevate him upon a shield, or target, and place in his hand a reed of Flag in blossom, instead of a sceptre, and from thence the kings of the first and second race in France are represented with sceptres in their hands like the Flag with its flower, and which flowers became the armorial figures of France.——There is a legend that Clotilda, the wife of the warlike king Clovis, had long prayed for the conversion of her husband, and at length Clovis, having led his army against the Huns, and being in imminent danger of defeat, recommended himself to the God of his sainted wife. The tide of battle turned, he obtained a complete victory, and was baptised by St. Remi. On this occasion, owing to a vision of St. Clotilda, the Lilies (Iris) were substituted in the arms of France for the three frogs or toads which Clovis had hitherto borne on his shield. In the pictures of St. Clotilda, she is generally represented attended by an angel holding a shield on which are the threeFleurs de Lys. This occurred early in the sixth century. Louis VII., in consequence of a dream, assumed it as his device in 1137, when engaged in the second expedition of the Crusaders, and the Iris-flower soon became celebrated in France as theFleur de Louis, which wasfirst contracted intoFleur de Luce, and afterwards intoFleur de Lys, orFleur de Lis(Lily-flower—although it has no affinity to the Lily), and was incorporated in the arms of France, and formed one of the embellishments of the crown.——Pope Leo III. presented Charlemagne with a blue banner,seméeof goldenFleurs de Lys, and the banner coming from the Pope was supposed by the ignorant to have descended from heaven.——Other traditions respecting this blue banner relate that an angel gave it to Charlemagne, that St. Denis gave it to the kings of France, and that an angel brought it to Clovis after his baptism.——TheFleur de Lysappertains to the Bourbon race, and was made the ornament of the northern radius of the compass in honour of Charles of Anjou, who was King of Sicily at the time of this great discovery. When Edward III. claimed the crown of France in 1340, he quartered the ancient shield of France with the lion of England. After many changes of position, theFleur de Lysfinally disappeared from the English shield in the first year of the present century. (See alsoFlower de Luce).
Iron-HeadandHard-Head.—SeeHorse-Knot.
IVY.—Kissos (Greek for Ivy) was the original name of the infant Bacchus, who, abandoned by his mother Semele, was hidden under an Ivy-bush, which was subsequently named after him. Another Hellenic tradition makes Kissos a son of Bacchus, who, whilst dancing before his father, suddenly dropped down dead. The goddess Gæa (the Earth), compassionating the unfortunate youth, changed him into the Ivy, which afterwards received his name—Kissos.——The god Bacchus is said to have worshipped the Ivy under the name ofKissos; the plant was sacred to him, and he is represented crowned with the leaves of Ivy as well as with those of the Vine. The god’s thyrsus was also crowned with Ivy. In Greece and Rome, Black Ivy was used to decorate the thyrsus of Bacchus in commemoration of his march through India. This Ivy bears yellow berries, and is common in the Himalayas; it was, therefore, appropriately selected as the shrub wherewith to crown Alexander in his Indian expedition.——According to Plutarch, the priests of Jupiter were bound to shun the Vine (in order to preserve themselves from intoxication), and to touch the Ivy, which was believed to impart a sort of prophetic transport. Bacchus, therefore, crowned with Ivy, became a god both victorious and prophetic.——At the Dionysian festivals, the worshippers were crowned with Ivy, Vine-leaves, Fir, &c. Certain of the men engaged in the procession wore chaplets of Ivy and Violets, and the women—who, worked up into a kind of frenzy, executed fantastic dances—often carried garlands and strings of Ivy-leaves.——Pliny says that Ivy-berries, taken before wine, prevent its intoxicating effects. Probably the Bacchanals’ chaplet and the Ivy-bough formerly used as the sign of a tavern, both derivedtheir origin from the belief that Ivy in some form counteracted the effects of wine.——On this point, Coles says: “Box and Ivy last long green, and therefore vintners make their garlands thereof; though, perhaps, Ivy is the rather used because of the antipathy between it and wine.” Kennett tells us that, in olden times, “the booths in fairs were commonly dressed with Ivy-leaves, as a token of wine there sold, the Ivy being sacred to Bacchus; so was the tavern bush, or frame of wood, drest round with Ivy forty years since, though now left off for tuns or barrels hung in the middle of it. This custom gave birth to the present practice of putting out a green bush at the door of those private houses which sell drink during the fair.” De Gubernatis says, that the Ivy to be seen over the doors of Italian wine-shops has the same signification as the Oak-bough—it is a precaution to render the wine innocuous. Chéruel tell us that the French, in suspending Ivy at the door of their cabarets, intend it as a symbol of love.——Ivy, which clings and embraces, has been adopted as the emblem of confiding love and friendship.——There is an old Cornish tradition which relates that the beauteous Iseult, unable to endure the loss of her betrothed, the valiant Tristan, died broken-hearted, and was buried in the same church, but, by order of the king, their graves were placed far asunder. But soon from the tomb of Tristan came forth a branch of Ivy, and from the tomb of Iseult there issued another branch. Both gradually grew upwards, until at last the lovers, represented by the clinging Ivy, were again united beneath the vaulted roof of the sanctuary.——In Greece, the altar of Hymen was encircled with Ivy, and a branch of it was presented to the newly-married couple, as a symbol of the indissoluble knot. It formed the crown of both Greek and Roman poets; and in modern times, female love, constancy, and dependence have been expressed by it. Friendship is sometimes symbolised by a fallen tree, firmly embraced by the verdant arms of the Ivy, with the motto: “Nothing can part us.”——In Northern mythology, Ivy, on account of its black colour, was dedicated to Thor, the god of thunder, and offered to the elf who was supposed to be his messenger.——When, in Germany, they drive the cattle for the first time to pasture, they deck them with a branch of Ivy fashioned into a crown. They believe also that he who carries on his head a crown of Ivy acquires the faculty of recognising witches. In the Tyrol, a similar belief holds good, only there, Rue, Broom, Maidenhair, and Agrimony must be bound together with Ground-Ivy in a bundle, which is to be kept about the person.——In Ross-shire, it is a May-day custom for young girls to pluck sprays of Ivy with the dew on them that have not been touched by steel.——Ivy has long been used in decorating churches and houses at Christmas: thus old Tusser directs:—“Get Ivye and Hull [Holly], woman, deck up thine house.” It seems in the middle ages to have been regarded as a most favoured and auspicious plant; one old song couples the Ivy and Holly as plants welladapted for Christmas time, and the following mediæval carol sings loudly the plant’s praises:—
“The most worthy she is in towne;He that sayeth other do amysse;And worthy to bear the crowne:Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy is soft and meke of speech,Ageynst all bale she is blysse;Well is he that may hyre rech.Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy is green, with coloure bright,Of all trees best she is,And that I prove will now be right.Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy beryth berrys black,God graunt us all His blysse,For there shall we nothing lack.Veni, coronaberis.”
“The most worthy she is in towne;He that sayeth other do amysse;And worthy to bear the crowne:Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy is soft and meke of speech,Ageynst all bale she is blysse;Well is he that may hyre rech.Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy is green, with coloure bright,Of all trees best she is,And that I prove will now be right.Veni, coronaberis.“Ivy beryth berrys black,God graunt us all His blysse,For there shall we nothing lack.Veni, coronaberis.”
“The most worthy she is in towne;He that sayeth other do amysse;And worthy to bear the crowne:Veni, coronaberis.
“The most worthy she is in towne;
He that sayeth other do amysse;
And worthy to bear the crowne:
Veni, coronaberis.
“Ivy is soft and meke of speech,Ageynst all bale she is blysse;Well is he that may hyre rech.Veni, coronaberis.
“Ivy is soft and meke of speech,
Ageynst all bale she is blysse;
Well is he that may hyre rech.
Veni, coronaberis.
“Ivy is green, with coloure bright,Of all trees best she is,And that I prove will now be right.Veni, coronaberis.
“Ivy is green, with coloure bright,
Of all trees best she is,
And that I prove will now be right.
Veni, coronaberis.
“Ivy beryth berrys black,God graunt us all His blysse,For there shall we nothing lack.Veni, coronaberis.”
“Ivy beryth berrys black,
God graunt us all His blysse,
For there shall we nothing lack.
Veni, coronaberis.”
According to an old poem in the British Museum, however, Ivy was considered by some good people only fit to ornament the porches and outer passages of houses, but not the interior.
“Nay my nay, hyt shall not be I wis,Let Holly have the maystry, as the maner ys.Holly stoud in the hall, fayre to behold,Ivy stoud without the dore, she ys ful sore a-cold.Nay my nay.”
“Nay my nay, hyt shall not be I wis,Let Holly have the maystry, as the maner ys.Holly stoud in the hall, fayre to behold,Ivy stoud without the dore, she ys ful sore a-cold.Nay my nay.”
“Nay my nay, hyt shall not be I wis,
Let Holly have the maystry, as the maner ys.
Holly stoud in the hall, fayre to behold,
Ivy stoud without the dore, she ys ful sore a-cold.
Nay my nay.”
Corymbifer was a surname given to Bacchus, from his wearing a crown ofcorymbi, or Ivy-berries. These berries were recommended by old physicians as a remedy for the plague, and Pliny averred that when taken before wine, they prevented its intoxicating effects.——There is a popular tradition that an Ivy cup has the property of separating wine from water—the former soaking through, and the latter remaining. An old writer remarks that those who are troubled with the spleen shall find much ease by the continual drinking out of a cup made of Ivy, so as the drink may stand some time therein before it be drunk; for, he adds, “Cato saith that wine put into the Ivy cup will soak through it by reason of the antipathy that is between them;” this antipathy being so great that a drunkard “will find his speediest cure if he drunk a draught of the same wine wherein a handful of Ivy-leaves had been steeped.”——The ancient Scottish clan Gordon claim Ivy as their badge.——Ivy is under the dominion of Saturn. It is considered to be exceedingly favourable to dream of the evergreen climber, portending as it does, friendship, happiness, good fortune, honour, riches, and success.
Ground-Ivy is a name which was formerly applied to the Periwinkle, and to the Ground Pine or Yellow Bugle (called till the beginning of the present century the Forget-Me-Not), but which was afterwards transferred to theNepeta Glechoma, a plant also known by the rustic names of Gill and Gill-by-the-ground, Haymaids,Cat’s-foot, Ale-hoof, and Tun-hoof. In olden times, it was put into ale, instead of hops, and was also used to clear ale. The juice of the leaves, tunned up in ale, was thought to cure the jaundice and other complaints.
Jacinth.—SeeHyacinth.
Jack-by-the-Hedge.—SeeErysimum.
Jack-of-the-Buttery.—SeeStonecrop.
JACOB’S LADDER.—ThePolemonium cœruleum, from its leaflets being arranged in successive pairs.
JAMBU.—The Jambu (Eugenia Jambos) is included among the great Indian cosmogonic trees. It is called, says Prof. De Gubernatis, the Fruit of Kings, on account of the great size of its fruit. According to theVishnu purâna, the continentJambudvîpatook its name from the tree Jambu. The fruits of this tree are in point of fact very large, but the fruits of the Indian mythological Jambu attain to the size of an elephant; when they have ripened they fall from the mountain, and the juice which exudes feeds the river Jambu, whose waters are consequently richly endowed with salutary properties, and can neither be tainted nor defiled. We learn from theDîrghâgama-Sûtra, that the four cardinal points were not only represented by the four elephants which sustained the world, but by four trees of colossal bulk and grandeur. These four trees were theGhanta, theKadamba, theAmbala, and theJambu. TheJambusprang, it is said, from the south of the mountain Meru, of which the summit was believed to represent the zenith. In the cosmogonic forest of the Himalaya towers the stupendous bulk of the Jambu, and from its roots four great rivers, whose waters are inexhaustible, take their source. It bears during the entirekalpaof the renovation an immortal fruit, like unto gold, great as the vase calledMahâkala. This fruit falls into the rivers, and its pips produce the golden seed which is carried away to the sea, and which is sometimes washed up again, and to be found on its shores. This gold is of incalculable value, and has not its equal in the world for purity.——It appears, according to theSaptaçatakaof Hâla, that Indian lovers are fond of secreting themselves beneath the leaves of theEugenia Jambos, and that the young Indian bride becomes sad with jealousy when she sees her young husband approaching, with his ears decked with the leaves of the Jambu.
JASMINE.—Perfumes and flowers play an important part in the poetry of India, and the Jasmine, which Hindu poets call the “Moonlight of the Grove,” has furnished them with countless images. Thus, inAnvár-i-Suhailî(translated by E. B. Eastwick), we read of a damsel entering the king’s chamber, whose face charms like a fresh Rosebud which the morning breeze has causedto blow, and whose ringlets are compared to the twisting Hyacinth buried in an envelope of the purest Musk:—
“With Hyacinth and Jasmine her perfumed hair was bound,A posy of sweet Violets her clustering ringlets seemed;Her eyes with love intoxicate, in witching sleep half drowned,Her locks, to Indian Spikenard like, with love’s enchantments beamed.”
“With Hyacinth and Jasmine her perfumed hair was bound,A posy of sweet Violets her clustering ringlets seemed;Her eyes with love intoxicate, in witching sleep half drowned,Her locks, to Indian Spikenard like, with love’s enchantments beamed.”
“With Hyacinth and Jasmine her perfumed hair was bound,
A posy of sweet Violets her clustering ringlets seemed;
Her eyes with love intoxicate, in witching sleep half drowned,
Her locks, to Indian Spikenard like, with love’s enchantments beamed.”
De Tassy, the translator of the allegories of Aziz Eddin, points out that the Arabian wordyâs-minis composed of the wordyâs, despair, andmin, an illusion. In the allegories we read: “Then the Jasmine uttered this sentence with the expressive eloquence of its mute language: “Despair is a mistake.My penetrating odour excels the perfume of other flowers; therefore lovers select me as a suitable offering to their mistresses; they extract from me the invisible treasures of divinity, and I can only rest when enclosed in the folds and pleats which form in the body of a robe.”——An allusion to the Jasmine is made in the following poetic description of a young girl drooping from a sudden illness:—“All of a sudden the blighting glance of unpropitious fortune having fallen on that Rose-cheeked Cypress, she laid her head on the pillow of sickness; and in the flower-garden of her beauty, in place of the Damask-Rose, sprang up the branch of the Saffron. Her fresh Jasmine, from the violence of the burning illness, lost its moisture, and her Hyacinth, full of curls, lost all its endurance from the fever that consumed her.”——The Indians cultivate specially for their perfume two species of Jasmine—viz., theJasminum grandiflorum, orTore, and theJ. hirsutum, orSambac. TheMoo-le-hua, a powerful-smelling Jasmine, is used in China and other parts of the East as an adornment for the women’s hair.——It is believed that the Jasmine was first introduced into Europe by some Spaniards, who brought it from the East Indies in 1560.——Loudon relates that a variety of the Jasmine, with large double flowers and exquisite scent, was first procured in 1699 from Goa, by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and so jealous was he of being the sole possessor of this species, that he strictly forbade his gardener to part with a single cutting. However the gardener was in love, and so, on the birthday of his betrothed, he presented her with a nosegay, in the midst of which was a sprig of this rare Jasmine. Charmed with its fragrance, the girl planted the sprig in fresh mould, and under her lover’s instructions was soon able to raise cuttings from the plant, and to sell them at a high price: by this means she soon saved enough money to enable her to wed the gardener, who had hitherto been too poor to alter his condition. In memory of this tender episode, the damsels of Tuscany still wear a wreath of Jasmine on their wedding days, and the event has given rise to a saying that a “girl worthy of wearing the Jasmine wreath is rich enough to make her husband happy.”——Yellow Jasmine is the flower of the Epiphany.——To dream of this beautiful flower foretells good luck; to lovers it is a sure sign they will be speedily married.
JERUSALEM.—Many plants are found to have been named in olden times after the Holy City. The Lungwort,Pulmonaria officinalis, is the Jerusalem Cowslip;Phlomisis Jerusalem Sage; andTeucrium Botrysis the Oak of Jerusalem, called so from the resemblance of its leaf to that of the Oak. In these three cases the prefix “Jerusalem” seems to have been applied for no particular reason—probably because the plants had an Eastern origin. Salsafy,Tragopogon porrifolius, is the Star of Jerusalem, so named from the star-like expansion of its involucre; andHelianthus tuberosusis the Jerusalem Artichoke, a plant of the same genus as the Sunflower, called Artichoke from the flavour of its tubers. The soup made from it is termed Palestine Soup. In the last two cases, Dr. Prior thinks the prefix “Jerusalem” is simply a corruption of the Italian wordgirasole, turn-sun, and has been applied to these plants from a popular belief that they turn with the Sun. TheLychnis Chalcedonicais the Jerusalem Cross, which has derived its name from the fact that a variety of it has four instead of five petals, of the colour and form of a Jerusalem Cross.
JEWS’ EARS.—TheAuricula Judæis a Fungus resembling in shape the human ear, which grows usually upon the trunks of the Elder, the tree upon which Judas Iscariot is said by some to have hung himself. Sir John Maundevile relates that he actually saw the identical tree. Bacon says of this excrescence, “There is an herb called Jewes-Eare, that groweth upon the roots and lower parts of the bodies of trees, especially of Elders, and sometimes Ashes. It hath a strange propertie; for in warme water it swelleth, and openeth extremely. It is not greene, but of a darke browne colour. And it is used for squinancies and inflammations in the throat, whereby it seemeth to have a mollifying and lenifying vertue.”
JOAN’S SILVER PIN.—The red-Poppy (Papaver Rhœas) has acquired the name of Joan’s Silver Pin, because, according to Parkinson, the gaudy flower is “fair without and foul within” (in allusion to its yellow juice). Joan’s Silver Pin was a contemptuous term applied to some tawdry ornament displayed ostentatiously by a sloven.
JOB’S TEARS.—The pretty East Indian Grass,Coix lacryma, is called Job’s Tears on account of the formation of its hard beard-like seeds, of which Gerarde says “every graine resembleth the drop or teare that falleth from the eye.”——Among the Arabs, the Fleabane (Inula dysenterica) is also called Job’s Tears (SeeFleabane).
JONAH’S GOURD.—According to the Greek version of the Scriptures, the plant under which Jonah sat was a Gourd, but the Vulgate considers it a species of Ivy. TheRicinus communis, the Castor-oil-tree, with its broad palmate leaves, has been, however,identified with theKikayon, which God caused to rise up and shelter Jonah.
Joseph’s Flower.—SeeGoat’s Beard.
JUDAS TREE.—The Fig, the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the Dog Rose, the Elder, and the Cercis have all been named as the tree from whose boughs the traitorous Judas, overcome with remorse, hung himself in guilty despair. The idea that the Fig-tree was the tree whereon Judas sought his fate, is a wide-spread one, and probably derives its origin from the fact of our Lord having cursed an unproductive Fig-tree,—the tradition being that, after this malediction, the tree lost its foliage, and soon died; that its wood, when put in the fire, produced smoke, but no flame; and that all its progeny from that time forth became wild Fig-trees.——A Fig-tree growing on the coast of Coromandel, bears the name of Judas’ Purse.——De Gubernatis, on the authority of Dr. J. Pitré, states that, according to a Sicilian tradition, Judas was not hung on a Fig, but on a Tamarisk-tree, calledVruca(Tamarix Africana), much more common than theTamarix Gallica. TheVrucais only a shrub; but, say the Sicilians, once upon a time it was a great tree, and very handsome. Since, however, the traitor Judas hung himself from its boughs, the tree, owing to a Divine malediction, became merely a shrub, ugly, mis-shapen, small, useless, not even capable of lighting even the smallest fire; from whence has arisen the proverb: “You are like the wood of theVruca, which neither yields cinders nor fire.”——A Russian proverb says: “There is a tree which trembles, although the wind does not blow.” In the Ukraine, they state that the leaves of the Aspen (Populus tremula) have trembled and shaken ever since the day that Judas hanged himself on a bough of that tree.——In Germany, the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) is a tree of ill repute, and according to tradition, one with which the Devil has had dealings. (SeeEglantine). There is a legend that Judas hanged himself on this tree; that in consequence it became accursed, and ever after turned to the earth the points of its thorns; and that from this cause its berries, to this day, are calledJudasbeeren.——In England and other countries, there has long existed a tradition that the Elder was the tree on which the traitor-disciple hanged himself. Sir John Maundevile, in his ‘Travels,’ declares that he saw the identical tree; and we read in ‘Piers Plowman’s Vision’:—