Chapter X

MAGICAL PLANTS. -- Plants producing Ecstasies and Visions --
Soma -- Laurel -- The Druids and Mistletoe -- Prophetic Oaks
-- Dream Plants -- Plants producing Love and Sympathy -- The
Sorcerer’s Violet -- Plants used for Love Divination -- Concordia
-- Discordia -- The Calumny Destroyer -- The Grief Charmer --
The Sallow, Sacred Basil, Eugenia, Onion, Bay, Juniper, Peony,
Hypericum, Rowan, Elder, Thorn, Hazel, Holly -- The Mystic
Fern-seed -- Four-leaved Clover -- The Mandrake, or Sorcerer’s
Root -- The Metal Melter -- The Misleading Plant -- Herb of
Oblivion -- Lotos Tree -- King Solomon’s Magical Herb Baharas --
The Nyctilopa and Springwort -- Plants influencing Thunder and
Lightning -- The Selago, or Druid’s Golden Herb -- Gold-producing
Plants -- Plants which disclose Treasures -- The Luck Flower --
The Key-Flower -- Sesame -- The Herb that Opens -- The Moonwort,
or Lunary -- The Sferracavallo -- Magic Wands and Divining Rods
-- Moses’ Rod 105

CHAPTER XI.

FABULOUS, WONDROUS, AND MIRACULOUS PLANTS. -- Human Trees --
Man-bearing Trees -- The Wak-Wak, or Tree bearing Human Heads
-- Chinese and Indian Bird-bearing Tree -- Duck-bearing Tree
-- The Barnacle, or Goose Tree -- The Serpent-bearing Tree
-- The Oyster-bearing Tree -- The Animal-bearing Tree -- The
Butterfly-bearing Tree -- The Vegetable Lamb -- The Lamb-bearing
Tree -- Marvellous Trees and Plants -- Vegetable Monstrosities
-- Plants bearing Inscriptions and Figures -- Miraculous Plants
-- The Tree of St. Thomas -- The Withered Tree of the Sun -- The
Tree of Tiberias -- Father Garnet’s Straw 116

CHAPTER XII.

PLANTS CONNECTED WITH BIRDS AND ANIMALS. -- Seed-sowing Birds --
Birds as Almanacks -- The Cuckoo and the Cherry Tree -- Augury
by Cock and Barley -- The Nightingale and the Rose -- The Robin
and the Thorn -- The Missel-Thrush and Mistletoe -- The Swallow
and Celandine -- The Hawk and Hawkweed -- Life-giving Herb --
The Woodpecker and the Peony -- The Spring-wort and the Birds
-- Choughs and Olives -- Herb of the Blessed Virgin Mary -- The
Eyebright and Birds -- Plants named after Birds and Animals 136

CHAPTER XIII.

THE DOCTRINE OF PLANT SIGNATURES. -- Illustrations and Examples
of the Signatures and Characterisms of Plants -- The Diseases
Cured by Herbs -- General Rules of the System of Plant Signatures
supposed to Reveal the Occult Powers and Virtues of Vegetables
-- Plants Identified with the Various Portions of the Human Body
-- The Old Herbals and Herbalists -- Extraordinary Properties
attributed to Herbs 154

CHAPTER XIV.

PLANTS AND THE PLANETS. -- When to Pluck Herbs -- The Plants of
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon --
Sun Flowers -- The Influence of the Moon on Plants -- Times and
Seasons to Sow and Plant -- The Moon and Gardening Operations --
The Moon-Tree -- Plants of the Moon-Goddesses -- The Man in the
Moon 164

CHAPTER XV.

PLANT SYMBOLISM AND LANGUAGE. -- Plant Emblems of the Ancients
-- The Science of Plant Symbolism -- Floral Symbols of the
Scriptures -- The Passion Flower, or Flower of the Five Wounds --
Mediæval Plant Symbolism -- Floral Emblems of Shakspeare -- The
Language of Flowers -- Floral Vocabulary of the Greeks and Romans
-- A Dictionary of Flowers -- Floral Divination 176