Chapter XVI: Funeral Trees and Plants (22)

The wood of the _Vitis sylvestris_ was used by the Greeks in the instrument they employed for producing fire. The Aryan method of kindling sacred fire by wood friction was practised both by Greeks and Romans down to a late period. The Greeks called their kindling instrument _pyreia_, and the drilling stick which worked in it _trupanon_; and according to Theophrastus and Pliny, the lower part of the _pyreia_ was formed of the wood of the wild Vine, Ivy, or Athragene.----To dream of Vines denotes health, prosperity, abundance, and fertility, “for which,” says a dream oracle, “we have the example of Astyages, King of the Medes, who dreamed that his daughter brought forth a Vine, which was a prognostic of the grandeur, riches, and felicity of the great Cyrus, who was born of her after this dream.”----Culpeper states that the Vine is “a gallant tree of the Sun, very sympathetical with the body of man; and that is the reason spirits of wine is the greatest cordial among all vegetables.”

=VIOLET.=--According to Rapin, the Violet was once a fair nymph, who was changed by Diana into this flower to avoid the importunities of Apollo. The poet thus describes the metamorphosis:--

“Next from the Vi’let choice perfumes exhale;
She now disguised in a blue dusky veil
Springs through the humble grass an humble flow’r,
Her stature little and her raiment poor.
If truth in ancient poems is convey’d,
This modest flower was once a charming maid,
Her name Ianthis, of Diana’s train,
The brightest nymph that ever graced a plain;
Whom (while Pherean herds the virgin fed)
Apollo saw, and courted to his bed;
But, lov’d in vain, the frighted virgin fled
To woods herself and her complaints she bore
And sought protection from Diana’s pow’r,
Who thus advis’d: ‘From mountains, sister, fly;
Phœbus loves mountains and an open sky.’
To vales and shady springs she bashful ran,
In thickets hid her charms, but all in vain:
For he her virtue and her flight admir’d,
The more she blush’d, the more the god was fired.
And now his love and wit new frauds prepare,
The goddess cried, ‘Since beauty’s such a snare,
Ah, rather perish that destructive grace.’
Then stain’d with dusky blue the virgin’s face:
Discolour’d thus an humbler state she prov’d,
Less fair, but by the goddess more belov’d;
Changed to a Violet with this praise she meets,
Chaste she retires to keep her former sweets.
The lowest places with this flower abound,
The valuable gift of untill’d ground;
Nor yet disgraced, though amongst Briars brought forth,
So rich her odour is, so true her worth.”

_Ion_, the Greek name for the Violet, is reputed to have been bestowed on it because, when Jupiter had metamorphosed Io into a white heifer, he caused sweet Violets to spring from the earth, in order to present her with herbage worthy of her.

“We are Violets blue,
For our sweetness found,
Careless in the morning shades,
Looking on the ground;
Love’s dropp’d eyelids and a kiss,
Such our breath and blueness is.
Io, the mild shape,
Hidden by Jove’s fears,
Found us first i’ the sward, when she
For hunger stooped in tears;
Wheresoe’er her lips she sets
Said Jove, be breaths called Violets.”

In one of the poems of his ‘Hesperides,’ however, Herrick gives a different version of the origin of Violets. According to the wayward fancy of this old poet, Violets are the descendants of some unfortunate girls, who, having defeated Venus in a dispute she had with Cupid on the delicate point as to whether she or they surpassed in sweetness, were beaten blue by the goddess in her jealous rage.----Some etymologists trace the Greek names _Ion_ to _Ia_, the daughter of Midas, who was betrothed to Atys, and transformed by Diana into a Violet in order conceal her from Phœbus.----Another derivation of the name is found in the story that some nymphs of Ionia, who lived on the banks of the river Cytherus, first presented these flowers to Ion, who had led an Ionian colony into Attica.----The Greek grammarian Lycophron, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus (about 280 years B.C.), was fond of making anagrams, and from the name of the Queen Arsinoe extracted “Violet of Juno.” Shakspeare, calls these favourite flowers

“Violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes,
Or Cytherea’s breath.”--_Winter’s Tale._

In all eastern countries, the Violet is a favourite flower, and a sherbet flavoured with its blossoms is a common drink at Persian and Arabian banquets. So delicious is this beverage, that Tavernier specially remembers that it is drunk by the Grand Seignior himself. There is a legend, that Mahomet once remarked: “The excellence of the extract of Violets above all other extracts is as the excellence of me above all the rest of the creation: it is cold in Summer, and it is hot in Winter.” Another Oriental saying is, “The excellence of the Violet is as the excellence of El Islam above all other religions.”--At the floral games, instituted at Toulouse by Clemence Isaure in the early part of the fourteenth century, in the time of the Troubadours, the prize awarded to the author of the best poetical composition consisted of a golden Violet. The fair founder of these games is stated, whilst undergoing a weary imprisonment, to have sent her chosen flower, the Violet, to her knight, that he might wear the emblem of her constancy; and the flower thus became, with the Troubadours, a symbol of this virtue. These floral games are still celebrated every year.----Along with other flowers, the Violet was assigned by the ancients to Venus.----It is said that Proserpine was gathering Violets as well as Narcissus when she was seized by Pluto.----The Athenians more especially affected the Violet; everywhere throughout the city of Athens they set up tablets engraven with the name, and preferred for themselves above all other names, that of “Athenian crowned with Violets.” The Romans, also, were extremely partial to the Violet, and cultivated it largely in their gardens. A favourite beverage of theirs was a wine made from the flower.----The Violet was, in olden days, regarded in England as an emblem of constancy, as we find by an old sonnet:--

“Violet is for faithfulnesse,
Which in me shall abide;
Hoping likewise that from your heart
You will not let it slide.”

The Violet is considered to be a funeral flower, and we find that in mediæval times it was among the flowers used in the old ceremony called “Creeping to the Crosse,” when on Good Friday priests clad in crimson, and “singing dolefully,” carried the image of the Cross, accompanied by another image representing a person just dead--

“With tapers all the people come,
And at the barriers stay,
Where down upon their knees they fall,
And night and day they pray;
And Violets and ev’ry kind
Of flowers about the grave
They strawe, and bring in all
The presents that they have.”

It was formerly commonly believed in England that when Violets and Roses flourished in Autumn, there would be some epidemic in the ensuing year. In Worcestershire, the safety of the farmer’s young broods of chickens and ducks is thought to be sadly endangered by anyone taking less than a handful of Violets or Primroses into his house.----Pliny had so high an opinion of the medicinal virtues of the Violet, as to assert that a garland of Violets worn about the head prevented headache or dizziness. In the time of Charles II., a conserve, called Violet-sugar or Violet-plate, was recommended by physicians to consumptive patients.----The Violet has always been in high favour with the French, and is now the recognised badge of the Imperial party. The flower became identified with the Bonapartists during Napoleon the First’s exile at Elba. When about to depart for that island, he comforted his adherents by promising to return with the Violets:--

“Farewell to thee, France! but when liberty rallies
Once more in thy regions, remember me then;
The Violet grows in the depths of thy valleys,
Though withered, thy tears will unfold it again.”--_Byron._

His followers, perhaps remembering that “Violet is for faithfulness,” henceforth adopted the flower as their badge, and during his exile were accustomed to toast his health under the name of Caporal Violette, or “the flower that returns with the Spring.” So well understood did the political significance of the flower become, that when Mddle. Mars appeared on the stage wearing Violets on her dress, she was loudly hissed by the body-guard of King Louis. It is said that the Empress Eugénie, when wooed by Napoleon III., signified her willingness to share with him the throne of France by appearing one evening wearing Violets in her dress and hair, and carrying Violets in her hands. Afterwards, when living at Chiselhurst, Violet bouquets were sent in profusion to the Imperial exiles, and, mingled with immortelles, were piled upon the tomb of Napoleon III.----The famous actress, Clairon, was so fond of the Violet, that one of her worshippers took pains to cultivate it for her sake, and for thirty-seven years never failed to send her a bouquet of Violets every morning during their season of bloom; an offering so greatly appreciated by its recipient, that she used to strip off the petals every evening, make an infusion of them, and drink it like tea.----To dream of admiring the Violet in a garden is deemed a prognostic of advancement in life.----By astrologers the Violet is held to be under the dominion of Venus.

=VIPER’S BUGLOSS.=--The _Echium vulgare_, or Viper’s Bugloss, is one of the handsomest of English wild flowers. Its seed resembling the head of the viper, it was supposed on the doctrine of signatures to cure the bite of that reptile: whilst its spotted stem indicated to the old herbalists and simplers that the plant was specially created to counteract the poison of speckled vipers and snakes. Dioscorides affirmed that anyone who had taken the herb before being bitten would not be hurt by the poison of any serpent. The French call it _la Vipérine_, and the Italians _Viperina_.----In England it is also known as Snake’s Bugloss and Cat’s Tail.----According to astrologers, the Viper’s Bugloss is a herb of the Sun.

=VIPER’S GRASS.=--_Scorzonera edulis_ has obtained its Latin name from the Italian _Scorzone_, a venomous serpent whose bite the grass is supposed to heal, and whose form its twisted roots are thought to resemble. According to Monardus, a Spanish physician, quoted by Parkinson, the English name of Viper’s Grass was given to it because “a Moor, a bond-slave, did help those that were bitten of that venomous beast, the viper, which they of Catalonia called _Escuerso_, with the juice of this herbe, which both took away the poison, and healed the bitten place very quickly, when Treakle and other things would do no good.”

VIRGIN MARY’S PLANTS.--See Lady’s Plants.

VIRGIN’S BOWER.--See Clematis.

WAKE ROBIN.--See Arum.

=WALLFLOWER.=--The Wallflower (_Cheiranthus Cheiri_) belongs to the family of Stocks, and was, in fact, introduced from Spain under the name of Wall Stock-Gillofer, which afterwards became Wall Gilliflower, and finally Wallflower. In Turner’s ‘Herbal,’ it is called Wall-Gelover and Hartis Ease.----Tradition gives a poetical origin to this flower. It tells that, in bygone days, a castle stood near the river Tweed, in which a fair maiden was kept a prisoner, having plighted her troth and given her heart’s affection to the young heir of a hostile clan; but blood having been shed between the chiefs on either side, the deadly hatred cherished in those lawless days forbade all thoughts of the union. The gallant tried various stratagems to get possession of his betrothed, all of which failed, until at last he gained admission to the castle disguised in the garb of a wandering troubadour, and as such he sang before his lady-love, and finally arranged, with the aid of a serving-woman, that the maiden should effect her escape, while he should await her arrival with a noble courser and armed men. Herrick tells us the conclusion of the story in the following lines:--

“Up she got upon a wall,
Attempted down to slide withal.
But the silken twist untied,
So she fell and, bruised, she died.
Love in pity of the deed,
And her loving luckless speed,
Turn’d her to this plant we call
Now the Flower of the Wall.”

From the fact that Wallflowers grew upon old walls, and were seen on the casements and battlements of ancient castles, and among the ruins of abbeys, the minstrels and troubadours were accustomed to wear a bouquet of these flowers as the emblem of an affection which is proof against time and misfortune.----Dreams of Wallflowers imply--to a lover that the object of his affection will be true and constant; to a sickly person that recovery will shortly follow; to a lady who dreams that she is plucking the flower for her bouquet, that the worthiest of her admirers has yet to propose to her.----According to astrologers, the Moon governs the Wallflower.

=WALNUT.=--The origin of the Walnut-tree is to be found in the story of Carya, the youngest of the three daughters of Dion, king of Laconia. These sisters had received the gift of prophecy from Apollo as a reward for the hospitality their father had shown to the god, but on the condition that they were never to misuse the divine gift, and never to enquire into matters of which it became their sex to remain ignorant. This promise was broken when Bacchus convinced Carya of his love for her. The elder sisters, being jealous, endeavoured to prevent Bacchus from meeting Carya, and he in revenge turned them into stones, and transformed his beloved Carya into the tree so called in Greek--the _Nux_, or Walnut-tree of the Latins, the fruit of which was considered by the ancients, in consequence of these intrigues, to promote the powers of love.----It is necessary, in considering the folk-lore of the Walnut, to separate the tree from the nut. The tree is feared as a tree of ill omen, and is regarded as a favourite haunt of witches. The shade of the Walnut-tree was held by the Romans to be particularly baneful. The Black Walnut will not let anything grow under it, and if planted in an orchard will kill all the Apple-trees in its neighbourhood. The Nut is, on the contrary, considered propitious, favourable to marriage, and the symbol of fecundity and abundance. The ceremony of throwing Nuts at a wedding, for which boys scrambled, is said to have been of Athenian origin. A similar custom obtained among the Romans, at whose marriage festivities Walnuts were commonly strewed. Catullus exclaims:--

“Let the air with Hymen ring
Hymen, Io Hymen, sing.
Soon the Nuts will now be flung;
Soon the wanton verses sung;
Soon the bridegroom will be told
Of the tricks he played of old.
License then his love had got,
But a husband has it not:
Let the air with Hymen ring,
Hymen, Io Hymen, sing.”--_Leigh Hunt._

Virgil alludes to the custom of scrambling for Nuts at weddings, in his Eighth Pastoral:--

“Prepare the lights
O Mopsus! and perform the bridal rites;
Scatter thy Nuts among the scrambling boys.”

Prof. De Gubernatis says, that the young bridegroom of modern Rome throws Nuts on the pathway, evidently as a symbol of fecundity. In Piedmont, there is a saying that “Bread and Nuts are food for married people.” In Sicily, at Modica, they strew Nuts and Corn in the path of the newly-married couple. In Greece, the bride and bridegroom distribute Nuts among those assisting at the marriage rites. In Roumania, Nuts are distributed at weddings; and among the Lettish peasantry, Nuts and Gingerbread-Nuts are presented to wedding-guests.----A Lithuanian legend recounts that at the deluge, as men were being drowned, Perkun (the chief deity of the race) was eating Nuts. He dropped the shells in the raging waters, and in the shells certain virtuous people escaped, and afterward repeopled the earth. De Gubernatis, referring to this legend, says that here the Walnut becomes undoubtedly an emblem of regeneration: “This is the reason why, in Belgium, on Michaelmas Day (a funereal day), young girls take marriage auguries from Nuts. Having mingled some full Nuts with others which have been emptied, and the shells carefully fastened together again, they shut their eyes, and select one at hazard. If it happens to be a full Nut, it betokens that they will soon be happily married, for it is St. Michael who has given them good husbands.” In Italy, a Nut with three segments is considered most lucky. Carried in the pocket, it preserves its owner from lightning, witchcraft, the Evil Eye, and fever; it facilitates conquest, gives happiness, and performs other benign services. In Bologna, it is thought that if one of these Nuts be placed under the chair of a witch, she will be unable to get up; and it thus becomes an infallible means of discovering witches.----The Walnut has become in Europe, and especially in Italy, an accursed tree. The ancients thought it was dear to Proserpine and all the deities of the infernal regions. In Germany, the Black Walnut is regarded as a sinister tree, just as the Oak is looked upon as a tree of good omen.----At Rome, there is a tradition that the church Santa Maria del Popolo was built by order of Paschal II., on the spot where formerly grew a Walnut-tree, round which troops of demons danced during the night. Near Prescia, in Tuscany, we are told by Prof. Giuliani, there is a Walnut-tree where witches are popularly supposed to sleep: the people of the district say that witches love Walnut-trees. At Bologna, the peasantry think that witches hold a nocturnal meeting beneath the Walnut-trees on the Vigil of St. John. But among all other Walnut-trees, the most infamous and the most accursed is the Walnut of Benevento, regarding which there are many tales of its being haunted by the Devil and witches. It is said that St. Barbatus, the patron of Benevento, who lived in the time of Duke Romuald, was a priest who was endowed with the power of exorcising devils by his prayers. At that time the inhabitants still worshipped a Walnut-tree on which was to be distinguished the effigy of a viper, and beneath this tree the people performed many superstitious and heathenish rites. The Emperor Constantius laid siege to Benevento; the citizens were in despair, but Barbatus rebuked them, and persuaded them that God had taken this means to punish them for their idolatry; so, with Romuald, they agreed to be converted to Christianity, and made Barbatus bishop of the town. Then Barbatus uprooted the accursed Walnut-tree, and the Devil was seen in the form of a serpent crawling away from beneath its roots. Upon being sprinkled with holy water, however, he disappeared; but through his satanic power, whenever a meeting of demons is desired, or a witches’ sabbath is to be held, a Walnut-tree as large and as verdant as the original appears by magic on the precise spot where it stood.----A Walnut-tree with very different associations once grew in the churchyard on the north side of St. Joseph’s Chapel at Glastonbury. This miraculous tree never budded before the feast of St. Barnabas (June 11th), and on that very day shot forth leaves and flourished like others of its species. Queen Anne, King James and many high personages are said to have given large sums of money for cuttings from the original tree, which has long since disappeared, and has been succeeded by a fine Walnut of the ordinary sort.----According to an old custom (which at one time prevailed in England), every household in the district of Lechrain, in Bavaria, brings to the sacred fire which is lighted at Easter a Walnut-branch, which, after being partially burned, is carried home to be laid on the hearth-fire during tempests, as a protection against lightning.----In Flanders, as a charm against ague, the patient catches a large black spider, and imprisons it between the two halves of a Walnut-shell, and then wears it round his neck.----In our own land, it is a common belief among country people that whipping a Walnut-tree tends to increase the crop and improve the flavour of the Nuts. This belief is found embodied in the following curious distich:--

“A woman, a spaniel, and a Walnut-tree,
The more you whip them, the better they be.”

Evelyn, alluding to this custom, says it is thought better to beat the Nuts off than to gather them from the tree by hand. “In Italy,” he tells us, “they arm the tops of long poles with nails and iron for the purpose, and believe the beating improves the tree, which I no more believe than I do that discipline would reform a shrew.”----The Brahmans of the Himalaya observe a festival called the Walnut Festival, _Akrot-ka-pooja_, at which, after offering a sacrifice, the priest, with a few companions, takes his place in the balcony of the temple, and all the young men present pelt them liberally with Walnuts and green Pine-cones, which the group in the balcony rapidly collect and return in plentiful volleys.----To dream of Walnuts portends difficulties and misfortunes in life: in love affairs, such a vision implies infidelity and disappointment.

WATER LILY.--See Nymphæa.

WAYBREAD.--See Plantain.

=WHORTLEBERRY.=--Whort or Whortleberry (the Anglo-Saxon _Heorutberge_ is another name for the Bilberry or Blaeberry, (_Vaccinium Myrtillus_). A species of Whortleberry, called Ohelo (_Vaccinium reticulatum_), is found in Hawaii, springing up from the decomposed lava of the volcanoes of that island. Its flame-coloured berries are sacred to Pélé, the goddess of the volcano, and in heathen days no Hawaiian dared taste one till he had offered some to the goddess, and craved her permission to eat them. Miss Gordon Cumming relates that when Mr. Ellis visited the island in 1822, he and his trusty friends rejoiced on discovering these large juicy berries, but the natives implored them not to touch them lest some dire calamity should follow. Though themselves faint and parched, they dared not touch one till they reached the edge of the crater, where, gathering branches loaded with the tempting clusters, they broke them in two, and throwing half over the precipice, they called Pélé’s attention to the offering, and to the fact that they craved her permission to eat of her _Ohelos_. (See also BILBERRY.)

=WIDOW’S FLOWER.=--The Indian or Sweet Scabious (_Scabiosa atropurpurea_) is called by the Italians _Fior della Vedova_, and by the French _Fleur de Veuve_, or Widow’s Flower. Phillips says of these flowers that they present us with “corollas of so dark a purple, that they nearly match the sable hue of the widow’s weeds; these being contrasted with anthers of pure white gives the idea of its being an appropriate bouquet for those who mourn for their deceased husbands, and this we presume gave rise to the Italian and French name of Widow’s Flower.”

=WILLOW.=--The Willow seems from the remotest times to have been considered a funereal tree and an emblem of grief. So universal is the association of sadness and grief with the Willow, that “to wear the Willow” has become a familiar proverb. Under Willows the captive Children of Israel wept and mourned in Babylon. Fuller, referring to this melancholy episode in their history, says of the Willow:--“A sad tree, whereof such as have lost their love make their mourning garlands; and we know that exiles hung their harps on such doleful supports. The very leaves of the Willow are of a mournful hue.” Virgil remarks on

“The Willow with hoary bluish leaves;”

and Shakspeare, when describing the scene of poor Ophelia’s death, says:--

“There is a Willow grows ascant the brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the grassy stream.”

Chatterton has a song of which the burden runs:--

“Mie love ys dedde,
Gone to his death-bedde
Al under the Wyllowe-tree.”

Spenser designates the gruesome tree as “the Willow worn of forlorn paramours;” and there are several songs in which despairing lovers invoke the Willow-tree.

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

Herrick tells us how garlands of Willow were worn by neglected or bereaved lovers, and how love-sick youths and maids came to weep out the night beneath the Willow’s cold shade. The following wail of a heart-broken lover is also from the pen of the old poet:--

“A Willow garland thou did’st send
Perfumed, last day, to me,
Which did but only this portend--
I was forsook by thee.
Since it is so, I’ll tell thee what:
To-morrow thou shalt see
Me wear the Willow; after that,
To die upon the tree.
As hearts unto the altars go,
With garlands dressed, so I,
With my Willow-wreath, also
Come forth and sweetly die.”

Jason, in his voyage in search of the golden fleece, passed the weird grove of Circe, planted with funereal Willows, on the tops of which the voyagers could perceive corpses hanging. Pausanias speaks of a grove consecrated to Proserpine, planted with Black Poplars and Willows; and the same author represents Orpheus, whilst in the infernal regions, as carrying a Willow-branch in his hand. Shakspeare, in allusion to Dido’s being forsaken by Æneas, says:--

“In such a night,
Stood Dido, with a Willow in her hand,
Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her love
To come again to Carthage.”

The Willow was considered to be the tree of Saturn. The Weeping Willow (_Salix Babylonica_), as being a remedy for fluxes, was, however, consecrated to Juno Fluonia, who was invoked by Roman matrons to stop excessive hemorrhage.----The Flemish peasantry have a curious custom to charm away the ague. The sufferer goes early in the morning to an old Willow, makes three knots in one of its branches, and says “Good morning Old One; I give thee the cold, Old One.”----The Willow wand has long been a favourite instrument of divination. The directions are as follows:--Let a maiden take a Willow-branch in her left hand, and, without being observed, slip out of the house and run three times round it, whispering all the time, “He that’s to be my gude man come and grip the end of it.” During the third run, the likeness of her future husband will appear and grasp the other end of the wand.----De Gubernatis says that at Brie (Ile-de-France), on St. John’s Eve, the people burn a figure made of Willow-boughs. At Luchon, on the same anniversary, they throw snakes on a huge effigy of a Willow-tree made with branches of Willow; this is set on fire, and while it is burning the people dance around the tree.----In China, the Willow is employed in their funeral rites, the tree having been there considered, from the remotest ages, to be a symbol of immortality and eternity. On this account they cover the coffin with branches of Willow, and plant Willows near the tombs of the departed. They also have a custom of decorating the doors of their houses with Willow-branches on Midsummer Day. With them the Willow is supposed to be possessed of marvellous properties, amongst which is the power of averting the ill effects of miasma and pestilential disorders.----To dream of mourning beneath a Willow over some calamity is considered a happy omen, implying the speedy receipt of intelligence that will cause much satisfaction.----By astrologers the Willow is placed under the dominion of the moon.

WIND FLOWER.--See Anemone.

WITCH-HAZEL.--See Hornbeam. WITCH- or WYCH-ELM, _Ulmus montana_.

WOLF’S BANE.--See Monk’s Hood.

WOODBINE.--See Honeysuckle.

=WORMWOOD.=--The old Latin name of Wormwood was _Absinthium_, and a variety known as _A. Ponticum_ is alluded to by Ovid as being particularly bitter:--

“Untilled barren ground the loathsome Wormwood yields,
And well ’tis known how, through its root, bitter become the fields.”

Johnston, in his _Thaumatographia naturalis_, notes a curious superstition, according to which we are assured that an infant will not during its life be either hot or cold provided that its hands are rubbed over with the juice of Wormwood before the twelfth week of its life has expired. The ancients mingled Wormwood in their luscious wines, or used it before or after drinking them in order to counteract their effects. Sprays of Wormwood are often seen suspended in cottages to drive away moths and other insects.

“Where chamber is sweeped, and Wormwood is throwne,
No flea for his life dare abide to be knowne.”

Its powerful odour is so disliked by all kinds of insects that country people often place Wormwood in their drawers to protect their clothes, &c., from moths: hence its French name, _Garde-robe_. Gerarde says that, mixed with vinegar, it is a good antidote to the poison of Mushrooms or Toadstools, and taken with wine counteracts the poisonous effects of Hemlock and the bites of the shrew mouse and sea dragon.----Branches of Sea Wormwood (_Absinthium marinum_) were, according to Pliny, carried in processions by Egyptian priests dedicated to the service of the goddess Isis. A species called _Sementina_ was formerly called Holy Wormwood, and its seed Holy Wormseed (_semen sanctum_)--for what reason is not known.----Dreams connected with Wormwood are considered of good augury, implying happiness and domestic enjoyment. Astrologers adjudge Wormwood to be a herb of Mars.

=YARROW.=--The Yarrow, or Milfoil (_Achillea Millefolium_), is a plant which delights to find a home for itself in churchyards. Probably on account of this peculiarity it has been selected to play an important part in several rustic incantations and charms. In the South and West of England, damsels resort to the following mode of love-divination:--The girl must first pluck some Yarrow from a young man’s grave, repeating the while these words:--

“Yarrow, sweet Yarrow, the first that I have found,
In the name of Jesus Christ I pluck it from the ground;
As Jesus loved sweet Mary, and took her for His dear,
So in a dream this night, I hope my true love will appear.”

She must then sleep with the Yarrow under her pillow, and in her dreams her future husband will appear.----Another formula states: The Yarrow must be plucked exactly on the first hour of morn: place three sprigs in your shoe or glove, saying:--

“Good morning, good morning, good Yarrow,
And thrice good morning to thee;
Tell me, before this time to-morrow,
Who my true love is to be.”

Observe, a young man must pluck the Yarrow off a young maiden’s grave, and a female must select that off a bachelor’s. Retire home to bed without speaking another word, or it dissolves the spell; put the Yarrow under your pillow, and it will procure a sure dream on which you may depend.----In another spell to procure for a maiden a dream of the future, she is to make a posey of various coloured flowers, one of a sort, some Yarrow off a grave, and a sprig of Rue, and bind all together with a little hair from her head. She is then to sprinkle the nosegay with a few drops of the oil of amber, using her left hand, and bind the flowers round her head when she retires to rest in a bed supplied with clean linen. This spell it is stated will ensure the maid’s future fate to appear in a dream.----The Yarrow acquired the name of Nosebleed from its having been put into the nose to cause bleeding, and to cure the megrim, as we learn from Gerarde. Dr. Prior adds, that it was also called Nosebleed from its being used as a means of testing a lover’s fidelity, and he quotes from Forby, who, in his ‘East Anglia,’ says that, in that part of England, a girl will tickle the inside of the nostril with a leaf of this plant, crying:--

“Yarroway, Yarroway, bear a white blow;
If my love love me, my nose will bleed now.”

By a blunder of the mediæval herbalists, the name and remedial character of the Horse-tail, which was formerly called _Herba sanguinaria_ and Nosebleed, were transferred without reason to the Yarrow, which has since retained them.----The Yarrow is also known as Old Man’s Pepper, and was formerly called the Souldier’s Woundwort. The Highlanders make an ointment from it; and it was similarly employed by the ancient Greeks, who said that Achilles first made use of this plant as a wound herb, having learnt its virtues of Chiron, the Centaur--hence its scientific name _Achillea_.----Astrologers place the herb under the dominion of Venus.----To dream of gathering Yarrow for medicinal purposes denotes that the dreamer will shortly hear of something that will give him or her extreme pleasure.

=YEW.=--The dark and sombre Yew-tree has from the remote past been invested with an essentially funereal character, and hence is appropriately found in the shade of churchyards and in propinquity to tombs. Blair, addressing himself to the grave, says:--

“Well do I know thee by thy trusty Yew,
Cheerless, unsocial plant, that loves to dwell
’Midst skulls and coffins, epitaphs, and worms;
Where light-heeled ghosts, and visionary shades,
Beneath the wan cold moon (so fame reports),
Embody’d, thick, perform their mystic rounds.
No other merriment, dull tree, is thine.”

The Egyptians regarded it as a symbol of mourning, and the idea descended to the Greeks and Romans, who employed the wood as fuel for their funeral pyres. The Britons probably learned from the Romans to attach a funereal signification to the Yew, and inasmuch as it had been employed in ancient funeral rites, they regarded the tree with reverence and probably looked upon it as sacred. Hence, in course of time, the Yew came to be planted in churchyards, and, on account of its perpetual verdure, was, like the Cypress, considered as a symbol of the resurrection and immortality.

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

R. Turner remarks that if the Yew “be set in a place subject to poysonous vapours, the very branches will draw and imbibe them: hence it is conceived that the judicious in former times planted it in churchyards on the west side, because those places being fuller of putrefaction and gross oleaginous vapours exhaled out of the graves by the setting sun, and sometimes drawn into those meteors called _ignes fatui_, divers have been frightened, supposing some dead bodies to walk; others have been blasted, &c.” Prof. Martyn points out that a Yew was evidently planted near the church for some religious purpose; for in the ancient laws of Wales the value of a _consecrated_ Yew is set down as £1, whilst that of an ordinary Yew-tree is stated as only fifteen pence. “Our forefathers,” says he, “were particularly careful to preserve this funereal tree, whose branches it was usual to carry in solemn procession to the grave, and afterwards to deposit therein under the bodies of their departed friends. Our learned Ray says, that our ancestors planted the Yew in churchyards because it was an evergreen tree, as a symbol of that immortality which they hoped and expected for the persons there deposited. For the same reason this and other evergreen trees are even yet carried in funerals, and thrown into the grave with the body; in some parts of England and in Wales, planted with flowers upon the grave itself.” Shakspeare speaks of a “shroud of white, stuck all with Yew,” from which one would infer that sprigs of Yew were placed on corpses before burial. Branches of Yew were, in olden times, often carried in procession on Palm Sunday, instead of Palm, and as an evergreen Yew was sometimes used to decorate churches and houses at Christmas-time.----Parkinson remarks that in his time it was used “to deck up houses in Winter; but ancient writers have ever reckoned it to be dangerous at the least, if not deadly.” Many of the old writers were of Parkinson’s opinion as to the poisonous character of the Yew. Cæsar tells how Cativulcus, king of the Eburones, poisoned himself by drinking a draught of Yew. Dioscorides says that a decoction of the leaves occasions death; Galen pronounces the tree to be of a venomous quality and against man’s nature; and White, in his ‘History of Selborne,’ gives numerous instances in which the Yew has proved fatal to animals. Gerarde does not consider the berries poisonous, but thinks non-ruminating animals are injured by eating the foliage. He tells us that “Nicander, in his booke of counter-poisons, doth reckon the Yew-tree among the venomous plants, setting downe also a remedy, and that in these words, as Gorræus hath translated them:--

‘Shun the poys’nous Yew, the which on Oeata grows,
Like to the Firre, it causes bitter death,
Unlesse besides they use pure wine that flowes
From empty’d cups, thou drinke, when as thy breath
Begins to fade, and passage of thy life
Grows straight.’”

Virgil attributed the notoriously unwholesome qualities of the honey of Corsica to the bees feeding upon the Yew, and he warns bee-keepers to be careful that no Yew-trees grow near their hives. Owing to its being so frequently found in churchyards, a ghastly superstition has arisen respecting this sinister tree: it is said that it preys and invigorates itself upon the dead who lie beneath its sombre shade. Thus, in ‘_In Memoriam_,’ we read:--

“Old Yew, which graspest at the stones
That name the underlying dead,
Thy fibres net the dreamless head,
Thy roots are wrapt about the bones.”

Even in the principal use the Yew was put to, the tree maintained its connection with death, for from its wood man fashioned an instrument of warfare and destruction. Its great pliancy and toughness made it particularly suitable for bows, and for this purpose it was unrivalled. Virgil tells us that in his time “the Yews were bent into Ituræan bows”; Chaucer speaks of “the Shooter Yew;” and Browne writes of

“The warlike Yewgh by which more than the lance
The strong-armed English spirits conquered France.”

Camden has recorded a grim legend in connection with the name of Halifax. It seems that a certain amorous clergyman fell in love with a pretty maid who refused his addresses. Maddened by her refusal he cut off her head, which being hung upon a Yew-tree till it was quite decayed, the tree was reputed as sacred, not only whilst the virgin’s head hung on it, but as long as the tree itself lasted: to which the people went in pilgrimage, plucking and bearing away branches of it as a holy relique, whilst there remained any of the trunk; persuading themselves that those small veins and filaments resembling hairs were the hairs of the virgin. But what is yet stranger, the resort to this place, then called Houton, a despicable village, occasioned the building of the now famous town of Halifax, in Yorkshire, the name of which imports “holy hair.”----In the cloister of Vreton, in Brittany, there grew a Yew-tree which was said to have sprung from the staff of St. Martin. Beneath it the Breton princes were accustomed to offer up a prayer before entering the church. This tree was regarded with the highest reverence; no one ever plucked a leaf from its sombre boughs, and even the birds refrained from pecking the scarlet berries. A band of pirates, however, happening to visit the locality, two of them spied the tree, and forthwith climbed into its venerable boughs and proceeded to cut bow-staves for themselves: their audacity speedily brought about its own punishment, for they both fell and were killed on the spot.----Both in old Celtic and in Anglo-Saxon the Yew-tree was called _Iw_. By early English authors its name was variously spelt Yew, Yeugh, Ewgh, Ugh, and Ewe. In Switzerland, it is known as William Tell’s Tree.----Dream oracles state that there is but one signification to dreams concerning the Yew, viz., that it is the certain forerunner of the demise of an aged person, through which the dreamer will derive substantial benefits.

=YGGDRASILL.=--The mythical Scandinavian World-tree, or Mundane Ash, is the greatest and best of all trees: beneath it the gods assemble in counsel; its branches spread over the whole world and reach above heaven; and its roots penetrate to the infernal regions. On its summit is perched an all-seeing eagle, with a hawk between his eyes. A squirrel continually carries news to him, while serpents coiled round the vast trunk endeavour to destroy him. Serpents, also, constantly gnaw the roots, from which come the fountains of wisdom and futurity. The Norns always keep a watch upon the Yggdrasill: they fix the lifetime of all men, and dispense destinies. Under the tree is hidden the horn which shall be sounded and rouse the world at the last great conflict.

[Tailpiece]

[Headpiece]

Index to Legends and Myths.

Acis and Galatea, 532

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

Adam’s Tree, 303

Ajax, 404

Albertus Magnus, 133

Ali Baba and the Sesame, 544

Amaracus, 433

Amaranthus, 212

Andromeda, 214

Arabian Priests and Cinnamon, 283

Argonauts, 81, 249

Arjuna, the Betel Thief, 251

Aroth, Maroth, and the Beauty, 577

Aspen and the Flight into Egypt, 230

„ „ Passion, 229

Aspic and Balm-tree, 239

Asses and Hemlock, 145

Atalanta and Hippomenes, 218

Atys and Agdistis, 210

„ „ Cybele, 495

Baldr and the Mistletoe, 440

Balm Trees of Cairo, 124

Bachelier and the Anemone, 216

Bacchus and the Pomegranate, 499

Batou and the Cedar, 275

Bertram and the Heartsease, 484

Birth of Vishnu, 241

Blacksmith changed to a Bear, 250

Bonze and the Mouse, 513

Bosworth Field, 360

Buddha, 4, 420, 491

„ and Mâra, 4

Bushman Rice, 514

Callimachus and the Acanthus, 206

Calchas and Mopsus, 335

Ceres and Proserpine, 504

Chang Ching and the Fairy, 449

Charlemagne and the Thistle, 269

Chinese Trees of Love, 274

Clairon and the Violets, 581

Clovis, 387

Clytie and Phœbus, 365

Cosmogonic Lotus, 419

Cossacks and Tartars, 286

Crocus and Smilax, 299

Crown Imperial, 347

Cyanus and the Cornflower, 277

Cyparissus, 302

Czekanka, 326

Danes and the Thistle, 562

Daphne and Phœbus, 404

Daughter of the Laurel, 408

Death of Buddha, 539

Devil and Blackberries, 258

„ „ the Oats, 472

„ „ the Reed, 512

Devil’s Brother, 451

Dewadat and Buddha, 268

Diarmuid and Grainne, 531

Duke of Tuscany’s Gardener, 392

Dryope, 417

Earl of Essex’s Horses, 445

Elm of Ethiopia, 131

Emperor of China, 447

Envious Sisters, 436

Erisichthon, 77

Esthonian Peasant, 254

Eugénie and Napoleon III., 581

Eve and the Snowdrop, 546

Fairy Wife, 356

„ Widower, 333

Faithful Wife, 551

Falcon and Soma, 439

Fatal Elopement, 582

Father Garnet’s Straw, 134

Fig of Paradise, 127

Fir-tree Elf, 65

First Roses, 515

Flora and Zephyr, 215

Forget-me-not, 342

Fulke and the Plantagenets, 260

Garden of the Lower Regions, 223

Gefroi and the Broom, 260

Glastonbury Thorn, 352

Glaucus, 541

Golden Apples, 477

Grey Horse, 265

Hanpang and Ho, 274

Hercules and Cerberus, 442

Holy Family and Date Palm, 312

„ Rose of Jericho, 528

Honor Garrigan and the Blackberries, 259

Hoopoe and Springwort, 142

Hop-o’-my-Thumb, 263

Hulda and the Selige Fräulein, 340

Hyacinthus, 383

Ianthis, 578

Ice Mountain, 223

Iduna and the Apples, 217

Indra and Namuchi, 207

Io, 578

Iosbert, 519

Isabella and the Basil, 246

Iseult and Tristan, 389

Isis and Osiris, 560

James, Duke of Monmouth, 257

Jehanghir and Attar of Roses, 521

Jesus Christ and the Broom, 260

„ „ „ Apples, 222

Juno and Hercules, 397, 412

Jussieu and the Cedar, 274

Kang Wou and the Cassia, 271

Khatties, The, 116

King Midas and the Barber, 511

„ Oswald and the Moss, 445

Kissos, 388

La Cour and the Tuberose, 568

Ladislas and the Plague, 350

Laurel Maiden, 75

Leucothea, 346

Lieschi, the Geni of the Forest, 253

Life-giving Herb, 144

Lords of Linden, 416

Lotus and Priapus, 417

Luckflower, 112

Lycurgus and the Cabbage, 264

Macbeth and Sweno, 546

Magic Fern-seed, 330

„ Flute, 431

„ Mustard-seed, 453

„ Pumpkin, 507

„ Thistle, 562

„ Violin-bow, 81

Main de Gloire, 428

Malvina and Oscar, 308

Mandrake, 426

Maria Theresa and the Camellia, 266

Maschia and Maschiäna, 301

McDonough’s Baby, 361

Melampus and Hellebore, 368

Melius and the Apple, 218

Mercury and his Rod, 362

Mexican Water Age, 435

Mignonette, 437

Milkmaid and Enchanted Cow, 288

Millet-thief, 438

Milto, 518

Minerva and the Olive, 473

Monastery of St. Christine, 257

Murdered Virgin, 591

Myrene, 454

Myrrha, 453

Narcissus, 457

Novice and the Styrax, 131

Oak of Signa, 469

Olive-bearing Birds, 143

Ominous Red Rose, 199

Orchis and Acolasia, 478

Origin of the Tea-shrub, 561

Orpheus and the Elms, 323

Osmund and the Danes, 479

Pæon and Æsculapius, 493

Pæonia and Phœbus, 493

Parizataco, 534

Pales and the Fishermen, 209

Pelops and Myrtillus, 252

Pélé, Goddess of the Volcano, 585

Perkun and the Deluge, 583

Phaethon and the Heliades, 502

Philemon and Baucis, 414

Phyllis and Demophoon, 210

Picts and Heather Beer, 365

Pilgrim and the Palm, 481

Polydorus and Polymnestor, 295

Postomani, 505

Prophetic Trees of Basle, 198

Proserpine and the Pomegranate, 500

Pyramus and Thisbe, 447

Pythagoras and the Beans, 247

Queen Christiania’s Diamonds, 213

„ of Sheba and Solomon, 18, 19, 303

„ of the Serpents, 451

Ranunculus, 510

Rhodanthe, 515

Rhœcus and Jupiter, 463

Rosa Marina, 527

Rose and the Sun, 516

„ Elf, 66

„ of Bakawali, 570

Rübezahl, 509

Russalka and Basilek, 278

Sacaibu and the First Men, 296

Santon Akyazli, 381

Sappho and Phaon, 327

Satan and the Eglantine, 317

Sâvitri, 65

Seth and the Angel, 18, 19

Seven Oaks, 471

„ Sisters, 324

Shepherd of Ilsenstein, 552

Shepherdess and the Oak, 468

Side, 500

Sister of the Flowers, 76

Sivika and the Magic Wheat, 293

Stone Tree, 126

St. Benedict and Antidotes to Poison, 374

St. Benedict and the Rose-briar, 525

St. Brigid, 468

St. Cecilia, 133

St. Christopher, 482

St. Dorothea, 133, 222

St. Dunstan and the Devil, 223

St. Dunstan and the Apple-trees, 223

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 133, 519

St. Francis of Assisi, 519

St. Leonard and the Dragon, 414

St. Margaret of Cortona, 432

St. Martin’s Yew, 591

St. Patrick and the Shamrock, 545

St. Peter’s Mother, 410

St. Rosa di Lima, 519

St. Serf, 219

St. Thomas and the Madonna, 413

St. Thomas and his Tree, 130

Syrinx and Pan, 559

Thlaspis, 268

Thorn of Cawdor Castle, 362

Titteli Ture, 555

Tree of Adam, 17, 19

„ „ Tiberias, 132

Trees and the Cross, 386

„ and the Crucifixion, 48

„ and their Monarch, 474

„ of the Sun and Moon, 123

Ulysses and the Lotos Eaters, 418

„ and the Moly, 442

Venus and Adonis, 214, 341, 411

„ „ the Rose, 516

„ „ the Violet Nymphs, 579

Venus’ Mirror, 267

Veronica, 550

Vertumnus and the Nymph, 307

Virgin Mary and St. John, 483

„ „ „ the Cherry-tree, 279

„ „ „ the Fig-tree, 558

„ „ „ the Juniper, 395

„ „ „ the Lupine, 423

„ „ „ the Orange-tree, 478

„ „ „ the Palm, 481

„ „ „ the Pine, 496

„ „ „ the Rosemary, 526

„ „ „ the Strawberry, 556

Walnut-tree of Benevento, 584

Wandering Jew, 238

Wang Chih and the Date-stone, 312

Watcher of the Roads, 325, 498

Water Lily of Paradise, 463

White Maidens of the Fichtelgebirge, 556

Wild Woman and the Shepherdess, 253

William the Conqueror, 533

Willow Nymph, 81

Witches and Alder Wood, 209

Withered Tree of the Sun, 130, 131

Wonderful Linden-tree, 415

Woodpecker and the Spring-wort, 141, 551

World of the Lower Regions, 577

Xerxes and the Plane-tree, 497

Zoroaster, 521

General Index.

Aaron, 130, 342, 501

Abraham, 20, 61, 561

Adam, 115, 240, 311, 335, 362, 456, 475, 501

Adam in Eden, 15

„ Tree of, 17, _et seq._

Africans, 80

All Saints’, or All Hallows’, Day, 60

Almanacks, 137, 167

Animal-bearing Tree, 210

Animals, 145, _et seq._

Annunciation, 56, 269

Anthropological Trees, 116

Antiochus Epiphanes, 27

Antony, 27, 517, 522

Apollo, 24, 295, 384, 481, 560

Apple Lore, 217

Argonauts, 81, 249, 408, 465

Arvales, 292, 335

Ascension Day, 58, 213

Asgard, 9

Asherah, 6

Asoka, 5, 229

Assyrians, 24, 346, 387

„ Sacred Tree of the, 6

Astrology, 164

Asvattha, 5, 236

Atalanta, 477

Augury by Birds, 138

Avalon, 9, 218, 490

Bacchus, 25, 388, 435, 496, 499, 517

Baldr, 24

Balm, 123, 124, 239

Barnacle Tree, 118

Barometz, 121, 243

Battle Field Flowers, 505, 524, 549

Bertha, 24, 40, 339

Bethlehem, 41, 43

Birds, 137, _et seq._

Black Dwarfs, 67

Bongos, 80

Brahma, 22, 106, 180, 252, 419

Bridal Floral Ceremonies, 33

Buddha, 4, 229, 241, 419, 490, 538

Buddhists, 4, 5, 22, 293, 300, 419, 490, 538, 539

Buddhists, World Tree of the, 4

Bujan, 10

Burial Customs, 194, 196, 497

Burmans, 22, 79, 268

Butterfly Tree, 121

Calumny-destroyer, 109

Calvary, 48, 228, 375, 479, 550

Candlemas Day, 256, 546

Centaurs, 25

Cerberus, 94

Ceremonies, Floral, 26, _et seq._

Ceres, 25, 292, 306, 455, 458, 500, 504

Chaldæans, 107, 113, 176, 294

Chaplets, 36

Charles II., 471

Charms and Spells, 96, 234, 259, 261, 287, 288, 309, 313, 318,
_et seq._, 327, 332, 339, 349, 357, 364, 368, 369, 370, 372, 377,
383, 396, 399, 400, 407, 417, 427, 431, 439, 442, 450, 460, 463,
489, 490, 493, 498, 506, 511, 512, 523, 527, 528, 530, 532, 537,
554, 564, 567, 573

Cheese-colouring, 249

Chinese, 23, 113, 117, 178, 226, 240, 241, 271, 289, 351, 425, 437,
459

Chiron, 25, 277

Christian Church, Plants of the, 40, 55, 57, 440, 533

Christmas, 44, 60, 377, 462

Christmas-tree, 337

Churchyards, 192, 590

Circe, 91, 94, 325, 358, 426

Cleopatra, 27, 517, 522

Coffins, 192

Corn Spirits, 81

Corpus Christi Day, 59

Corpus Domini Procession, 32

Cosmogonic Trees, 1-8

Cross Oaks, 61, 469

Cross, Wood of the, 46, 273, 304, 386, 471, 475, 483, 503, 530

Crown of Thorns, 44, 359, 377, 512, 524, 564

Crucifixion, 47, 374, 385, 479

Cruciform Flowers, 55, 180

Cuckoo, 137, 300

Cupid, 267, 305, 517, 579

Cybele, 24, 28, 292, 517

Danes, 310, 479, 546

David, 17, 303

Dead Sea Fruit, 124, 225

Dead, The, 193, 230, 246, 247, 248, 358, 488

Death Portents, 198

Deborah, 190, 464

Dedication, Feast of, 57

Demons, 4, 16, 80, 83, 279, 331, 336, 396, 451, 490, 534

Devil, Plants of the, 82, _et seq._, 332, 462, 472, 549

Dew, 30, 59

Diana, 24, 228, 440, 444

Dictionary of Flowers, 185

Disease-bearing Trees, 81, 97, 259, 386, 470

Distillatory Plant, 127

Divination by Plants, 52, 101, 108, 138, 188, 221, 231, 248, 258, 264,
290, 291, 294, 295, 309, 370, 377, 381, 383, 398, 446, 450, 462,
476, 479, 489, 498, 504, 506, 513, 522, 523, 527, 535, 537, 563

Divining Rod, 113, 354, 363, 501

Doctrine of Plant Signatures, 154, _et seq._

Dragons, 152, 314

Dream-procuring Plants, 102, 105, 107, 324

Dreams, 211, 225, 226, 249, 257, 260, 265, 271, 280, 288, 290, 295,
300, 301, 306, 308, 310, 322, 336, 337, 338, 349, 355, 357, 364,
372, 385, 392, 397, 408, 413, 429, 433, 436, 449, 452, 457, 460,
461, 463, 472, 473, 476, 477, 478, 483, 486, 490, 497, 499, 502,
508, 509, 510, 511, 512, 524, 527, 534, 559, 560, 563, 565, 571,
578, 581, 582, 585, 587, 588, 589, 592

Druids, 107, 113, 137, 181, 218, 250, 289, 441, 467, 529, 539, 542,
573

Dryads, 74, 307

Easter, 58, 486

Ecstasies, 105, 178, 371, 406

Eden, 11

Egyptians, 23, 26, 105, 181, 195, 215, 299, 346, 349, 371, 373, 387,
421, 459, 476, 485, 488, 553, 560

Eiresione, 31, 32

Elder Mother, 80, 318

„ Queen, 80, 318

Eleusinian Mysteries, 292

Elves, 64, _et seq._, 318, 470

Elysian Fields, 189, 457

Embalming, 178, 195

Eve, 15, 16, 18, 240, 362

Evil Eye, 91, 102, 108, 110, 212, 227, 253, 333, 357, 450, 509, 513,
529, 532

Fabulous, Wondrous, and Miraculous Plants, 116, _et seq._

Fairies, 50, 64, _et seq._, 264, 288, 333, 344, 356, 361, 526, 538, 566

Fairy Revels, 67

Fairy Plants, 69

„ Unguent, 71

Fates, The, 25, 385, 426, 458

Father Garnet’s Straw, 134, _et seq._

Fauns, 74, 497

Festaroli, 39

Festivals, Floral, 34

„ Church, 57

Fijians, 290

Fire, 236, 347, 359, 376, 394, 396, 460, 467, 480, 489, 501, 513, 514,
540, 543, 552

Fire Generator, 236, 491, 539

Flora, 28

Floralia, Festival of, 29

Floral Ceremonies, Wreaths, and Garlands, 26, _et seq._

Floral Symbols, 180

„ Games and Festivals, 34, 212, 520

„ Vocabulary, 185

Flowers, Dictionary of, 185

Flowers of the Saints, 53, _et seq._

„ of the Church’s Festivals, 57, _et seq._

Forbidden Fruit, 16

Frau Holda’s Tree, 7

Freemasonry, 195, 295

Freyja, 24, 40, 42, 499

Frigg, 24, 440, 479, 556

Funeral Pyre, 39, 195, 359

„ Trees and Plants, 189, _et seq._, 473, 485, 494, 497, 503, 504,
507, 522, 525, 544

Furies, The, 25

Games, Greek and Roman, 38

Gandharvas, 25, 236, 548

Garland of Julia, 184

Garlands, Chaplets, and Wreaths, 36, _et seq._

Garnet’s Straw, 134

Garofalo, 270

Gipsies, 47

Glastonbury, 63, 352, 362

Gold, 111

Golden Herb, 289, 542

„ Apple, 123, 477, 501, 508

„ Rose, 518

Good Friday, 44, 254

Goose Tree, 118

Gospel Oaks, 60, 468

Graces, The, 517

Graves, 193, 379, 485

Greeks, Mother Tree of the, 6

„ Floral Ceremonies of the, 27

„ Games of the, 38

„ Passion for Flowers among the, 177

„ Sacred Plants of the, 24

„ Wreaths and Garlands of the, 37

Groves, Sacred, 76

Hags, 91, 94, 97, 358, 449

Hallowe’en, 220, 264, 462

Hamadryads, 74

Haoma, 5, 9, 378

Hecate, 91, 385, 549

Heliogabalus, 27, 517

Herbalists, 97, 161

Herbals, 160

Hercules, 25, 217, 305, 397, 474, 477, 481, 485, 508

Hesperides, 9, 123, 217, 477, 508