j}
?» ►
'i'
* sr
^11
J I I
p f a n t b o r o , begeqCi/, aHsl b q r ic /.
A G N U S C A S T U S .—The “ Chaste T r e e ” (Vitex Agnus.
Castus), a species of Willow, derives its name from the Greek hagnos,,
and Latin castus, both meaning chaste. The name was given to
it, according to Pliny, from the custom of the Athenian matrons to
strew their beds with it during the festival of the Thesmophora,
held in honour of Ceres, when the strictest chastity was enjoined.
At the same festival young girls adorned themselves with blossoms
of the shrub and slept on its leaves in order to guard their innocence
and purity. -Agnus Castus was consecrated to iLsculapius, and
also, in the isle of Samos, to Juno. Prometheus was crowned with
it. At Grecian weddings, the bride and groom_ carried crowns of
it. It was also employed as a preservative against poisoning.——
The seed of this shrub in later years acquired the name of Piper
Monachorum, and in explanation it is said that, following the example
of the matrons of Athens, who had discovered that the odour of
branches of Agnus Castus combatted unchaste thoughts and desires,
certain Christian monks made themselves girdles of the flexible
boughs of the tree, by wearing which they professed to expel from
their hearts all passions that love could excite. Some of the old
herbalists affirm that the seeds of Agnus Castus had a very powerful
effect in arresting generation. Gerarde says “ Agnus Castus is
a singular medicine and remedy for such as would willingly live
chaste, for it withstandeth all uncleanness or desire to the flesh,,
consuming and drying up the seed of generation, in what sort
soever it bee taken, whether in ponder onely, or the decoction
drunke, or whether the leaves be carried about the body ; for which
cause it was called castus, that is to say, chaste, cleane, and pure.”
The leaves, burnt or strewn about, were reputed to drive away
serpents; and, according to Dioscorides, a branch of the shrub,,
carried in the hand, would keep wayfarers from weariness.------
Agnus Castus is held to be under the dominion of Mars in Capricorn,
A l b e s p y n e .— See Hawthorn.
A G R IM O N Y .—The Agrimony or Egrimony (Agrimonia Eupatorio)
was a herb much in vogue among the old herbalists, who
attributed extraordinary virtues to it. Dioscorides prescribes it as
a cure for the bitings and stingings of serpents. _ Gerarde says it
is “ good for them that have naughty livers,” and in fact it was at
one time known as Liver-wort. Culpeper tells us that it will
draw forth “ thorns and splinters of wood, nails, or any other
such thing gotten into the flesh,” and recommends it further as “ a
most admirable remedy for such whose lives are annoyed either by
heat or cold.” Sore throat, gout, ague, colic, ear-ache,_ cancers, and
ulcers are among the numerous complaints the herbalists professed
to cure by means of syrups and salves made of Agrimony, a plant
which has formed an ingredient in most of the herb teas which
have been from time to time introduced. The astrologica..
government and virtues of Agrimony appear to the uninitiated
p f a n t b o r e , b e g eqO /, Ooi. bijricy*. 209
somewhat complicated. I f we may believe Culpeper, it is a herb
under Jupiter and the sign Cancer, and strengthens those parts
under the planet and sign, and removes diseases in them by
sympathy; and those under Saturn, Mars, and Mercury by antipathy,
if they happen in any part of the body governed by
Jupiter, or under the signs Cancer, Sagittarius, or Pisces.------
Michael Drayton, in his ‘ Muse’s Elysium,’ thus refers to Agrimony,
among other herbs dear to simplers:—
“ Next these here Egrimony is,
That helps the serpent’s biting;
The blessed Betony by this,
Whose cures deserving writing.
“ This All-heal, and so named of right,
New w'ounds so quickly healing ;
A thousand more I could recite
Most worthy of revealing.”
A L D E R .-—The origin of the Alder is to be found in the
following lines from Rapin’s poem on Gardens:—
“ Of watery race Alders and Willows spread
O’er silver brooks their melancholy shade,
Which heretofore (thus tales have been believed)
Were two poor men, who by their fishing lived;
Till on a day when Pales’ feast was held,
And all the town with pious mirth was filled.
This impious pair alone her rites despised,
Pursued their care, till she their crime chastised :
While from the banks they gazed upon the flood,
The angry goddess fixed them where they stood.
Transformed to sets, and just examples made
To such as slight devotion for their trade.
A t length, well watered by the bounteous stream.
They gained a root, and spreading trees became ;
Yet pale their leaves, as conscious how they fell,
Which croaking frogs with vile reproaches tell.”
In Germany, Alders have often a funereal and almost diabolic
charadter. It is a popular belief that they commence to weep, to
supplicate, and to shed drops of blood if there is any talk of cutting
them down. A legend of the Tyrol narrates how a boy who had
climbed a tree, overlooked the J a s t l y doings of certain witches
beneath its boughs. They tore in pieces the corpse of a woman,
and threw the portions in the air. The boy caught one, and kept
it by him. The witches, on counting the pieces afterwards found
that one was missing, and so replaced it by a scrap of Alder-wood,
when instantaneously the dead came to life again. Of the wood
of the Alder, Virgil tells us, the first boats were made:—Tunc Alnos
primum fluvii sensere cavatas. The Alder, or Aller, is said to be a
tree of Venus, under the celestial signs of either Cancer or Pisces.
A l e c o s t .— See Costmary.
A l e h o o f , Ground-Ivy.—See Ivy.
:^ sHL- i