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Christians.” The Persians call the Apricot of Iran, the “ Seed of
the Sun.” The ancients appear to have regarded it as a prophetical
or oracular tree. It was in the solitude of a grove of
Apricot-trees that Confucius, the venerated Chinese sage, completed
his commentaries on the King or ancient books of China,
and beneath this shade he ereiited an altar, and solemnly thanked
Heaven for having permitted him to accomplish his cherished
task. The name has undergone curious transformations: it is
traceable to the Latin pmcoqua, early; the fruit being supposed
by the Romans to be an early Peach. The Arabs (although living
near the region of which the tree is a native) took the Latin narne,
and twisted it into al hurqiiq; the Spaniards altered its Moorish
name into albaricoque; the Italians reproduced it as albicoces; the
French from them got abricot; and we, in England, although taking
the name from the French, first called it Abricock, or Aprecock, and
finally Apricot. The Apricot is under the dominion of Venus.
'To dream of this fruit denotes health, a speedy marriage, and
every success in life.
A R B O R 'V'lTAE.—This tree, otherwise known as Thuja, is
called by Pliny, Thya (from thyon, a sacrifice). The resin of the
Eastern variety is, in certain localities, frequently used instead of
incense at sacrifices. How the tree acquired the name of Arbor
VitcB is not known, unless from some supposed virtue of its berries.
Gerarde, who had only seen the Canadian variety, says of it that,
of all the trees from that country, the Arbor Vitcc, or Thya, was
“ the most principall, and best agreeing unto the nature of man,
as an excellent cordial, and of a very pleasant smell.” He also
tells us that it was sometimes called Cedrus Lycia, and that it is not
to be confounded with the Tree of Life mentioned in Genesis.
A R B U T U S .—The Arbutus, or Strawberry-tree (Arbutus
unedo), was held sacred by the Romans. It was one of the attributes
of Cardea, a sister of Apollo, who was beloved by Janus,
guardian of gates and avenues. With a rod of Arbutus—
Janalis—Cardea drove away witches and protecfted little children
when ill or bewitched. The Romans employed the Arbutus, with
other symbolic trees and fiowers, at the Palilia, a festival held in
honour of the pastoral goddess Pales. It was a Roman custom to
deposit branches of the Arbutus on coffins, and Virgil tells us that
Arbutus rods and Cak twigs formed the bier of young Pallas, the
son of Evander. Horace, in his Cdes, has celebrated the shade
afforded by the Arbutus. Cvid speaks of the tree as “ the Arbutus
heavy with its ruby fruit,” and tells us that, in the Golden Age,
the fruit afforded food to man. This fruit is called unedo, and
Pliny is stated to have given it that name became it was so bitter
that he who ate one would eat no more. The Criental Arbutus,
or Andrachne, bears fruit resembling a scarlet Strawberry in size
and flavour. In Greece, it has the reputation of so affedling
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serpents who feed upon it, that they speedily cease to be venomous.
The water distilled from the leaves and blossom of the
Arbutus was accounted a very powerful agent against the plague
and poisons.
A R C H A N G E L .—The name of Archangel is applied to the
Angelica archangelica; the Red Archangel, Stachys sylvatica; the
White Archangel, Lamium album; and the Yellow Archangel,
L . Galeobdolon. Nemnich says, the plant originally obtained its
name from its having been revealed by an angel, in a dream.
Parkinson considers it was so called on account of its heavenly
virtues. Gerarde remarks of it, that “ the fiowers are baked with
sugar, as Roses are, which is called Sugar R o se t: as also the distilled
water of them, which is used to make the heart merry, to
make a good colour in the face, and to refresh the vitall spirits.”
A R E C A .—The Areca Gatechu is one of the sacred plants of
India, producing the perfumed Areca Nuts, favourite masticatories
of the Indian races. So highly is this nut esteemed by the natives,
that they would rather forego meat and drink than their precious
Areca Nuts, which they cut into narrow pieces, and roll up with a
little lime in the leaves of the Pepper, and chew. The Areca Palm
is known in Hindostán as Supyari, and in Japan as Jambi. The
Hindus adorn their gods with these Nuts, and forbid respedfable
women to deck either their heads or bosoms with them. According
to Indian tradition, Devadamani, subduer of the gods, once
appeared at the court of King Vikramáditya, to play with him,
clothed in a robe the colour of the sky, having in his hand and in his
mouth an Areca Nut enveloped in a leaf of the Kalpa-tree. This
probably explains the Indian custom of presenting an Areca Nut
to guests, which is eaten with the leaf of the Betel. In China, a
similar custom prevails, but the Nut given there is the Betel Nut.
A R IS T O L O C H IA .—The old English name of this plant
was Birth-wort, derived from its reputed remedial powers in parturition—
probably first suggested by the shape of the corolla—
whence also its Greek name, from aristos, best, and locheia, delivery.
According to Pliny, if the expecitant mother desired to have a son,
she employed Aristolochia, with the fiesh of an ox. Certain of
the species are renowned, in some European countries, for having
a wonderful infiuence over fishes and serpents. A. Serpentaria is
reputed to be so offensive to the serpent tribe, that they will not
only shun the place where it grows, but will even fiee from any
traveller who carries a piece of the plant in his hand. The snake
jugglers of Egypt are believed to stupefy these reptiles by means
of a decocition distilled from the plant, and it is asserted that a few
drops introduced into the mouth of a serpent will so intoxicate it
as to render it insensible and harmless. Apuleius recommends
the use of Aristolochia against the E v il Eye. The Birth-wort is
under the dominion of Venus.
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