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A R K A . This is the Indian name of the Calotropis gigantea, also
called Arkapatra and Arkaparna (the lightning-leaved), the leaves of
which present the cuneiform symbols of lightning. Arka, says De
Gubernatis, is also the name of the Sun, and this explains why the
Brahmins employed the leaf of the Calotropis on the occasion of
sacrificing to the Sun. In each part of the Arka it is stated that a
portion of the human body can be distinguished. Notwithstanding
its grand name, and its beautiful appearance, people have
a dread of approaching it, lest it should strike them blind. The
origin of this superstition is to be found in the word Arka, which
means both the sun and the lightning.
A R T E M I S IA .—The genus of plants known as Artemisia
was so called after the goddess Artemis (who was regarded by the
Romans as identical with Diana, or the Moon), by reason of some
of its species being used in bringing on precocious puberty. On
this account, also, it is one of the plants specially under the
infiuence of the Moon.—(See S o u t h e r nw o o d and W o rmwo o d ).
A R U N D H A T I .—This is the Brahminical name of a climbing
plant of good omen, and to which, according to De Gubernatis,
the Atharvaveda attributes magical properties against diseases of
the skin. It gives milk to sterile cows, it heals wounds, it delivers
men from sickness, it protefts those who drink its juices. It is the
sister of the water and of the gods ; the night is its mother; the
mist, the horse of Yama, its father ; Aryaman its grandfather. It
descends from the mouth of the horse of Yama.
A R U M .—The Germans call the Arum Aronswurzel, anc:
entertain the notion that where this fiourishes, the spirits of the
wood rejoice. The majestic Ethiopian species of the Arum {Calla
uEthiopica) is commonly called the Horn-fiower, from the shape of
its large white calyx. In tropical climates, the plant is a deadly
poison. The Arum of English hedgerows, a fiower of a very much
humbler character, is known by a variety of quaint names,
viz., Aaron, Cuckoo-pint, Cuckoo-pintle, Wake Robin, F ria r’s
Cowl, Priest’s-pintle, Lords-and-Ladies, Cows-and-Calves, Ramp,
Starchwort, and, in Worcestershire, Bloody Men’s Fingers (from
the red berries that surround the spadix). These blood-red spots
have caused the plant to received in Cheshire the name of Gethsemane,
because it is said to have been growing at the foot of the
Cross, and to have received some drops of our Saviour’s blood.
‘ ‘ Those deep inwi-ought marks,
The villagers will tell thee.
Are the flower’s portion from the atoning blood
On Calvary shed. Beneath the Cross it grew.”
This fiower, the Arum maculatum, is the English Passion-fiower: its
berries are highly poisonous, and every part of the plant is acrid ;
yet the root contains a farinaceous substance, which, when properly
prepared, and its acrid juice expressed, is good for food, and is
indeed sold under the name of Portland Sago. Starch has been
made from the root, and the French use it in compounding the
cosmetic known as Cypress powder. A drachm weight of the
spotted Wake Robin, either fresh or dry, was formerly considered
as a sure remedy for poison and the plague. The juice of the herb
swallowed, to the quantity of a spoonful, had the same eflfecft.
Beaten up with Ox-dung, the berries or roots were believed to ease
the pains of gout. Arum is under the dominion of Mars.
A SO K A .—The Saraca Indica, or Jonesia Asoka, is one of the
sacred plants of India, which has from remotest ages been consecrated
to their temple decoration, probably on account of the
beauty of its orange-red blossoms and the delicacy of its perfume,
which in the months of March and April is exhaled throughout the
night. The tree is the symbol of love, and dedicated to Kama,
the Indian god of love. Like the Agnus Castus, it is reported to
have a certain charm in preserving chastity : thus Sîtâ, the wife of
Râma, when abdudled by the monster Râvana, escapes from the
caresses of the monster and finds refuge in a grove of Asokas. In
the legend of Buddha, when Mâyâ is conscious of having conceived
the Bodhisattva, under the guise of an elephant, she retires to a
wood of Asoka trees, and then sends for her husband. The Hindus
entertain the superstition that a single touch of the foot of a pretty
woman is sufficient to cause the Asoka to flourish. The word
asoka signifies that which is deprived of grief, and Asoka, or the
tree without grief, is also one of the names of the Bodhidruma, the
sacred tree of Buddha.
A S P E N .—A legend referring to the tremulous motion of
this tree {Populus tremula—see P o p l a r ) is to the following effecfi :—
“ At the awful hour of the Passion, when the Saviour of the world
felt deserted in His agony, when earth, shaken with horror, rang
the parting knell for Deity, and universal nature groaned: then,,
from the loftiest tree to the lowliest fiower, all felt a sudden thrill;
and trembling bowed their heads, all save the Aspen, which said,:
‘Why should we weep and tremble? The trees and fiowers are
pure and never sinned ! ’ Ere it ceased to speak, an involuntary
trembling seized its every leaf, and the word went forth that it
should never rest, but tremble on until the Day of Judgment.” An
old saying affirmed that the leaves of the Aspen were made from
women’s tongues, which never ceased wagging; and allusion is,
made to this, in the- following rhyme by Hannay, 1622 :—
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The quaking Aspen, light and thin.
In the air quick passage gives ;.
Resembling still
The trembling ilk
Of tempers of womankind,
Which never rest,
But still are prest'
To wave with every wind.”
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