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open columns of one of the most delicate orders of architeaure.
Rapin, the French Jesuit poet, alludes to this flower in his poem
on Gardens, and briefly gives the mythology of Thlaspis in the
following lines:—
“ Now, on high stems will Matricaria rear
Her silver blooms, and with her will appear
Thlaspis, a Cretan youth, who won the fair:
Happy if more auspicious Hymen’s rites
Had with pure flames adorned their nuptial lights.”
C A N N A .—The Burmese esteem as sacred the Bohdda Tha-
ramt (Canna Indicator Indian Shot), so named from its seeds, which
are used for the beads of the rosary. The flowers are red, or sometimes
white. The Burman believes that it sprang from Buddha’s
blood; and the legend relates that his evil-minded brother-in-law
and cousin Dewadat, enraged that he was not allowed to have a separate
assembly of his own, went to the top of a hill, and rolled
down a huge stone, intending to destroy the most excellent payah.
But the boulder burst into a thousand pieces, and only one little
piece bruised Buddha’s toe, and drew a few drops of blood, whence
sprang the sacred flower, the Bohdda Tharanat. The renowned
physician Zaywakn healed the great teacher’s wound in a single
day. The earth soon afterwards opened and swallowed up the
sacrilegious Dewadat.
C A N T E R B U R Y B E L L S .—The Nettle-leaved Bell-flower,
Campanula Trachelium, was so called by Gerarde from growing
plentifully in the low woods about Canterbury, and possibly in
allusion to its resemblance to the hand-bells which were placed on
poles, and rung by pilgrims when proceeding to the shrine of
Thomas ä Becket—St. Thomas, of England. There is, however,
a trac ition extant that the name of Canterbury Bells was given to
the Campanula in memory of St. Augustine.
C A R D A M IN E .—The faint sweet Cuckoo-flower, common in
meadows and by brook sides, is the Cardamine pratensis. It was so
called, says Gerarde, because it flowers in April and May, “ when
the cuckoo doth begin to sing her pleasant notes without stammering.”
The flower is also called L ad y ’s Smock, and Our L ad y ’s
Smock, from the resemblance of its pale flowers to little smocks
hung out to dry, as they used to be once a year, at that season
especially. Shakspeare alludes to it in these lines:__
“ When Daisies pied and Violets blue,
And Lady-smocks all silver white,
And Cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,
Do paint the meadows with delight.
When shepherd’s pipe on oaten straws,
And maidens bleach their Summer smocks,” &c.
The Cuckoo-buds here alluded to are supposed to be a species of
Ranunculus; and, perhaps, as the Cardamine pratensis is rather a
pale blue than a silver-white flower, Shakspeare alluded in these
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lines to C. amara, whose brilliantly-white blossoms might well be
taken for linen laid out to bleach. The plant derives its name
Cardamine from its taste of Cardamoms. It is also /ailed Meadow
Cress. For some reason, if this flower was found introduced into
a May-day garland, it was torn to pieces immediately on discovery.
Our L ad y ’s Smock is associated by the Catholics with the Day of
the Annunciation. The Cardamine is a herb of the Moon.
C A R D IN A L - F L O W E R .—Of the extensive Lobelia family
the L . Cardinalis, or Cardinal’s Flower, is, perhaps, the most beautiful.
Its blossoms are of so brilliant a scarlet, as to have reminded
the originator of its name of the scarlet cloth of Rome, while its
shape is not altogether dissimilar to the hat of the Romish dignitary.
Alphonse Karr, remarking on the vivid hue of the Cardinal’s
Flower, says that even the Verbena will pale before it.
C A R L IN E T H I S T L E . — The white and red Carline
Thistles (Carlina vulgaris) derive their name from Charlemagne,
regarding whom the legend relates that once—“ a horrible pestilence
broke out in his army, and carried off many thousand men,
which greatly troubled the pious Emperor. Wherefore, he prayed
earnestly to G o d ; and in his sleep there appeared to him an angel,
who shot an arrow from the cross-bow, telling him to mark the
plant upon which it fell, for that with that plant he might cure his
army of the pestilence. And so it really happened.’’ The plant
upon which the arrow alighted was the Carline Thistle, and, as
Gerarde tells us, Charlemagne’s army was, through the benefit_ of
the root delivered and preserved from the plague. The Carline
Thistle is under the dominion of Mars.
C A R N A T IO N .—The Carnation {Dianthus caryophyllus) is
generally supposed to have obtained its name from the flesh-colour
of its flowers; but it was more correffily spelt by old writers,
Coronation, as representing the Vetonica coronaria of the early
herbalists, and so called from its flowers being used in the classic
coronce or chaplets. Thus Spenser, in his ‘ Shepherd’s Calendar^’
says; “ Bring Coronations and Sops-in-wine, worn of paramours.”
From Chaucer we learn that the flower was formerly called the
Clove Gilliflower, and that it was cultivated in English gardens in
Edward the Third’s reign. In those days, it was used to give a
spicy flavour to wine and ale, and from hence obtained its name
of Sop-in-wine;—
“ Her springen herbes, grete and smale,
The Licoris and the Setewales,
And many a Clove Gilofre,
-------------- —to put in ale,
Whether it be moist or stale.”
The name Gilliflower (formerly spelt Gyllofer and Gilofre) is a corruption
of the Latin Caryophyllum, a Clove (Greek, Karuophullon); and
has reference to the spicy odour of the flower, which was used as a