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The gummy Larch-tree, and the Thapsos there.
Woundwort and Maiden weed perfume the air:
There the long branches of the long-lived Hart,
With Southernwood their odours strong impart.
The monsters of the land, the serpents fell.
F ly far away, and shun the hostile swell.”
The Corn-flower is called in Russia Basilek (the flower of Basil),
and attached to it is a legend that a handsome young man of this
name was enticed away by a nymph named Russalka, allured into
the fields, and transformed into the Corn-flower. Plants have
always been a favourite means of testing the faith of lovers; and
the Centaury or Bluet of the cornfields was the flower seletfled by
Margaret as the floral oracle from which to learn the truth respecting
Faust.
“ There is a flower, a purple flower,
Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower,
O’er which love breathed a powerful spell.
The truth of whispering hope to tell.
Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell,
I f my lover loves me, and loves me w e ll:
So may the fall of the morning dew
Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue.”
The Centaufy is known as the Hurt-sickle, because it turns the
edges of the reapers’ sickles : its other familiar names are Bluebottle,
Blue-blow, Bluet, and Corn-flower. It is held by astrologers
to be under Saturn.
C E R E U S .—The crimson-flowered Cereus [Cereus speciosissi-
mus, belonging to the natural order Ca6tacece, is generally known
in England as the Torch Thistle, and is fabled to have been the
torch borne by Ceres in the daytime. Cereus fiagelliformis is the
pink-flowered creeping Cereus, the long round stems of which
hang down like cords. Cereus grandiflorus is the night-blowing
Cereus, which begins to open its sweet-scented flowers about
eight o’clock in the evening ; they are fully blown by eleven, and
by four o’clock next morning they are faded and droop quite
decayed. The Old Man’s Head, or Monkey Cacflus, Cereus senilis,
is another member of this family.
C H A M E L iE A .—The Spurge-Olive or Chamelasa {Cneorum
tricoccum) is a humble shrub, whose three-leaved pale-yellow flowers
were consecrated to the god Janus. The month of January, placed
under the protection of Janus, was represented in the guise of an
old man, who held in his hand a flower of the Chamelaea. After
flowering, the shrub produces three-cornered berries, which are at
first green, then red, and finally brown. The plant in England
was formerly called the Widow-wail, for what reason we know not,
but Gerarde sa}'s, “ quia facit viduas.”
C H A M O M IL E .—According to Galen, the Egyptians held
the Chamomile [Anthemis nobilis) in such reverence, that they consecrated
it to their deities: they had great faith in the plant as a
remedy for agues. Gerarde tells us that Chamomile is a special
help against wearisomeness, and that it derives its name from the
Greek Chamaimelon, Earth-Apple, because the flowers have the
smell of an Apple. In Germany, Chamomile-flowers are called
Heermdnnchen, and they are traditionally sn'pposed to have once
been soldiers, who for their sins died accur-sed. The Romans
supposed the Anthemis to be possessed of properties to cure the
bites of serpents. Chamomile is considered to be a herb of
the Sun.
C H A M P A K .—The Champa or Champak [Michelia Champaca)
is one of the sacred plants of India. The blue Champak-flower is
of the greatest rarity, and is regarded as being the principal ornament
of Brahma’s heaven. It is, in fa il,
“ That blue flower which Brahmins say
Blooms nowhere but in Paradise,”
for the earthly sort has yellow blossoms with which the Hindu
maidens are fond of ornamenting their raven hair. The tree is
sacred to Vishnu, and is, therefore, an object of reverential regard
on the part of the Hindus, who cultivate it for the fragrance of its
flowers, which is so strong that the bees, fearful of being overcome,
will scarcely ever alight upon them. The Hindus apply to the
Champak-flowers the most flattering appellations, which celebrate
its wondrous delicacy and form, its glittering golden hue, and its
voluptuous perfume.
C H E R R Y .— About the year 70 B .C . , Lucullus, after his
victory over Mithridates, brought from Cerasus, in Pontus, the
Cherry-tree, and introduced it into Italy. It was planted in
Britain a century later, but the cultivated sorts disappeared during
the Saxon period. “ Cherries on the ryse,” or on the twigs, was,
however, one of the street cries of London in the fifteenth century.
These Cherries were, perhaps, the fruit of the native wild Cherry,
or Gean-tree, as the cultivated Cherry was not re-introduced till
the reign of Henry V H L , whose fruiterer brought it from Flanders,
and planted a Cherry orchard at Teynham. An ancient legend
records that, before the birth of our Saviour, the Virgin Mary
longed extremely to taste of some tempting Cherries which hung
upon a tree high above her head ; so she requested Joseph to pluck
them. Joseph, however, not caring to take the trouble, refused to
gather the Cherries, saying sullenly, “ Let the father of thy child
present thee with the Cherries if he w ill!” No sooner had these
words escaped his lips, than, as if in reproof, the branch of the
Cherry-tree bowed spontaneously to the Virgin’s hand, and she
gathered its fruit and ate it. Hence the Cherry is dedicated to the
Virgin Mary. There is a tradition that our Saviour gave a Cherry
to St. Peter, cautioning him at the same time not to despise little
things. The ancient Lithuanians believed that the demon Kirnis
was the guardian of the Cherry. In Germany and Denmark there is a