awakens every day with the sun, just as does the flower of the
Succory?” These scientific elucidations of myths, however dexterous
and poetical they may be, do not appear to us applicable to
plant legends, whose chief charm lies in their simplicity and appositeness;
nor can we imagine why Aryan or other story-tellers
should be deemed so destitute of inventive powers as to be obliged
to limit all their tales to the description of celestial phenomena. In
the Vedas, trees, flowers, and herbs are invoked to cause love,
avert evil and danger, and neutralise spells and curses. The
ancients must, therefore, have had an exalted idea of their nature
and properties, and hence it is not surprising that they should
have dedicated them to their deities, and that these deities should
have employed them for supernatural purposes. Thus Indra conquered
Vritra and slew demons by means of the Som a ; Hermes
presented the all-potent Moly to Ulysses; and Medea taught Jason
how to use certain enchanted herbs; just as, later in the world’s
history, Druids exorcised evil spirits with Mistletoe and Vervain,
and sorcerers and wise women used St. John’s Wort and other
plants to ward oif demons and thunderbolts. The ancients evidently
regarded their gods and goddesses as very human, and
therefore it would seem unnecessary and unjust so to alter their
tales about them as to explain away their obvious meaning.
Flowers are the companions of man throughout his life—
his attendants to his last resting place. They are, as Mr. Ruskin
says, precious always “ to the child and the girl, the peasant and
the manufa(5luring operative, to the grisette and the nun, the
lover and the monk.” Nature, in scattering them over the earth’s
surface, would seem to have designed to cheer and refresh its
inhabitants by their varied colouring and fragrance, and to elevate
them by their wondrous beauty and delicacy; from them, as old
Parkinson truly wrote, “ we may draw matter at all times, not onely
to magnifie the Creator that hath given them such diversities of
forms, sents, and colours, that the most cunning workman cannot
imitate, . . . . but many good instrucfiions also to our se lv e s;
that as many herbs and flowers, with their fragrant sweet smels
do comfort and as it were revive the spirits, and perfume a whole
house, even so such men as live vertuously, labouring to do good,
and profit the Church, God, and the common wealth by their
pains or pen, do as it were send forth a pleasing savour of sweet
instructions.” The poet Wordsworth reminds us that
“ God made the flowers to beautify
The earth, and cheer man’s careful mood;
And he is happiest who hath power
To gather wisdom from a flower,
And wake his heart in every hour
To pleasant gratitude.”
In these pages will be found many details as to the use
of these beauteous gems of Nature, both by the ancient races
of the world and by the people of our own generation; their
adaptation to the Church’s ceremonial and to popular festivals;
their use as portents, symbols, and emblems ; and their employment
as an adornment of the graves of loved ones. Much more
could have been written, had space permitted, regarding their
value to the architecft and the herald. The Acanthus, Lotus,
Trefoil, L ily, Vine, Ivy, Pomegranate, Oak, Palm, Acacia, and
many other plants have been reproduced as ornaments by the
sculptor, and it is a matter of tradition that to the majestic aspea
of an avenue of trees we owe the lengthy aisle and fretted vault of
the Gothic order of architeaure. In the field of heraldry it is
noticeable that many nations, families, and individuals have, in
addition to their heraldic badges, adopted plants as special symbols,
the circumstances of their adoption forming the groundwork of a
vast number of legends : a glance at the index will show that some
of these are to be discovered in the present work. Many towns
and villages owe their names to trees or plants; and not a few
English families have taken their surnames from members of the
vegetable kingdom. In Scotland, the name of Frazer is derived
from the Strawberry-leaves [fraises) borne on the family shield of
arms, and the Gowans and Primroses also owe their names to
plants. The Highland clans are all distinguished by the floral
badge or Suieachantas which is worn in the bonnet. For the most
part the plants adopted for these badges are evergreens ; and it is
said that the deciduous Oak which was seledled by the Stuarts was
looked upon as a portent of evil to the royal house.
The love of human kind for flowers would seem to be shared
by many members of the feathered tribe. Poets have sung of the