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consider/hat the real Ebony-tree is the Diospyrus Ebenus, a native
of Jamaica. In ancient times it was much more in use and
esteem. Pluto, the sovereign of the infernal regions, is represented
as seated on a throne of E b on y ; the statues of the Egyptian gods
were wrought in Ebony. According to Pausanias, the statue of the
Pythian Apollo was formed of this wood; and that writer recounts
that a Cyprian, well versed in plant lore, had told him that the
true and veritable Ebony was a plant that produced neither leaf,
flower, nor fruit; and, moreover, that it grew entirely undergrounc'
m certain places known to the A3thiopians, who periodically
visited those spots, and took away the wood. Pulverised Ebony,
niixed with the charcoal of a burnt snail, is recommended by
Sidrach as an application to lessen the white of the eye. There
is an old saying, that a bad man’s heart is as black as Ebony. This,
probably, originated from the facit, that while the alburnum of
the Ebony-tree is white, its foliage soft and silvery, and its flowers
brilliant, the heart alone is really black. Among the many
wonders described by Sir John Maundevile, as having been seen by
him when on his Eastern travels, in the fourteenth century, was a
certain table of Ebony, or black wood, “ that once used to turn into
flesh on certain occasions, but whence now drips only oil, which,
if kept above a year, becomes good flesh and bone.”
E D E L W E I S S .—The Edelweiss, or Alpine Cudweed (Leon-
topodium Alpinum or Gnaphalium), grows on the Swiss mountains
on the line of perpetual snow, and from thence is brought down by
travellers as a proof that they reached this altitude. As in many
cantons it only grows in nearly inaccessible places, it is considered
an act of daring to gather it, and the flower is therefore much
valued by the Swiss maidens as a proof of the devotion of their
lovers. Although hardy, this plant is delicate and fragile, enveloping
Itself in soft down, and only blooming on rocks exposed in
full midday. Its bloom is surrounded by white velvety leaves; even
the stem has adc^wn upon it. With the exception oithe Alpenrose,.
no other mountain flower is so characteristic of the Alpine distriffis,
so dear to the native heart, so celebrated by Alpine poets, or sc>
popular among Swiss tourists. Indeed, its very popularity has
threatened to lead to its extinction in the districts most frequented
by visitors; and to prevent this, the German and Tyrolese Alpine
Clubs_ have imposed fines for plucking the Edelweiss, and the
Austrian Alpine Club has forbidden its members to continue the
custom of wearing a sprig of Edelweiss in their hats. The worst
persecutors of the plant are the picturesque Bergano herdsmen and
herdboys, who come up from the Italian side of the Alps at the
beginning of the season, and remain on the mountains with their
flocks until the snow begins to fall. They pluck up the Edelweiss
mercilessly by the roots, which they endeavour to dispose of to
passing travellers. The Communes of the Upper Engadine have
taken the plant under their protectipn, and sellers of the plant in
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its living condition are subjeft to a fine. The Edelweiss, however,
is plentiful still in tracils a little out of the orthodox tourists’ routes,
and at Pontresina grows in such profusion as to be used as food
for cattle. The Edelweiss is also known by the name of the Coton-
niev, and is sometimes called Lion’s-foot, because of the resemblance
of its woolly hairy flower to the foot of a lion.
E G G P L A N T .—T he Solanum Melongena has derived the name
of Egg Plant from the shape of its fruit, which is formed like a hen’s
egg, and varies in colour from white to pale yellow, pale red, anc,
purple. In the East Indies, they broil this fruit, and eat it with
pepper and salt, and the fruit is also relished in Batavia, Greece,
Barbary, and Turkey. The inhabitants of the British isles in the
West Indies call it Brown-John or Brown-jolly. Miller calls the
plant the larger-fruited Nightshade, and says that in his time it was
cultivated in the gardens of Spain by the title of Barenkeena. The
Italians call it Melanzana, a corruption of the plant’s ancient Latin
name of Mala insana, from whence also came its old English name
of Raging Apple or Mad Apple. There does not appear to be
any reason for these strange names, although Gerarde cautiously
remarks that “ doubtless these Apples have a mischievous qualitie,
the use whereof is utterly to bee forsaken.”
E G L A N T IN E .—The Sweet Briar [Rosa vubiginosa) is generally
understood to be the Eglantine of old English poets, although
the name has given rise to much discussion, both as to its meaning,
and as to the shrub to which it applies. Chaucer and more ancient
poets spelt the word “ Eglatere.”
“ The hegge also, that yede in compas,
And closed in all the greene herbere,
With Sicamour was set and Eglatere.”
But it seems doubtful whether by Eglatere was meant the Yellow
Rose [Eglanteria), the Sweetbriar, the Dog Rose, or some other
species. According to Gerarde, it was a shrub with a white flower.
Shakspeare, Spenser, Shenstone, Sir W. Scott, Keats, and other
poets identify Eglantine with Sweetbriar; but Milton mistook it
for the Honeysuckle or Woodbine, for he speaks of
“ Sweetbriar or the Vine,
Or the twisted Eglantine.”
According to a superstition current in Schleswig, when Satan fell
from heaven, he endeavoured, in order to reascend to the celestial
regions, to make himself a ladder with the thorns of the Eglantine.
God, however, would not permit the Eglantine to grow upwards,
but only to extend itself as a bush. Then, out of spite, Satan
turned its thorns downwards, pointing towards the earth.------
Another legend records that Judas Iscariot hung himself on the
Eglantine, and that since then it has been an accursed tree; hence
to this day its berries are called Judas beeren (Judas berries).-----
The five graceful fringed leaflets, which form the special beauty of
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