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(a translation of the Latin Herha Benedicta, of which Herb Bennett
is simply a corruption). This last name was given to it from an
ancient belief that when the root is in the house, the Devil is powerless
and flies from i t ; wherefore it was considered blessed above
all herbs. Herb Bennett was also reported to be hostile to all
venomous beasts : if grown in a garden, no such creature would
approach within scent of it, and the root carried about the person
of any man ensured his immunity from the attacks of monsters or
reptiles. Formerly, the appellation Herha Benedicta, was applied
not only to the Avens, but also to the Hemlock and the Valerian.
Dr. Prior remarks that “ in point of fac5t the proper name of these
plants was not Herha Benedicta, but Sti. BenediCti herba, St. Benedict’s
herb (German, SanCt BenediCten-kraut), and was assigned to such as
were supposed to be antidotes, in allusion to a legend of St. Benedict,
which represents that, upon his blessing a cup of poisoned
wine which a monk had given to destroy him, the glass was shivered
to pieces.” B y astrologers, Avens is deemed a herb of Jupiter.
H E R B C A R P E N T E R .—The Prunella vulgaris, from its
efficacy in healing wounds inflicted by chisels, sickles, and other
sharp instruments used by working-men, was formerly known as
Herb Carpenter, Sickle-wood, and Hook-weed, as well as by the
name it is still called by—Self-heal,-----It is a herb of Venus.
H E R B C H R I S T O P H E R .—The name of Herb Christopher
is applied by Gerarde to a species of Aconite, and to the Osmund
Fern. Parkinson gives the Baneberry the same title.
H E R B G E R A R D .—Aishweed, Gout-wort, or Herb Gerard
QEgopodium Podagraria), was named after St. Gerard, who used to
be invoked against the gout, a disease for which this plant was
highly esteemed as a remedy.
H e rb Impious.— See Everlasting Flower.
H E R B M A R G A R E T .—The Daisy (Beilis perennis) was
also formerly called Herba Margarita, Herb Margaret, or Marguerite
(French). The flower is erroneously supposed to have been
named after the virtuous St. Margaret of Antioch, “ Maid Mar-
garete, that was so meeke and milde ”—who was invoked because
in her martyrdom she prayed for lying-in women ; whereas it derives
its name from St. Margaret of Cortona. (See M a rg u e r i te ) .
H e rb o f G r a c e .— See Rue.
H E R B O F T H E C R O S S .—In Brittany, the Vervain
{Verbena officinalis) is called the Herb of the Cross, and is supposed
to be endowed with remarkable healing qualities. J . White (1624)
writes thus of i t :—■
“ Hallow’d be thou, Vervain, as thou growest in the ground,
For on the Mount of Calvary thou first was found.
Thou healedst our Saviour Jesus Christ,
And staunchedst His bleeding wound.
In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I take thee from the ground.”
375
In the Flax-fields of Flanders, a plant is found called the Pood-
selken, the crimson spots on the leaves of which betoken the Divine
blood which trickled on it from the Cross, and the stain of which
neither snow nor rain has ever been able to wash off. In
Palestine, the red Anemone is called “ Christ’s Blood-drops,”
from the belief that the flower grew on Mount Calvary. In
Cheshire, the Orchis maculata, which is there called Gethsemane, is
supposed to have sprung up at the foot of the Cross. The Milkwort,
Gang-flower, or Rogation-howex {Polygala vulgaris) is called
the Cross-flower from its blooming in Passion week. The Galium
cruciatum is called Cross-wort because its leaves are placed in the
form of a cross. The early Italian painters, in their paintings of
the Crucifixion, introduced the Wood-Sorrel {Oxalis acetosella), probably
from its triple leaf symbolising the Trinity. The four-leaved
Clover is an emblem of the Cross. All cruciform flowers are of
good and happy augury, having been marked with the sign of the
Cross.
H E R B P A R I S .—The narcotic plant called One-berry, Herb
True-love, or Herb Paris {Paris quadrifolia), has obtained the latter
name from the Latin Herba paris (Herb of a pair—of a betrothed
couple), in allusion to the four broad leaves which proceed from the
top of its stalk, and form a cross; being, as Gerarde says, “ direiitly
set one against another in manner of a Burgundian Crosse or True-
love kn o t: for which cause among the antients it hath been called
Herbe True-love.” Herb Paris bears flowers of a palish green—
a colour always suggestive of lurking poison. E v e ry part of the
herb contains a poisonous principle, but the leaves and berries were
formerly used to expel poisons, especially Aconite, as well as the
plague and other pestilential diseases. Matthiolus says that “ the
chymical oil of the black berries is effecitual for all diseases of the
eyes, so that it is called Anima oculorum.” The herb is under the
dominion of Venus.
H E R B P E T E R .—The Cowslip {Primula veris), the Schlüsselblume
of the Germans, has obtained the name of Herb Peter from
its resemblance to the badge of St. Peter—a bunch of keys.
H E R B R O B E R T .—The species of Crane’s Bill called Herb
Robert {Geranium Pobertianum) is thought to have derived its name
from the facit that it was employed in Germany to cure a disease
known as Puprechts-Plage, from Robert, Duke of Normandy: hence
its old Dutch names of Puprechts-kraut and Pobrechts-kraut. The
Church, however, connecits Herb Robert with St, Robert, Abbot of
Molesme, in the eleventh century. In olden times, the plant was
used as a vulnerary; in Wales, it is believed to be a remedy for
gout ; and in most country places, it is considered efficacious as an
inseciticide. Herb Robert is under the rule of Venus.
H E R B S T . B A R B A R A .—Herb St. Barbara, or St. B a r bara’s
Cress {Barbarea vulgaris), was so called from its growing and