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these trees at Tibur, which the inhabitants venerated as being
almost the founders of the people. The Ilex being very combustible,
and attraéling lightning, was thought torender thereby a service
to man, in drawing upon itself the effedts of the anger of the gods :
hence it is somewhat remarkable that in Greece it is regarded as a
tree of bad omen, and has the following legend attached to it :—
When it was decided at Jerusalem to crucify Christ, all the trees
held a counsel, and unanimously agreed not to allow their wood to
be defiled by becoming the instrument of punishment. But there
was a second Judas among the trees. When the Jews arrived with
axes to procure wood for the cross destined for Jesus, every trunk
and branch split itself into a thousand fragments, so that it was
impossible to use it for the cross. The Ilex alone remained whole,
and gave up its trunk for the purpose of being fashioned into the
instrument of the Passion. So to this day the Grecian woodcutters
have such a horror of the tree, that they fear to sully their axe or
their hearth-stones by bringing them in contact with the accursed
wood. However, according to the DiCta SanCti Aegidii (quoted by
De Gubernatis), Jesus Himself would seem to have a preference for
the tree which generously gave itself up to die with the Redeemer ;
for we find that on most occasion when he appeared to the saints, it
was near an Ilex-tree. In Russia, the Ilex, so far from being
regarded with disdain, is looked upon as a benefadtor and worker
of miraculous cures among children. In certain distridls, whenever
a child is ill, and especially when it is suffering from consumption,
they carry it into the forest, where they cleave in two the stem of
an Ilex, and pass the child thrice through the cleft, after which
they close the cut stem, and bind it securely with cord. Then they
carry the child round the tree thrice nine times (the number of
days composing the lunar month). Lastly they hang on the
branches the child’s shirt, so that the martyr-tree may generously
take to itself all the disease hitherto affiidting the child.
IN G U D I . — In Bengal, they ascribe to the plant Ingudi
{Tenninalia catappa) the extraordinary property of begetting infants.
According to De Gubernatis, the Tâpatasaru is also called the Tree
of the Anchorite, because with an oil extradied from the crushed
fruit the Indian ascetics prepare the oil for their lamps.
IP E C A C U A N H A .—The root of the Psychotvia emefica is used
generally as an expedtorant, but in India in cases of dysentery: its
sexsyllabic nomenclature has been thus immortalised by George
Canning :—
“ Coughing in a shady grove,
Sat my Juliana;
Lozenges I gave my love :
Ipecacuanha!”
IPO M C EA .—The Ipomoeas are nearly allied to the Convolvuli,
and are among the most lovely of all shrubs. The rosy-red Kâmai
f d , the L o v e ’s Creeper of the Hindus, is a plant by which all
desires are granted to such as inherit the Indian Paradise. Ipomcea
Bona-nox, " Good-night,” is so named in allusion to its opening its
flowers in the evening.
The Iris of “ all hues” derives its name from the
goddess Ins, one of the Oceanides, a messenger of the gods, and
the especial attendant of Juno. As goddess of the rainbow, she is
^presented with its variegated colours glistening in her wings.
Thus Virgil s a y s :— o &
“ Iris on saffron wings arrayed with dew
Of various colours through the sunbeams flew.”
Iris is usually depidted as descending from the rainbow, and her
glorious arch is said not to vary more in its colours than the flower
which bears her name. Columella observes—
“ Nor Iris with her glorious rainbow clothed
So fulgent as the cheerful gardens shine
With their bright offspring, when they’re in their bloom.”
The Greeks plant the Iris on tombs, possibly because the goddess
Ins was believed to guide the souls of dead women to their last
resting-place, as Mercury condudted the souls of men. The Iris
was one of the flowers dedicated to Juno, and with the ancients
was wont to be employed as the symbol of eloquence or power •
hence the Egyptians placed this flower on the brow of the Sphinx’
and on the sceptres of their monarchs. The three leaves of the
blossom represent faith, wisdom, and valour. The Iris is supposed
to be the flower which forms the terminating ornament of the
sceptre of the ancient kings of Babylon and Assyria. The Franks
of old had a custom, at the proclamation of a king, to elevate him
upon a shield, or target, and place in his hand a reed of Flag in
blossom, instead of a sceptre, and from thence the kings of the
first and second race in France are represented with sceptres in
their hands like the F lag with its flower, and which flowers became
the armorial figures of France. There is a legend that
Clotilda, the wife of the warlike king Clovis, had long prayed for
the conversion of her husband, and at length Clovis, having led his
army against the Huns, and being in imminent danger of defeat
recommended himself to the God of his sainted wife. The tide of
battle turned, he obtained a complete vidtory, and was baptised
occasion, owing to a vision of St. Clotilda,
the Lihes (Ins) were substituted in the arms of France for the three
frogs or toads which Clovis had hitherto borne on his sh'eld. In
the pidtures of St. Clotilda, she is generally represented attended
by an angel holding a shield on which are the three Fleurs de Lys,
This occurred early in the sixth century. Louis V II., in conse*
quence of a dream, assumed it as his device in 113 7 , when engaged
in the second expedition of the Crusaders, and the Iris-flower
§oon became celebrated in Frangq as thq pleur de Louis, which was
g c—?
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