ever, identified with the Kikayon, which God caused to rise up and
shelter Jonah.
Jo seph’s F lo w e r—See Goat’s Beard.
JU D A S T R E E .—The Fig, the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the
Dog Rose, the Elder, and the Cercis have all been named as the
tree from whose boughs the traitorous Judas, overcome with
remorse, hung himself in guilty despair. The idea that the Fig-
tree was the tree whereon Judas sought his fate, is a wide-spread
one, and probably derives its origin from the fa il of our Lord
having cursed an unproduaive Fig-tree,—the tradition being that,
after this malediaion, the tree lost its foliage, and soon died; that
its wood, when put in the fire, produced smoke, but no flame; and
that all its progeny from that time forth became wild Fig-trees.
A Fig-tree growing on the coast of Coromandel, bears the
name of Judas’ Purse. De Gubernatis, on the authority of
Dr. J . Pitre, states that, according to a Sicilian tradition, Judas
was not hung on a Fig, but on a Tamarisk-tree, called Vmca
{Tmnavix Africana), much more common than the Tamarix Gallica.
The Vruca is only a shrub; but, say the Sicilians, once upon a time
it was a great tree, and very handsome. Since, however, the
traitor Judas hung himself from its boughs, the tree, owing to a
Divine maledidtion, became merely a shrub, ugly, mis-shapen,
small, useless, not even capable of lighting even the smallest fire ;
from whence has arisen the proverb: “ You are like the wood of
the Vruca, which neither yields cinders nor fire.” A Russian
proverb says: “ There is a tree which trembles, although the wind
does not blow.” In the Ukraine, they state that the leaves of the
Aspen {Populus tremula) have trembled and shaken ever since the
day that Judas hanged himself on a bough of that tree. In
Germany, the Dog Rose {Posa canina) is a tree of ill repute, and
according to tradition, one with which the Devil has had dealings.
(See E g la n t in e ) . There is a legend that Judas hanged himself
on this tree; that in consequence it became accursed, and ever
after turned to the earth the points of its thorns; and that from
this cause its berries, to this day, are called Judasheeren. In
England and other countries, there has long existed a tradition
that the Elder was the tree on which the traitor-disciple hanged
himself. _ Sir John Maundevile, in his ‘ Travels,’ declares that he
saw the identical tree; and we read in ‘ Piers Plowman’s Vision’:—
“ JudaSj he japed
With Jewen silver,
And sithen on an Eller
Hanged hymselfe.”
Gerarde, however, in his ‘ Herbal’ (1597) denies that the Elder
was Jhe tree, but states that the Arbor Ju d e , the Judas-tree, is the
Cercis Siliquastrum (Wild Carob-tree). “ It may,” says the old
herbalist, “ be called in English Judas-tree, for that it is thought
to be that whereon Judas hanged himselfe, and not upon the
Elder-tree, as it is vulgarly said.” A similar belief is entertained
by the French and Italians, who regard the Cercis Siliquastrum as an
infamous tree. The Judas-tree grows about twenty feet high, has
pale green foliage and purple papilionaceous flowers, which appear
in the Spring in large clusters : they are succeeded by long flat pods,
containing a row of seeds. Curiously enough, the Spaniards and
Portuguese, on account of what Gerarde terms its “ braveness,” call
it the Tree of L o v e .”
JU J U B E . - -The real Jujube-tree is Zizyphus Jujuba, a native
of the East Indies, nearly allied to the Paliurus, or Christ’s Thorn : it
bears similar yellow flowers and fruit about the size of a middling
plum. It is sweet and mealy, and highly esteemed by the natives
of the countries to which the tree is indigenous. The lozenges
called Jujubes are made from the fruit of Zizyphus vulgaris, which
ripens abundantly in the neighbourhood of Paris.
J u l y F lo w e r , the Stock Gilliflower.—See Stock.
JU N I P E R . - -The ancients called the Juniper generally by
the name of Cedar, although Pliny distinguishes the two. Thus
Virgil is supposed to have alluded to the Juniper in the line in his
‘ Geòrgie ’ :—
“ Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere Cedrutn.”
“ But learn to burn within your sheltering rooms
Sweet Juniper.”
The Juniper was consecrated to the Furies. The smoke of its
green roots was the incense which the ancients deemed most
acceptable to the infernal gods ; and they burned its berries
during funerals to ban malign influences. The Juniper has
always been looked upon as a protecitive tree ; its powerful odour
is stated to defeat the keen scent of the hound, and the hunted hare
at the last extremity will seek and find a safe retreat in the cover
of its branches. It sheltered the prophet Elijah from the persecutions
of King Ahab, and we read in i Kings xix., 4, that the
prophet lay and slept “ under a Juniper-tree.” According to
a tradition common in Italy, the Virgin Mary fled for safety
with the infant Jesus, pursued by the relentless soldiers of King
Herod. Whilst on their road, the Brooms and the Chick-Peas began
to rustle and crackle, and by this noise betrayed the fugitives.
The F la x bristled up. Happily for her, Mary was near a Juniper :
the hospitable tree opened it branches as arms, and enclosed the
Virgin and Child within their folds, affording them a secure hiding-
place. Then the Virgin uttered a malediótion against the Brooms
and the Chick-Peas, and ever since that day they have always rustled
and crackled. The Holy Mother pardoned the F la x its weakness,
and gave to the Juniper her blessing : on that account, in Italy,
branches of Juniper are hung up on Christmas Day in stables and