I I
VMl
' / t 1
]
CJ- I
i * tp'\
U
.y
494 p l a n t l9ore, l9ege"r^/, onsl Tstjrie/',
P E R I^ A ^ IN K L E .—In France, the Periwinkle is considered
the emblem of the pleasures of memory and sincere friendship,
probably in allusion to Rousseau’s recolledtion of his friend
Madame de Warens, occasioned, after a lapse of thirty years, by
the sight of the Periwinkle in flower, which they had once admired
together. In Italy, garlands of Periwinkle are placed upon the
biers of deceased children, for which reason the plant has acquired
the name of the Flower of Death; but in Germany it becomes the
symbol of immortality. Culpeper, in his ‘ Herbal,’ says that the
Periwinkle is owned by Venus, and that the leaves eaten together
by man and wife, cause love between them.
P E S T I L E N C E W E E D .-—The Butterbur Coltsfoot {Tussilago
Petasites) obtained the name of Pestilence Weed from its having
in olden times been held in great repute as a sovereign remedy for
the plague and pestilent fever.
P H Y T O L A C C A .—A species of Phytolacca found by M. L e v y
in Nicaragua in 1876, and named by him P . eledrica, may well be
called the eledtrifying plant. The discoverer, when gathering a
branch, experienced a veritable elecitric shock. Experimenting
with a compass, he found the needle was agitated at a distance of
eight paces, and becarne more so the nearer he approached ; the
a(5tion changing to a rapid gyratory motion when he finally placed
the compass in the midst of the shrub. There was nothing in the
soil to account for what maybe termed the “ shocking” proclivities
of the shrub, which are slight in the night-time, becoming gradually
intensified until about two o’clock p.m. In stormy weather, the
intensity of a(ition is increased, and the plant presents a withered
appearance until the fall of rain. Neither insedt nor bird was seen
by M. L e v y to approach this terrible shrub.
PiCK-PURSE, or P i c k -p o c k e t . (See Shepherd’s Purse).
p i m p e r n e l . - -The scarlet Pimpernel [Anagallis arvensis)
is well known as the Poor Man’s Weather-glass, or Shepherd’s
Barometer; both names having been given on account of the plant
invariably closing its petals before and during rain. Darwin
alludes to this peculiarity of the Pimpernel in the following lines ;—
“ Closed is the pink-eyed Pimpernel;
In fiery red the sun doth rise,
Then wades through clouds to mount the skies;
’Twill surely rain— we see’t with sorrow,
No working in the fields to-morrow.”
Besides being a barometrical, the Pimpernel is a horological, plant,
opening its petals "about 7 a.m., and closing them about 2 p.m.
The plant was also considered a surgical plant, inasmuch as the
old herbalists ascribed to it the power of drawing out arrows which
were embedded in the flesh, as well as thorns and splinters, or
“ other such like things.” The bruised leaves were believed to cure
persons bitten by mad dogs, and the juices of the plant were eon-.
p la n t Isore, Tscge"!^/, oniL bLjriq/, 495
sidered efficacious in complaints of the eyes, and in hypochondriacal
cases. Its manifold virtues have passed into a proverb :—
“ No ear hath heard, no tongue can tell,
The virtues of the Pimpernell.”
Pliny records that sheep avoided the blue, and ate the scarlet, Pimpernel,
and that if, by mistake, they ate the blue, they immediately
sought for a plant which is now unknown. In Dyer’s ‘ English
Folk Lore,’ it is stated that, according to a MS. on magic, preserved
in the Chetham Library, Manchester, “ the herb Pimpernell
is good to prevent witchcraft, as Mother Bumby doth affirme.”
The following lines may be used when it is gathered :—
Herbe Pimpernell, I have thee found,
Growing upon Christ Jesus’ ground:
The same guift the Lord Jesus gave unto thee.
When He shed His blood on the tree.
Arise up. Pimpernel, and goe >vith me,
And God blesse me,
And all that shall were thee. Amen.”
“ Saying this fifteen dayes together, twice a day, morning earlye
fasting, and in the evening full.” Pimpernel is considered to be
a herb of the Sun.
P IN E .—The Pine was called the tree of Cybele (or Rhea),
the mother of the gods. She was passionately fond of Atys, a
Phrygian shepherd, and entrusted him with the care of her temple,
under a vow that he should always live in celibacy. This vow,
however, Atys violated by an amour with the nymph Sangaris, upon
which he became delirious, and mutilated himself with a sharp
stone. Then, as he was about to lay violent hands upon himself,
Cybele transformed him into a Pine-tree. Ovid records that—
“ To Rhea grateful still the Pine remains.
For Atys still some favour she retains ;
He once in human shape her breast had warmed,
And now is cherished to a tree transformed.”
Rapin considers the Pine to have been regarded by the ancients as
a sacred tree. He says—
“ Old Cybele changed her Atys to a Pine,
Which, sacred there to her, was held divine.”
After the metamorphosis of Atys into the Pine, Cybele sought
refuge beneath the tree’s branches, and sat mourning there the loss
of her faithless lover, until Jupiter promised that the Pine should
remain ever green. It was tied to a Pine-tree, that Marsyas, the
Phrygian flute-player, met his death. He became enamoured of
Cybele, and journeyed with her as far as Nysa. Here
“ He Phoebus’ self, the harmonious god, defied,
And urged to have their skill in music tried-
Phoebus accepts the challenge, but decreed,
The boaster vanquished should alive be flayed j
And Marsyas vanquished (so the poet sung)
Was flayed alive, and on a Pine-tree hung.”— Rapin,
ifM
I i ■-
1 ■ 1 ■
t
I w
\ i'l
i1 ;;■ :! i
1 id
!