The Wolf, in India, gives its name to the Colypea hernandifolia,
and Wolf’s Eye is a designation given to the Ipomcea Turpethum.
Among the Germans, the Wolf becomes, under the several names of
Graswolf, Kornwolf, Roggenwolf, and Karloffelwolf, a demon haunting
fields and crops. In our own country, the Euphorbia, from its acrid,
milky juice, is called Wolf’s Milk; the Lycopodium clavatum is the
Wolf’s Claw, and the Aconitum Lycoctonum is Wolf’s Bane, a name
it obtained in olden times when hunters were in the habit of
poisoning with the juice of this plant the baits of flesh they laid for
Wolves.
There are several plants bearing, in some form or other,
the appellation of Dragon. The common Dragon [Arum Dracunculus)
is, as its name implies, a species of Arum, which sends up a straight
stalk about three feet high, curiously spotted like the belly of a
serpent. The flower of the Dragon plant has such a strong scent
of carrion, that few persons can endure it, and it is consequently
usually banished from gardens. Gerarde describes three kinds of
Dragons, under the names of Great Dragon, Small Dragon, and
Water Dragon : these plants all have homoeopathic qualities, inasmuch
as although they are by name at least vegetable reptiles,
yet, according to Dioscorides, all who have rubbed the leaves or
roots upon their hands, will not be bitten by Vipers. Pliny also
says that Serpents will not come near anyone who carries a portion
of a Dragon plant with him, and that it was a common practice in
his day to keep about the person a piece of the root of this herb.
Gerarde tells us that “ the distilled water has vertue against the
pestilence or any pestilentiall fever or poyson, being drunke blond
warmewith the best treacle or mithridate.” He also says that the
smell of the flowers is injurious to women who are about to become
mothers. The Green Dragon [Arum Dracontium), a native of China,
Japan, and America, possesses a root which is prescribed as a very
strong emmenagogue. There is a species of Dragon which grows
in the morasses about Magellan’s Strait, whose flowers exhibit the
appearance of an ufoer, and exhale so strong an odour of putrid
flesh, that flesh-flies resort to it to deposit their eggs. Another
Dragon plant is the Draconhum polyphyllum, a native of Surinam
and Japan, where they prepare a medicine from the acrid roots,
which they call Konjakf, and esteem as a great emmenagogue : it is
used there to procure abortion. Dracontium fcetidum, Fetid Dragon,
or Skunk-weed, flourishes in the swamps of North America, and
has obtained its nickname from its rank smell, resembling that of
a Skunk or Pole-cat. Dragon’s Head [Dracocephalum) is a name
applied to several plants. The Moldavian Dragon’s Head is often
called Moldavian or Turk’s Balm. The Virginian Dragon’s Head
is named by the French, La Cataleptique, from its use in palsy and
kindred diseases. The Canary Dragon’s Head, a native of the
Canary Islands, is called (improperly) Balm of Gilead, from its
fine odour when rubbed. The old writers called it Camphorosma
O
and CeironMa, and ascribed to it, as to other Dragon plants, the
faculty of being a remedy for the bites and stmgs r f venomous
beasts as well as for the bites of mad Dogs. The Tarragon
U r td is ia Dracunculus), “ the little Dragon ” is the Dragon plaffi of
Germany and the northern nations, and the Herbe au Dragon of the
French. The ancient herbalists affirmed that the seed of the Fla x
put into a Radish-root or Sea Onion, and so set, would bring forth
the herb Tarragon. The Snake Weed was called by the ancients.
Dragon and Little Dragon, and the Sn e e jw o r t, Dragon of the
Woods. The Snap-dragon appears to have been so named m je ly
from the shape of its corolla, but in many places it is said to have
a supernatural influence, and to possess the power of destroying
Snakes are represented by the Fritillaria Meleagris, which is
called Snake’s Head, on account of its petals being marked like
Snakes’ scales. The Sea Grass [Ophiurus mcurvatus) is k j w n j s
Snake’s Tail, and the Bistort [Polygonum Btstorta) is Snake Weed.
Vipers have the Echium vulgare dedicated to them J / l^^e
name of Viper’s Bugloss, a plant supposed to cure the bite ot
these reptiles; and the Scorzonera eduhs, or V ipe rs Grass, a herb
also considered good for healing wounds caused by Vipers.
The Scorpion finds a vegetable representative in the MyosoUs,
or Scorpion Grass, so named from its spike resembling a Scorpion s
/TT' • 1
It is not surprising to find that Toads and F r o j , living as
they do among the herbage, should have several plants name
after them. The Toad, according to popular superstition, was the
impersonation of the Devil, and therefore it was / / a ‘
poisonous and unwholesome Fungi sh j l d be j l l e d Toad ■ Stools,
the more so as there was a very general belief that Toads were m
the habit of sittting on them:—
“ The griesly Todestol grown there mought I see.
And loathed paddocks lording on the same. —Spenser.
Growing in damp places, haunted by T o a J croaking and PPmg
to one another, the Equisetum hmosum, with its s t r a i J t , fistulous
s?alks, has obtained the name of Toad Pipe. The Ltnana vulgans
from its narrow Flax-like leaves, is known as Toad Hax, from a
curious mistake of the old herbalists who confounded the Latin
^ °^ 1/rogs claim as their especial plants the Frog B fl [Morsus ranee),
so called because Frogs are s iip p o s j to eat i t ; F r o g s Lettuce
[Potamogetón densus); Frog Grass [Sahcorma herbaua) , ™
Foot, a name originally assigned to the Vervain (the leaf oi w^m
somewhat resembles a Frog’s foot); but now transferred
Duck Meat, Lemna. . -p
Bees are recognised in the Deiphtmum grandtflorum, or Bee
Larkspur; the Galeopsis Tetrahit, or Bee Nettle; the Ophrys apifera,
or Bee Orchis; and the Daucus Carota, or Bee s Nest.