Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics Embracing the Myths,...

De Tassy, the translator of the allegories of Aziz Eddin, points out that the Arabian word yâs-min is composed of the word yâs, despair, and min, an illusion. In the allegories we read: “Then the Jasmine uttered this sentence with the expressive eloquence of its mute language: “Despair is a mistake. My penetrating odour excels the perfume of other flowers; therefore lovers select me as a suitable offering to their mistresses; they extract from me the invisible treasures of divinity, and I can only rest when enclosed in the folds and pleats which form in the body of a robe.”——An allusion to the Jasmine is made in the following poetic description of a young girl drooping from a sudden illness:—“All of a sudden the blighting glance of unpropitious fortune having fallen on that Rose-cheeked Cypress, she laid her head on the pillow of sickness; and in the flower-garden of her beauty, in place of the Damask-Rose, sprang up the branch of the Saffron. Her fresh Jasmine, from the violence of the burning illness, lost its moisture, and her Hyacinth, full of curls, lost all its endurance from the fever that consumed her.”——The Indians cultivate specially for their perfume two species of Jasmine—viz., the Jasminum grandiflorum, or Tore, and the J. hirsutum, or Sambac.

The Moo-le-hua, a powerful-smelling Jasmine, is used in China and other parts of the East as an adornment for the women’s hair.——It is believed that the Jasmine was first introduced into Europe by some Spaniards, who brought it from the East Indies in 1560.——Loudon relates that a variety of the Jasmine, with large double flowers and exquisite scent, was first procured in 1699 from Goa, by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and so jealous was he of being the sole possessor of this species, that he strictly forbade his gardener to part with a single cutting. However the gardener was in love, and so, on the birthday of his betrothed, he presented her with a nosegay, in the midst of which was a sprig of this rare Jasmine. Charmed with its fragrance, the girl planted the sprig in fresh mould, and under her lover’s instructions was soon able to raise cuttings from the plant, and to sell them at a high price: by this means she soon saved enough money to enable her to wed the gardener, who had hitherto been too poor to alter his condition. In memory of this tender episode, the damsels of Tuscany still wear a wreath of Jasmine on their wedding days, and the event has given rise to a saying that a “girl worthy of wearing the Jasmine wreath is rich enough to make her husband happy.”——Yellow Jasmine is the flower of the Epiphany.——To dream of this beautiful flower foretells good luck; to lovers it is a sure sign they will be speedily married.

JERUSALEM.—Many plants are found to have been named in olden times after the Holy City. The Lungwort, Pulmonaria officinalis, is the Jerusalem Cowslip; Phlomis is Jerusalem Sage; and Teucrium Botrys is the Oak of Jerusalem, called so from the resemblance of its leaf to that of the Oak. In these three cases the prefix “Jerusalem” seems to have been applied for no particular reason—probably because the plants had an Eastern origin. Salsafy, Tragopogon porrifolius, is the Star of Jerusalem, so named from the star-like expansion of its involucre; and Helianthus tuberosus is the Jerusalem Artichoke, a plant of the same genus as the Sunflower, called Artichoke from the flavour of its tubers. The soup made from it is termed Palestine Soup. In the last two cases, Dr. Prior thinks the prefix “Jerusalem” is simply a corruption of the Italian word girasole, turn-sun, and has been applied to these plants from a popular belief that they turn with the Sun. The Lychnis Chalcedonica is the Jerusalem Cross, which has derived its name from the fact that a variety of it has four instead of five petals, of the colour and form of a Jerusalem Cross.

JEWS’ EARS.—The Auricula Judæ is a Fungus resembling in shape the human ear, which grows usually upon the trunks of the Elder, the tree upon which Judas Iscariot is said by some to have hung himself. Sir John Maundevile relates that he actually saw the identical tree. Bacon says of this excrescence, “There is an herb called Jewes-Eare, that groweth upon the roots and lower parts of the bodies of trees, especially of Elders, and sometimes Ashes. It hath a strange propertie; for in warme water it swelleth, and openeth extremely. It is not greene, but of a darke browne colour. And it is used for squinancies and inflammations in the throat, whereby it seemeth to have a mollifying and lenifying vertue.”

JOAN’S SILVER PIN.—The red-Poppy (Papaver Rhœas) has acquired the name of Joan’s Silver Pin, because, according to Parkinson, the gaudy flower is “fair without and foul within” (in allusion to its yellow juice). Joan’s Silver Pin was a contemptuous term applied to some tawdry ornament displayed ostentatiously by a sloven.

JOB’S TEARS.—The pretty East Indian Grass, Coix lacryma, is called Job’s Tears on account of the formation of its hard beard-like seeds, of which Gerarde says “every graine resembleth the drop or teare that falleth from the eye.”——Among the Arabs, the Fleabane (Inula dysenterica) is also called Job’s Tears (See Fleabane).

JONAH’S GOURD.—According to the Greek version of the Scriptures, the plant under which Jonah sat was a Gourd, but the Vulgate considers it a species of Ivy. The Ricinus communis, the Castor-oil-tree, with its broad palmate leaves, has been, however, identified with the Kikayon, which God caused to rise up and shelter Jonah.

JUDAS TREE.—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 fact of our Lord having cursed an unproductive Fig-tree,—the tradition being that, after this malediction, 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. Pitré, states that, according to a Sicilian tradition, Judas was not hung on a Fig, but on a Tamarisk-tree, called Vruca (Tamarix 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 malediction, 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 (Rosa canina) is a tree of ill repute, and according to tradition, one with which the Devil has had dealings. (See Eglantine). 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 Judasbeeren.——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’:—

Gerarde, however, in his ‘Herbal’ (1597) denies that the Elder was the tree, but states that the Arbor Judæ, 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 Love.”

JUJUBE.—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.

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 protective 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 1 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 Flax 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 malediction against the Brooms and the Chick-Peas, and ever since that day they have always rustled and crackled.

The Holy Mother pardoned the Flax 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 cattle sheds, just as in England, France, and Switzerland, Holly is employed as a decoration.——In Thibet, they burn Juniper-wood as incense in a gigantic altar, with an aperture at the top, which is called Song-boom, and bears some resemblance to a limekiln.——The old notion of the ancients that the burning of Juniper-wood expelled evil spirits from houses evidently led to some superstitious practices in this country in later times. Thus we find Bishop Hall writing:—

In some parts of Scotland, during the prevalence of an epidemic, certain mysterious ceremonies are enacted, in which the burning of Juniper-wood plays an important part.——-In Germany and Italy, the Juniper is the object of a superstitious reverence on account of its supposed property of dispersing evil spirits. According to Herr Weber, in some parts of Italy, holes or fissures in houses are brushed over with Juniper-boughs to prevent evil spirits introducing sickness; in other parts, boughs of Juniper are suspended before doorways, under the extraordinary belief that witches who see the Juniper are seized with an irresistible mania to count all its small leaves, which, however, are so numerous that they are sure to make a mistake in counting, and, becoming impatient, go away for fear of being surprised and recognised.——In Waldeck, Germany, when infants fall ill, their parents place in a bunch of Juniper some bread and wool, in order to induce bad spirits to eat, to spin, and so forget the poor little suffering babe. In Germany, a certain Frau Wachholder is held to be the personification and the presiding spirit of the Juniper, who is invoked in order that thieves may be compelled to give up their ill-gotten spoils: this invocation takes place with certain superstitious ceremonies beneath the shadow of a Juniper, a branch of which is bent to the earth.

In Germany, also, the Juniper, like the Holly, is believed to drive away from houses and stables, spells and witchcraft of all description, and specially to cast out from cows and horses the monsters which are sometimes believed mysteriously to haunt them. For a similar reason, in Germany, in order to strengthen horses, and to render them tractable and quiet, they administer to them on three successive Sundays before sunrise, three handfuls of salt, and seventy-two Juniper-berries. Prof. De Gubernatis tells us that from a rare Italian book which he possesses, he finds that in Bologna it is customary on Christmas Eve to distribute in most houses branches of Juniper; and moreover, that the best authorities have proved the omnipotence of Juniper against serpents and venomous beasts, who by their bites represent sins; and that the Juniper furnished the wood for the Cross of the Saviour and protected the Prophet Elijah.——In Tuscany, the Juniper receives a benediction in church on Palm Sunday.——In Venetia, Juniper is burnt to purify the air, recalling the ancient Roman custom of burning it instead of incense on the altars.——In Norway and Sweden, the floors are strewed with the tops of Juniper, which diffuse a pleasant fragrance.——Evelyn says that Juniper-berries afford “one of the most universal remedies in the world to our crazy forester,” and he wonders that Virgil should condemn the shadow of such a beneficial tree, but suspects him misreported as having written the following lines:—

The old herbalists recommended the berries of the Juniper for use as counter-poisons and other wholesome medicines, and water wherein these berries had been steeped was held to be health-giving and useful against poisons and pestilent fevers. The smoke of the leaves and wood was said to drive away serpents, “and all infection and corruption of the aire which bring the plague, or such-like contagious diseases.”——The Juniper would appear to be potent in dreams; thus, it is unlucky to dream of the tree itself, especially if the person be sick; but to dream of gathering the berries, if it be in winter, denotes prosperity; whilst to dream of the actual berries signifies that the dreamer will shortly arrive at great honours, and become an important person. To the married it foretells the birth of a male child.——The Juniper is held to be under the dominion of the Sun.

JUNO’S ROSE.—The Lilium candidum has derived its name of Juno’s Rose from the legend that relates how Jupiter, to make his infant son Hercules immortal, put him to the breast of the sleeping Juno; and how, when the babe withdrew from her, the milk which fell from his lips formed the Milky Way, and, falling on earth, caused the White Lily to spring up. (See Lily).

JUPITER’S PLANTS.—The Pink (Dianthus) is Jove’s flower; the Oak is sacred to him because he first taught mankind to live upon Acorns; his sceptre is of Cypress. The Dodonæan Jupiter is usually depicted with a wreath of Oak-leaves; the Olympian Jove wears a wreath of Olive, and his mantle is decorated with various flowers, particularly the Lily; to Jupiter Ammon the Beech is dedicated. The House-leek (Sempervivum tectorum) has obtained its name of Jupiter’s Beard (Jovis Barba) from its massive inflorescence resembling the sculptured beard of Jupiter. The same plant is also called Jupiter’s Eye from its stellate form: in its centre is a bud, and on the surrounding petals can be distinguished a little eye, from which circumstance has arisen the superstition, mentioned by Dioscorides, that this plant cures inflammation of the eyes. Jupiter’s Staff is the Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus). Jupiter’s Distaff is the Yellow Clary (Salvia glutinosa). Gerarde thus describes it: “Jovis Colus representeth in the highest top of the stalk a distaffe, wrapped about with yellow Flax, whereof it took its name.”——The Couch of Jupiter and Juno was formed of the blossoms of Lotus, Lily, Hyacinth, Crocus, and Asphodel.

KAIL.—Writing of the Cabbage or Colewort, Gerarde tells us “the apothecaries and the common herbalists do call it Caulis, of the goodnesse of the stalke.” The old English name Cole and the Scotch Kail are both derived from this Latin word Caulis, a stalk.——In Scotland, it is a custom on Hallowe’en for the young people, after being duly blindfolded, to go forth into the Kail-yard, or garden, and pull the first stalk they meet with. Returning to the fireside, they determine, according as the stalk is big or little, straight or crooked, what the future wife or husband will be. The quantity of earth adhering to the root is emblematic of the dowry to be expected, and the temper is indicated by the sweet or bitter taste of the motoc or pith. Lastly, the stalks are placed in order over the door, and the Christian names of persons afterwards entering the house signify in the same order those of the wives and husbands in futuris.

KATAKA.—The Kataka (Strychnos potatorum) is an East Indian plant, the seeds of which are sold in the bazaars for the purpose of cleansing muddy water, &c. The vessel containing the water, milk, &c., is first rubbed round the inside for a minute or two with one of the seeds, after which, by allowing the liquid to settle for a short time, however impure it may have been before, it becomes clear. The confidence of the superstitious Hindus in this property of the Kataka became so great, that in course of time they ignorantly thought the mere name of Kataka would be sufficient to cleanse water. It became, therefore, necessary to state in one of their Codes that although the seeds of the Kataka purify water, its name alone was insufficient for that purpose.

KATHARINE’S FLOWER.—The Nigella Damascena has been called Katharine’s or St. Katherine’s-flower, from the persistent styles spreading like the spokes of a wheel, the symbol of St. Katharine, who was martyred upon a wheel. As regards the seed of this plant, Gerarde tells us that if dried, powdered, and wrapped in a piece of fine lawn or sarcenet, it “cureth all murs, catarrhes, rheumes, and the pose, drieth the braine, and restoreth the sence of smelling unto those which have lost it, being often smelled unto from day to day, and made warme at the fire when it is used.”——This plant bears also the names of Fennel-flower, Bishop’s-wort, Old Man’s Beard, and Kiss-me-twice-before-I-rise.