ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF PLANTS. (continued 3)
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Folkard, Richard
Who so ever ageynst Holly do syng,
He maye wepe and handys wryng. Alleluia!”
In Germany, Holly is Christdorn—the Thorn woven into the crown placed on our Saviour’s head at the Crucifixion.——Witches are reputed to detest Holly: in its name they see but another form of the word “holy,” and its thorny foliage and blood-red berries are suggestive of the most Christian associations.——In Northumberland, Holly is employed in a form of divination. There the prickly variety is called He-Holly, and the smooth, She-Holly. It is the leaves of the latter only that are deemed proper for divining purposes. These smooth leaves must be plucked late on a Friday, by persons careful to preserve an unbroken silence from the time they go out to the dawn of the following morn. The leaves must be collected in a three-cornered handkerchief, and on being brought home, nine of them must be selected, tied with nine knots into the handkerchief, and placed beneath the pillow. Then, sleep being obtained, dreams worthy of all credit will attend this rite. In another form of divination, a maiden places three pails of water on her bedroom floor, then pins to her night-dress, opposite her heart, three leaves of green Holly, and so retires to rest. She will be aroused from her first sleep by three terrible yells, followed by three horse-laughs, after which the form of her future husband will appear. If he is deeply attached to her, he will change the position of the water pails; if not, he will glide from the room without touching them.
This spell is only effectual when performed on All Hallowe’en, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Beltane, or Midsummer Eve.——Holly is under the dominion of Saturn.
HOLY PLANTS.—In England, the Angelica sylvestris, for its “angel-like properties,” was, says Parkinson, called Holy Ghost; the Vervain is the Holy Herb, from its use on ancient altars; the Holly was called by the monks of old Holy-tree; and the Hollyhock, Holy Hoke or Hock (an old name for Mallow); the Anastatica Hierochuntina is the Holy Rose of Jericho; the Lucern (Medicago sativa) is Holy Hay; the Holcus odoratus is the Northern Holy Grass; the Hierochloe borealis, the German Holy Grass; the Hemp Agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum) is Holy Rope, so called from its Hemp-like leaves betokening the rope with which the Saviour was bound; the seed of Wormwood is Holy Seed (Semen sanctum); and Carduus benedictus is the Holy Thistle.
HOMA.—Homa, or Haoma, is the sacred Vine of the Zoroastrians, the first of the trees planted by Ormuzd in the fountain of life, and from which one of their religious ceremonials takes its name. This consists in the extraction of the juice of the Homa-plant by the priest during the recital of prayers; the formal presentation of the liquid extracted to the sacrificial fire; the consumption of a small portion of it by one of the officiating priests; and the division of the remainder among the worshippers.——The Iranians describe two kinds of Haoma or Homa, the white and the yellow. The former is a fabulous plant, the latter, which is used in religious rites, and is extolled for its yellow colour, grows on mountains, and was known to Plutarch.——It has been attempted to identify the Zoroastrian Homa with the Vedic Soma, but the Parsees deny that their sacred plant is ever found in India, and those dwelling in Bombay use the branch of a particular tree, having a knotted stem and leaves like those of the Jasmine. To obtain supplies of the Homa-plant for sacred purposes, a priest is despatched from time to time to Kirman, in Persia, where he receives it in a dry state.
HONESTY.—Honesty (Lunaria biennis) has a variety of names. It is called Lunary and Moonwort, from the disk-like form of its great flat seed vessels, or their silvery and transparent brightness. This peculiarity accounts for its nicknames of White Satin-flower, Money-flower, and Silver Plate.——The Lunaria biennis is mentioned by Chaucer as one of the plants used in incantations:—
“And herbes coude I tell eke many on,
As Egremaine, Valerian, and Lunarie,
And other swiche, if that me list to tarie,
Our lampes brenning bothe night and day,
To bring about our craft if that we may,
Our fournies eke of calcination,
And of wateres albification.”
Drayton also refers to the virtues of the plant:—
“Enchanting Lunary here lies,
In sorceries excelling.”
The poet likewise tells us that this Lunary was considered efficacious in the cure of madness.
“Then sprinkles she the juice of Rue
With nine drops of the midnight dew,
From Lunarie distilling.”
There is a popular superstition that wherever the purple Honesty is found flourishing, the cultivators of the gardens are exceptionally honest.
HONEYSUCKLE.—The Honeysuckle, or Woodbine (Lonicera), is so called on account of the honey-dew found so plentifully on its foliage. Originally, the word Honeysuckle was applied to the Meadow Clover (Trifolium pratense), which is still so called in the Western Counties. French Honeysuckle (Hedysarum coronarium) is a foreign forage-plant. Chaucer makes the Woodbine an emblem of fidelity:
“And tho’ that were chapelets on his hede
Of fresh Wodebind be such as never were
To love untrue in word, ne thought, ne dede,
But ay, stedfast, ne for pleasaunce ne fere,
Tho’ that they shudde their hertis all to tere,
Would never flit, but ever were stedfast,
Till that ther livis there assunder brast.”
Caprifolium, a specific name of the Honeysuckle, was poetically used by old botanists because the leaf, or rather the stem, climbs over high places where goats fear not to tread: hence the plant is sometimes called by country folks, Goat’s-leaf. One of its French names, also, is Chèvrefeuille, which country patois abbreviates to Cherfeu, or Dear Flame: hence the plant is presented by ardent lovers to their sweethearts as an intimation of the state of their affections.——The French are fond of planting Honeysuckle in their cemeteries, and Alphonse Karr describes it as a plant which seems to devote itself to the tomb, the most magnificent bushes being found in cemeteries. He further says: “There is a perfume more exciting, more religious, even than that of incense; it is that of the Honeysuckles which grow over tombs upon which Grass has sprung up thick and tufted with them, as quickly as forgetfulness has taken possession of the hearts of the survivors.”——In olden times, consumptive invalids, or children suffering from hectic fever, were thrice passed through a circular wreath of Woodbine, cut during the increase of the March moon, and let down over the body from head to foot.
We read of a sorceress, who healed sundry women, by taking a garland of green Woodbine, and causing the patient to pass thrice through it: afterwards the garland was cut in nine pieces, and cast into the fire.——Woodbine appears to have been a favourite remedy with Scotch witches, who, in effecting magical cures passed their patients (generally) nine times through a girth or garland of green Woodbine.——In Lower Germany, the Honeysuckle is called Albranke, the witch snare.——Astrologers consider Woodbine to be under the rule of Mercury.
HOP.—The Hop (Humulus Lupulus) is referred to in an old English proverb:—
“Till St. James’s day be come and gone,
There may be Hops and there may be none.”
The cultivated Hop, however, was not brought into England until the reign of Henry VIII., when it was imported from Flanders, as recorded in the distich:—
“Hops and turkeys, mackerel and beer,
Came to England all in one year.”
The Hop-leaf has become in Russia proverbial as the best of leaves. King Vladimir, in 985, when signing a peace with the Bulgars, swore to keep it till stone swam on the water, or Hop-leaves sank to the bottom. It is a very old custom in Russia to cover the head of a bride with Hop-leaves—typifying joy, abundance, and intoxication.——Astrologers place Hops under the rule of Mars.
HOREHOUND.—Horehound (Marrubium) is the Herb which the Egyptians dedicated to their god Horus, and which the priests called the Seed of Horus, or the Bull’s Blood, and the Eye of the Star. Strabo attributed to the plant magical properties as a counter-poison. Horehound is one of the five plants which are stated by the Mishna to be the “bitter herbs” ordered to be taken by the Jews at the Feast of the Passover. An infusion of its leaves has an ancient reputation as being valuable in consumptive cases, coughs, and colds, and, according to Gerarde, “is good for them that have drunke poyson, or that have been bitten of serpents.” It is a herb of Mercury, hot in the second degree and dry in the third.——To dream of Horehound indicates that you will suffer imprisonment.