Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics: Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore of the Plant KingdomFolkard, Richard
History
Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics: Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore of the Plant Kingdom
Folkard, Richard
Plants -- Folklore
=CANNA.=--The Burmese esteem as sacred the _Bohdda Tharanat_ (_Canna
Indica_, or Indian Shot), so named from its seeds, which are used for
the beads of the rosary. The flowers are red, or sometimes white. The
Burman believes that it sprang from Buddha’s blood; and the legend
relates that his evil-minded brother-in-law and cousin Dewadat, enraged
that he was not allowed to have a separate assembly of his own, went to
the top of a hill, and rolled down a huge stone, intending to destroy
the most excellent payah. But the boulder burst into a thousand pieces,
and only one little piece bruised Buddha’s toe, and drew a few drops
of blood, whence sprang the sacred flower, the _Bohdda Tharanat_. The
renowned physician Zaywaku healed the great teacher’s wound in a single
day. The earth soon afterwards opened and swallowed up the sacrilegious
Dewadat.
=CANTERBURY BELLS.=--The Nettle-leaved Bell-flower, _Campanula
Trachelium_, was so called by Gerarde from growing plentifully in the
low woods about Canterbury, and possibly in allusion to its resemblance
to the hand-bells which were placed on poles, and rung by pilgrims when
proceeding to the shrine of Thomas à Becket--St. Thomas, of England.
There is, however, a tradition extant that the name of Canterbury Bells
was given to the _Campanula_ in memory of St. Augustine.
=CARDAMINE.=--The faint sweet Cuckoo-flower, common in meadows and
by brook sides, is the _Cardamine pratensis_. It was so called, says
Gerarde, because it flowers in April and May, “when the cuckoo doth
begin to sing her pleasant notes without stammering.” The flower is
also called Lady’s Smock, and Our Lady’s Smock, from the resemblance
of its pale flowers to little smocks hung out to dry, as they used to
be once a year, at that season especially. Shakspeare alludes to it in
these lines:--
“When Daisies pied and Violets blue,
And Lady-smocks all silver white,
And Cuckoo-buds of yellow hue,
Do paint the meadows with delight.
When shepherd’s pipe on oaten straws,
And maidens bleach their Summer smocks,” &c.
The Cuckoo-buds here alluded to are supposed to be a species of
Ranunculus; and, perhaps, as the _Cardamine pratensis_ is rather a pale
blue than a silver-white flower, Shakspeare alluded in these lines
to _C. amara_, whose brilliantly-white blossoms might well be taken
for linen laid out to bleach. The plant derives its name _Cardamine_
from its taste of Cardamoms. It is also called Meadow Cress. For some
reason, if this flower was found introduced into a May-day garland,
it was torn to pieces immediately on discovery. Our Lady’s Smock is
associated by the Catholics with the Day of the Annunciation.----The
Cardamine is a herb of the Moon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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