umbelliferous and three labiate plants. An angel is said to have revealed the virtues of the plants in a dream. The umbelliferous plant, it has been supposed, has been named _Angelica Archangelica_, from its being in blossom on the 8th of May, old style, the Archangel St. Michael’s Day. Flowering on the _fête_ day of such a powerful angel, the plant was supposed to be particularly useful as a preservative of men and women from evil spirits and witches, and of cattle from elfshot. Roses are the special flowers of martyrs, and, according to a tradition, they sprang from the ashes of a saintly maiden of Bethlehem who perished at the stake. Avens (_Geum urbanum_) the _Herba benedicta_, or Blessed Herb, is a plant so blessed that no venomous beast will approach within scent of it; and, according to the author of the _Ortus sanitatis_, “where the root is in a house, the devil can do nothing, and flies from it, wherefore it is blessed above all other herbs.” The common Snowdrops are called Fair Maids of February. This name also, like the Saints’ names, arises from an ecclesiastical coincidence: their white flowers blossom about the second of February, when maidens, dressed in white, walked in procession at the Feast of the Purification. The name of Canterbury Bells was given to the _Campanula_, in honour of St. Thomas of England, and in allusion probably to the horse-bells of the pilgrims to his shrine. _Saxifraga umbrosa_ is both St. Patrick’s cabbage and St. Anne’s needlework; _Polygonum Persicaria_ is the Virgin’s Pinch; _Polytrichum commune_, St. Winifred’s Hair; _Myrrhis odorata_, Sweet Cicely; _Origanum vulgare_, Sweet Margery; _Oscinium Basilicum_, Sweet Basil. _Angelica sylvestris_, the Root of the Holy Ghost; Hedge Hyssop, Cranesbill, and St. John’s Wort are all surnamed Grace of God; the Pansy, having three colours on one flower, is called Herb Trinity; the four-leaved Clover is an emblem of the Cross, and all cruciform flowers are deemed of good omen, having been marked with the sign of the Cross. The Hemp Agrimony is the Holy Rope, after the rope with which Christ was bound; and the Hollyhock is the Holy Hock (an old word for Mallow).