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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
153
And
in
some
parts
of
the
Continent
churches
are
adorned
at
Christmas-tide
with
the
amaranth,
as
a
symbol
"of
that
immortality
to
which
their
faith
bids
them
look."
Grass,
from
its
many
beneficial
qualities,
has
been
made
the
emblem
of
usefulness;
and
the
ivy,
from
its
persistent
habit
of
clinging
to
the
heaviest
support,
has
been
universally
adopted
as
the
symbol
of
confiding
love
and
fidelity.
Growing
rapidly,
it
iron
clasps:--
"The
fissured
stone
with
its
entwining
arms,
And
embowers
with
leaves
for
ever
green,
And
berries
dark."
According
to
a
Cornish
tradition,
the
beautiful
Iseult,
unable
to
endure
the
loss
of
her
betrothed--the
brave
Tristran--died
of
a
broken
heart,
and
was
buried
in
the
same
church,
but,
by
order
of
the
king,
the
two
graves
were
placed
at
a
distance
from
each
other.
Soon,
however,
there
burst
forth
from
the
tomb
of
Tristran
a
branch
of
ivy,
and
another
from
the
grave
of
Iseult;
these
shoots
gradually
growing
upwards,
until
at
last
the
lovers,
represented
by
the
clinging
ivy,
were
again
united
beneath
the
vaulted
roof
of
heaven.[2]
Then,
again,
the
cypress,
in
floral
language,
denotes
mourning;
and,
as
an
emblem
of
woe,
may
be
traced
to
the
familiar
classical
myth
of
Cyparissus,
who,
sorrow-stricken
at
having
skin
his
favourite
stag,
was
transformed
into
a
cypress
tree.
Its
ominous
and
sad
character
is
the
subject
of
constant
allusion,
Virgil
having
introduced
it
into
the
funeral
rites
of
his
heroes.
Shelley
speaks
of
the
unwept
youth
whom
no
mourning
maidens
decked,
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