Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
222
CHAPTER
XX.
PLANT
SUPERSTITIONS.
The
superstitious
notions
which,
under
one
form
or
another,
have
clustered
round
the
vegetable
kingdom,
hold
a
prominent
place
in
the
field
of
folk-lore.
To
give
a
full
and
detailed
account
of
these
survivals
of
bygone
beliefs,
would
occupy
a
volume
of
no
mean
size,
so
thickly
scattered
are
they
among
the
traditions
and
legendary
lore
of
almost
every
country.
Only
too
frequently,
also,
we
find
the
same
superstition
assuming
a
very
different
appearance
as
it
travels
from
one
country
to
another,
until
at
last
it
is
almost
completely
divested
of
its
original
dress.
Repeated
changes
of
this
kind,
whilst
not
escaping
the
notice
of
the
student
of
comparative
folk-lore,
are
apt
to
mislead
the
casual
observer
who,
it
may
be,
assigns
to
them
a
particular
home
in
his
own
country,
whereas
probably
they
have
travelled,
before
arriving
at
their
modern
destination,
thousands
of
miles
in
the
course
of
years.
There
is
said
to
be
a
certain
mysterious
connection
between
certain
plants
and
animals.
Thus,
swine
when
affected
with
the
spleen
are
supposed
to
resort
to
the
spleen-wort,
and
according
to
Coles,
in
his
"Art
of
Simpling,"
the
ass
does
likewise,
for
he
tells
us
that,
"if
the
asse
be
oppressed
with
melancholy,
he
eates
of
the
herbe
asplemon
or
mill-waste,
and
eases
himself
of
the
swelling
of
the
spleen."
One
of
the
popular
names
of
the
common
sow-thistle
(Sonchus
oleraceus)
is
hare's-palace,
from
the
shelter
it
is
supposed
to
afford
the
hare.
According
to
the
"Grete
Herbale,"
"if
the
hare
come
under
it,
he
is
sure
that
no
beast
can
touch
hym."
Topsell
also,
in
his
"Natural
History,"
alludes
to
this
superstition:--"When
hares
are
overcome
with
heat,
they
eat
of
an
herb
called
Latuca
leporina,
that
is,
hare's-lettuce,
hare's-house,
hare's-palace;
and
there
is
no
disease
in
this
beast
the
cure
whereof
she
does
not
seek
for
in
this
herb."
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
