Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
237
Flax,
nevertheless,
is
a
lucky
plant,
for
in
Thuringia,
when
a
young
woman
gets
married,
she
places
flax
in
her
shoes
as
a
charm
against
poverty.
It
is
supposed,
also,
to
have
health-giving
virtues;
for
in
Germany,
when
an
infant
seems
weakly
and
thrives
slowly,
it
is
placed
naked
upon
the
turf
on
Midsummer
day,
and
flax-seed
is
sprinkled
over
it;
the
idea
being
that
as
the
flax-seed
grows
so
the
infant
will
gradually
grow
stronger.
Of
the
many
beliefs
attached
to
the
ash-tree,
we
are
told
in
the
North
of
England
that
if
the
first
parings
of
a
child's
nails
be
buried
beneath
its
roots,
it
will
eventually
turn
out,
to
use
the
local
phrase,
a
"top-singer,"
and
there
is
a
popular
superstition
that
wherever
the
purple
honesty
(Lunaria
biennis)
flourishes,
the
cultivators
of
the
garden
are
noted
for
their
honesty.
The
snapdragon,
which
in
years
gone
by
was
much
cultivated
for
its
showy
blossoms,
was
said
to
have
a
supernatural
influence,
and
amongst
other
qualities
to
possess
the
power
of
destroying
charms.
Many
further
illustrations
of
this
class
of
superstition
might
easily
be
added,
so
thickly
interwoven
are
they
with
the
history
of
most
of
our
familiar
wild-flowers.
One
further
superstition
may
be
noticed,
an
allusion
to
which
occurs
in
"Henry
V."
(Act
i.
sc.
i):--
"The
strawberry
grows
underneath
the
nettle,
And
wholesome
berries
thrive
and
ripen
best
Neighbour'd
by
fruit
of
baser
quality;"
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
