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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
241
Some
plants
have,
from
time
immemorial,
been
much
in
request
from
the
season
or
period
of
their
blooming,
beyond
which
fact
it
is
difficult
to
account
for
the
virtues
ascribed
to
them.
Thus,
among
the
Romans,
the
first
anemone
of
the
year,
when
gathered
with
this
form
of
incantation,
"I
gather
thee
for
a
remedy
against
disease,"
was
regarded
as
a
preservative
from
fever;
a
survival
of
which
belief
still
prevails
in
our
own
country:--
"The
first
spring-blown
anemone
she
in
his
doublet
wove,
To
keep
him
safe
from
pestilence
wherever
he
should
rove."
On
the
other
hand,
in
some
countries
there
is
a
very
strong
prejudice
against
the
wild
anemone,
the
air
being
said
"to
be
so
tainted
by
them,
that
they
who
inhale
it
often
incur
severe
sickness."
[6]
Similarly
we
may
compare
the
notion
that
flowers
blooming
out
of
season
have
a
fatal
significance,
as
we
have
noted
elsewhere.
The
sacred
associations
attached
to
many
plants
have
invested
them,
at
all
times,
with
a
scientific
repute
in
the
healing
art,
instances
of
which
may
be
traced
up
to
a
very
early
period.
Thus,
the
peony,
which,
from
its
mythical
divine
origin,
was
an
important
flower
in
the
primitive
pharmacopoeia,
has
even
in
modern
times
retained
its
reputation;
and
to
this
day
Sussex
mothers
put
necklaces
of
beads
turned
from
the
peony
root
around
their
children's
necks,
to
prevent
convulsions
and
to
assist
them
in
their
teething.
When
worn
on
the
person,
it
was
long
considered,
too,
a
most
effectual
remedy
for
insanity,
and
Culpepper
speaks
of
its
virtues
in
the
cure
of
the
falling
sickness.
[7]
The
thistle,
sacred
to
Thor,
is
another
plant
of
this
kind,
and
indeed
instances
are
very
numerous.
On
the
other
hand,
some
plants,
from
their
great
virtues
as
"all-heals,"
it
would
seem,
had
such
names
as
"Angelica"
and
"Archangel"
bestowed
on
them.
[8]
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