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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
271
Then
there
is
the
old
tradition
to
the
effect
that
if
boughs
of
oak
be
put
into
the
earth,
they
will
bring
forth
wild
vines;
and
among
the
supernatural
qualities
of
the
holly
recorded
by
Pliny,
we
are
told
that
its
flowers
cause
water
to
freeze,
that
it
repels
lightning,
and
that
if
a
staff
of
its
wood
be
thrown
at
any
animal,
even
if
it
fall
short
of
touching
it,
the
animal
will
be
so
subdued
by
its
influence
as
to
return
and
lie
down
by
it.
Speaking,
too,
of
the
virtues
of
the
peony,
he
thus
writes:--"It
hath
been
long
received,
and
confirmed
by
divers
trials,
that
the
root
of
the
male
peony
dried,
tied
to
the
necke,
doth
helpe
the
falling
sickness,
and
likewise
the
incubus,
which
we
call
the
mare.
The
cause
of
both
these
diseases,
and
especially
of
the
epilepsie
from
the
stomach,
is
the
grossness
of
the
vapours,
which
rise
and
enter
into
the
cells
of
the
brain,
and
therefore
the
working
is
by
extreme
and
subtle
alternation
which
that
simple
hath."
Worn
as
an
amulet,
the
peony
was
a
popular
preservative
against
enchantment.
Footnotes:
1.
Fraser's
Magazine
1870,
p.
709.
2.
"Plant
Lore
Legends
and
Lyrics,"
p.
224.
3.
See
Miss
Busk's
"Folk-lore
of
Rome."
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