1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



281 



The clematis, from its " shady covertures in the 

 garden " was called lady's bower; the clustering 

 blossoms of the pink thrift, lady's cushion ; the 

 primula, lady's candlestick ; the Scandix pecten, 

 lady'scomb; striped grass, lady's garters; quaking 

 grass, lady's hair ; white-flowered wormwood, lady's 

 smoke ; Campanula hybrida, lady's looking-glass; 

 hare bell, lady's thimble; Cypripedium, lady's 

 shpper ; the fuchsia, lady's eardrop ; dodder, 

 lady's laces; briony, lady's seal ; Alchemilla vul- 

 garis, lady's mantle; the glistening drops that 

 sparkle on the sundew and the lily of the valley, 

 lady's tears. In fact, all flowers are dedicated to 

 Our Lady, but pre-eminently those bearing any 

 fancied resemblance to the human body. 



In France, the beautiful veronica is called les 

 yeux de la bonne Vierge ; the spearmint, menthe 

 de Notre Dame ; the Italians calling it erba santa 

 Maria; the Germans, Frauenmiinze. With the 

 latter, campanula is Marienglockchen ; costmary, 

 Frauenbalsam. In Tuscany a little plant, with 

 tiny flowerets ot whitish rose color, is known as 

 Madonna's herb, and on Ascension Day, when 

 plucked and hung on the walls, will frequently 

 flower, when it is regarded as a special manifesta- 

 tion of Our Lady's pleasure. 



Among the fruits, the cherry is dedicated to the 

 Virgin. The legend tells us that Mary longed for 

 some of the fruit, and when Joseph, in answer to 

 her request, told her to call upon the father of her 

 child, the branch immediately bent within her 

 reach. The strawberry, once Holda's, is sacred 

 to the Virgin. In the Tyrol they have a folk tale 

 of a boy and girl picking strawberries, when the 

 Virgin, clad in shining raiment, appeared to them. 

 The little girl rose respectfully, but the boy, true 

 to his Gargantuan instincts, kept feeding on the 

 luscious fruit. The Virgin gave each a golden 

 box. From the girl's there flew an angel, who 

 bore her up to Heaven, while two great black 

 worms came from the boy's, bearing him away in- 

 to the black forest. 



The rose of Jericho is the rose of the Madonna, 

 the Arab designating it Kaf Ma'ryam — Mary's 

 hand. The early pilgrims to the Holy Sepulcher 

 asserted that, wherever Mary and Joseph rested 

 in their flight, this rose sprang into bloom. It was 

 thought to ease the pains of parturition by its very 

 presence ; and not only in the East, but in Italy 

 and Germany, women placed it by their bedsides. 

 Sir Thomas Browne, in his " Pseudodoxia Epi- 

 demica," gives some very curious information re- 

 garding this flower. 



Many of Our Lady's feast days have particular 



flowers consecrated to them. At the purification, 

 February 2d, the snowdrop takes the place of her 

 image on the altar, and in her honor is called the 

 fair maid of February. There is a charming folk 

 tale connected with this flower. When Eve, ex- 

 pelled from Paradise, roamed, broken-hearted, 

 over the barren earth, and the snow fell cold and 

 silently, an angel breathed upon a downy flake, 

 and bade it bud and bloom. Before it touched 

 the ground. Eve saw it, and her heart grew light, 

 and she loved it better than all the brightest 

 blossoms of Eden. Then, as the angel vanished 

 with the assurance that this flower should ever re- 

 main the harbinger of sun and summer, where his 

 feet had touched rings of snow-drops formed. 



To the Annunciation, March 25th, belong the 

 marigold, almond and narcissus. It is said that the 

 Virgin always wore the marigold on her bosom, and 

 that it blossomed at all the feasts held in her honor. 

 The French peasants think that if it be touched on 

 Annunciation day by the bare foot of one whose 

 heart is pure it will impart a knowledge of the 

 language of birds. A branch of the almond 

 formed the miraculous rod of Aaron, that budded, 

 flowered, and fruited in the temple ; while the nar- 

 cissus, the daffodil of which Rob Herrick sings 

 so enchantingly, holds an honored place in myth 

 and song. Lady's smock, the chemise de Notre 

 Dame of the French, becomes " all silver white " 

 on this feast day. Its little flowers resemble dainty 

 smocks spread out on the deepening verdure of 

 the spring meadows to bleach. It is called the 

 cuckoo flower, because, as old Gerard tells us, "it 

 flowers when the cuckoo doth begin to sing her 

 pleasant song without stammering." At the feast 

 of the Nativity the Virgin's altars are decked with 

 the amellus, long used in the worship of Roman 

 divinities, while at the feast of the Immaculate 

 Conception, December 8th, the arbor vitae, type 

 of immortality, holds conspicuous place. — Inde- 

 pendent. 



GOOBER AND PINDAR. 



BY H. W. RAVENEL. 



In regard to the article in July number Garden- 

 ers' Monthly, page 216, on "Origin of the name 

 Goober for the Pea nut," 1 will state that among 

 the negroes in the coast region of South Carolina, 

 the name "Goober" or "Goober Pea" is applied 

 exclusively to the Voandzea, whilst "Pindar" or 

 "Pindah" is always given to the well-known Pea 

 nut, Arachis. 



These two plants have the similar habits of 



