36o THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



Gentlemen, Lamb-in-a-pulpit, Lily-grass, Mandrake, 

 Nightingales, Poison-berry, Priest's Hood, School- 

 master, Snake's Meat, Starch-root, Wake-robin, etc. 

 The marks on the leaves are regarded as symbolic 

 of drops of blood shed by Our Lord on the Cross. 



" Those deep unwrought marks 

 The villager will tell you 



Are the flower's portion from the atoning blood 

 On Calvary shed. Beneath the Cross it grows." 



The Rev. Hilderic Friend refers to a story related 

 by Gerard, which is traceable to the time of Aristotle : 

 " It is related when bears were half-starved by 

 hybernating, and had lain in their dens for forty days 

 without any nourishment, save such as they were 

 supposed to obtain from the sucking of their paws, 

 they were completely and suddenly restored by eating 

 of the Arum. This would appear to be one of the 

 plants already spoken of, as possessing the power of 

 restoring life." 



In symbolic language Arum represents zeal or 

 ardour. This is to be coupled possibly with the 

 evolution of heat when it is in flower, though 

 originally no doubt other reasons prompted the choice 

 of this figure. 



Poisonous plants and snakes are frequently con- 

 nected, hence the name Adder's Meat or Snake's 

 Food. The fruits are called Adder's berries. Adder 

 is from the Anglo-Saxon, attor^ which means poison, 

 and the plant is in fact called Poison-berries. 



The starch in the tubers formerly known as 



