IRIDACEZE. 147 
it is particularly abundant. It was at one time considered as peculiarly sacred to 
the Virgin Mary, as shown in the legend of the old knight, who, more devout than 
learned, became a monk, but could never retain in his memory more than two words 
of a prayer tothe Virgin. These were ‘Ave Maria,” and with these he constantly 
addressed his prayer to heaven. Night and day his prayer continued, until the good 
old knight died, and was laid in the chapel-yard of the convent, when, as a proof of 
the acceptance of his brief but earnest prayer, there sprang up a plant of fleur-de-lys, 
which displayed in every flower the words “ Ave Maria” shining as golden letters. 
The sight induced the monks, who had despised him during his lifetime on ac- 
count of his ignorance, to open his grave; and there they found the root of the plant 
resting upon the lips of the good old soldier who lay mouldering there. 
Writers who have thought and made research on the subject of the origin of the 
fleur-de-lys as an emblem in the arms of France, conclude that it was a conventional 
symbol long before it was thus adopted, that it was employed as an ornament in that 
country two centuries before the reign of Louis IX., and that it is rather the triple 
leaf which, being anciently used in heraldry, suggested the form of the fleur-de-lys. 
It is still a question whether the form was intended to represent the flower, or a 
halbert’s head, or, as some say, a toad. 
The flower was called, according to Philinus, “ the wolf,” from its supposed 
resemblance to the lips of that animal; and some made it the symbol of a messenger, 
on account of its name of Iris. It was held in the highest esteem in medicine, curing 
coughs, bruises, ‘evil spleens,’’ convulsions, dropsies, and serpents’ bites, and as 
Gerarde says, “ doth mightilie and vehementlie draw forth choler.” It was even em- 
ployed as a cosmetic, and still finds favour with our rustic maidens for this purpose. 
But it must be used with caution, as Gerarde thus refers to its powers: ‘‘ Clene washed 
and stamped with a few drops of rosewater, and laid plaisterwise upon the face of 
man or woman, it doth in two daies at most take awaie the blacknesse and blewnesse 
of any stroke or bruse, so that if the skinne of the same woman, or any other person, 
be very tender and delicate, it shall be needful that ye laye a piece of silk, sendalle, 
or a piece of fine laune, between the plaistre and the skinne, for otherwise in such 
tender bodies it often causeth hete and inflammation.” 
The Romans called the plant consecratriz, from its being used in purifications, 
and Pliny mentions certain eeremonies in digging up the plant, which are very 
similar to those described by him and by Theophrastus in other cases. The juice of 
the plant has been employed to produce sneezing, and so relieve headache, and a slice 
of the root held in the mouth is said to relieve toothache. It is singular that its acrid 
qualities are entirely dissipated by drying, after which it acts only as an astringent. 
With sulphate of iron it yields a black dye. The angular seeds, when ripe, form a 
good substitute for coffee, but must be well roasted before using. The dried rhizome 
of one species of Iris growing in southern countries is known by the name of “ orris 
root,” and is a frequent ingredient in toothpowder. 
SPECIES DI—IRIS TUBEROSA, Lim. 
Pirate MCCCCXCVI. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. IX. Tab. CCCXLVIILI. 
Hormodactylis tuberosus, Salish. Gren. & Gocr. Vl. de Fr. Vol. III. p. 245. Purl. 
Fi. Ital. Vol. IT. p. 313, 
Rhizome an oblong-cylindrical horizontal cormo-tuber, the old 
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