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Persicaria, and a Parietaria are all, according to Bauhin, dedicated 

 to the Virgin Mary. The name of Our Lady's Tears, or Larmes de 

 Sainte Marie, has been given to the Lily of the Valley, as well as to the 

 Lithospennon of Dioscorides, the Satyvium viaculatiim, and the Satyvinm 

 basilicum majiis. The Narcissus Italicus is the Lily of Mary. The Toad 

 Flax is in France Linde Notre Dame, in Germany, U user Franen Flacks. 

 The Dead-Nettie is Main de Sainte Marie. Besides the Alchemilla, 

 the Leontopodium, the Drosera, and the Sanicula major are called on 

 the Continent Our Lady's Mantle. Woodroof, Thyme, Groundsel, 

 and St. John's Wort form the bed of Mary. 



In Piedmont they give the name of the Herb of the Blessed 

 Mary to a certain plant that the birds are reputed to carry to their 

 young ones which have been stolen and imprisoned in cages, in 

 order that it shall cause their death and thus deliver them from 

 their slavery. 



The Snowdrop is the Fair Maid of February, as being sacred 

 to the Purification of the Virgin (February 2nd), when her image 

 was removed from the altar and Snowdrops strewed in its place. 



To the Madonna, in her capacity of Queen of Heaven, were 

 dedicated the Almond, the White Iris, the White Lily, and the 

 Narcissus, all appropriate to the Annunciation (March 25th). 

 The Lily and W^hite and Red Roses were assigned to the Visitation 

 of Our Lady (July 2nd) : these flowers are typical of the love and 

 purity of the Virgin Mother. To the Feast of the Assumption 

 (August iSth) is assigned the Virgin's Bower (Clematis Flammula); to 

 the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin (September 8th) the Kme\\Ms( Aster 

 Amellus); and to the Conception (December 8th) the Arbor Vitae. 



St. Dominick instituted the " Devotion of the Rosary " of the 

 Virgin Mary — a series of prayers, to mark the repetition of which a 

 chaplet of beads is employed, which consists of fifteen large and 

 one hundred and fifty small beads ; the former representing the 

 number of Pater Nosters, the latter the number of Ave Marias. As 

 these beads were formerly made of Rose-leaves tightly pressed into 

 round moulds, where real Roses were not strung together, this 

 chaplet was called a Rosary, and was blessed by the Pope or some 

 other holy person before being so used. 



Valeriana sativa is in France called Herbe de Marie Magdaleine, 

 in Germany Marien Magdalenen Kraut ; the Pomegranate is the 

 Pommier de Marie Magdaleine and Marien Magdalenen Apfel. 



We have seen that at the birth of Christ, the infant Jesus was 

 laid on a manger containing Galium verum, at Bethlehem, a place 

 commemorated by the Ornithogalum nmbellatum, or Star of Beth- 

 lehem, the flowers of which resemble the pictures of the star that 

 indicated the birth of Jesus. W'hilst lying in the manger, a spray 

 of the rose-coloured Sainfoin, says a French legend, was found 



