URe ©Tree of ^uc)a/. 



49 



The Yew. — I will be the guardian of graveyards. No bee shall 

 pillage with impunity my poisoned flowers. No bird shall rest on 

 my branches ; for my exhalations shall give forth death. 



The Iris of Susa. — Henceforth I will wear perpetual mourning, 

 in covering with a violet veil my golden chalice. 



The Day Lily. — I will shut every evening my sweet-smelling 

 corolla, and will only re-open it in the morning with the tears of the 

 night. 



In the midst of these lamentations of the flowers the Poplar 

 alone held himself upright, cold, and arrogant as a free-thinker. 

 As a punishment for this pride, from that day forth, at the least 

 breath of wind it trembles in all its limbs. Revolutionists have, 

 therefore, made it the Tree of Liberty. 



il^e @I7ee of ^^uc^ajs) (i<£>cariot. 



In connection with the Crucifixion of our Lord many trees have 

 had the ill-luck of bearing the name of the traitor Judas — the 

 disciple who, after he had sold his Master, in sheer remorse and 

 despair went and hanged himself on a tree. 



CTbt CTree of Sufias. From Maundcvile's Travels^ 



The Fig, the Tamarisk, the Wild Carob, the Aspen, tlie Elder, 

 and the Dog Rose have each in their turn been mentioned as the 

 tree on which the suicide was committed. As regards the Fig, 

 popular tradition affirms that the tree, after Judas had hung himself 

 on it, never again bore fruit; that the Fig was the identical Fig-tree 

 cursed by our Lord ; and that all the wild Fig-trees sprang from 

 this accursed tree. According to a Sicilian tradition, however, 

 Judas did not hang himself on a Fig but on a Tamarisk-tree called 

 Vruca (Tamarix Africana) : this Vruca is now only a shrub, although 



