84 pPant l^ore, "becje'r^b/, oriel bLjrIcy, 



of the trees ; Erntehock, a demon which steals part of the Corn 

 during harvest ; Farre, or the Little Bull, one of a number of 

 spirits infesting the Corn-fields ; Gerstenwolf, or Barley-wolf, a 

 demon which devours the Barley ; Graswolf, a spirit haunting 

 pastures ; Habergeiss, or Haferbock, Goat of the Oats ; Halmbock, a 

 goblin whose hiding-place is among straw or the stems of plants ; 

 Heiikatze and Heupudel, Hay Cat and Pup, demons infesting Hay; 

 Kartoffelwolf, or Potato-goblin ; Katzenmann, or Man-Cat, a monster 

 dwelling amidst Wheat; Klccsau, or Sow of the Clover; Krautesel, 

 or Ass of the Grass, a spirit especially inimical to Lettuces ; 

 Kornwolf, Kornsau, Kornstier, Kornkuh, Kormmttter, Kornkind, and 

 Kornmaid, all demons, spirits, and monsters infesting Corn. 



In some parts of Russia the Devil is invoked through the 

 medium of a herb. On the occasion of a marriage, the peasants 

 put into a bottle of brandy a certain plant called the Herb of the 

 Devil ; the bottle is then ornamented with ribbons and coloured 

 tapers, and armed with this present the father of the intended 

 bride pays a visit to the father of the bridegroom, who offers to 

 ransom this bottled Devil by the payment of five kopecks. " No," 

 says the girl's father, " Our princess wishes more than that." So 

 after further bargaining, a price of fifty kopecks is finally agreed 

 upon. In certain parts of Russia the Tobacco-plant is deemed 

 a diabolic plant. In India the Witches' Herb [Siiiapis racemosa) 

 is called Astiri (the she-devil). 



A few plants named after dragons, serpents, or snakes, and 

 many of those which are of a poisonous or noxious nature, must 

 be classed with the plants of the Devil ; such as, for example, the 

 Upas, the Manchineel, the Magnolia, the Oleander, that deadly 

 Persian flower, the Kerzereh, the foetid Stapelin, the Phallus imptidicus, 

 the Thief's Plant of the Franche-Comte Mountains, which opens 

 all doors ; that satanic plant, the sap of which gives to Witches 

 the power ol riding in the air on a broomstick ; and the accursed 

 plant which misleads the traveller, dragging him from one path to 

 another, but always leading him farther and farther away from his 

 goal, until at last he sinks exhausted with fatigue. 



Certain plants and trees have become ill-omened from having 

 received the maledictions of some divine personage. Several were 

 cursed by the Virgin Mary during her flight into Egypt. The 

 tree which yielded the timber of the Cross became for all time 

 "the accursed tree" ; the tree on which Judas hung himself became 

 also a satanic tree. Under this ban have been included the Fig, 

 the Tamarisk, the Aspen, the Dog Rose, the Elder, and the Cercis 

 or Judas Tree. 



Many plants, both in England and on the Continent, have 

 been specially named after the Devil. Thus we find that, on accouut 

 of the foetid odour of the gum or juice obtain from its root, Ferula 

 Assafcetida is known in Germany, Sweden, and Italy as Devil's 

 Dung [citcrcus Diaboli), although it is employed in Persia and Arabia 



