2 26 pPant Tsore, IsegcTlt)/, ani. kqnc/. 



Christians." The Persians call the Apricot of Iran, the "Seed of 

 the Sun." The ancients appear to have regarded it as a pro- 

 phetical or oracular tree. It was in the solitude of a grove of 



Apricot-trees that Confucius, the venerated Chinese sage, com- 

 pleted his commentaries on the King or ancient books of China, 

 and beneath this shade he erecfted an altar, and solemnly thanked 

 Heaven for having permitted him to accomplish his cherished 



task. The name has undergone curious transformations: it is 



traceable to the Latin pro'coqua, early; the fruit being supposed 

 by the Romans to be an early Peach. The Arabs (although living 

 near the region of which the tree is a native) took the Latin name, 

 and twisted it into al hirqnq ; the Spaniards altered its Moorish 

 name into albaricoque ; the Italians reproduced it as alhicoces; the 

 French from them got abricot; and we, in England, although taking 

 the name from the French, first called it Abvicock, or Aprecock, and 



finally Apricot. The Apricot is under the dominion of Venus. 



To dream of this fruit denotes health, a speedy marriage, and 

 every success in life. 



ARBOR WIT JE,. — This tree, otherwise known as Thuja, is 

 called by Pliny, TAj^a (from thyon, a sacrifice). The resin of the 

 Eastern variety is, in certain localities, frequently used instead of 

 incense at sacrifices. How the tree acquired the name of Arbor 

 VitcB is not known, unless from some supposed virtue of its berries. 

 Gerarde, who had only seen the Canadian variety, says of it that, 

 of all the trees from that country, the Arbor Vita, or Thya, was 

 " the most principall, and best agreeing unto the nature of man, 

 as an excellent cordial, and of a very pleasant smell." He also 

 tells us that it was sometimes called Cedrus Lycia, and that it is not 

 to be confounded with the Tree of Life mentioned in Genesis. 



ARBUTUS. — The Arbutus, or Strawberry-tree {Arbutus 

 unedo), was held sacred by the Romans. It was one of the attri- 

 butes of Cardea, a sister of Apollo, who was beloved by Janus, 

 guardian of gates and avenues. With a rod of Arbutus — virga 

 Janalis — Cardea drove away witches and protecfted little children 

 when ill or bewitched. The Romans emplo5^ed the Arbutus, with 

 other symbolic trees and flowers, at the Palilia, a festival held in 

 honour of the pastoral goddess Pales. It was a Roman custom to 

 deposit branches of the Arbutus on coffins, and Virgil tells us that 

 Arbutus rods and Oak twigs formed the bier of young Pallas, the 

 son of Evander. Horace, in his Odes, has celebrated the shade 

 afforded by the Arbutus. Ovid speaks of the tree as "the Arbutus 

 heavy with its ruby fruit," and tells us that, in the Golden Age, 

 the fruit afforded food to man. This fruit is called unedo, and 

 Pliny is stated to have given it that name became it was so bitter 



that he who ate one would eat no more. The Oriental Arbutus, 



or Andrachne, bears fruit resembling a scarlet Strawberry in size 

 and flavour. In Greece, it has the reputation of so affe(fting 



