pPant "bore, "bcge^/, anS. Isijric/'. 229 



indeed sold under the name of Portland Sago. Starch has been 



made from the root, and the French use it in compounding the 

 cosmetic known as Cypress powder. A drachm weight of the 

 spotted Wake Robin, either fresh or dry, was formerly considered 

 as a sure remedy for poison and the plague. The juice of the herb 

 swallowed, to the quantity of a spoonful, had the same effecft. 

 Beaten up with Ox-dung, the berries or roots were believed to ease 

 the pains of gout. Arum is under the dominion of Mars. 



ASOKA. — The Savaca Indica, or Jonesia Asoka, is one of the 

 sacred })hints of India, which has from remotest ages been conse- 

 crated to their temple decoration, probably on accoimt of the 

 beauty of its orange-red blossoms and the delicacy of its perfume, 

 which in the months of March and April is exhaled throughout the 

 night. The tree is the symbol of love, and dedicated to Kama, 

 the Indian god of love. Like the Agnus Castus, it is reported to 

 have a certain charm in preserving chastity : thus Sita, the wife of 

 Rama, when abdu(fted by the monster Ravana, escapes from the 

 caresses of the monster and finds refuge in a grove of Asokas. In 

 the legend of Buddha, when Maya is conscious of having conceived 

 the Bodhisattva, under the guise of an elephant, she retires to a 

 wood of Asoka trees, and then sends for her husband. The Hindus 

 entertain the superstition that a single touch of the foot of a pretty 

 woman is sufficient to cause the Asoka to flourish. The word 

 asoka signifies that which is deprived of grief, and Asoka, or the 

 tree without grief, is also one of the names of the Bodhidruma, the 

 sacred tree of Buddha. 



ASPEN, — A legend referring to the tremulous motion of 

 this tree {Populus tremula — see Poplar) is to the following effecl : — 

 "At the awful hour of the Passion, w-hen the Saviour of the world 

 felt deserted in His agony, w'hen earth, shaken with horror, rang 

 the parting knell for Deity, and universal nature groaned : then, 

 from the loftiest tree to the lowliest flower, all felt a sudden thrill, 

 and trembling bowed their heads, all save the Aspen, which said: 

 'Why should w^e weep and tremble? The trees and flowers are 

 pure and never sinned!' Ere it ceased to speak, an involuntary 

 trembling seized its every leaf, and the word went forth that it 

 should never rest, but tremble on until the Day of Judgment." An 

 old saying affirmed that the leaves of the Aspen were made from 

 women's tongues, which never ceased wagging; and allusion is 

 made to this in the following rhyme by Hannay, 1622 : — 



" The qviaking Aspen, light and thin, 

 In the air quick passage gives ; 



Resembling still 



The trembling ill 

 Of tempers of womankind, 



Which never rest, 



But still are prest 

 To wave with every wind." 



