pfant Tsore, Iscgcr^t)/, anal Tsijrlcy, 23 1 



rescued his mother Semele from the kingdom of the departed. 

 Wreaths of the Asphodel were worn by Bacchus, Proserpine, 

 Diana, and Semele. Asphodels were among the flowers forming 

 the couch of Jupiter and Juno, and Milton has named them as put 

 to the same use by Adam and Eve. 



" Flowers were the couch, 

 Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel, 

 And Hyacinth, earth's freshest, softest lap." 



Dr. Prior says that the Asphodel root was, under the name of cibo 

 regio (food for a king), highly esteemed in the middle ages, but, 

 however improved by cultivation, it is likely to have been trouble- 

 some by its diuretic qualities, and has probably on that account 

 gone out of fashion. Kapin, in his poem, refers to the Asphodel as 

 forming an article of food — 



" And rising Asphodel forsakes her bed. 

 On whose sweet root our rustic fathers fed." 



ASTER. — The old English name of the Aster is Star- wort. 

 Rapin says of this flower — 



" The Attic star, so named in Grecian use. 

 But called Amellus by the Mantuan Muse 

 In meadows reigns near some cool streamlet's side, 

 Or marshy vales where winding currents glide. 

 Wreaths of this gilded flower the shepherds twine, 

 When grapes now ripe in clusters load the vine." 



The Aster is thus identified with the Amellus, of the Greek and 

 Latin poets, and, according to Virgil, the altars of the gods were 

 often adorned with wreaths of these flowers. In his Fourth Georgic 

 the poet prescribes the root of the Italian Star- wort {Aster Amellus) 

 for sickly bees, (See Amellus). The leaves of the Attic Star-wort 

 (when burnt) had the reputation of driving away serpents. In 

 Germany, the Star-wort is used by lovers as an oracle, to decide 

 whether their love is returned or not. The person consulting it 

 repeats the words — 



" Er liebt viuh von Herzen 

 Alit Schnierzen, 



Ja — oda- iVein." 



At the recurrence of the words ja and nein a leaf is pulled out, 

 and the answer depends on which of these words is pronounced as 

 the last of the leaves is plucked. Gothe introduces this rustic 

 superstition in his tragedy of ' Faust,' where the luckless heroine 

 consults the floral oracle as to the affecftion entertaiijed for her by 

 Faust, The French call the Italian Star-wort, or Amellus, VCEil 



de Christ, and the China Aster la Reine Marguerite The Aster is 



considered to be a herb of Venus. 



ASH. — This tree {Fraxinns excelsior), called, on account of its 

 elegance, the Venus of the forest, and from its utility, the husband- 

 man's tree, was regarded by the ancient Greeks, Romans, and 

 Scandinavians as a sacred tree, and as one of good omen. In the 



