pPant "bore, Tsjcge^/, cmel T^Ljriq/", 



directing him to cut three leaves on three successive mornings. 



Hurdis, in his poem of ' The Village Curate,' fantastically com- 

 pares the sparkling undergraduate and the staid divine to the 

 Dandelion in the two stages of its existence : — 



" Dandelion this, 



A college youth, that flashes for a day 



All gold : anon he doffs his gaudy suit, 



Touched by the magic hand of some grave bishop, 



And all at once becomes a reverend divine — how sleek. 

 ♦ »*♦»♦» 



But let me tell you, in the pompous globe 

 Which rounds the Dandelion's head, is couched 

 Divinity most rare." 



To dream of Dandelions betokens misfortune, enemies, and deceit 

 on the part of loved ones. Astrologers claim the Dandelion as a 

 plant of Jupiter. 



BANEWORT.— The Dwarf Elder {Sambucus Ebulus) is said 

 only to grow where blood has been shed, either in battle or in 

 murder. A patch of it thrives on ground in Worcestershire, where 

 the first blood was drawn in the civil war between the Royalists 

 and the Parliament. The Welsh call it Llysan gwaed gtvyr, or 

 " Plant of the blood of men." A name of similar import is its 

 English one of Death-wort. It is chiefly in connecftion with the 

 history of the Danes in England, that the superstition holds; 

 wherever the Danes fought and bled, there did the Dwarf Elder, 

 or Dane's Wood, spring up and flourish. According to Aubrey, the 

 plant obtained the name of Danewort, Daneweed,or Dane's blood, 

 because it grew plentifully in the neighbourhood of Slaughterford, 

 Wilts, where there was once a stout battle fought with the Danes. 

 Parkinson, however, thinks the plant obtained the name of Dane- 

 wort because it would cause a flux called the Danes. 



DAPHNE. — The generic name of Daphne has been given to 

 a race of beautiful low shrubs, after the Nymph Daphne, who was 

 changed by the gods into a Laurel, in order that she might escape 

 the solicitations of Apollo (see Laurel); because many of the 

 species have Laurel-like leaves. The sweet-scented Daphne Me- 

 zereon is very generally known as the Lady Laurel, and is also 

 called Spurge Olive, Spurge Flax, Flowering Spurge, and Dwarf 

 Bay. The name of Mezereon is probably derived from its Persian 

 name, Madzayyonn, which signifies "destroyer of life," in allusion to 

 the poisonous nature of its bright red berries. Gerarde says, " If 

 a drunkard doe eat one graine or berrie of it, he cannot be allowed 

 to drinke at that time ; such will be the heate of his mouth, and 

 choking in the throte." A decodtion of this plant, mixed with 

 other ingredients, is the Lisbon diet-drink, a well-known alter- 

 ative.-— The Russian ladies are reputed to rub their cheeks with 

 the fruit of the Mezereon, in order, by the slight irritation, to 

 lifiighten their colour. The Spurge Laurel [Daphne Laureola) 



