342 pfanC Is ore, "begeQlJ/, oriel h^nef. 



England, the country folk of many parts, firmly believed it to be 

 the remains of a falling star, for after a wet, stormy night, these 

 Flowers of Heaven will often be found growing where they were 

 not to be seen the previous evening. 



FLOWERING ROD.— There is a legend in the Apocry- 

 phal Gospel of Mary, according to which Joseph was chosen for 

 Mary's husband because his rod budded into flower, and a dove 

 settled upon the top of it. In pictures of the marriage of Joseph 

 and Mary, the former generally holds the flowering rod. The rod 

 by which the Lord demonstrated that He had chosen Aaron to be 

 His priest, blossomed with Almond-flowers, and was laid up in the 

 Ark (see Almond). 



FORGET-ME-NOT.— The Forget-me-not is a name which, 

 like the Gilliflower, has been applied to a variety of plants. For 

 more than two hundred years it was given, in England, France, 

 and the Netherlands, to the ground Pine, Ajuga Chamapitys. From 

 the middle of the fifteenth century until 1821, this plant was in all 

 the botanical books called Forget-me-not, on account of the 

 nauseous taste which it leaves in the mouth. Some of the old 

 German botanists gave the name Vergiss mein niclit to the Chamcedrys 

 vera foemina, or Teucriiim Botiys. Forglenim inigicke, the corresponding 

 Danish name, was given to the Veronica chamcedvys. This plant was 

 in English called the Speedwell, from its blossoms falling off 

 and flying away, and " Speedwell " being an old form of leave- 

 taking, equivalent to " Farewell " or " Good-bye." In the days of 

 chivalry, a plant, whose identity has not been ascertained, was 

 called " Souveigne vous de nioy,'" and was woven into collars. In 

 1465, one of these collars was the prize at a famous joust, fought 

 between Lord Scales, brother to Elizabeth Woodville, wife of 

 Edward IV., and a French knight of Burgundy. Certain German 

 botanists, as far back as the sixteenth century, seem, however, to 

 have given the name Forget-me-not to the Myosotis palustris; and 

 this name has become inseparably connecfted with the flower, borne 

 on the wings of the following poetic legend: — A knight and his 

 lady-love, who were on the eve of being united, whilst strolling on 

 the bank of the blue Danube, saw a spray of these pretty flowers 

 floating on the waters, which seemed ready to carry it away. The 

 affianced bride admired the delicate beauty of the blossoms, and 

 regretted their fatal destiny. At this hint, the lover did not hesitate 

 to plunge into the stream. He soon secured the flowers, but the 

 current was too strong for him, and as it bore him past his de- 

 spairing mistress, he flung the fatal flowers on the bank, exclaiming, 

 as he was swept to his doom, " Vergiss mich nichtV 



" And the lady fair of the knight so true, 

 Aye remembered his hapless lot ; 

 And she cherished the flower of brilliant hue, 

 And braided her hair with the blossoms blue, 

 And she called it Forget-me-not." 



