pfant Tsore, "begeT^G/, oriel iQi^rle/, 393 



JERUSALEM. — Many plants are found to have been named 

 in olden limes after the Holy City. The Lungwort, Pulmonayia 

 officinalis, is the Jerusalem Cowslip; Phlomis is Jerusalem Sage; and 

 Tciicyiutn Botrys is the Oak of Jerusalem, called so from the resem- 

 blance of its leaf to that of the Oak. In these three cases the prefix 

 "Jerusalem " seems to have been applied for no particular reason 

 — probably because the plants had an Eastern origin. Salsafy, 

 Tragopogon pory if alius, is the Star of Jerusalem, so named from the 

 star-like expansion of its involucre ; and Hdianthns tuberosus is the 

 Jerusalem Artichoke, a plant of the same genus as the Sunflower, 

 called Artichoke from the flavour of its tubers. The soup made 

 from it is termed Palestine Soup. In the last two cases. Dr. Prior 

 thinks the prefix " Jerusalem " is simply a corruption of the Italian 

 word giyasole, turn-sun, and lias been applied to these plants from 

 a popular belief that they turn with the Sun. The Lychnis Chalce- 

 donica is the Jerusalem Cross, which has derived its name from the 

 fact that a variety of it has four instead of five petals, of the colour 

 and form of a Jerusalem Cross. 



JEWS' EARS. — The Aiiricula Judce is a Fungus resembling 

 in shape the human ear, which grows usually upon the trunks of 

 the Ehler, the tree upon which Judas Iscariot is said by some to 

 have hung himself. Sir John ]\Iaundevile relates that he actually 

 saw the identical tree. Bacon says of this excrescence, " There is 

 an herb called Jewes-Eare, that groweth upon the roots and lower 

 parts of the bodies of trees, especially of Elders, and sometimes 

 Ashes. It hath a strange propertie ; for in warme water it swelleth, 

 and openeth extremely. It is not greene, but of a darke browne 

 colour. And it is used for squinancies and inflammations in the 

 throat, whereby it seemeth to have a mollifying and lenifying 

 vertue." 



JOAN'S SILVER PIN.— The red-Poppy {Papavev Rhceas) 

 has acquired the name of Joan's Silver Pin, because, according to 

 Parkinson, the gaudy flower is " fair without and foul within " (in 

 allusion to its yellow juice). Joan's Silver Pin was a contemptuous 

 term applied to some tawdry ornament displayed ostentatiously by 

 a sloven. 



JOB'S TEARS.— The pretty East Indian Grass, Coix lacryma, 

 is called Job's Tears on account of the formation of its hard beard- 

 like seeds, of which Gerarde says " every graine resembleth the 



drop or teare that falleth from the eye." Among the Arabs, 



the Fleabane [Inula dyscntcyica) is also called Job's Tears (See 

 Fleabane. 



JONAH'S GOURD.— According to the Greek version of the 

 Scriptures, the plant under which Jonah sat was a Gourd, but 

 the Vulgate considers it a species of Ivy. The Ricinus covimunis, 

 the Castor-oil-tree, with its broad palmate leaves, has been, how- 



