pPant Isore, Tscqe'f^^/, oriel bijric/. 395 



to be that whereon Judas hanged himselfe, and not upon the 

 Elder-tree, as it is vulgarly said." A similar belief is entertained 

 by the French and Italians, who regard the Cercis Siliqiiastrmn as an 

 infamous tree. The Judas-tree grows about twenty feet high, has 

 pale green foliage and purple papilionaceous flowers, which appear 

 in the Spring in large clusters: they arc succeeded by long flat pods, 

 containing a row of seeds. Curiously enough, the Spaniards and 

 Portuguese, on account of what Gerarde terms its " bravencss," call 

 it the Tree of Love." 



JUJUBE. — The real Jujube-tree is Zizyplms Jiijuha, a native 

 of the East Indies, nearly allied to the Paliurus, or Christ's Thorn : it 

 bears similar yellow flowers and fruit about the size of a middling 

 plum. It is sweet and mealy, and highly esteemed by the natives 

 of the coimtries to which the tree is indigenous. The lozenges 

 called Jujubes are made from the fruit of ZizypJms viilgayis, which 

 ripens abundantly in the neighbourhood of Paris. 



July Flower, the Stock Gilliflower. — See Stock. 



JUNIPER. — The ancients called the Juniper generally by 

 the name of Cedar, although Pliny distinguishes the two. Thus 

 Virgil is supposed to have alluded to the Juniper in the line in his 

 • Georgic ' : — 



" Disce et odoratain stabiiHs accendere Cedrum." 



" But learn to burn within your sheltering rooms 

 Sweet Juniper." 



The Juniper was consecrated to the Furies. The smoke of its 

 green roots was the incense which the ancients deemed most 

 acceptable to the infernal gods ; and they burned its berries 



during funerals to ban malign influences. The Juniper has 



always been looked upon as a protecflive tree ; its powerful odour 

 is stated to defeat the keen scent of the hound, and the hunted hare 

 at the last extremity will seek and find a safe retreat in the cover 

 of its branches. It sheltered the prophet Elijah from the perse- 

 cutions of King Ahab, and we read in i Kings xix., 4, that the 



prophet lay and slept " under a Juniper-tree." According to 



a tradition common in Italy, the Virgin Mary fled for safety 

 with the infant Jesus, pursued by the relentless soldiers of King 

 Herod. Whilst on their road, the Brooms and the Chick-Peas be- 

 gan to rustle and crackle, and by this noise betrayed the fugitives. 

 The Flax bristled up. Happily for her. Mar)' was near a Jimiper: 

 the hospitable tree opened it branches as arms, and enclosed the 

 Virgin and Child within their folds, aflbrding them a secure hiding- 

 place. Then the Virgin uttered a malediclion agamst the Brooms 

 and the Chick-Peas, and ever since that day they have always rustled 

 and crackled. The Holy Mother pardoned the Flax its weakness, 

 and gave to the Juniper her blessing : on that account, in Italy, 

 branches of Juniper are hung up on Christmas Day in stables and 



