402 pPant "lS)orc, Isegel^Gi/, anil "bLjric/. 



flowers and celebrated for the sweetness of its fruits. The Kushtha 

 forms one of the trees of heaven. In the Atharvaveda, it is stated 

 to flourish in the third heaven, where the ambrosia is to be found : 

 it possesses magical properties, will cure fevers, and is considered 

 as the first of medicinal plants. It is represented also as a great 

 friend and companion of Soma, the god of the ambrosia, and it 

 descends from the mountain Himavant as a deity of salvation. 



Lad's Love. — See Southernwood. 



LADY'S PLANTS. — When the word "lady "occurs in plant 

 names, it alludes in most cases to Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, on 

 whom the monks and nuns of old lavished flowers in profusion. 

 All white flowers were regarded as typifying her purity and 

 sanctity, and were consecrated to her festivals. The finer flowers 

 were wrested from the Northern deities, Freyja and Bertha, and 

 from the classic Juno, Diana, and Venus, and laid upon the shrine 

 of Our Lady. In Puritan times, the name of Our Lady was in 

 many instances replaced by Venus, thus recurring to the ancient 

 nomenclature : for example : Our Lady's Comb became Venus's 

 Comb [Scandix Pecten Veneris) ; Galium verum is called Our Lady's 

 Bedstraw, from its soft, puffy, flocculent stems, and its golden 

 flowers. The name may allude more particularly to the Virgin 

 Mary having given birth to her Son in a stable, with nothing but 

 wild flowers for her bedding. Clematis vitalba, commonly called 

 Traveller's Joy, from the shade and shelter it aff'ords to weary 

 wayfarers, is also called Lady's Bower, from " its aptness in 

 making arbours, bowers, and shadie covertures in gardens." 

 Statice Armeria, the clustered Pink, which is called Thrift, from 

 the past participle of the verb to thrive, is, on account of its close 

 cushion-like growth, termed Lady's Cushion. Alchemilla vulgaris is 

 named Lady's Mantle from the shape and vandyked edge of the 

 leaf; and Campanula hyhrida (from the resemblance of its expanded 

 flower, set on its elongated ovary, to an ancient metallic mirror on 

 its straight handle) is the Lady's Looking-glass. Two plants with 

 soft inflated calyces {Atithyllis vulneraria and Digitalis purpurea) are 

 Lady's Fingers. Neottia spiralis, with its flower-spikes rising above 

 each other like braided hair, is Lady's Tresses ; and the Maiden- 

 hair Fern is Our Lady's Hair. Dodder {Cusciita), from its string- 

 like stems, is called Lady's Laces; and Digraphis anindinacea, from 

 the ribbon-like striped leaves, Lady's Garters. In Wiltshire, Con- 

 volvulus sepium is called Lady's Nightcap. Cypripediiim Calceolus, 

 from the shape of its flower, is called Lady's Slippers ; and Carda- 

 mine pratensis, from the shape of its flowers, like little smocks hung 

 out to dry, is the Lady's Smock, all silver white, of Shakspeare. 

 Lady's Thimble is a name of the Blue or Hare Bell [Campanula 

 rotundi folia) ; and Lady's Seal is now the Black Briony. Carduus 

 Marianus is the Lady's Thistle, the blessed Milk Thistle, whose 

 green leaves have been spotted white ever since the milk of the 



