pfaat Isorc, Iscgc^/, and Isn^naf, 479 



mangled corpse sliould be transformed into a flower, wliich should 

 ever after bear the name of Orchis, as a blot upon his memory. 



Among the early Romans, the Orchis was often called Satyrion, 



because it was believed to be the food of the satyrs, and as such 

 excited them to those excesses which were characteristic of the 

 attendants of Bacchus. Hence, the Orchis-root not unnaturally be- 

 came famous as a powerful stimulating medicine, and is so described 

 by all herbalists from the time of Dioscorides. A very old tra- 

 dition exists that Orchids sprang from the seed of the thrush 



and the blackbird. Bishop Fleetwood writes of these curious 



flowers that they represent apes, birds, wasps, bees, flies, butter- 

 flies, gnats, spiders, grasshoppers, and other insects; "but the most 

 curious sort is that which is called Anthropophora, because it repre- 

 sents a man or a woman very exacftly." He further tells us " this 

 flower, resembling a man, appears in the beginning of Autumn ; but 

 that which represents women comes in May. These two Orchids 

 were, in 167 1, engraved by order of the Academia Curiosorum Natitm, 

 and were described as Orchis Anthropophorus Mas., and O. A . Fccmina." 



A tradition is attached to the English species. Orchis mascula, 



which usually has its leaves marked with deep purple spots. It is 

 said that these spots are the stains of the precious blood which 

 flowed from our Lord's wounded body on the cross at Calvary, as 

 this species of Orchis is reported to have grown there. In Cheshire, 



the plant is called Gethsemane. The sweet-scented Orchis, 



Gymnadenia cotwpsea, is the Northern goddess Frigg's Grass. 



ORPINE. — On Midsummer Eve, Orpine [Scdum Telcphium), 

 Fennel, Lilies, and Hypericum used formerly to be hung over doors 

 and windows. The plant is commonly called ' Midsummer Men ' 

 and ' Livelong,' from a custom of country lasses to try their lovers' 

 fidelity with it on Midsummer Eve : this they do by setting up two 

 plants of Orpine — one representing themselves, and another their 

 lovers — upon a slate or trencher, and afterwards judging of the 

 state of their lover's affections by his plant living and turning to 

 their own, or not. Wives, also, place over their heads the Orpine- 

 plant, and by the bending of the leaves to the right or to the left 

 divine whether husbands are true or false. (See Livelong.) 



OSMUND ROYAL.— The stately flowering Fern Osmunda 

 Regalis is said to derive its name from the following legend : — A 

 waterman, named Osmund, once dwelt on the banks of Loch 

 Fyne, with his wife and daughter. One day a band of fugitives, 

 bursting into his cottage, warned Osmund that the cruel Danes 

 were fast approaching the ferry. Osmund heard them with fear; 

 he trembled for those he held dearer than life. Suddenly the 

 shouts of furious men roused him to action. Snatching up his 

 oars, he rowed his trembling wife and child to a small island 

 covered with this beautiful Fern ; and helping them to land, he bade 

 them lie down beneath ^he shady foliage for protection. Scarcely 



