rio pfant bore, Tsegef^b/, orii. T^ijric/", 



were found effecflual to cure the staggers in horses. Hence these 

 plants were dedicated to St. James, the patron of horses, and are 

 still known as St. James's Worts ; they also blossom about this 

 great warrior and pilgrim saint's day, July 2Sth. This connecftion 

 of the plant with horses probably explains the tradition of its 

 having been employed as the witches' steed. 



Ramp. — See Arum. 



RAMPION. — The Rampion {Campanula Rapunculus) was con- 

 sidered by the ancients as a funereal vegetable or root. In the 

 temple of Apollo at Delphi, the esculent roots of the Rampion were 

 highly esteemed as appropriate food, and were carried on golden 

 plates. Among the Italians, there exists an old superstition that 

 the possession of a Rampion engenders among children a quarrel- 

 some disposition, and excites their anger to such a degree, that 

 unless checked, murder would result. Hence, in ancient dream- 

 books, a dream in which the Rampion is seen is interpreted as a 

 sure sign of an impending quarrel. 



RANUNCULUS. — The name Ranunculus (which is the 

 diminutive of rana, a frog) was applied by the Latins to this species 

 of plants because they were observed to grow in places frequented 



by frogs. Rapin tells us that the flower was originally a young 



Libyan noted for his sweet voice : — 



" Ranunculus, who with melodious strains 

 Once charmed the ravished nymphs on Libyan plains, 

 Now boasts through verdant fields his rich attire, 

 "Whose love-sick look betrays a secret fire ; 

 Himself his song beguiled and seized his mind 

 With pleasing flames for other hearts designed." 



The Latin herbalists also called the plant Struniea, because it was 

 used as a remedy for a complaint similar to the King's-evil, termed 

 Struma. With one of the species of Ranunculus the ancients were 



wont to poison the points of their arrows. The Buttercup, also 



known as King's Cup, Gold Cup, Gold Knobs, Leopard's Foot, 

 and Cuckoo-bud, belongs to the Ranunculus family. The Crow- 

 foot or Crowflower (the Coronopiis of Dioscorides) is also a Ranun- 

 culus : this plant possesses the power of raising blisters on the 

 skin, and is employed by mendicants to raise wounds on their 

 limbs, in order to excite sympathy. Cattle generally refuse the 

 acrid Crowfoot {R. acris), but if they perchance eat it, it will blister 

 their mouths. The Illyrian Crowfoot {R. Illyricus), Gerarde tells us, 

 is thought to be the Gelotophyllis mentioned by Pliny (Book xxiv.), 

 " which being drunk, saith he, with wine and Myrrhe, causeth a 

 man to see divers strange sights, and not to cease laughing till he 

 hath drunk Pine-apple kernels with Pepper in wine of the Date- 

 tree (I think he would have said until he be dead), because the 

 nature of laughing Crowfoot is thought to kill laughing, but with- 

 out doubt the thing is clean contrary, for it causeth such convul- 



