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of Rosemary, a red Rose, a white Rose, a blue flower, a yellow 

 flower, nine blades of long Grass, and a sprig of Rue, all of which 

 are to be bound together with a lock of the maiden's hair who 

 wishes to work the spell. This nosegay is to be sprinkled with the 

 blood of a white pigeon and some salt, and laid beneath the maid's 

 head when she retires to rest. Her dreams will then portend her 

 fate. Rosema'ry is deemed a herb of the Sun. 



ROSE OF JERICHO.— From the Casa Nuova Convent of 

 Jerusalem pilgrims bring away little dried-up plants, which after a 

 time appear to be quite dead, but if they are placed in water their 

 branches will soon be covered with fresh bursting buds. These are 

 the Roses of Jericho, or Resurrecftion Flowers, which grow among 

 the sands of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, and are also found in Bar- 

 bary. The A nastatica Hierochuntina is cruciform ; and when its flowers 

 and leaves have withered and fallen off, the branches as they dry 

 curl inwards, and form a round mass, thence called a Rose. The 

 roots die ; the winds tear the plant up, and blow it about the sands 

 till it lodges in a moist spot, or is wetted with the rain ; then the 

 curled-up globe expands, and suffers the seeds to escape from the 

 seed vessel in which they were enclosed, and becoming embedded 

 in the sands, they germinate anew ; hence its name Anastatica — Re- 

 surrecftion. The Holy Rose of Jericho is regarded with peculiar 

 reverence in Palestine and other places in the East, and is supposed 

 to be the plant alluded to in Ecclesiasticus : " I was .... as a 

 Rose-plant in Jericho." The Arabs call ih.\sY>^a.r\t Kaf Maryam {i.e., 

 Mary's hand) ; it is also known as Rosa-Maria; (Rose of the Virgin). 

 The pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre fancied it sprang up wherever 

 the Holy Family rested in their flight into the Egypt, and called it 

 the Rosa Hieyosolymitana. There is a cherished legend that it first 

 blossomed at our Saviour's birth, closed at the crucifixion, and 

 opened again at Easter, whence its name of Resurrecftion Flower. 

 The tradition that it blossomed at the moment when our Lord was 

 born, and was endowed with qualities propitious to nativity, 

 caused the plant to be greatly esteemed by the Eastern women, 

 who, when occasion requires, are anxious to have one of these 

 dried plants expanding in a vase of water beside them, firmly 

 believing it has a salutary effecft. In like manner, the matrons of 

 Bologna, who call the plant the Rose of the Madonna, believe in 

 its efficacy at the birth of children. They place the plant in water 

 at the bedside with the convicftion that at the moment when it has 



fully expanded itself the expecfted infant will first see the light. 



In Germany, a similar belief exists, and the Rose of Jericho is 

 called (after its Arabic name) Mary's Hand, in allusion to the office 

 assigned to the Madonna of patroness of matrons. 



ROSE o'f SHARON.— The Hebrew word rendered in 

 Canticles ii., i, and Isaiah xxxv., i, as "Rose," is thought by some 

 to signify " Tulip." Interpreters, indeed vary between Rose, Lily, 



