536 pfant "bore, Tsegef^/-, cmel "l^qricy. 



called Holy Hay; the smell of this plant is supposed to excite the 

 braying of asses; hence the specific name is taken from two 

 Greek words, signifying an ass, and to bray. An Indian species 

 {H. gyrans), which grows on the banks of the Ganges, exhibits a 

 singular instance of spontaneous motion : its leaves constantly 

 move up and down, now with sudden jerks, anon with a gentle 

 waving motion. By day or night, and in whatever weather, this 

 plant is never at rest. 



SAINTS' PLANTS. — In monastic days, certain plants re- 

 ceived the names of saints either from some peculiarity in their 

 strud^ure, or from their association with the obje(5ts of which the 

 saint whose name the particular plant bore was patron. Thus St. 

 Anthony, the patron saint of pigs, gave his name to the Bunium 

 flexttosum (St. Anthony's Nut), and the Rammculus bidbosus (St. 

 Anthony's Rape). St. James's-wort was so called because it was 

 used for the diseases of horses, of which the saint was patron. St. 

 Thomas, St. Christopher, and St. Benedict have each given their 

 names to plants. The Nigclla Damascena is St. Katherine's Flower, 

 from its resemblance to her wheel. The Saxifraga umbvosa obtained 

 the name of St. Patrick's Cabbage because it grew in the West of 

 Ireland, where St. Patrick lived. The Pvumila veris is St. Peter's- 

 wort from its resemblance to a bunch of keys. Most of these 

 saintly names were, however, given to the plants because their day 

 of flowering is connec5^ed with the feast day of the saint. Hence 

 Hypericum quadrangiilare is the St. Peter's-wort of the modern floras, 

 from its flowering on the twenty-ninth of June ; Hypericum per- 

 foratum is St. John's-wort, being gathered to scare away demons on 

 St. John's Eve ; Barbarea vulgaris, growing in the winter, is St. 

 Barbara's-cress, her day being the fourth of December, old style ; 

 and Centaurea solstitialis derives its specific Latin name, as well as 

 its popular name, St. Barnaby's Thistle, from its flourishing on the 

 longest day, the eleventh of June, old style, which is now the 

 twenty-second. 



SAINT JOHN'S WORT.— The common St. John's Wort 

 {Hypericum perforatum) has leaves marked with red blood-like spots, 

 which tradition avers always appear on the 29th August, the day 

 on which St. John was beheaded; but the plant derived its name 

 from its being, according to ancient custom, gathered with great 

 ceremony on the eve of St. John's Day, the 24th of June, to be 

 hung up in windows as a preservative against evil spirits, phantoms, 

 spe61:res, storms, and thunder ; whence it derived its ancient name 

 oi Fuga Damouum (Devil's Flight). 



" St. John's Wort, scaring from the midnight heath 

 The witch and goblin with its spicy breath." 



For the same reason, the plant was also called Sol Terrestris, the 

 Terrestrial Sun, because it was superstitiously believed that all the 

 spirits of darkness vanish at the approach of the sun ; and St. 



