PERSONALITY OF PLANTS 
many widely separated localities, forming, as it 
were, the ground-work of a great universal sys- 
tem of folklore. This would suggest that plant 
myths are founded mainly on true and inherent 
facts rather than on passing fancies. Almost all 
the nations have chosen the Rose for the queen 
of the floral court, and therefore the most fitting 
symbol of love. The White Lily has purity writ- 
ten on its spotless petals, and could never stand 
for anything else, anywhere. The Poppy is a 
brilliant, sensuous flower, quite suggestive of 
the narcotic excesses which its opium induces. 
Many extravagant plant beliefs of the past had 
their foundation in medicine. In the Middle 
Ages, quacks and charlatans used herbs having 
curative powers to exhort money from the mas- 
ses. A few of the correctives were of real value, 
but there were thousands of out-and-out decep- 
tions. Even so redolent and simple a thing as 
the common Onion was sometimes suspended 
in a room in the belief that it would draw all 
troublesome maladies out of the inmates. The 
first herbalists were priests, but gradually their 
art passed into the hands of professional out- 
siders, where it suffered greater and greater 
abuse. 
[156] 
