PLANT NAMES 39 



detected the hammer and nails of the Crucifixion. 

 The Judas Tree was supposed to be the tree on which 

 Judas hanged himself, because the red flower-buds, 

 coming before the leaves, looked like drops of blood. 

 TropcBolum is from the Greek tropaion, a trophy, as 

 worthy to be borne by a conqueror. This word 

 comes from trepo, to turn, because the foe turned 

 and fled. (Thus the tropics are where the sun 

 appears to turn in his course, and a trope is a turn 

 or figure of speech.) Juglans, the Walnut, is Jovis 

 glans, the nut of Jupiter, so excellent is it. The 

 Nectarine is from nectar, the drink of the gods, as 

 ambrosia was their food. Bishop Walsham How 

 once wrote a little poem addressed to London Pride, 

 rebuking it for that bad quality. A lady called his 

 attention to the fact that the name did not mean 

 that the plant was proud, but that London was 

 proud of it, whereupon the Bishop wrote a second 

 charming poem apologizing to it ! Agave, the Aloe, 

 means admirable. Calla is the beautiful. Cosmos 

 is the ornamental. Clianthus is the glorious flower. 

 Dianthus is the divine flower. Diospyros, the Date 

 Plum, is the divine Wheat — that is, celestial food. 

 Chionodoxa is the glory of the snow. Callistemon 

 is the most beautiful stamen, and Callistephus the 

 most beautiful crown. Asphodel means the unsur- 

 passed. From this is derived Daffodil. The initial 

 d may have come in through the French Fleur 

 d'affrodille. Eucharis means pleasing, worthy of 

 praise. Euonymus is a strange word. Literally, it 

 means well-named or honourable. But among the 



