COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



for chills, with Nettle tea for nettle rash, with Gromwell 

 (on account of its hard seeds) for gall-stones, with Scabiosa 

 (by reason of its scaly pappus) for all affections of the 

 skin, even unto leprosy. A heart-shaped leaf was good 

 for the heart, a kidney-shaped leaf for the kidneys; a yellow 

 flower cured jaundice, and a red one assuaged blood. 



Thus lived our sires ere doctors learned to kill 

 And multiply with theirs the monthly bill. 



And our heritage from these strange and seemingly terrible 

 practices is a thousand flower names that serve to throw 

 some light to-day upon the customs of those ancient times. 

 One might continue indefinitely to work out the origins 

 of the old plant names; of many we are able to find the key 

 for ourselves, and the old horticultural works teem with 

 more or less plausible explanations. There are the many 

 plants of a poisonous nature which bear testimony to the 

 grim fact in such names as Death-come-quickly, Death-cup, 

 Deadly Night-shade, Poison-berry; there are those as- 

 sociated with the ceremony of the bridal, as Bridal -wreath, 

 Bride-sweet, Bridewort, Wedding Posy; those named from 

 some quality of fragrance as the Heliotrope, which is said 

 to bear the name of Cherry Pie because of the resemblance 

 of its perfume to that of the homely dainty; the many 

 named in honour of the gods, as Jupiter's Beard, Flower 

 of Jove, Juno's Rose, Venus' Looking Glass; those derived 

 from natural history as Bird Cherry, Duck-weed, Cat-mint, 

 Chickweed, Bee-nettle, and those which are corrupted or 

 translated from a foreign word. Examples of these are 

 Mallow from the Latin Malve, Fumatory from the French 



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