54 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY. 
THE “ FOLKLORE OF INDIAN PLANTS.” 
Tsu following is a report of the lecture on the above subject given 
g i ject g 
by Dr. Kirtikar at the Sassoon Mechanics’ Institute on Monday, 
the 9th January 1888 :— 
From time immemorial plant life has always had its tales con- 
nected with itself or with the places in which it grows. In 
ancient Grecian and Roman literature we find that there are certain | 
plants favourite to certain gods and goddesses. Bacchus is described 
as ivy-clad. Allsculapius, the god of the physicians and physic, 
wears a crown of laurel, because the tree is supposed to be a 
powerful cure for disease of all kinds. The goddess Concordia 
(concord) has her symbol illustrated by two right hands joined to- 
gether and a pomegranate. Pax, the goddess of peace, is repre- 
sented as being crowned with olives and laurel, bearing ears of corn in 
her hands. Pluto, the king of the nether regions, is represented as 
being sometimes crowned with Narcissus flowers (white daffodils), 
and sometimes with cypress leaves. The god Hymenwus, presiding 
q over marriages, and companion of Venus, is crowned with sweet 
marjoram, and sometimes roses. Who can read without horror the 
experience of AYneas as has been graphically pourtrayed by the 
masterly pen of Virgil, when Adneas on landing on the Thracian 
shore plucks a shoot of what is apparently a shaggy myrtle bush ! 
Drops of dark blood arise from where the shoot was torn off the 
ground. He did it again, and again did blood ooze out of the up- 
turned soil. At last a voice arose from the bosom of the soil “ Spare 
me! Iam Polydorus, buriedhere. Let me enjoy repose in my grave, 
murdered as I lie by the hand ofa Thracian monarch, who killed 
me for my gold.” Take another instance from classic legends, 
when Phaeton, one of the children of the Sun, mounted his father’s 
chariot, and being unable to manage the fiery horses, set fire to 
| heaven and earth, Jupiter struck him out of the chariot with 
thunder, and cast him headlong into the river Po. Phacton’s 
sisters mourned over the loss of their brother, and wept uncontrolled 
by the side of the river. The gods in their compassion changed 
the sisters into poplar trees. Proserpine, the queen of the infer- 
nal regions, loved her husband Plato—the black god so much, lovely 
i as she was, that sho in a fit of jealousy converted his mistress Mentha 
~ into mint, a plant known after her name. We know again the 
story of the youth Narcissus who was so infatuated with his own 
beauty that he fell in deep love with himself. In the love of his 
