Wild Flowers as They Grow 



past civilisation. Still, it is self-sown so plentifully 

 nowadays that we are bound to class it among our 

 wild flowers, even though it originally came to us 

 from the coasts of the Mediterranean. 



Apart from its flowers it is in no wise remarkable ; 

 a herb a foot or two high, carrying simple, narrow 

 leaves upon a stem inclined to be shrubby at the 

 base, it is the flowers and the flowers alone that 

 have created an atmosphere of interest about it. 

 Vivid in colouring, as our photograph well shows, 

 grotesque almost to uncouthness, they have caused 

 it to be associated with the supernatural and the 

 uncanny, and it was one of the plants the witches 

 employed. But, curiously enough, the association 

 has always been in an antagonistic sense ; it broke 

 up the evil spells of others, it turned curses harm- 

 lessly aside ; though the witches used it, it was 

 rather as a defence against the wiles of other sorcerers 

 than aggressively ; in fact, it was often hung up in 

 doorways and entries to ward off witchcraft. If a 



man carried it about him he became gracious in the 



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