428 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



from the wood which was not on fire, and these," 

 says Sir John, " were the first rosaries and roses, 

 both white and red, that ever man saw," and 

 henceforth the rose was the flower of martyrs, as 

 well as an emblem of the Virgin. It has also 

 been claimed for Mahomet that he created the 

 rose. 



Apropos of monkish legends, there is one, of 

 Spanish origin, associated with a singular flower, 

 current in Central America, of which Mr. J. K. Lord 1 

 has given the following graphic account. He says : 

 ■" One of the most singular flowers growing in this 

 pretty garden (of the Panama Railway Company) 

 was an orchid (Peristerid), called by the natives 

 '' Flor del Espiritu Santo,' or the ' Flower of the 

 Holy Ghost.' The blossom, white as Parian marble, 

 somewhat resembles the tulip in form ; its perfume 

 is not unlike that of the magnolia, but more intense. 

 Neither its beauty nor fragrance begat for it the high 

 reverence in which it is held,. but the image of a dove 

 placed in its centre. Gathering the freshly-opened 

 flower, and pulling apart its alabaster petals, there 

 sits the dove ; its slender pinions droop listlessly by 

 its side ; the head inclining gently forward, as if 

 bowed in humble submission, brings the delicate 

 beak, just blushed with carmine, in contact with the 



1 J. K. Lord, Naturalist in Vancouver's Island. 



