430 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



sianorum, whilst in France the box is common in 

 graveyards. In Switzerland and Tuscany the peri- 

 winkle (Vinca minor) is associated with the dead, 

 and in many parts of Italy is called the " flower of 

 death." 



In Goethe's " Faust," Margaret plucks a flower, 

 and picks off the petals, one by one, saying mean- 

 while, " He loves me, he loves me not ! " This 

 custom is a revival of an old one recorded by Theo- 

 critus, who says that the Greeks took the petal of a 

 corn poppy, and laying it on the thumb and fore- 

 finger of one hand, slapped it with the other. If it 

 gave a crack, it was a sign that their lovers loved 

 them, but if it failed, they were disappointed. This 

 was called a telephion, and a goatherd laments that 

 he had tried whether his Amaryllis loved him, but 

 " the telephion gave no crack." 



The association of passion flowers with the passion 

 of our Lord (as the name indicates) dates from 

 monkish times. Dr. Masters is of opinion 1 that the 

 species called Passiflora incarnata " is the one in 

 which the semblance of the parts of the flower to the 

 instrument of our Lord's passion was first observed. 

 The cross, the scourge, the hammer,, the nails, the 

 crown of thorns, even ten of the apostles — Judas, who 

 betrayed, and Peter who denied, being absent — all 



1 "Gardener's Chronicle," 1870, p. 1,214. 



