444 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. . 



month it became more human-like than ever ; then 

 he placed it in an oven with vervain, wrapped it after- 

 wards in a dead man's shroud ; and so long as he kept 

 it he never failed in luck at- games or work. The 

 root of the white bryony has, during later times, been 

 designated the " mandrake," but the precise time or 

 history of its substitution for the genuine mandrake 

 is obscure. In different parts of Europe fragments 

 of the old superstition still linger, and bits of the 

 root are cherished as charms, love-tokens, as a pre- 

 ventive from night-mare, or a protection from bad 

 men and evil spirits, or even for the old virtues 

 attributed to it by the Jews. 



It would not be difficult to occupy an entire chapter 

 with allusions to flowers and plants, or some of their 

 parts, which have had a reputation in times past of 

 being associated with the world of spirits, as philtres 

 or love-charms, as a protection against witchcraft, or 

 as possessing some mysterious virtue. Such was the 

 Saint John's Wort {Hypericum perforatum), gathered 

 on the eve of St. John the Baptist Day, and hung 

 over doors and windows as a charm against storms, 

 thunder, and evil spirits, or carried on the person as 

 a protection against witchcraft and enchantment, 

 the gathering of fern-seed on Midsummer's Eve 

 and many others, curious enough in themselves, but 

 which have become " popular antiquities." 



A somewhat kindred subject, which has never been 



