AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT. 59 



neighbourhood of our large cities ; a fine specimen may be seen in Cheapside, in the heart of 

 London. _ The Plane was a great favourite amongst the ancient Greeks, who celebrated many of 

 their festivities beneath its spreading shade; many virtues were ascribed to it, medicinal and 

 protective, against venomous serpents and scorpions ; and the Persians to the present day believe 

 it protects them from evil, dissipating the plague and other epidemics. It was first introduced 

 into England by Sir Nicholas Bacon, father of the more celebrated Sir Francis Bacon, being 

 planted by him in his garden at Verulam, about the middle of the sixteenth century. The 

 Occidental Plane (Platanus oecidentalis), a very common tree in North America, is very similar to 

 the present, but its leaves are larger and much less deeply cut into lobes, while the fruit, a winged 

 nut, a very ornamental feature in both, is much larger in the American species than in the Eastern 

 Plane. 



The design shewn in fig. 326, like fig. 311, is based on the Horse-chestnut, though in the 

 present case the handsome palmate or radiate foliage is alone employed. There are several 

 species of the Horse-chestnut, one of the American species, a native of Brazil, Carolina, &c., has 

 brilliant crimson blossoms. The common Horse-chestnut was first introduced into England in 

 1550, thence it was taken to Vienna in 1576, while the first mention of it in France dates 

 from 161 5. 



The treatment seen in fig. 327 is so pleasing in itself, and so suggestive in its character, 

 that we need make but slight apology for introducing it, though, from its very conventional 

 character, it is perhaps scarcely within the scope we have in the present work proposed to our- 

 selves. It is, in some respects, not unlike the Field Artemesia ( Artemesia campestris), though that 

 plant, from its extreme rarity, being only found in the north-west of Suffolk, the contiguous part of 

 Norfolk, and near Belfast, in Ireland, is scarcely likely to have really suggested the form. The 

 A. vulgaris is very commonly distributed throughout the whole of Britain, but in some respects 

 does not so clearly suggest the plant seen in the panel as the former species. The carving is 

 Mediaeval, of the Decorated period. 



Fig. 328, the central design on plate XLIL, is derived from the Common Arum, Cuckow- 

 pint, or. Lords-and- Ladies (Arum maeulatum), a plant very generally distributed throughout 

 England, but one of the rarer plants, of Scotland and Ireland. It ordinarily grows in copses and 

 shaded hedge-banks, the curious form of inflorescence being met with during April and May. 

 During the Summer the leaves die away, and the only memorial of the plant is the long spike of 

 scarlet berries that may often be seen gleaming during the Autumn months in the leaf-stripped 

 hedge-rows, and that no one without previous knowledge would associate with the plant, so 

 different is its appearance in Spring and Autumn. The root, though extremely acrid, giving rise 

 to an almost intolerable sensation of burning and pricking in the throat if tasted in its raw state, 

 contains a large amount of amylaceous matter, that, when dried so as to dissipate the acrimonious 

 juice, forms a bland farinaceous substance, an excellent substitute for bread-flour. It is also a 

 good and innocent cosmetic, being sold at times for that purpose, at a highly remunerative price, 

 as cypress powder. We are not aware of the use of the plant in any example of decorative art. 



In the remaining examples on plate XLIL (figs. 329, 330, 331), we have filled our panels 

 with designs based on fruit forms, those chosen being the capsule of the Red Poppy, the hips of 

 the Dog- Rose, and the viscid berries of the Mistletoe. The Poppy we have already referred to 

 in our remarks on fig. 322 ; we will, therefore, pass at once to a brief consideration of the other 



two plants. 



The Dog- Rose (Rosa canina), so commonly to be met with throughout the country, decking 

 the hedges in June and July with a profusion of pink blossoms, to be in turn succeeded by its 

 mass of scarlet fruit, was one of the favourite flowers of the Mediaeval carvers, and may frequently 

 be found in 14th century work. Wherever the flower appears, however, it is always of the 

 conventional form known afterwards as the Tudor Rose. The plant is employed both with 

 heraldic significance as the badge of the Lancasterians, Yorkists, and Tudors, and also as a religious 

 symbol, being dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The names of plants are often very curious in their 

 origin:' it would be foreign to our subject to go into the point here, but we may mention that 

 the prefix " dog," as in Dog-Violet, Dog's-Mercury, Dog's-Orach, implies worthlessness, an 

 opprobrium that our beautiful wild Rose hardly deserves, as, apart from its striking beauty, a 

 thing- that in itself should give it value, it is of direct utilitarian service, conserve of Roses being 

 of medicinal value, while its stocks are used by gardeners in grafting. 



The Mistletoe is our most conspicuous British example of parasitic growth, and its name 

 alludes to this characteristic, being, in Anglo-Saxon, Mistiltan, from Mistl, different, and tan, a 

 twig, from its being so unlike the tree from which it springs, while its Celtic name, Gwid, the 

 shrub, points out its eminent position ; the plant, par excellence, from its sacred character. It is 

 not found in either Scotland or Ireland. As it cannot be generally known, we may mention that 



