nence, the same feature; while at an earlier period than the present, certain flowers were regarded even by 
some Europeans with a degree of veneration only too closely approximating the more declared feeling of 
flower-worship. There is a love for these beautiful creations innate in the constitution of the human being, 
and participated in equally by civilised and savage men. Their exquisite attributes of painting and perfume 
address themselves directly to our more refined feelings, while they have a tendency to direct upwards to 
the God that made them: the grievous error lay in not stopping short before these feelings became idolatry. 
It will be easily conjectured that no temperate region was the parent of the superstition. It arose in those 
warmer latitudes where the vegetable world has been endowed with a vigour of growth, and gorgeousness of 
apparel, of which austerer climates are ignorant. Its aspect indeed is most imposing, and, to be fully 
realised, must be beheld. In the few exiles which pass an artificial existence in our stoves, we are supplied 
with some faint and feeble types of the vegetable glories of the tropics; and even these will produce an 
impression not soon effaced from any cultivated mind. But there, where the Indian, penetrating the hot, 
damp jungles of his forests, suddenly comes upon a great, glowing, wonderfully-formed and tinged orchid, 
squatting like some animated being upon a shaggy trunk, or where the Hindoo paddles across a blue lake, 
literally paved with lotus flowers, it is not a violent supposition that the spectacle will impress him with 
feelings akin to awe. The next step is not difficult to be foreseen. As flower-worship took its origin, so, 
alas! it retains its existence, only among the most ignorant of the human family. 
Humboldt and Bonpland, in their splendid work on Equinoctial Plants, give an account of a very 
curious tree called by the Mexicans by the dreadful title of the Macpalxochiquaukitl! — which signifies hand, 
floiver, tree. Its botanical title is almost as long, but is a trifle more euphonious — the Cheirostemon plata- 
noides. There existed only one specimen of this sacred tree in all Mexico, at least to the knowledge of the 
Mexicans; and this circumstance, added to the really remarkable aspect of the flowers, appears to have won 
for it the veneration of the Indian population. From the centre of the flower there springs a columnar 
tube, which may be supposed to represent an arm and wrist ; and this then breaks into five stamens, 
coloured blood-red, and disposed after a manner not very dissimilar to the arrangement of the fingers and 
thumb of the human hand. The very points of these vegetable fingers are curved, and somewhat resemble 
the formidable ungulated talons with which painters delight to ornament the hands of witches and demons. 
These parts of the flower are of a considerable size, and project in a menacing manner some distance above 
the petals. It may easily, therefore, be conceived that a high and noble-looking tree — for such it is — laden 
with flowers of such marvellous configuration, brandishing aloft, in fact, a thousand gory hands, was an 
object likely to excite in no ordinary degree the superstitions, and even the terrors, of the ignorant. The 
tree was worshipped by thousands ; it was believed to be the only specimen in the world of its kind ; and 
the opinion was common that any attempt to propagate it would prove abortive. A great number of seeds 
was procured by our travellers, planted, and watched over with the most sedulous care, but not one of them 
succeeded. So great, say they, w T as the veneration paid to it by the Indians, and so eagerly were the precious 
flowers thereof sought after, that they were frequently plucked long before their expansion ; and the tree 
was consequently never suffered to ripen its fruit. In spite, however, of the firmest convictions of the 
indivisibility of this tree — the Manitas, as it is commonly called — it has been propagated by cuttings, some 
of which are at this moment thriving in some of the larger stoves of our modern collectors. In Lyon’s 
f Journal of a Residence in Mexico,’ he mentions having seen this famous tree, and confirms all that has 
been above written concerning it, adding, that as if to make the resemblance to a hand complete, the points 
of the fingers are terminated by processes resembling claws ! Whilst the resemblance to the human hand 
was recognised in this instance, it would have been most strange had the remarkable race of mimics — the 
orchids — escaped observation or veneration. These plants, which have no parallel in nature for singularity, 
beauty, and fragrance, and which, in some of their species, imitate the most wonderful diversity of objects, 
are held in high veneration by the Mexicans. The Queen of the Orchids especially is inestimably prized; 
and others receive a subordinate measure of respect. Those who have access to Mr. Bateman’s splendid 
work on the Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, will find there several interesting particulars relating to 
this subject. In other countries, orchids have been objects of veneration. 
The famed lotus flower has a world-wide reputation for sanctity. The Nelumbium is a splendid water- 
flower, and is found floating in the pools and ditches of Asia, and in the Nile : _ it yields a nut which is 
supposed to be analogous with the sacred bean of the ancients. The flowers of both tribes are glorious 
objects — some are blue, white, yellow, rose-coloured ; and they appear lovely in the extreme when resting 
on the bosom of the wave. The flower was worshipped alike in Egypt, taking a place in the mysteries of 
Isis and Osiris, as in India in those of Brahma. The sculptural remains of ancient Egypt abound with the 
sacred plant in every stage of its development, the flowers and fruit being represented with the utmost 
accuracy. Among the Hindoos it was considered an emblem of the world, and the flower was looked upon 
as the cradle of Brahma. It was used to decorate the temples of their idols, and laid as a most acceptable 
votive offering upon their altars. Sir George Staunton writes — £ The Chinese always held this plant in such 
high value, that at length they regarded it as sacred. That character, however, has not limited it to useless 
or ornamental purposes. Their ponds, to the extent of many acres, are covered with it, and exhibit a very 
beautiful appearance when in flower.’ When Sir William Jones was on one occasion at dinner on the borders 
of the Ganges, desiring to examine the sacred flower, he despatched some of his people to procure him a 
specimen ; it was brought to him, and immediately all his Indian attendants fell on their faces and paid 
adoration to it. 
Without multiplying examples, this may suffice to direct the reader’s attention to an interesting, but, to 
every right mind, a sad and painful subject of thought. 
