232 THE ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
Butter-bur — Used as Remedy against the Plague — -Large 
Leaves — Instincts of Bees — Garden B utter -hur , 
“ No gem-like eye glitters in thy pale face, 
No rich aroma breathes from thy dull lip, 
Yet, Petasites, there is that in thee 
Which calls emotion from its lurking-place 
To work upon the brow, and tinge the cheek; 
There is a scene to which thou are allied — 
A room the sun scarce sees ; an atmosphere 
Converted into poison, and the couch 
The plague-spot marks his own ; where crowded 
victims 
Mingle their groans, their weeping, and despair. 
The plague-flower was the name formerly borne by this 
plant ; and what a host of melancholy recollections does 
its appellation bring to the mind, of the sad period when 
thousands of our countrymen lay dead or dying \ 
Comparatively inefficacious as seemed the skill of the 
physician in allaying the general contagion during the 
most distressing time of its prevalence, yet some medicines 
gained a reputation as remedies, and among these was the 
butter-bur (Petasites). Whether or not the recovery of 
those who employed it may fairly be attributed to this 
plant, is now a matter of various opinion. Lyte, who 
translated his Herbal in 1578 — which was previous to that 
general visitation, the “Great Pestilence of England’' — 
calls it “a soveraigne medicine against the plague;” its 
value having been probably ascertained during some of 
those less alarming periods of this sickness which occa- 
