T HIS emblem of concealed love does not bloom until the 
second year, but, like the pure passion which it typifies, 
only blossoms once. In the ordinary kinds of Motherwort the 
flowers are pale red, but in the curled they are of a white as 
pure as the love they emblemize. 
In China and Japan the motherwort is held in great esti¬ 
mation, and in Shoberl’s translation from the French of Tit- 
singh’s “ Illustrations of Japan,” the following reasons for their 
admiration are given. Formerly there was a village situated 
in the province of Nanyo-no-rekken, in Japan, noted for its pro¬ 
fusion of motherwort flowers. The neighbourhood also boasted 
of a stream of particularly pure water, which constituted the 
ordinary beverage of the villagers, a hardy race, who lived 
generally to upwards of a hundred years of age. The prolonged 
existence of these villagers in course of time was ascribed to 
the adjacent flowers, and eventually the motherwort acquired 
so great a reputation for lengthening one’s life, that not only 
was a medicinal drink, called zakki, prepared from its blossoms, 
but the ninth month of the year, when the flower attained its 
perfection, was named after it, and on the ninth day of that 
month a grand festival is held annually in its honour. The 
aforementioned zakki is a common beverage in Japan, but 
there is a superior kind of it made, which is much drunk in 
the Court of the Dairi, as the ecclesiastical ruler of that em¬ 
pire is sometimes called. The presentation of a cup of this 
liquid, accompanied by a bunch of moonwort, is stated to im¬ 
ply that you are wished a long life. Several Chinese authors, 
it is said, relate that once upon a time an emperor ascended 
the throne of the Celestials when only seven years of age. 
