Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-09-26

QUEER STORIES CONCERNING THE MYSTIC
PLANTS OF HISTORY AND TRADITION.
From the New York Evening Post
"You would be surprised" said florist, s'to
know how many people believe in these super
stitions concerning flowers Buttercups are
always in demand, not only to find out whether
you love butter or not, but the young ladies
claim that they can tell whether their SWANS
are faithful or otherwise by making them look
at the flower. Then, even you would not have
the temerity to doubt the good fortune that
This reverence for flowers is found in all coun-
tries. In Hindu mythology the five flowers of
love stand out prominently. Kamadeva is
their Cupid, and he is supposed to have tipped
each one of his arrows with these flowers, most
OF which can be seen in private collections in
and about New York. They are the champa, the
mango, the bulla, the clearing nut flower and
the white nagkesur. Still another plant con-
nected with the God of Love here is the screw
pine.
Here is a leaf of the lotos," continued the
ootanist; and, perhaps no plant has figured
more prominently, at least in the east, than
this There are. however, two kinds-the lotos
OF the Nile and that of India. The former is the
one that figures in all the delineations of an
Gent Egyptian life. The flower is exceedingly
beautiful, the petals being pure white and very
numerous. The Indian lOtOS is equally sacred
in China and Ceylon, and is the one that is SO
often represented as the floating shell of Vishnu
1t is used in decorations in innumerable ways:
the temples and affairs of Thibet especially,
being embelished with 1t. Sir w. Jones SAYS
that when he had some specimens of the plant
lying on his table awaiting examination a ma
tive OF Nepaul happened TO enter and Observ-
s sef the n0~er' Immediately Frustrated him.
Here" said the speaker, taking up a bulb
that might have passed onion, ''is the
daftodil or narcissus. Everybody knows how
the youthful Narcissus, who became enamored
with his face in the water, killed himself, and
his blood changed into this beautiful flower
Roses came from the blood of Adonis, and to
the tears OF Venus, shed over his body, we owe
the anemone or wind-fOwer
From every drop that pours upon the ground:
Where streams his blood there blushng springs the
rose.
And where q tear has dropped. wind flower blows
"The superstitiOns regarding plants to-day are
very many. Take the mandrake as an example
the most remarkable of them all. The ideas
concerning the mandrake differ in different
countries; thus in Germany and France it is
believed that the mandrake grows only where
criminals have been; consequently they are
spots where murders have been committed In
many old works can be found letters from per-
sons who have used the mandrake and received
change OF luck. To-day pieces of mandrake
carried about by the superstitious to pre-
vent them from dreaming, and to insure them
good luck as long as worm
come here in good faith and ask what plants
bring the best luck. Colored people have a
number OF plants that are considered sover-
eign preventives of witchcraft. This is only
another form OF superstition held by majority
OF the early settlers of this country. The st.
Johns wort (hypericum), il collected on the
night of st. John Baptist day, was considered a
just as many people hang hOrseshOes, for good
luck. To gather fernseed on Midsummer's Eve
was thought good luck.
are told are legion. You remember in Faust
by one, saying softly: He loves me, he loves me
not exactly as you see young ladies doing to-
and that Of cracking flowers can be traced at
least to the time of ThaOcritus."