Plants—Vegetable Monstrosities—Plants bearing Inscriptions and Figures—Miraculous Plants—The Tree of St. Thomas—The Withered Tree of the Sun—The Tree of Tiberias—Father Garnet’s Straw

116 CHAPTER XII. PLANTS CONNECTED WITH BIRDS AND ANIMALS.—Seed-sowing Birds—Birds as Almanacks—The Cuckoo and the Cherry Tree—Augury by Cock and Barley—The Nightingale and the Rose—The Robin and the Thorn—The Missel-Thrush and Mistletoe—The Swallow and Celandine—The Hawk and Hawkweed—Life-giving Herb—The Woodpecker and the Peony—The Spring-wort and the Birds—Choughs and Olives—Herb of the Blessed Virgin Mary—The Eyebright and Birds—Plants named after Birds and Animals 136 CHAPTER XIII. THE DOCTRINE OF PLANT SIGNATURES.—Illustrations and Examples of the Signatures and Characterisms of Plants—The Diseases Cured by Herbs—General Rules of the System of Plant Signatures supposed to Reveal the Occult Powers and Virtues of Vegetables—Plants Identified with the Various Portions of the Human Body—The Old Herbals and Herbalists—Extraordinary Properties attributed to Herbs 154 CHAPTER XIV. PLANTS AND THE PLANETS.—When to Pluck Herbs—The Plants of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon—Sun Flowers—The Influence of the Moon on Plants—Times and Seasons to Sow and Plant—The Moon and Gardening Operations—The Moon-Tree—Plants of the Moon-Goddesses—The Man in the Moon 164 CHAPTER XV. PLANT SYMBOLISM AND LANGUAGE.—Plant Emblems of the Ancients—The Science of Plant Symbolism—Floral Symbols of the Scriptures—The Passion Flower, or Flower of the Five Wounds—Mediæval Plant Symbolism—Floral Emblems of Shakspeare—The Language of Flowers—Floral Vocabulary of the Greeks and Romans—A Dictionary of Flowers—Floral Divination 176 CHAPTER XVI. FUNERAL PLANTS.—The Ancient Death-Gods—The Elysian Fields—Death Trees—Funereal Trees—Aloe, Yew, Cypress, Bay, Arbor-Vitæ, Walnut, Mountain Ash, Tamarisk—The Decorations of Tombs—Flowers at Funerals—Old English Burial Customs—Funeral Pyres—Embalming—Mummies—Plants as Death Portents