Hemlock, Henbane, Adder’s-tongue.”
—Ben Jonson.
Astrologers place Henbane under the rule of Saturn.
HENNA.—In the Canticles, the royal poet says: “My beloved is unto me as a cluster of Camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.” The Camphire mentioned here, and in other parts of Scripture, is the same shrub which the Arabs call Henna (Lawsonia inermis), the leaves of which are still used by women in the East to impart a ruddy tint to the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet. Throughout Egypt, India, Persia, Arabia, and Greece, it is held in universal estimation for its beauty and sweet perfume. Mohammed pronounced it the chief of the sweet-scented flowers of this world and of the next. In Egypt, the flowers are sold in the street, the vendor calling out as he proceeds—“O, odours of Paradise! O flowers of the Henna!” The Egyptian women obtain from the powdered leaves a paste, with which they stain their fingers and feet an orange colour that will last for several weeks. This they esteem an ornament. Gerarde describes the Henna, or Henne-bush, as a kind of Privet, which in his day grew in Syria near the city Ascalon, and he says “Bellonius writeth that not onely the haire, but also the nether parts of man’s body, and nailes likewise, are colored and died herewith, which is counted an ornament among the Turks.”——The Hindus call the Henna-flower Mindi, and the females, like the Egyptians, employ it to colour their nails, fingers, and the soles of their feet an orange hue. The miraculous stone, which they call Gauri, or Parvati, received its name and its ruddy colour from being touched by the foot of the divine wife of Siva, which had previously been stained with the juice of Mindi. Henna-flowers are of a pale yellow tint, and emit a sweet perfume; they are made into garlands by the Hindus, and offered to travellers in official ceremonies; thus we read that at the reception of M. Rousselet by the King of Gwalior, the ceremony concluded by the guests being decked with garlands of Henna-flowers, placed around their necks and hands. An extract prepared from these flowers is employed in religious ceremonies.
HERB BENNETT.—The Avens, Herb Bennett, or Herba Benedicta (Geum urbanum), occurs as an architectural decoration towards the end of the thirteenth century, and is found associated with old church paintings. The Holy Trinity and the five wounds of our Lord are thought to be symbolised in its trefoiled leaf and the five golden petals of its blossom. The flower has several rural names, such as Star of the Earth, Goldy-flower, and Blessed Herb (a translation of the Latin Herba Benedicta, of which Herb Bennett is simply a corruption). This last name was given to it from an ancient belief that when the root is in the house, the Devil is powerless and flies from it; wherefore it was considered blessed above all herbs. Herb Bennett was also reported to be hostile to all venomous beasts: if grown in a garden, no such creature would approach within scent of it, and the root carried about the person of any man ensured his immunity from the attacks of monsters or reptiles.——Formerly, the appellation Herba Benedicta, was applied not only to the Avens, but also to the Hemlock and the Valerian. Dr. Prior remarks that “in point of fact the proper name of these plants was not Herba Benedicta, but Sti. Benedicti herba, St. Benedict’s herb (German, Sanct Benedicten-kraut), and was assigned to such as were supposed to be antidotes, in allusion to a legend of St. Benedict, which represents that, upon his blessing a cup of poisoned wine which a monk had given to destroy him, the glass was shivered to pieces.”——By astrologers, Avens is deemed a herb of Jupiter.
HERB CARPENTER.—The Prunella vulgaris, from its efficacy in healing wounds inflicted by chisels, sickles, and other sharp instruments used by working-men, was formerly known as Herb Carpenter, Sickle-wood, and Hook-weed, as well as by the name it is still called by—Self-heal.——It is a herb of Venus.
HERB CHRISTOPHER.—The name of Herb Christopher is applied by Gerarde to a species of Aconite, and to the Osmund Fern. Parkinson gives the Baneberry the same title.
HERB GERARD.—Aishweed, Gout-wort, or Herb Gerard (Ægopodium Podagraria), was named after St. Gerard, who used to be invoked against the gout, a disease for which this plant was highly esteemed as a remedy.
Herb Impious.—See [Everlasting Flower].
HERB MARGARET.—The Daisy (Bellis perennis) was also formerly called Herba Margarita, Herb Margaret, or Marguerite (French). The flower is erroneously supposed to have been named after the virtuous St. Margaret of Antioch, “Maid Margarete, that was so meeke and milde”—who was invoked because in her martyrdom she prayed for lying-in women; whereas it derives its name from St. Margaret of Cortona. (See [Marguerite]).