The ancient Greeks held the Peony in great repute, believing its origin to have been divine. It was thought to have been an emanation from the moon, and that the flower shone during the night, chased away evil spirits, and protected the dwellings of those who cultivated it. Hence, in later days, it came to be ranked as a miraculous plant; and it was thought that evil spirits would shun the spot where it was planted, and that even a small piece of the root, worn round the neck as an amulet, would protect the wearer from all kinds of enchantment. To this day, in Sussex, necklaces of beads turned from the Peony-root are worn by young children, to prevent convulsions and assist them in teething. Apuleius states that the Peony is a powerful remedy for insanity. Lord Bacon tells us, in his ‘Natural History,’ that “it hath beene long received, and confirmed by divers trialls, that the root of the male Piony dried, tied to the necke, doth help the falling sicknesse, and likewise the incubus, which we call the Mare. The cause of both these diseases, and especially of the epilepsie from the stomach, is the grossenesse of the vapours, which rise and enter into the cells of the braine; and therefore the working is by extreme and subtill alternation, which that simple hath.”——In Germany, the Peony is the Pentecostal Rose.——Astrologers say that both male and female Peonies are herbs of the Sun, and under the Lion.
PERIWINKLE.—In France, the Periwinkle is considered the emblem of the pleasures of memory and sincere friendship, probably in allusion to Rousseau’s recollection of his friend Madame de Warens, occasioned, after a lapse of thirty years, by the sight of the Periwinkle in flower, which they had once admired together.——In Italy, garlands of Periwinkle are placed upon the biers of deceased children, for which reason the plant has acquired the name of the Flower of Death; but in Germany it becomes the symbol of immortality.——Culpeper, in his ‘Herbal,’ says that the Periwinkle is owned by Venus, and that the leaves eaten together by man and wife, cause love between them.
PESTILENCE WEED.—The Butterbur Coltsfoot (Tussilago Petasites) obtained the name of Pestilence Weed from its having in olden times been held in great repute as a sovereign remedy for the plague and pestilent fever.
PHYTOLACCA.—A species of Phytolacca found by M. Lévy in Nicaragua in 1876, and named by him P. electrica, may well be called the electrifying plant. The discoverer, when gathering a branch, experienced a veritable electric shock. Experimenting with a compass, he found the needle was agitated at a distance of eight paces, and became more so the nearer he approached; the action changing to a rapid gyratory motion when he finally placed the compass in the midst of the shrub. There was nothing in the soil to account for what may be termed the “shocking” proclivities of the shrub, which are slight in the night-time, becoming gradually intensified until about two o’clock p.m. In stormy weather, the intensity of action is increased, and the plant presents a withered appearance until the fall of rain. Neither insect nor bird was seen by M. Lévy to approach this terrible shrub.
Pick-purse, or Pick-pocket.—
(See [Shepherd’s Purse]).
PIMPERNEL.—The scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) is well known as the Poor Man’s Weather-glass, or Shepherd’s Barometer; both names having been given on account of the plant invariably closing its petals before and during rain. Darwin alludes to this peculiarity of the Pimpernel in the following lines:—
“Closed is the pink-eyed Pimpernel;
In fiery red the sun doth rise,
Then wades through clouds to mount the skies;