POLYPODIUM.—According to a German tradition, the Polypodium vulgare sprang from the milk that the goddess Freyja, and after her the Virgin Mary, let fall on the earth.
POMEGRANATE.—The fruit of the Pomegranate has always been highly prized in the East. Rapin says of it:—
“Succeeding fruit attend the blossoms’ fall,
Each represents a crown upon a ball;
A thousand seeds with Tyrian scarlet dyed,
And ranged by nature’s art in cells they hide.”
The Pomegranate was one of the plants assigned to Bacchus, and the origin of the tree is said to be due to a nameless nymph, beloved by Bacchus, to whom a priest had foretold that she should wear a crown. Bacchus kept the letter, but not the spirit of this prophecy,
for, instead of espousing the betrayed maiden, he transformed her into a Pomegranate-tree, and twisted up the calyx of the blossom into the crown-like form it has ever since retained. Rapin relates the story as follows:—
“The story’s short how first this fruit obtained
A graceful crown, and was with purple stained.