Personality of plants

by Royal Dixon; Franklyn Everett Fitch

For many years, man has instinctively been aware of this psychic superiority of the members of the vegetable kingdom, and has gone to them for advice in various troubles and difficulties, even sometimes believing the plants to have a direct control over the affairs and lives of men. While the great mass of such alleged influence is classed by modern thought as merest superstition, who can say that the wildest of these fancies does not contain certain germs of truth? At any rate, a brief investigation of some of the more popular beliefs of former years is very illuminating.

In ancient days, many flowers and plants were supposed to possess the power of discovering the location of lost or hidden riches and conducting a human searcher to them. The Germans named the Primrose Schlüsselblume, or key-flower, in the belief that, if held in the hand, it would unlock to its possessor the location of buried treasure by some movement or other manifestation. To this day, many country people in Europe and America have implicit faith in the ability of the divining rod to seek out underground water. There are many enlightened folk who claim that reported successes of this method of picking well-sites are mere coincidences, but in view of the wide-spread reliance on this theory which is constantly meeting the most practical tests, would it not be open-minded to suggest that possibly the branches of the rod do make some slight movement toward the hidden water with which they have a natural affinity?

As mentioned in a previous chapter, young people through all ages have gone to flowers for counsel when in love. The most frequent masculine question has been “Does she love me?” The flowers have given the answer in a variety of ways, most often by the number of their petals. The query of the very young girl usually has been “Will I be married?” and she has been sure to see that the reply is most often in the affirmative. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon tells Puck to lay Pansies on Titania’s eyes in order that she may fall in love with the first person she sees upon awakening.

There was a time when people placed great reliance upon the efficacy of dreams. Plants seen in dreams always had special significance. Among the various omens, general good fortune was indicated by Palms, Olives, Jessamines, Lilies, Laurels, Thistles, Currants and Roses. When flowers or fruit of the Plum, Cherry, Cypress and Dandelion appeared, misfortune was indicated. Withered Roses foretold especially dire events. “Nobody is fond of fading flowers.” A four-leaved Clover put under a pillow induced dreams of one’s lover. In parts of South America, the natives are said to smoke and eat certain intoxicating plants in the hope that they may see visions in the resulting narcotic dreams.

Plants have not been the cause of very many ghost stories, but occasionally one hears of some mysterious night adventure of which some plant is the central figure.

The Reverend S. H. Wainright of Japan tells a somewhat amusing tale of a ghost scare he and his family had while living at Tsukiji, Tokio. One evening, while sitting around the fire, they were considerably disturbed by a weird and recurring sound which seemed to come from the front yard. At first they took it for the creaking of a bamboo gate, then for boys throwing pebbles, but neither of these explanations seemed adequate. Finally, continual repetitions led to a search which located the noises in a Wistaria arbour near the front fence. On near approach, the loud taps sounded so much like stones striking the leaves, that it was decided to take no further notice of the matter. However, the problem weighed on Mr. Wainright’s mind, and he and his son at length sallied forth a third time, determined with Aristotle that the main thing was to know the causes.

“We entered the side yard through the bamboo gate and approached the Wistaria. Underneath the Trellis arbour there were dark shadows and outlines were indistinct. A Palmyra Palm was growing in the corner of the fence under the arbour, and the fingers of one of the leaves pointing downward seemed to be the hand of a man. When expectation is running high, a fingered palm leaf may easily become the hand of a human being or of a shadowy ghost. We had the electric burners brought to the windows upstairs and the light thrown toward the arbour, and the shadows cast by the electric rays rendered the situation all the more mysterious.

“The noises were plainly among the Wistaria vines. But, strange to say, the stones which seemed to be striking the vines came from no particular direction. They seemed to burst like shells the minute they struck and the pieces were heard to fall or strike in different directions. By this time the thought of ghosts had not only occurred to us but was gaining force in our minds. Indeed, a first-rate romance was developing—subjectively, I should no doubt add.”

Again the party abandoned the quest, returned to their fireside, but could not rest content. “With a heroic determination of will, I declared that I would again go in search of the causes and not return until the secret had been found out. The lights were held by those who remained indoors at the upstairs windows. Two of us approached through the side yard the place of mystery. Step by step we advanced, stopping at intervals to listen. We could see nothing, but the noises we heard were unmistakable. There could be no deception as to their reality. Step by step, we drew nearer, peering in the meanwhile into the dark shadows beneath the Wistaria. The nearer we came to the arbour, the greater was the sense of mystery which possessed us. The noises were weird and inexplicable. As we came near, a discovery was made which excited us still more. After the explosion of the shells, white sabers seemed to fall upon the ground. Were the ghosts in battle? What could it all mean?

“Loyal to the heroic determination to go straight to the seat of the trouble, I walked beneath the Wistaria arbour feeling an atmosphere charged with electricity as I went. We stood side by side looking about and waiting, when suddenly a Fuji pod exploded before our eyes. The seeds flew in different directions and the divided halves of the pod fell to the ground and lay like sabers dropped in the attack of battle. When the discovery was made, one of us called out to the upstairs window that it was the explosion of the Wistaria pods that caused the noises. There was a general laugh and the ghosts disappeared. Not affected by rain or darkness, by heat or cold, by human foot-steps or voice, there is one thing ghosts cannot endure; to be laughed at literally slays them.”