15. Fraser's Magazine, 1870, p. 714.
16. "Flower-lore," p. 14.
17. "Flower-lore," p. 14.
18. Quarterly Review, cxiv. 233; "Flower-lore," p. 15.
19. See Baring-Gould's "Myths of the Middle Ages."
20. "Flower-lore," p. 12.
21. See chapter on Folk-Medicine.
CHAPTER XX.
PLANT SUPERSTITIONS.
The superstitious notions which, under one form or another, have clustered round the vegetable kingdom, hold a prominent place in the field of folk-lore. To give a full and detailed account of these survivals of bygone beliefs, would occupy a volume of no mean size, so thickly scattered are they among the traditions and legendary lore of almost every country. Only too frequently, also, we find the same superstition assuming a very different appearance as it travels from one country to another, until at last it is almost completely divested of its original dress. Repeated changes of this kind, whilst not escaping the notice of the student of comparative folk-lore, are apt to mislead the casual observer who, it may be, assigns to them a particular home in his own country, whereas probably they have travelled, before arriving at their modern destination, thousands of miles in the course of years.