same
mystic property may be mentioned the sow-thistle, which, when invoked,
discloses hidden treasures. In Sicily a branch of the pomegranate tree
is considered to be a most effectual means of ascertaining the
whereabouts of concealed wealth. Hence it has been invested with an
almost reverential awe, and has been generally employed when search has
been made for some valuable lost property. In Silesia, Thuringia, and
Bohemia the mandrake is, in addition to its many mystic properties,
connected with the idea of hidden treasures.

Numerous plants are said to be either lucky or the reverse, and hence
have given rise to all kinds of odd beliefs, some of which still survive
in our midst, having come down from a remote period.

There is in many places a curious antipathy to uprooting the house-leek,
some persons even disliking to let it blossom, and a similar prejudice
seems to have existed against the cuckoo-flower, for, if found
accidentally inverted in a May garland, it was at once destroyed. In
Prussia it is regarded as ominous for a bride to plant myrtle, although
in this country it has the reputation of being a lucky plant. According
to a Somersetshire saying, "The flowering myrtle is the luckiest plant
to have in your window, water it every morning, and be proud of it." We
may note here that there are many odd beliefs connected with the myrtle.
"Speaking to a lady," says a correspondent of the _Athenaeum_ (Feb. 5,
1848), "of the difficulty which I had always found in getting a slip of
myrtle to grow, she directly accounted for my failure by observing that
perhaps I had not spread the tail or skirt of my dress, and looked proud
during the time I was planting it. It is a popular belief in
Somersetshire that unless a slip of myrtle is so planted, it will never
take root." The deadly nightshade is a plant of ill omen, and Gerarde
describing it says, "if you will follow my counsel, deal not with the
same in any case, and banish it from your gardens, and the use of it
also, being a plant so furious and deadly; for it bringeth such as have
eaten thereof into a dead sleep, wherein many have died." There is a
strong prejudice to sowing parsley, and equally a great dislike to
transplanting it, the latter notion being found in South America.
Likewise, according to a Devonshire belief, it is highly unlucky to
plant a bed of lilies of the valley, as the person doing so will
probably die in the course of the next twelve months.

T