makes the common fern (Polypodium vulgare) to have sprung from the
Virgin's milk.
Numerous flowers have been identified with her dress, such as the
marigold, termed by Shakespeare "Mary-bud," which she wore in her
bosom. The cuckoo-flower of our meadows is "Our Lady's smock,"
which Shakespeare refers to in those charming lines in "Love's Labour's
Lost," where:--
"When daisies pied and violets blue,
And lady's smocks all silver white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then on every tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo."
And one of the finest of our orchids is "Our Lady's slipper." The
ribbon grass is "Our Lady's garters," and the dodder supplies her "laces."
In the same way many flowers have been associated with the Virgin
herself. Thus, there is "Our Lady's tresses," and a popular name for the
maiden-hair fern and quaking-grass is "Virgin's hair." The lilies of the
valley are her tears, and a German nickname for the lungwort is "Our
Lady's milk-wort." The Anthlyllis vulneraria is "Our Lady's fingers," and
the kidney-wort has been designated "lady's navel." Certain orchids,
from the peculiar form of their hand-shaped roots, have been popularly
termed "Our Lady's hands," a name given in France to the dead-nettle.
Of the many other plants dedicated to the Virgin may be mentioned
the snowdrop, popularly known as the "fair maid of February," opening
its floweret at the time of Candlemas. According to an old monkish
tradition it blooms at this time, in memory of the Virgin having taken the
child Jesus to the temple, and there presented her offering. A further
reason for the snowdrop's association with the Virgin originated in the
custom of removing her image from the altar on the day of the
Purification, and strewing over the vacant place with these emblems of
purity. The bleeding nun (Cyclamen europoeum) was consecrated to the
Virgin, and in France the spearmint is termed "Our Lady's mint." In
Germany the costmary (Costaminta vulgaris) is "Our Lady's balsam," the
white-flowered wormwood the "smock of our Lady," and in olden days
the iris or fleur-de-lis was held peculiarly sacred.
The little pink is "lady's cushion," and the campanula is her looking-
glass. Then there is "Our Lady's comb," with its long, fragile seed-vessels
resembling the teeth of a comb, while the cowslip is "Our Lady's bunch
of keys." In France, the digitalis supplies her with gloves, and in days
gone by the Convallaria polygonatum was the "Lady's seal." According