the offer, and stipulated that the trees should be blighted on the 17th,
18th, and 19th May. Should the apple-blossom be nipped by cold winds
or frost about this time, many allusions are still made to St. Dunstan.
Of the plants associated personally with the evil one may be
mentioned the henbane, which is known in Germany as the "devil's eye,"
a name applied to the stich-wort in Wales. A species of ground moss is
also styled in Germany the "devil's claws;" one of the orchid tribe is
"Satan's hand;" the lady's fingers is "devil's claws," and the plantain is
"devil's head." Similarly the house-leek has been designated the "devil's
beard," and a Norfolk name for the stinkhorn is "devil's horn." Of further
plants related to his Satanic majesty is the clematis, termed "devil's
thread," the toad-flax is his ribbon, the indigo his dye, while the scandix
forms his darning-needles. The tritoma, with its brilliant red blossom, is
familiar in most localities as the "devil's poker," and the ground ivy has
been nicknamed the "devil's candlestick," the mandrake supplying his
candle. The puff-balls of the lycoperdon form the devil's snuff-box, and
in Ireland the nettle is his apron, and the convolvulus his garter; while at
Iserlohn, in Germany,[7] "the mothers, to deter their children eating the
mulberries, sing to them that the devil requires them for the purpose of
blacking his boots." The Arum maculatum is "devil's ladies and
gentlemen," and the Ranunculus arvensis is the "devil on both sides."
The vegetable kingdom also has been equally mindful of his majesty's
food, the spurge having long been named "devil's milk" and the briony
the "devil's cherry." A species of fungus, known with us as "witches'
butter," is called in Sweden "devil's butter," while one of the popular
names for the mandrake is "devil's food." The hare-parsley supplies him
with oatmeal, and the stichwort is termed in the West of England "devil's
corn." Among further plants associated with his Satanic majesty may be
enumerated the garden fennel, or love-in-a-mist, to which the name of
"devil-in-a-bush" has been applied, while the fruit of the deadly
nightshade is commonly designated "devil's berries." Then there is the
"devil's tree," and the "devil's dung" is one of the nicknames of the
assafoetida. The hawk-weed, like the scabious, was termed "devil's bit,"
because the root looks as if it had been bitten off. According to an old
legend, "the root was once longer, until the devil bit away the rest for
spite, for he needed it not to make him sweat who is always tormented
with fear of the day of judgment." Gerarde further adds that, "The devil
did bite it for envy, because it is an herb that hath so many great virtues,
and is so beneficial to mankind." A species of ranunculus supplies his
coach-wheels, and in some parts of the country ferns are said to supply
his brushes. His majesty's wants, therefore, have been amply provided
for by the vegetable kingdom, for even the wild garlic affords him a
posy[8]. Once more, in Sweden, a rose-coloured flower, known as "Our
Lady's hand," "has two roots like hands, one white, the other black, and
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