hat 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
when both are placed in water the black one will sink, this is called
'Satan's hand;' but the white one, called 'Mary's hand,' will float."[9]
Hence this flower is held in deep and superstitious veneration among the
peasantry; and in Crete the basil is considered an emblem of the devil,
and is placed on most window-ledges, no doubt as a charm.

Some plants, again, have been used for exorcism from their reputed
antagonism to all Satanic influence. Thus the avens or herb-bennett,
when kept in a house, was believed to render the devil powerless, and
the Greeks of old were in the habit of placing a laurel bough over their
doorways to kee