o 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 to some old writers, the black briony went by
this name, and Hare gives this explanation:--"'Our Lady's seal'
(_Sigillum marioe_) is among the names of the black briony, owing to the
great efficacy of its roots when spread in a plaster and applied as it
were to heal up a scar or bruise." Formerly a species of primula was
known as "lady's candlestick," and a Wil