St. Nicholas/Volume 40/Number 1/Nature and Science/Plants

Legends about plants

In early times, certain trees were invested by human beings with a mystic or a sacred character, and many plants were associated with religious beliefs. One of the best examples of the last is the passion-flower. When the early Spanish settlers in South America saw this flower, they fancied that they had discovered a marvelous symbol of the crucifixion, and they devoutly believed that it was an assurance of the ultimate triumph of Christianity. One of their writers, Jacomo Bosio, according to “The Folk-Lore of Plants,” obtained detailed knowledge of how the Mexicans regarded it, and gave a minute description of the blossom.
The passion-flower.

The ten colored petals and sepals represent the ten apostles present at the crucifixion (Peter and Judas being absent).

Inside the corolla is a showy crown of filaments, by some taken to represent the crown of thorns, by others the halo.

It is interesting, in the study of plant life, to note the extent to which various peoples have assigned to plants qualities and meanings that existed only in their own ideas or beliefs. Some of these have been beneficial, as, for example, the idea that a tree has a soul, and for that reason should not be cut down, lest one should hear “the wailing of the trees when they suffer in this way.” It might be a good thing if certain people, nowadays, had such beliefs as would lead them to treat considerately not only trees and plants, but birds and four-footed animals as well.