April 02, 2025
SAINTS’ PLANTS
In monastic days, certain plants received the names of saints either from some peculiarity in their structure, or from their association with the objects of which the saint whose name the particular plant bore was patron. Thus St. Anthony, the patron saint of pigs, gave his name to the Bunium flexuosum (St. Anthony’s Nut), and the Ranunculus bulbosus (St. Anthony’s Rape). St. James’s-wort was so called because it was used for the diseases of horses, of which the saint was patron. St. Thomas, St. Christopher, and St. Benedict have each given their names to plants. The Nigella Damascena is St. Katherine’s Flower, from its resemblance to her wheel. The Saxifraga umbrosa obtained the name of St. Patrick’s Cabbage because it grew in the West of Ireland, where St. Patrick lived. The Primula veris is St. Peter’s-wort from its resemblance to a bunch of keys. Most of these saintly names were, however, given to the plants because their day of flowering is connected with the feast day of the saint. Hence Hypericum quadrangulare is the St. Peter’s-wort of the modern floras, from its flowering on the twenty-ninth of June; Hypericum perforatum is St. John’s-wort, being gathered to scare away demons on St. John’s Eve; Barbarea vulgaris, growing in the winter, is St. Barbara’s-cress, her day being the fourth of December, old style; and Centaurea solstitialis derives its specific Latin name, as well as its popular name, St. Barnaby’s Thistle, from its flourishing on the longest day, the eleventh of June, old style, which is now the twenty-second.