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Show EVERY FLOWER HAS A STORY ALL ITS 0WN THE MANDRAKE. Rarity is tlie significance of the man dr;:Ue in the language of tlowcr?. Many uncanny and unpleasant super lii i Nik .re associated with this flow er It was said that it grew only near gallows or criminals' graves. Shrieked aad Groaned A superstition thr.t war. current in ancient times war. that the plant pav riT' Ii terrible fhrick.; and groans tha' were almoal human, when it was salh-erod, salh-erod, and that any person hearing them would die immediately. It was a custom, cus-tom, therefore, to gather the plant?, which had great value medicinally, by tying theui to the tail of a dog and driving him on. The humans stuffeu their cars up carefully, but the dot; would fall dead when the plant emitted emit-ted the ghastly shrieks The juice of the plant was used for eye diseases, as a narcotic and for love potions. It was said, however, that the odor would make persons dumb if it was 'nl.aled to excess. Charms Against Tvll In the middle ages. 111 tie idols carved fiom the roots of mandrakes were used as charms against all evil This plant is sometimes called devil's dev-il's candle because of the luminous quality of its leaves ;:t night. Many of the uncanny superstitionr. wrre still current in recent centuries. The murder of a French nobleman was attributed to his having broken a con tract with the devil Two mandrakes of extraordinary beaut) were found tn his looms, and his friends considered this Conclusive evidence of his com-pat com-pat I v. Hu tho de il |