Originally published in 1911, this early work by Charles M. Skinner is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. It delves deep into the mythology of the natural world and uncovers legends of times long forgotton. This is a fascinating work and highly recommended for all folklore enthusiasts. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

When the legends and fables of simpler times pertain to trees and flowers, they are especially luminative of the mental processes of unschooled men; for the vegetable world has changed little in three thousand years, and the marks and colors that explain some beliefs are still impressed on the leaves and petals. The sjrtnbolism adopted therefrom is wide in meaning, and to this day is in common use. It is poetic, hence it appeals to every intelligence; for while we affect to prize poetry for its beauty, to the savage it was native speech, inasmuch as his vocabulary was allegoric-a humanization of the skies, the sunsets, the storms, the flowers. "We sometimes hear that ours is a material, dull age, yet we perpetuate terms and usances which ally us to the childhood of the race, and which stand for imagination and sheer loveliness. We still speak of laureled brows, palms of victory, the rose of beauty, the lily of purity, the oak of strength, willowy grace, fig-trees of shelter, and corn of abundance; we extend the olive branch of peace, we put our legs under our host's mahogany, we indicate poison by nightshade and toadstools, and health by flowers and fruits. Though Bacchus is no longer with us, we emblemize him MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF FLOWERS, ETC...

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"Myths and Legends of Flowers, Trees, Fruits, and Plants" is one of the most valuable botanical folkloric works ever penned. It contains a wealth of information on species considered of legendary import in antiquity (especially in Egypt and Rome) as well as within Arthurian legend and the then-modern folklore of Europe and the Americas.From the tale of Saint Patrick converting Ireland by using the shamrock to illustrate the trinity, to tragic tales of unrequited love, this book contains a dense compilation of botanical lore and is as much worth reading for its treatment of fun and fiction as of spiritual or medicinal literature.