Oxford Dictionary of Plant-Lore (Oxford Paperback Reference) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192800531 ISBN 13: 9780192800534

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Why do the Welsh wear a daffodil on St. David's Day and the Irish a shamrock for St. Patrick? Why do we send flowers to weddings and funerals or kiss under the mistletoe? From elderflower tea (`a universal panacea') to lesser yellow trefoil (the true shamrock), from corn dollies and crop circles to plants which forecast the weather (pennywort and scarlet pimpernel), this dictionary is a vivid and colorful account of British and Irish plant-lore.

* Superstitions and herbal remedies, to folk song and children's games

* Folk-names in use today never previously recorded

About this title

About the Author:

Roy Vickery has worked at the Natural History Museum in London, where he is Curator of Flowering Plants, since 1965. He has written extensively on the folklore of plants and is an active member of a number of societies, including the Botanical Society of the British Isles, and the Society for Folklife Studies. He was Honorary Secretary of the Folklore Society from 1980 to 1989.

Review:

"In a logical world, our readiness to believe in the magical and therapeutic qualities of everyday plants would diminish as scientific knowledge grows. Roy Vickery, the curator of flowering plants at the Natural History Museum, shows that this is not so, by producing an extraordinary compendium of traditional beliefs, laying emphasis on those current today, or within living memory." --Country Life

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0192800531
• ISBN 13: 9780192800534
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464
• Editor: Vickery Roy