The mistletoe, which exists now as a mere parasite, was before the crucifixion a fine forest tree; its present condition being a lasting monument of the disgrace it incurred through its ignominious use. [19] A further legend informs us that when the Jews were in search of wood for the cross, every tree, with the exception of the oak, split itself to avoid being desecrated.  On this account, Grecian woodcutters avoid the oak, regarding it as an accursed tree.

The bright blue blossoms of the speedwell, which enliven our wayside hedges in spring-time, are said to display in their markings a representation of the kerchief of St Veronica, imprinted with the features of Christ. [20] According to an old tradition, when our Lord was on His way to Calvary, bearing His Cross, He happened to pass by the door of Veronica, who, beholding the drops of agony on His brow, wiped His face with a kerchief or napkin.  The sacred features, however, remained impressed upon the linen, and from the fancied resemblance of the blossom of the speedwell to this hallowed relic, the plant was named Veronica.

A plant closely connected by tradition with the crucifixion is the passion-flower.  As soon as the early Spanish settlers in South America first glanced on it, they fancied they had discovered not only a marvellous symbol of Christ’s passion, but received an assurance of the ultimate triumph of Christianity.  Jacomo Bosio, who obtained his knowledge of it from certain Mexican Jesuits, speaks of it as “the flower of the five wounds,” and has given a very minute description of it, showing how exactly every part is a picture of the mysteries of the Passion.  “It would seem,” he adds, “as if the Creator of the world had chosen it to represent the principal emblems of His Son’s Passion; so that in due season it might assist, when its marvels should be explained to them, in the condition of the heathen people, in whose country it grew.”  In Brittany, vervain is popularly termed the “herb of the cross,” and when gathered with a certain formula is efficacious in curing wounds. [21]

In legendary lore, much uncertainty exists as to the tree on which Judas hanged himself.  According to Sir John Maundeville, there it stood in the vicinity of Mount Sion, “the tree of eldre, that Judas henge himself upon, for despeyr,” a legend which has been popularly received.  Shakespeare, in his “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” says “Judas was hanged on an elder,” and the story is further alluded to in Piers Plowman’s vision:—­

  “Judas, he japed
  With Jewen silver,
  And sithen on an eller,
  Hanged himselve.”

Gerarde makes it the wild carob, a tree which, as already stated, was formerly known as “St. John’s bread,” from a popular belief that the Baptist fed upon it while in the wilderness.  A Sicilian tradition identifies the tree as a tamarisk, and a Russian proverb, in allusion to the aspen, tells us “there is an accursed tree which trembles without even a breath of wind.”  The fig, also, has been mentioned as the ill-fated tree, and some traditions have gone so far as to say that it was the very same one as was cursed by our Lord.