Oxford Dictionary of Plant-Lore

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