CHAPTER VI.
PLANTS IN DEMONOLOGY.
The association of certain plants with the devil forms an extensive and important division in their folk-lore, and in many respects is closely connected with their mystic history.

It is by no means easy always to account for some of our most beautiful flowers having Satanic surroundings, although frequently the explanation must be sought in their poisonous and deadly qualities.

In some cases, too, the student of comparative mythology may trace their evil reputation to those early traditions which were the expressions of certain primitive beliefs, the survivals of which nowadays are found in many an apparently meaningless superstition.

Anyhow, the subject is a very wide one, and is equally represented in most countries.

It should be remembered, moreover, that rudimentary forms of dualism--the antagonism of a good and evil deity[1]--have from a remote period occupied men's minds, a system of belief known even among the lower races of mankind.