33 h 28 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 33 h 28 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What makes a tree sacred, a flower a message, or a handful of herbs a charm against harm?
In Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics, Richard Folkard gathers the beliefs that grow around trees, flowers and herbs. Drawing on old herbals, travellers’ accounts, customs and poetry, he explores how people across many lands give plants meanings beyond their roots and petals. This is a collection of human stories, not a botanical field guide.
The collection moves from trees linked with gods and sacred places to flowers whose origins belong to Greek and Roman tales of change. Other parts explore protective charms, beliefs about healing, and blossoms associated with love, grief, faith and festivals. Alongside the lore, verse reveals how poets carry these meanings into words.
What you’ll discover
- Trees tied to gods Explore traditions that honour trees and connect the plant world with sacred places.
- Flowers born from change Discover Greek and Roman tales that explain a flower’s appearance through stories of transformation.
- Charms against harm Meet plants once trusted to ward off danger, ill luck and witchcraft.
- The shape of healing See how a herb’s appearance becomes, in folk belief, a clue to its healing powers.
- Blossoms, feeling and verse Follow flowers through love, grief, faith and festivals, with poetry beside the lore.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy folklore and old customs, if you garden or walk in woods, or if you like poems gathered in one place.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Plants belong to human stories
- A living tree connects sacred stories
- Flowers give ceremonies a visible meaning
- Christian stories give plants new meanings
- A tree may shelter another life
- Protective herbs answer fears of witchcraft
- Magic plants promise access to secrets
- Nature appears to offer practical signs
- Every familiar plant carries a history
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Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics
by Richard Folkard · 1884
A giant ash holds up the sky, and a vegetable lamb grazes on a stalk: Folkard's plant legends from 1884.
Challenging10–20 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What if a tree were the first mother of the human race? The ancient Greeks said the first men sprang from ash trees.
Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics at a glance
- Reading time
- About 17 h 55 min14 h 10 min fast, 21 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 255,300 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1884by Richard Folkard
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Early peoples imagined one great tree holding the world
Folkard begins with a plain observation. A tree lives a life like ours. It stands bare in winter, greens in spring, and gives shade in summer. From this pattern, early storytellers imagined vast world-trees that held up the universe.
The Norse version is Yggdrasill, an ash whose branches reach beyond heaven and whose roots sink into the underworld. Its leaves are clouds and its buds are stars. A monster named Nidhogg gnaws at the roots. Three Norns sprinkle the branches each day so they do not rot.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1884
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Folkard, Richard. Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/plant-lore-legends-and-lyrics.
Folkard, R. (2026). Plant lore, legends, and lyrics. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plant-lore-legends-and-lyrics (Original work published 1884)
Folkard, Richard. Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plant-lore-legends-and-lyrics.
@book{folkard2026plant,
author = {Folkard, Richard},
title = {Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/plant-lore-legends-and-lyrics},
note = {First published 1884}
}
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What is Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics about?
It collects myths, legends, customs, charms and poems about plants and flowers from many cultures. The first part covers themes such as world-trees, church flowers, fairies and witches. The second is an encyclopedia of individual plants.
Who was Richard Folkard and when was the book written?
Richard Folkard Jr. ran a journal on horticulture and then gathered the plant lore he had collected into this book. The preface bears the place and date Cricklewood, August 1884. He was both its author and its printer.
What is the Doctrine of Signatures?
It is an old belief that a plant's shape, color or markings show what it can cure. Folkard quotes William Coles of 1656, who said God stamped plants with marks readable as their uses. Garlic seed and eye trouble is one example.
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