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Fern Seed
We have the receipt of fern seed, we walk invisible (1 Henry
IV., act iv. 4). The seed of certain species of fern is so small as to
be invisible to the naked eye, and hence the plant was believed to
confer invisibility on those who carried it about their person. It was
at one time believed that plants have the power of imparting their own
speciality to their wearer. Thus, the herb-dragon was said to cure the
poison of serpents, the yellow celandine the jaundice; wood-sorrel,
which has a heart-shaped leaf, to cheer the heart; liverwort to be
good for the liver, and so on.
Why did you think that you had Gyges' ring,
Or the herb that gives invisibility?
Beaumont and Fletcher: Fair Maid of the Inn, i. 1.
The seeds of fern, which, by prolific heat
Cheered and unfolded, form a plant so great,
Are less a thousand times than what the eye
Can unassisted by the tube descry.
Blackmore: Creation.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Fern Seed from Infoplease:
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