230 



The Scottish Naturalist. 



"Timcheall thulmanaii diamhaii- 

 Ma 'm bi'm biadli-ionain fas." — M 'Donald. 



Around sheltered hillocks 

 Where the wood-sorrel grows, 



Feada coille^ candle of the woods, name given to the flower ; 

 feadh, a candle or rush. 



" Mar sin is leasachan soilleir, 

 Do ^ fheada-coille na'n cos." — M 'Donald. 



Like the flaming light 



Of the wood-sorrel of the caverns. 



Celastrace^. 



Euonymus europseus — Common spindle-tree. Gaelic and 

 Irish : oir,feo7'as, — oir, the east point, east. " A tir a?i ^/r/'from 

 the land of the East {Oij'ip, Europe), being rare in Scotland and 

 Ireland, but common on the Continent. Oir and feoir also 

 mean a border, edge, limit, it being commonly planted in hedges. 

 Whether the name has any reference to these significations it is 

 very difhcult to determine with certainty. Oir, the name of the 

 thirteenth letter, O, of the Gaelic and Irish alphabet. It is 

 worthy of notice that all the letters were called after trees or 

 plants : — 



Rhamnace^. 



Rhamnus (from Gaelic ranih, Celtic 7'ain, a branch, wood). 



" Talamh nan ramh.'' — OssiAN. ^ 



The country of woods. 



The Greeks changed the word to pa/xi/os and the Latins to ramus. 



R. catharticus — Pricklv buckthorn. Gaelic : ramJi droivhio/in, 

 prickly wood. Welsh : rhaffncydden, — rhaf, to spread ; ivydd, 

 tree. 



Juglans regia — The Walnut. Gaelic: craobh-gJiallchno — gall, 

 a foreigner, a stranger ; cno, a nut. 



