The Scottish Naturalist. 313 



LVTHRACEiE. 



Ly thrum salicaria — Spiked ly thrum, purple loosestrife. 

 Gaelic : las an sith chainnt^ the peace-speaking plant. 



" Chuir Dia oirnn craobh sith chaimit, 

 Bha da'r dionadh gu leoir." — Ian Lom. 



God put the peace-speaking plant over us, 

 Which sheltered us completely. 



The name also applies to the common loosestrife, suggested 

 probably by the Greek Auo-ts /xaxvy, of which the English name 

 "loosestrife" is a translation. Irish: breal/an leana. Breal, a 

 knob, a gland. It was employed as a remedy for glandular 

 diseases, or from the appearance of the plant when in seed. 

 Breailan means also a vessel. The capsule is enclosed in the 

 tube of the calyx, as if it w^ere in a vessel. Lea?i, a swamp. 

 Generally growing in watery places. 



HaLORAGEtE. 



Myriophyllum spicatum and alterniflorum. — Water - milfoil. 

 Gaelic and Irish : snaithe bhatheadh (from sjiaith, a thread, a 

 filament; and bath, drown), the drowned thread. 



Grossulariace.^. 



Ribes, said to be the name of an acid plant. (Rheum ribes, 

 mentioned by the Arabian physicians, a different plant). More 

 probably from the Celtic riob^ rib, or reub, to ensnare or en- 

 tangle, to tear — many of the species being prickly. Latin : ribcs. 

 Gaelic : spiontag, currant, gooseberry. Irish : spiontog, spin. 

 Latin : spina, a thorn ; also spion, pull, pluck, tear away. Welsh : 

 yspinem. 



Ribes nigrum — Black currant. Gaelic : raosar dubh, the black 

 currant. Raosar (Scotch, rizzar — from French, raisin ; Welsh, 

 rhyfion ; Old English, 7'aisin tree), for red currant. 



R. rubrum — Red or white currants. Gaelic : raosar dearg or 

 geal, red or white currants ; dearc frangach, French berry. 



R. grossularia — Gooseberry-bush. Gaelic : preas ghrosaid 

 (written also groseag, grosaid), the gooseberry — from grossulus, 

 diminutive of grosstcs, an unripe fig, — " so called because its 

 berries resemble litde half-ripe ^gs, grossi" (Loudon). French : 

 groseille. Welsh : grwysen. Scotch : grozet, grozel. 



** Suthan-lair's faile ghroseidcan.'" — ^NI'Intyre. 

 Wild strawberry and the odour of gooseberries. 



