The Scottish Naturalist. 317 



" Mar so tha breitheanas a' fas a nios, mar an iteotha ann claisibh na mach- 

 rach." — Hos. x. 4. 



Thus judgment springeth up like a hemlock in the furrows of the field. 



Welsh : gwin dillad, pain-killer. Manx : aghue. 



■* Ta'n aghue veg shuyr da'n aghue vooar. " — Manx Proverb. 

 The little hemlock is sister to the big hemlock. 

 (A small sin is akin to the great one.) 



Cicuta virosa — Water-hemlock. " The hemlock given to 

 prisoners as poison " (Pliny) ; and that with which Socrates was 

 poisoned. Gaelic and Irish : fealla bog, the soft deceiver; fcallj 

 treason, falsehood; 3i\\<\ feallair (feall fheaj-), a deceiver, — from 

 the some root (Latin, /rt'//<?, to deceive). Welsh: cegid. Latin: 

 cicuta. 



Smyrnium olusatrum — Alexanders. Gaelic : liis iia?i gran 

 dubh, the plant with black seeds, — on account of its large black 

 seeds. It was formerly eaten as a salad or pot-herb, whence, 

 and from its blackness, the name olusatriwi (Latin : olus, a vege- 

 table, and ater, black). " ' Alexanders,' because it was supposed 

 to have been brought from Alexandria " (Ray). 



Apium (from Celtic root, abh, a fluid or water, Latinised into 

 apiuvi). 



Apium graveolens — Smallage, wild celery. Gaelic : lus na 

 smalaig, a corruption of smallage. Pearsal mhor, the large pars- 

 ley. Irish : meirse. Greek : )u,etpa, to divide ; or Anglo-Saxon : 

 merse , a lake, sea. Latin : 7nare, — marshy ground being its habi- 

 tat. Welsh : persli frengig, French parsley. 



Petroselinum sativum — Parsley. Gaelic : pearsal (corruption 

 from the Greek, irerpos, petros, a rock, and areXtvov, se/inon, 

 parsley). Muinean Alhuire, Mary's sprouts. Welsh : persli. 



Heliosciadium inundatum — Marshwort. Gaelic : fualactar 

 (from///'^/, water). The plant grows in ditches, among water. 



Carum carui — Caraway. Scotch: carvie ; Gaelic: carbhaidh 

 (a corruption from the generic name), from Caria, in Asia Minor, 

 because it was originally found there ; — also written carbhinit. 



" Cathair ihalmhRntn.' s cardhinn chroc cheannach." — M'Intyre. 

 The yarrow and the horny-headed caraway. 



Ztis Mhic Chuimein, M'Cumin's wort. The name is derived from 

 the Arabic gainoim, the seeds of the plant Cujnimmi cyminum 

 (cmniii), which are used like those of caraway. 



Bunium flexuosum — The earth-nut. Gaelic : braojian bhuachail, 

 the shepherd's drop (or nut) ; braonaii bachlaig (Shaw) ; cno 



