The Scottish Naturalist. 351 



Buds globose, sub - pentagonal. Sepals blackish at the 

 edge. Petals five-veined, small, not contiguous, star-like in the 

 water. Stamens few, mostly six, about as long as the pistils. 

 Stigma short, somewhat oblique. 



Receptacle somewhat conical, thicker than the peduncle, with 

 the usual annulus at the base. Inner edge of carpels nearly 

 straight, outer semicircular. Fr. ped. about one inch long, 

 somewhat exceeding the leaves, curved at the base. 



Flowering and fruiting in deep water. 



The Schoolhouse, Rattray, 

 4/// September iSSo, 



THE GAELIO NAMES OP PLANTS. 



By JOHN CAMERON. 

 {^Contimted from p. 320. ) 



LORANTHACE^. 



Viscum album — JNlisdetoe. Gaelic and Irish: idle -ice 

 {uile, Welsh: hall or all ; Goth.: alls; German: alter ; A. S.: 

 eal ; English : all ; ice, Welsh : iarc, a cure or remedy), a nos- 

 trum, a panacea (M 'Donald), all-heal. Armoric : all-yiach. 

 Welsh : oll-iach. Irish : uile iceach. This is the ancient Druid- 

 ical name for this plant. Pliny tells us, " The Druids (so they 

 call their Magi) hold nothing in such sacred respect as the 

 mistletoe, and the tree upon which it grows, provided it be an 

 oak. ' Omnia sanantem appellantes suo vocabulo.' (They 

 call it by a word signifying in their own language All-heal.) 

 And having prepared sacrifices, and feast under the tree, they 

 bring up two white bulls, whose horns are then first bound ; the 

 priest, in a white robe, ascends the tree, and cuts it off with a 

 golden knife ; it is received in a white sheet. Then, and not 

 till then, they sacrifice the victims, praying that God would 

 render His gift prosperous to those on whom He had bestowed it. 

 When mistletoe is given as a potion, they are of opinion that it 

 can remove animal barrenness, and that it is a remedy against 

 all poisons." Druidh-lus, the Druid's weed. " The proper 

 etymology is the ancient Celtic vocable dru, an oak, from which 

 Spvs is taken" (Armstrong). Siigh dharaich, the sap or sub- 

 stance of the oak, because it derives its substance from the oak, 

 it being a parasite on that and other trees. (Si/gh, juice, sub- 



