0) 



The Scottish Naturalist. 79 



Canal (Welsh : canel). 

 ' ; Rinn mi mo leabadh cubhraidh le mirr, aloe, agus canal. " — Proverbs 



vii. 17. 



I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 



From the Hebrew : pEOp, qinnamon. Greek : Ktvdixw/xov, kina- 

 momon. 



POLYGONACE^E. 



Polygonum (from 7roAv<?, many, and yovv, knee, many knees 

 or joints). — Gaelic : lusan gluineach, kneed or jointed plants. 



Polygonum bistorta — Bistort, snakeweed. Gaelic and Irish : 

 bilur (O'Reilly). Seems to mean the same as biolair, a water- 

 cress. The young shoots were formerly eaten. Welsh : uysiaitr 

 neidr, adder's plant. 



P. amphibium — Amphibious persicaria. Gaelic and Irish : 

 gluineach an uisge, the water -kneed plant. It is often floating 

 in water. Gluineach dhearg, the red-kneed plant. Its spikes of 

 flowers are rose-coloured and handsome. Armstrong gives this 

 name to P. convolvulus, which is evidently wrong. 



P. aviculare — Knot-grass. Gaelic and Irish : gluineach bheag 

 (O'Reilly), the small-pointed plant. 



P. convolvulus — Climbing persicaria ; black bindweed ; 

 climbing buckwheat. Gaelic and Irish : gluineach dhubh, the 

 dark-jointed plant. 



P. persicaria — The spotted persicaria. Gaelic and Irish; 

 gluineach /nhbr, the large-jointed plant. Am boinne-fola (Fer- 

 gusson), the blood-spot. Lus chrann ecusaidh (M'Lellan), herb of 

 the tree (of) crucifixion. The legend being that this plant grew 

 at the foot of the Cross, and drops of blood fell on the leaves, 

 and so they are to this day spotted. 



P. hydropiper — Water - pepper. Gaelic : lus an fhbgair 

 (M'Kenzie), the plant that drives, expels, or banishes. It had 

 the reputation of driving away pain, flies, &c. " If a good hand- 

 ful of the hot biting arssmart be put under the horse's saddle, 

 it will make him travel the better though he were half tired 

 before " — Culpepper. Gluineach teih, the hot-kneed plant. 



Rumex obtusifolius \ 



„ crispus — Dock. Gaelic and Irish : cbpag — 



,, conglomeratus J 

 copagach, cbpach, bossy. Welsh : copa, tuft, a top. 



R. sanguineus — Bloody-veined dock. Gaelic: a chbpagacJi 

 dhearg, the red dock. The stem and veins of leaves are blood- 

 red. 



