28 The Scottish Naturalist. 



Pedicularis sylvatica — Dwarf red rattle. Irish: I us an gr oil a. 



P. palustris — Louse-wort ; red rattle. Gaelic : lus riabhach, 

 the brindled plant, possibly a contraction of riabhdheargach (Irish), 

 red-streaked, a name which well describes the appearance of the 

 plant. Modhalau dearg, the red modest one. Lus na mial, 

 louse-wort, from the supposition that sheep that feed upon it 

 become covered with vermin. Bainne ghabhar, goat's milk, 

 from the idea that when goats feed on it they yield more milk. 

 Its beautiful pink flowers were used as a cosmetic. 



" Sail-chuach 's bainne ghabhar, 

 Suadh ri t' aghaidh, 

 'S cha n' neil mac righ air an domhain, 

 Nach bi air do dheidh." 



Rub thy face with violet and goat's milk, 

 And there is no prince in the world 

 Who will not follow thee. 



Rhinanthus crista-galli — The yellow rattle. Gaelic : modh- 

 alau bhuidhe, the yellow modest one. Bodach na claiginn. 

 Irish : bodan na cloigin, the old man with the skulls. Claigeann 

 or (Irish) cloigoiu, a skull, from the skull like appearance of its 

 inflated calyces. 



Scrophularia nodosa— Figwort. Gaelic : lus nan cnapan, the 

 knobbed plant, from its knobbed roots. Old English : kernel- 

 wort. Donn-lus, brown-wort, from the brown tinge of the flowers. 

 Farach dubh (faracha, Irish), a beetle or mallet ; dubh, dark. 

 Wasps and beetles resort greatly to its small mallet-like flowers. 

 Irish : fotruni (fot,fothach), glandered — from the resemblance of 

 its roots to tumours. In consequence of this resemblance it was 

 esteemed a remedy for all scrofulous diseases; hence the generic 

 name Scrophularia. 



Digitalis purpurea — Foxglove. Gaelic : lus-nam-ban-sith, the 

 fairy women's plant. Meuran sith (Stuart), the fairy thimble. 

 Irish : an siothan (sioth, Gaelic : sith) means peace. Sithich, 

 a fairy, the most active sprite in Highland and Irish mythology. 

 Meuran 1 nan daoine marbh, dead men's thimbles. Meuran nan 

 caillich niharbha, dead women's thimbles. In Skye it is called 

 ciochan nan cailleachan marblia (Nicolson), the dead old women's 

 paps. Irish : siaji sleibhc. (Sian, a charm or spell, a wise 

 one, a fox ; sleibhe, a hill). W^elsh : menyg ellyllon, fairy's glove. 



1 Meuran and digitalis (digitabulum), a thimble, in allusion to the form of 

 the flower. 



