I2 6 The Scottish Naturalist. 



'leawh,' or ' leamhan? " He says the root is ?//, meaning to 

 burn. The tree is called from the finality of it, " to be burned." 

 That is his opinion, and he is probably right. The common 

 idea of leamhan is that it is from leatnh, tasteless, insipid, from 

 the taste of its inner bark ; and lidbh means smooth, slippery. 

 And the tree in Gaelic poetry is associated with or symbolic 

 of slipperiness of character, indecision. Cicely M 'Donald, who 

 lived in the reign of Charles II., describing her husband, wrote 

 as follows : — 



" Bu tu' n t-iubhair as a choille, 



Bu tu' n darach daingean laidir, 

 Bu tu' n ciiileann, bu tu 'n droighionn, 



Eu tu' n t ; abhall molach, blath-mhor, 

 Cha robh meur annad do' n chritheann, 



Cha robh do dhlighe ri fearna, 

 Cha robh do chairdeas ri leamhan, 



Bu tu leannan nam ban aluinn." 



Thou wast the yew from the wood, 



Thou wast the firm strong oak, 

 Thou wast the holly and the thorn, 



Thou wast the rough, pleasant apple, 

 Thou hadst not a twig of the aspen, 



Under no obligation to the alder, 

 And hadst no friendship with the elm, 



Thou wast the beloved of the fair. 



Ficus — Nearly the same in most of the European languages. 

 Greek : crvKrj. Latin : ficus. Celtic : fige. 



F. carica — Common fig tree. Gaelic and Irish : crannflge or 



fights. 



" Ach foghlumaibh cosamhlach do 'n chrann fliige" 

 Learn a parable from the fig-tree. 



Morus — Greek : fiopos, moros. Latin : morns, a mulberry. 

 Loudon, in his 'Encyclopedia of Plants,' says it is from the 

 Celtic 7/ibr, dark-coloured. There is no such Celtic root ; it may 

 be from the Sanskrit, murch, Scotch, mirk, darkness, obscurity; 

 and the Greek name has also this meaning, — the fruit being of 

 a darkish red colour. Old Ger. and Danish : mur-ber. 



M. nigra — Common mulberry. Gaelic and Irish : crann- 

 maol-dhearc, tree of the mild aspect, or if dearc here be a berry, 

 the mild-berry tree. Maol (Latin, mollis) has many significa- 

 tions. Bald, applied to monks without hair, as Maol Ckolum, 

 St Columba ; Maol losa, Maol Brighid, St Bridget, &c. A pro- 

 montory, cape, or knoll, as Maol Chinntlre, Mull of Cantyre. 



