The Scottish Naturalist. i 



/ D 



tinction in the Hebrides was the iein eroic/i, or saffron shirt, so 

 called from its being dyed with saffron" — Walker. The Romans 

 had their croeota, and the Greeks 6 k/ookwto?, a saffron -colon red 

 court dress. Welsh : saffrwm, saffron, from the Arabic name, 

 zafaran, which indicates that the name of the plant is of Asiatic 



origin. 



A M ARYLLI DACE.«. 



Narcissus pseudo-narcissus ) ~ V ,'.. ~ r , ,• , 



f .,, } — Daffodil. Gaelic : lus a chrom 



,, jonquilla J 



chinn, the plant having a bent or drooping head. 



Galanthus nivalis — Snowdrop. Gaelic and Irish : gealag 

 lair, — gea/ag, white as milk ; ldr } the ground. Galanthus. 

 Greek : yaXa, milk, and avOos, a flower. 



Aloe — Hebrew, m^ntf, aJialoth. Gaelic and Irish : aloe. 



" Leis na h-uile chraobhaibh tuise, mirr agns aloe.'''' 



With all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes. — Song OF SOLOMON, 

 iv. 14. 



The aloe of Scripture 1 must not be confounded with the bitter 

 herb well known in medicine. 



LlLIACE.E. 



Lilium — Greek : Xcipiov. From the Celtic : It. colour, hue. 

 Welsh : ttiu. Gaelic : //. 



" A mhaise-mhna is ailidh lit " — FingaliAN Poems. 

 Thou fair-faced beauty. 



'Lily seems to signify a flower in general" — Wedgewood. 

 Gaelic and Irish : lilidh or l\li. 



Convallaria majalis — Lily of the valley. Gaelic : lilt nan 

 Ion. Lilt nan gleann. 



" Air ghilead, mar lili nan Idintean." — M 'Donald. 

 Whire as the lily of the valley. 



" Is ros Sharon mise lili nan gleann.'''' — Stuart. 

 I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the glen. 



" The lily of Scripture was probably Lilium chalcedonicuni "- 

 Balfour. 



Allium — The derivation of this word is said to be from all 

 (Celtic), hot, burning. There is no such word. The only word 

 that resembles it in sound, and with that signification, is sga//la, 

 burned, scalded ; hence, perhaps, " scallion," the English for a 

 vouns: onion. Latin : calor. 



1 Aquilaria agallochum. 



