222 The Scottish A T aturalist. 



liobh, smooth, polish, from the smooth pellucid texture of the 

 leaves, their surface being destitute of down or hair of any kind. 

 Irish : liachroda, — Hack, a spoon, rod, a water-weed, sea weed ; 

 liach-Brighide, Bridget's spoon. Probably these names were also 

 given to the other species of pondweeds (such as P. polygonifolius) 

 as well as to P. natans. 



Zostera marina — The sweet sea -grass. Gaelic and Irish: 

 bilearacli (in Argyle, bileanach), from bileag, a blade of grass. 

 The sea-grass was much used for thatching purposes, and it was 

 supposed to last longer than straw. 



Alismace^e. 



Alisma. — Greek : akta-fjia, an aquatic plant ; said to be from 

 a Celtic root, a/is, water. If ever this was a Celtic vocable it 

 has ceased to have this signification : in Welsh alls means the 

 lowest point, hell. 



A. Plantago — Water-plantain. Gaelic and Irish : cor-chopaig 

 (cor or cora, a weir, a dam, and copag, a dock, or any large leaf of 

 a plant). It grows in watery places. Welsh : llyren, a duct, a 

 brink or shore. 



Triglochin palustre — Arrow-grass. Gaelic : barr a mhilltich, — 

 " Bun na cipe is barr a' mhilltich.''' — M'Intyre. 

 barr, top, and milltich (Irish), "good grass," and milncach, a 

 thorn or bodkin — hence the English name arrow-grass. Generic 

 name from rpets, three, and yAw^is, a point, in allusion to the three 

 angles of the capsule. Sheep and cattle are fond of this hardy 

 species, which afford an early bite on the sides of the Highland 

 mountains. Milltich is commonly used in the sense of " grassy;" 

 maghanaii millteach, verdant or grassy meadows. 



LEMNACE/E. 



Lemna minor — Duckweed. Gaelic : l mac gun athair, son 

 without a father. Irish: lus gan athair gan mhathair, fatherless 

 motherless wort. A curious name, perhaps suggested by the 

 root being suspended from its small egg-shaped leaf, and not 

 affixed to the ground. Gran-lachan, — gran, seed, grain, and 

 lach, a duck. The roundish leaves, and the fact that ducks are 

 voraciously fond of feeding on them, have suggested this and the 

 following names : Ros lachain, the ducks' rose or flower. Irish : 



1 Mac-gun-athair may have originally been meacan air, — mcacan, a plant, 

 air, gen. of ar, slow (hence the name of the river "Arar" in France, 

 meaning the slow-flowing river, — " Arar dubitans qui suos cursos agat " — 

 Se.neca), the plant that grows in slow or sluggish water. 



