276 The Scottish Naturalist. 



raineach (Stewart). Most likely from crcim, a scar, the stalks 

 being covered with brown scarious scales. In some places the 

 name _/«//<? raineach is given, from fai'/e, a scent, a smell. This 

 species may be easily distinguished by the minute glandular 

 dots on the under side of the fronds, from which a fragrant 

 smell is imparted when the plant is bruised. 



L. filix-mas — Male fern. Gaelic and Irish : 7/iarc-raineach, 

 horse-fern. Marc. Welsh : march. Old High German : marak, 

 a horse. This fern has been celebrated from time immemorial 

 as a specific for worms ; the powdered roots, taken in water, 

 were considered an excellent remedy. Irish : raineach-madra, 

 dog-fern. 



L. spinulosa, and the allied species dilatata and Fcenisecii, are 

 known by the name raineach nan rodainn, from Latin, rodo. 

 Sanscrit : rad, to break up, split, gnaw, — the rat's fern, in Mor- 

 ven, Mull, and Lewis. " Dr Hooker is mistaken as to the 

 range of this fern, as it is extremely abundant here, at least in 

 the form of dilatata" — (Lewis Correspondent). 1 The name rat's 

 fern, from its commonness in holes, and the haunts of rats. 



Athyrium filix-foemina — Lady-fern. Gaelic and Irish: raineach 

 Afhuire, Mary's fern, — Muire, the Virgin Mary, Our Lady ; fre- 

 quently occurring in plant-names in all Christian countries. 



Asplenium. — From Greek : a, privative, and cnrXrjv, the 

 spleen. 



A. Trichomanes — Black spleenwort. Gaelic and Irish : ditbh 

 chasach, dark-stemmed. Lus na seilg, from sealg, the spleen. 

 This plant was formerly held to be a sovereign remedy for all 

 diseases of this organ, and to be so powerful as even to de- 

 stroy it if employed in excess. Lus a chorrain. Urthalmhan 

 (O'Reilly), — ur, green, and ta/amh, the earth. As diibh chasach 

 is the common name for Trichomanes — probably ur thalmhan 

 was applied to A. viride. Failtean Jionn, see A. capillus- 

 Veneris. 



A. Ruta-muraria — Rue fern. Gaelic : rue bhallaidh, wall-rue. 



A. Adiantum nigrum — Gaelic : an raineach i/dine, the green 



1 My well-informed correspondent also remarks : "I may mention one 

 or two other plants, regarding which Dr Hooker's information is slightly 

 out. His Salix repensis very common here and in Caithness, though absent 

 in at least some parts further south. Utricularia minor can easily be found 

 in quantities near the Butt of Lewis ; and Scutellaria minor, which he allows 

 no further than Dumbarton, grows equally far north, although all I am 

 aware of could be covered by a table-cloth. Another interesting plant, 

 Eryngium maritiiiutm, grows in a single sandy bay on our west coast." 



