May 1, 1S68.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



97 



FORGET-ME-NOTS. 



The blue and bright-eyed flow'ret of the brook, 

 Hope's gentle gem, the sweet " Forget-me-not.' 



HERE are, among 

 the names of our 

 British plants, a 

 few which are 

 claimed with appa- 

 rently equal right 

 by widely differing 

 species ; e. g., a 

 genus of the Um- 

 bellifercB (CEnanthe) bears the 

 English name of Dropwort, 

 which is also applied to Spiraea 

 filipendula, one of the Rosacea. 

 It would, however, be difficult 

 to find a name which has had 

 more claimants than that of 

 " Forget - me - not." Nowa- 

 days, indeed, it seems to have 

 been settled upon the lovely 

 blue llyosotis which decks 

 the borders of our ditches 

 and streams, and many, 

 doubtless, know of no other 

 plant to which it is, or has 

 been, applied. But, strange as it may seem, Dr. 

 Prior, a well-known authority on the names of 

 plants, states that Myosotis palustris has only been 

 known as Eorget-me not for about forty years ! 

 We can hardly imagine the successful transfer of a 

 popular name from one plant to another : scientific 

 men change about the names of species and genera 

 at their own sweet will, and outsiders care little 

 whether the American Waterweed be known as 

 Elodea canadensis, Anacharis Alsinastriim, or, to 

 quote Charles Kingsley, Babingtonia diabolica ; 

 but for a genuine English name to change owners 

 is a very rare occurrence. A few remarks on the 

 Eorget-me-nots of various authors may not be out 

 of place. In England the Ground Pine {Ajiiga 

 Chanuepitys) was probably its first claimant, and 

 Gerarde bestows the name exclusively upon it. 

 No. 41. 



Why an insignificant little herb, with small incon- 

 spicuous flowers, should be selected to bear so 

 romantic a name seems, at first sight, difficult to 

 imagine ; but the nauseous taste which it leaves 

 in the mouth is the somewhat farfetched reason 

 assigned. Referring again to Dr. Prior's book, it 

 appears that in Germany a similar name was 

 bestowed on a species of Woodsage {Teucrium 

 Botrys), and in Denmark on the Germander Speed- 

 well {Veronica Chamcedrys), in connection with 

 which we have previously referred to it.* Dr. 

 Prior, after investigating the claims of these rivals, 

 says, " This (the Germander Speedwell) seems to 

 be the plant to which the name rightfully belongs, 

 and to which it was given in consequence of the 

 blossoms falling off and flying away." He adds : 

 "How easily a good story is got up, and widely 

 spread about the world, to match a name ! The 

 blossoms fall from a Veronica, and it is called 

 ' Speedwell ' and ' Eorget-me-not.' The name 

 passes to a plant of nauseous taste, the Ground 

 Pine, and Daleschamp explains it as expressive of 

 this disagreeable quality. It attaches itself to a 

 river-side plant, and the story-books are ready with 

 a legend." With this legend we are all familiar : 

 how "two young lovers" were walking by a stream ; 

 how the young lady (as young ladies will) demanded, 

 as proof of her lover's affection, a bunch of the 

 bright blue blossoms which grew (where, by the 

 way, they usually do grow) on the other side ; how 

 the youth plunged into the river, grasped the 

 flowers, and, the current being too strong for him 

 was carried away, with one last effort throwing the 

 fatal blossoms to the bank, and crying with his 

 " latest breath," " Eorget-me-not ! " How sad to 

 hear it even hinted that so touching a tale was 

 coined by some ingenious romancist to account for 

 the name previously bestowed. One thing, however, 

 is certain : the Eorget-me-not of modern times 



* Sciknce-Gossip, ii. 122. 



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