130 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Mr. Rudd had gone for assistance, and seems to 

 Lave fallen down a cliff 150 feet high, at [the foot 

 of which he was picked up dead. Doubtless our 

 readers saw a notice of this sad event in the public 

 papers. — Ed. S.-GJ] 



THE ORIGIN OP THE PLANT NAMES 

 OP THE WARREN. 



THE following paper was read a short time ago 

 by the Rev. J. G. Mills, M.A., before the 

 Polkstone Natural History Society. 



The preparation of this subject does not require 

 that one should be skilled in the science of Botany. 

 It would have been presumption on my part, after 

 the brief attention which I have given to its study, 

 to have attempted to deal with that which requires 

 long and patient research and labour. 1 have con- 

 fined myself to the study of words, in the hope of 

 being able to show that beyond their minute struc- 

 ture, growth, and organization, flowers possess an 

 interest even in their names, and thus give additional 

 charm to our botanical studies. The scientific 

 study of Botany becomes then blended with other 

 subjects, such as Philology, History, and Heathen 

 Mythology ; for when the eye is watering with its 

 long-continued investigation of the component parts 

 of the plant, and the patience has been sorely tried 

 by the perversity and obstinacy of those parts which 

 refuse to be separated exactly as we wish, a plea- 

 sant interval might be spent in meditating on the 

 history or legend connected with the flower ; after 

 which one might return in a better and a calmer 

 frame of mind to a renewed scientific investigation. 

 Of course it will be understood that we do not 

 touch upon "The Language of Flowers." 



Plants have been variously named — some from 

 the country or locality in which they grow ; as the 

 Arabis (Rock Cress) from Arabia, the native country 

 of various species; Iberis (Candy Tuft) from Iberia 

 (Spain), where many species grow ; Tamarisk, from 

 the river Tamaris in Spain, upon the banks of which 

 it grows in profusion ; — others after the name of the 

 discoverer of the plant ; as, Roemeria, after Roemer, 

 a German botanist ; Matthiola (Stock), after 

 Matthiolas, an Italian physician ; Teesdalia, after 

 Robert Teesdale, a Yorkshire botanist ; and Lobelia, 

 after Mathias Lobel, a Flemish botanist ; — others 

 are named from their appearance, as Galanthus 

 (snowdrop), the milk-flower; Chrysanthemum, from 

 the golden flowers ; Stellaria and Aster, from the 

 star-like flowers ; andTrifolium, because of the three 

 leaflets ;— others are named on account of some pro- 

 perty which they possess, whether beneficial or 

 destructive ; as Tussilago, from its use as a cough 

 medicine ; and Althaea, from its healing, and Deadly 

 Nightshade from its poisonous properties ;— others 



are named on account of their historial association, 

 as the Pleur-de-lis ; and others on account of their 

 mythical association, as Daphne, Adonis, and 

 Dianthus. 



I will ask you now to pay several visits with me 

 in fancy at different periods of the year, to the 

 happy hunting-ground of the Folkstone botanist, 

 the Warren, and there to make collections of 

 flowers. Those flowers which I have already men- 

 tioned are not all Warren flora. They have been 

 used by me simply to illustrate the various modes 

 of nomenclature, and by their non-appearance, with 

 the exception of the Pleur-de-lis, in the remaining 

 part of the paper, useless repetition will be avoided. 

 I have divided the etymology into two parts, His- 

 torical and Legendary. Under the title " History 

 of the Names," I shall include those names which 

 represent the country or locality, the discoverer's 

 name, appearance, properties, and historical associa- 

 tions ; and under the title, " Legends of Names," 

 those names which are connected with heathen 

 mythology. Whether this be a correct division or 

 not will perhaps be decided in the discussion which 

 will follow. 



Let us then first take .the order Ranunculacese. 

 This order is named from the Ranunculus, one of 

 the very large family belonging to this order. 

 Derived from a Latin word ranunculus, a diminutive 

 of rana, a frog, this order is that of the little frogs. 

 The name was given to the Ranunculus because it 

 grew in marshy places, the habitation of the frog ; 

 but this distinction is not enjoyed by the Ranun- 

 culus alone; for Cicero, in his "Epistolas ad 

 Familiares," humorously calls the inhabitants of 

 Ulubrse, who lived in the vicinity of the Pontine 

 Marshes, Ranunculi, or the little frogs. He says : — 

 " Ex qua jam audieram fremitum clientium meorum, 

 quos quidem tu mihi conciliasti. Nam Ulubris 

 honoris mei causa vim maxirnam ranunculorum se 

 commosse constabat. — From which (villa) had I 

 now heard the shouting of my clients, whom indeed 

 thou hast won over to me. For at Ulubra, ; for 

 the sake of my honour, it was clear that they had 

 stirred up the greatest force or power of the little 

 frogs." Dr. Ogilvie (editor of the Imperial and 

 Comprehensive Dictionaries) derives the word from 

 rana, a frog, and ungula, a claw, from unguis, a 

 nail ; and gives as its meaning, Frog's Foot or Crow- 

 foot, a plant and flower. Dr. Prior says it is called 

 crowfoot from being supposed, from the shape of 

 its leaf, to be the coronopus or crowfoot of Dios- 

 corides, who was physician to Antony and Cleopotra, 

 and who wrote a book upon medicinal herbs. 

 Clematis is a Greek name, and is derived from the 

 word klema, a vine twig. It is named because of its 

 twining leaf-stalks. One common name of Clematis 

 Vital ba, Traveller's Joy, is very appropriate. It 

 was given by Gerarde, from " its decking and adorn- 

 ing waies and hedges where people travel." It 



