:Nov. 27. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



503 



twilights, and lingerings before the old grey cottage, 

 and partings at the wicket — they all live in one little 

 plant, Kiss-me-at-the-garden-gate ! Some extravagant 

 lover, I suppose, invented the name of Ladies' Finger. 

 The Forget-me-not is so called in every Christian tongue. 

 In village botany, too, lingers many a quaint and lovely 

 superstition ; look, for example, at the Fox-glove, that 

 is, Foiks'-gloi-e or Fairies' -glove. What needed the vil- 

 lager to lament his poverty, when his meadows gave 

 him Money-wort, and Shepherd' s-purse flowered in the 

 waysides? Why needed he to envy the skill of the 

 physician, when for his sight he had Eye-hright, for his 

 hurts he had Wound-wort, for ointment Ploughman's- 

 -spikenard, for sprains Chafe-weed, against infection Pes- 

 tilent-wort, in the burning summer Fever-few, in the 

 unhealthy autumn Spleenwort; if hurt by poison Adder- 

 wort, for condiments Poor-man' s-pepper, finally, against 

 all possible accidents All-heal? Merrily might the 

 traveller wend on his way when there was the little 

 Speedwell to cheer him, Wayhread to support him, Gold- 

 ■of-pleasure to enrich him. Travellers' -joy to welcome 

 him ; when, though Dent-de-lion and Wolf's-claw might 

 meet his eye, he would find no further trace of those 

 •evil beasts. Animals, too, have left their names ; so 

 •we have Snake-weed, and from its sweetness Ox-lips or 

 Cows'-lips ; and how pretty are the names Day's-eye 

 and Night-shade ! Sage men, too, have given such 

 titles as Honesty and Thrift, and Hearts-ease, and 

 Loose-strife; and even in this cold age we have St. 

 John's Wort, St. Peter's Wort, St. Barnaby's Thistle, ay, 

 and best of all. Everlasting ! 



" Palceophilus. — Yes, our boasted wisdom has fallen 

 very short here in the unpronounceable and hideous 

 names which we fasten on our delicate plants." — 

 Hierologus, p. 171.: Lond. 1846. 



Another instance of what Jones of Nayland re- 

 marks, is afforded by the Capillus Veneris *, which 



* " Aliud Adianto miraeulum : restate viret, bruma 

 non marescit : aquas respuit, perfusam mersumve sicco 

 simile est: tanta dissociatio deprehenditur: unde et no- 

 men a Graecis : alioqui frutici topiario. Quidam Callitri- 

 chon voeant, alii Polytrichon utrumque ab efFectu. 

 Tinguit enim eapiUum : et ad hoc decoquitur in vino 

 «um semine apii, adjecto oleo copiose, ut crispum den- 

 «umque faciat : defluere autem prohibet." — Pliny, 

 lib. xxii. c. 30. 



" This Maiden-hair (the chief of the five capillary 

 herbs mentioned in the Dispensatory) is brought to us 

 from the southern parts of France, though it is said to 

 grow plentifully in the county of Cornwall. This, 

 being the true Capillus Veneris, is what ought to be 

 used in making the syrup of Maiden-hair, and every- 

 where else when the true is prescribed. But for want 

 ■of it, it not being to be had in any quantity, we gene- 

 rally use the Trichomanes." — Miller's Herbal, p. 14.: 

 London, 1722, 8vo. 



Mr. Newman mentions St. Ives and Carclew among 

 the Cornish habitats of this fern. 



Gerarde's derivation of Polypody is taken from Pliny. 

 Miller says, " The root is slender, and full of small 

 knots, which appear like the feet of an insect, whence it 

 takes the name of Polypodium." 



(as well as the Asplenium trichomanes) was an- 

 ciently called " Our Ladye's Haire," and by the 

 French to the present day, Cheveux de Notre 

 Dame. The Asplenium trichomanes is also styled 

 " St. Martina's Fern." 



Mr. Newman expresses his doubts as to the 

 woodcut given in Gerarde's Herbal for the True 

 Maiden-hair Fern, but seems not to have re- 

 marked that Gerarde and Johnson describe an 

 entirely different plant, being ignorant of the true 

 Adiantum : 



" Chap. 473. Of true Maiden-haire .... Venus- 

 haire, or Maiden-haire, is a low herb growing an hand 

 high, smooth, of a darke crimson colour, and glittering 

 withall," &c. " It is called Adianton, because the 

 leafe, as Theophrastus saith, is never wet, for it casteth 

 off water that falleth thereon, or being drowned or co- 

 vered in water, it remaineth still as if it were dry, as 

 Pliny likewise writeth : and is termed Callitricon and 

 Polytricon, of the effect it hath in dying haire and 

 maketh it to grow thicke." 



But for this I should have supposed the epithets 

 " Beautiful-haired " and " Many-haired " to have 

 been given from the appearance of this lovely 

 fern. In the same way one would suppose that 

 the fern Polypody was so styled from the numerous 

 roots, or segments of the fronds ; but Gerarde tells 

 us : 



" The Grecians call it HoXxmoZiov, of the holes of the 

 fishes Polypi appearing in the roots." 



In my next note I shall probably give a list of the 

 ecclesiastical names of plants, with the botanical 

 appellations, and a selection of the rustic pet 

 names, if I may so call them. 



I shall but add a Query at present. A little 

 work called The Catholic Florist, edited by the 

 Rev. F. Oakley, appeared last year. In the 

 preface the editor speaks of " its excellent prede- 

 cessors in the same line of authorship : " will some 

 kind correspondent favour me with a list, which 

 would be much more satisfactory than this bare 

 mention of the fact ? The chief value of the book 

 lies in the copious quotations given from two 

 works, the titles of which are not in a single in- 

 stance given at full length : the Anthologia Bo- 

 realis et Australis, and the Florilegium Sanct. Asp. 

 I should be very glad to know something about 

 this Anthology and the Aspirations, and if possible 

 procure copies of them ; and would express a hope 

 that if this work reach a second edition, references 

 may be appended to the numerous quotations re- 

 quiring them. EiEioNNACH. 



WILLIAM OF WTKEHAM AMD SIE WILLIAM 

 WALWORTH. 



The accompanying document, as suggestive of 

 more than a single Note, may be not without in- 

 terest to the readers of " N. & Q." : — 



