52 THE PLANT WOELD 



Lilimn Sylvester, likened to a " dog's-tootli " hj Dodoens, "pro- 

 duced rootes of divers kinde, and manj^ hanging together, like the 

 rootes of yellow Daffodiles, saving they be greater and thicker." The 

 " lilly-flonres " were " yellow, darke red or purple." 



There is still a certain vagueness surrounding the origin of the 

 "dog's-tooth lily." I have not attempted, therefore, to imagine new 

 names, since the ancient ideas are confusing enough at best ! 



The mystery of the appended "violet" will, I fear, never be 

 cleared away. Names ignorantly coined often outlive the identity of 

 the species themselves, especially if they are bad names. The history 

 and origin of both common and scientific plant names certainly en- 

 hances the pleasure of nature-students afield and should be encouraged. 



To me, the meanest flower that blows can give, 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. 



Flowers are treasures that we associate with innocent childhood ; 

 they are the tokens of our finer feelings, the voicings of our innermost 

 soul, and intone the spirit of our being. 

 WiLi,iAMSTowN, Mass. 



THE DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET. 



In the January number of Plant World, there is a brief article by 

 W. E. Safford, regarding the name "Dog's-Tooth Violet." His expla- 

 nation of the name is based upon the appearances of the seeds as they 

 lie in the ripened capsule, but he points out the fact that the Germans 

 (the French and Italians also) have a similar name for the European 

 species, which does not have seeds of the same form as the American, 

 and, therefore, cannot give the same appearance when seen in the ripe 

 capsule. As a matter of interest, it may be said that the earliest botan- 

 ies, aside from the early Greeks, speak of the Erythronium as " dog's 

 tooth" with or without the added word "violet." It is commonly 

 known that the early herbalists named many of the plants they de- 

 scribed from associations either in form, time or neighboring plants, 

 regarding but little the individual characteristics of the plant in hand. 

 In one of the old botanies in the library of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment, there is a colored plate, illustrating the European species with the 

 name Viola dens-canis, with pen notes, giving the later and more modern 

 names also. This is, so far as found, the only picture of the plant with 

 its full common name recognized as its scientific name. The name is 

 derived, as stated in several of the old herbals, from the form of the 

 bulb of the European plant, which resembles very closely the shape of 

 a canine tooth from a carnivorous animal, hence " dog's " tooth. The 

 " violet " part of the name is probably due to the blossoming time and 



