THE PLANT WOELD 177 



French and English writers, by Latin authors of Renaissance times, in- 

 cluding those Columna calls " neoferici," it may be asked how the older 

 botanical writers explained the application of the name to the plant, and 

 how well they agree with the explanations commonly given in standard 

 English dictionaries. A couple of examples may be taken : In the 

 Imperial Dictionary, " The common columbine is a favorite garden 

 flower, which owes its name to the fancied resemblance of five spurred 

 petals to the form of pigeons." That of Dr. Murray's New English 

 Dictionary is : " Common columbine, the inverted flower of which has 

 some resemblance to five pigeons clustered together." Probably the 

 word was of popular origin, like our bishop's-cap, pitcher-plant, Dutch- 

 man's-breeches, and the like, in which a fancied resemblance is traced. 



One of the best explanations of the name by the older writers is 

 that of John Raj'.* In connection with the etymology of Aquilegia, he 

 writes : " This is a modern name, as it were, aquilina, because the hooked 

 points of the flower are like the claws of an eagle. In English it is called 

 columbuie, because the recurved spurs of the flower resemble the neck 

 of doves, along with their head and beak, both in form and color." 

 When describing the common columbine {A. vulgaris), which grew wild 

 in England, he further states : " The slender though stiff, hairy, genicu- 

 late, branching stems bear delightful flowers, made up of little rostrate 

 horns, which by an excellent device of nature resemble doves with their 

 wings outspread, if each of the little horns with the two lekves (sepals) 

 by its sides be taken separately." A century before the time of Ray, a 

 similar explanation was made by Dalechamps, a botanist and physician 

 of Lyons. " The flowers consist of two kinds of leaves, five small and 

 narrow radiating like a star, and five with openings below, hollow and 

 funnel-shaped like those of the larkspur. These are bent at the tip, and 

 in slenderness resemble the neck and beaks of doves. Hence the name, 

 columbine. This is to be understood of the simple flower,"t that is, as 

 compared -wdth florae plenae, or double flowers, common in gardens, in 

 which the appearance would be disguised. 



The resemblance is not hard to trace in the flowers, as thej hang on 

 the stems in their inverted position, making each sepal do double duty ; 

 there is a ring of five little birds resting on some concealed circular 

 perch, their beaks pointing inward. The colors mentioned by Ray are 

 readily matched with some of those found among doves, since in both 

 single and double flowered varieties in cultivation at that time several 

 colors are given. A dozen shades at least are named by him. 

 Chicago, Ili,. 



*Historia Plantarum, 1, 705, 1686. 



fHistoria generalis Plantarum, Lugdunum, 1587, p. 820. 



