XIV ' PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME. 



" In this respect the inquiry is one of the highest interest. In 

 another it is prohable that some who consult these pages will be 

 disappointed. The names have usually been given to the plants 

 from some use to which they were applied, and very few of them 

 bear any trace of poetry or romance. In short our Sweet Alisons ' 

 and Herb True-loves,- our Heartseases,^ Sweet Cicelies,^ and Sweet 

 Williams,' resolve themselves into sadly matter-of-fact terms, which 

 arose from causes very different from the pretty thoughts with 

 which they are now associated, and sometimes, as in the case of 

 the Forget-me-not," were suggestive of very disagreeable qualities." 



The above remarks are sufficient to indicate what a vast field 

 is open to the industrious etymologist in Burma, though the Editor's 

 ignorance of Burmese entirely forbids his following up the subject, 

 but it is to be hoped that sufficient has been said to induce many 

 properly qualified students to trace out and illustrate the origin and 

 significance of the numerous curious Burmese names of plants, which 

 seem so sadly to want explanation, as, for example, such names as 

 ' Myouk-meng-thwe-gay ' or ' Po-theng-ma-myet-chouk.' 



I must here also (in addition to my remarks elsewhere) record 

 my grateful acknowledgments to the Eev. C. Parish, for the valuable 

 assistance he has so ungrudgingly rendered, not only in preparing 

 and revising the lists of Algas, Mosses, Ferns, and Orchids, which 

 would otherwise have been far less satisfactory, but also for much 

 information and advice of a more general character, though I may 

 add that for any errors or opinions expressed in any other parts 

 of the work I am alone responsible, since, though my friend and 

 coadjutor is a clergyman of a breadth and liberality of view, worthy 

 of his scientific and literary attainments, he may justly claim not 



' Alison, a con'uption of Alyssum (mnrilinitim, L.), a plant smelling of honey. 



- True-lore, properly Tru-love, Ftiris qiiadrifoUa, L., from the Danish iro faith and lore promise, 

 and not from faith in love, with which it has no etj-mological connexion. 



2 Ueart's-case, ^"lola tricolor, L. Origiually'the clove [Canjophylliint), a warm cardiac medicine, 

 therefore called 'heart's ease,' but subsequently transferred to the indigenous 'giUillower,' Diaidhua 

 caryophyllus, L., and by a stUl wider deriation to the Wallflower, Pansy and Violet. 



* Sweet Cicely, Mi/rr/iis odorata, Scop., a corruption of the Greek name of the plant o-eireAi, 

 Seseli ! 



^ Sweet William, Diaiithiis harbatiis, L., from the French ccilkt, corrupted to Willy and thence 

 to WUUam. 



^ Forget-me-not, originally applied to Ajiiyn Chamirpiiys, from the nauseous taste which it leaves 

 in the mouth. For about fifty years, however, the name has been applied to Myosolis palustris, L., 

 with tlie pretty legend of a drowned lover invented ia association with this curious transfer. 



