364 FLORE POPULAIRE. 



Society, indefinitely postponed — contains a large number collected 

 from various sources. Here and there among M. Rolland's English 

 names we note an error or an omission : thus, the Bon Jardinier 

 Almanack for " the year XIII." notwithstanding, we cannot allow 

 that the " ten week stock" is synonymous with the wallflower, and 

 it is odd to find that a name in such general use as "Virginia stock" 

 is not recorded for Makomia maritima. Sometimes names distinctly 

 applicable to only one species are assigned to the genus, as when 

 " snow in summer" and others are placed under the genus Arabis 

 instead of under A. alplna, and "coral-wort" and the like are 

 recorded under Dentaria instead of under D. bulbifera. At times we 

 are inclined to doubt the accuracy of M. EoUand's generalizations, 

 as when he says of Ranunculus arvensis, "Cette plante porte souvent 

 les memes noms que les renoncules precedentes " (our three 

 buttercups) ; certainly in England this species has a very distinct 

 series of names, and its place of growth, spiny carpels, and general 

 appearance sufficiently prevent it from being popularly regarded as 

 one of the buttercups. The English names correspond curiously with 

 some of those of other countries : thus the adhesion to the hands 

 of the reapers which has gained for it oui- names "devil's claws," 

 "hedge-hog," and "crows' claws "is echoed in France by "gratons," 

 "chiuot (petit chien)," and "gousses = chieus " ; "les fruits sont 

 ainsi appeles parce que leurs piquants les font adherer aux talons 

 nus des pay sans et s'y attachent comme des chiens qui mordent." 

 The dialectal French "bramefouam — c'est a dire qui appelle la 

 faim, parce que cette plante fait le plus grand tort aux recoltes" — is 

 paralleled by our "hunger weed" and " starve-acre." This last 

 name is not given as English by M. Holland ; and a comparison of 

 his list with that in the Dictionary of English Piant-natnes shows 

 that of the twenty-eight names there given for Ranunculus arvensis, 

 M. Rollaud cites only fourteen, so that he has hardly done justice 

 to his English material. 



M. Eolland has been wise in excluding the rubbish in the way 

 of spurious legend and tradition which is to be found in many 

 "popular" books, but we are inclined to think that the folklore of 

 the various species might be considerably extended. What there 

 is, however, is genuine and interesting. It is curious to find that 

 the popular superstition by which English nurses prevent their 

 charges from gathering dandelions is about Liege transferred to 

 buttercups, and in Languedoc to poppies ; our children's game 

 (which M. Eolland does not mention) of holding a buttercup under 

 the chin, to see by the reflection "if you like butter," has a variant 

 in Denmark, where, "si en touchant la menton de la mcuagere avec 

 une renoncule, il y reste des traces jaunes, clle reussira son beurre 

 dans le courant de I'annee." M. Eolland does not always steer 

 clear of ingenious derivations ; he thinks our English name poppy 

 comes from " poupee " and relates to the dolls which French 

 children make out of the flowers — an amusement " counue presque 

 partout," he says, but which we have not met with in England. 

 This is how it is done, according to Madame de Genlis : — "On fait 

 da coquelicot bien epanoui une charmaute petite poupee. Les 



