FO()i;S PARSLEY 125 



Deil's or Devil's Darn i 11 <;- needle, DarninLj Needles, Devil's Elshin, 

 PZlshins. C.round l-^nell, Hedoe-hoo-, Needle, Fink Neetlle. Old Wile's 

 Darnini^ Needles, Old Woman's Needle, Wild rarslc), Tokc: Xcedlc. 

 Pook Needle, Powkenrly, Pound Needle, Pow k Needle, Puck Needle, 

 Shepherd's Needle, .Stikpyle, Tailor's Needles, Throck-needle, X'enus's 

 Needle. 



As to the name X'enus's Comb, (ierard says, "After (the (lowers) 

 come uppe, long seeds very like unto pack-neetlles, orderlie set one by 

 another like the great teeth of a combe. " 



There is a common saying, says W . K. Wise, " in the New borest 

 that two crow-pecks are as good as an oat foi- a horse", to which the 

 reply is "that a crow-peck and a barley-corn may l>e". 



This plant is called Adam's Needle from the long seed-pods, and 

 the name Devil's Darning Needle arises from its long awns. P'Ishins, 

 or awls, is the name given on account of th(t long-pointed fruits. 



At first called Our Lady's Comb, this became Wnus's Comb. 



EsSEXTI.\r> Sl'lXllIC CHAKACTKRS: — ■ 



126. Scaiidix Pcctcii-Vciuris, L. Stem short, erect, leaves tri- 

 pinnate, flowers small, white, in an umbel of few rays, fruit long, 

 beaked, rough, with marginal bristles. 



Fool's Parsley (.PLthusa Cynapium, L.) 



The anti(juit\' ot this umbellifer, in spite of its association with 

 culti\'ated land to-da\", is shown b\' its occurrence in Neolithic beds 

 in Mants, and Roman deposits at Pklinburgh. 



It is found in the Temperate Zone in pAirope and Siberia, and it 

 has been recently introduced Into N. America. In Great Britain it is 

 not found in Cardigan, Isle of Man, Linlithgow, Easterness, and only 

 in the Clyde Lslands, in W. and N. Highlands, and in the Northern 

 Isles, or from Elgin to the S. Coast. It is native in Ireland. 



Fool's Parsley is a very characteristic plant of all cultivated ground, 

 occurring there and elsewhere always as a weed. It is also a common 

 plant around houses, in gardens, plantations, stack- and farm-yards, aiul 

 is found on all pieces of waste land. 



The burning properties of the; plant, when taken, are referred to 

 in the first Latin name. It is poi.sonous, and this may be indicated 

 by its extremely smooth, sb.iny stem, and dark-green lurid colour. 

 The main stem divides above, and the leaflets are all linear, narrowly 

 elliptic, of one size, the leaves being several times divided, with lobes 

 each side of the stalk. The stem is hollow and bluish-screen. The 



