PREFACE. 
A few months ago the following question 
appeared in the Notes and Queries Column of 
the Somerset County Herald :— 
LocaL FLOWER NAMES are often very apt 
and expressive. I recently heard the Michael- 
mas Daisy called ‘‘ Farewell Summer.” Can 
any reader of the Notes and Queries Column 
kindly tell me whether a collection of local 
ae names has been published in Somerset ? 
I hope it is no breach of confidence to say that 
the gentleman who made this enquiry is one who 
takes very great interest in all matters relating 
to the county of Somerset. I do not pretend to 
know what was his purpose in asking this question, 
but I have a suspicion that one of his objects, at 
any rate, was to elicit and to emphasise the fact 
that no such list of flower names has ever been 
published for this county, and possibly he had 
a faint hope that by thus calling attention to 
the matter in the columns of this paper, some- 
body might be stimulated to take up the work. 
lf he had any such hope the querist can con- 
gratulate himself upon having attained his object, 
in so far as the list of local names of flowers which 
I have compiled and of which I print the first 
instalment to-day can be regarded as carrying 
out his ideas. In spite of its many shortcomings 
(of which I am only too conscious), I believe this 
list is by far the most complete of its kind that 
has ever been attempted in this part of England, 
and its compilation is a direct result of the inser- 
tion of the question quoted above. 
It is only fair to myself and to others that I 
should confess at once that my own knowledge 
of these local names as well as of botany, 
etymology, and every other subject that is 
necessary for the intelligent compiling of such a 
list is very limited, and in undertaking this work 
I have been almost entirely dependent upon the 
help of others, the total number of persons who 
have assisted in compiling this list amounting 
to many hundreds, both old and young. The 
foundation of the list was a very fine collection 
of replies to popular competitions received at 
different times over a period of 12 or 15 years 
