362 



masses thick with milky cones/' as an illustration of the use 

 of the word Chestnut in the sense of Horse Chestnut, cautiously 

 submitted the matter to the Director of Kew. The ** milky 

 cones ^' point to an etlsy identification. 



A letter of November, 1888, expresses the interesting con- 

 clusion at which he had arrived as a consequence of his re- 

 searches into the history of the word Cherry. He did not think 

 that Prunus Cerasus or P. avium could be native in Britain, 

 for the early native names are from Latin, none Teutonic or 

 Celtic, and he remarked: ''Now considering* that the Wild 

 Cherry, if ^native, would be rather an important fruit — as 

 British fruits went — it seems quite improbable that it should 

 have had no name. The Latin name in Old English and in 

 Celtic looks as if it w^as not known till the Romans introduced 

 tree and name/' In connection with this it may be mentioned 

 that Mr. Clement Reid, in his Origin of the British Flora, does 

 not refer to Pruiius Cerasus at all, but he shows that fossil 

 remnins of P, avium have been discovered in neolithic deposits 

 m Essex and at Gayfield, near Edinburgh, and in interglacial 

 deposits in Sussex, 



Lmnaeus named the genus Cinchona in commemoration of 

 Lady Ana de Osorio, Countess of Chinchon, Avho is reputed to 



ir vir- 



liave been the first to make known to Europe the healin^ . .. 

 tues of its bark, familiar as Peruvian Bark, the source of the 

 qumme of commerce. This being so, several writers, including 

 t5ir Clements Markham, who took so import^iut a part in those 

 measures which secured the introduction of tl^e plant into 

 Jndia pointed out that the name should be Chinchona, and 

 strongly advocated the adoption of this spelling. As a lexico- 

 grapher Sir James Murray was much concerned about this, 

 because It was not merely that the one word would have to be 

 changed, but may dorivates, botanical and chemical, as well. ' 



^« consistent all would have to be changed and that he thought 

 would be a large order." Eventually the word appeared, as 

 Linnaeus wrote it with a cross-reference from Chinchona . 



Une letter revealed a doubt in the editor's mind that the name 



L^luna, as used in Smilax Chirm, was really derived from the 



country. Is unusual form as a specific name surprised him, and 



^as, he said, like using India, Canada or Germania for species. 



.Ihere appears to be no doubt that SmUa^ China, known to Lin- 



ItaTx Cbf. "^'^'''^^^^ ^^""^ ^^^ '^''^P^^^' «nd as the source of 



won! Cb f """'''^ • * '' '*f '^^ *^^* *^^ ^'^^'^ synonyms of the 



point to confusion with some other word. The allusion to the 

 above recalls to mind a letter in wbiVb .1 allusion to tne 

 was fli"iv.,.+o,i ^ • J. \li *^'^'-" 1^ ^^nich an emphatic protest 



S ihrlv lono. ^''^ -^'/^'^ ^^^rnhro^. specifij names, por- 

 botS. ^ '^>'P^^^^^^«ed personal names, given by some 



of Cocoa-nu?' in stnd fl ''^^'^ ^ii^r.i\<,n to the erroneous use 

 . nut, instead of Coco-nut, f.r the fruit of Cocas m.ci- 



