168 
of this tree forms the crest of the Worshipful Company of Dyers, 
the description of the crest being— 
“QO h of the colours, three sprigs of the grain tree, 
erect vert, fructed gules ” :—that is to say, a plant with green leaves 
and red berries. 
Application was therefore made to the Dyers’ Company for 
information, but the Clerk informed us that nothing could be found 
in the records of the Company which would throw any light on the 
identity of the tree ; he added that in the Coat of Arms the three 
sprigs look exactly like Holly. , 
As the Holly tree appeared to have no logical connection with 
the arts of dyeing, some other explanation was looked for and the 
connection of the word ‘grain’ with the Cochineal insect gave the 
clue to the true nature of the grain tree. 
The arms of the Dyers’ Company were, however, granted in the 
XVth Century, probably between 1420-1450, so that it is clear 
that the Mexican Cochineal (discovered in 1518), could not be 
concerned, and that the grain tree is not an Opuntia. 
he word ‘grain’ appears to have become associated with the 
Cochineal on its discovery on account of its having been used for 
the crimson dye material obtained from the ‘Kermes’ or Coccus 
Ilieis, which was well known in Europe from very early times. 
Pomet in his “ History of Druggs,” ed. 2. London, 1725, p. 15, 
pl. 8, fig. 36, describes “the scarlet grain or Alkermes” as 
ollows :— 
“ The scarlet grain, which the Latins call Grana Tinctorum, the 
Greeks, Coccus Infectorius, and the Arabs, Kermen or Kermes, is 
the seed, or rather excrement, of a littie shrub whose leaves are 
prickly, almost like those of Holy-oak. They are found in great 
quantities in Portugal, Spain, Provence, and Languedoc.” 
_ He pomts out that when the seed grows old it engenders an 
insect which will eat itup . . ... and it loses all its virtue. 
In the account of the Cochineal or Cochenille, the grain is spoken 
of as the seed of the plant, “though some people affirm the 
Cochenille is a little animal or insect.” 
of the dye obtained from this source. Thus Olivia, in “ Twelfth 
Night,” L v. 255, “Tis in grain, sir; ‘twill endure wind and 
r. 
Grains of Cochineal are still spoken of in the trade, and owi 
to the greater cheapness of the Cochineal dye, the ancient and 
probably faster dye from the ‘ Kermes’ has fallen into disuse. 
The ‘little shrub,’ the host of the scarlet grain, is thus Quercus 
coccifera or Kermes Oak and is the grain tree of Heraldry. That 
it should have been confused with the Holly is not altogether 
surprising since the prickly leaves of this oak with the berry-like 
rmes certainly suggest that plant. In Hayne’s “ Gewachse,” 
Berlin, 1833, Bd. xii., Pl. 44, an interesting account of the Kermes 
* See also “ Comedy of Errors,” TIL, ii., 108. 
