} 



198 Local Plant Xames. 



another plant receiving the same name. So we have these 

 plants, distinct from each other, bearing the same name. 



Our wild Roses seem to have no special local name, but the 

 fruit, which is called " chupes " supplies us with a word which I 

 cannot recollect having seen elsewhere. The usual term, of 

 course, is hips, but leading authorities are silent with respect to 

 this name of chupe, about which I should like to know more. 

 What is its origin? The little Burnet Rose, Rosa spinossissima, 

 is known in some parts of Galloway as the Galloway Rose, but I 

 do not recollect having heard the name of Cat-whin, current in 

 Northumberland, applied to it. Then the little whin, named 

 Genista angelica, which is rarely found in Dumfriesshire, and, 

 so far as I know, not at all in Galloway, although I speak sub- 

 ject to correction, is also called the Petty Whin, quite an appro- 

 priate word to apply to it. The Lady's Bedstraw is the name 

 used for Galium verum in this part of the country, but it seems 

 practically universal. Its real name is Our Lady's Bedstraw, 

 derived from the fact that it was reputed to be the plant strown 

 in the stall where Christ was born. One of the purposes for 

 which this plant was utilised in the Hebrides was that of supply- 

 ing a reddish brown dye. 



The Paeonia is a familiar garden flower, but in our local 

 tongue it has been converted into " Peeny Rose," a clear corrup- 

 tion of Paiony, with the addition of Rose, not an uncommon affix 

 to plant names. 



The Rest Harrow is sometimes called Wild Liquorice, from 

 the supposed likeness of the taste of the plant to Liquorice. Its 

 botanical name is Ononis arvensis, the popular one of Rest 

 Harrow being given on account of the resistance offered by the 

 stringy stems and roots to the harrow when passing over the soil. 

 I cannot find this name elsewhere. 



In Thunder and Lightning we have an endeavour to convey 

 the brilliant appearance of the flowers of the Red Valerian, Cent- 

 ranthus ruber, although I am inclined to think that it may have 

 been as.sociated with it owing to its growing well on old walls and 

 even on roofs. As some are aware, plants which grew in such 

 positions were assumed to have the power of repelling lightning, 

 which was looked upon with even greater dread than now-a-days, 

 when we are so familiar with electricity and its powers. The 

 Houseleek and Stonecrop are examples of other plants to which 

 similar properties were attributed. 



