Local Plant Names. I9i^ 



A curious example of the transposition of the true names is 

 afforded in our locality by the transfer from the Lilac to the 

 Philadelphus, or Mock Orange, of the name of Syringa. The 

 Mock Orange is almost universally called Syringa here. On the 

 other hand, the common name of the Lilac in this district is the 

 Lily Oak, a flagrant instance of a corruption of the ordinary name 

 of Lilac. Laylock is an English corruption. This brings one 

 to a similar corruption, very common in this quarter, although 

 not so prevalent as at one time. This is to call the Rhododen- 

 dron, the Rhodandrum, and a variation which I have met with is 

 Rhoderydandrum, which is still further from the original. 



Lily is the common name for all the Daffodils, or the 

 Narcissi, as well as for other plants, such as the true Lilies and 

 the Day Lilies, and it is frequently very confusing to hear so 

 . many kinds of plants spoken of as Lilies without some prefix to 

 indicate what kind of flower is meant. The Narcissus has no 

 affinity, or at least a very remote one to the Lilium, or Lily, and 

 is, botanically speaking, a member of another genus. 



Almost every one knows the Woodruffe, as it is called with 

 us in this locality. Woodroofe is the common name, but it would 

 appear, I think, from the old appellation of " Woodrove " that it 

 was named because of its spreading tendency in woods, although 

 I have long been inclined to consider that the one of Wood 

 " ruffe " fitted the appearance of the little fragrant flower. 



Everybody in this, and in many other districts, is well ac- 

 quainted with the Bluidy Finger, as referring to the Digitalis, or 

 Fox Glove, and the origin of this term is evident to all who in 

 early days have delighted to pluck the individual flowers and to 

 place them on their fingers. The general word, Foxglove, has 

 had several interpretations, and some ascribe it to the fairies or 

 little folks, making the original Folks' glove; others again in- 

 clining to the derivation of Fox's glove. A French name for this 

 plant appears in a literal translation as " Fingers of the Virgin." 

 It is also called in France Our Lady's Glove ; while a pretty Irish 

 term is the Fairy Cap. An ingenious argument is that it is de- 

 rived from a Norwegian name which signifies Fox's Bells, signify- 

 ing that it supplies with its bells the music of Reynard and his 

 family. It is not unlikely that there is a good deal of foundation 

 for this theory, of the origin of the term, but our own Bluidy 

 Fingers is abundantly clear. 



