SCOTCH NAMES OF NATIVE 

 WILD FLOWERS. 



By John Wood. 

 (Read 4th March, i8gi.) 



Of all the weak parts of Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary the weakest 

 is the list of native plants bearing Scotch names. Various reasons 

 may be given for this. Up till the reign of Dutch William our 

 country was one constant scene of national or civil, public or 

 private strife. Again, in later, more peaceful, and better educated 

 times the ordinary inhabitants of any country take notice 

 only of such flowers as daisies and dandelions, wild roses and 

 brambles, because no one, not even a child, can fail to be struck 

 by them. In the Dictionary the only plants which have attracted 

 a fair share of notice are the grasses, the plants which occur as 

 troublesome weeds in cultivated ground, those which are sought 

 after for their real or supposed medicinal virtues, and those which 

 produce edible fruits. There is no attempt made at classification, 

 for botanical knowledge was in its initial empiric stage. The same 

 name is often applied to plants of totally different classes, or the 

 name of one plant is applied to the whole family. The names are 

 for the most part of Anglo-Saxon origin, but, as might have been 

 expected, we have many names derived from Gaelic and French 

 sources. To proceed then, let us take first the grasses. 



The Grasses — Natural and Cultivated. 



Aits or oats (Avena sativa) — Anglo-Saxon ata — has from very 

 ancient times formed the staple of the nation's food, giving us 

 savoury " parritch " and toothsome cake, and with these our firmly 

 knit bones, hardy frames, and robust health. Corbie aits is the 

 black variety — the name needs no explanation. AVild oats is 

 Avena fatua. 



