102 SCOTCH NAMES OF NATIVE WILD FLOWERS. 



bored into pipes or tubes. This may be correct, but I prefer the 

 following. About all the old farmhouses I know that have any 

 pretensions to a garden, there is in some snug corner of the same 

 a summer-house, or bower, and this bower is usually formed of 

 bourtree shrubs, hence the name of bourtree, or bowertree. 



Bush is the box tree (Buxus sempervivum), from French buis, or 

 bonis. 



Esh is the ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior). 



Gean is the wild cherry (Primus Avium), from French guigne. 



Hadder is an ancient form of the word heather (Calluna and 

 Erica). 



Groset is the gooseberry (Ribes Grossularia), from French 

 groseille, or Gaelic grosaid. All four words are the same, and are 

 derived from the root of the word gorse, and they all mean the 

 berry-bush with prickles like the gorse, or whin. 



Hagberry is the bird-cherry (Primus Padus). Hag is Saxon for 

 a hedge. 



Hepthom is the wild rose (Rosa canina). Hep, or hip, the 

 same word as heap, is the fruit from the heap of seeds enclosed in 

 one husk, and thorn meaning, first, a prickle, and then any plant 

 with prickles. 



The roden, or rowan-tree (Pyrus Aucuparia), derives its name 

 from rone, ron, or runn, meaning a bush in general. It must 

 have been exceedingly common to get the name of the bush. 



Roebuck-berry is the stone-bramble (Rubus saxatilis). 



Sivven is Gaelic for the raspberry (Rubus Idceus). 



Wineberry is the black currant (Ribes nigrum). The wine is 

 medicinal — good for sore throats. 



In looking through a Scottish dictionary one naturally expects to 

 find a fair number of names — pet names, perhaps — bestowed upon 

 the national emblem. But no. Bur-thistle is all, and perhaps 

 quite enough too, for it is a fitting emblem in itself of the proud, 

 poor, hardy, independent, and not easily sat-upon people who 

 figuratively saw themselves in the rough, prickly head of the bur- 

 thistle (Carduus). 



Conclusion. 



In reviewing the foregoing list one cannot help being impressed 

 with the notion, or at least with the hope, that it comprehends 



