1861.] FRITILLARIA AND CROW-FLOWERS. 205 



FRITILLARIA AND CEOW-FLOWEES. 



Mr. C. J. Ashfieldj in his remarks on the botany of the Chil- 

 terns, in the ' Phy tologist ^ for April, 1861, notices the i^n/i//arm 

 Meleagris (Fritillary, or Snake' s-head), which grows abundantly 

 in a field near to the hamlet of Ford, in the parish of Dinton, 

 and is throughout the neighbourhood known by the name of 

 Crow-cup Field. I wish to know something more about this 

 plant, and particularly whether it is the one Chapman alludes 

 to, in his ' Ovid's Banquet of Sense,' as 



" Cup-like Twill-plants, strewed in Bacchus' bower." 



I have for some time thought that the Fritillaria is the plant 

 there alluded to, as it is termed " cup-like " as well as " twilled ;" 

 which words are descriptive of the shape of the flower, and the 

 marking of its petals. I think also that the name Crow-cup 

 Field, given to the field at Dinton where it so abundantly grows, 

 favours my opinion. Respecting Crow-flowers generally, I am 

 curious to know why so many of our common plants have the 

 prefix crow. In Gerard's Herbal is the following : — 



" Of Croivfeet : There be divers kinds of these pernicious herbs, 

 comprehended under the name of Ranunculus, or Crowfoot, and 

 the knowledge of them is as necessary to the physician as any 

 other herbs, to the end they may shun the same, as Scribonius 

 Largus saith." He then gives, — common Crowfoot, right Crow- 

 foot, Crowfoot of the fallow field, white Mountain Crowfoot, 

 round-rooted Crowfoot, Crowfoot called Auricomus Golden-hair 

 Crowfoot, Frog Crowfoot, grassy Crowfoot, winter Crowfoot, 

 Portugal Crowfoot, Locke's Gowlons, or globe Crowfoot, and 

 several others, which are all called Ranunculus. He also notices 

 Crow-flowers, or Wild Williams, called in Latin Armoracia syl- 

 vestris ; Crowfoot, Crane's-bill, Crow Garlic, Crow-toes, Hya 

 cinths, and yellow Crow-bells.'^ 



In Halliwell's ' Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, 

 he has Crowberry {Empeti'um nigrum), Crow Leek (Hyacinth), 

 Crow Parsnip (Dandelion), Crow's-nest (wild Parsley), Crow 



* " The Crow GarUc," says Coles, in his ' Adam in Eden,' " groweth in fertile 

 pastures in aU parts of England, particularly in a field called the Mantels, on 

 the back side of Isliugtou, by London." If these plants take their names from 

 the shape of the bird's foot, what part of them is so shaped ? 



