148 PYRUS AUCUPARIA. [Mtty> 



HOESE PLANTS, etc. 



{To the Editor of the ' Phytologist.'). 



The perusal of your article^ in a recent number of the ' Phy- 

 tologist/ respecting the word ' Buck ' has induced me to consider 

 what can be said on behalf of plants having the prefix Horse. 

 They are numerous ; and the same rule applies with regard to the 

 meaning of the word horse, as relating to certain plants, that we 

 find in the word buck, though in the present case the word means 

 size; for instance/ we have Horse-Chestnut, Horse- Cucumber, 

 Horse-Eadish, Horse-Mint, Horse-Purselove, Horse-Eape, etc. 



I think there is no difficulty in saying that these names indi- 

 cate plants which are distinguished for their size compared with 

 some others. The word horse is used as a prefix to other words 

 which have a similar meaning, to signify size and strength, such 

 as 'horse leech,^ a large leech; 'horse martin/ a large kind of 

 bee ; ' horse mussel,' a large mussel ; ' horse crab,' a large crab ; 

 ' horse emmet,' a large ant ; ' horse-fly,' a large fly. We have 

 also ' horse face,' a large face ; ' horse godmother,' a large, coarse 

 woman ; ' horse laugh,' a large loud laugh ; and, equally signifi- 

 cant, we have ' Horse Guards,' who will admit that they are 

 large enough and strong enough for any one. As to the deriva- 

 tion of the name of this animal, the Horse, some of our dictiona- 

 ries tell us that it is derived from the Saxon Hors ; and Horsa, the 

 Saxon chief, was so called from the figure of a horse borne on 

 his coat-of-arms. This name, so given by our Saxon ancestors, 

 might have been to signify what the first of the family possessed, 

 namely, power and greatness. We all know that the horse pro- 

 verbially possesses power, and it is a common saying, "As strong 

 as a horse." H. B. 



PYEUS AUCUPAEIA. 



Mountain Ash, Quicken Bean or Quicken-tree, Rowan Tree, etc. 



You have already given us some notes on this tree and its 

 superstitious uses, and something has been lately said as to its 

 berries being poisonous ; but I cannot find, in any of the old 

 herbals I have referred to, that our early writers considered them 

 poisonous. In a curious volume, called ' Historia Vegetabilium 



