208 CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. [July , 



Buck-bean, for it grows also in humid situations, and is probably 

 as efficient a remedy for porcine disorders as the other. Fee 

 supposes it was Veronica Beccabunga, and Anguillara, Anemone 

 Pulsatilla, which does not grow in moist places, and is rather 

 unfrequent everywhere. " The plant must be gathered by a per- 

 son fasting, and with the left hand, and he must be careful not 

 to look behind him. It must not be laid anywhere but in the 

 troughs from which the cattle drink. It is a remedy against the 

 maladies to which swine and other beasts are subject." (Pliny, 

 book xxiv. ch. 63.) 



There are several plants besides the above noted by Pliny, 

 which are described or named in Cambro-British poetry. One 

 of these is the Primrose, Briallu, one of our earliest flowers, and 

 a great favourite with both old and young. The Ivy, among the 

 ancient Britons, was used for garlands, probably on festive occa- 

 sions, a practice brought from the East, the cradle of the human 

 race. Ivy-crowned Bacchus came from India, followed by a band 

 of noisy bacchanals. The Cambro-British name Eidiorwg is not 

 very remote from the Latin Hedera. They are kindred words, 

 derived from some root common to both languages. 



Ears of corn were impressed on ancient British coins, a certain 

 proof that the aboriginal inhabitants of this island did not live 

 entirely on acorns, as some assert ; nor on swine's flesh, as others 

 maintain. They had the staff" of life, perhaps not so abundantly 

 as their descendants, but its appearance on their circulating me- 

 dium is a proof that they were not entirely ignorant of Ceres and 

 her gifts. 



If any one is curious enough to investigate the subject, let him, 

 if he is not an adept in the science of numismatics, apply to an 

 antiquarian. If he fails to get satisfaction about the precise species 

 of Triticum, Hordeum, Avena, or Secale, that may be impressed on 

 the pieces of money, let him remember that the Irish Shamrock, 

 the Scotch Thistle, and other national emblems are not identified 

 at the present day, though the plants grow and the dies are cast 

 or cut. 



It may be gathered from the term Triad, that the Trefoil, a very 

 common plant everywhere in some of its many forms or species, 

 played a very conspicuous role in the poetry and mythology of 

 the ancient Britons. 



As much of the ancient Cambro-British wisdom, morals, and 



