DAME'S VIOLET 15 



Lady Flock, Lady's Glove, Lady's Smock, Lamb Lakins, Lucy 

 Locket, May Blob, May Flower, Milkgirl, Paigle, Pigeon's Eye, 

 Pink, Shoes and Stockings, Smell Smock, Whitsuntide, Gilliflower, 



Spink. 



Or can our flowers at ten hours bell 

 The gowan or the spink excell? 



The name Apple-pie refers to the odour of the flowers and young 

 shoots. It is called Bread-and-Milk from the custom of taking bread 

 and milk for breakfast at the season when the Cuckoo Pint is in 

 bloom. It is called Cuckoo Spit in allusion to those flowers which 

 are attacked by an Aphis, and thus exhibit the "spit". Children 

 regard it as unlucky to pluck such specimens, thinking the cuckoo 

 has spit on them. Because " sile " means "strain" it is called Milk 

 Sile, and the flower is thought to be in shape like a milk-strainer. 



It was one of the flowers used in bridal bouquets when in season. 

 But it was carefully avoided for May festivals. 



Shakespeare uses the name "Lady's Smock" in Loves Labour's 



Lost\ 



When daisies pied and violets blue, 



And Lady's Smocks all silver white, 

 And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue 



Do paint the meadows with delight, 

 The cuckoo then on every tree 

 Mocks married men, for thus sings he, 

 Cuckoo ! 



The cuckoo flower was used as a salad, but is rather bitter. 



Formerly it was held to be antiscorbutic, and used in stomach 

 disorders, in spasmodic complaints, convulsive asthma, St. Vitus's 

 dance, and epilepsy. 



If inserted in a May garland, it was held unlucky and destroyed. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



27. Cardamine pratensis, L. Flowering stem erect, radical leaves 

 rounded, dentate, upper linear-lanceolate, entire, pinnate, petals white 

 or lilac, three times as long as the sepals, pods erect, style short. 



Dame's Violet (Hesperis inatronalis, L.) 



There is no instance of the seeds being found in Glacial or earlier 

 deposits. The plant is met with to-day in Europe and temperate 

 Asia. This plant is always an escape from gardens, and is not even 

 regarded as naturalized, though in some districts it seems to have 



