84 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



poetical element in our nature, or point out a practical 

 domestic or medicinal service rendered. Names based 

 upon poetical associations form but a small class. The 

 first instance which naturally rises to our mind is the 

 pretty little blue forget-me-not with its well-known 

 legend. Some of our readers will probably, however, 

 be surprised to learn that that plant has only borne that 

 name for about fifty years. In two books published 

 in the sixteenth century the germander speedwell is 

 termed the forget-me-not, while most writers for a period 

 of more than two hundred years apply the name to a 

 very different plant, and from a very different motive, 

 the ground pine being the plant generally called by 

 that name, on account of the exceedingly nauseous taste 

 which remains in the mouth if any one is so imprudent as 

 to taste the stem or leaves. The speedwell, which has 

 at times by the poets and other writers been called a 

 forget-me-not, receives both these names from the fragile 

 nature of the plant; hence "speedwell/' a common form 

 of valediction in the Middle Ages, and almost equivalent 

 in meaning to our more modern " farewell" or "adieu" 

 would seem especially appropriate to this tender little 

 flower. Sixteen other species of speedwells, all members 

 of the same botanical genus as the present plant, may 

 be more or less commonlv met with. 



