146 FAMILIAR WILD FLO WEES. 



quote any passages to show the appreciation in which this 

 flower has been held ; many such references throughout the 

 whole range of English literature will no doubt at once 

 rise to the minds of most of our readers, or may readily be 

 met with by a very little research. 



There are several species of wild rose indigenous to 

 Britain; we have already in our series figured one other. 

 The present species is the Rosa canina, or dog-rose. The 

 derivation of the generic name is open to a little question, 

 since some authorities tell us that it is taken from the 

 Celtic rhos, others from the Greek rodon. The roots of 

 both these words signify that which is red. As the Latin 

 word for the plant is identical with the botanical generic 

 name, and as most of our botanical terms are either Latin 

 or Greek in their origin, it is probable that one or other of 

 those languages supplied the scientific term, while it is 

 equally probable that our common English name, rose, is a 

 descendant in a direct line from the name given to the flower 

 by our Celtic forerunners in Britain. It has been con- 

 jectured that the prefix " dog " was added to the flower to 

 express its worthless quality. The, term is undoubtedly 

 often so used in old plant names. Thus the dog-violet is so 

 called, because, though like the beautifully-scented species in 

 many respects, it has no share of the fragrance that makes 

 that so especially sought after. DogVcamomile is so 

 termed, because, though the plant bears much resemblance 

 to the true camomile, it has not its most valued property 

 its medicinal virtue. Dog's-grass, a plant something like 

 wheat, and belonging to the same genus, is, after all, but 

 a counterfeit, and will never ripen into the full ear of corn; 

 it fails in all that gives the other its value. It will be 

 noticed in all these examples, however, that the plant thus 



