94 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



specific name, as we have already seen in several instances, 

 the Convolvulus arvensis, &c., refers to the favourite 

 locality of the plant, and only the generic name there- 

 fore calls for any comment. The word is derived from 

 the name bestowed on this or some similar species by the 

 ancient Greek writers, which name was in turn, it was 

 conjectured, derived from the Greek word for hollow, 

 this species, like all the other members of the genus, 

 having thick succulent stems, that, like a pipe, have a 

 hollow space running down their centres. The name 

 sow-thistle was bestowed on the various species of this 

 genus because, though somewhat like a thistle, they were 

 not really thistles after all, and such a prefix as sow, horse, 

 or hog, is frequently in popular nomenclature put before 

 the name to indicate that the plant is spurious and 

 worthless. The case of the sow-thistle is a somewhat 

 hard one, for it clearly is no more like a thistle than a 

 thistle is like it; and it is at least as useful a plant as 

 a thistle, and therefore deserves no such opprobrium. 

 Pigs are particularly fond of the succulent leaves and 

 stems of the sow-thistle, and it has therefore been sug- 

 gested that the popular name in all good faith bears 

 testimony to this liking on their part; but the analogy 

 between this and the structure of several other old plant- 

 names leads us to conclude that the first explanation of 

 the name is the true one. We have gone into this question 

 at some little length in our remarks on the dog-rose, and 

 to those we would now invite any who feel an interest in 

 the question to turn back. 



The root-stock of the corn sow-thistle is large, and 

 creeps almost horizontally some little distance. The stems 

 that rise from it are often three or even four feet high ; the 



