78 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



detection of colour-blindness, and their representation not 

 only taxes the powers of the colour-box to the uttermost, 

 but leads us in despair to cast aside our poor pigments 

 as we revel in the splendour and intensity, the wonderful 

 depth and force of colour of any one of the three flowers in 

 the bunch we have gathered. Nature paints with tints 

 no human art can rival, and the nearest approach one can 

 make to the colour of a poppy looks mere brickdust when 

 laid by the silken splendour of the petals of the wayside 

 weed. 



Some botanical names do not strike us as being particu- 

 larly happy in their choice, or as conveying any special 

 meaning or appropriateness, but the scientific title of the 

 corn marigold cannot be included amongst these, for its 

 generic name signifies the golden flower, and its specific 

 title that which pertains to corn-fields. It is the especially 

 golden flower of the harvest field. Some authorities tell us 

 that the English name is really what a glance at it would 

 suggest that it is the golden flower dedicated in monkish 

 times to the Virgin Mary; but it is probable that this 

 meaning is an afterthought. The marsh marigold derives 

 its name from the Anglo-Saxon words " mersc " and 

 " gealla " signifying " marsh " and " golden flower/' and 

 other bright yellow flowers, like the present species, though 

 they may have no connection with the marsh, receive the 

 name of marigold. Some old writers call the plant merely 

 the golde, and in Wales it is the " Gold yr yd." There 

 is a rich auriferous look about the first word of this name 

 that, even in one's ignorance of Gaelic, gives justification 

 for including the Welsh title amongst the others, and 

 claiming for it a similar intention and meaning. A local 

 name for the plant is the bigold ; which Prior, in his 



