THE NAMES OF FLOWERS 19 



this corruption, for some reason or other, did not 

 stick. The modern name carnation is said to have 

 been originally only an adjective applied to certain 

 Gillyflowers, although Parkinson uses it as an alter- 

 native to Gillyflowers, or, as he calls them, gillo- 

 flowers. No doubt it has ousted Gillyflower because 

 that name was applied to other plants, as, for instance, 

 Wallflowers (which still keep it), Stocks, Rockets, 

 and African Marigolds. The most beautiful names 

 of flowers have grown like folk-songs or ballad poetry; 

 and there is a kind of natural and unconscious poetry 

 in them full of the delight which generations of men 

 have taken in the flowers themselves. But sometimes 

 the same flower will have two different names, one 

 poetic and one expressing the Anglo-Saxon liking for 

 nicknames. Thus Love in a Mist has also the name 

 of Devil in a Bush, and Bleeding Heart (Dicentra) 

 is, or used to be, called Dutchman's Breeches. 



We cannot expect to make beautiful names for 

 new flowers off-hand; in such matters the invention 

 of individuals will never equal the invention of genera- 

 tions, nor can it hope to get an immediate currency, 

 especially with the competition of botanical names. 

 Still, it is desirable that some effort should be made 

 to find English names for our newer flowers, and to 

 use them when found; for there is a danger that we 

 shall grow too content with the botanical names, 

 and apply them even to flowers which have beautiful 

 and well-established English names of their own. 

 Already many good old names have fallen out of use 



