XII 



ON COLUMBINES (AQUILEGIAS) 



As the sweetheart of Harlequin, Columbine was a prime 

 favourite in the days when we were young enough to 

 love the pantomime ; and in the form of a distinct and 

 graceful flower we give her a high place among our 

 garden favourites. 



Her charming name comes, of course, from the 

 Latin columba, a dove, but we are not quite sure 

 whether it is Lady Wilkinson or Dr. Prior who may 

 be accepted as the true guide to the derivation. The 

 former tells us that it arises from the fact that if we 

 pull off a petal with its attached sepals we see a 

 semblance of the figure of a dove with expanded 

 wings ; the latter, that it is due to the nectaries re- 

 sembling the heads of pigeons arranged in a ring round 

 a dish. There is a third view that the dove association 

 arises merely from the colour, and its supporters quote 

 Chaucer 



" Come forth now with thin eyghen Columbine." 



The Marchaundes Tale. 

 But this is a little strained. 



It is a coincidence that the botanical name, Aquilegia, 

 is also supposed by many to arise from a bird, but 

 a very different one from the dove. The derivation 

 ascribed is that of aquila, the eagle, in reference to the 

 form of the petals ; but this does not satisfy some 



scholars, who prefer to trace Aquilegia to aquilegus, a 



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