372 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES SCOTCH 



Composite family (Compositte), native of Spain, having lanceo- 

 late leaves, and a simple or branched flower-stem, a foot or more 

 in height, bearing terminal heads of yellow ligulate florets. It 

 has been long cultivated in gardens in this country for the sake 

 of its roots, wliich are thick and fleshy like the carrot, but some- 

 times forked. Its properties are equal if not superior to dan- 

 delion, and it is a wholesome vegetable when properly cooked. 

 In Spain it is supposed to be a cure for bites of vipers, hence it 

 is called Viper Grass. 



Scotch Fir (^Pinus sylvestris), a tree of the Coniferse family. 

 This well-known tree has an extensive range throughout Europe 

 and Northern Asia, where it forms large forests, such as may be 

 seen in the North of Scotland, some trees attaining a height of 

 100 feet, and affording excellent timber, which is imported from 

 the ports in the Baltic under the name of Eiga and Norway 

 timber. The smaller trees are used for scaffold poles. It also 

 yields tar. The word Fir is frequently named with cedar and 

 other trees which Solomon obtained from Lebanon for the 

 building of the Temple. One of these was doubtless Pinus 

 halepensis, which takes the place in Lebanon and other moun- 

 tains of Palestine of the Scotch Fir, and may be admitted to be 

 the Fir tree instead of cedar used for ship-masts, as stated in 

 Ezekiel, chap, xxvii. ver. 5. {See Pine Trees.) 



Screw Pine. — Pandanns odoratissvmus, the type of the 

 Screw Pine family (Pandanacere), which, with other allied 

 species, are natives generally of the sea- shores of India, the 

 Indian, African, Malayan, and Polynesian islands generally. 

 They abound in Mauritius, and attain a height of 20 to 30 

 feet, and are known by the name Yacoua. Their stout 

 aerial roots give to their palm -like stems the appearance of 

 being supported on props, and at a distance they look like 

 candelabra. This last remark applies more particularly to P. 

 candelahrum, native of Western tropical Africa. Their leaves are 

 sword shaped, 4 to 6 feet in length, with sharp, spiny margins. 

 Their fruit consists of many one-seeded ovaries, forming a hard, 

 globose, compound fruit, some as big as a man's head. Many 



