26 



'' loosestrife " is a translation. Irish: breallan leana. Breal, a 

 knob, a gland. It was employed as a remedy for glandular 

 diseases, or from the appearance of the plant when in seed. 

 Breallan means also a vessel. The capsule is enclosed in the 

 tube of the calyx, as if it were in a vessel. Lean^ a swamp. 

 Generally growing in watery places. 



HALORAGEiE. 



Myriophyllum spicatum and alterniflorum. — Water -milfoil. 

 Gaelic and Irish : snaithe bhatheadh (from snaiik, a thread, a 

 filament; and bath, drown), the drowned thread. 



Grossulariace.e. 



Ribes, said to be the name of an acid plant. {Rheum '7'ibes, 

 mentioned by the Arabian physicians, a different plant). More 

 probably from the Celtic riob, rib, or reub, to ensnare or en- 

 tangle, to tear — many of the species being prickly. Latin : ribes. 

 Gaelic : spiontag, currant, gooseberry. Irish : spiontog, spin. 

 Latin : spina, a thorn ; also spion, pull, pluck, tear away. Welsh : 

 yspinem. 



Ribes nigrum — Black currant. Gaelic : raosar dubh, the black 

 currant. Raosar (Scotch, rizzar — from French, raisin ; Welsh, 

 rhyfion ; Old English, raisin tree), for red currant. 



R. rubrum — Red or white currants. Gaelic : raosar dearg or 

 geal, red or white currants ; dearc frangach, French berry. 



R. grossularia — Gooseberry-bush. Gaelic : preas ghrosaid 

 (written also groseag, grosaid), the gooseberry — from grossulus, 

 diminutive of grossus, an unripe fig, — " so called because its 

 berries resemble little half-ripe figs, grossi" (Loudon). French : 

 groseille. Welsh : grwysen. Scotch : grozet, grozel. 



** Suthan-Iair's i?a\Q ghroscidcau.'''' — M'Intyre. 

 Wild strawberry and the odour of gooseberries. 



Crassulace^. 



(From Latin, crassus, thick — in reference to the fleshy leaves and 

 stem. Gaelic : crasag, corpulent.) 



Sedum rhodiola — Rose-root. Gaelic and Irish : lus nan laoch, 

 the heroes' plant ; laoch, from the Irish, meaning a hero, a cham- 

 pion, a term of approbation for a young man. 



The badge of the Clan Gunn. 



S. acre — Stonecrop, wall-pepper. Gaelic and Irish : grafan 

 7ian clach, the stone's pickaxe. Welsh : flyddarlys, prick madam. 



