35 



the rough weed. Irish : airmeirg, from airm, arms, weapons, 

 from its stem being so profusely armed with retrograde prickles. 



G. saxatile (Armstrong) — Heath bedstraw. Madar fraoc/i, 

 heath madder. It grows abundantly among heather. O'Reilly 

 gives this name also to G. verum. 



G. verum — Yellow bedstraw. Ruin, ?'uamh, from ruad/i, red. 

 " The Highlanders use the roots to dye red colour. Their 

 manner of doing so is this : The bark is stripped off the roots, 

 in which bark the virtue principally lies. They then boil the 

 roots thus stripped in water, to extract what little virtue remains 

 in them ; and after taking them out, they last of all put the bark 

 into the liquor, and boil that and the yarn they intend to dye 

 together, adding alum to fix the colour" (Lightfoot). 



Lus an Icasaich (in Glen Lyon) the rennet-weed. " The rennet 

 is made as already mentioned, with the decoction of this herb. 

 The Highlanders commonly added the leaves of the Uriica 

 dioica or stinging-nettle, with a little salt " (Lightfoot). Irish : 

 baladh chnis (O'Reilly), the scented form [baladh, odour, scent, 

 cneas, form). 



Asperula odorata — Woodruff. Gaelic : lusa-caitheamh} Pro- 

 bably the Irish name baladh chnis, the scented form, is the wood- 

 ruff, and not the lady's bedstraw ; it is more appropriate to the 

 former than to the latter. 



Valerianacete. 



Valeriana officinalis — Great wild valerian. Gaelic : an tri- 

 bhileach (M'Kenzie) ; lus na tri bhilean (Armstrong), the 

 three-leaved plant, from the pinnate leaves and an odd terminal 

 one, forming three prominent leaflets. Irish: lus na itri ballan, 

 the plant with three teats {ballan, a teat) ; perhaps from its three 

 prominent stamens (Brockie) ; carthan curaigh {carthan, useful, 

 curaigh, a hero, a giant) — i.e., the useful tall plant. Welsh: 

 y llysiewyn, the beautiful plant ; y di'i-aglog {dri, three, aglog, 

 burning ; from its hot bitter taste). 



V. dioica — Marsh or dwarf valerian. Irish: carthan arraigh, 

 from arrach, dwarf; caoirifi leana, that which gleams in the 

 marsh, {caoir, gleams, sparks, flames, flashes; leana, a swamp, 

 a marsh). Although this plant is not recorded from Ireland, yet 

 the names only occur in the Irish Gaelic. 



^ Lusa-caitheajnh, the consumption herb, as it was much used for that 

 disease. — Fergusson. 



