viii PREFACE. 



the Gaelic-speaking populations, in order, if possible, to 

 settle disputed names, to fix the plant to which the name 

 was applied, and to collect others previously unrecorded. 



In studying the Gaelic nomenclature of plants, it soon 

 became evident that no collection would be of any value 

 unless the Irish-Gaelic names were incorporated. Indeed, 

 when the lists supplied by Alexander M'Donald {Mac- 

 MhaigJistej^-Alastair), published in his vocabulary in 1741, 

 are examined, they are found to correspond with those 

 in much older vocabularies published in Ireland. The 

 same remark applies, with a few exceptions, to the names 

 of plants in Gaelic supplied by the Rev. Mr Stewart of 

 Killin, given in Lightfoot's ' Flora Scotica.' Undoubtedly, 

 the older names have been preserved in the more copious 

 Celtic literature of Ireland ; it is certainly true that "//^ 

 vetustd Hibernicd fuudamentuin habet." The investiga- 

 tions of Professor O'Curry, O'Donovan, and others, have 

 thrown much light on this as well as upon many other 

 Celtic topics. The Irish names are therefore included, 

 and spelt according to the various methods adopted by 

 the different authorities; this gives the appearance of a 

 want of uniformity to the spelling not altogether agree- 

 able to Gaelic scholars, but which, under the circum- 

 stances, was unavoidable. 



It was absolutely essential that the existing Gaelic 

 names should be assigned correctly. The difficulty of 

 the ordinary botanical student was here reversed : he has 

 the plant but cannot tell the name — here the name 

 existed, but the plant required to be found to which 

 the name applied. Again, names had been altered from 

 their original form by transcription and pronunciation ; it 

 became a matter of difficulty to determine the root word. 

 However, the recent progress of philology, the knowledge 

 of the laws that govern the modifications of words in the 

 brotherhood of European languages, when applied to 

 these names, rendered the explanation given not alto- 

 gether improbable. Celts named plants often from (i), 

 their uses ; (2), their appearance ; (3), their habitats ; (4), 



