76 



0. or Listera ovata — Tway blade. Gaelic : da-d/iuiUcac/i, 

 two-leaved ; dà-b/iileach, same meaning. 



Epipactis latifolia — White helleborine. Gaelic : 'elcbor-gral.^ 

 A plant used formerly for making snuff. " The root of hellebor 

 cut in small pieces, the ponder drawne vp into the nose causeth 

 sneezing, and purgeth the brain from grosse and slimie humors " 

 — Gerard, 1597. This is probably the plant referred to in 

 " Morag," when M'Donald describes the buzzing in his head, 

 for even his nose he had to stop with hellebore, since he parted 

 from her endearments. 



" Mo clieann tha Ian do sheilleanaibh 

 O dheilich mi ri d'bhriodal 

 Mo shròn tha stoipt' á dh-elebor. 

 Na deil, le teine dimbis." 



iRIDACEit:. 



Iris — Signifying, according to Plutarch, the " eye." Canon 

 Bourke maintains " it is derived from e'tpw, to settle. And as a 

 name it was by the pagan priests applied to the imaginary mes- 

 senger, sent by gods and goddesses to others of their class, to 

 announce tidings of goodwill. At times they imagined her sent 

 to mortals, as in Homer, to settle matters, or to say they were 

 destined to be settled. Such was the duty of Iris. Now 

 amongst Jews and Christians, the rainbow was the harbinger of 

 peace to man, hence it was called ' Iris ; ' and the circle of 

 blue, grey, or variegated tints around the pupil of the eye is not 

 unlike the rainbow — therefore this circlet was so called by optic 

 scientists, simply because they had no other word; and botanists 

 have, by comparison, applied it to \\\q fleur-de-lis, because it is 

 varied in hue, like the iris of the eye, or the rainbow. Iris 

 does not and did not convey the idea of eye." 



I. pseudacorus — The yellow flag. Gaelic: bog-uisgc — hog, 

 soft, but here a corruption of bogha-nisge, the rainbow. Gaelic 

 and Irish : seilisdear, often seilcasdear, and siolastar. The ter- 

 mination, tar, dear, or astar, in these names, means one of a 

 kind, having a settled form or position. One finds this ending 

 common in names of plants — as, oleaster, cotoneaster, &c., like 

 "ttjp" in Greek, "fear" in Gaelic. .Si"// (the first syllable), from 

 sol, the sun ; soli/s, light ; sol and leus, I.e., lux, light. Greek : 

 ''HXios {r] or e long), hence sell, e and / to give a lengthened sound, 

 ^ See Hdlehorus viridis. 



