86 



also its top-heavy appearance, causing it to have a bobbing or 

 wagging motion. Curcais {curac/i, a marsh, a fen) is more a 

 generic term, and equals scirpiis. Min-fheiir, a bulrush. (See 

 Festiica ovina.) 



Badge of Clan M'Kay. 



Eriophorum (from eptov, wool, and (^épm, to bear). — Its seeds 

 are covered with a woolly substance — hence it is called cotton- 

 grass. 



E. vaginatum and E. polystachyon — Cotton-sedge. Scotch : 

 cafs-tail. Gaelic and Irish : canach. Irish : cona (from ca7i, 

 white), from its hypogynous bristles forming dense tufts of white 

 cottony down, making the plant very conspicuous in peaty bogs. 

 The canach in its purity and whiteness formed the object of 

 comparison in Gaelic poetry for purity, fair complexion, &c., 

 especially in love-songs : — 



" Do chneas mar an canach 

 Co cheanalta thlà. " — M'Intyre. 



Thy skin white as the cotton-grass 

 So tender and gentle. 



" Bu ghile na'n canach a criith."— OssiAN. 



Her form was fairer than the down of Cana. 



In Ossian the plant is also called caoiti chcann {caoin, soft), the 

 soft heads, fair heads. 



" Ghlac mi'n caoin ciieanna sa' blieinn 

 'Siad ag aomadh mu shrulhaibh thai! 

 Fo charnaibh, bu diomhaire gaoth."— Tigumora. 



I seized cotton-grasses on the hill, 



As they waved by their secret streams, 



In places sheltered from the wind. 



This is only the plural form of the name canach — caincichcan. 



'^ Na caincichcan àluinn an t-shleibh." — M'Leod. 



O'Reilly gives the name sgathog fiadhain to E. polystachyon, — 

 sgath, a tail, and i?^ (dim. termination), the little tail, — to distin- 

 guish it from vaginatum, which is larger. Scotch : cafs-tail. 



Badge of Clan Sutherland. 



Carex (likely from Welsh, cors ; Gaelic,i"<z;7-, a bog, a marsh, 

 or fenny ground). — This numerous family of plants grows most- 

 ly in such situations. Seisg, sedge ; gallsheilisdear, also seilisdear 

 ainh (for Seilisdear, see Iris'), — amh, raw — the raw sedge. 

 Welsh : hesg. Seasg, barren, unfruitful. Except C. rigida, they 



