INTRODUCTION. Ixv 



were. It is of course possible that native 

 names might sometimes be matched to 

 them in an arbitrary or perfunctory man- 

 ner, as in a work which few could criticise. 

 If this were largely done, the present study 

 would be altogether futile. But the lacunae 

 in the first list tend somewhat to quiet 

 any apprehension of this kind, and to in- 

 dicate that the glossers did not work at 

 random. If on the whole the work is 

 bona fide, we must make allowances for 

 certain difficulties inherent in the task. 

 In some cases the plant would not be 

 known in England, either as a native or 

 in the gardens. The name Asparagus, 

 which to Pliny meant the same (at least 

 generically) as it means to us now, becomes 

 in our Lists wudu cerjilh^ Wood-chervil. 

 And Caltha, which in Columella means, 

 according to Dr. Daubeny, Calendula 

 officinalis, a native of Southern Europe, 

 the familar Marigold of old dames' gardens, 

 has in our Lists become Red Clover. We 

 must expect a few make-shift translations 

 of this sort. The study tends to assure us 

 that disturbances of this kind are not by 



