GRIM THE COLLIER 223 



orange hawkweed, or, botanically, the Hieracium 

 aurantiacum . The plant is a native of the mountain 

 ranges of Southern Europe, but it has long been 

 cultivated in England and occasionally escapes. 

 It thus finds its way into the British flora, though 

 its position on our plant lists is a very precarious 

 one and somewhat grudged. The hairs upon the 

 involucre and stem are, on examination, seen to 

 be black at their base hence the origin of its 

 popular name. " The stalkes and cups of the 

 floures," Gerard notes, " are all set thicke with 

 a blackish downe or hairinesse as it were the dust 

 of coles ; whence the women, who keep it in 

 gardens for noueltie sake, have named it Grim 

 the Colliar." In the reign of Queen Elizabeth 

 of glorious memory a very popular comedy was 

 entitled " Grimm the Collier of Croydon," and this 

 grimy hero of the populace evidently stood god- 

 father to our plant. 



Parenthetically one may remark how great was 

 the blessing when the system of botanical nomen- 

 clature formulated by Linneus became established, 

 each plant then receiving two names and no more. 

 One, the generic, placed first, assigned the position 

 of the plant in a group of more or less similar 

 plants, while the second, the specific, individualised 

 it from the other members of its genus. Previous 

 to this the names given were most unwieldy in 

 character, our present flower, for instance, being 



