PLANT NAMES 239 



bestowed on a species that somewhat resembles the 

 sweetly scented violet, but lacks its fragrance. In 

 much the same way we find the names cow-parsnip, 

 hog's fennel, horse-mint, bestowed on plants that 

 somewhat resemble fennel, mint, or parsnip in some 

 way or other, but are larger, coarser, or less useful 

 than the plants they are named after. 



We must not, however, too hastily assume that 

 the use of the name of an animal of necessity im- 

 plies inferiority in some way ; for the cat-mint, for 

 example, is not so called from any invidious com- 

 parison with the garden mint, but because cats were 

 believed to be so fond of it, while the name sow- 

 thistle is a corruption of sprout-thistle, and points 

 to a time when its tender shoots were an article of 

 diet. A considerable amount of doubt has arisen 

 as to the meaning of dog-rose : one botanical writer 

 boldly affirms that the flower is so-called from its 

 want of scent and beauty ; but this is an atrocious 

 libel on one of the most delicately fragrant and 

 most graceful of plants. Pliny, centuries ago, called 

 the plant the dog-rose in distinct allusion to the 

 belief of his day in the efficacy of the plant in 

 curing the bite of a mad dog. Dagge, the old 

 English word for a prickle, has been pressed into 

 the service, and we are invited to see in dog-rose 

 evident and appropriate reference to the decidedly 

 prickly nature of the shrub. 



