OLD ENGLISH FLOWER-NAMES 141 



the general suggestion of vernal growth with which 

 they invest the common hedge arum. The spotted 

 orchis 



' long purples, 



That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, 

 But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them ' 



seems to have lost all but the last of these titles j 

 and it is not difficult to foresee that before long the 

 finger of the Inquisition will be laid upon the 

 common name of the meadow saffron, called ' naked 

 ladies,' when its pink flowers rise shivering without 

 leaves from the mould in autumn days. But never 

 let 'our cold maids' blush to welcome Cardamine 

 pratense as Lady's-smock for the reference herein, 

 and in other names such as the Lady's-mantle 

 (Swedish ' Mariekapa '), is to ' Our Lady.' 



Names designed for one plant often get transferred 

 to another. Thus woodbine and honeysuckle are 

 modern synonyms for the same climber ; but Parkin- 

 son, no mean authority, spoke of red clover as honey- 

 suckle, and in the Midsummer Night's Dream woodbine 

 means the bittersweet or deadly nightshade : 



' So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle 

 Gently entwist.' 



The older name for this poisonous plant is ' dwale,' 



