CHAPTER XXI 

 FAMILIAR PLANT NAMES— A DIGRESSION 



The name that dwells on every tongue 

 No minstrell needs. 



—Don Jorge Manrique. 



"1% TOWADAYS we are become so learned in the matter 

 ^ of Latin plant names that there is some danger that 

 -L l the familiar English names, their pet names, will 

 disappear from our garden vocabulary and finally, perhaps, 

 be altogether forgotten. More and more often do we hear 

 the words Dianthus, Digitalis, Lychnis tripping easily from 

 the tongues of young gardeners, and less and less the 

 friendly, time-endeared appellations — Pink, Foxglove, Cam- 

 pion; and our garden conversations lose much of piquancy 

 and agreeable intimacy in consequence. It is, of course, 

 essential that we know the Latin names of our plants, for 

 by no other means may we accurately designate them, but 

 the passing of the old vernacular names would be a real loss. 

 They are the connecting links between us and the flower 

 lovers of all the ages — men, women, and children, a long 

 line of them — stretching across the years through countless 

 gardens, high and humble, through woods and meadows 

 and marshes to the little gatherings of potent herbs and 

 edible roots nestled against the protecting walls of ancient 



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