374 



Garden and Forest. 



[August 7, 1889. 



and mountains in the state, near summei" resorts, or border- 

 ing upon the principal sources of the water-suppHes needed 

 for manufacturing- purjtoscs, with the view of preserving tlie 

 same as pubHc lands and parks, and report their finding to the 

 next session of the Legislature. 



Another joint resolution provides for the appointment of 

 a Commission to inquire into the subject of preserving a 

 portion of the unoccupied or other lands within the state 

 as a public state park. The preservation of the mountain 

 forests of New Hampshire is a subject of great importance 

 to the manufactures of that state, to the owners of hotel 

 property at the summer resorts, to land-owners, lumber- 

 men, and, indeed, to the entire population. It is encourag- 

 ing to see that the representatives of the people are 

 disposed to action in the matter. 



Some Popular English Plant Names. 



T N English books, both old and new, the American reader 

 ■^ often comes upon the names of flowers and plants, names 

 which seem to be commonly used in England, but are not 

 quite clear to him. 



How often, for example, have we read of the Guelder Rose, 

 naturally fancying it must be a Rose of some sort. But it is 

 simply Viburnum Opuhis, the familiar Snowball of our gar- 

 dens. Michaelmas Daisies, again, are very well known to us, 

 though we never use this name for them. It denotes various 

 species and varieties of our wild Asters, which are largely 

 cultivated in English gardens and much prized because they 

 bloom so late in the year. For the same reason the so-called 

 Christmas Rose is prized — another " Rose," which is not a 

 Rose at all, although the Germans likewise call it the Christ- 

 rose. It is the Black Hellebore [Helleborus nigcr), a perennial 

 herb of the Ranunculus family, which has large palmate 

 leaves, and on leafiess scapes bears from one to four flowers, 

 some three inches in diameter, white, five-petaled, with a tuft 

 of yellow stamens, and, altogether, not unlike single Roses in 

 appearance. In the warmer parts of England the Black Hel- 

 lebore blooms as late as December; in the few American gar- 

 dens where it is cultivated its flowers appear in winter or in 

 earliest spring. 



The Rowan-tree of Scotch literature is the Mountain Ash. 

 The tree commonly called the Scotch Fir is not a Fir, but 

 Pinus sylvestris, properly the Scotch Pine. The Weymouth 

 Pine, of English books and nursery catalogues, is simply our 

 common White Pine {Pinus Strobus), which was introduced 

 into England by Lord Weymouth in the last century, and is 

 now very largely grown there. The Sycamore of English 

 writers is always the Sycamore Maple {Acer Pseiido-platanus), 

 never the Buttonwood {Platanus occidentalis), as with us. Sal- 

 low is a common name in England for several species of Wil- 

 low, but especially for Salix Caprea. The Wayfaring tree is 

 Viburnum lantana, which we often grow as a garden shrub. 

 A Lime-tree means a Linden, as every reader probably knows, 

 although the name is rarely, if ever, used in this country. 

 The true Lime is, of course, a relative of the Orange and 

 the Lemon — Citrus Limetta. The Service tree is Pyrus do- 

 mestica, but the name is also often given in England to some 

 other species of Pyrus, as to P. terminalis, which is properly 

 the wild Service tree. 



Every one says "as black as a sloe," but many Americans 

 would be puzzled to identify this fruit. It is the fruit of the 

 so-called Black-thorn, which is not a Thorn, but a species of 

 Plum {Pruniis spinosa) that is a native of Europe, and possibly 

 the remote ancestor of the cultivated varieties of to-day. It 

 may be found in many old-fashioned New England gardens, 

 and seems to have naturalized itself to some degree in their 

 neighborhood. Witch Hazel is the name we give to Hama- 

 melis virginica, and this signification is accepted even in En- 

 glish horticultural dictionaries ; but when we meet with the 

 term in transatlantic literature it denotes the true Hazel, for the 

 Hamamelis does not grow spontaneously in Europe. The 

 two plants belong to quite different orders, but the shape of 

 their leaves is similar. The American tree, doubtless, got its 

 name from this resemblance, while the Hazel had been often 

 called Witch Hazel in England because of the use of its twigs 

 for divining-rods. 



The Laurel of Europe is, of course, not our Mountain Laurel 

 {Kalmia latifolid). The true Laurel (Laurus) is a genus of two 

 species of evergreen shrubs, one of them a native of the 

 Mediterranean regions and the other of the Canary Islands. 

 The Daphne, of the Greeks, is another name for the Laurel; 

 and so is the Bay. Again, the Hemlock of the Greeks and of 



modern Europe is not our familiar forest-tree, which is prop- 

 erly the Hemlock-spruce, but a genus of biennial poisonous 

 herbs, belonging to the Umbelliferce. The generic name is 

 Conium, and the common Hemlock is C. maculatum. And 

 Myrtle is another name that we misuse, often applying it to 

 Vinca minor, which is properly the Periwinkle, and is always 

 so called in England. The true Myrtle is Myrtus cofnmunis, a 

 sweet-scented shrub with white blossoms, which is a native of 

 southern Europe and hardy in the warmer parts of England. 

 It was dedicated to Venus in classic times, and is still the ac- 

 cepted flower for bridal wreaths in many parts of Europe. 



Traveler's Joy is Clematis Vitalba, and all native species of 

 Clematis are called in England Virgin's Bower. The Wood- 

 bine is a species of Honeysuckle {Loniccra Periclymenum). In 

 this country the name is often applied to the Virginia Creeper, 

 but the practice should be avoided, in spite of the fact that it 

 is recognized in certain English horticultural dictionaries. 

 When a plant has so pretty a popular name of its own as the 

 Virginia Creeper, it is foolish to forget it and increase the con- 

 fusion which, do what we will, can never be wholly obliterated 

 from vernacular terminology. 



"Trailing Arbutus" is plainly a misnomer for our May- 

 flower {Epigcea repens) ; but the genus properly called Arbu- 

 tus belongs to the same great Heath family. It includes trees 

 and shrubs with evergreen, laurel-like leaves. The Straw- 

 berry-tree is Arbutus Unedo, and Pliny is said to have given it 

 the name Unedo because the fruit was so bitter that no one 

 would eat it twice. Yet, Ovid writes of " The Arbutus heavy 

 with its warm, ruby fruit," and says that in the Golden Age it 

 afforded acceptable food. Perhaps no fruit was bitter in the 

 Golden Age ! 



Whin, Furze and Gorse are all the same thing — Ulex Euro- 

 pcBus, a plant of the Pea family, with small yellow flowers. 

 Broom {Cytisus scoparius) belongs to the same family, and has 

 likewise yellow flowers. Another allied genus is Genista, 

 which includes the Woad-waxen that has naturalized itself in 

 certain districts near Boston. A popular name for the Broom 

 was once Platita genista, as all readers of English history 

 know. 



There has been much uncertainty even in England in the 

 use of the pretty word Eglantine. Many old writers undoubt- 

 edly intend by it the common lLngWs\\S^eei-V>v\er {Rosa rubigi- 

 nosa), as Shakespeare, when he writes : 



" Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, 

 With sweet moss-roses and eglantine." 



But the Woodbine (which has already been identified as Loni- 

 ccra Periclymenum) now goes by the name of Eglantine in cer- 

 tain parts of England, and this is probably what Milton ineans 

 when he speaks of the "twisted Eglantine." Gilliflower, or Gilly- 

 flower, is another name which has borne various significations. 

 It was borrowed of the French Girojiee, which signified some 

 species of Pink, usually a Carnation. With the older English 

 writers — Chaucer, Spenser and Shakespeare — it likewise 

 meant the Carnation {Dianthus Caryophyllus). Now, how- 

 ever, it is commonly given in England to one species or 

 another of the Cruciferce, as to the Wall-flower or the Stock ; 

 and if used in this country it is apt to denote the Stock. 

 Stockgillies is a name not infrequently heard. 



With the Shamrock we have a third case of confusion. In 

 Ireland to-day a Shanirock is often a White Clover {Trifolium 

 repens), but as often the Nonesuch {Medicago lupulind), which 

 belongs to another genus of the same great Pulse family. In 

 England the name is commonly given to the Wood Sorrel 

 {Oxalis Acetosella), and antiquaries are puzzled to decide 

 which plant should be deemed the original Shamrock of St. 

 Patrick. They have even discovered that among early authors 

 the Water-cress was called tlie Shamrock, and meet the objec- 

 tion that it has not a three-fold leaf by saying that the now 

 accepted interpretation of the Shamrock's significance is of 

 comparatively modern origin. 



The tall Shrubl)y Althsa {Hibiscus Syriacus) is usually called 

 the Rose of Sharon in this country, and in view of the specific 

 botanical name of the plant that seems an appropriate term. 

 But in England to-day the Rose of Sharon is Hypericum 

 calycinum — a dwarf under-shrub, with yellow flowers, belong- 

 ing to the same family as the St. John's wort. 



The true Daisy — the Daisy of Chaucer, of Burns and of all 

 English poets — is, of course, not the White Weed to which we 

 give the name, but Bellis perennis, the low-growing little 

 double flower which we know only in the garden. The White 

 Weed is commonly called in England the Ox-eye Daisy, a term 



^, which we apply sometimes to the Cone Flower (RudlDeckia). 



/■But the White Weed and not the true Daisy is the Marguerite 

 of the French. All these Daisies belong to the vast composite 



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