Clare Island Survey — Gaelic Plant and Animal Names. 4 15 



Seltifqioc. Iris Pseud-Acorus Linne. This variant is used at Cloghmore, 

 Achill Sound. 



SlAn tup, Health or Healing Plant. Plantago lanceolata, Ribwort Plantain. — 

 General in Clare Island and all round the mainland shores of the bay ; 

 almost universal in Ireland. A well-known remedy for cuts and sores in 

 Ireland and Scotland as in the Sikkhini Himalayas, where the plant occurs. 

 Hooker thus refers to it in his " Himalayan Journals " : — " At Tallinn 

 [in the Tanga Valley, Sikkhim] I attended an old woman who dressed 

 her sores with Plantago (Plantain) leaves, a very common Scotch remedy, 

 the ribs being drawn out from the leaf which is applied fresh ; it is a 

 rather strong application." In Clare Island the leaves are pounded up 

 to make a poultice, and, according to one informant, the leaves of this 

 species are for the purpose mixed with those of Copog pA-op&ij, the 

 root-leaves of Plantago major. See Note D. 



Sl&c iiia.ji&, Sea Rod. Zaminaria digitata Linne. — Applied to the thick 

 stems of the Tangle in Clare Island and on Achill Sound as it is in 

 Donegal, in the South Isles of Aran, and even in Co. Dublin, where the 

 shortened form Slots or Stocks is in use : one of the chief materials for 

 kelp-making. 



Uen&g&p&nc&i. Prunella vulgaris Linne, Self-Heal. — This name was given 

 me for Prunella at Cloghmore, where the use of the plant in making a 

 tisane is well known. I cannot venture to suggest any rendering of the 

 Gaelic name ; but " Garden tea " was proposed by my informant. 



UjiAicfrin. Oynosums cristatus Linne, Dog's-tail. — Often used as a generic 

 term for a dry grass stem; but in Clare Island the qiAictiiti par excel- 

 lence is Dog's-tail, whose wiry, leafless stems stand out so prominently in 

 the pastures at the approach of autumn. In Co. Dublin the Dog's-tail 

 is called " Thralmeen grass." 



Cpom. Sambucus nigra Linne, Elder. — Clare Island and almost throughout 

 Ireland in one or other of its forms. In Louth and Longford it is 

 Uj\om<Mi, in Iar Connaught Uponi, in Kerry Upoum, and in the Scotch 

 Highlands Druman. 



Up pteibe Teucrium Scoroclonia Linne, Wood Sage. — Clare Island and at 

 Cloghmore, Achill Sound, where I found it grown in a garden as a cure 

 for coughs. The name is also used in Connemara and in Inishiar, Aran 

 Islands. In Inishiar the name was translated for me by an Irish speaker 

 as " Fresh of the Mountain." In some authorities the first component of 

 the name is written lubcs-p, Yew, but no doubt erroneously, as 

 - '-'Mountain Yew "is a singularly inappropriate name for the plant. 



