FLORA OF WEST YORKSHIRE. 221 



blooms were brought to the Leeds market for sale in great bunches, 

 and known and spoken of as " Hand-flower — a penny a bunch"; 

 according to De Theis, the generic name was given by Linnseus for 

 a similar reason. Barbarea arcuata Reich., which Prof. Babington 

 and most others " cannot separate" from B. vid<jaris, has a separate 

 number; " this plant has an elongated raceme in fruit, with slender- 

 arched spreading siliques and long seeds." The date of flowering 

 given for the two violets, Riviniana and Pitichenbackiana , does not 

 accord with general experience ; the former is given as " March- 

 July," the latter " May — June " ; in the south, and as far north as 

 Cheshire and Lancashire, Rekhenbachiana is always the earlier. 

 Oxalis cornicidata appears as a colonist or casual, but 0. stricta 

 is not given. 



We note that Melilotus parviftora receives a number and is 

 classed as a colonist ; it is said to be " spreading and establishing 

 itself better than either M. arvensis or M. alba, and to ripen its 

 seed." Twenty-five years ago this species was very frequent 

 about London, but it did not hold its ground. " Fenu-grsecurn " 

 (p. 193) is one of the very rare misprints in the book. " Proli- 

 ferated" (p. 195) seems to us a new and needless word. Poten- 

 tilla norvegica is found in several places, "well-established, spread- 

 ing, and now ineradicable, on the banks and in the masonry of 

 canals and rivers." (Enothera biennis is styled a "colonising alien." 

 On Sonchiis arvensis Mr. Lees notes :— " This is the species well 

 known of farmers, which is called Sow-thistle in West Yorkshire — 

 1 Sow/ because it sows itself so amazingly alike in corn and turnip 

 fields "; is this really the local derivation ? A pretty and appro- 

 priate local name "Bog-bell" — is given for Andromeda Polifolia, 



the first genuine folk-name we have seen recorded for the plant. 

 The Primrose has a very curious name in the north of the county 

 — * Simaruns ' — which Mr. Lees says " appears to be an ellipsis of 

 St. Martin's ones, or St. Mary's ones, i.e., St. Martin's or St. 

 Mary's flower, blooming at about the time of the Saint's day (our 

 4 Feast '), as appointed." But we usually associate St. Martin with 

 his "little summer "in late autumn, at which time his feast is 

 kept. The analogies suggested by Mr. Lees are ingenious rather 

 than convincing, as is the case with his suggestion that Ga Hum 

 Cruciate might have been used as a substitute for Pohj<jala, in what 

 Mr. Lees gracefully terms "the old solemn mockeries of Litany 

 week," and hence called, as it is sometimes called in North 

 Yorkshire, « Polygally.' " Daphne Mezereum is "native or bird- 

 sown . ' ' 



There is an interesting note on FJodea canadensis :— '« As bear- 

 ing upon the date of introduction of this plant into Great Britain 

 (usually stated as 1886) in Aveling's ■ History of Eoche Abbey ' 

 (1870) there occurs the curious statement (by J. Bolder probably 

 he furnished the main part of the plant-list which forms the 

 Addendum) : ■ We noticed it in several places growing with great 

 freedom, about half-a-century ago, and then it disappeared as mys- 

 teriously as it came.' This could hardly have been penned later 

 than 1805 or 1866, which would carry the first observance back to 



