APRIL DAYS 71 
thread, or Self-heal, or Columbine, or Blue- 
eyed Grass, — though, to be sure, this last has 
an annoying way of shutting up its azure orbs 
the moment you gather it, and you reach home 
with a bare, stiff blade, which deserves no bet- 
ter name than Sisyrinchium anceps. But in 
what respect is Cucumber-root preferable to 
Medeola, or Solomon’s Seal to Convallaria, or 
Rock Tripe to Umbilicaria, or Lousewort to 
Pedicularis? In other cases the merit is di- 
vided: Anemone may dispute the prize of mel- 
ody with Wind-flower, Campanula with Hare- 
bell, Neottia with Ladies’ Tresses, Uvularia 
with Bellwort and Strawbell, Potentilla with 
Cinquefoil, and Sanguinaria with Bloodroot. 
Hepatica may be bad, but Liverleaf is worse. 
The pretty name of Mayflower is not so popu- 
lar, after all, as that of Trailing Arbutus, where 
the graceful and appropriate adjective redeems 
the substantive, which happens to be Latin 
and incorrect at once. It does seem a waste 
of time to say Chrysanthemum leucanthemum 
instead of Whiteweed; though, if the long 
scientific name were an incantation to banish 
the intruder, our farmers would gladly consent 
to adopt it. 
But a great advantage of a reasonable use 
of the botanical name is that it does not de- 
ceive us. Our primrose is not the English 
