THE SHAMROCK 389 



cresses, which they tearme shamrocks, roots, and 

 other herbs they feed upon " ; and Campion {Hist. 

 Ireland), writing in 1581, refers to "shamrocks, 

 watercresses, rootes," which looks as if the Sham- 

 rock in Ireland was at one time esteemed as a salad, 

 or, at all events, was eaten when no better vegetable 

 food could be obtained. Fynes Morison says of the 

 Irish peasantry that " they willingly eate the herbe 

 shamrock, being of a sharpe taste ; " and Spenser, 

 referring to the dire extremities to which the people 

 were reduced by the wars of Munster, remarked 

 "if they found a plot of watercresses or shamrocks, 

 there they flocked as to a feast for a time." 



The notion that the Shamrock (whatever its 

 botanical name) was used as a salad probably gave 

 rise to the supposition that the plant was the Wood- 

 sorrell {Oxalis acetosella), and in some parts of the 

 country (in Oxfordshire, for example), this plant is 

 known as the Shamrock. In Prior's Popular Names 

 of British Plants (third ed. 1879), Shamrock is one 

 of the local names given to Medicago lupulina. But 

 since in the absence of direct evidence on the point 

 we can only fall back on tradition and local custom, 

 it becomes a matter of interest to discover what is 

 the plant which is generally regarded as the 

 Shamrock, by the people of Ireland ; the traditional 

 Shamrock, in fact, pointed out to children by their 

 parents in every succeeding generation. Statistics 

 on this point have been collected, but different con- 

 clusions have been arrived at. Dr Prior, who 

 derives the word from the Erse seamrog, com- 

 pounded of seamar, trefoil, and og, little, states that 



