44 



brewing their beer, and they say it answers their purpose suffi- 

 ciently well, and gives the drink a good relish besides. " There 

 is a large root growing amongst the rocks of this island — the 

 natives call it the '■curran petris,' the rock-carrot — of a whitish 

 colour, and upwards of two feet in length, where the ground, is 

 deep, and in shape and size like a large carrot." — Martin. 



■22gopodium podagraria — Goat, gout, or bishop-weed. Gaelic : 

 lus an easbuig — easbuig, a bishop. A name also given to Chrysan- 

 themum kucanthemum, but with a different signification. Manx : 

 lus-yn-olke (cattle herb), considered an unfailing remedy for sores 

 in the mouths of cattle. Lus y ghoot, gout weed. 



Ferula communis — Fineal-athaich (O'Reilly) — Fennel-giant. 

 Athach, a giant, and the name " fennel " from Latin foznum, hay. 

 Not a native of Britain or Ireland. Cattle are said to be fond of 

 it. It is a large plant not unlike the wood angelica, with umbelli- 

 ferous flowers. The plant must have been unknown to the 

 Highlanders and Irish, and the name is merely a translation. 

 The old herbalist, Turner (1548), writes thus: — "Ferula is called 

 in Greeke Narthex, but howe that it is named in Englishe, as yet 

 I can not tel, for I never sawe it in Englande but in Germany in 

 diverse places. It maye be named in Englishe herbe Sagapene or 

 Fenel gyante." 



Heracleum sphondylium — Cow-parsnip. Gaelic: odharan, 

 from odhar (Greek : &XP a > English : ochre), pale, dun, yellowish, 

 in reference to the colour of the flowei. Meacan-a-chruidh, the 

 cows' plan}. The plant is wholesome and nourishing for cattle. 

 Gunnachan spiitain, squirt-guns. Children's name for the plant, 

 because they make squirt-guns from its hollow stems. 



Daucus carota — Carrot. Gaelic : curran (any kind of a deep- 

 rooted plant). Carrait, corruption from carota, Mtiran — (Welsh : 

 moron), a plant with tapering roots. Irish : curran buidhe, the 

 yellow root. 



" Muran brioghar 's an grunnasg lionmhar." — Macintvre. 

 The sappy carrot and the plentiful groundsel. 

 Irish: mugoman — mugan, a mug, from the hollow bird's -nest-like- 

 flower. Cearracan (see Sium Sisaram). 



" The women present the men (on St. Michaelmas Day) with a 

 pair of fine garters, of divers colours, and they give them likewise 

 a quantity of wild carrots." — Martin. 



