the yellow tops be bruised between the fingers, they will immedi- 

 ately communicate a deep crimson stain, hence the Greek name 

 ■androscemum — man's blood. The association of the Irish names 

 with hogs is accounted for by the fact that the bruised plant smells 

 strongly of swine. The Welsh name has the same meaning — 

 dail y twrch. Threlkeld gives both names to the Tutsan, 

 the second name is more applicable to the water or bog St. 

 John's work. The former never grows in watery places, but the 

 latter always does, and besides, it is very common in Ireland. In 

 Ulster it is called, according to Threlkeld, bonan leane (Lean, a 

 swamp), and caochrain curraith — (currach, a marsh), and caoch, a 

 nut without a kernel. The old herbalist spells his names variously. 



ACERACE^E. 



■(" Acer, in Latin meaning sharp, from ac, a point, in Celtic." — Du 

 Theis). 



Acer campestris — Common maple. Gaelic and Irish : craobh 

 mhalip or malpais ; origin of name uncertain, but very likely 

 from mal, a satchel or a husk, from the form of its samara. Some 

 think the name is only a corruption of maple — Anglo-Saxon, mapal m 

 Welsh: masarnen. Gothic: masloenn (from mas, fat), from its 

 abundance of saccharine juice. 



A. pseudo-platanus — Sycamore. Gaelic and Irish : craobh sice, 

 .a corruption from Greek sycaminos. The old botanists erroneously 

 believed it to be identical with the sycamine or mulberry-fig of 

 Palestine. 



" Nam biodh agaidh creidhimh, theireadh sibh ris a chraobh shicamin so, 

 bi air do spionadh as do fhreumhaibh." — Stuart. 



If ye had faith ye might say to this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by 

 the root. — St. Luke, xvii. 6. 



Croabh pleantrinn, corruption of platanus or plane-tree. Irish : 

 xrann ban, white tree. Fir chrann (O'Reilly), same meaning. {Fir, 

 fair, white). 



The badge of the Clan Oliphant. 



VINIFERjE. 



Vitis (from the Celtic gwyd, a tree, a shrub. Spanish : vid. 

 French: vigne). 



Vitis vinifera — Vine. Gaelic: crannfiona,fionan: Irish :fion, 

 wine. Greek: Otvos. Latin: vinum. Fion dearc, a grape. 

 Muin, the vine, also M, Gaelic alphabet. 



