5 2 



A. lappa — Burdock. Gaelic and Irish: suirichean suirich, the 

 foolish wooer (suiriche, a fool ; suirich, a lover or wooer) ; seircean 

 suirich, affectionate wooer {scire, affection). Seircean mbr. 

 Bramasagan, cleiteagan. Names given to the " bur," or heads. 

 Mac-an-dogha, 1 the mischievous plant (mac-an for mecan,. 

 a plant) ; doghadh, mischievous (Shaw). Meacan-tobhach-dubh, 

 the plant that seizes (tobhach, wrestling, seizing, inducing ;. 

 dubh, black, or large). Leadan liosda (leadan, ahead of hair ; 

 liosda, stiff). Irish: copag tuaithil, the ungainly docken; ceosan r 

 the bur, or fruit, also cladan, ceipeanan siiiridh. 



" Mar cheosan air sgiathan fior-eun.'' — Ossian. 

 Like bur clinging to the eagle's wing. 



Cocoil (O'Reilly). Manx : Bollan ghoa, sticking wort. " A 

 favourite remedy for skin diseases and for nervousness " (Moore). 

 Welsh : Bribe y bleidd, wolf's comb. 



Carduus heterophyllus — Melancholy thistle. Gaelic: cluas 

 anfheidh, the deer's ear. It was said to be the badge of James I. 

 of Scotland. A most appropriate badge ; but yet it had no con- 

 nection with the unfortunate and melancholy history of the 

 Stuarts, but was derived from the belief that a decoction of this 

 plant was a sovereign remedy for madness, which, in older times, 

 was called "melancholy." "The national emblem 'the thistle' 

 was adopted for the following incident : — The Scottish army lay 

 encamped on the banks of the river Tay near Stanley. The 

 enemy, the Norsemen attempted to cross the river by the trap^ 

 dyke in the night time. Happily for the Scotsmen, a Norseman 

 trampled with his bare feet on a thistle and gave a loud cry of 

 pain which immediately roused the Scots, who attacked the enemy 

 and completely routed them." The place is still known as the 

 " Thistle Brig." 



The plant generally selected to represent the Scotch heraldic 

 thistle, is Onopordon acanthium, the cotton thistle, and, strange 

 to say, it does not grow wild in Scotland. Achaius, king of 

 Scotland (in the latter part of the eighth century), is said to have 

 been the first to have adopted the thistle for his device. Favine 



1 Dogha also means burnt or singed. It was formerly burned to procure 

 from its ashes a white alkaline salt, as good as the best potash. English, 

 "Dock," borrowed from the Celtic dogha. — Skeat. 



