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E. hyemale — Dutch rushes, shave-grass. Gaelic: a' bhiora 

 — bior, a pointed small stick, anything sharp or prickly. 

 This species was at one time extensively used for polishing 

 -wood and metal, a quality arising from the cuticle abounding 

 in siliceous cells — hence the use made of the plant for 

 scouring pewter and wooden things in the kitchen. A large 

 •quantity used to be imported from Holland, hence the name 

 " Dutch rushes.'' Irish: gadkar, from gad, a withe, a twig. 

 Liobhag, from liobh, smooth, polish. It grows in marshy places 

 and standing water. Cuiridin (O'Reilly), because growing on 

 marshy ground. 



BRYACE/E. 



Gaelic and Irish: cbinneach, caoineach, from caoin, soft, lowly, 

 &c. The principal economic use of moss to the ancient Gaels 

 was in making bed-stuffs, just as the Laplanders use it to this day. 



"Trl coilceadha na Feinne, barr geal chrann, cbinneach, is ur luachair." 

 The three Fenian bed-stuffs — fresh tree-tops, moss, and fresh rushes. 



" The brushwood was laid next the ground, over it was placed the 

 moss, and lastly fresh rushes were spread over all. It is these 

 three materials that are designated in our old romances as the tri 

 £uilcidha na bh-Fiann — the three beddings of the Fenians." — 

 Keating. Welsh: mwswg, moss. 



Sphagnum — Bog-moss. Gaelic : mbinteach Hath (mbin, peat, and 

 Hath, grey). From its roots and decayed stalks peat is formed. 

 Fionnlach, from fionn, white. It covers wide patches of bog, and 

 when full grown it is sometimes almost white ; occasionally the 

 plant has a reddish hue (cbinneach dhearg, red moss). Martin 

 refers to it in his "Western Islands:' "When they are in any way 

 fatigued by travel or otherways, they fail not to bathe their feet 

 in warm water wherein red moss has been boiled, and rub them 

 with it on going to bed." This seems to be the only moss having 

 a specific name in Gaelic, the rest going by the generic term 

 cbinneach. 



" C&innich uaine mu 'n iomall, 

 Is iomadach se6rsa." — Magintyre. 

 Green moss around the edges, 

 Many are the kinds. 



Marchantiace^e and Lichenes. 

 Marchantia polymorpha— Liverwort. Gaelic: /us an dinean, 



