CtArden nomenclature. 



35 



The names of animals applied to plants offer some points of interest. 

 The prefix "dog-," for example, implies a certain amount of reproach and 

 contempt. Dog-rose separates the humble wild rose of the hedges from 

 the stately queen of the garden. " Nay," says Theocritus, "ye may not 

 liken dog-roses to the rose." So the term " dog-violet " reproaches a 

 beautiful flower with being scentless. "Horse," again, seems to hint at 

 something large and coarse : horse-radish, the large strong-flavoured 

 radish ; horse-chestnut, the large un-eatable chestnut. 



In some cases there seems to be no reason for affixing the name. 

 Thus various plants have been named after the cuckoo, none of which are 

 in any way specially associated with it. Thus the wood sorrel is 

 cuckoo's bread ; the ragged robin is the cuckoo flower or cuckoo 

 gilly-flower ; the spotted arum is cuckoo pint ; lady's smock is also 

 cuckoo flower; while Shakespeare's "cuckoo buds of yellow hue" are 

 probably a species of crowfoot. 



Hawkweed and hawkbit were so called because hawks were believed 

 to clear their eyes with them. The botanical name of the hawkweeds, 

 Hieracium, also is from the Greek Upat, a hawk. Euphrasia, or eye- 

 bright, gets its name from a similar use. To " purge the eyes with rue 

 and euphrasie " was a common- expression. 



Goose plants, again, are numerous ; as goose-bill, goose-corn, goose- 

 grass, goose-tansy, goose-foot, goose-tongue. None, however, seem to 

 be very appropriately named. 



Fuchs is German for " fox," and the botanist Fuchs, whose name is 

 commemorated in Fuchsia, is also associated with the foxglove. It was 

 Fuchs, in fact, who suggested the botanical name " digitalis " as a suitable 

 equivalent to "Fingerhut," that is, thimble, the German name of the fox- 

 glove. Now the word " foxglove " has given rise to some discussion. On 

 the ground probably that foxes do not wear gloves, it has been suggested 

 that folks' gloves, that is, fairies' gloves, are meant. But it appears that 

 in Norway the foxglove is known as R^ev-bielde and R^veleika, fox-bell 

 and fox-music. And this arises from its resemblance to a favourite 

 musical instrument of earlier times, a set of bells hung on an arched 

 support. So the word "foxglove " may have been originally foxes-glew, 

 that is, fox's music, "glew " being Anglo-Saxon for music. 



The name " yevering bells " or " yethering bells " applied to the Pyrola 

 is founded on a similar idea. " Yethering " is from the Scotch " yether," 

 to beat, and the flowers are supposed to be little bells hung one above the 

 other to be struck by a hammer, and so make music. 



We call the rose the queen of flowers, and the Chinese call the tree 

 peony meu-tang, the king of flowers. In Greek it was Tratojvta, from 

 Ilaicov, a god of physic. Hence our Pceonia and peony. 



The tobacco plant has got its name through a curious mistake. The 

 Spaniards adopted the word from the Indians of Cuba, but instead of 

 taking the word "cohiba," which was the name of the plant, they took 

 " tobacco," which was the name of the pipe in which it was smoked. The 

 botanical name of the tobacco plant, Nicotiana, is in honour of Jean 

 Nicot, French Ambassador to Portugal, who sent seeds of the plant to 

 Queen Catherine de' Medici. 



The pansy is said to have received its name from its quaint shape. 



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