36 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



It is the French pensee, that is, thought, the " There is pansies, that's for 

 thoughts," of Ophelia. It provokes thought or fancy. Botanically the 

 pansy is a Viola, derived by cultivation from Viola tricolor, and perhaps 

 others. Florists, however, seek to restrict the word " Viola " to a strain of 

 bedding pansies, thus ignoring the fact that all pansies are Violas. A 

 country gardener, a great prize -taker at the local shows, heard of the 

 much advertised Violas and determined to try some. " They were nobbut 

 pansies,'" he remarked contemptuously after seeing them flower, "and not 

 very good 'ens at that ! " So the florist who grows his prize Ranunculus 

 ignores the fact that the plebeian buttercup which disfigures his lawn is 

 also a Banunctdus. And in using the words " Hepatica " and " Auricula " 

 we lose sight of the fact that the former is an Anemone and the latter 

 a Prbmda. 



The word "gilly-flower," so much used by ancient writers, is a curious 

 one. It has been suggested that it is a corruption of " July flower." But 

 this is too easy for the etymologists, and so they have derived it, through 

 the Italian and French, from the Latin Caryophyllus, the pink or 

 carnation, and it seems to belong most properly to the clove pink, 

 though the word " gilly-flower " has been applied to the wallflower and 

 others. 



