•20 
ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
Towards the identification of the exact species, the plant that 
has been cultivated in Scotland as representing the country's 
symbol is the Cotton Thistle (Onopordium acanthium), and he 
who will venture to gather a fine specimen of this sturdy plant, 
growing from four to six feet high, will readily understand that 
the Danish soldier had good cause to cry out with pain when he 
trod on its exceedingly prickly foliage, and that the plant justifies 
the well-chosen motto of the Order — "No one provokes me with 
impunity." 
In passing, it may be of interest to note that the cotton thistle 
is a rare plant in the south, but a good patch of it flourishes on the 
sandy coast of North Somerset within the Bristol district. 
We may now pass on to the emblem of the sister island — the 
Shamrock or trefoil. Here again the origin is lost in the myths 
of antiquity, and whilst sentiment associates it with St. Patrick, 
who taught the doctrines of Christianity to the pagan Irish people 
in the 5th century, there is no mention of the plant in any history 
of the saint that has come down to us. The shamrock is con- 
stantly referred to in mediaeval writings of the country, but 
without mention of what leaf is intended, and as you know this 
has permitted many three-leaved plants to claim the honour. 
In the 1 6th century an English herbalist paid a visit to Ireland, 
and he has left on record the statement that the Irish willingly eat 
the herb shamrock, it being "of a sharp taste," and this would 
point to the acrid wood-sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) as the plant then 
held in such esteem. It must, however, be remembered that the 
wood-sorrel is scarcely in leaf so early as St. Patrick's Day, which 
falls on the 17th of March, unless, perhaps, a few examples might 
be met with in well sheltered spots here and there in the Island. 
The patriotic sentiment which induced the Irishman to display 
the national badge on this festival has made it necessary, in 
modern days at least, to raise to the honour some three-leaved 
plant, which could be obtained in plenty and fully grown by the 
middle of March. Such an one was found in all the meadows and 
grassy places throughout the country in the small yellow trefoil 
(Tri folium minus), a dainty little green plant spread out flat on 
the ground in early spring with branches an inch or two long 
bearing very tiny trifoliate leaves. Whatever may have been the 
shamrock in the past there is no doubt that this small clover is now 
closely associated with the history of the Irish, and for that reason 
it becomes an object of interest to us when we meet with it in 
our fields and roadsides. 
At times the white Dutch clover (Tri folium rep ens) has been 
suggested as representing the national badge, but it is known that 
the species is not indigenous, and was first introduced into Ireland 
as late as the 17th century to become common there by cultivation 
as a fodder plant. 
The little kingdom of Wales, earlv united to her more powerful 
neighbour England, has also a distinctive badge drawn from 
the vegetable world. The origin of the Welsh leek, as with the 
