August 20, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
809 
doubtless serve some particular purpose in the economy 
of plant life, although frequently the object is difficult 
of explanation. My theory is that the bulk of the 
resemblances is due to man’s imaginative faculty, which 
leads one to adopt a second heading to this paper, 
namely “ Comparison,” as inseparable from a full 
explanation of plant form. 
The bump of comparison is so strong in man, and 
the use of it of such common occurrence in every-day 
life, that we are apt to overlook the fact in a great 
measure or altogether. When new plants are dis¬ 
covered, the faculty 
of comparison is 
brought into play, 
whereby he likens his 
discovery to some 
commoner and better- 
known object, in 
order to assist 
memory, but chiefly 
to make himself more 
readily understood by 
his fellow men. 
Hence it is a favourite 
custom to compare 
the new comer to 
some other and better- 
known thing, and 
name it accordingly ; 
in fact, a mass of the 
words in human lan¬ 
guage is intelligible 
only by comparison. 
Need we wonder, 
then, that it is em¬ 
ployed in scientific 
circles as well as in 
every-day life ? Time 
will not permit, nor 
is it my object to 
deal with mimicry 
and comparison out¬ 
side the plant world— 
a subject sufficiently 
exhaustive for one 
evening. 
Plants ok Flowers 
that Resemble 
Insects. 
In the genus Ophrys 
alone, at least eight 
different species have 
been likened to as 
many different in- 
sects, and named ac¬ 
cordingly. The most 
familiar of these is 
the common Bee 
Orchis, the lip of 
which has not inaptly 
been compared to a 
bee ; and some have 
gone so far as to say 
this form was de¬ 
veloped in order to 
frighten away insects 
inj urious to the flower. 
We have reason to 
believe, however, 
that the sense of 
vision is so acute in 
insects generally that 
they see no likeness 
in it, for the flower really resembles no European bee 
or other insect, and they would soon lose all fear, as 
sparrows do at an artificially-made cat. The resem¬ 
blance is much closer in the Fly Orchis (Ophrys 
muscifera), the body, wings, head, and antennse being 
wonderfully deceptive. In like manner, the saw-fly, 
drone-bee, the dun-fly, bumble-bee, and wasp have 
been burlesqued by different European species. Curi¬ 
ously enough, the generic name Ophrys comes from 
ophrus, an eyebrow, referring to the markings on the lip 
of some species. Bumble-bees are also wonderfully 
imitated by the lips of Cottonia peduncularis and 
Oncidium dasytyle, or the latter may be likened to a 
big blue-fly. Our British Butterfly Orchid does not 
much resemble a butterfly, and why it should enjoy the 
appellation I have never discovered ; but the exotic 
Oncidium Papilio is a wonderful piece of mimicry, and 
the deception is very much heightened when a light 
breeze plays with the flower, which, poised on its long 
slender foot-stalk in mid-air, far above the foliage, 
resembles a gaily-coloured butterfly disporting itself in 
the sunshine. The species of Phalaenopsis are known 
as Moth Orchids, having been so named from the 
appearance presented by their broad, flattened, pale- 
coloured flowers as they hang suspended from the rocks 
or trees of their native jungles in tropical forests. 
Chinese Bellflower (Platycodon grandiflorum) 
Birds Imitated. 
Curiously enough the above comparisons or like¬ 
nesses have all been derived from the great Orchid 
family, and here again we borrow a few illustrations 
from an order replete with imagery. The woodcock, 
pelican, swan, and dove have been portrayed by nature 
with wonderful exactness, it would seem, to human 
eyes, but for what purpose remains "to be determined. 
The dove-like Orchid is also called the Holy Ghost 
Orchid, and is known in its native country (Panama) 
by the name of El Spirito Scincto, which means the 
same thing. Partly, perhaps, to assist memory, and 
partly from want of invention, authors of all ages have 
compared plants to some natural object, and birds of 
various kinds have been called to their assistance in 
some way or other ; therefore, the imagination must 
be appealed to in order to trace a comparison between 
certain plants and the following ornithological detail. 
The Geranium of our meadows, banks and hedges has 
been named Crane’s-bill, from a fanciful allusion to the 
beak of their fruit resembling the long slender bill of 
the crane ; while the allusion is also borrowed in the 
naming of the Cranberry. A machine used for lifting 
and some other things also derive their names from the 
same source. In order to distinguish it from Geranium, 
the Pelargonium has been likened to the stork’s bill, 
and the Erodium the 
heron’s bill. The 
fruits in all three 
cases are very similar. 
A curious mixture of 
names sometimes 
arises from the use 
of generic and specific 
names applying to 
different parts of 
animals. A genus of 
Ferns is named Pteris, 
from the Greek pteron, 
a wing; and Pteris 
caudata would mean 
the tailed wing, P. 
arachnoidea the 
spider-like wing, P. 
biaurita the two-eared 
wing, P. edentula the 
toothless wing, P. 
esculenta the edible 
wing, P. ornithopus 
the bird’s-foot wing, 
P. podophylla the 
foot-leaved wing, and 
P. vespertilionis the 
bat’s wing. The 
latter animal fur¬ 
nishes a name for 
several plants, but it 
is neither a bird nor 
has it a wing. Orni¬ 
thopus is the Bird’s- 
foot, and 0. scorpi- 
oides is the scorpion- 
like Bird’s-foot. 
Ornithogalum trans¬ 
lated is Bird’s-milk ; 
but the allusion 
seems far-fetched and 
imaginative, for how 
can we account for 
Ornithogalum bar- 
batum, the bearded 
Bird’s - milk, or 0. 
ovatum, the egg- 
shaped Bird’s-milk ? 
These are but a few 
of the incongruous 
mixtures of the kind. 
Larkspur, Cocksfoot, 
Cockspur Thorn, 
Crowfoot, Goosefoot, 
Cockshead, and 
Cockscomb have all 
been named from a 
fancied resemblance 
between those various 
members of the birds 
in question and some 
part of the plants 
bearing the appel¬ 
lation. The specific name of our native Fritillary 
has been called Meleagris, from the chequered flowers 
resembling a guineahen, while the generic name 
is given from the same markings resembling a 
dice-box ; and Snake’s-head is doubtless due to the 
same fact. Hen-and-Chickens is a term applied to a 
variety of the Daisy and several other plants. 
Various Animals Simulated. 
The most familiar plant probably coming under this 
title is the Monkey Flower or Mimulus, from the 
Greek mimo, an ape. There is not an inapt comparison 
between the gaping corolla of that flower and the 
mouth of some animal. The allusion, however, is 
somewhat ludicrous if we translate M. cardinalis, as 
