NAMES OF PLANTS 185 
Where you find the word palustris or palusire in the 
name of a plant, you may be sure that it grows 
specially well in marshes. Praiensis is from 
pratum=a meadow ; the word is used in the names 
of plants that are generally found in meadows, such 
as the Meadow Crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense), 
which you will see in flower hereabouts in the course 
of two or three weeks. It belongs to the Geranium 
family, and is a very handsome plant, its big blue 
flowers being singularly beautiful. Sylvaticus and 
sylvestris (silua=a wood) are words indicating that 
the plants to which they are applied are occupants 
of the woodlands. Mzirsutwm means rough or bristly ; 
arvensis, from arvum=a ploughed field, describes 
plants that grow in fields that have been cultivated ; 
procumbens, from procumbo = I fall forward, describes 
trailing plants. Repens and reptans mean “ creep- 
ing”; maritimus (mare=the sea) means growing by 
the sea, and the same meaning is attached to litoralis 
(itus =the seashore). 
You will find an occasional hour spent in looking 
up the Latin names of plants in the pages of your 
Latin dictionary will provide you with a lot of useful 
information, and I am sure you will have great 
enjoyment in the process. Next to being useful to 
your fellows, the greatest delight is discovered in 
the acquisition of knowledge ; and the more know- 
ledge you possess, the more useful you can be. 
We have had a long rest and a long talk; now 
we will have a rinse in the brook and a good walk. 
24 
