PLANT NAMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

PLANT NAMES.

Many plants owe their names to the' animal world. Thus we find catmint, "tho mint with which," to quote aa Elizabethan herbalist, "cats are very much delighted, for the smell of it is 80 pleasant to them that they rub themselves upon it and wallow and tumble upon it and also feed on the branches ve ry greedily." Cat's-ear is a composite and owes its name to the bracts on the stem, or, as some say, to the marks oa the leaves. Cat's-eye is the pretty little germander Speedwell, and cat's-tail is the great Reed-mace. The dog is represented by dog-daisy, dog-gennel, dog-rose and dogVmercury. The big, downy leaves which cover s» much waste ground in the spring of the year evidently sug. o-ested to some fanciful mind the hoof of a horse, hence , the title,, "colt'e-foot." That unassuming little plant, the goose, foot, w£3 similarly christened. In the spring-time woods we find the bear'sgreen hellebore. One glance at the clustered seed-pods of the bird'e-foot trefoil will show how that little plant gained its name. Lastly, we have the crow-foot—-another name for buttercup. The cow, too, has several namesakes: Cow-berry, cow-parsnip, cow-wheat and cowslip. The ox has ox-tongue, ox-lip and ox-eye. The sheep has sheep's-bit and sheep's-sorrel. Then there is pignut and sow-thistle, goat's-beard and "fat-hen" —another name for "goosefoot." Nor are the domestic animals alone represented. The hare gives us hare's-foot-clover, hare's-ear and hare'n parsley, if not harebell, and the fox, foxglove, although this derivation has been questioned. To the frog we owe frog's-letfcuce, frogbit and frog-orchis; to the toad, toadflax. Then there is Archangel, which the irreverant call "weasel-snout." Ia the reptile line, we have lizard orchis, viper's buglos (a supposed remedy for snake bite) and snake's head, another name for the. fritillaria. Among the buttercups, we find the mouse-tail and the chickweed, hawkweeds ana forget-me-nots all supply * mouse-ear. Crane's-bill, larkspur andi pheasant-eye point to analogies between flowers and birds. The cuckoo is specially. favoured. The wood-sorrel is often known as cuckoo-bread or "cuckoos spice," the hawthorn is "cuckoo's-bread-and-cheese," the lady's-smock is "cuckoo's shoes and stockings," the monk's-hood, ■ "cuckoo-caps," and tha cardamine "cuckoo-pint." — (Nurseryman and Seedsman.")