'Cornhill Magazine' of July 1866, who says apropos of plant

names:

"Science cannot, at present, afford to throw hard words at provincialisms. Too often, in her nomenclature, has she failed to interpret Nature; too often given us only the skeleton leaf instead of the flower. A long list of provincialisms might be given, where by a word a whole train of associations is aroused, and the close relationship of all things shown . . our most expressive terms are fast dying out, are built, and schoolmasters increase, so will the old words perish in the struggle with the new."

Many of

as schools

A conviction that the study of the common or vulgar names applied to plants by no means "introduces us to a language of meaningless nonsense," but is in reality of the highest interest, induced us first to commence the collection of the archaic and provincial names of plants, and afterwards to put these old-world words on permanent record in the pages of this Dictionary, ere they should perish "in the struggle with the new." A systematic study of the "vast vocabulary" of English Plant-Names soon convinced us that there are, as a matter of fact, very few which signify "that which is false," and still fewer "which signify nothing at all;" and even of these it is probable, nay, certain, that it is only our own ignorance of the oldworld language, the old-world thought, and the old-world associations, that prevents our knowing the meaning of every old-world name. This vast vocabulary had a significance for those who first invented the names, and would have a meaning for us also, if we could only look far enough back into the past to be able to trace them to their origin. Of the names, and they are many, of which there is no doubt as to their derivation and meaning, the appropriate character is at once seen; and this holds good even with the "bit of old sow," a name which happens to be of particularly happy application. The blue leguminous plant is Melilotus cœrulea, which, according to Morton's 'Cyclopædia of Agriculture,' "has a singularly porcine odour, . . . and is the plant which gives the peculiar flavour to Schapziger cheese."

Any opposite opinions that exist as to the relative value of vernacular and scientific names seem to arise out of a misconception of the use of both. There is not, and there cannot be, any real antagonism between them; and it would be quite impossible to substitute one for the other. Science is cosmopolitan, and must have a universal language, intelligible to the scientific students of all countries, hence the necessity of the systematic Latin nomenclature that has been agreed upon and adopted. To try to substitute a system of English nomenclature for English students is impossible. We have only to turn to the Index of Latin Names with their English equivalents that is attached to this Dictionary to be quite sure of this. Under Caltha palustris, for instance, we find recorded about fifty different English names that are, or have been, in use in various counties. The names vary even in different parts of the same county, sometimes in neighbouring parishes; and frequently the plant is absolutely known by two or three names in the same place. Under Lychnis diurna we have recorded twenty-nine or thirty names; and it is the same with hundreds of other plants; indeed, it is quite the exception for plants to have only one English name; so it may readily be conceived how extremely difficult the sole use of English names becomes; because any one of the vernacular names may convey but a very vague notion of the plant intended, or no notion at all, to the inhabitants of the next county,-sometimes even of the next parish.

Again, if we turn to the pages of the Dictionary itself, we shall find that the converse takes place, and that the same English name is often given to a considerable number of different plants. The name Cuckoo-flower, for instance, is given, in different counties, to at least ten plants, many of which are of the most opposite characters, habits, and aspect, but all. perhaps agreeing in one respect, namely, that they make their appearance about the time when we first hear the notes of the Cuckoo in the spring. Even the familiar name Cowslip is by no means confined to one species; but a reference to the dictionary will show that it is applied to eight or nine different plants; besides all the various kinds of Cowslip that are also mentioned. No less than twenty-one species rejoice in the name of

Bachelor's Buttons; so that if we adopted Cuckoo-flower, Cowslip, or Bachelor's Buttons, as recognised English botanical names, they would convey a very inadequate notion of the plants intended. All attempts which have at times been made to establish a systematic English instead of Latin nomenclature have resulted, and must result, in complete failures.

The object, then, of collecting and studying the English names of plants, is not to introduce a system of English nomenclature to the botanical student; but to rescue from oblivion a vast number of old-world words, derived from a variety of languages, and therefore often carrying us back to the early days of our country's history, and to the various people who, as conquerors or colonists, have landed on our shores, and left an impress on our language. Many of these old-world words are full of poetical associations, speaking to us of the thoughts and feelings of the old-world people who invented. them. Others tell us of the ancient mythology of our ancestors; of strange old medicinal usages; of superstitions now almost forgotten; they appeal, in short, not to the botanist, but to the antiquarian and the philologist; and form a not unimportant chapter in the history of our language.

As early as the year 1865 one of the compilers of this Dictionary contributed to 'Science Gossip' an article on Local Names, which, probably, gave to both of us the first idea of making a collection of the vernacular names of plants. This we began to do systematically about the year 1868, and it was very soon apparent to us that the subject was not only one of considerable interest, as indeed Dr. Prior's important volume on 'The Popular Names of British Plants' had already made evident, but also that a large number of names were in use amongst the agricultural population which were not generally known, and were still unrecorded. Our intention was, therefore, to publish a work which should in some degree supplement Dr. Prior's volume by including provincial words which had not found their way into botanical books, and various others which he designedly excluded; and which should aim rather at being a readable résumé of what was known upon the subject, than an alphabetically arranged list of names with their scientific equivalents.

A conviction that the subject thus popularly treated would occupy a far greater amount of space than we had at first supposed, grew upon us as our stock of names accumulated; and the idea of such a work was, at any rate temporarily, abandoned. But we were anxious that the result of so much labour should be rendered available for workers in the same field; and it resulted in a determination to issue our collection of plant-names in a dictionary form.

Nothing quite similar has hitherto been attempted in this country; for Dr. Prior's work chiefly includes recognised book-names rather than such as are in the mouths of the country people; indeed, he expressly states that he omits "provincial words that have not found their way into botanical works." We have included not only the vernacular names which are (so far as we know) unpublished, and others which occur in such dictionaries as those of Halliwell and Wright, and in the glossaries and vocabularies of various counties and districts, including all which, up to the present time, have been published by the English Dialect Society; but also the names by which British plants are mentioned in the works of the older botanists, many of which, although then in actual use, are now altogether discarded. We purposely exclude names which have been deliberately coined by living or recent writers, of which numerous examples may be found in Mr. Bentham's' Handbook of the British Flora'; nor do we include the bare translations of Latin names which occur in Syme's English Botany' and other standard works, but which have no claim whatever to be regarded as English, being, as Dr. Seemann observed, "often quite worthless renderings of scientific names, not such as are used by the people.1 'Four-leaved Polycarp' and Opposite Chrysosplene,' 2 as English equivalents for Polycarpon tetraphyllum and Chrysosplenium oppositifolium may be taken as examples of the class of name to which we refer. We have also purposely excluded a few names which, though graphic in their construction and meaning, interesting from their antiquity, and even yet in use in certain counties, are scarcely suited for publication in a work intended for general readers.

1 'Journal of Botany,' 1869, p. 334.

"Bentham's Handbook of the British Flora.'

Besides the names of wild British plants, some of those of our old garden favourites and of many of our culinary plants, which from antiquity or general use may claim to be considered as really English Plant-names, are included. The scientific equivalents are given in almost every instance in preference to the generally-received or English book-names; it is believed that by this means greater accuracy has been ensured, and that the Glossary of Plant-Names will thus be rendered more really useful.

In collecting and collating the plant-names which occur in dictionaries and glossaries we have had considerable difficulties to encounter. One of the principal of these lay in the misapplication of the scientific names of plants; and it is often only after much labour that the necessary correction has been made, and the plant intended identified. Halliwell and Wright are in the main satisfactory on this head; but with such dictionaries as, for example, Holloway's, the task has not been a light one, and could only have been executed by a person possessed of some technical botanical knowledge.

To the appeals which we, from time to time, made for assistance in collecting the names in use in various counties we had an ample response. The subject of Plant-names appeared to have created a wide-spread interest, and lists were sent to us from all parts of the kingdom; and by the kindness of our correspondents, to whom we here tender our warmest thanks, we have been enabled to add much to the interest, and indeed the originality, of our Dictionary, by including a very large number of local names which, so far as we know, do not occur in any other published work. Our helpers have been so numerous that it is impossible to acknowledge them in detail; and if we have not added a list of their names, we must ask them to believe that it is not from any want of gratitude on our part, or appreciation of their valuable help, but from a conviction that amongst so great a number, and out of the piles of letters which we have received during the last fifteen years, many mistakes would have occurred, and we should unwittingly have omitted some whose names ought to have been included. But even with the valuable assistance we have had, it is certain that many omissions of