xy weis t rm rp eu anes apta d d , N eee m ‘ i ne Me ^ Rl de reip. rear iren ^ qnem. DE aam) chc e dispo ee ao derat Ld . , . * * 4 f * ACHES : " : M d RAS. Mila ves Dh AA e Ran We phe ye rete NT " vrai Oo ge ituipde s v ary penes Vine " vi M rv v Vie c PO s e oh RA, dh gh e sd sam om Vy imm RAN \ r por eig ave eine m Lh Sanh hee pee a Bre paure RR Ra V mii iri De. oÀ A vi Y d LJ ee mined tie: YR eee srt SS eed Rd ^ á : eae LUE - " " “ ) " + went Nw +=. » J + béo o 9 » pots SS MARI a a Era baja qe, y. NE PE AMA Fdo te | wes appo eandem a M^ dpt n ^ - [ * M A "ue ve de ^ y E ^ * — wc sS D rd E E ——A ccu" MERE e ERO EOIN ALY, ENGLISH NAMES OF PLANTS APPLIED IN ENGLAND AND AMONG ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLE TO CULTIVATED AND WILD PLANTS, TREES, AND SHRUBS. IN TWO PARTS. ENGLISH-LATIN AND LATIN-ENGLISH. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1884. No one who has had experience of the progress of Botany as a science can doubt that it has been more impeded in this country by the repulsive appearance of the names which it employs than by any other cause whatever, and that, in fact, this has proved an invincible obstacle to its becoming the serious occupation of those who are unacquainted with the learned languages, or who, being acquainted with them, are fastidious about euphony and Greek or Latin purity.—DR. LINDLEY. Botany has this great practical advantage over all other sciences as a means of universal culture, that the materials are the most generally accessible of any scientific materialin the world. . . . . Whatis needed is that its terminology should be popularised. . . . . Historically almost the first of sciences, botany is naturally and eductionally first in order to the enquiring mind. Its objects are near our homes, awakening to our minds, and inviting to our touch. Botany is adapted to be the universal preparatory science, the science to infuse the scientific sense. Why should we allow a pile of hetero- geneous names to stand as a barrier between our people and the fairest gate of knowledge? These strange names are all but barren of interest in themselves ; what interest they possess springs wholly out of the objects they represent. The objects and their mutual relations might be learnt quite as effectually through congenial names, if only one-thousandth part of the labour that has been expended on those were bestowed on these.—Prof. EARLE, “ English Plant Names,” p. cix. THE compilation of this Dietionary was undertaken at the request of . Mr. W. Robinson, of THE GARDEN newspaper, at whose expense the work is published, he having advocated in his journal a more general use of English names for the plants, trees, and shrubs which are commonly grown in our gardens and pleasure-grounds, and who wished the ' horticultural publie to have at command a list of all such names now applied to these as well as to all other cultivated and useful plants in- cluding our native flora and the native plants and trees of America and the colonies. It is an undeniable fact that the vast majority of people of all classes who take an interest in horticultural pursuits consists of those who, never having received any classical or botanical training, find it diffieult to learn and remember, and impossible to understand, the Latin or scientific names by which plants are spoken of and described by botanists. These names, however useful and even necessary they may be as technical terms to the systematic botanist, become a senseless jargon in . the vain attempt to fix them amongst our “ household words," and most of us are keenly alive to the inconsistency of employing words from a foreign and even dead language to name such familiar everyday objects as the flowers and shrubs which are grown in our gardens and woods. ‘Notwithstanding the copious use of Latin, it would be a grievous mistake to suppose that English names do not exist for most of our cultivated plants, the fact being that such names do exist, and abundantly, many of them dating back to the days of Spenser, Shakespeare, Gerard, and Parkinson—nearly 300 years ago—although they have now fallen into disuse, and are only to be met with in books, in consequence of what the Rev. John Earle, in his excellent little volume on “English Plant Names,” terms “the gratuitous rejection of good native names in favour of some Latin name, through mere contempt for homely things and affectation of novelty.” No farther back, indeed, than the commencement of the present century, it would appear that, even amongst gardeners, it was the ordinary iv PREFACE. custom to speak of plants by their English names, as we find the poet Crabbe thus describing an exceptional case :— High-sounding words our worthy gardener gets, And at his club to wondering swains repeats ; He there of Rhus and Rhododendron speaks, And Allium calls his Onions and his Leeks. * * * * * * There 4rums, there Leontodons we view, And Artemisia grows where Wormwood grew. (Crabbe's * Parish Register," Part I., Baptisms.) and there can be little doubt that many good old English plant-names which, happily, are still preserved to us in books, have been gradually ousted from popular use and sacrificed for Latin terms, not from any conviction that these were better or more appropriate, but simply . through the spread of the craze for “high-sounding words.” To quote Mr. Earle further, “The adoption of classical words was in deference to the prestige of the classical languages at first, then it became a piece of scholastic pedantry which, spreading ever wider and wider, became at length a fashion because it was a flag of social pretension.” A botanist writes in THE GARDEN (vol. xxiii, p. 403) :—* But what do we see in popular naming? . : : . The whole business breeds nothing but confusion, as if there was not enough already in the same direction.” Such a remark comes with a peculiarly bad grace from a scientific botanist, and may be regarded as a stone thrown by one who lives in a glass house of rather extensive dimensions, when we consider the deplorable condition of his own pet nomenclature in this respect. There is, in fact, no greater stumbling-block and no more torturing embarrass- ment in the way of the botanieal student than the swarms of synonyms which beset him at almost every step and, like the aliases of a culprit who is “wanted,” serve rather to conceal than to point out the subjects to which they are applied. The whole family of the Conifers, for in- stance, is almost smothered in this way, as anyone may see who chooses to look into the last edition of Gordon's *Pinetum," where he will find that nearly all the trees there described have a greater orless number of synonyms applied to them, several of them as many as half-a-dozen or more apiece! The practical results of this extreme plurality of scientific synonyms are well exemplified by an instance which occurred last year, when a correspondent of THE GARDEN wrote to the effect that “The Bluebell of Scotland is Agraphis nutans," and that *the English Blue- bell is Hyacinthus non-scriptus " (THE GARDEN for June 9, 1883, p. 523), in evident ignorance that the two names are synonymous for the same plant, which has yet the two other synonyms of Scilla nutans and Hyacinthus anglicus. Many of the new names which have appeared in THE GARDEN were absolutely needed for plants which previously had no popular PREFACE. ME English names, and others are decided improvements on older names. As an instance in which it is a clear gain to “ring in the new, ring out the old," I may mention “Torch Lily," which I should think few would hesitate to adopt instead of * Red-hot-poker Plant" In giving the popular and the scientifie names of plants together, there is little left for the scientists to complain of. * One very simple view of the subject has been apparently overlooked, perhaps from its very simplicity. Why should plants and flowers be the only things that we are to have no means of speaking of in our own language? ‘The utility and necessity of the botanical names no one denies—a noble and simple invention, a “ lingua franca ” for the learned of all nations, though grievously overburdened with synonyms and masses of cumbersome *'uncrystallised " matter. But why must people who love flowers know them by these names only—names that to many of them convey no sort of meaning—for all people who cultivate or enjoy flowers have not such a knowledge of the dead languages as to make the names intelligible? And why in any case speak in a dead language only of things so essentially living and affecting our dailv use and happiness ? Why should a piece of pedantic tyranny be imposed on us in this matter, and this only ? Animals, birds, and insects also have their necessary scientific names, but no one reproves us for talking ofa horse, or a sparrow, or a dragon-fly. Diseases have their universal names derived from Latin and Greek, used in scientific treatises and among members of the medical profession, and yet we commonly talk of gout, and small- pox, and scarlet fever. The bones and muscles of our bodies are all known in anatomy by such technical names, and yet in our every-day talk we may speak of rib, thigh-bone, and shoulder-blade. Why, then, should flowers only, of all the subjects that need a common language for purposes of classification and scientific research, have their purely technical appellations imposed on us, to the exclusion of such simple words in our own language as we use in other absolutely analogous cases ? : Does it not come to this, that both kinds of names are necessary, eH for its proper purpose; the scientific name for classification, for study, for international research and correspondence, for business, for all rather dry and hard purposes; but for daily life among flowers, in poetry and popular books, for common use among the many people whose enjoyment of flowers does not approach any scientific purpose, the familiar names in our own tongue? Let me ask our learned men, who possess the dead languages, and therefore do not feel the need of the simpler means of expression, to descend in imagination to the level of those to whom Day Lily has a distinct meaning, while Hemerocallis is a jumble of senseless syllables. Let them think how absurd it would be if some arbitrary tyranny obliged us to call other things of common utility or enjoyment by long Latin names. . Why are plants, and plants only, to be banished to this philological limbo, a place of weariness and lifelessness, that those who love flowers for their beauty’s sake do not care to have to explore in order to find names by which to know their treasures? Will not our kindly savants rather help us to the supply of the living want and give us well-made English names in place of the perbaps ill-constructed ones that we should find for ourselves?” (THe Garpen, vol. xxiv., p. 59.) The above from a lady correspondent of THE GARDEN puts the case fairly for English names, and I shall conclude my quotations with Mr. Ruskin’s remarks (in “ Proserpina") on botany as now taught: — ** Yesterday evening I was looking over the first book in which I studied botany— **Curtis's Magazine," published in 1795 at No. 3, St. George's Crescent, Blackfriars Road, and sold by the principal booksellers in Great Britain and Ireland. Its plates are excellent, so that I am always glad to find in it the picture of a flower I know. And I came yesterday upon what I suppose to be a variety of a favourite flower of mine, Vl PREFACE. called, in Curtis, ‘the St. Bruno's Lily.’ I am obliged to say ** what I suppose to be a variety," because my pet Lily is branched,* while this is drawn as unbranched, and especially stated to be so. And the page of text in which this statement is made is so characteristic of botanieal books and botanical science, not to say all science as hitherto taught for the blessing of mankind, and of the difficulties thereby accompanying its communication, that I extract the page entire, printing it as nearly as possible in facsimile. [ 318] ANTHERICUM LiLiASTRUM. Savoy ANTHERICUM, or Sr. Bruno’s LiLx. BJ Jer Jd EBD OB JL Ie Ie Ce Een Ie DET MeL XE Jm Class and Order. HEXANDRIA MoNoGYNIA. Generic Character. Cor. 6-petala, patens. Caps. ovata. Specific Character and Synonyms. ANTHERICUM .iliastrum foliis planis, scapo simplicissimo, corollis campanulatis, staminibus declinatis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 330. Ait. Kew. v. 1. p. 449. HEMEROCALLIS floribus patulis fecundis. Hall. Hist. n. 1230. PHALANGIUM magno flore. Bauh. Pin. 29. PHALANGIUM Allobrogicum majus. Clus. cur. app. alt. PHALANGIUM Allobrogicum. The Savoye Spider-wort. Park. Parad. p. 150. tab. 151. f. 1. Botanists are divided in their opinions respecting the genus of this plant; Linnzeus considers it as an Anthericum, Haller and Miller make it an Hemerocallis. Itis a native of Switzerland, where, Haller informs us, it grows abundantly in the Alpine meadows, and even on the summits of the mountains; with us it flowers in May and June. It is a plant of great elegance, producing on an unbranched stem, about a foot and a half high, numerous flowers of a delicate white colour, much smaller than, but resembling in form, those of the common white lily, possessing a considerable degree of fragrance. Their beauty is heightened by the rich orange colour of their antherz ; unfortunately they are but of short duration. Miller describes two varieties of it differing merely in size. A loamy soil,a situation moderately moist, with an eastern or western exposure, suits this plant best; so situated, it will increase by its roots, though not very fast, and by parting these in the autumn it is usually propagated. Parkinson describes and figures it in his Parad. Terrest., observing that ** divers allured by the beauty of its flowers, had brought it into these parts." * At least, it throws off its flowers on each side in a bewilderingly pretty way; a real Lily can't branch, I believe; but, if not, what is the use of the botanical books saying “on an unbranched stem ? " PREFACE. vii Now you observe, in this instructive page, that you have in the first place eight names given you for one flower; and that, among these eight names, you are not even at liberty to make your choice, because the united authority of Haller and Miller may be considered as an accurate balance to the single authority of Linnzus ; and you ought therefore for the present to remain, yourself, balanced between the sides. You may be farther embarrassed by finding that the Anthericum of Savoy is only described as growing in Switzerland. And farther still, by finding that Mr. Miller describes two varieties of it, which differ only in size, while you are left to conjecture whether the one here figured is the larger or smaller, and how great the difference is. Farther, if you wish to know anything of the habits of the plant, as well as its: eight names, you are informed that it grows both at the bottoms of the mountains and the tops ; and that, with us, it flowers in May and June,—but you are not told when in its native country. The four lines of the last clause but one may indeed be useful to gardeners ; but —although I know my good father and mother did the best they could for me in buying this beautiful book ; and though the admirable plates of it did their work and taught me much—I cannot wonder that neither my infantine nor boyish mind was irresistibly attracted by the text, of which this page is one of the most favourable speci- mens ; nor, in consequence, that my botanical studies were— when I had attained the age of fifty—no farther advanced than the reader will find them in the opening chapter of this book. Which said book was therefore undertaken to put, if it might be, some elements of the science of botany into a form more tenable by ordinary human and childish faculties ; or—for I can scarcely say I have yet any tenure of it myself—to make the paths of approach to it more pleasant. In fact, I only know of it the pleasant distant effects which it bears to simple eyes; and some pretty mists and mysteries, which I invite my young readers to pierce, as they may, for themselves,—my power of guiding them being only for a little way. , Pretty mysteries, I say, as opposed to the vulgar and ugly mysteries of the so-called science of botany,—exemplified sufficiently in this chosen page. Respecting which, please observe farther : Nobody—I can say this very boldly—loves Latin more dearly than I; but, precisely because I do love it (as well as for other reasons), I have always. insisted that books, whether scientific or not, ought to be written either in Latin or English, and not in a doggish mixture of the refuse of both." It may not be out of place to observe that our leading nurserymen might, if so disposed, render valuable assistance to the work of dissemi- nating a knowledge of the English names of plants, if, in their catalogues, they made it a practice to give the vernacular names along with the bota- nical ones. This is very largely done by American nurserymen, and,. although it may seem invidious to single out any one establishment, it may be useful to mention the catalogue of hardy perennial plants issued by Messrs. Woolson & Co. Passaic, New Jersey, as suggestive in this. respect. With regard to the present volume, it has been carefully compiled from all available sources of information in our standard botanical works,. British and Colonial Floras, the leading horticultural journals, and the catalogues of British, American, and Australian nurserymen. Being simply a dictionary of names (of which it contains over 15,000), it formed. viii PREFACE. no part of the plan to introduce any matter descriptive of the plants, trees, and shrubs which it enumerates, and this must be looked for in botanical works devoted to the purpose. The Latin or botanical names given are those which are most commonly employed and best known, and synonyms are rarely noted, the few that are mentioned being chiefly in those cases where two botanical names are pretty equally in use for the same plant, as, Centaurea—Amberboa—moschata (Sweet Sultan), Calla—Richardia— cethiopica (Lily-of-the-Nile), &e. Familiar generic names, like Azalea, Crocus, Fuchsia, Iris, Phlox, &e., which have, to all intents and purposes, become English names, are retained as such. In the case of our native British plants, I have purposely omitted trivial local names, such as “ Dog- chowps " and * Cuddy’s-lugs,” which savour of a chaw-baconism verging close on barbarism, and I have also left unnoticed the coarse and often grossly indelicate names which occur in some of the old writers on plants, as no useful purpose could be served by the reproduction of such names. The book is probably far from being exhaustive or complete, as new names will be constantly arising from time to time, and it must be regarded as only a first step in the direction which it takes, but it is hoped that it will prove a handy and useful volume of reference, and a means of making the study of plants less technical and difficult to English- speaking people. September, 1884. W. M. *—. A DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH PLANT NAMES. ABBREVIATIONS—Sp., species; var., variety ; fl.-pl., flore-pleno. Aar. Alnus glutinosa Aaron. Arwm maculatum Aaron’s Beard. Hypericum calycinum Aaron’s Rod. Verbascum Thapsus Abbey. Populus alba Abele Tree. Populus alba Absinth. Artemisia Absinthium Abuta-root, or Butua-root. Cissampelos Pareira Acacia, Clammy. Robinia viscosa Large-leafleted Rose. Robinia hispida ma- crophylla Parasol. Robinia wmbraculifera Rice’s. Acacia Riceana Rose. Lobinia hispida Siris. See Siris-Acacia Smooth Tree. Acacia Julibrissin Three-thorned. Gleditschia triacanthos Two-spiked. Acacia lophantha Weeping. Gileditschia Bugoti pendula Acajou-wood. The timber of Cedrela bra- siliensis Ach-root. Morinda tinctoria Ach-weed or Ash-weed. Podagraria Ache. Apiwm graveolens Achocon Tree, of Peru. Leonia glycycarpa Aconite. The genus Aconitum Common. Aconitum Napellus Indian or Nepaul. Aconitum feroo Winter. Hranthis hyemalis Acorn, Sweet. Thefruit of Quercus Ballota Adam and Eve. Corallorrhiza odontor- rhiza. Applied also to the tubers of various native Orchises, and to the com- mon Arum N. American. Aplectrum hyemale Adam's Flannel. Verbascum Thapsus Adam’s Needle. The genus Yucca; also Scandix Pecten Aloe-leaved. Yucca aloifolia Channelled-leaved. Yucca canaliculata Common. Yucca gloriosa Conspicuous. Yucca conspicua Drooping-leaved. Yucca aloifolia var. pen- dula and Yucca draconis Flaccid. Yucca flaccida Glaucous. Yucca gloriosa var. glaucescens Grass-leaved. Yucca graminifolia "Egopodiwm Adam's Needle, Hollow-leaved. Yucca concava, Narrow-leaved. Yucca angustifolia Oblique-leaved. Yucca obliqua Pointed-flowered. Yueca acuminata Recurved-leaved. Yucca recurva Reddish-edged. Yucca rufo-cincta Scalloped-leaved. Yweca crenulata Silvery. Yucea nivea Slender-leaved. Yucca tenuifolia Superb. Yucca superba Thready. Yucca filamentosa Upright. Yucca stricta Wavy-leaved. Yucca undulata Adam’s Needle and Thread. Jilamentosa, Adder-spit. Pteris aquilina Adder-wort. Polygonum Distorta Adders Fern. Polypodium vulgare Adders Flower. Lychnis diurna Adders Grass. Orchis mascula Adders Meat. .Arwm maculatum Adders Spear. Ophioglossum vulgatum Adders Tongue. Ophioglossum vulgatum Yellow. JZrythroniwum americanum Adder’s Violet. See Violet. Adonis Flower. Adonis autwnnalis Pyrenean. Adonis pyrenaica Affadil. Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus African Rubber Tree. See Rubber Agaries. A genus of Fungi Agila-wood. Aquilaria ovata and A. Agallochwm Ag-leaf. Verbascum Thapsus Agnes’s (St.) Flower. The genus Hrinosma Agrimony, Bastard. Ageratum conyzoides Common. Agrimonia Hupatoria Creeping. Agrimonia repens Hemp. JZupatoriwm cannabinum Sweet-scented. Agrimonia odorata Three-leaved. Agrimonia agrimonioides Yucca Water. Eupatoriwm cannabinum Water Hemp. Bidens cernua and B. tripartita Ague-root. Aletris farinosa Ague Tree. Lawrus Sassafras Ague-weed, Indian. Lupatorium perfolia- tum Agworm Flower. Stellaria Holostea B 2 _ English Names of Cultivated, Native, Aikraw. Ailanto. Stictina scrobiculata Ailantus glandulosa Ail-weed. Cuscuta Trifolii Air-flower, or Air-plant. grandiflorum Fragrant. @reamy-White Camellia caryophylloides. White, rosy-carmine- striped, Camellia commensa. Vermilion-red Camellia English Names of Cultivated, Native, Fine White Camellia compacta alba. Camellia Dride. Bright-rose-coloured Camellia euryoides. Small-flowered Camellia fimbriata. Pure White, fringed, Camellia Grunelli. Large White Camellia imbricata. Carmine-rose Camellia japonica and vars. Common Camellia japonica Rosa-mundi. Ltosé-of-the- World Kissi. eI and Foreign Plants, Trees, and Shrubs. 197 Fraxinus excelsior var. heterophylla. Various-leaved Ash excelsior var. horizontalis. Hovizontal- branched Ash OU EP var. jaspidea. ^ Striped-barked $ excelsior var. Kincairnize. .A?meairney Ash eae var. lutea. Yellom-edged-leafleted As excelsior var. nana (F. e. humilis). Dwarf Ash excelsior var. pallida. Pale-barked Ash excelsior var. parvifolia. Small-leaved Ash excelsior var. parvifolia argentea. Silvery- leaved Ash excelsior var. parvifolia oxycarpa. Sruited Ash excelsior var. pendula. Ash excelsior var. purpurascens. Purple-barked Ash excelsior var. verrucosa. Ash excelsior var. verticillata. Ash floribunda. JVepaul Ash lentiscifolia. Lentiscus-leaved Ash Oregana. Oregon Ash Ornus. Flowering Ash Ornus var. americana. American Flowering Ash Ornus var. floribunda. Flowering Ash Ornus var. mannifera. Ornus var. rotundifolia. Flowering Ash Ornus var. striata. Striped-barked Flower- Sharp- Common Weeping Warted-barked Whorled-leaved Many-flowered Manna-Ash-tree Round-leaved ing Ash platycarpa. Carolina Water-Ash pubescens. American Red Ash quadrangulata. American Blue Ash sambucifolia. American Black Ash, Water- Ash Schiediana. Schiede’s Ash viridis. American Green Ash Fremontia californica. “ Slippery Elm,” of California Frenela robusta. Murray Pine-tree verrucosa. Cypress Pine Fritilaria. Fritillary imperialis. Crown Imperial latifolia. Broad-leaved Fritillary Meleagris. Chequered Daffodil, Chequered Lily, Drooping Tulip, Guinea-hen Flower, Snake's-head Fritillary Meleagris plena. Dowble-flowered Fri- tillary Meleagris var. alba. White Fritillary nigra. Toad-lily persica. Persian Lily pyrenaica. Pyrenean Fritillary recurva. Scarlet Fritillary tulipifolia. Tulip-leaved Fritillary Fuchsia. Za«r-ring Flower, Lady's Har- drops coccinea. Scarlet Fuchsia Colensoi. New Zealand Fuchsia conica. Conical-tubed Fuchsia corymbiflora. Corymb-jflowered Fuchsia Fuchsia excorticata. Kotukutwhi-tree, of New Zealand fulgens. Brilliant Fuchsia globosa. Globe-flowered Fuchsia gracilis. Slender Fuchsia lycioides. ow-thorn-leaved Fuchsia magellanica. Wuegian Fuchsia microphylla. Smail-leaved Fuchsia minima. Dwarf Trailing Fuchsia procumbens. Basket Fuchsia, Trailing Fuchsia pumila. Zom Thumb Fuchsia racemosa. Zdible-fruited Fuchsia Riccartoni. Riccarton’s Fuchsia serratifolia. Saw-leaved Fuchsia Thompsoni. Thompson's Fuchsia thymifolia. Thyme-leaved Fuchsia Fucus amylaceus. Ceylon Moss nodosus. Kelp-ware or Kelp-wrack, Tang or Knob-Tang vesiculosus.