Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-14
ENGLISH NAMES FOR FLOWERS.
How Many Of Them Can Be Rec
osnized NowadaysP

From the London Spectator.
II would be interesting to put into the
hands Of a cottager or gardener OF the
old school list of flowers taken from
an EIixabethan garden or herbal. and see
what he would make OF IL. Perhaps the
shepherds speech i'm Ben Jonson masoue'
Pans Anniversary" would do as we'll
as any other. 1t Is long list OF flowers.
and IN delightful reading In itself Three
nymphs precede the shepherd on the
stage, each strewing flowers from her
prickle, or open wicker basket. The
shepherd addresses them:
Well done my pretty ones. Rain roses still III,
Until the last be dropped. then hence and NIL
Your fragrant prickles for second shower
Fair Fairs oS,eye. soldy locks and columbine.
Pinks gouiands, kingcups and sweet sopsin
Blue harebeils. psgles. psnsie.. ealsminth
Flower gentle and the fair haired hyas;iinth'
Bring rich carnations, noTerae M.Toa, iii,
Sweet venu. navel and soft lady ;%o Ssn:,,
Aid glsddest myrtle for these posts TO wear,
with spikenard weaved and msrjoram between
And starred with yeilow-soids ana meaao"'
queen.
How many gardeners could put modern
English names to the whole list? Even
with Gerarle's Herbal to help. the
Identification need not be very easy. for
Gerardes index is by no means com
would leave half dozen at least un,
mentioned Many Of Ben Jonson's Held
and garden flowers bear the same names
TODAY that he knew: there should ne no
difficulty with tulips. ox-eye DAISIES. CO.
lumbines. pinks, king-cup. pansies. carna-
tions and bollyhocks. But would every
bodv understand that the corn-nsg Is
gladiolus, and when Gerardes explains
that Adonis' flower is ''maythee or RED
cammomill," would most gardeners DE
further enlightened by learning that our
London women do call II roseruoie
| Goldy-locks is another name FOR more
| than one flower. Gerardes gives tne
name to maidenhair moss ana 10 moth-
weed, but goldlocks in our modern DOCKS
of field flowers is wood crowfoot Ranun-
culus auricemus. one OF the many now
ers known vaguely as buttercups. Iou-
lands are another kind OF crowfoot' pu'
the country name that survives LOT sUu.
lands today is bachelors buttons. The
root seems to be somewhere In golden
and I'm the Scottish ''gowan, which Is
| the yellow-centered ox-eye DAISY. bu'
sops-in- wine, and flower-gentle, and vel.
low goIds-who would be certain oil
these? Pagles. spelt '.paigles." still sur
vive on village tongues though tney were
called cowslips i'm Shakespeare day, 100
sops-in-wine Gerarde explains as car
nations, though JonsOn apparently thlnks
1 them QlHeTenI HOWcIc, 1ci w
other names for the Glove carnation-
horseflesh and blunket. Flower-gentie is
the amaYanth, our love-iies-pieeding
| fower-de-luce is. of course. heur-de-lys
the conventional lily formed from the
| iris: king spear IL asphodel; Venus-naVe
| is navelw ort or wall pennywort: Daphne
hair presumably is branch or bay
meadows queen IL our meadow sweet ano
Gerarde's note on lady-smocks. or milk
maids. is pretty: They are called u,
English cuckoo flowers" he writes. AZ
the Namptwich. in Cheshire. where had
my beginning. ladie smokes. which hath
given me cause to christen ii after my
| countrie fashion" He adds an odd little
touch. too. to what he writes on dano'
dis. Daffodil was always vague name
and the purple-rinGed daffodil Is oui
pheasant's-eye narcissus with the Grim.
son ring to its yellow cup. But the
checked daffodil IL not a daffodil at all; il
is our purple fritillary. and Gerarde'
| ''ginny hen flower" 1T In checkered most
strangely, I'm so much that every leafe
seemeth TO be the feather Of GIMME
| hen, whereof il took its name When
did it begin to be called the snake's-head
! fritillary?