Evening star., 1935-04-04
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

bears grape, bears bilberry, bears
whortleberry, foxberry, upland cram
berry, crowberry, mealberry, rock
berry, mountain box, kinnikinnic, Kill
nkinnic two tongue-twisters), uni
verse vine, braxlins, burren myrtle,
creashak, sagachomi, rapper dandies.
The last, applying to the fruit, seems
to bring up an entire vision of noun
taineer peoples.
It will be noted that bears, crows
and foxes share this plant, in popular
nomenclature, while 1t Is called q
berry, a myrtle and a box, to say
nothing of cranberry.
y n
Gautheria procumbenS, best known
simply as wintergreen. is called vari-
ously Spring wintergreen, creeping
wintergreen, aromatic wintergreen,
spicy wintergreen. checkerberry, tea
berry. partridgeberry, grouseberry.
spiceberry. chickenberry. deerberry,
groundberry, hilberry. ivyberry, box
berry. redberry. Canadian tea. noun
tain tea, ivory plum, chinks. drunk
ards, red pollom. rapper dandies, wax
cluster.
Surely, after all those, some definite
name Is needed. It will be noticed
that names Of other plants are used
above, such as the partridgeberry, the
favorite little plant for glass gardens
in bowls.
Yerba santa is the best popular
name of Eriodictyon californicum. In
such cases q good popular name tends
to supersede the scientific one, but
even then 1t is essential that the
Latin name define the plant once and
for all, for all peoples and all Ian
guages. It will be noted again that
the first. or genus name, Is capitalized.
whereas the second, or species name.
even If a proper name, Is given a small
letter.
Yarrow, Achillea milIefolium, is a
popular garden specimen, as well as
herb. It has a picturesque list OF
common names: Millefolium. milfoil,
thousand-leaf, thousand-leaf clover.
gordoloba, green arrow, soldiers
woundwort, noSebleed, dog daisy.
bloodwort, sanguinary, carpenters
grass, old mans pepper, cammock.
In the first four names we see q
common transformation, from the
Latin to its corruption, then transla-
ton, then the addition of Glover" to
the translation, making the name de-
clare that the plant Is clover, when
it Is no such thing.
Such changes are all too common
and constitute real reason why those
truly interested in the things Of Ma
ture ought to make an attempt to
learn the scientific names of the
plants, animals. etc., in order that
words used shall stand for something
definite and undoubted.
Lobelia, Lobelia infiata. has been
called Indian tobacco, wild tobacco,
asthma weed, gagroot. womitroot
pukeweed, emetic herb. bladder pod,
low bella and eyebright.
Common folks outdid themselves
when they thought of digitalis, purple
foxglove, thimbles, fairy cap, fairy
thimbles. fairy finger. fairybells. dogs
finger. finger flower. lady's glove,
lady's finger, lady's thimble, popdock
fiapdock, fiopdock, lions mouth, rab-
bits flower, cottagers. throatwort
Scotch mercury
The blessed thistle. Cnicus benedic-
tusm, also Is called the cursed thistle!
Bitter nightshade. Solanum dulca-
mara also goes by the names Of bitter
sweet, dulcamara, nightshade, woody
nightshade, amara dulcis. fevertwig,
violet bloom. blue bindweed, felonwort.
poisonberry. poisonfower, puShion-
berry. more1. snakeberry. wolfgrape.
scarletberry, tetherberry. dwale, skaw-
| COO.
Who says that scientific names are
| not necessary?