"A horrible pestilence," says
Tabernæmontanus, "broke out in his army, and
carried off many thousand men, which greatly
troubled the pious emperor. Wherefore he
prayed earnestly to God, and in his sleep there
appeared unto him an angel, who shot an arrow
from a cross-bow, telling him to mark the plant
upon which it fell, for that with that plant he
might cure the army of the pestilence. And so
it really happened." The plant upon which the
angelic arrow fell was the Carline thistle—Carlina
vulgaris.

The anemony grew from the tears of Venus,
and the rose from the blood of Adonis.

    But oh the Cytherean! slain and dead,
            The fair Adonis slain!
    Her tears as plenteous as the blood he shed,
            She pours amain;
    And flowers are born from every drop that flows,
    From tears the Anemony, from blood the Rose.

The name Rose comes from a Sanscrit word,
signifying red. The anemony or wind flower is
described as a very fugacious flower. Does the
myth whisper that the tears of Venus are soon
blown away?

Animals share the names of plants with
emperors, saints, and gods. Adder's-tongue
(Ophioglossum vulgatum) and adderwort
(Polygonum bistorta) derive these names from some
resemblance between the spike of capsules of
the one, and the writhed roots of the other to
the tongue and form of the adder, that is,
eddre, burner, or poisoner. From the shape of
its leaf, Tussilago farfara is called ass's, bull's,
or colt's-foot. Bear-berry (Arbutus uva ursi) is a
favourite food of bears; bear's-ears (Primula
auricula) has a leaf like the ear of the animal;
of bear's-foot (Helleborus fœtidus) the
resemblance is also to the leaf; whilst bears' garlic
(Allium ursinum) is so called because the bears
delight in it. Bees are supposed to be fond of
the flowers of the plant with nettle-like leaves
called bee-nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit); the flower
of bee orchis (Ophrys apifera), resembles a flower-
bee; and bee's nest (Daucus carota) is so named
from its compact inflorescence. Sedum acre,
blossoming when the young birds are hatching, is
called birds' bread: from the shape of its leaf,
Polygonum aviculare is named bird's-tongue;
Ornithopus perpusillus, having claw-like legumes, is
bird's-foot; and Veronica chamædrys, from its
bright blue flowers, is called bird's-eyes. Plantago
coronopus is called buck's-horn, on account of its
forked leaves. Anchusa officinalis, having leaves
like the tongue of an ox, is called bugloss. The
seed vessel of snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus),
bearing an extraordinary likeness to a calf's
skull, is called calf's-snout. The pith of Juncus
acutus being used to make rushlights, it is called
candlerush. Phleum pratense, from its
cylindrical panicle, and Typha latifolia, from its
long furry catkins, are both called cat's-tail;
and its juice causes Euphorbea helioscopia to be
named cat's-milk; while Nepeta cataria is called
cat-mint, because the old herbalists said cats
were very much delighted with the smell, touch,
and taste of it. Three different plants are called
cock's-comb. Cow-cress and cow-wheat are
coarse cress and wheat. The ancient word cow
refers to the use of the animal as a beast of
draught or burden, and in none of the Indo-
European languages does the name point to an
animal yielding milk. The very ancient and
universal word daughter means a milker, but
the animal milked was most probably the goat.
Cicuta virosa is called cowbane, from its
supposed effect on cows. Crowflower and crowfoot
are names given to several species of
Ranunculaceæ, from the likeness of the leaf to the foot
of a crow, and a blackberry (Empetrum nigrum)
is called crowberry. Cuckoo bread, cuckoo
gilliflower, and cuckoo grass (Oxalis acetosella,
Lychnis flos cuculi, and Luzula campes tris),
blossom at the time of the cuckoo's song. A
plant with slender stems like coarse hair (Scirpus
cæspitosus) is called deer's-hair; deer being a
word which originally meant any wild beast, even
mice. Dog, applied to a plant as to a man,
implies contempt. Geranium columbinum has a
leaf described by its popular name, dove's-foot.
The fly Orchis has a flower like a fly; and goose
and goslings, Orchis morio (or bifolia) has
flowers shaped like little goslings. Sonchus
oleraceus is called hare's lettuce and hare's
palace, because it was believed that the hare
derives shelter from it, and "yf a hare eate of
his herb," said Anthony Askham, "in somer,
when he is mad, he shal be hole." Hieracium
is named hawkweed, from an ancient notion that
hawks cleared their eyes with it. Like dog, the
word horse means coarse in the composition of
plant names. The projecting nectary of
Delphinium causes it to be called larkspur. Mouse-
ear and mouse-tail are terms applied to several
plants on account of resemblances to their leaves
or seed spikes. The great daisy is called ox-
eye, and other plants ox-heel, ox-lip, and ox-
tongue.

Unwholesome fungi are called toadstools or
paddock stools. In Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar
the following couplet occurs:

    The griesly todestool grown there mought I see,
    And loathed paddocks lording on the same.

Quaad-pogge is the Frisian name of the toad;
and the word toad it has been supposed was
derived from quaad, by changing the initial qu
into t, the process by which quincken became
twinkle, and quirl twirl. Quaad means spiteful.
Paddock is the diminutive of pad, padde, pogge,
puck, an evil spirit, Satan having taken the form
of a toad. Puck is the king of the fairies.
Puck fists (Lycoperdon) and pixie stools (Agaricus
chanterellus) are said to be the work of
elves,

                          whose pastime
    Is to make midnight mushrooms.

The notion of a toad being a spiteful sprite,
making and sitting upon stools, did not prevent