Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/277

 8 A GLOSSARY OF DEVONSHIRE PLiLNT NAl^ES. true Belladonna (Atropa) and this plant aie both called ** Night- shade.'' , BiLLBBS, (1) Heradeum Sphondylium^ L., and other laige umbels. A himet will often give such an order as this : ^ Clear them MUern out o' the yill, an' put 'em in a hape to bum." (Qf. Pig's Ck)LB.) (2) HetoedcuUum nodiflorum, Koch. (Britten, pp. 40, 41, who is my only authority for this latter, but see the former note). The name is loosely applied, as many other names are, to any plant resembling the Cow-paisnip or Hog-weed. In a vocabulary of the tenth or eleventh century (Earle, Flcmt Narnes, p. 24), bUlere glosses BihuUcu BiLLT Buttons, fllower^heads of Arctium Lappa, L., or Bur- dock. The boys are fond of sticking them down the &ont of their coats to give them the appearance of "a man in buttons," or a page ; and we should have thought this the origin of the name, but that it is elsewhere applied to various kinds of flowers similar to those which bear the name of Bachelor's Buttons. (Qf. Britten, p. 41, for similar names elsewhere.) Bird, a corruption of Burr, applied to the prickly case enclosing the Chestnut, and to other prickly seed vessels. The d is common as an excrescent consonant, as in gownd, sould, &c. (Cf. Keys' Essays on Laiiguage ; Language, its Laws and Developements, and most works on I^ianguage and Philology for the study of such linguistic problems ; Britten's note on Bird Thistle, p. 44.) Biiid's Bread and Cheese, Oxalis AcetoseUa, L., known under several other similar names, some of which are given below. {Cf. Britten, p. 43.) Birdseed, Plant ago major, L., the heads of which are gathered when ripe and dried, or '* saved," for putting in the cages of tame birds as winter food. ( Gf, Britten, p. 43.) Bird's-eye. This is a very general term for flowers of a bright red or blue colour, but likewise extended to other flowers as welL (Britten, p. 43 Prior, p. 21.) In Devonshire I find the following, and believe others might be added, from Mr. Britten's list of over a dozen different flowers. (1) Veronica Chwncedrgs, L., also called Cat's-eyes, &c (2) Geranium Rohertianum, L., and the rest of the Wild Geraniums, of which we have a large variety in South Devon. (3) Lychnis diuma, 8ibth. (dioica, L.). It is curious how these two flowers get confused. In Sussex both are called l^chelofs Buttons;" in Cheshire the latter is called Wild Geranium ; " in Somerset both are called '' Bobin Hood ; " and in Devon both go by the name of *^ Eobin," &c. Nothing but the colour of the flower and the time of flowering seems to have caused this confusion between such different plants. (4) Saxi/raga uml/rosa, L., commonly called London Pride, but bearing several local names, as ** Prince's Feather," *' Garden-gates,"