familiar to most readers, it may be noticed that plants which embody the
names of animals are very numerous indeed. In many cases this has
resulted from some fancied resemblance to some part of the animal named;
thus from their long tongued-like leaves, the hart's-tongue,
lamb's-tongue, and ox-tongue were so called, while some plants have
derived their names from the snouts of certain animals, such as the
swine's-snout (_Lentodon taraxacum_), and calf's-snout, or, as it is
more commonly termed, snapdragon (_Antirrhinum majus_). The gaping
corollas of various blossoms have suggested such names as dog's-mouth,
rabbit's-mouth, and lion's-snap, and plants with peculiarly-shaped
leaves have given rise to names like these--mouse-ear (_Stachys
Zanaia_), cat's-ears, and bear's-ears. Numerous names have been
suggested by their fancied resemblance to the feet, hoofs, and tails of
animals and birds; as, for instance, colt's-foot, crow-foot, bird's-foot
trefoil, horse-shoe vetch, bull-foot, and the vervain, nicknamed
frog's-foot. Then there is the larkspur, also termed lark's-claw, and
lark's-heel, the lamb's-toe being so called from its downy heads of
flowers, and the horse-hoof from the shape of the leaf. Among various
similar names may be noticed the crane's-bill and stork's-bill, from
their long beak-like seed-vessels, and the valerian, popularly
designated capon's-tail, from its spreading flowers.
Many plant names have animal prefixes, these indeed forming a very
extensive list. But in some instances, "the name of an animal prefixed
has a totally different signification, denoting size, coarseness, and
frequently worthlessness or spuriousness." Thus the horse-parsley was so
called from its coarseness as compared with smallage or celery, and the
horse-mushroom from its size in distinction to a species more commonly
eaten. The particular uses to which certain plants have been applied
have originated their names: the horse-bean, from being grown as a food
for horses; and the horse-chestnut, because used in Turkey for horses
that are broken or touched in the wind. Parkinson, too, adds how,
"horse-chestnuts are given in the East, and so through all Turkey, unto
horses to cure them of the cough, shortness of wind, and such other
diseases." The germander is known as horse-chere, from its growing after
horse-droppings; and the horse-bane, because supposed in Sweden to cause
a kind of palsy in horses--an effect which has been ascribed by Linnaeus
not so much to the noxious qualities of the plant itself, as to an
insect (_Curculio paraplecticus_) that breeds in its stem.
The dog has suggested sundry plant names, this prefix frequently
suggesting the idea of worthlessness, as in the case of the dog-violet,
which lacks the sweet fragrance of the true violet, and the dog-parsley,
which, whilst resembling the true plant of this name, is poisonous and
worthless. In like manner there is the dog-elder, dog's-mercury,
dog's-chamomile, and the dog-rose, each a spurious form of a plant quite
distinct; while on the other hand we have the dog's-tooth grass, from
the sharp-pointed shoots of its underground stem, and the dog-grass
(_Triticum caninu_), because given to dogs as an aperient.
The cat has come in for its due share of plant names, as for instance
the sun-spurge, which has been nicknamed cat's-milk, from its milky
juice oozing in drops, as milk from the small teats of a cat; and the
blossoms of the talix, designated cats-and-kittens, or kittings,
probably in allusion to their soft, fur-like appearance. Further names
are, cat's-faces (_Viola tricolor_), cat's-eyes (_Veronica chamcaedrys_),
cat's-tail, the catkin of the hazel or willow, and cat's-ear
(_Hypochaeris maculata_).