34
The Presidential Address.
medicinal plants they grew probably the Borage, the Aconite,
and the Greater Periwinkle ; whilst, at least in that age of
greater refinement that intervened between the Danish and
the Norman Conquest, the flower-garden may have contained
the Marigold, the Paeony, the Daffodil, and the Wallflower.
The popular names of the Aconite, "Wolf's-bane" and
"Monk's-hood,'' suggest this period for its introduction : the
Daffodil grows in the orchard of the manor-farm, as well as
on the site of the monastery or the bower of the dame of the
Norman castle, and the Wallflower flourishes on ruins that
may belong to this or to a later period. The favourite fruit-
tree of the English was undoubtedly the Apple,77 which gave
its name to many places; whilst from the Cistercian Abbey of
Warden in Bedfordshire, founded in the 12th century, came
those celebrated Warden Pears, that, coloured with Saffron
(from Walden perhaps), made that popular mediaeval and
Elizabethan dish, a Warden Pie.78
The history of one plant-name that may have been intro-
duced at this period is remarkable. The Corn-cockle, now
universally known as a weed, seems not to have been so
known to the ancient Greeks, Romans, Britons, or Germans,
but to have come from Northern Russia, where it is known
by the same name, "Kukael," as with us.79 It may be that
this was a result of that travelling and commerce which the
wisdom of AElfred encouraged, and perhaps to the same age
we may also owe the introduction of the Horse-radish, which
also seems to have been of Russian origin.80
77 Frequently spelt "apulder." Perhaps pork and apple-sauce may be
a tradition from pre-Norman times; and the blue blouse of the slaughterer
of butcher's-meat, a hint of the French invasion of 1066.
78 Hudson Turner, "On the State of Horticulture in England in Early
Times," Archaeolog. Journ., vol. v., p. 301. Shakspere, 'Winter's
Tale,' Act iv., Scene 2.
79 This name is suggested to be Celtic, from "coch," red, by Professor
Earle, 'Philology of the English Tongue,' p. 20. In Romance languages
the plant bears names derived from Nigella, e.g., French "nielle,"
Spanish "neguillon." The Polish "Kakol" and modern Greek χοχχολη
seem conclusive in favour of a Slav etymology, as suggested by DeCan-
dolle, op. cit., p. 657.
80 DeCandolle, op. cit., pp. 654-5.