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Colloquial Plant Names

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  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    The fruit of the medlar is called open arse. But the French, who clearly know a thing or two about such matters and have inspected the evidence closely, call it, variously, the cul de singe, ane or chien - monkey, donkey or dog.
    Rutland, England
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Some folk remedies  are worth investigating and the colloquial names might be a clue but some are complete boxxxx. There have definitely been more pointless investigations funded 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • coccinellacoccinella Posts: 1,428
    Lunaria is known in Italian as "The Pope's specs" 
    Lychnis as "Jesus' little hands"
    a kind of Dandelion is rudely called "cento coglioni". I'll let you do the translation :)

    There are so many fantastic names out there. 

    Luxembourg
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I wonder who though Spotted Medick was a good name for a plant?
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    There's an annual Persicaria called 'Kiss me over the garden gate.'
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    I like 'town hall clock' for moschatel, 
    (Adoxa moschatellina)
    So called because the tiny cube-like flower has four 'clock faces' (and one on top, for drones!)
    There's a little patch of it here and I look for it each spring.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited October 2022

    When we were kids we used to hold a dandelion under eachothers chins to see if that person 'was in love with someone'.  If their skin reflected yellow, they were.
    In the UK, a buttercup was the flower.  with dandelion seed-heads we used to blow the seeds off.  It told you the time, ot whether you were in love...  or somehing like that.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited October 2022
    I like English local names and use them wherever possible.  Daisy is much better than Bellis!

    It can be confusing, in my family Rose Campion is Silene Diocia, it is more rose than red.   I don't know whether that use is wide spread.  

    It would be better for accurate communication if more posters used the formal latin names at least in part.  I have no problem with Rhododendron or Delphinium.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited October 2022
    Egg and Bacon and Grannys toenail - both names for birds foot trefoil.

    And all three names for Lotus corniculatus
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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