Lock and Keys
In a treasure-hunt recently enjoyed by a number of W.I. members a dozen botanical specimens had to be collected. The one that stumped most of the competitors was " hornbeam seed." They all knew the tree and the queer pattern of its seeds, but knew it only by the name of lock and keys. Perhaps much the same nominal ignorance would have been seen in Canada (where the Women's Institutes come from) if a flower of Rosebay willow-herb had been demanded. The women would all have known it as fire-weed, the plant that is the first to flower after a forest fire. It would be as well if the old country names were collected and indeed brought back to use. Gardeners might begin the revival. How very much better a word, and how much easier to remember, is columbine than aquilegia, and snapdragon than that favourite word in spelling-bees, antirrhinum! Fire- thorn is a word with a good history, and is much more agreeable than pyracanthus. Among animals no species had more queer country names than the mole, but it is not un- natural or deeply regrettable that the monosyllable, which has at least as long a history, should progressively conquer mouldiewarp and nymphie ; but nymphiedump is a glorious name for a molehill nevertheless.
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