Excerpt from On the Popular Names of British Plants: Being an Explanation of the Origin and Meaning of the Names of Our Indigenous and Most Commonly Cultivated Species The author of our Floras, and other systematic writers, have been careful to translate the Greek and Latin names of our plants, and, as far as it is known, to explain their meaning, but have passed over the popular ones, as though the derivation of these were too obvious to require any notice. This is far indeed from being the case. Our excellent lexicons and Latin dictionaries enable us in most cases to understand the former with comparative facility, but in the very backward state of English etymology, as exhibited in books of reference, it is impossible, without a great waste of time and trouble, to discover the real meaning of the latter; of those more particularly which date from an early period. It is the object of the following Vocabulary to supply the defect. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.