ich the word cow figures may be mentioned the cow-bane,
water-hemlock, from its supposed baneful effects upon cows, because,
writes Withering, "early in the spring, when it grows in the water, cows
often eat it, and are killed by it." Cockayne would derive cowslip from
_cu_, cow, and _slyppe_, lip, and cow-wheat is so nicknamed from its
seed resembling wheat, but being worthless as food for man. The flowers
of the _Arum maculatum_ are "bulls and cows;" and in Yorkshire the fruit
of _Crataegus oxyacantha_ is bull-horns;--an old name for the horse-leek
being bullock's-eye.

Many curious names have resulted from the prefix pig, as in Sussex,
where the bird's-foot trefoil is known as pig's-pettitoes; and in
Devonshire the fruit of the dog-rose is pig's-noses. A Northamptonshire
term for goose-grass (_Galium aparine_) is pig-tail, and the pig-nut
(_Brunium flexuosum_) derived this name from its tubers being a
favourite food of pigs, and resembling nuts in size and flavour. The
common cyclamen is sow-head, and a popular name for the _Sonchus
oleraceus_ is sow-thistle. Among further names also associated with the
sow may be included the sow-fennel, sow-grass, and sow-foot, while the
sow-bane (_Chenopodium rubrum_), is so termed from being, as Parkinson
tells us, "found certain to kill swine."

Among further animal prefixes may be noticed the wolfs-bane (_Aconitum
napellus_), wolf's-claws (_Lycopodium clavatum_), wolf's-milk
(_Euphorbia helioscopia_), and wolfs-thistle (_Carlina acaulis_). The
mouse has given us numerous names, such as mouse-ear (_Hieracium
pilosella_), mouse-grass (_Aira caryophyllea_), mouse-ear scorpion-grass
(_Myosotis palustris_), mouse-tail (_Myosurus minimus_), and mouse-pea.
The term rat-tail has been applied to several plants having a tail-like
inflorescence, such as the _Plantago lanceolata_ (ribwort plantain).

The term toad as a prefix, like that of dog, frequently means spurious,
as in the toad-flax, a plant which, before it comes into flower, bears a
tolerably close resemblance to a plant of the true flax. The frog,
again, supplies names, such as frog's-lettuce, frog's-foot, frog-grass,
and frog-cheese; while hedgehog gives us such names as hedgehog-parsley
and hedgehog-grass.

Connected with the dragon we have the name dragon applied to the
snake-weed (_Polygonum bistorta_), and dragon's-blood is one of the
popular names of the Herb-Robert. The water-dragon is a nickname of the
_Caltha palust