"Kay Easton" wrote in message
...
In article , Brian
writes

"Kay Easton" wrote in message
...
In article , Brian
writes

"Kay Easton" wrote in message
...
Which plant do you know as gillyflower, for example?


Thank you Kay~~ I do know the Gillyflower and still have my
HLI
kilt!
And I was frequently ignored at dances.

So you agree with me on that one .. first person I've met to do
so. It
seems most people mean pink when they say gillyflower, and some
use the
name for sweet williams.


I don't think I do agree.

I meant you agreed that wallflowers were gillyflowers.

According to OED, gillyflowers are clove scented pinks, wallflowers
and white stock.
The RHS encyc. does not list it as a common name at all
If my memory serves me right, the old Everyman book on gardening said
they were carnations.

Those who thought otherwise were simply wrong.
There is no other flower called 'Gillyflower' or you would not
agree I was
correct.

No, you're right, we don't agree!

I would suspect that wrong names for the Gillyflower have only been
given when being questioned. This has been its name since Gaelic
times and
is still in use.

I don't know how far back the usage of gillyflower for pink goes,
but a
long time back. And it seems more common than its usage for
wallflower.

Back to the original posting. Pre-suppose she really meant
Mare's-tail~~
how would we have responded without being wrong?

That is a good argument for using the botanical names.

Hear hear. It would be even better if all taxonomists found something
else to do.

Franz