Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
Shaggy Soldier
This common wildflower, while not noteworthy for displaying dazzling blossoms, carries in its common name the reason it has its own room in the Gallery.
Now how did it come to be called Shaggy Soldier?
Ah, therein lies a tale.
But first, let's consider the common names of wildflowers in general: If you've looked at any other rooms in the Gallery, you have perhaps noticed that I enjoy learning about the common names of the wildflowers featured in each room. In learning about the etymology of these names we often find out something interesting about the history of the plant in other times, locations, and cultures.
One
such lily is the roadside wildflower, Chicory I
found the story of its common name to be truly ancient history: It was gathered and
enjoyed as a food by the ancient Egyptians!
Adopted by the Greco-Egyptian Ptolemy's, it was given the name for endive, kichorea.
Hundreds of years later with the Islamic conquest, it was again valued and given an Arabic name, chicourey and was introduced and cultivated all through southern Europe and north Africa.
Over the intervening centuries, as the plant was adopted in other countries, the root of the Greek's common name was modified very little. The Greek's kichorea is still recognizable as transcribed a little to other languages: In France it became chicorée; in Spanish it is achicoria; the Italians call it chicorie ; Germans, Zichorie; and the Russians call it tsikorei. And, of course, now we in North America call it Chicory, thousands of miles and thousands of years after the Egyptians first taught the conquering Greeks about this useful pot herb.
Sometimes, however, the common name in a region seems to originate from a misunderstanding or mispronunciation of the imports name by someone not fluent in that language.
One example of this is Gill-over-the-ground, which at one time served as a flavoring and preservative for beer in England.
Its curious name seems to combine the French word, gillaue, meaning "to ferment" with a description of this prostrate ground cover's growth habits.
This seems to be the case,
too, with Flowering Spurge, which has the scientific name,
Galinsoga
quadriradiata,
after the 18th century Spanish botanist.
The story goes that someone, hearing the botanical prefix, Galinsoga, thought "Gallant Soldier" was the name they heard.
While not particularly "gallant," this wildflower is "shaggy."
So, the tale goes, some wag dubbed it "Shaggy Soldier," because of its hairiness. And the name stuck!
A native of South America, this alien was introduced to Europe apparently at London's Kew Gardens in 1796. Introduction to North America is reputed to have occurred at Philadelphia's Bartram Botanical Gardens in 1836.
Although not as widespread as the Common Dandelion, Galinsoga quadriradiata is now common throughout the temperate and semi-tropical zones of both hemispheres.
Fortunately, it is not poisonous to live stock, nor is it invasive, so unlike some imported plants it is not a target of some eradication program.
So, Shaggy Soldier, with its curious name, is really just a very small, but pretty, lily!
Go to the Main Directory to consider more lilies of the field.