Unbidden, from a non-lace natural history friend in the UK, came this statement in an e-mail:
"...cow parsley aka Queen Anne's Lace - true, the Victorians decided it needed rebranding...." - pertinent to the OED entry, and would explain difficulty in finding earlier references. On 6/12/07, Bridget Marrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The Oxford English Dictionary (full edition) gives 1894 as the first > reference to Queen Anne's Lace in print - which leaves quite a wide > gap. It > confirms that in America, the plant so named is DAUCUS CAROTA, the Wild > Carrot; whereas in England it usually refers to ANTHRISCUS SYLVESTRIS, aka > Cow Parsley. > > Our theory that it was the Victorians who popularized the naming of 'somethings' with 'lace' would bear this out. -- Bev in Sooke BC (on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
