Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

(2) <i>Aciphylla colensoi</i>, a grass, called <i>Sword-grass</i>, <i>Spear grass</i>, <i>Spaniard</i>, and <i>Scotchman</i>.

1875. Lady Barker, `Station Amusements in New Zealand,' p. 35:

"Interspersed with the <i>Spaniards</i> are generally clumps of `<i>Wild Irishman</i>'—a straggling sturdy bramble, ready to receive and scratch you well if you attempt to avoid the <i>Spaniard</i>'s weapons."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand, p. 131:

"Tumata kuru, Wild Irishman. A bush or small tree with spreading branches; if properly trained would form a handsome hedge that would be stronger than whitethorn. The species were used by the Maoris for tattooing."

1892. Malcolm Ross, `Aorangi,' p. 37:

"Almost impenetrable scrub, composed mainly of wild <i>Irishman</i> (Discaria toumatou) and Sword-grass (Aciphylla Colensoi)."

1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 5:

". . . national appellations are not satisfactory. It seems uncivil to a whole nation—another injustice to Ireland—to call a bramble a wild Irishman, or a pointed grass, with the edges very sharp and the point like a bayonet, a Spaniard. One could not but be amused to find the name Scotchman applied to a smaller kind of Spaniard."

<hw>Wild Parsnip</hw>, <i>n</i>. See <i>Parsnip</i>.