RE: Valkovuokko :: Thimbleweed (Anemone nemorosa)
Happy Mothers' Day!
The Hungarian name of this flower is "Berki szellőrózsa", but I don't remember hearing it before even one time. Or maybe I heard it, but I don't remember. The meaning of the name is similar to the English "windflower" name. The "szellő" word means "breeze" in English (the "szél" word means "wind") and the "rózsa" word means "rose" in English, so based on it's name, I would expect something totally different from the above. I would obviously expect a rose, but this is not a rose.
The scientific name ("Anemone nemorosa") of the flower is also ending with "rosa", which is also means "rose" in English.
I wonder what does the Finnish "valkovuokko" name means?
By the way, it's good to know that "The plant contains poisonous chemicals that are toxic to animals including humans, but it has also been used as a medicine. All parts of the plant contain protoanemonin, which can cause severe skin and gastrointestinal irritation, bitter taste and burning in the mouth and throat, mouth ulcers, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and hematemesis." - Information source: Anemone nemorosa - Wikipedia.
I hope that you know this and I also hope that you didn't touched the flower for it's poisonous nature.
"Vuokko" refers to all the anemones, and "valko" (derived from "valkoinen") just means "white". :)
It's thus a descriptive name based on colour, similarly to "sinivuokko" (blue anemone). I notice that much in the same fashion, the English names like "liverwort", "thimbleweed" is actually based on the shape of the leaf or the flower. I like "thimbleweed" a bit better, but the "weed" in it breaks the spell. ;)
It's alright, as it's not really that poisonous, we didn't eat it. ;) Touching it doesn't cause any harm.
Ah, okay. Good to know. Both the name (basically white anemone) (it's expressive and true, I like it) and the fact about the flower.
The Hungarian Wikipedia article (Berki szellőrózsa) also says "Enyhén mérgező növény", which means "Mildly poisonous plant" in English, but the English Wikipedia article sounds serious.