Names
Lehiku (Lehik)
Uncertain. One of the Mähe flower-name group, so ought to be a flower, despite there not being one of that name. Saagpakk gives ‘bastard toadflax’, but candidates outside geographical range of Estonia: linalehik, one of the Thesium spp., and Comandra umbellata, not listed for Estonia either. There are over a dozen flowers with names ending in ‑lehik: sõrmlehik (Schefflera spp.), tiigerlehik (Calathea spp.) and tõlvlehik (Spathiphyllum spp., a typical member being the peace lily, is the one I’d vote for). The leh root means leaf, suggesting the plant’s conspicuous characteristics. See Liilia. On the other hand, lehik:lehiku does mean gill (fungi, not fish), or, in printing, leaflet. Who knows?
Lehise (Lehis)
Larch. Two species introduced to Estonia: Euroopa lehis, the European larch, Larix decidua; and Vene lehis, the Siberian or Russian larch, Larix sibirica syn. L. russica. Popular source of food for the famous processionary caterpillar, Thaumetopoea pityocampa, so lovingly described by brilliant French entomologist and polymath Jean-Henri Fabre*: since each individual processionary follows the animal in front, Fabre led a column to the top of a flower pot, and once the circle was complete, removed the extras. The ones in the now circle followed each other round and round for a week. Popular food with humming-birds (larches, not processionaries), though relatively rare in the subarctic distropics of Estonia.
* His Souvenirs Entomologiques are jewels of “scientific literature”, a term I use advisedly, and it’s hard to imagine a life more full or more fulfilled than his.
