Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
CARSONS, Kerses, n.pl.1 “The lady's smock, or cuckoo flower” (w.Dmf. 1894 J. Shaw Country Schoolmaster (1899) 349, karson, kerses), Cardamine pratensis. Very rarely in sing.s.Sc. 1896 S. Arnott in Garden Work 111:
The Ladies' Smock is called ‘Carsons' “because it grows on carse land.” In the north-west of Dumfriesshire I understand this Cardamine has the name of “Meadow Kerses.”Kcb. 1905 S. Arnott in Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 408:
Most of us are familiar with the name of lady's smock, for cardamine pratensis. . . . A purely Kirkbean name . . . for this plant is carsons, but why applied I can never ascertain, except that it may be considered that it only grows on carse land.
