374 HABITS AND LATIN NAMES OF BRITISH PLANTS. 



article in confectionary consists of the prepared stalks of this plant, and in that 

 state is agreeable ; otherwise, the flavour, though aromatic, is too powerful and 

 pungent to be pleasant. It is called Archangelica, a-gyv implying its imagined 

 superiority in virtue over the following species. Of the antipestilential virtues 

 of the root, those who wish to be informed, will find amusement, at least, in 

 old Gerarde. 



Angelica sylvestris, Wild Angelica. — It is warm, acrid, bitter, and aromatic ; 

 but the cultivated kind possessing these properties in a higher degree, this has 

 been long neglected. Cows, Goats, and Swine eat it. Horses refuse it. 



Anthemis. — A»0e/*<r, from a*Qos, a flower, because it bears an abundance of 

 flowers. 



Anthemis maritima, Sea Chamomile. — The flowers smell like Tansy; the 

 leaves like Mugwort. 



Anthemis nobilis, Common Chamomile, Sweet Chamomile. — The leaves and 

 flowers have a strong, not ungrateful, aromatic smell, and a bitter nauseous 

 taste, probably arising from an essential oil. Chamomile (which may be easily 

 propagated by slips planted about a foot apart from each other) was formerly used 

 as a cover for walks, odoriferous to the tread, and which, when mowed and rolled, 

 looked well for some time, but, being subject to decay in large patches, they 

 have been abandoned as unsightly. Varieties with double flowers, whose yellow 

 tubular florets are, entirely or partially, transformed into white ligulate ones, 

 are common in gardens ; the discoid variety, destitute of rays, is more rare. 

 The latter, perhaps, ought to be preferred for medical use ; the double white 

 flowers being now acknowledged to be weaker than in a natural state. Every 

 part of the plant is intensely bitter, and gratefully aromatic, especially the 

 flowers, whose stomachic and tonic powers are justly celebrated. Chamomile is 

 derived from x a ^ a '» dwarf, and ja*jXov, an Apple, because the plant, smells like 

 Apples, or rather like Quinces. 



Anthemis arvensis, Corn Chamomile, White Ox-eye. — The herbage has little 

 or no smell, but the flowers are pleasantly scented. 



Anthemis cotula, Stinking Chamomile or Mayweed. — Toads are said to be 

 partial to this plant. It is very ungrateful and displeasing to Bees. Goats and 

 Sheep are not fond of it. Horses, Cows, and Swine refuse it. It frequently 

 blisters the skin of reapers, and of children who happen to gather it ; the acri- 

 mony is occasioned by an exudation from minute glands perceptible with a 

 microscope. It is one of the troublesome weeds that overrun Corn-fields, and 

 ought to be extirpated by more diligent husbandry. 



Anthemis tinctoria, Ox-eye Chamomile, Yellow Ox-eye. — The flowers afford 

 a remarkably clear and good yellow dye. Those of Chrysanthemum segetum 

 resemble them much in appearance, but experience proves that they will not 



