36 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 193. 



10. London Pride or Tufts (Armeria proliferd). 

 ** Sic _ diet, quia Acres propter pulchritudinem 

 Londini valde expetuntur." (?) 



11. Avens; also Herb Bennet {Caryophjllata). 

 Skinner says, "HerbaBenedicta ab insigni radicis 

 Vulneraria vi." (?) 



12. Mill Mountain, or Purge Flax (Linum syl- 

 vestre catharticum, or ChamcElinum). " Montibus 

 gaudet." 



_ 13. Jack of the Buttery, " Sedi species ; sic 

 diet, quia in tecto galacterii crescit." Pricket : "a 

 6apore acri." 



14. Cudweed or Cotton Weed ; Live-long. 

 •' Quia planta perennis est." 



15. Sun Spurge. " Quia flores ad of turn solis 

 S6 aperlunt." Churn Staff, from its similarity. 



16. Welcome to our House {Tithymalus Cypa- 

 rissias). " Ob pulchritudinem suam omnibus ex- 

 petitus." 



17. Ruddes {Fl. Calendulai). "A colore aureo." 

 Wild or Corn Marigold. " Q. d. aurum MaritB, 

 a colore sc. floris luteo." Gouls or Goulans, with 

 a half-suppressed d, may very well be supposed to 

 indicate its natural name — Gold. Another name 

 of this plant is Lockron, or Locker Goulans. 



18. Spurry (Spergula). " Sic diet, quia folia 

 ejus octo, angusta, stelliformia, radios calcaris satis 

 exacte referunt." 



19. Mercury Goose-foot. Probably a goose-foot 

 resembling Mercury (Mercurialis), a herb con- 

 cerning which Skinner doubts, but suggests, " Quia 

 Mercurio, ut ceterse omnes plantae planetis, appro- 

 priata sit." Another name is Good Henry, — I find 

 not Good King Henry — (^Lapathum unctuosuni), "A 

 commodo ejus usu in enematis." It is also called 

 All-good, forasmuch as it is useful, not only for its 

 medicinal qualities, but also in supplying the table 

 •with a substitute for other vegetables, such as 

 asparagus. 



A plant termed in this country Gang Flower is 

 the same as Rogation Flower, recalling the peram- 

 bulation of parishes on one of those days. There 

 is a vast fund of interesting matter in these old 

 names of wild flowers (mixed up, of course, with 

 much that is trifling) ; and I cordially agree with 

 your correspondent, that it is well worth a steady 

 effort to rescue the fast-fading traditions relating 

 to them. It must be confessed, however, that the 

 obstacles in the way of tracing the original mean- 

 ing and supposed virtues, will in many instances 

 be found very great, arising principally from the 

 fanciful translations and corruptions which our 

 ancestors made of the old names. Take, for in- 

 stance, the following : 



Loose Strife or Herb Willow, from Lysimachia, 

 the original being undoubtedly a man's name, 

 Lysimachus. 



Ale-hoof (Hedera terrestris) . Anglo-Saxon Al 

 iehufian. " Herba ndyxpvo'Tos, ad multos usus effi- 

 cacissima." 



Herb Ambrose has a Greek origin, duPporos, and 

 is not indebted to the saint of that name. 



Corafrey or Cumfrey. " Herba vulnera confer^ 

 ruminans ;" good for joining the edges of a 

 wound. 



Calathian Violets. Simply cupped violets, fronn 

 Kd\a6os. 



Brank Ursin (Acanthus). « It: brancha, unguis 

 ursinus." 



Blood Strange ; properly, Stri?ig. To stanch. 



Bertram. A corruption of TrvpeQpov {Pyreihrmn). 



Spreusidany, Hair-strong, Sulphur Wort. Cor- 

 rupted from Peucedanum. 



Pell-a-mountain, Wild Thyme. From Serpyl- 

 turn montamim. 



Faceless. From Phaseolus, dim. of Phaselus;, sck 

 called from its shallop shape. 



Stiek-a-dove, French Lavender. From ffroix&^r 

 ffroixdSos, Stoechas; so called from the irregularity of 

 the petals. 



Such instances might be multiplied to almost 

 any extent. 



There is, doubtless, a good deal of scattered in- 

 formation respecting old English wild flowers to 

 be met with, not only in books, but also among; 

 our rural population, stored up by village sages. 

 Contributions of this description would surely be' 

 welcome in " N. & Q." H. C. K. 



Rectory, Hereford. 



Herbs of all kinds were, some two hundred years 

 ago, esteemed of much value as medicine ; for in a 

 curious, and I believe rather scarce, pharmacopoeia' 

 by Wm. Salmon, date 1693, I find some 414 pages 

 devoted to their uses. This pharmacopoeia, or Com- 

 pleat English Physician, was dedicated to Mary,, 

 second Queen of England, Scotland, France, Ire- 

 land, &c., and appears to have been the first. The 

 preface says " it was the first of that kind extant 

 in the world, a subject for which we have no pre- 

 cedent." 



" I have not trusted," he says, "to the reports of 

 authors, but have wrote as an eye-witness in describing 

 most things therein ; and it is nothing but what I 

 know and have learnt by daily experience for thirty 

 years together, so that my prescriptions may in some- 

 measure plead a privilege above the performances of 

 other men." 



1. Capsella (Bursa pastoris) he describes as cold 

 1°, and dry in 2°, binding and astringent. Good, 

 against spitting of blood or hsemorrhage of the 

 nose, and other fluxes of the bowels. The leaves, 

 of which 5j- in powder may be given. The juice 

 inspissate, drunk with wine, helps ague. A cata- 

 plasm applied in inflammations, Anthony's fire^ 

 &c., represses them. 



2. Veronica Chamwdi'ys he calls Euphrasia, 

 Euphrosimee, and says it is much commended by 

 Arnoldus de Villa Nova, who asserts that it not 

 only helps dimness of the sight, but the use of it 



