816 FLORA HISTORICA. 



HAWK WEED. Hieracium. 



Natural Order Compoaitce. ScmifloscuhscB. Cickoracea*^ 

 Juss. A Genus of the Syfigoiesia Polygamia JEqua- 

 lis Class. 



Dost tliou love hawking ? Tliou hast hawks will soar 

 Above the morning lark. Shakspeare. 



We present the Hawkweed as the emblem of quick- 

 sightedness, because the Greeks gave it the name 

 of l£^xy.iov, Accipitrina, from a belief that hawks 

 sharpened their sight with the juice of these plants, 

 from which cause it is also called Hawkweed in 

 English, and Epervi^re and Herbe a VEpervier in 

 French. 



Coles, in his History of Plants, dated 1657, 

 says, " I shall treat of this plant as appropriated to 

 the eyes ; and Dale tells us that, taken inwardly, 

 the Hawkweed sharpens the sight, and expels black 

 bile." 



L'Estrange says, " Nothing so fierce but love 

 will soften, nothing so sharp-sighted in other mat- 

 ters, but it throws a mist before the eyes on't." 



May we not, therefore, recommend this plant as a 

 remedy for those whom Cupid has rendered blind ! 



