108 NAMES OF PLANTS. 



Belladon'na, Matthiolus ; beautiful lad}^ — a common name 

 he says with the Venetians. It has been affirmed 

 that the name was given because the Italian ladies 

 were said to have emploj'ed it to give brilliancy to 

 their ej^es. It is a property of the plant to cause 

 dilatation of the pupil of the eye. According to 

 Theis, a water distilled from it was used in Italy to 

 remove freckles from the skin. 



Ave'na, Pliny. L., the oat ; the derivation is unknown. 



Aza'lea, Linneus. G., azaleos, parched, arid ; because it is 

 in such places that the plant grows. 



Ballota, Dioscorides. G., hallote, from hallo, 1 reject; on 

 account of its disagreeable smell. 



Barbare'a, Dodonseus. Dedicated to St. Barbara. 



Bart'sia, Linneus. Named in honour of John Bartsch, a 

 Dutch botanist and friend of Linneus. He died at 

 the age of twenty-nine, at Surinam, in 1738, where 

 he had been sent by Boerhaave and Linneus to 

 examine the products of the country. 

 Odonti'tes, Pliny, who says that " a handful of the stems, 

 boiled in astringent wine, is used for the cure of 

 toothache." Hence probably the name (G., odont, 

 tooth). This i)lant is supposed to be the same as 

 the one mentioned by Pliny. 



Bel'lis, Fuchs. L., hellus, pretty. 



Bep/beris, Brunfels. Berbery s is the Arabic name of the 

 fruit. 



Be'ta, Pliny. L., beet; according to Fuchs, from the 

 resemblance of the seed to the second letter {beta) of 

 the Greek alphabet. 



Beton'ica, Pliny. Derivation uncertain. Pliny wrote:— 

 " The Vettones, a people of , Spain, were the original 

 discoverers of the plant known as the * Vettonica' in 



