124 NAMES OF PLANTS. 



middle ages ; referring to the viscid drops wliich 

 exude from the leaves, and present an appearance 

 resembling dew. 

 Dry'as, Linneus. From G. clrys, oak ; on account of some 

 resemblance in the leaves. Clusius calls it Cha- 

 msedrj^s montana. 



Echinochlo'a. G., echino, hedgehog, and cliloe, grass. 



Echinoph'ora, Columna. G., ecJiino, hedgehog, and ])liora, 

 bearing — as one wears clothes ; referring to the 

 prickly nature of the plant. 



E'CHIUM, Dioscorides. G., eclii, viper; because it was 

 supposed to be a protection , from, and a cure for, 

 the bite of a viper. Gerard says of this plant : — 

 *' The roote drunke with wine is good for those that be 

 bitten with serpents, and it keepeth such from being 

 stung as haue drunke of it before; the leaues and 

 seedes do the same, as Dioscorides writeth: Nicander, 

 in his booke of Treacles, maketh viper's Buglosse to 

 be one of those plants, which cure the biting of 

 serpents, and especially of the viper, and that driue 

 serpents away." 



Elat'ine, Dioscorides. G, name applied to some plant 

 growing among corn. It is not known with certainty 

 to which, and we have no satisfactory explanation of 

 the reason for its application. Matthiolus represents 

 it to be the sharp-pointed Fluellen (Linaria Elatine). 

 Hydrojn'per, Dioscorides. G., hydro, water, and iKperi, 

 pepper; Hydropeperi. The slightly altered form 

 Hydropiper is given by Fuchs, Matthiolus, &c. 



Eleoch'aeis, R. Brown. G., lieleo, marsh, and chair, to 

 delight in ; from the situations in which it grows. 

 It would be more correctly spelt Heleocharis. 



Elo'dea. G., helo, a marsh. See ELEOCHAPtis. 



