NAIVIES OF PLANTS. 171 



and the name does not appear to have been so applied 

 much before the time of Gerard, who mentions it 

 among the names for our plant, while Lonicerus 

 gives it to the Water Milfoil. Pliny gives an account 

 of the Stratiotes of the Greeks, and " Csesalpinus 

 identifies it with Salvinia natans; but Fee thinks, 

 with Sprengel, that it is the Pistia stratiotes of Lin- 

 naeus, Great Duckweed or Pondweed." — Note in 

 Bohn's Ed. of Pliny. Whatever the plant may have 

 been, the name was probably given originally on 

 account of a vulnerary property, and has been 

 applied as at present on account of its sword- shaped 

 leaves. 



Su.e'da, Forskal. " Siiad is the Arabic appellation of one 

 of the species, all of which jdeld soda." — Hooker 

 and Arnott. (See also Salicornia and Salsola 

 Kali), 



Subula'eia, Eay. From L. suhula, an awl; the leaves 

 being awl- shaped. 



Symph'ytum, Dioscorides. G. name, from symphyo, I make 

 to grow together; from its reputation for healing 

 wounds. 



Tam'arix, Pliny. The derivation seems to me doubtful, but 

 the following may be quoted :— " This genus of plants 

 is named from a Hebrew word tamarik, abstertion, 

 from the reputed qualities of some of the species for 

 cleansing and purifying the blood, or from the fact of 

 the branches being used as brooms. This is the 

 derivation given by the best authorities ; others say 

 that the i)lant derives its name from the fact of its 

 growing on the banks of the Tamaris, now Tambro, 

 on the borders of the P^^renees." — E. B. I do not 

 pretend to estimate the comparative value of the 



