NAIVEES OF PLANTS. 179 



Op'ulus. A Latinised name used for the Guelder Rose in 

 the middle ages. The French name is ohier, and an 

 English name used by Gerard, the Ople-tree, though 

 now gone out of use, may be found in Johnson's 

 Dictionary on the authority of Ainsworth. Theis 

 says that Opulus was altered from Populus, the 

 leaves being similar. 



Vic'iA, Varro. Fuchs quotes Varro in giving the derivation 

 of the name from vi{n)cw, I bind, encircle, or twine 

 about; in allusion to the tendrils of Vetches. Ac- 

 cording to Theis it is derived from Keltic gwig. 

 Crac'ca, Dodonseus ; according to whom the plants 

 known by this name were also called Arachiis, from 

 the G. name arachon ; Cracca seems to be an altered 

 form of the word. 

 Or'ohiLs, Theophrastus. G. name for a kind of pulse. 



YiLLAP/siA. Named in honour of Dominique Villars, author 

 (in 178G) of a Flora of Dauphine, and other botanical 

 works. 



Vin'ca. Pliny gives this name at full length as Yincaper- 

 vinca, and it is supposed to mean our Periwinkle. 

 The derivation is the same as that of Vicia. 



Vi'oLA, Pliny. L. for the Violet, and it was also used for 

 the Wallflower and other plants : from G. loiiy of 

 Theophrastus. " It is called Ion, according to 

 Nicander,* because certain nymphs of Ionia fii*st 

 presented this flower of Jove as an offering. Or, 

 according to others, because the earth brought forth 

 this flower for the food of lo when she was changed 

 into a cow." — Lonicerus. 



■•' Nicander was a Greek granunarian, poet, and physician of Colo- 

 phon, B. c. 137. His wiitings were held in estimation, but his judgment 

 cannot be highly commended, since without any knowledge of 

 agricultm'e he ventiQ*ed to compose a Look on that intricate subject. — 

 Lempriere, 



