284 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



the fact that the plant was formerly used as bedding. 

 A red dye for wool is furnished by the roots, and the 

 plant was formerly cultivated for this purpose. In 

 Ireland the stem and leaves have been used for a 

 yellow dye. 



The plant has been used in Gloucestershire as 

 rennet, and in the sixteenth century was called 

 ** cheese-renning." It was used in Cheshire for this 

 purpose. 



Amongst the names by which this plant is known 

 are : A-hundred-fald, Bedflower, Yellow Bedstraw, 

 Brum, Cheese-rennet, Oliver, Curdwort, Flea-weed, 

 Fleawort, Gallion, Yellow Goose-grass, Hundred-fold, 

 Joint Grass, Keeslip, Lady's Beds, Maiden-hair, Maid's 

 Hair, Rennet, Wild Rosemary, Runnet, Strawbed. 



Lady's Bedstraw was also called Maid's Hair 

 "from its soft flocculent habit" according to Prior, 

 " like the loose, un-snooded hair of maidens, and its 

 yellow colour, to which, as a beauty in the hair of 

 women such frequent allusion is made by Chaucer 

 and other romance writers." 



Another writer states that Lady's Bedstraw, 

 formerly Our Lady's Bedstraw, or Bedstre, '' may 

 allude more particularly to the Virgin having given 

 birth to her firstborn in a stable, with only the grass 

 or herbs of the field for her bed. 



" In fact we know that in earlier times such 

 materials were freely used, and the soft, puffy stems 

 of this particular plant, with its golden blossoms, 

 would have exactly adapted it for a connection in 



