56 LABlAT.t 



as well as to take it while fresh. Our fathers considered it useful in a variety 

 of maladies ; and the plant was commonly sold in Queen Elizabeth's reign by 

 the "herbe-women of Chepeside," under the names of Gill-by-the-ground, 

 na3'^-maid, Cats-foot, Ale-hoof, and Tun-hoof ; and it was frequently put into 

 beer instead of hops, or used to clear ale made with that plant. An old 

 writer says, " It is good to tun up with new drink, for it will clarify it in 

 any night that it will be the fitter to be drunk the next morning ; for if any 

 drink should be thick with removing, or any other accident, it will do the 

 like in a few hours." It was customary also to drop the juice of Ground Ivy 

 into the ear, to stay the singing tones which sometimes trouble the invalid ; 

 and it was also applied to the eyes to cure any tempoi'ary inflammation ; but 

 the beneficial results in both these cases were prol^ably rather to be attributed 

 to time, and the gradually restorative powers of Nature, than to the herb 

 itself. Country farriers, however, still use the juice as an application to the 

 eyes of horses, and all our old writers assure us that " it helpeth beasts as 

 well as men." 



In the ancient Anglo-Latin Dictionary referred to on a former page, we 

 find " Hove, or Ground Yvy (herbe), Edera terresfris." Mr, Way, commenting 

 on this, says, that G. de Biblesworth mentions eyre de hois e eyre terrestre 

 (heyhowe). He adds, " In John Anderne's ' Practica,' Sloane MS., the use 

 of harhowe, vel halehoue, vel folfoyt, vel horshoue, in the composition of an 

 unguent called Stilus jiopidi, is set forth. Langham, in the 'Garden of 

 Health,' 1579, details the qualities of Ale-hoofe, Ground Ivie, Gilrumbith, 

 Ground or Tudnoore ; and Cotgrave gives Patte de Chat, Catsfoot, Ale-hoof, 

 etc. Skiinier thought that Ale-hoof was derived from all, and behofe, from 

 its numerous medical properties ; but the derivation of the name is probably 

 from hof ungula, in allusion to the hoof-shaped leaf." Mr. Way adds, " that 

 it is probable that the Read-hofe of the Anglo-Saxon herbals is the Ground 

 Ivy, to which, however, the name eoroifig was assigned." 



The flowers of the Ground Ivy expand in April and May, and are 

 exceedingly pretty in their tints of rich purple, varied with the white anthers, 

 which, growing in pairs, form a cross. The stems, creeping several feet 

 among the grass, are often very troublesome on meadow lands, for the plant 

 is rarely eaten by domestic animals, and is even thought to be injurious to 

 them, while it impoverishes the pasture, and occupies soil which would 

 nourish herbs of more worth to the owner of the meadoAV. Small galls are 

 often found in this plant, which are made by a species of Cynips. They are 

 sometimes eaten in France, but Reaumur justly doubted if they would "rank 

 with good fruits." 



16. White Horehound (Mnrrubiiua). 



Common White Horehound (il/. vulgdre). — Stem erect, hoary; 

 leaves egg-shaped and narrowed into a leaf-stalk, or roundish and heart- 

 shaped, crenate, hoary and rugged ; whorls many-flowered ; calyx-teeth ten, 

 awl-shaped ; upper lip of the corolla 2-cleft ; perennial. This is a bush}^- 

 looking plant, with stems one or two feet high, thickly covered with Avhite 

 Avoolly down, which also invests the wrinkled leaves, rendering them of a 

 whitish-green hue. The foliage has an aromatic odour, and a bitter flavour, 



