BORAGE TRIBE 255 



for the distance of more than a hundred miles, it has taken complete possession 

 even of many cultivated fields, especially where the limestone approaches the 

 surface, presenting a broad expanse of brilliant blue. It is sui'p rising that 

 the farmers should allow a biennial like this comj^letely to overrun the land." 



The Avord Buglosp is from the Greek hous, an ox, and glossa, a tongue, 

 suggested by the shape of the leaves. The French call this j^lant La viperine. 

 It is the Naffcrkojif of the German ; the Slangehruid of the Dutch ; the Echio 

 of the Italians, and the llumian of the Russians. The Spaniards term it 

 Hierha de la vihora. 



2. Purple-flowered Viper's Bugloss {E. violdceum). — Stem herba- 

 ceous, branched, downy, and having hairs rising from minute tubercles ; 

 root-leaves oblong, stalked, upper ones oblong, heart-shaped, somewhat 

 clasping ; spikes of flowers long ; stamens scarcely longer than the corolla ; 

 biennial. This handsome plant is very distinct from our common Viper's 

 Bugloss. Its flowers, which are of rich violet-blue, expand in July ; their 

 stamens are of unequal length, some being very much longer than others : 

 the root is of reddish colour. The plant is abundant in the sandy soils of 

 Jersey, and also in parts of Cornwall. It is also known as E. plantagineum, 

 on account of its plantain-like leaves. 



2. Lungwort {Pulmondria). 



1. Common Lungwort (P. ojficindlis). — Root-leaves egg-shaped, 

 roundish, somewhat heart-shaped, stalked, upper leaves oblong and sessile ; 

 perennial. This is a rare plant of woods and thickets, and usually an outcast 

 of gardens, though probably naturalized in some places. It is a common 

 flower of the garden in spring, having its large leaves marked conspicuously 

 with white sjaots. Its stem is about a foot high, and the whole plant is 

 more or less covered with short hairs. The young buds are of a pink colour, 

 and in May they expand into the violet-blue flowers, which, growing in a 

 cluster somewhat resembling the cowslip, induced our fathers to call the 

 plant either Bugloss Cowslip or Jerusalem Cowslip The resemblance of the 

 spotted leaf to the lungs when under disease in all probability procured for 

 the plant its familiar name of Lungwort, which is synonymous nearly 

 throughout Europe, the French calling this herb Fidmonaire ; the Spaniards, 

 Pulmonaria ; the Italians, Polmonarie ; the Germans, Lungenkraut ; and the 

 Dutch, Longekruid. 



Mr. Loudon justly remarks: "It must not be inferred, from English 

 names of this sort haWng been applied to plants, either that Lungwort was ' 

 ever used in this country for the lungs, or liverwort for the liver. The truth 

 is, that the old herbalists, or translators of the classical writers upon natural 

 history, made English names after their Latin terminations, without inquiring 

 M'hether such continued to be applicable or not : their less-informed suc- 

 cessors had no difliculty in finding those virtues in the plants which were 

 indicated by the names of the translators." In this case the plant was, how- 

 ever, extolled and used in this country, and doubtless also on the Continent, 

 and it is still in villages believed to be good for the lungs, among the descend- 

 ants of the " Simplers " of the olden times. Both the leaves and fruit 

 of the plant yield, when newly gathered, a slight mucilage, destitute of odour, 



