I860.] CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. 217 



name given to plants having sword-sliaped leaves like some 

 Irises, Asphodels, etc. Billerbeck translates Xiphion, or Phas- 

 ganon (Hist. PL vii. 11, 12), by Gladiolus communis, a plant only 

 recently added to the ' British Flora.' Some of the Irises are 

 probably combined with Xiphion,orwith Xiris. See Hist. PI. ix. 9. 



Glaucium, firjKcov. The Poppies abound in Greece, and 

 several were distinguished in early times. G. phoeniceum, an un- 

 certain British straggler, is entered by Sprengel (94) as the same 

 called firjKfov KepaTiaTr)<; by Theophrastus. Billerbeck (p. 137) 

 states that Theophrastus, followed by Pliny, distinguishes five 

 sorts of Poppies, viz. P. Rhoeas, P. somniferum, etc. The black 

 Poppy, /ieXaiz/a firjKoiv of Theophrastus, ix. 13, is by Billerbeck con- 

 sidered the same as our modern Roemeria hybrida, of which Clu- 

 sius (i. p. xcii.) has an excellent figure. On the same page there 

 is a good figure of firjKcov KepaTiarr]^, G. luteum, which till very 

 recently was called G. cornicidatum. It is probable that Theo- 

 phrastus included both species under his name Horned Poppy, 

 one having a yellow, the other a blue, flower. 



Hedera, Ivy (Gr. /cicro-o?, or KcrTa, Theo. i. 4, 15). This 

 plant when young has angular leaves ; when old the leaves are 

 ovate. Hence many species oi* forms were named and described 

 by Theophrastus. See Stackhouse, 36; Bil. 56, 57. 



Helminthia, a name applied to plants having vermifugal pro- 

 perties. See PicRis. 



HippopHEOs, linro^ew';.' Dipsacus fullonum ?, Theo. vi. 3, 4 ; 

 ix. 14. Billerbeck relates that this plant is common in Pelopon- 

 nesus. Stackhouse quotes Theophrastus with a mark of uncer- 

 tainty ( ? ) . 



HippuRus, iTTTTov OY iTTvov. The plant described by Theophras- 

 tus as growing in the lake Orchomenium, is conjectured either 

 to be this, H. vulgaris, or some Equisetum. Bellonius records the 

 Mare's-tail among the plants seen by him on Mount Athos. 



JuNiPERUs, apKevOo'i. This genus is well represented in 

 Greece, and it is not a very improbable conjecture that /. com- 

 munis is one of them. See Sprengel, i. 106. 



Lapathum. a very general name for acid herbs in the early 

 and middle ages. One of the most eminent is " Patience Dock," 

 Rumex Patientia, a garden plant. Theophrastus is quoted con- 

 jecturally as the describer of several other species of Dock. See 

 Sprengel, 89 ; Bil. 96, 97. 



N. S. VOL. IV. 2 P 



