I860.] CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. 219 



be nothing else." It may be so, but his reasons are not abso- 

 lutely conclusive. He quotes Hist. PI. vi. 7. Billerbeck enters, 

 as equivalents to Leucojum — Viola odorata, V. canina, V. tricolor, 

 V. lutea, but he omits the Snow-flake as one of the Grecian 

 Violets. The Wallflower, the Stock, and the Lady's Violet, Hes- 

 peris, have claims to this ancient popular name. Stackhouse (p. 

 45) enters some of the Loti as part of the plants comprehended 

 under the general name, Leucojum. It would not be very diffi- 

 cult to collect from our own old Herbals the names of as many 

 plants called Violets, which have their peculiar adjuncts whereby 

 they arc respectively distinguished. 



LiBANOTis. (Theo. iv. 6 ; ix. 2.) This is also a general term 

 in the Greek language, and means both the plant and its produce. 

 Billerbeck (71) puts it as equivalent to Meum Athamanticum, for 

 which he quotes Dioscorides and Pliny. Stackhouse states thatit is 

 an odoriferous plant, which grows naturally in Syria and the East 

 (Stack, p. 35). This was the name of some odoriferous shrub, 

 which has not been satisfactorily distinguished from other herbs ; 

 and was more probably an Indian, or Arabian, or Syrian plant. 



LiNUM, Xlvov. LJug, lingel, linen, lint, line, and many other 

 terms are evidently derived from a common source. Linum 

 usitatissimum, L. sativum, C. B. 214, is generally assumed as the 

 same plant that the Greeks called Xlvov, — Linum, Lat. (Theo. 

 viii. 8 ; Stack. 46.) 



LoLiUM, uLpa. Aira in Greek is supposed to be equivalent to 

 the Latin Lolium, and the English Darnel, L. temulentum, the 

 intoxicating grain so injurious to wheat when mixed and ground 

 up with this valuable cereal. Theophrastus (Hist. i. 7, 14, etc.) 

 praises wheat cleared of Lolium, anoL atpav KaOapot. This 

 Lolium is still named T^pa in Laconia, where Sibthorp observed 

 both L. perenne and L. tenue. 



Lotus. This term in Theophrastus includes our Waterlily 

 and other plants, which, though herbaceous {ttooo^tjs:) , are not 

 aquatic, such as Lotus, Melilotus, etc. Sprengel enters G-ihr] of 

 Theophrastus (iv. 11) as our Vi/m/;/««a«^6«. SeeSp.94, Billerbeck 

 quotes vvpbc^aia, Theo. ix. 13, and affirms that this is our Water- 

 lily. Stackhouse prudently declines the identification of the 

 Lotus, Nymphcea, and Bida of Theophrastus, and contents him- 

 self with quoting the books and chapters of his author, and 

 leaves the inference to the judgment of his readers. The father 



