368 CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTAJJY. [December, 



Trifolium arvense (forte Xaycoirvpo'i) , Haresfoot Trefoil. Biller- 

 bek agrees with Sprengel that this is the species recommended by 

 Hippocrates as a remedy against the flux {ruhr). 



Tussilago Farfara {^Tjxtov) , Coltsfoot or Tussilago ; a remedy 

 for cough and pulmonary diseases. It has been smoked from 

 time immemorial. See Diosc. iii. 17. 



Urtica dioica {aKaX7](f>rj et kvcStj), the great Nettle, was named 

 by the ingenious Greeks aKa\r](f>7] [aKoXvcjir]) , Spr., because it 

 is not agreeable to touch it. Spr. i. 47. 



Viola odorata (KevKOLov to fieXav), the Violet, called by the 

 modern Greeks ^Lokera, still grows in Greece. See Sibthorp. 



Zostera marina {j3pvov 6aXacr(TLov). Hip. 570. Grass-wrack. 



In the preceding list of plants assumed to be common both to 

 Greece and the British Isles, there occur the following, which 

 have names recognized in the present day either as representatives 

 of the same genera and species, or of allied species or kindred 

 genera. It is very probable that the plants known by the early 

 Grecian botanists are the very same as those now so called by 

 modern botanical authors. Some are generic and others are 

 specific names; but all have descended to us from the early 

 teachers of Western Europe. The names of the authors or 

 original inventors of the vegetable terminology of those days 

 are irrecoverably lost. The following names were employed by 

 Hippocrates, the first prose author in whose works they are to be 

 found. 



Adiantum, the name of a Fern ; Anagallis, Shepherd's Wea- 

 ther-glass or Shepherd's Clock ; Anchusa, Alkanet, an Arabic 

 name, a plant with a colorific root ; Absinthium, Wormwood ; 

 Arum, Wake-Robin; Conium, Hemlock; Crithmum, Samphire 

 (St. Pierre's Herb) ; Cyclamen, Sowbread, should be a climbing 

 plant ; Cyperus, Galingale ; Erysimum (Sisymbrium ?), Treacle 

 Mustard ; Hippopha'e, Sea Buckthorn (Bryonia ?) ; Helenium, 

 Elecampane, now the specific name of an English plant ; Mentha, 

 Mint ; Narcissus, Peucedanum ; Rosa canina {Kvvo^aros:), Dog 

 Rose ; Scordium, a specific name. 



The following are assumed to be both Grecian and English 

 plants, though they are not now called by their Greek names. We 

 have adopted in modern times the Latin names under which they 

 appear or are described or noticed in Pliny, the great botanical 

 authority in the Middle Ages. 



