84 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



is over, closes up in a very curious manner, to preserve the 

 seeds ; these are tour in number, rather small, smooth, 

 and brown. 



The older name of the plant was " Brunella;" we hud it 

 thus given by Dodouseus, Rivinus, and the more modern 

 writer Ray; and on taking down ourTournefort " L'Histoire 

 des Plantes," published in 1732 we find that he, too, adopts 

 the old spelling. Linnaeus, Bauhin, Fuchs (the botanist 

 in whose honour the fuchsia is named), and other writers 

 call it " Prunella/'' preferring- the softer sound of the word, 

 but in so doing losing sight of its meaning. Hooker says 

 that the name of the plant is derived from the German 

 word " braiine/' the quinsy; and Parkinson tells us, "this 

 is generally called prunella, and bruiiella from the Germans, 

 who called it bruunellen, because it cureth that disease 

 which they call die bruen, common to soldiers in campe, 

 but especially in garrison, which is an inflammation of the 

 mouth, throat, and tongue/-* Amongst the old herbalists' 

 names for it we find the carpenter's herb, sickle-wort, hook- 

 heal, and slough-heal. 



