OF BRITISH PLANTS. 19 



second letter of the Greek alphabet. There are some 

 verses of Columella to this effect, which are quoted by 

 Fuchs and Parkinson : 



" Nomine cum Grajo, ceu litera proxima primae 

 Pangitur in cera docti mucrone magistri, 

 Sic et humo pingui ferratae cuspidis ictu 

 Deprimitur folio viridis, pede Candida beta." 



Nemnich pronounces this idea to be a mere grille or fancy, 

 but gives no better derivation for the word. 



B. maritima, L. 



BEGGAR'S LICE, from its burs sticking to the clothes, 

 and somewhat resembling those vermin, 



Galium Aparine, L. 



BELL-FLOWER, from the shape of the corolla, 



Campanula, L. 



BELLADONNA, It. bella-donna, fair lady, the deadly night- 

 shade, called so, according to Tournefort, and to G. Burnet 

 (Outl. of Botany, 4514), and to Duchesne (PI. ut. p. 90), 

 from its berries, known in France as guines de cotes, being 

 used by the Italian ladies as a cosmetic. Kay also says 

 that it was called belladonna, " quia ex ejus succo sive aqua 

 destillata fucum conficiunt fceminse, quo faciem oblinunt, 

 et ex rubicunda pallidam efficiunt frigoris vehementia." 

 (Cat. Plant. Cant. p. 43.) Atropa Belladonna, L. 



BELLEISLE-CRESS, why called so, unknown, 



Barbarea prsecox, R.B. 



BEN or WHITE BEN, from a supposed Ar. behen, which 

 however is not to be found. Silene inflata, L. 



BENNET, see HERB B. 



BENT-GRASS, any wiry grass, such as usually grows upon 

 a bent, i.e. a common, or other neglected broken ground, a 

 word often used in that sense in old English poetry as : 

 " Bowmen bickered upon the bent." Chevy Chase, and 

 preserved in Scotland to this day. Jamieson refers it to 

 G. binse, a rush, but the similarity of these words seems to 



