OF BRITISH PLANTS. 27 



BORE- or BOUR-TREE, the elder, " from the great pith in 

 the younger branches, which children commonly bore out 

 to make pop-guns," Ray, N. C. Words, but perhaps the 

 O.N. burr, baurr, or bor (Holmboe), Sambucus nigra, L. 



BOTTLE, see BLUE-BOTTLE. 



BOTTLE-BRUSH, the field horsetail, from the resemblance 

 of its barren frond to one, Equisetum arvense, L. 



BOUTS, or BOOTS, the marsh marigold, from the Fr. 

 bouton d'or, in respect of the yellow flower buds, 



Caltha palustris, L. 



BOWYER'S MUSTARD, from some apothecary probably, 



Lepidium ruderale, L. 



Box, A.S. box and buz, L. buxus, Gr. TTV^O?, from irvt-m, 

 a pyx or turned box made of the wood, 



Buxus sempervirens, L. 



BOX-HOLLY, from its box-like leaves terminating in a 

 prickle like those of holly, Ruscus aculeatus, L. 



BOY'S-LOYE, or LAD'S-LOVE, the southernwood, from an 

 ointment made with its ashes being used by young men to 

 promote the growth of a beard : " Cinis Abrotani barbam 

 quoque segnius tardiusque enascentem cum aliquo dic- 

 torum oleorum elicit." Matth. Comm. in Diosc. iii., 25 ; 

 a purpose for which it is also recommended by Herbarius, 

 c. ii. Artemisia Abrotanum, L. 



BRAKES, from brake, G. brache or brach-feld, uncultivated 

 land, a term used to replace the M.Lat. fractitius or rupti- 

 tius ager, land that is breakable, or again open to tillage 

 after a term of years, land that is not preserved as forest. 

 The fern so called is named from its place of growth in the 

 same way as whin, heath, bent, and brier. 



Pteris aquilina, L. 



BRACKEN, supposed by Jamieson to mean female brake, 

 but more likely to be a word introduced from Scandinavia 

 and identical with Sw. brdken, which Rietz derives from 

 Sw. bracka, break. Briigen, in Aalborg, means, when 



