OF BRITISH PLANTS. 29 



BRIER, A.S. brcer, Pr. Pm. brere, Fr. bruyere, called in 

 Normandy briere, from the waste land on which it usually 

 grows, M.Lat. brugaria or bruarium, W. brueg, a forest, 

 Bret, brug, from which brugaria would seem to have been 

 formed, various wild species of Rubus and Rosa, 



SWEET-, Rosa rubiginosa, L. 



BRIER-ROSE, any wild rose, but chiefly the common 

 hedge or dog-rose, Rosa canina, L. 



BRIMSTONEWORT, from its roots yielding, as W. Coles 

 says, " a yellow sap which waxeth quickly hard, and dry, 

 and smelleth not unlike to brimstone," 



Peucedanum officinale, L. 



BRINJAL, or BRINGALL, Port, beringela, from the Tamul 

 brinjaul, its name in Ceylon and southern India, 



Solanum Melongena, L. 



BRISTLE-FERN, from the bristle that projects beyond its 

 receptacle, Trichomanes radicans, Sw. 



BROCCOLI, the plural of It. broccolo, a small sprout, dimi- 

 nutive of brocco, a shoot, 



Brassica oleracea, L. var. sabellica. 

 BROOK-LIME, in old writers BROK-LEMPE or -LYMPE, 



Veronica Beccabunga, L. 

 BROOK-WEED, from its growing beside brooks, 



Samolus Valerandi, L. 



BROOM, A.S. brom, G. brame, a word of the same origin 

 as bramble, and O.N. brum, foliage, but at present applied 

 almost exclusively to a shrub of which besoms are made, 

 and called from it brooms, Spartium scoparium, L. 



DYER'S-, Genista tinctoria, L. 



BROOM-RAPE, L. rapum genista, from broom, a plant, 

 upon which it is parasitic, and rape, L. rapa, a turnip, 

 which its clubby tuberous stem somewhat resembles, 



Orobanche, L. 



BROWNWORT, A.S. brunwyrt, G. braunwurz, in Bruns- 

 felsius and all the old herbalists spelt brunnwurz, said to be 



