34 POPULAR NAMES 



authoress of " Sylvan Sketches," Mrs. Kent, from butchers 

 making besoms of it to sweep their blocks ; according to 

 Parkinson, Th. Bot. p. 254, to sweep their stalls. But it 

 seems to have been called so from being used to preserve 

 meat from rats and bats. Thus Tragus, ed. 1595, p. 340, 

 " welchen dorn etliche myacantham, d.i. murinam spinam 

 nennen, darumb das diser dorn der meusen und ratten 

 zuwider ist." Matthioli, 1. iv. c. 141, gives the same 

 explanation of its Italian name, Pungi-topi, prick-rats : 

 " Nos, quod arcendis muribus is aptissimus sit, si salitis 

 appensis carnibus funiculo circumligetur, Pungi-topi He- 

 trusca lingua dicimus." So also Castor Durante in his 

 Herbario nuovo, p. 402 : " Per avere i rametti vencidi ed 

 le foglie dure, et horride, se ne fanno le scope e servono 

 per cacciar, come si e detto, i topi e le nottole dalle carni 

 salate." So also Lonicerus, Krauterb., p. 204. 



Ruscus aculeatus, L. 



BUTCHER'S PRICKWOOD, from skewers being made of it, 

 Rhamnus Frangula, L. 



BUTTER AND Eaas, from the colour of the flowers, 



Linaria vulgaris, L. 



BUTTERBTJR COLTSFOOT, a plant so called perhaps from 

 a confusion of Fr. bourre, whence bur in burdock, with 

 Fr. beurre, butter. Dr. How and W. Coles derive the 

 name from the leaves being used, as they suppose, for lap- 

 ping butter in, a purpose to which they do not seem to be 

 applied at the present day. 



Petasites vulgaris, Dsf. 



BPTTER-CUP, not, perhaps, from butter and cup, but 

 rather more probably from Fr. bouton d'or, the bachelor's 

 button, a name given to its double variety, the cup being 

 the Old Eng. cop, a head, as in Wycliffe's Bible (Judg. ix. 

 7), a word that became obsolete, and was replaced by cup. 

 It will have meant, originally, button-head. See GOLDCUP 

 and KINGCUP. Ranunculus, L. 



