OF BRITISH PLANTS. 41 



CELERY or SELLERY, Fr. celeri, It. sellari, the plural of 

 sellaro, the name under which it was introduced in the seven- 

 teenth century, corrupted from L. selinum, Gr. <re\ivov, 



Apium graveolens, L. 



CENTAURY, or CENTORY, L. centaurium, a plant so called, 

 says Pliny, from the Centaur Chiron, who cured himself 

 with it from a wound he had accidentally received from an 

 arrow poisoned with the blood of the hydra. What plant 

 this was, is uncertain. The name is now given to the 

 knapweeds, which the Germans, resolving centaurium into 

 centum aureos, a hundred pounds, call Tausend Gulden. 



Centaurea, L. 



,, GREATER-, or MORE-, of the old black-letter herbals, 

 a gentianeous plant. Askham, in his Lytel Herball, says 

 of it, " It is named the More Centory or Earthgall : his 

 floures be yelowe in the croppe ;" and Dr. Linacre in his 

 version of Macer, that " More Centory or Earthgall hath 

 leves lyke to the Lesse Centory, but more whyter, and 

 yelowe flowers, and flowreth not but in the top." 



Chlora perfoliata, L. 



Lyte, and other herbalists since his time, incorrectly assign 

 the name to the knapweed, Centaurea nigra, L. 



,, LESSER-, so called in contrast with the greater- or 

 more- centory, Erythrsea Centaurium, L. 



CENTINODE, or CENTYNODY, hundred knot, from its many 

 joints, L. centum and nodus, Polygonum aviculare, L. 



CETERACH, from a supposed Arabic or Persian word, 

 chetherak, which Stapel on Theophrastus (p. 1164) derives 

 from pteryga, corrupted to peteryga and ceteryga, and 

 meaning " winged," a doubtful etymology, 



C. officinarum, J. Sm. 



CHADLOCK, see CHEDLOCK. 



CHAFE-WEED according to Hooker in Fl. .Lond., from 

 its use in Northumberland to prevent heavy loads from 

 galling the backs of beasts of burden ; but more probably 



