54 POPULAR NAMES 



ointment, or to its use in the uterine affections over which 

 she presided. In old authors it occurs as Herba sanctce or 

 diva Marice. See MAUDLIN. Balsamita vulgaris, W. 



COTTON-GRASS, or -RUSH, a grass-like plant with seed- 

 spikes resembling tufts of cotton from the protrusion of 

 the hypogynous bristles beyond the glumes, 



Eriophorum polystachyum, L. 



COTTON-WEED, from its soft white pubescence, 



Gnaphalium, L. 



COUCH-GRASS, or QUITCH, A.S. cwice, from cwic, viva- 

 cious, L. Germ, quek, quik, or queek, on account of its 

 tenacity of life, for, as says the Bremen Glossary (v. iii. 

 p. 401), "Rein gewachs hat mehr lebenskraft als der 

 Queck, wie die land- und garten-bauer mit verdruss er- 

 fahren," a name given to several creeping grasses, but 

 more especially to Triticum repens, L. 



COUGH-WORT, a translation of G. /S^toy, a name given 

 to it from its medicinal use, the colts-foot, 



Tussilago Farfara, L. 



COVENTRY BELLS, from their abundance near that town 

 (Ger. em. p. 448), Campanula Trachelium, L. 



COVENTRY RAPES, see RAMPION, called rape from its 

 tuberous turnip-like roots, Campanula Rapunculus, L. 



COWBANE, from its supposed baneful effect upon cows, 



Cicuta virosa, L. 



COWBERRY, apparently from a blunder between Vacci- 

 nlum, the fruit of the whortle, and vaccinum, what belongs 

 to a cow, Vaccinium Vitis idsea, L. 



COW-CRESS, a coarse cress, Lepidium campestre, L. 



COWSLIP, A.S. cuslyppa or cusloppe, which 0. Cockayne 

 (Leechdoms, ii. p. 378), would derive from cu, cow, and 

 slyppa, slop, an explanation of it which is by no means 

 probable. Still less so is Wedgwood's, who, in ignorance 

 that cows do not eat cowslips, would regard the last sylla- 

 ble as a corruption of leek. There is very little poetry in 



