OF BRITISH PLANTS. 65 



DEAL-TKEES, the species of fir that produce the deal of 

 commerce, Pinus and Abies. 



DEER'S HAIR, from its tufts of slender stems looking 

 like coarse hair, Scirpus caespitosus, L. 



DELT-ORACH, an orach whose leaves are triangular, like 

 a Greek letter J, Atriplex patula, L. 



DEPTFORD PINK, from its growing, according to Gerarde, 

 " in a field next Deptford, as you go to Greenwich," 



Dianthus Armeria, L. 



DEVIL IN THE BUSH, from its horned capsules peering 

 from a bush of finely divided involucre, 



Nigella damascena. L. 



DEVIL'S-BIT, G. Teufels abbiss, L. Morsus diaboli, so 

 called, says the Ortus Sanitatis, c. cclxi, on the authority 

 of Oribasius, " because with this root the Devil practised 

 such power, that the mother of God, out of compassion, 

 took from the Devil the means to do so with it any more ; 

 and in the great vexation that he had that the power was 

 gone from him, he bit it off, so that it grows no more to 

 this day." Threlkeld records a legend, that " the root was 

 once longer, until the Devil bit away the rest, for spite; 

 for he needed it not to make him sweat, who is always 

 tormented with fear of the day of judgment." Later 

 authors explain it, as though the root would cure all 

 diseases, and that the Devil, out of his inveterate malice, 

 grudges mankind such a valuable medicine, and bites it 

 off. Scabiosa succisa, L. 



DEVIL'S DARNING NEEDLES, from its long awns, 



Scandix Pecten, L. 



DEVIL'S GUTS, from the resemblance of the stem to cat- 

 gut, and the mischief it causes, the dodder, Cuscuta, L. 

 DEVIL'S MILK, from its acrid poisonous milk, 



Euphorbia, L. 



DEW-BERRY, G. tauben-beere, Norw. col-bar, supposed 

 to be called so from the dove colour of its fruit, A.S. duua, 



