OF BRITISH PLANTS. 87 



does: "Claritatem facit inunctis oculis delachrymationem- 

 que ceu fumus, unde nomen accepit #0.7/1/05." 



Fumaria officinalis, L. 



FURZE, sometimes spelt FURRES, A.S. fyrs, a name of 

 obscure derivation, as are those of so many of our com- 

 monest plants ; apparently from fir, these bushes being, 

 like the coniferous trees, a common firewood or fuel ; but 

 perhaps from Fr. forest, as though that word meant a place 

 of firs, as hyrst, carst, hulst, gorst, etc., the places or 

 thickets of erica, carices, ulex and gorra, from M. Lat. 

 words in cetum; Ulex europseus, L. 



NEEDLE-, from its finely pointed slender spines, 

 Genista anglica, Hud. 

 FUSS-BALLB, Fr. vesse, Lycoperdon, L. 



GADRISE, and GAITRE, see GATTER. 



GALE, or SWEET GALE, in Turner's herbal GALL, and in 

 Somersetshire, he tells us, GOTJL and GOLLE, in Pr. Pm. 

 gawl, gavl, or gawyl, A.S. and Du. gagel, corruptions appa- 

 rently of galangale, a name that it may have acquired from 

 its fragrance while burning, and which, through its intense 

 bitterness, has become confounded with gall, 



Myrica Gale, L. 



GALANGALE, It. and Sp. galanga, 0. Sp. garingal, G. 

 galgant, from chalan, spice, a Persian word transferred 

 to a marsh plant, the roots of which are valued for their 

 aromatic quality, Cyperus longus, L. 



GALLOW-GRASS, Ger p. 572, a cant name for hemp, as 

 furnishing halters for the gibbet, Cannabis sativa, L. 



GANG-FLOWER, flos ambarvalis, the milkwort, from its 

 blossoming in Gang-week, A.S. gang-dagum, three days 

 before the Ascension, when processions were made in imi- 

 tation of the ancient Ambarvalia, to perambulate the 

 parishes with the Holy Cross and Litanies, to mark their 

 boundaries, and invoke the blessing of God upon the 



