OF BRITISH PLANTS. 119 



horses will not eat them, and the name is more likely to 

 have been given to these nuts to express coarseness. The 

 ingenious conjecture of a writer in N. and Q. (3, ser. x. 45,) 

 that it was suggested by the cicatrix of its leaf resembling a 

 horse-shoe, with all its nails evenly placed, has no support 

 of ancient authors. ^Esculus Hippocastanum, L. 



HORSE-CHIRE, the germander, from its growing after 

 horse-droppings, Fr. chier, Teucrium Chamaedrys, L. 



HORSE-FLOWER, Lyte, b. ii. c. 14, from Flem. peerd- 

 bloeme, horse-flower, a name that it seems to have acquired 

 from the py rum of its Latin name having been misunderstood 

 to mean "pear," Flem. peere, and this word being confused 

 with peerd, a horse, Melampyrum sylvaticum, L. 



HORS-HELE, -HEAL, or -HEEL, A.S. hors-elcne, L. Inula 

 Helenium, which by a double blunder of Inula for hinnula, 

 a colt, and Helenium for something to do with heels or 

 healing, has been corrupted into Hors-hele, and the plant 

 employed by apothecaries to heal horses of scabs, and sore 

 heels, Inula Helenium, L. 



HORSE-HOOF, from the shape of the leaf, 



Tussilago Farfara, L. 



HORSE-KNOB, a coarse knapweed, Centaurea nigra, L. 



HORSE-MINT, Mentha sylvestris, L. 



HORSE-MUSHROOM, from its size as compared with the 

 species more commonly eaten, Agaricus arvensis, Sch. 



HORSE-PARSLEY, from its coarseness as compared with 

 small age or celery, Smyrnium Olus atrum, L. 



HORSE-RADISH, Cochlearia Armoracia, L. 



HORSE-SHOE-VETCH, Off. L. ferrum equinum, from the 

 shape of the legumes, Hippocrepis comosa, L. 



HORSETAIL, L. cauda eguina, a name descriptive of its 

 shape, and under which it was sold in the shops, 



Equisetum, L. 



HORSE-THYME, a coarse kind of thyme, 



Calamintha Clinopodium, Benth. 



