148 POPULAR NAMES 



fuipadpov (})v\\ov, called in the Ort. Sanit. c. 432, and in 

 the Grete Herball, Marefolon, in Gerarde Matfellon, in 

 Dodoens Materfillon and " Matrefilon, voce, ut apparet, 

 corrupta," in W. Coles Madefelon, in Parkinson " Matre- 

 Jillon," in old MSS. Mattefelone, Maudefelune, Madfeloun, 

 etc. The Lat. maratripkyllon, the source of all these bar- 

 barous terms, seems in the first place to have been given 

 to the water violet, Hottonia, on account of its finely 

 divided fennel-like leaves, and this is the plant which 

 bears the name in Lobel and Pena's Kruydtboek, 1581, 

 p. 965. From this it would seem to have been extended 

 to other so-called violets, viz. the genus Viola, and the 

 centauries. Thus in the Grete Herball, cap. ccccii, we 

 read " Jacea, Herba clavellata, Torquea, Marefolon. Jacea 

 is an herbe," etc. In EL Brunschwygk, p. xlix, these 

 synonyms are assigned to the pansy : " Freissam krut von 

 den kriechen torqueta, und von den arabischen marefolon 

 genant, und in latin yacea oder herba clavellata, ouch von 

 ettichen dreifaltigkeit blumen genant umb dreyerley farb 

 siner blumen, gelb, blow, und weyss." In the Ortus Sani- 

 tatis also it is figured and described as a pansy, under the 

 German name Freyschem-kraut, epilepsy-wort, and en- 

 titled " Jacea vel herba clavelata, Latine, grece torqueta, 

 arabice marefolon." Jacea being extended to the genus 

 Centaurea has carried the name from the violet tribe to 

 the knapweed, but under the corrupt form of Matfellon. 



Centaurea nigra, L. 



MAT-GRASS, or SMALL MAT-WEED, from its dense mat- 

 like tufts, Nardus stricta, L. 

 MAT-WEED, from its use in making mats, 



Psamma arenaria, K.S. 



and also the cord-grass, because as Gerarde says, p. 39, 

 " these kindes of grassie or rather rushie reede serve for to 

 make mats and hangings for chambers, frailes, baskets, 

 and such like, and the people of the country where they 



