OF BRITISH PLANTS. 151 



whence its name in old writers Peganon or Pigamon, from 

 Gr. Trrjyavov, rue, Thalictrum flavum, L. 



MEADOW SAFFRON, from the resemblance of its flowers 

 to those of the crocus or true saffron, 



Colchicum autumn ale, L. 



MEADOW SAXIFRAGE, from its leaves resembling those of 

 the burnet saxifrage, Silaus pratensis, Bess. 



MEADOW SWEET, an ungrammatical and ridiculous name, 

 a corruption of mead-wort, A.S. mede- or medo-wyrt, Da. 

 miod-urt, Sw. miod-ort, the mead-, or honey-wine- herb. 

 Hill tells us in his Herbal, p. 23, that " the flowers mixed 

 with mead give it the flavour of the Greek wines," and this 

 is unquestionably the source of the word. Nemnich also 

 says that it gives beer, and various wines, and other drinks 

 an agreeable flavour. The Latin Eegina prati, meadow's 

 queen, seems to have misled our herbalists to form the 

 strangely compounded name now in use. 



Spiraea ulmaria, L. 



MEAD-WORT, or MEDE-WORT, the old and correct name 

 of the so-called MEADOW SWEET. See above. 



MEAL-BERRY, Da. meelbwr, Norw. miolbasr, from the 

 floury character of the cellular structure of its fruit, 



Arbutus Uva ursi, L. 



MEALY-TREE, from the mealy surface of the young shoots 

 and leaves, Viburnum Lantana, L. 



MEDICK, L. Medica, Gr. p^Sitcr) Poravi], (Diosc. ii., 177), 

 the name of some plant that according to Pliny (1. xviii. 

 c. 43) was introduced into Greece by the army of Darius, 

 and called so to mean Median. It seems formerly to have 

 been given to a sainfoin, but is at present assigned to the 

 lucerne and its congeners. Medicago sativa, L., etc. 



MEDLAR, called in Normandy and Anjou meslier, from 

 L. mespilus, but as the verb mesler became in English 

 meddle, so this fruit also, although a word of different 

 origin, took a d for an s, and became medlar. 



Mespilus germanica, L. 



