OF BRITISH PLANTS. 155 



firmities of this organ. W. Bulleyn indeed says (fol. 1) 

 that " no herbe maie be compared therewith for his singular 

 vertue to help the sickness or grief of the splene." 



Asplenium, L. 



MINT, L. mentha, Gr. pivQi]. 

 BERGAMOT-, M. citrata, Ehr. 



BROOK-, HORSE-, or WATER-, M. sylvestris, L. 

 PEPPER-, M. piperita, L. 



SPEAR-, or GARDEN-, M. viridis, L. 



MISTLETOE, AS. mistiltan, from mistl, different, and tan, 

 twig, being so unlike the tree it grows upon, a feature 

 which Bacon in his Natural History (cent. vi. 556) has 

 noted as its distinguishing character. " It is a plant," 

 says he, " utterly differing from the plant upon which it 

 groweth." By some it is derived from mist, dung, and 

 much has been written in N. and Q. in support of this 

 fanciful derivation. Viscum album, L. 



MITHRIDATE MUSTARD, from beitfg used in a medicine, 

 named after Mithridates, a king of Pontus, who invented, 

 as an antidote to all poisons, the famous preparation called 

 after him Mithridaticum, into which this plant, among 

 many more, was subsequently introduced. The original 

 prescription, discovered by Pompey among the archives of 

 the king, was very simple. Q. Serenus tells us that 



" Magnus scrinia regis 



Cum raperet victor, vilem deprehendit in illis 

 Synthesin, et vulgata satis medicamina risit : 

 Bis denum rutae folium, salis et breve granum, 

 Juglandesque duas, terno cum corpore ficus." 

 Other ingredients, animal as well as vegetable, were 

 added to it from time to time, and the name changed to 

 Theriaca. See TREACLE MUSTARD. Thlaspi arvense, L. 

 MITHRIDATE PEPPERWORT, Lepidium campestre, Br. 

 MOCK-PLANE, the sycamore, a translation of its Latin 

 specific name, Acer Pseudoplatanus, L, 



