168 



POPULAR NAMES 



OAK OP CAPPADOCIA, or -OP JERUSALEM, from a fancied 

 resemblance of its leaf to that of an oak, and its coming 

 from a foreign country, Chenopodium ambrosioides, L. 

 OAK-PERN, of old herbals, Polypodium vulgare, L. 

 of modern botanists, 



Polypodium Dryopteris, L. 



OAT, A.S. ata, a word that seems originally to have 

 meant " food," the O.N. ata, and Lat. esca, for edca or etca, 

 and derived from words signifying " eat," A.S. etan, Lat. 

 edere, from an ancient root, the Skr. ad, and applied to the 

 oat exclusively, as being once the chief food of the north of 

 Europe. With this word ata is etymologically connected, 

 and indeed, identical, G. aas, a carcase, the term having, 

 apparently, been adopted, in the former sense by an agri- 

 cultural, and in the latter by a carnivorous, a shepherd or 

 hunter tribe of the Germanic race : an evidence, as far as 

 it goes, that we must not assume our various dialects to 

 have originated simultaneously from any one common 

 tongue, or in any one district. Avena sativa, L. 



WILD-, Avena fatua, L. 



OAT-GRASS, a fanner's term, according to Martyn in 

 Fl. Rust., but certainly not a common one, for 



Bromus mollis, L. 



OPBIT, in Turner OPBITEN, for bitten-q/, the Devil's bit, 

 from the appearance of the root, Scabiosa succisa, L. 

 OIL-SEED, from oil being made from it, 



Camelina sativa, L. 



OLD-MAN, southernwood, from its use as recommended 

 by Pliny (1. xxi. c. 21), and as explained in the line of 

 Macer, c. ii. : 



"Haec etiam venerem, pulvino subdita tantum, 

 Incitat." 



Artemisia Abrotanum, L. 



OLD-MAN'S-BEARD, from its long white feathery awns, 

 the traveller's joy, Clematis Vitalba, L. 



