OF BRITISH PLANTS, 193 



d'amour are called by Lyte (b. iii. ch. 85) Rage-apples. 

 In our modern floras the name Ragwort is, for no other 

 assignable reason than its laciniated leaves, transferred to 

 a large groundsel. Senecio Jacobsea, L. 



RAINBERRY-THORN, (Florio in v.) the buckthorn, from 

 L. rhamnus. See RHINE-BERRIES. 



Rhamnus catharticus, L. 



RAISIN-TREE, the red currant tree, from confusion of its 

 fruit with the small raisins from Corinth called currants, 



Ribes rubrum, L. 



RAMPK, in the sense of "wanton," from its supposed 

 aphrodisiac powers, the cuckoo pint, 



Arum maculatum, L. 



RAMPION, Fr. raiponce, a word mistaken, as in the 



cases of "cerise" and "pease," for a plural, and the m 



inserted for euphony ; from L. rapunculus, a small rapa, 



or turnip ; a bell-flower so called from its esculent tubers, 



Campanula Rapunculus, L. 



RAMSIES or RAMSON, A.S. hramsa, Norw. rams, Da. 

 ramsc, Sw. rams, G. ramsel, from Da. Sw. and Ic. ram, rank, 

 a wild garlick so called from its strong odour, and the rank 

 flavour that it communicates to milk and butter. Ramson 

 would be the plural of ramse, as peason of pease, and oxen 

 of ox. Allium ursinum, L. 



RAPE, L. rapus, or rapum, Brassica Rapa, L. 



RASPBERRY, in Turner's herbal called Raspis or Raspices, 

 of which the last syllables look like the Du. bes, besje, a 

 berry. The first is more obscure. It can scarcely be rasp, 

 as the dictionaries explain it ; for, although the stems are 

 rough, the fruit is not so. It seems, like several other 

 names of plants, to be of double origin ; being partly cor- 

 rupted from Fr. ronce or rouce, a bramble, as brass from 

 bronce, and partly from resp, as it is called in Tusser, a 

 word that in the Eastern counties means a shoot, a sucker, 

 a young stem, and especially the fruit-bearing stem of 



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