214 POPULAR NAMES 



SKIRRET, in old works called SKYRWORT or SKYRWYT, 

 Du. suikerwortel, sugar-root, Slum Sisarum, L. 



SKULLCAP, from the shape of the calyx, 



Scutellaria galericulata, L. 



SLEEP-AT-NOON, from its flowers closing at midday, the 

 goat's beard, Tragopogon pratense, L. 



SLEEPWORT, from its narcotic properties, 



Lactuca virosa, L. 



SLOE, in Lancashire slaigh or sleawgh, A.S. sla-, slag-, 

 or slah-porn, the sla meaning not the fruit, but the hard 

 trunk, a word that we find in our own, and in all its kin- 

 dred languages, to be intimately connected with a verb 

 meaning slay or strike. 



A.S. sla slean 



slage slagan 



Eng. sloe, O.E. sle slay 

 Du. and L.G. slee slaan 

 G. schlehe schlagen 



Da. slaaen slaa 



Sw. sla sla 



Icel. sla 



Old Fries. sla 



Old Sax. slahan or slan 



Whether this connexion is due to the wood having been 

 used as a flail (as, from its being so used at this day, is 

 most probable) or as a bludgeon, can only be discovered 

 by a comparison of its synonyms and the corresponding- 

 verb in other languages of the Ind-European group. 



Prunus spinosa, L. 



SLOKE, or SLAKE, a name given to several species of 

 edible Porphyrae and Ulvse. 



SLOUGH-HEAL, a supposed, but mistaken correction of 

 Self-heal, the slough being that which is thrown off from 

 a foul sore, and not that which is healed, the wound itself. 

 Besides, the term slough was not used in surgical language 

 till long after the plant had been called Selfe-heal, and 

 applied as a remedy, not to sloughing sores, but to fresh 

 cut wounds. See SELF-HEAL. Prunella vulgaris, L. 



SMALLAGE, a former name of the celery, meaning the 



