220 POPULAR NAMES 



as come doth." ib. Spire is in different counties applied 

 to several different plants, such as rushes and sedges. It 

 usually means the common reed, Arundo Phragmites, L. 



SPLEEN-WORT, from its supposed efficacy in diseases of 

 the spleen, Gr. <nr\i>)v, a notion suggested, on the doctrine 

 of signatures, by the lobular form of the leaf in the species 

 to which the name was first given, the ceterach. See 

 MILTWASTE. Asplenium, L. 



SPOONWORT, G. Iq/el-kraut, from its leaf being shaped 

 like an old-fashioned spoon ; whence also its Latin name ; 



Cochlearia officinalis, L. 



SPREUSIDANY, from L. peucedanum, 



Peucedanum officinale, L. 



SPRING-GRASS, see VERNAL-GRASS. 



SPRUCE, from G. sprossen, a sprout, as the tree from the 

 sprouts of which sprossen-bier, our spruce-beer, is made, 

 Evelyn, from the expression he uses : " Those of Prussia, 

 which we call Spruse," seems to have fancied that it meant 

 " Prussian." Pinus Abies, L. 



SPURGE, Fr. espurge, L. expurgare, from its medicinal 

 effects, Euphorbia, L. 



CAPER-, from its immature fruit being substituted 

 for the real caper, Euphorbia Lathyris, L. 



SUN-, from its flowers turning to the sun, 



Euphorbia helioscopia, L. 



SPURGE LAUREL, Daphne Laureola, L 



SPURGE OLIVE, Daphne Mezereon, L. 



SPUR-WORT, It. speronella, from its verticils of leaves 

 resembling the large spur-rowels formerly worn, 



Sherardia arvensis, L. 



SPURRY, a word from which Lyte says (b. i. ch. 38) that 

 the Lat. spergula was formed. It seems more likely that 

 spergula is contracted from asparagula, a presumed dim. of 

 asparagus, a plant which it somewhat resembles, and spurry 

 from spergula. The G. spark, and Fr. espargoutte, seem to 



