OP BRITISH PLANTS. 227 



but after the noontime unto the setting of the sun the 



flower closeth more and more, so that after the setting 



thereof it is wholly shut up." Hyll, Art of Gard. c. xxx. 



" The Marigold observes the sun, 



More than my subjects me have done." 



K. Charles I. 



This is also the flower that in Anglo-Saxon is called sohcece r 

 Fr. souci, from O.F. soucicle, L. sohequium, sun-following. 



Calendula officinalis, L. 



SUN-SPURGE, from its flowers turning to face the sun, 

 Euphorbia helioscopia, L. 



SWALLOW-PEAR, a wild pear that is not a " choke-pear," 

 a kind that may be eaten, Pyrus torminalis, L. 



SWALLOW-WORT, Gr. %e\t8owoi/, of ^eXiSow, a swallow, 

 because, according to Pliny (b. xxv. ch. 8), it blossoms at 

 the season of the swallow's arrival, and withers at her 

 departure, a name, that, for the same reason, has been 

 given to several other plants, as the Ranunculus Ficaria, 

 Fumaria bulbosa, Caltha palustris, and Saxifraga granu- 

 lata, L. ; but, according to Aristotle and Dioscorides, be- 

 cause swallows restore the eyesight of their young ones 

 with it, even if their eyes be put out. It is to be recol- 

 lected, that, however absurd some of these superstitions, 

 they may nevertheless be the real source of the name of a 

 plant. Chelidonium majus, L. 



SWEDE, a turnip so called from having been introduced 

 from Sweden, Brassica campestris, L. var. rutabaga. 



SWEET ALISON, a plant with the smell of honey, a 

 species of the genus Alyssum, of which Alison is a corrup- 

 tion, and not the name of a pretty lady, 



Alyssum maritimum, L. 



SWEET BAY, from the odour of its leaves, to distinguish 

 it from other evergreen shrubs, such as the strawberry tree 

 and cherry laurel, that were once reckoned among the 

 bays, Laurus nobilis, L. 



