OF BRITISH PLANTS. 229 



SWINE' S-CRESS, a cress only good for swine, 



Senebiera Coronopus, Poir. 



SWINE'S-GRASS, Swynel grass of the Grete Herball, Da. 

 swinegrces, the knotgrass. Johnston in East. Bord. ob- 

 serves that " Swine are said to be very fond of it," a state- 

 ment confirmed by writers on agriculture. 



Polygonum aviculare, L. 



SWINE'S-SNOUT, L. rostrum porcinum, from the form of the 

 receptacle, the dandelion, Taraxacum Dens leonis, L. 



SWINE SUCCORY, a translation of its Greek name from 

 uo9, pig's, and crept?, succory, Hyoseris minima, L. 



SWORD FLAG, from its banner-like flower, and sword- 

 shaped leaf, Iris Pseudacorus, L. 



SYCAMINE, in old authors the woodbine. 



SYCAMORE, Gr. o-v/co/u-opo?, properly the name of the wild 

 fig, but by a mistake of Ruellius, according to J. Bauhin 

 (Hist. Plant, p. 168), transferred to the great maple. Thia 

 mistake arose, perhaps, from this tree, the great maple, 

 being, on account of the density of its foliage, used in 

 the sacred dramas of the Middle Ages to represent the 

 fig-tree into which Zaccheus climbed, and that in which 

 the Virgin Mary, on her journey into Egypt, had hidden 

 herself and the infant Jesus, to avoid the fury of Herod ; 

 a legend quoted by Stapel on Theophrastus (p. 290, a), and 

 by Thevenot in his Voyage de Levant (part i. p. 265) : 

 " At Matharee is a large sycamore or Pharaoh's fig, very 

 old, but which bears fruit every year. They say that upon 

 the Virgin passing that way with her son Jesus, and being 

 pursued by the people, this fig-tree opined to receive her, 

 and closed her in, until the people had passed by, and then 

 opened again." The tree is still shown to travellers. (See 

 Cowper's Apocryphal Gospels, p. 191, note.) The great 

 maple was naturally chosen to represent it, from its 

 making, a& W. Gilpin expresses it, " an impenetrable 

 shade." Acer Pseudoplatanus, L. 



