242 POPULAR NAMES 



VENUS'-HAIR, the maidenhair fern, Adiantum, L. 

 VENUS'-LOOKING-GLASS, from the resemblance of its 

 flowers set upon their cylindrical ovary to an ancient 

 round mirror at the end of a straight handle. The name 

 is given by Spenser (F. Q. iii. i. 8) to a magic mirror, in 

 which a lady might see her destined husband. 



Campanula hybrida, L. 

 VERNAL-GRASS, from its early flowering, 



Anthoxanthum odoratum, L. 

 VERVAIN, Fr. verveine, L. verbena, 



Verbena officinalis, L. 



VETCH, or FETCH, or FITCH, It. veccia, L. vicia, related 

 to vincire, bind, as the G. wicke to wickeln, from its twining 

 habit. Used absolutely it means the common vetch, 



Vicia sativa, L. 



BITTER-, Vicia Orobus, DC. 



,, GRASS-, Lathyrus Nissolia, L. 



HORSE-SHOE-, Hippocrepis comosa, L. 



KIDNEY-, Anthyllis vulneraria, L. 



MILK-, Astragalus glycyphyllos, L. 



TARE-, Vicia hirsuta, Koch. 



VETCHLING, a spurious vetch, Lathyrus pratensis, L. 

 VINE, Fr. vigne, L. vinea, adj. of vinum, wine, as being 

 the wine-shrub, G. wein-rebe, Gr. 00/09. Turner and some 

 other old writers spell it vynde, from confusion with A.S. 

 winde. The first syllable of vinum and vitis is probably a 

 radical wi or vi, whence L. mere, twist, with, withy, etc., 

 and given to the vine in reference to its twining habit. 



Vitis vinifera, L. 



VIOLET, It. violetta, dim. of L. viola, which itself is a 

 dim. of lov ; in botanical nomenclature now confined to the 

 genus to which the pansy belongs, but by ancient writers 

 extended to many other very different plants, especially 

 scented ones. Indeed Laurenberg in Appar. Plant, says 

 (p. 77) : " Videntur mihi antiqui suaveolentes quosque flores 



