OF BRITISH PLANTS. 247 



WAY BARLEY, -BENNET, or -BENT, from its growing by 

 waysides, Hordeum inurinum, L. 



WAYBREAD, the plaintain, A.S. wegbrced, Da. vejbred, 

 G. of Ort. San. wegbreyt, and wegbreidt, a word the mean- 

 ing of which is very uncertain. 0. Cockayne (Leechdoms, 

 iii. p. 347) explains it as waybroad. It probably meant 

 " spread on the way." Thus the Ort. San., under Incen- 

 saria, says, that it is " beynahet als wegbreidte und wechst 

 auch an den sandigen bergen, und breitet sich langes die 

 erde." Plantago major, L. 



WAYFARING- or WAYFARER-TREE, from growing in 

 hedges by the road-side, a punning name given to it by 

 Gerarde, as implying that it is " ever on the road, 1 ' 



Viburnum Lantana, L. 



WAY-THORN, highway-thorn, G. wegedorn, 



Rhamnus catharticus, L. 



WEASEL-SNOUT, from the shape of the corolla, the yellow 

 dead nettle, Lamiurn Galeobdolon, Crz. 



WEED, AMERICAN RIVER-, a name that, for want of a 

 more distinctive one, is now adopted for a pestilent weed 

 that was some years ago introduced with Canadian timber, 

 and now infests our rivers, ponds, and canals. It has 

 hitherto been generally known as " Babington's curse ; " 

 a name that conveys a most unjust imputation upon a 

 distinguished botanist, who, except drawing up an able 

 description of the plant, has had nothing at all to do with it. 



Elodea canadensis, Rd. 



WEED-WIND, a corruption of Withivind. 



WEEPING WILLOW, a tree supposed, from the resem- 

 blance of its delicate pendulous branches to long dishevelled 

 hair, the conventional expression of grief, to be the willow 

 of Psalm cxxxvii. 1 : "By the rivers of Babylon we sat 

 down, we wept. We hanged our harps upon the willows" 



Salix babylonica, L. 



WELCOME-TO-OUR- HOUSE, perhaps a quibble on its name, 



