OF BRITISH PLANTS. 249 



but Beam-tree, as it is often given, without the White, is a 

 vague and silly term. Pyrus Aria, L. 



WHITE BEN, from Ar. Behen, Silene inflata, L. 



WHITE BLOW, a name given to two of our earliest spring 

 flowers very conspicuous upon walls, and also called Whit- 

 low-grasses, of which White Blow may perhaps be a corrup- 

 tion. Saxifraga tridactylites, L., and Draba verna, L. 



WHITE BOTTLE, from the shape of the calyx, and in dis- 

 tinction from the blue bottle, Silene inflata, L. 



WHITE-BOOT, or -WORT, its officinal name, the Solomon's 

 seal, Convallaria Polygonatum, L. 



WHITE EOT, from its being supposed to bane sheep, 



Hydrocotyle vulgaris, L. 

 also, for the same reason, the butterwort, 



Pinguicula vulgaris, L. 



WHITE POTHERB, in distinction from the black potherb 

 or olus atrum, the lamb's lettuce, 



Yalerianella olitoria, L. 



WHITE-THORN, Fr. aubespine, in distinction from the 

 sloe or black-thorn, from its comparatively light-coloured 

 rind, Cratsegus Oxyacantha, L. 



WHITE WILD-VINE, the white bryony, in distinction 

 from the black bryony, L. vitis alba, Plin. (1. xxiii. i. 16), 

 Gr. a/ji7r\o\VKr), Bryonia dioica, L. 



WHITLOW-GRASS, a name given to two small spring 

 flowers from their being supposed to be the Trapww^ta of 

 Dioscorides, and useful in the cure of whitlows, 



Saxifraga tridactylites, L., and Draba verna, L. 



WHITTEN-TREE, a tree so called from its white branches ; 

 in Berkshire, the wayfarer-tree, Viburnum Lantana, L. 

 but according to Gerarde (p. 1237), the water-elder, 



Viburnum Opulus, L. 



WHORT, or WHORTLEBERRY, the bilberry, corrupted from 

 L. myrta and myrtittus, the names in old vocabularies of 

 the myrtle-berry, a fruit largely imported in the Middle 



