EYEBRIGHT 109 



projecting into the mouth, the upper terminating in a brush of hairs, 

 and these prevent the pollen from being scattered at the side. A bee 

 touching them disperses the hairs, and pollen falls upon the insect. 



The capsule opens above, and the seeds are dispersed around the 

 parent plant. 



Eyebright is a humus -loving plant, a heath plant, parasitic on 

 grasses, and requires a humus soil. 



The leaves are attacked by the fungus Plasmopora densa and 

 Coleosporium euphrasies. 



A moth, the Pretty Pinion (Emmelesia blandiata], feeds upon it. 



Euphrasia, Fuchs, is Greek for gladness. It was formerly called 

 Euphrosyne from its reputed cure for eyes. The second Latin name 

 indicates the woodland habitat. It grows on grassy slopes. Eyebright 

 is also called Adhib, Euphrasy, Ewfras. 



Coles says: "Divers authors write that goldfinches, linnets, and 

 some other birds, make use of this herb for the repairing of their own 

 and their young ones' sight. . . . The purple and yellow spots and 

 stripes, which are upon the flowers of Eyebright, doth very much 

 resemble the diseases of the eyes as bloodshot, by which signature it 

 hath been found that this herb is very affectual for the curing of the 

 same." It was supposed (and is now) to be good for the eye, owing to 

 the black pupil-like spot in its corolla, by Doctrine of Signatures. 

 Milton represents the Archangel clearing the vision of Adam and Eve 



by its means: 



" Then purged with euphrasy and rue 

 His visual orbs, for he had much to see"; 



and Spenser writes: 



" Yet Euphrasie may not be left unsung, 

 That gives dim eyes to wander leagues around"; 



and Thomson also: 



" If she, whom I implore Urania, deign, 

 With Euphrasy, to purge away the mists 

 Which humid dim the mirror of the mind". 



In Chaucer's day it was held a cure for all eye diseases, and 

 described as 



" Precious water to clear a man's sight and destroy the pin " (a sty). 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



238. Euphrasia nemorosa, H. Mart. Stem branched, without glands, 



