88 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



BURNET.— POTERIUM. 



Natural order, Miscellanece. A genus of the 

 Monozcia Polyandria class. 



The ancient name of this plant cannot 

 be fixed with any degree of certainty ; but 

 it is thought by the best etymological 

 herbalists, that we have been able to consult, 

 that it is the plant which the Greeks 

 called UifjoriveM, and that it is likewise 

 the Sideritis Secunda of Dioscorides. It has 

 been called in Latin, Pimpinella, Pempinula, 

 and Peponella, from the likeness of the 

 scent to that of melons or pompions ; while 

 others give the same name to some species 

 of saxifrage. Old medical writers called it 

 Sorbastrella and Sanguinaria, but mostly 

 Sanguisorba, quod sanguineos fluxus sistat, 

 as it was supposed to stop fluxes of blood. 

 Some of the ancient botanists called it 

 Bipinella or Bipenida, from the leaves being 

 placed opposite each other like wings. 



The origin of the English name must be 



