THE WORMWOOD. 355 



as by its naked receptacle, that of the A. alsvnthium 

 being distinctly hairy. 



The sea-wormwood (A. marltima vel Gallica) 

 (Willde) or "garden cypress"' is the holy- worm- 

 wood,, or semen sanctum of old herbalists (of which 

 Gerarde observes that it is " sold evrie where by the 

 apothecaries"), and flourishes abundantly on our 

 sandy shores or salt marshes, where & so-called 

 variety with drooping racemes, may frequently be 

 observed growing on the same root as the original 

 plant.* 



The southernwood, "boy's love/' "old man/" or "old 

 man's beard" the "grey hairs/' or shaybeh, of the 

 Arabs (A.arborescens, or campestris) occurs, though 

 sparingly, on the dry sandy heaths of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk, especially in the neighbourhood of Thet- 

 ford and Bury. I cannot, however, believe it to be 

 a really indigenous plant ; though it may be heresy 

 even to hint that either the agency of man, or of the 

 waves, first brought it to our shores. It may, most 

 probably, be ascribed to the former. This pleasant 

 old-fashioned plant is known to everybody, gladden- 

 ing, as it does, the cottage garden, and forming a pro- 

 minent feature in the village nosegay. This is the 

 plant of which the " Stockholm MS." says ; 



" More of whych, Goddys grace, 

 Think I to seyn on oyer place ; [in another place] 

 At ye hed will I be gyne 



For sicknesse fallyth ofty yer ine [oft-times therein] 

 Zif man or woman, more or lesse 

 In his hed haue gret sicknesse 



* See " Hooker's British Flora." 



