234 PETTY: CONSTITUENTS OF NORTH LANCASHIRE FLORA. 
Solanum Dulcamara L. C.F.R., 1568, 
- In the list of books which prefaces these papers, Dugdale’s 
‘Monasticon’ is included as referring to A¢rofa. It. is now con 
sidered that the plant intended is this species (Naturalist, March 
1895. Notes and Queries, 1894, passim), and the record in MS: 
carried back to 1412, the date of completion of the Coucher Book 
of Furness. This points to a much older date than that year for the 
plant in the neighbourhood of the Abbey; the compilers of the 
Coucher Book say they quoted from older documents, and the com- 
pilation took many years. ‘Therefore the old records previously. 
supposed to refer to Afrofa are placed here. I412. See 18388. 
Full quotation below. 1655. Dugdale, Monasticon. ‘This I have 
been unable to see. 1682. Dugdale, Monasticon I., 705, col. I, 
quoting metrical preface to Coucher Book: 
Primus ei fundus Tulket fuit haud dubitatur 
Quodam fundatur est Bekansgill que secundus, 
Col. II. ; 
Hee vallis tenuit olim sibi nomen ab herba 
; Unde domus nomen Bekansgill claruit ante. 
And repeated in subsequent editions. 1774. West, Antiq. of Furness 
4to edition—as in Dugdale; but West considered the plant to be 
Atropa, and wrote that the Herba Bekan was that species, and 
therefore Bekansgill =his ‘vale of Nightshade.’ But his followers 
added the word ‘Deadly’ to it, and so far as I can see this is the 
origin of the term and the legend of Afrofa at Furness Abbey. 
1805. West, Antiq., ed. Close (in 8vo). Statement repeated. But 
Atropa did grow there as we know from another source. 
1843. Jopling, Furness and Cartmel, 268. In hedges — 
Dalton and Urswick, Aiton. 1864. Linton, Lake Country, 37% 
No locality. 1869. Aspland’s Guide. Within six miles of Grange 
A. Mason. 1874. J. of B., Miss E. Hodgson. Not infrequent : 
hedge-rows (in Furness). 1888. The Coucher Book of Furness, ie 
for Chetham Soc, by Canon J. C. Atkinson, vol. 1, the metr! A 
preface from which the above verses are taken. 1894. Notes ee 
Queries (vide Furness Abbey in index), where the plant is deter 
mined to be Solanum Dulcamara L., the Amara dulcis of Turnet. 
Solanum maritimum Bab. ei 
1874. J. of B., Miss E. Hodgson. Drylands, Isle of Walney; 
and repeated 1885. Baker’s Flora, 151. 
lanum nigrum I. CER, 1597 
Baker’s Flora, 151. Abundant at Barrow-in-Furness 
W. Foggitt. nee ee ee 
— a. 
Naturalists 
