Wild Flowers as They Grow 



This plant was given its botanical name Lonicera 

 to keep green the memory of Adam Lonicer, a clever 

 German botanist who lived in the sixteenth century 

 at Frankfort. Its old English name of "Caprifoy" 

 was due to the belief that goats eat the foliage with 

 special hking. "Woodbine," or "Woodbind" as it 

 used to be written, of course refers to its habit of 

 embracing other stems, and this, together with its 

 fragrance, has made it specially beloved by poets, 

 who have seen in it an emblem of steadfast affection. 

 Chaucer used it thus, making those crowned with 

 it— 



" Such as never were 

 To love untrue, in word, ne thought, ne dede ; 

 But ay steadfast." 



It belongs to the family of the CaprifoliacecB, 

 and has the elder and the guelder rose for near 

 relatives. 



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