ONO NIS NA'TRIX. 
GOA.T-ROOT REST-HARROW. 
Class. Order. 
monadelphia. decandria. 
Natural Order. 
LEGUMINOS^. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration 
Introduced 
S. Europe. 
18 inches 
May, to Oct. 
Perennial. 
in 1683. 
No. 926. 
The ancient Greeks, not unfrequently, displayed 
some rather odd fancies in the choice of their 
names of plants; and which seem occasionally to 
be mixed with humour. They sometimes used 
antiphrasis or irony, naming that as sweet which 
was bitter ; or that good, which was the contrary. 
The ass, their favourite animal, they often refer to, 
as in the present name Ononis, which implies that 
asses delight in the plant ; we have also Onosma, 
indicating that asses are pleased with its smell ; 
Onobrychys tells that asses gnaw the plant; and 
Onobroma, that it is their grateful food. We have 
also, names from the Greeks, signifying wolf’s face, 
apes face, pig’s snout, &c. 
The Ononis natrix was one of the standard 
greenhouse plants of the last century ; but in pots 
it has rarely been seen to present half the beauty 
which it displays when planted out in the open 
ground. Here it flourishes, and flowers so freely, 
as to be quite worth the trouble of striking cuttings 
in summer, and giving them winter protection in a 
cold frame, or sitting room; so that they may be 
in readiness to transfer to the borders in May. 
