142 A DICTIONARY OF 
Damasee. ‘ The damson. Damyse, Sqyr of Lowe Degre, 36. 
‘ ‘ Pere and appille bothe rippe thay were, 
The date and als the damasee” 
MS. Line. A. i. 17, f. 150.’— Hal. Wr. 
Lamasins (Prior, p. 62), or Damasyn. Palsgrave, Hal. See 
Damson. 
Damask Violet. Hesperis matronalis, L. — See Dame’s Violet. 
Prior, p. 62. 
Dame’s Gillofers. See Gillofers. 
Dame’s Violet. Hesperis matronalis, L. — Ger. ‘ Viola Damascena 
from Damascus in Syria, Fr. Violette des damas, misunderstood for 
Violette des dames.’ — Prior, p. 62. Skinner’s suggestions are ingenious. 
He says : ‘ Yel quod matrones hi flores propter pulchritudinem valde 
exj^etiti sunt, vel quod subtile illud linteamen Damascenum dictum, 
simul leni tractu, simul colore albido referant.’ In YTth. ed. iv. it is 
called Damewort. 
Damsel. The damson. — Ches. ; Yl^s. (Holderness), E. D. S. Gloss. 
C. 7, where it is spelt Damsil. Ireland (Antrim and Down.) 
Damson. Primus communis, Huds., var. dawxiscena, ‘A kind of 
plum first brought from Damascus.’ — Prior, p. 62. 
Damson, Wild. ‘ The bluish-black plums of the hedges.’ — Ylis. 
(Whitby), E. D. S. Gloss. C. 2. Primus insititia, L. ? 
Dandelion. (1) A name in general use for Leontodon Taraxacum, 
L. — Yl's. Prior, p. 62. In Turn. Lib. it is spelt Dandelyon, and in 
LjTe Dantdelyon, a near a];)proach to the original French form 
dent- de-lion. 
(2) Caltha paliistris, L. — Radnor (borders of Herefi). 
Daneball. Sambucus Bind us, L. — ‘ So, formerly, after the battle 
with the Danes at Swornfield, a certain shrub sprang up (therefore 
called Daneball, or Danewort, by others Dwarf Elder), which is said 
to be nowhere found but there, or transplanted from thence.’ — 
Camden, Britannia, ed. iii. 25. See also Danes’ Blood. 
Danes’ Blood. A name applied to three very different plants, and 
in every case connected with a legend that they sprung up from the 
blood ol Danes who had been killed in battle. For a full account of 
the tradition see Gard. Chron. 1875, p. 515. It is worthy of note that 
all three plants are so called in the vicinity of the Bartlow Hills 
{Camb.), and that these hills are said to have been thrown up by the 
Danes in commemoration of the battle fought between Cnut and 
Edmund Ironsides in 1016. 
(1) Sambucus Ebulus, L. — The plant usually so called in books. 
Aubrey appears to have been the first to record this name. Hal. Wr. 
Camb. ; Wilts. (Slaughtonford), Aubrey. Prior, p. 62. See Dane- 
wort and Blood Hilder. 
(2) Anemone Pulsatilla, L. — Camb., N. Ess., Norf. 
(3) Campanula glomerata, L. — Camb. 
Danes’ Flower. Anemone Pulsatilla, L. — Camb. See Daneball 
and Danes’ Blood. 
