62 
DERIVATIONS OF THE LATIN NAMES OF PLANTS, 
“ Adoxa loves the greenwood shade ; 
There, wavering through the verdant glade, 
Her scented seed she strews.” 
The flowers have a musky smell in the evening, or early in the morning, while 
moist with dew ; and hence, by some called Musk Crowfoot. 
Mgopodium. —From «/§, aws, a Goat, and ndctswv, a little foot: the leaves 
being cleft sometimes like a Goat’s-foot, whence Goat-weed would be a preferable 
name to Gout-weed. 
Mgopodium podagraria. —The root is pungently aromatic, with some acrimony, 
but it is not at all employed in medicine; nor has it any title to its name Gout- 
weed, though the Germans formerly used it to assuage the pain both of the gout 
and piles. Linn^us says it is eaten in Sweden, boiled for greens, when tender 
in the spring. The same author also informs us that Cows, Sheep, and Goats 
eat it, that Horses are not fond of it, and that Swine refuse it. 
Mthusa. —From ettBv<r<ru 9 to make warm, as does the pungency of the plant. 
Mthusa cynapium , Common Fool’s-parsley, Lesser Hemlock.—The whole 
plant is poisonous, and when eaten is said to cause vomiting, delirium, numbness 
of the extremities, and often death. We are'informed, in Mr. Loudon’s Gar¬ 
deners Magazine , Vol. II., p. 337, that a boy six years old, who had taken some 
of the plant for Parsley, at four o’clock, began immediately to utter cries of 
anguish, complained of cramps in the stomach, assumed a livid hue, and died at 
midnight. Another child, though the contents of his stomach were ejected, went 
out of his senses, but by great care ultimately recovered. Two ladies of Castle 
Donnington, in Leicestershire, partook of a salad into which some Fool’s-parsley 
had been put for Common Parsley; they suffered considerably, but ultimately 
recovered. We cannot, as Dr. Withering observes, be too particular in dis¬ 
criminating these deleterious herbs, especially as they are frequently found 
growing intermixed with culinary vegetables. This plant has been sometimes 
mistaken for Common Parsley, but it may be readily distinguished by its leaves, 
which are of a much darker green, more flat, and more finely divided. It also 
wants the peculiar smell of the Common Parsley. If the Curled-leaved Parsley 
only was cultivated in gardens, no such mistakes could happen. Fool’s-parsley 
may be distinguished from Hemlock (Conium maculatum) in the stem not being 
spotted, in its having but little smell, and by its more humble growth. Cows, 
Horses, Sheep, Goats, and Swine, are said to eat it. It is reported to be 
poisonous to Geese. 
Agrimonia. —From ocy^os, a field, and /xsvw, to inhabit; its usual station being 
in fields. Hooker says the name is corrupted from Argemone , given by the 
Greeks to a plant supposed to cure the cataract in the eye, called ; but the 
former derivation seems to be the most correct. 
