IRecftsies. 
And nothing teems 
But hateful Docks, rough Thistles, Kecksies, Burs, 
Losing both beauty and utility .—Henry V, v, 2, 51. 
ECKSIES or Kecks are the dried and withered 
stems of the Hemlock, and the name is occasion¬ 
ally applied to the living plant. It seems also 
to have been used for any dry weeds or 
seeds— 
“All the wyves of Tottenham came to se that syght, 
With Wyspes, and Kexis, and ryschys ther lyght, 
To fech hom ther husbandes, that wer tham trouth plyght.” 
“The Tournament of Tottenham,” in Ritson’s 
Ancient Songs and Ballads. 
“Men have learned of late to sow ashen Kexes in Ashyards by them¬ 
selves.”— Harrison’s England, 1587, ii. 20. 
1Rnot*®rass. 
Get you gone, you dwarf; 
You minimus, of hindering Knot-grass made ; 
You bead, you Acorn .—Midsummer Nighfs Dream, iii. 2, 328. 
The Knot-grass is the Polygonum oviculare , a British weed, 
low, straggling, and many-jointed, hence its name of Knot- 
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