that it hath.... It sharpneth the wit and memorie, strengthneth all the
principall parts of the bodie, quickneth all the senses, comforteth
the stomacke, procureth appetite, and hath a speciall vertue against
poyson, and preserueth from the Pestilence, and is excellent good
against any kinde of Feuer, being vsed in this manner: Take a dramme
of the powder, put it into a good draught of ale or wine, warme it and
drink it a quarter of an hour before the fit doth come, then goe to
bed, couer you well with clothes and procure sweate, which by the force
of the herbe will easily come foorth, and so continue vntill the fit be
past.... For which notable effects this herbe may worthily be called
_Benedictus_ or _Omnimorbia_, that is a salue for euery sore, not
knowen to Physitians of old time, but lately reuealed by the speciall
providence of Almighty God."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 545.
[E222] "Purslane," in Turner's Herball _Purcellaine_, in the Grete
Herball _Porcelayne_, in Dodoens _Purcelayne_. "It is good against St.
Antonies fier, called _erysipelas_."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 576. "Purslain
in Latin is called _Portulaca, a portula_ = a little gate, because they
fancied it to be like one."--Lemery's Treatise on Foods, 1704, p. 92.
[E223] "Rampions," Fr. _raiponce_, "a word mistaken as in the case
of _cerise_ and _pease_, for a plural, and the _m_ inserted for
euphony."--Dr. Prior, Popular Names of British Plants.
[E224] "Men say that who so taketh the seede of Rockat before he be
beaten or whipt, shalbe so hardened that he shall easily endure the
payne, according as Plinie writeth."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 622. What a
pity Tusser did not know of this property of the Rocket! from his own
account he had plenty of opportunities of testing it at Eton.
[E225] "Sage causeth wemen to be fertill, wherefore in times past the
people of Egypt, after a great mortalite and pestilence, constreyned
their wemen to drinke the iuyce therof, to cause them the sooner to
conceyue, and to bring foorth store of children."--Lyte's Dodoens, p.
252.
[E226] "Sea holie." _Eryngium maritimum_, Linn. "The leaves are good
to be eaten in sallads."--Langham's Garden of Health. "The young and
tender shoots are eaten of divers either raw or pickled."--Parkinson,
Theatrum Botanicum, 1640, p. 988.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E227] "Sampere is a weede growing neare the sea-side, and is very
plentifull about the Ile of Man, from whence it is brought to diuers
parts of England, preserved in Brine, and is no lesse wholesome than
Capers."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 64. The Eng. Samphire is a
corruption of the Fr. Herbe de _Saint Pierre_, from its growing on the
rocks on the sea-shore. The leaves are used in the form of a pickle as
an article of diet.
[E228] "The _Ionians_ had so much Veneration for them that they swore
by _Cabbages_, and were therein as superstitious as the _Egyptians_,
who gave divine Honours to _Leeks_ and _Onions_, for the great Benefits
which they said they received from them."--Lemery's "Treatise on
Foods," 1704, p. 73.
[E229] "Citrons," according to Lyte, p. 704, will cure "tremblynge
of the hart and pensiue heavinesse, wamblynges, vomitinges, and
lothsomnesse of the stomache." The citron was probably introduced into
Europe with the orange by the Arab conquerors of Spain, and first
received in England from that country. By a MS. in the Tower it appears
that in 1290, 18 Edw. I., a large Spanish ship came to Portsmouth,
and that from her cargo Queen Eleanor purchased Seville figs, dates,
pomegranates, 15 _Citrons_, and 7 _poma de orenge_.--Way in Prompt.
Parv.
[E230] "The garden Basill is called in English _Basill Royall_ or
_Basill gentle_, and the smaller kinde is called _Bushse_ (sic)
_Basill_. The herbe brused with vineger and holden to the nose of
suche as are faynt and fallen into a sound bringeth them againe to
themselues, and the seede therof giuen to be smelled upon causeth the
sternutation or niesing."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 241. "One thing I read in
Hollerius (Lib. i. cap. i.) of Basill, which is wonderfull. 'A certaine
Italian, by often smelling to Basill, had a scorpion bred in his
braine, and after vehement and long paines he died thereof.'"--Cogan's
Haven of Health, p. 50. See also 51. 34.
[E231] "Costmary, L. _Costus amarus_, Fr. _coste amere_, misunderstood
as _Costus Mariæ_, an error that has very naturally arisen from this
plant having been dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, and called after
her, _Maudlin_, either in allusion to her box of scented ointment, or
to its use in the uterine affections over which she presided. In old
authors it occurs as _Herba sanctæ_ or _divæ Mariæ_."--Dr. R. Prior,
Popular Names of Brit. Plants. Called also Alecost from its having
formerly been esteemed an agreeable aromatic bitter, and much used for
flavouring ale: "If you list to make a pleasant drinke, and comfortable
to the stomache, put certaine handfuls of this herbe in the bottome of
a vesselle, and tunne up new Ale vpon it."--Cogan, Haven of Health, ch.
69.
[E232] "Paggles," spelt also Paigle, Pagle, Pagel, Peagle, Pegyll and
Pygil, a name now confined to the Eastern Counties, and generally
assigned to the Cowslip, but by Ray and Moor to the _Ranunculus
bulbosus_. The derivation is uncertain. "Blake (yellow) as a
paigle."--Ray. In Suffolk the name is applied to the Crowfoot, the
_Cuckoo-flower_.
[E233] "Our common germander or thistle benet is found and knowne to
bee so wholesome and of so great power in medicine, as anie other
hearbe, if they be vsed accordinglie."--Harrison, Descript. of Eng.,
ed. Furnivall, pt. i. p. 326. "The iuyce of the leaues mengled with
oyle, and straked vpon the eyes, driueth away the white cloude,
called the Hawe or Pearle in the eye, and all manner dimness of the
same."--Lyte's Dodoens, p. 25.
[E234] "That which is commonly called Sothernewood is the male kinde
of this herbe, and that which we doe call _Lauender-cotten_ is the
female, named in Latine _Cypressus_ or _Santolina_. The setting of
_Lauender-cotten_ within the house in floure pots must needes be very
wholesome, for it driveth away venemous wormes, both by strawing, and
by the sauour of it, and being drunke in wine it is a remedie against
poyson."--Cogan's Haven of Health, p. 56.
[E235] "Mawdelin," spelt also _Maudlin, Mawdeleyn_ and _Maudeline_,
appears to have derived its name similarly to _Costmary_, q.v., and to
have been applied to the same uses.
[E236] "Baies," Bays, from French _baie_, which is formed from
Lat. _bacca_ = a berry. In old writers _bay_ is used for a _berry_
generally, as "the bayes of ivyne," but in time the term came to be
applied to the berries of the _sweet bay_, called by Virgil _lauri
baccas_, from their being an article of commerce; from the berry the
term was extended to the tree itself.
[E237] "Bachelor's Buttons." So called, according to Johnson's Gerarde,
p. 472, "from their similitude to the jagged cloathe buttons anciently
worne in this kingdom," but according to others from "a habit of
country fellows to carry them in their pockets to divine their success
with their sweethearts." Called by Lyte (Dodoens, p. 421), _Goldcup_
or _Gold knoppe_, and described as a double variety of the flower now
known so well as the Butterflower, or Buttercup, the Fr. _bouton d'or_.
[E238] "Columbine," called Colourbine in Lincoln, _Aquilegia vulgaris_,
used for making stuffed chine.
"There are many sorts of Colombines, as well differing in forme as
colour of the flowers, and of them both single and double carefully
noursed up in our gardens, for the delight both of their forme and
colours."--Parkinson, _Paradisus_, 1629, p. 271.--Note by Mr. J.
Britten, F.L.S.
[E239] "Daffadowndilly, Daffodilly, Affodilly, and Daffodil, Lat.
_asphodelus_, from which was formed Affodilly, the name of it in all
the older writers, but subsequently confused with that of another
flower, the so-called _sapharoun_ or saffron _lily_:
"'The thyrde _lylye_ ȝyt there ys,
That ys called felde lylye, y wys,
Hys levys be lyke to _sapharoun_,
Men know yt therby many one.'
--MS. Sloane, 1571.
"With the taste for alliteration that is shown in popular names, the
_Sapharoun-lily_, upon blending with _affodilly_, became, by a sort
of mutual compromise, _daffadowndilly_, whence our _daffodilly_ and
_daffodil_."--Dr. R. A. Prior, Popular Names of British Plants. "Strew
me the ground with daffadowndillies."--Spenser, Shep. Cal. 140.
[E240] "Eglantine," a word of doubtful origin. Chaucer writes it
_eglatere_ and _eglentere_. Fr. _aiglantier_, Prov. _aiglentina_ = wild
rose. Diez derives it from Lat. _aculeus_ = a prickle, through the adj.
_aculentus_.
[E241] Feverfew (_Pyrethrum parthenium_), a genus of Composite
plants, common in our gardens, and deriving its name from having long
been employed as a popular remedy in ague and other fevers, and as an
emmenagogue. It appears to possess stimulant and tonic properties. It
is a perennial plant, and may attain a height of one or two feet. Its
leaves are flat and broad, its flowers small. It is nearly allied to
Camomile. The variety grown in gardens is well known under the name of
"golden feather."
[E242] "Flower armor," evidently the _Floramor_, Fr. _fleur d'amour_,
from a misconception of its Latin name _Amaranthus_, as though a
compound of _Amor_, love, and _anthus_, a flower.
[E243] "Flower de luce," the _flos deliciarum_ of the Middle Ages.
Ducange, quoting from the history of the Harcourts, says:--"Thomas,
Dux Exoniæ habet comitatum de Harcourt ... per homagium ac reddendum
_florem deliciarum_ apud Castrum de Rouen," etc. (A.D. 1423).
Another derivation is as follows:--"Louis VII. dit le Jeune, prit le
premier des _fleurs de lis_, par allusion à son nom de Loys (comme
on l'écrivait alors). On a dit dans ce temps-là _Fleur de Loys_,
puis _Fleur de Louis_, enfin, _Fleur de Lis_." (Grandmaison, Dict.
Heraldique.) The flower that he chose seems to have been a _white_ one,
for Chaucer says:
"His nekke was white as is the flour de lis."
In E. K.'s Glossary to Spenser's Shep. Cal. April, we read "_Flower
delice_, that which they use to misterme _Flowre deluce_ being in the
Latine called _Flos delitiarum_."
[E244] According to Lyte the Flower Gentle is identical with the
Floramor (see above). Various species of _Amaranthus_, including the
Flower amor (43. 10), and what we now call _Celosia cristata_, or
Cockscomb, were included under this name. Parkinson (Paradisus, p. 370)
says: "We have foure or five sorts of Flower-gentle to trimme up this
our Garden withall."--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E245] "Gilliflower, formerly spelt _gyllofer_ and _gilofre_ with the
_o_ long, from Fr. _giroflée_, ltal. _garofalo_, in Douglas's Virgil
_jereflouris_, words formed from M. Lat. _garoffolum, gariofilum_, or,
as in Albert Magn. (lib. vi. cap. 22), _gariofilus_, corrupted from
Lat. _caryophyllum_ = a clove, and referring to the spicy odour of the
flower, which seems to have been used in flavouring wines to replace
the more costly clove of India. The name was originally given in India
to plants of the Pink tribe, especially the carnation, but has in
England been transferred of late years to several Cruciferous plants.
That of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakspere was, as in Italy, _Dianthus
caryophyllus_, Linn., that of later writers and gardeners _Matthiola_
and _Cheiranthus_, Linn. Much of the confusion in the names of plants
has arisen from the vague use of the French terms _Giroflée, Oeillet_,
and _Violette_, which were, all three of them, applied to flowers of
the Pink tribe, but subsequently extended, and finally restricted in
English to very different plants. _Giroflée_ has become _Gilliflower_,
and passed over to the _Cruciferæ, Oeillet_ has been restricted to
the _Sweet Williams_, and _Violette_ has been appropriated to one
of the numerous claimants of its name, the genus to which the pansy
belongs."--Dr. R. A. Prior.
[E246] "Holiokes," in Huloet's Dict. Holy Hoke. Wedgwood (Etym. Dict.)
derives it from A.S. _hoc_, Welsh _hocys_ = a mallow, and says that it
obtained the title of _Holy_ from its being brought from the Holy Land,
where it is indigenous.
[E247] "Indian Eie." This was probably a _Dianthus_ of some kind
(French _œillet_), the same perhaps which is now grown in our gardens
as Indian or Chinese Pink.
[E248] _Laus tibi_, "a narcissus with white flowers. It groweth
plenteously in my Lorde's garden in Syon and it is called of divers
White Laus tibi."--Turner's Herball, pt. ii. b. 2. "It is very
difficult to ascertain what plant was meant by this name, which is
also mentioned by Turner in his 'Names of Herbes' (1548), and in his
'Libellus' (1538), where there is a long disquisition concerning it. It
may be _Narcissus poeticus_, L., as Mr. B. D. Jackson supposes in his
reprint of the 'Libellus' or possibly _N. biflorus_, L."--Note by Mr.
J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E249] "Lillium cum vallium," the "Lily of the Valley," in Lyte
_Lyllie Conuall_, and also termed _May Blossoms, May Lyllies_, and
_Lyryconfancy_.
[E250] "Nigella Romana." The _Nigella Damascena_, Linn., a favourite
old-fashioned garden annual, still to be met with in gardens under the
names of "Love-in-a-mist," or "Devil-in-a-bush."
[E251] "Pansy," or Paunce, Fr. _pensée_, thought. According to Dr.
Johnson the name is derived from Lat. _panacea_, but there is no
evidence of the plant ever having been so called, or having been
regarded as a panacea. It has received more popular names perhaps
than any other plant, both in our own and in foreign languages. The
following are some of the quaint titles given to it: "Cull me to you,"
or "Cuddle me to you," "Love and Idle," "Live in Idleness," "Love in
Idleness" (originally "Love in idle," _i.e._ in vain); "Love in idle
Pances," "Tittle my fancy," "Kiss me, ere I rise," "Jump up and kiss
me," "Kiss me at the garden gate," "Pink of my John," "Herb Trinity,"
and "Three faces under one hood," from the three colours combined in
one flower. It was also called "Hearts-ease," and "Flame flower" (M.
Lat. _Viola flammea_).
_Heartsease_, a term meaning "_a cordial_," as in Sir W. Scott's
Antiquary, ch. xi., "Buy a dram to be eilding and claise, and a supper
and _hearts-ease_ into the bargain," given to certain plants supposed
to be cardiac: at present [applied] to the _pansy_ alone, but by Lyte,
Bulleyn, and W. Turner, to the _Wallflower_ equally.--Dr. R. A. Prior's
Popular Names of British Plants, which see for an account of the origin
of the name.
[E252] "Sops-in-Wine," the Clove Gilliflower, _Dianthus caryophyllus_,
L., so called from the flowers being used to flavour wine or ale. Cf.
Chaucer's Rime of Sir Thopas, B. 1950:
"Ther springen herbes grete and smale,
The lycorys and cetewale,
And many a clowe gilofre,
And notemuge to putte in ale,
Whether it be moyste or stale."
"Bring Coronations and _Sops in wine_ worne of Paramoures."
---Spenser, Shep. Cal. April.
"Garlands of Roses and _Sopps in Wine_."--Ibid. May. E. K., in his
Glossary, says: "_Sops in Wine_, a flowre in colour much like a
_coronation_ (carnation), but differing in smel and quantitye."
[E253] "Sweete Williams,"from Fr. _œillet_, Lat. _ocellus_, a
little eye, corrupted to _Willy_, and thence to _William_, "in
reference, perhaps, to a popular ballad, 'Fair Margaret and Sweet
William,' [printed in Ritson's Early Songs and Ballads, ed. Hazlitt,
1877] a name assigned by W. Bulleyn (f. 48) to the Wallflower, but by
later herbalists and modern gardeners, as here, to a species of pink,
_Dianthus barbatus_, Linn. According to an article in the Quarterly
Review (No. 227), it formerly bore the name of 'Sweet Saint William';
but the writer gives no reference, and probably had no authority for
saying so."--Dr. R. A. Prior, pp. 228 and 250.
[E254] "Sweete Johns." Apparently a variety of Sweet William. See
Parkinson's "Paradisus," pp. 319, 321, for descriptions and figures:
"The chiefe differences betweene them are, that [Sweet Williams] have
broader, and darker greene leaues, somewhat brownish, especially
towards the points, and that the flowers stand thicker and closer,
and more in number together, in the head or tuft."--Note by Mr. J.
Britten,, F.L.S.
[E255] "Star of Jerusalem." This is usually _Tragopogon pratensis_,
L., as in Gerard, p. 736, but some other plant is likely to be meant
here.--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E256] "Tuft gilleflowers." Probably some low-growing _Dianthus_,
such as that figured as "Matted Pinkes" by Parkinson (Paradisus, p.
315).--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.
[E257] "Veluet flowers," according to Dr. Prior, the
"love-lies-bleeding," _Amaranthus caudatus_, Linn., from its crimson
velvety tassels; according to Lyte, the same as the Flower Gentle, or
Floramor, Fr. _passevelours, A. tricolor_, Linn.
[E258] "Eyebright." "Divers Authours write that goldfinches, linnets,
and some other Birds make use of this Herb for the repairing of their
own and their young ones sight."--Coles, "Adam in Eden," 1657, p. 46.
It is the "Euphrasy" of Milton, P. L. xi. 414. A similar story is told
of the Hawk-weed. See Pliny (lib. xx. c. 7).
[E259] "Fumetorie," Fr. _fume terre_, Lat. _fumus terræ_, earth-smoke,
it being believed to be produced without seed from vapours arising
from the earth, as stated by Platearius: "Dicitur _fumus terræ_, quod
generatur a quadam fumositate grossâ, a terrâ resolutâ, et circa
superficiem terræ adherente." Pliny (lib. xxv. c. 13) says that it
takes its name from causing the eyes to water when applied to them, as
smoke does;
"Take youre laxatives
Of lauriol, centaure, and _fumytere_."
--Chaucer, Nonnes Prestes Tale, 143.
See Burton's Anat. of Melancholy, pp. 432-3 and 438, ed. 1845.
[E260] "Woodrofe," spelt according to an old distich thus:
"Double U, double O, double D, E,
R, O, double U, double F, E."
It derives its name originally from the Fr. _roue_ = a wheel, dimin.
_rouelle_, the leaves being set on the stems so as to resemble the
large _rowels_ of ancient spurs.
[E261] "Archangel." This is _Archangelica officinalis_, the stalks of
which "were formerly blanched and eaten as Celeri.... The gardeners
near London, who have ditches of water running through their gardens,
propagate great quantities of this plant, for which they have a
great demand from the confectioners, who make a sweetmeat with the
tender stalks of it cut in May."--Martyn's ed. of Miller's Gardener's
Dictionary. It is still sometimes grown in gardens for use in the
above-mentioned manner. According to Cogan (Haven of Health, p. 71), it
will cure the bite of a mad dog.
[E262] According to Cogan "Cummin" was extensively used for washing
the face, it having the effect, if not used too often, of making the
complexion clear; if used to excess, it caused paleness. He continues,
"In Matthiolus (lib. 3, cap. 60) I reade a practise to be wrought with
_Cummine_ seedes, and (as I thinke) hath been vsed in time past of
Monkes and Friers. They that counterfait holinesse and leannesse of
bodie, doe often vse Cummine seedes in their meates, and be perfumed
therewith."--Haven of Health, p. 47.
[E263] "Detanie." Dittany (_Origanum onites_, Linn.) was commonly
cultivated in gardens at this period. Gerard, p. 795, says it is "a hot
and sharpe hearbe," and speaks of it as biting the tongue.
[E264] Gromell, Grummel, or Gray myle, as Turner says it should be
written, from _granum solis_ and _milium solis_ together. "That is al
one," says the Grete Herbal, "_granum solis_ and _milium solis_." The
common _gromwell_ or gray millet, _Lithospermum officinale_, Linn.,
was formerly esteemed as a remedy for the stone and other diseases.
In a treatise on the virtues of plants, written in the 15th century,
Roy. MS. 18 A. vi. f. 766, the following description is given: "_Granum
solis_ ys an herbe þat me clepyþ _gromel_, or lyþewale: thys herbe haþ
leuys þat be euelong, and a lytyl white flour, and he haþ whyte seede
ischape as a ston that me clepyþ margery perl." Cotgrave gives "Gremil,
grenil, the hearb _gromill, grummell_, or _graymill_, peare-plant,
lichewall." The word is derived by Skinner "_a granis sc. lapideis, quæ
pro seminibus habet, q.d. granile._"--Way, in Prompt. Parv. "Grumelle,
_milium, gramen solis_."--Catholicon Anglicum.
[E265] "Louage," spelt in Prompt. Parv. and in Holland's Trans. of
Pliny, _love-ache_, as though it were love-parsley. French _levesche_,
A.S. _lufestice, Levisticum officinale_, Koch.
[E266] "Mandrake." Matthioli (lib. iv. c. 61) tells us that Italian
ladies in his own time had been known to pay as much as 25 and 30
ducats for one of the artificial mandrakes (common white bryony) of
itinerant quacks, and describes the process of their manufacture.
They were supposed to remove sterility; hence Rachel's anxiety to
obtain them (Genesis xxx. 14). There were numerous other superstitions
regarding this plant; amongst others it was said to shriek when torn
up. See Gerard's Herbal, 1597, p. 280, and Peacock's Glossary of
Manley, etc., E. D. Soc. Lupton (Book of Notable Things, iii. 39) gives
instructions for the manufacture of Mandrakes from bryony roots. The
true Mandrake is _Atropa Mandragora_, Linn.
[E267] Mogwort. "Mugwort, a name that corresponds in meaning with its
synonym _wyrmwyrt_, wormwood, from O.E. _mough, moghe_, or _moughte_, a
maggot or moth.
'And wormes and _moghes_ on þe same manere
Sal þat day be in wittenes broght;'
--Hampole, Pricke of Conscience, l. 5572;
and Wycliffe (Matt. vi. 20):
'Where neþer ruste ne _moughte_ destruyeþ.'
The name was given to this plant from its having been recommended by
Dioscorides to ward off the attacks of these insects. 'Mogwort, al on
as seyn some, modirwort: lewed folk þat in manye wordes conne no rygt
sownynge, but ofte shortyn wordys, and changyn lettrys and silablys,
þey corruptyn þe _o_ into _u_, and _d_ into _g_, and syncopyn _i_,
smytyn awey _i_ and _r_, and seyn mugwort.'--MS. Arundel, 42, f. 35. It
is unnecessary to have recourse to this singular process. The plant was
known both as a _moth-wort_ and as a _mother-wort_, but while it was
used almost exclusively as a _mother-wort_, it still retained, at the
same time, the name of _mugwort_, a synonym of _moth-wort_. In Ælfric's
glossary it is called _matrum herba_--Dr. R. A. Prior. See Brand's Pop.
Antiq. for an account of the superstitious custom of seeking under the
root of this plant on Midsummer-eve for a coal, to serve as a talisman
against many disasters.
[E268] "Rew." Shakspere, Hamlet, iv. 5. 181: "There's rue for you; and
here's some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays." And Winter's
Tale, iv. 4. 74:
"For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep
Seeming and savour all the winter long:
Grace and remembrance be to you both."
Some suppose it to have been called "herb of grace" on account of the
many excellent properties it was held to possess, being a specific
against poison, the bites of venomous creatures, etc.; but probably it
was so called because "rue" means "repent." Cf. also Richard II. Act
iii. sc. 4. 105:
"Here in this place
I'll set a bank of _rue_, sour herb of grace."
[E269] "Bots." "Pease an beanes are as danke here as a dog, and this is
the next way to give poor jades the _bottes_."--Shakspere King Henry
IV. Act ii. sc. 1. "Begnawne with _bots_."--Taming of Shrew, Act iii.
sc. 2.
"Sauin." "It is often put into horses' drenches, to helpe to cure them
of the bots, and other diseases."--Parkinson, Paradisus, p. 607.
[E270] "Stitchwort," spelt _Stich-wurt_ in Mayer and Wright, Nat.
Antiquities, 1857, and given from a thirteenth century MS. as the
translation of "Valeriane." Supposed to possess the power of curing
a pain or _stitch_ in the sides.--See Gerard's Herbal, 1597, p. 43.
_Stellaria Holostea_, Linn.
[E271] "Woodbine," not a _bine_ that _grows in woods_, but a creeper
that binds or entwines trees, the honeysuckle. A.S. _wudu-winde_ and
_wudu-bind_, from _wudu_ = a tree, and _windan, bindan_ = to entwine.
In Shakspere (Mids. Night Dr. Act iv. sc. 1) it seems to mean the
bittersweet:
"So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle
Gently entwist."
[E272] "Gregorie." "This day (12th March) seems to have been much used
as a date for agricultural observances: cf. 37. 3. In connexion with
this it is worth while to note the Suabian saying, 'Säe Erbsen Gregori'
(sow cabbage on St. Gregory's Day). See Swainson's Weather Folklore, p.
168."--Note by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S.