Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/276

A GL08SART OF DSVONSHIRE PLANT NAMES. 7 (6) Chryaanthemum FaftJiemum, L., a small variety of which besLis flowers closely resembling the Fyrethruniy on which account no doubt the people about Teignmouth transfer the name from the one to the other. (7) Cotyledon Umbilieite, L. Navel-wort or Penny-hat (8) Chranium Rohertianum^ L., may here be added to Mr. Britten's list, although the name is not common in Devon, but is the only name for the plant in some parts of Sussex. (The folklore of this plant is interesting. Shakespeare seems to refer to it in Merry Wives of Windsor^ Act iii sc. 2. Qf, Dyer's Efiglish FdJdore; Brewer's Dietumary of Phrase and Fable; Britten, p. 21 ; Prior, p. 13.) Bane, Vteia, L. The usual provincialism for bean. (See Earle, Philology of the English Tongue, pp. 170-178. Cf Trans. Devon. Assoc, vii 489.) Basam, cf BissoM. Basam. The red heath broom." (Devonr shire Courtship^ pp. 26, 63.) "The innocent vace o'en like basam." BflOKY Leaves, Veronica Beccabunga, L., Brooklime. The plant is sometimes employed in fomentations for bad legSj &c. I got the name from an intelligent old person at Goffinswell, near Torquay, who remarked that it was the old name, and the only one she knew, but added that many flowers, like the Wallflower, were losing their old names, and getting others that were quite different from those she used to know when she was young. I find no such name in the usual TCngliRh glossaries or herbals ; but the old Teutonic names at once explain this interesting survival Not a dozen miles from the celebrated Becky Falls we find a plant bearing their name. Beck, of course, is a stream or brook, a word in regular use in Yorkshire. The German and Swedish names also contain the element " beck," and Becabunga is connected with these Teutonic forms. Bebsom. Of. BiSSOM. Beggar's Buttons, Arctium Lappa, L. The flower-heads or burrs. {^Cf. Baohelor'b Buttons (5) and Britten, p. 33.) Bell, Hare, ScUla nutans, Sm. I was misled by the botanical name of the plant when I made the note on this name last year. (See infra Haeebeli^ and Traits. Devon. Assoc, xiii. 207. Britten, p. 34.) Belladonya, ScHanum Dulcamara, L. Two things are to be noted ; viz., (1) the pronunciation, and (2) the plant In one of my country rambles in June of this year I came to a cottage in an outlying hamlet, and was struck at the sight of a Honeysuckle on one side of the door, full of golden blossoms ', and on the other, meet- ing the Honeysuckle right overhead, a very fine vine of the Woody Nightshade, also in full bloom. Enquiring of the gude house- wife" what plant she had there, she answered, '<A bdlad&nya, sir." The syllable d^ rhymes with loan^ or lone. It is easy to see how the confusion has crept in when we remember that the