[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."