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):