plant
with smooth leaves, and small flowers of bright blue, being found in
situations favourable to the growth of the watercress. It is the _brok
lempe_ of old writers, _Veronica beccabunga_, the syllable _bec_
signifying a beck or brook; or perhaps the whole title comes from
the Flemish _beck pungen_, mouth-smart, in allusion to the pungent
taste of the plant.

"It is eaten," says Gerard, "in salads, as watercresses are, and is
good against that _malum_ of such as dwell near the German seas,
which we term the scurvie, or skirby, being used after the same
manner that watercress and scurvy-grass is used, yet is it not of so
great operation and virtue." The leaves and stem are slightly acid
and astringent, with a somewhat bitter taste, and frequently
the former are mixed by sellers of water-cresses with their
stock-in-trade.

[432] A full dose of the juice of fresh Brooklime is an easy purge;
and the plant has always been a popular Simple for scrofulous
affections, especially of the skin. Chemically, this Water Pimpernel
contains some tannin, and a special bitter principle; whilst, in
common with most of the Cruciferous plants, it is endowed with a
pungent volatile oil, and some sulphur. The bruised plant has been
applied externally for healing ulcers, burns, whitlows, and for the
mitigation of swollen piles.

The Bog Pimpernel (_Anagallis tenella_), is common in boggy
ground, having erect rose-coloured leaves larger than those of the
Poor Man's Weather Glass.

PINK.

The Clove Pink, or Carnation of our gardens, though found
apparently wild on old castle walls in England, is a naturalised
flower in this country. It is, botanically, the _Dianthus
Caryophyllus_, being so named as _anthos_, the flower, _dios_, of
Jupiter: whilst redolent of _Caryophylli_, Cloves. The term Carnation
has been assigned to the Pink, either because the blossom has the
colour, _carnis_, of flesh: or, as more correctly spelt by our older
writers, Coronation, from the flowers being employed in making
chaplets, _coronoe_. Thus Spenser says:--

"Bring Coronations, and Sops in Wine,
Worn of paramours."--_Shepherd's Kalendar_.

This second title, Sops in Wine, was given to the plant because the
flowers were infused in wine for the sake of their spicy flavour;
especially in that presented to brides after the marriage ceremony.
Further, this Pink is the Clove Gilly (or _July_) flower, and gives its
specific name to the natural orde