alyssum Bot.
(ˈælɪsəm, older əˈlɪsəm)
[mod.L. for alysson (Pliny), a. Gr. ἄλυσσον name of a plant, perh. neut. of adj. ἄλυσσος ‘curing (canine) madness,’ f. ἀ priv. + λύσσα madness.]
1. Bot. A genus of Cruciferous plants, a yellow-flowered species of which (A. saxatile) popularly known as Gold-dust, is a favourite spring flower in English gardens. The early herbalists used the name very vaguely.
| 1551 Turner Herbal (1568) 21 Alysson is an herbe lyke vnto horehounde. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 107 Alysson..groweth upon rough mountaynes. 1731 Bailey, Alysson, comfrey. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., The species of alysson enumerated by Mr. Tournefort..The alysson is a medicinal plant. 1876 B. Taylor Echo Club 30 Such cakes of myrrh or fine alyssum seed. |
2. pop. sweet alyssum (or ˈalison), (Königa maritima), A small cruciferous plant with white flowers.
| 1822 Hortus Angl. II. 150 A. maritimum, Sweet Alyssum. c 1840 Campbell Dead Eagle 91 Fields white With alasum, or blue with bugloss. 1866 J. Syme in Treas. Bot. 536 The Sweet Alyssum of gardens is found in some places of Britain, but only imperfectly naturalized where escaped from gardens. 1873 Longfellow Rhyme St. Christ. 40 A modest flower⁓bed thickly sown With sweet alyssum and columbine. |