‖ behen
(ˈbiːhɛn)
Also behn, beën, ben.
[a. med.L. behen (found in other mod. langs.), app. corruption of Arab. bahman, behmen, a kind of root, also a dog-rose.]
1. A name which the old herbalists had received apparently from Arabic sources, without knowing to what plant it belonged, and which different authors consequently tried to identify with many different plants. In England it was chiefly affixed to the Bladder Campion (‘White Behen’), and Sea Lavender (‘Red Behen’).
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. xxii, Called..of herboristes at this day Behen, or Beën album. 1682 Grew Anat. Seeds i. §7 The Seed also of Ben or spatling Poppey is somewhat like a Kidney. 1769 Sir J. Hill Fam. Herbal (1812) 33 Red Behen, a wild plant about our sea coasts..also called by some sea lavender. 1721 Bailey, Behen, Behn, the root of Valerian, either red or white. 1783 ― Behen, Behn, there is the white and red; the first is likewise called..Bladder Campion; the other is also called..Sea Lavender. |
2. = ben.