saxifrage
(ˈsæksɪfrɪdʒ)
Also 6 saxfrage, saxefrage, sixfrag(e, 7 saxafrage, -phrage, 8 saxifrige.
[a. OF. saxifrage, saxefrage, sassifrage (13th c.), ad. L. saxifraga (sc. herba), in Pliny saxifragum (sc. adiantum): see next. Med.L. had also saxifragia, -fragium (It. sassifraga, -fragia).
The Latin name (= rock-breaking) was probably given because many species are found growing among stones and in the clefts of rocks. Pliny preferred to derive it from the supposed lithontriptic virtue of the plant (H.N. xxii. xxi. §64 calculos e corpore mire pellit frangitque), and this view has had great currency; but saxum is far from being synonymous with calculus.]
1. Any plant of the genus Saxifraga, esp. S. granulata (White Meadow Saxifrage). The numerous species are mostly dwarf herbs with tufted foliage and panicles of white, yellow or red flowers; many root in the clefts of rocks. Also applied to related plants, as the genus Chrysosplenium (Golden Saxifrage), Pimpinella Saxifraga (Burnet saxifrage or Rough S.) and P. magna (Great S.), Silaus pratensis (Meadow saxifrage or Pepper S.), the genus Seseli (Meadow S.).
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 442/1 Saxifrage, herbe, Saxifragium, Saxifragia. c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 163 Saxifragia uel saxifraga similis est pimpinello, radice utimur, g⊇. et a⊇. saxifrage. 1526 Grete Herball ccccxxxviii. (1529) Z iij, De Saxifraga minori. The lesse saxifrage. 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 87 The englishe mens Saxifragia, which they cal Saxifrage, hath leaues lyke smal perseley, & it groweth in middowes. c 1550 Lloyd Treas. Health N vij, Mingle it wyth Gillofloures and Sixfrag. 1551 Turner Herbal i. O iiij, Pimpinell or roughe saxifrage. 1568 Ibid. iii. 68 The white Saxifrage with the indented leafe is moste commended for the breakinge of the stone. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. cii. 287 Of white Saxifrage or Stone⁓breake. Ibid. 288 Golden Saxifrage. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccciv. 887 Burnet Saxifrage. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 221 So Saxifrage is good, and Harts-tongue for the Stone. 1651 D. Border Physitian 139 The root of Saxafrage drunk with Wine and Vinegar cureth the Pestilence. 1683 Ray Corr. (1848) 132 Whether the Seseli..be a species distinct from our English Meadow Saxifrage? 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xix. (1794) 270 Common White Saxifrage flowers early and in great quantities among the grass. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 295 Peucedanum Silaus..Meadow Saxifrage, or Sulphurwort. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 486/1 White or Granulated Meadow Saxifrage. 1846 Ibid. Suppl. II. 547/1 Silaus pratensis, Meadow Pepper Saxifrage. 1858 Kingsley Miscell. (1859) I. 164 The first stars of the white saxifrage,..which shine upon some green cushion of wet moss. |
b. (with pl.) Any member of the genus Saxifraga or of the N.O. Saxifragaceæ.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. ci. 286 The smal Saxifrages growe vnder hedges. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xix. (1794) 269 In the second [order] you have all the Saxifrages, forty⁓two in number. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 53 The Saxifrages of the division Euaizonia. |
† 2. Applied to caraway-seed. Obs.
| 1696 Phil. Trans. XIX. 350 Carum grows plentifully in our Pastures; the seed they call Saxifrage, which they gather and send to London. |
¶ 3. Misused for sassafras.
| 1670 D. Denton Descr. New York (1845) 4 The greatest part of the Island is very full of Timber, as..Maples, Cedars, Saxifrage, Beach. |
4. attrib., as saxifrage-root, saxifrage-seed, saxifrage-water.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health ccvii. (1557) 72 Putte thereto three vnces of Saxfrage rotes. Ibid. 72 b, I did take..of Saxfrage sedes..an vnce. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 86/1 Strawberry or Saxifrage Water. 1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 486/1 The roots of this species [Saxifraga granulata], forming as they do little granular masses, were at one time sold in the shops under the name of saxifrage seed. |