ˈcow-wheat Herb.
[From the prevalence of the species Melampyrum arvense in wheat fields, where its black seeds are apt to be mixed with the grain: hence Gr. µελάµπῡρον ‘black wheat’; the Eng. name answers to med.L. triticum vaccinum or bovinum, Fr. blé de vache, Ger. kuhweizen, in 16th c. kuweyssen (Dodoens), Du. koeweyte (Kilian): cf. cow n.1 9.]
1. A plant, Melampyrum arvense, family Scrophulariaceæ, which grows in corn-fields in the E. and S. of England, and in the Isle of Wight. Sometimes distinguished from other species as purple cow-wheat.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xiv. 163 Horse floure, or Cowe wheate..hath a straight stemme. 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. lxviii. 91 The seed of cow wheat raiseth up fumes. |
2. Extended as a book-name to the other species of Melampyrum, as crested cow-wheat (M. cristatum), meadow cow-wheat (M. pratense), wood cow-wheat (M. sylvaticum).
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. lxix. 91 Red leafed wild Cow wheat. 1756 Sir J. Hill Herbal 123 Cow-wheat, Melampyrum. The flower consists of a single petal, and approaches to the labiated shape. 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 223 We can scarce miss the yellow corollas of the Melampyrum pratense, or common cow-wheat. |
3. Locally applied to the yellow rattle, Rhinanthus Crista-galli.
So in S. W. Cumberland (Britten and Holland).