Bot. [Partly corruption of boþel, BUDDLE; partly a special use of BOTTLE sb.1, from the shape of the ovary or calyx in some of the plants so named.] The popular name of several plants, chiefly with adj. denoting color, as BLUE-BOTTLE, q.v.; White Bottle, Silene inflata; Yellow Bottle, Chrysanthemum segetum (= BUDDLE); Bottle of all sorts, the Pulmonaria officinalis ‘no doubt in allusion to the flowers of two different colours.’ See Britten and Holland.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 95. Herbes, branches, and flowers, for windowes and pots. Botles, blew, red and tawnie.
1633. Gerard’s Herbal, II. ccli. 734. The Violet-coloured Bottle or Corne-floure.
