[f. BREAK v. + STONE; a transl. of L. saxifraga.] A name given by herbalists to the Saxifrages; and vaguely to plants supposed to be related to them.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 111/1. Of the Saxifrage, or Breakstone, the husks are brownish green.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 5. It has obtain’d the Name of Saxifrage, and by a great many that of Break-Stone.
1846. Sowerby, Brit. Bot. (ed. 3), Breakstone, Parsley Piert, Alchemilla arvensis.
1863. Prior, Plant-n., 28.
