In OE. cnéow-holen. [f. KNEE sb. (perh. in reference to its height) + holen, HOLLY (as a prickly evergreen).] A name of Butcher’s Broom (Ruscus aculeatus).

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c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 162. Wið þone dropan,… ʓenim tweʓen scenceas fulle woses ðysse wyrt þe man … cneowholen nemneð.

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c. 1265.  Voc. Names Pl., in Wr.-Wülcker, 557/33. Frisgonem, i. fresgun, i. cnehole.

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1661.  Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 448. Asparagus, grasse, knee holly, marsh-mallows.

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1785.  Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxix. (1794), 461. Butcher’s Broom, or Knee Holly, bears its flowers in the middle of the leaves.

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1866.  Treas. Bot., 999.

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