For forms see LUNG and WORT. [OE. lungenwyrt, f. lungen LUNG + wyrt WORT.] The English name of various plants.
† 1. Hieracium murorum, also called French, Golden Lungwort. Obs.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 92. Nim … lungenwyrt seo biþ ʓeolu ufeweard.
1597. [see FRENCH a. 5].
1670. [see GOLDEN a. 10 b].
1796. [see FRENCH a. 5].
† 2. Black Hellebore, Helleborus niger. Obs.
c. 1265. Voc. Plants, in Wr.-Wülcker, 557/27. Eleborum, ellebre, lungwurt.
a. 1400–50. Stockh. Med. MS., 184. Longwourt or pelethre of Spanye (Eleborus).
c. 1450. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 580/2. Eleborus niger, longwort.
1611. Cotgr., Obre, Bastard blacke Hellebore, Lungwort, Christs-wort.
3. The boraginaceous plant Pulmonaria officinalis (Common Lungwort), having leaves with white spots, fancied to resemble the spots in a diseased lung.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Pulmonaria, an herbe callyd Lungworte.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 134. Take a handfull of beasts Loongwoort, a handfull of other Loongwoort that serueth for the pot.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 85/2. Lungwort, a kind of Moss, with broad tough leaves,… spotted on the upper side.
1787. trans. Linnæus’ Fam. Plants, I. 100. Pulmonaria (Lung-wort).
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., IV. 31.
1882. G. Allen, Colours Flowers, ii. 49. The lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) is also dark blue.
b. With qualification applied to plants of the allied American genus Mertensia.
1856. Delamer, Fl. Gard. (1861), 88. Mertensia Sibirica, the Siberian Lungwort, removed by modern botanists from the genus Pulmonaria,… is also sometimes styled Forget-me-not.
1866. Treas. Bot., Lungwort, smooth. Mertensia.
† 4. The Great Mullein, Verbascum Thapsus; called also Bullock’s, Clown’s, Cow’s Lungwort (see these sbs.). Obs.
1538. Turner, Libellus, Longwort, Verbascum.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxxxi. 120. Mulleyn is called in … English also … Longworte.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 246. Mvllen or Lungwort with the yellow golden floure.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 477. If it come from the sickness of the Lungs, then the herb called Lungwort or Creswort, is the most present remedy in the World.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Candelaria, the Herb Wooll-blade, Torchherb, Long-wort, or Mullein.
5. A species of lichen (Sticta pulmonacea or pulmonaria), otherwise known as Lungs of Oak (see LUNG 5) and Tree Lungwort (see TREE).
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxxi. 412. The seconde kinde [of Moss] groweth also about trees, the whiche is called Lungwurt.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 374. Lvngwort of the Oke … is good for the inflammations & ulcers of the lungs.
1756. Watson, in Phil. Trans., XLIX. 857. Lichen pulmonarius arboreus sive Pulmonaria arborea,… Lungwort, Oak Lungs.
1785. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxxii. (1794), 498. Lungwort or Tree Lichen, which hangs from old Oaks, and beeches in woods, has very large jagged leaves, smooth and ending obtusely.
1861. H. Macmillan, Footnotes fr. Page Nat., 106. The lung-wort (Sticta pulmonaria) … grows … on trees and rocks in sub-alpine woods.
† 6. Angelica, Archangelica officinalis. Obs.
[The form lungwort does not occur in this sense, and the ambiguous spelling longwort perh. indicates a distinct word, f. LONG a. But angelica was in fact used in ailments of the lungs.]
1552. Elyot, Dict., s.v. Angelica, Of this herbe be two kindes, one of the gardeyne … an other wilde, named linge worte or longe wurt.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Angelica, an hearbe whereof be two kindes, one of the garden called angelica or imperial, the other wilde: named lingwourt or longewourt.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Long-wort or Angelica, an Herb.
1731. Bailey, vol. II., Long-wort.
† 7. Toothwort, Lathræa Squamaria. (Also Clown’s Lungwort.) Obs.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, III. clxiii. 1387. Of great Toothwoorth, or Clownes Lungwoort. 1 Dentaria maior Mathioli. Great toothwoort, or Lungwoort. 2 Dentaria minor. Little Lungwoort. Ibid., 1388. Our countrey women do call it [Dentaria] Lungwoort, and do vse it against the cough and all other imperfections of the lungs.
