† 1. The purple loosestrife, Lythrum Salicaria, or the willow-herb, Epilobium angustifolium. (The two plants seem to have been generally confused.)
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 130/2. Lysimachium, salicaria,… willow herbe, or loose strife, waterwillow.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Water-Willow, an Herb otherwise call’d Loose-strife.
1736. Ainsworth, Dict. Lat., Lysimachia, willow herb, or loose strife, water willow. Hence 1828–54 in Webster.
2. Applied to Salix aquatica and other species.
1850. Ogilvie, Water-willow,… the S[alix] aquatica, called also water-sallow.
1853. G. Johnston, Nat. Hist. E. Bord., I. 179. Salix helix. Water willow. Common on the margins of our gravel-bedded burns and rivers.
1886. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., Water Willow. Salix rubra, Hudson.
3. An American plant, Dianthera americana, with narrow leaves and purplish flowers, found growing on the borders of streams and ponds.
1856. A. Gray, Man. Bot. (1860), 297.
