[See quot. 1597.] a. A name for the shrub Mezereon (Daphne Mezereum) or other species of Daphne. b. A shrub of the genus Cneorum (N. O. Simarubaceæ), esp. C. tricoccum, a dwarf shrub with evergreen leaves and pink sweet-scented flowers, found in Spain and the south of France.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, III. lviii. 1215. Chamelæa Arabum Tricoccos. Widow Wayle…. It is also named of diuers Oliuella, as Mathæus Syluaticus saith: it is called in English Widow Wayle. quia facit viduas. Ibid., lx. 1217. Thymelea. Spurge Flaxe, or mountaine Widow Wayle.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXIV. xv. II. 198. Chamelæa [marg.] otherwise called Mezereon, Widow-waile.
1697. Phil. Trans., XIX. 396. Tricoccos Shrubs called Widdow-Wayles.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 331. Widow Wail, Cneorum.
1846. Keichtley, Notes Virgil, Flora 380. Spurge-flax or Mountain Widow-wail.
