Obs. [cf. Ger. butterblume: perh. from color of the flower, but see quots. 1607 and 1762; the notion expressed in the latter is common both in England and Germany, but is unfounded, as cows do not eat the buttercup.]
1. An older name of the BUTTERCUP, q.v.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxxiv. 422. Some do also name it … in Englishe Goldcuppes, Goldknoppes, and Butterflowers.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 56. There is an herb much like crow-foot, called of the Germans ‘Butter-bloumen,’ and in English ‘butter-flower,’ which is used to colour butter.
1692. Poems in Burlesque, 9. New Rigg’d and gay, As Beaux or Butter-flowers in May.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VIII. 54. A verdant field overspread with butter-flowers, and daisies.
1762. B. Stillingfl., Nat. Hist., in Misc. Tracts, 359. It is a notion that prevails commonly that cows eat the crow-foot … and that this occasions the butter to be yellow, from whence I suppose it is generally known by the name of the butter-flower. But this I believe is all a mistake.
1792. [see BUTTERCUP 2].
1829. Loudon, Encycl., IV. 724. Butter-flower or Butter-cup is a species of Crowfoot.
1839. Hooper, Med. Dict., 290.
2. Blue butterflower: some unknown plant.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physic, 201/1. Take blewe butterflowers.
