[f. FLY sb.1 + BANE.]
1. The popular name of various plants: (a) = CATCHFLY; (b) the ploughman’s spikenard (Inula Conyza); (c) (see quot. 1863).
1597. Gerard, Herball, Table Eng. names, Fliebane and his kinds, see catch Flie.
1819. Rees, Cycl., Fly-bane, in Botany, see Silene.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., III. 300. Inula Conyza (Ploughman’s Spikenard) … possesses, however, a valuable oil, which is used as a sudorific, and which is said to destroy insects; hence the plant is sometimes called Fly-bane.
1863. Prior, Plant-n., Flybane, from being used mixed with milk to kill flies. Agaricus muscarius L.
2. Poison for flies; in quot. the venom of spiders.
1704. Swift, Batt. Bks., 247. An over-weening Pride [in the Spider], which, feeding and engendering on itself, turns all into Excrement and Venom; producing nothing at all, but Fly-bane and a Cobweb.
