[Erroneous rendering of med.L. auricula Judæ Judas’s ear; so called from its shape, and from its being frequently found on the elder, on which tree Judas Iscariot was reputed to have hanged himself.]
1. An edible cup-shaped fungus (Hirneola or Exidia Auricula-Judæ) growing on the roots and trunks of trees, chiefly the elder, and formerly in repute as a medicine; also locally applied to species of Peziza (Britten & Holl., 1879).
1544. Phaër, Regim. Lyfe (1560), T j b. Take the musherom yt groweth upon an elder tree, called in englyshe Iewes eares.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, III. lxxi. 1233. There groweth oftentimes vpon [elders] a certaine excrescence called Auricula Iudæ or Iewes eare.
1634. Heywood & Brome, Witches Lanc., III. Wks. 1874, IV. 207. All the Sallets are turn’d to Iewes-eares.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. vi. 101. Jews eares … an excrescence about the roots of Elder, and concerneth not the Nation of the Jews, but Judas Iscariot, upon a conceit, he hanged on this tree.
1694. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 705/2. Let the Throat be anointed with Oil of Jews-Ears; which is made by boiling the Jews-Ears … in Oyl-Olive till they are crisp, and pressing out the Oyl, and repeating the boiling in like manner with fresh Jews-Ears, to the third time.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. lx. (1737), 245. Sallats, a Hundred Varieties, of Creeses,… Sives, Rampions, Jew’s Ears.
1882. Garden, 2 Sept., 207/2. There are several tree-growing edibles besides the two just mentioned. Of such is the Jew’s ear.
2. Locally applied to the Tomato (Britten & Holl.).
