[f. STITCH sb.1 + WORT (see quot. 1657).] A name for Stellaria Holostea. Also a book-name for the genus.
c. 1265. Voc. Plants, in Wr.-Wülcker, 557/30. Ualeriane, stichwurt.
a. 1387. Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.), 27. Lingua avis, i. stichewort i. pigle.
a. 1500. MS. Bodl. 536 lf. 33. Pygla maior i. pygyll or steche wort.
1516. Gt. Herbal, lxiii. (1529), D v b. De lingua anseris. Goos byll, or stychewort.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. xxxii. 42. Stitchwoort.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, cxlvi. It is called in English Stitch-wort, for its property in helping Stitches and pains in the sides.
1726. Threlkeld, Syn. Stirp. Hibern., Holosteum vernum,… The greater Stichwort.
1770. Berkenhout, Nat. Hist., II. 44. Sagina Erecta. Least Stichwort.
1861. S. Thomson, Wild Flowers (ed. 4), III. 187. The stellarias, or stitchworts.
1876. ‘Annie Thomas,’ Blotted out, xxix. 263. The great pure white, starlike blossoms of the stitchwort.
