Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from "Mike Lyle"
[...]
is/was also called "Bear's Foot", and in Medieval Latin _branca
ursina_, "bear's claw".
[...]
It has a long medicinal history. Culpeper's herbal refers to
acanthus as "brank-ursine". I'm wondering if the brank, refers to the
OE/old celtic word branks meaning a scolds bridle, a sort of metal
helmet for women who talked too much ( sucks to anyone who thought
this thread had escaped from all that! ) .Variations of the scolds
bridle
were given animal names.

The acanthus flower could be imagined to look rather helmet-like.

I think the English is just an adaptation of late Latin _branca_, "paw".
"Brank[s]" for "scold's bridle" is a Scots word of unestablished origin.
In English English "Brank" was also used for buckwheat, but I don't
think there's a connection there.

--
Mike.