In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

The one that really stands out is Poterium sanguisorba - not merely
is that a reversal of an early taxonomic lunacy, they seem to be
having the gall to claim that the usual English name is now changed
from salad burnet to lesser burnet - assuming that "barnet" was a
typo :-) Well, they can get stuffed.

The English names were added by me, for my readers' benefit. Barnet was
a typo. Little burnet is my usage.

Ah! Sorry for maligning them, then. Did you invent little burnet,
or is it a less commonly used name? It's a pretty obvious one,
so I really can't guess - and, according to the rules of English
usage, if people start following you, then that becomes the name :-)

Quite possibly it's my invention. I don't really know the plant, so the
conventional name isn't stuck in my memory. But there's possibly a few
hundred hits in Google (compared to thousands for salad burnet), so I
wouldn't be the first inventor.

That's the story of my life :-) As I said, it's an obvious name.

I used to grow it. It's not a very useful herb (nor very decorative),
but can be used to add a cucumber flavour to salads (hence the name),
drinks (e.g. Pimms) etc.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.