"It is eaten," says Gerard, "in salads, as watercresses are, and is good against that _malum_ of such as dwell near the German seas, which we term the scurvie, or skirby, being used after the same manner that watercress and scurvy-grass is used, yet is it not of so great operation and virtue." The leaves and stem are slightly acid and astringent, with a somewhat bitter taste, and frequently the former are mixed by sellers of water-cresses with their stock-in-trade. [432] A full dose of the juice of fresh Brooklime is an easy purge; and the plant has always been a popular Simple for scrofulous affections, especially of the skin. Chemically, this Water Pimpernel contains some tannin, and a special bitter principle; whilst, in common with most of the Cruciferous plants, it is endowed with a pungent volatile oil, and some sulphur. The bruised plant has been applied externally for healing ulcers, burns, whitlows, and for the mitigation of swollen piles. The Bog Pimpernel (_Anagallis tenella_), is common in boggy ground, having erect rose-coloured leaves larger than those of the Poor Man's Weather Glass. PINK. The Clove Pink, or Carnation of our gardens, though found apparently wild on old castle walls in England, is a naturalised flower in this country. It is, botanically, the _Dianthus Caryophyllus_, being so named as _anthos_, the flower, _dios_, of Jupiter: whilst redolent of _Caryophylli_, Cloves. The term Carnation has been assigned to the Pink, either because the blossom has the colour, _carnis_, of flesh: or, as more correctly spelt by our older writers, Coronation, from the flowers being employed in making chaplets, _coronoe_. Thus Spenser says:-- "Bring Coronations, and Sops in Wine, Worn of paramours."--_Shepherd's Kalendar_.