Note E264 — 45.
Reading edition
Gromell, Grummel, or Gray myle, as Turner says it should be written, from granum solis and milium solis together. "That is al one," says the Grete Herbal, "granum solis and milium solis." The common gromwell or gray millet, Lithospermum officinale, Linn., was formerly esteemed as a remedy for the stone and other diseases. In a treatise on the virtues of plants, written in the 15th century, Roy. MS. 18 A. vi. f. 766, the following description is given: "Granum solis ys an herbe þat me clepyþ gromel, or lyþewale: thys herbe haþ leuys þat be euelong, and a lytyl white flour, and he haþ whyte seede ischape as a ston that me clepyþ margery perl." Cotgrave gives "Gremil, grenil, the hearb gromill, grummell, or graymill, peare-plant, lichewall." The word is derived by Skinner "a granis sc. lapideis, quæ pro seminibus habet, q.d. granile."—Way, in Prompt. Parv. "Grumelle, milium, gramen solis."—Catholicon Anglicum.