The name 'Murasaki' came from a poem on miscellaneous matters in the Kokin Wakashu (imperial anthology of old and new Japanese Poetry): 'Because of this one gromwell plant, I feel affection for everything on Musashi Plain.'
「紫」の名は古今和歌集の雑歌「紫のひともとゆゑに武蔵野の草はみながらあはれとぞみる」に因む。