Etymology
Either: * an alteration of Middle English spigurnel (“unidentified broomlike flowering plant with medicinal uses”) [and other forms], borrowed from Anglo-Norman spigurnel, spigurnelle, and Anglo-Latin spigurnella, further etymology unknown; or * from spike + nail, because of the shape of its capillary leaves.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).