whereof Gotes beard hath the name Let vs rede as Theophrastus doth Out of the top commeth a hore whyte bearde / wherevpon it is called Gotes bearde These be the wordes of Theophrastus The herbe which we call Goates bearde / in barone places hath but a shorte stalke / but in gardines and in ranke meddoes / it hath a longe stalke and full of ioyntes lyke knees Aboute London I haue sene in the felde thys herbe wyth a swete roote and wyth black sede and a yelowe floure / and after the floure is gone wyth a great deale of long whyte doune lyke tuftes of whyte heyre / but about Colon I sawe it which had whyte sede and a bitter roote all full of milke as in other places it doth appere Matthiolus marueyleth that the herbe nowe taken of vs for Tragopogon / is thought of Hermolaus Barbarus / nether to be the righte Tragopogon of Theophrastus or of Dioscorides Surelye I thynke that it chaunsed vnto Hermolaus as it chaunsed vnto me For I sawe diuerse tymes an herbe / that in all other poyntes dyd agree well wyth the description of Tragopogon / sauinge that the herbe alwaye had a bitter roote / whyche thinge made me still to iudge / that the herbe was not the righte Tragopogon / vntill I found an herbe with the same figure and fashion in all thinges lyke the other with a swete roote And so I thynke that Hermolaus therefore denied that thys herbe was the right Tragopogon / because he coulde neuer fynde anye with a swete roote An other cause might be that he sawe the leaues of oure Tragopogon muche greater then the leaues of Safron But Dioscorides looked not vnto the smallnes of the Safron leaues / but to the figure and whytishe list or lyne / that goeth quite thorowe the middes of the Saffron leafe In whiche two thinges the leaues of Tragopogon / and the leaues of Safron are very lyke I merueyle much when as both Theophrast and Dioscorides write / that Tragopogon hath longe rootes / that contrary vnto the open textes and mindes of these noble writers / that Amatus Lusitanus dare be so bolde / as to gyue round knoppy rootes after the maner of Bulbus / or of Ascalion / but somethinge longe vnto Tragopogon / and sayth that the rootes are of the bignes of an Hasel nutt / and that the boyes of Spayne of the lykenes / that they haue wyth a nutt / call them nozella I haue sene thre sundry sortes of Tragopogon / one sorte with a blewishe purple floure / which is called in the West parte of Englande / Starre of Hierusalem / because whilse the Sunne shyneth it openeth / and when it is vnder a clud / the floure shitteth to close agayne I knowe also two sortes wyth a yelowe floure / the one with a swete roote / and the other with a bitter roote / and full of milke All these thre sortes had longe rootes when I sawe them / and I could neuer se anye suche rounde thinge in the roote / that was lyke vnto a nut or a oynion Wherefore Amatus in the roote of this herbe is both contrary to the autorite of learned men / and to experience The Vertues of Bockes bearde DIoscorides wryteth nomore of Bockes bearde / but that it is good to eate / the newer writers saye that it is good for the diseases of the breste and liuer / for the paynes in the kidnes and bladder / and for the ache in the syde / whē it commeth first furth of the grounde / the tender buddes are good and pleasant in a sallat / and so are also the tendre stalkes a great whyle after / till the knop in the toppe comme furth The leaues are not vnpleasant afterwarde both in sallat and in potage Thys herbe semeth to be of a temperate warmnes Matthiolus writeth that both the iuyce and the water of thys herbe healeth / and bindeth vp newe and freshe woundes Of the Dasey Bellis syiluestris A Dasey is called in Latin Bellis / in Duche Kleintzitlosten / or Monathblumle / in French des margarites pasquetes / of the Herbaries Consolida minor or primula veris. There are two kindes of Dases / one with a reed floure which groweth in the gardines / and another whiche groweth abroade in euerye grene and hygh way The Northren men call this herbe a Banwurt / because it helpeth bones to knyt agayne The lefe of the Dasey is some thinge longe / and toward the ende round / ther are smal nickes in the borders or edges of the leaues Pliny writeth that the Dasey hath 53. and somtyme 55. litle whyte leues whiche go about the yelow knop it appereth that the double Daseys were not founde in Plinies tyme / which haue a great dele mo then Pliny maketh mention of Bellis minor syluestris The vertues of Daseyes PLiny writeth that this herbe dryueth awaye great swellinges and wennes The common Surgeans vse thys herbe much in healinge woundes / wherefore they call it Consolida minorē / diuerse gyue this herbe in drinke vnto their paciētes that are wounded / do them much good The later writers holde also that the iuyce of this herbe is good for the palsey / for the Gout for the Sciatica Thys haue I proued that the iuyce of the rede gardine Dasey / put into a mans nose / draweth out water wonderfully out of the heade / wherby it can not be called a herbe after the doctrine of Galene Of Betes BEta is named in Greke Teutlon or Seutlon / in English a Bete / in Duche Mangolt / in Frēche Porree / or Iotte Betes haue a stalke full of Crestes and corneres of two cubites heyght / a leafe lyke Areche or Lett es / smal yelow floures / and a longe roote whiche hath many small stringes like small thredes comming furth of it There are two kindes of Betes / the whyte Bete / which is also called Sicula / and black Betes / called in Latin Beta nigra Beta nigra Beta candida The Vertues of Betes THE blacke Bete is sodden wyth Lentilles to stoppe the bellye wythall / whiche thinge is soune broughte to passe with the roote The whyte Bete is good for the bellye / but they haue both an euell iuice / by the reason nitrosyte or bitter saltishnes whiche they haue of their like vnto saltpeter wherefore their iuyce poured into a mannes nose with honye / purgeth the head / and it healeth the paine in the eares The broth of the roote and leaues / scoureth awaye scurfe and scales / and nettes out of the head It swageth the paines of the moulled or kibed heles Thesame helpeth frekelles and spottes / if they be rubbed ouer before with saltpeter naturall So it helpeth the voyde places / whiche the falling of the heyre make / if they be stirred vp with a knyfe It helpeth runninge sores / whiche spred abroade and waste vp the fleshe as they
that som men say that Cypros is the tre which is called in Italy Ligustrum / is much lesse to deny that Ligustrum is in Italy thys reasone of Massarius is found to be as weke as hys former argumentes be If that any aske of me how chanceth that Pliny semeth to dout in the xij booke wheter Cypros be Ligustrum or no / and that in the xxiij he pronunceth and gyueth sentence of it that he semeth to dout of before I answer that Pliny when as he wrote the xij booke / douted wheter Cypros was Ligustrum or no / ether because he had heard it so to be ether of som vncertayn reporte / or had red it in som autor / whose autorite deserued not full credit / and that when he wrote a good season afterwarde the xxiij booke / he had in the mean tyme learned of credible and learned men / or red in credit worthy autores / that Cypros was LigustruÌ„ Betwene the twelft booke and the xxiij ten bookes are conteyned / and some one booke conteyned in printe ix large shetes of papyr What tyme will a resonable man gyue vnto Pliny for the studying settyng in order / and wrytyng of these x. bookes If ye grant hym a moneth for euery booke to perfit it / as ye can grant hym no lesse seyng that he was the admirall or chefe rueler of the Emperoures Naui / and so cumbred with many weighty besinesses which belonged vnto hys office / ye must grant that in the space of x. monethes Pliny myght not only haue learned the certaynte of Cypros / but of many other thynges where of he was vncertayn before Therfore thys ought to trouble no man that Pliny in hys later booke doth hold boldly / it where of in hys former booke / he was doutfull The other reasones of Massarius I passe ouer as so weik that euen the yong studentes of Physick are able inoughe to confut by them selues These reasones I thought that it was mete / that I should answere to / lest any maÌ„ by redyng of Massarius Venetus / who writeth learnedly of fisshes / should by his argumentes bring hym from the truth / which Ruellius / Fuchsius / and Matthiolus defend / in holdyng that Cypros is Ligustrum Pryuet groweth very plentuously / in Cambrich shyre in the hedges / and almoste in euery gardin in London The vertues of Priuet THe leaues haue a byndyng nature / wherefore they are good to be chowed in the mouth to hele the sores of it If they be layd to emplaster wyse / they are good agaynst greate burnynges or inflammationes and carbuncles Whatsomeuer thyng is burned with the fire / may be healed with the broth of Priuet leues The flour of Priuet layd vnto the forheade / swageth the ache thereof The oyle of Priuet / heateth and softeneth the synewes if it be menged with those thynges that are of an hote nature Of the Lily LIlium is called in Greke Krinon or Lirion / in Englishe a Lily / in Duche wyß Lilgen or Gilgen / in Frenche du Lis. The Lily hath a long stalk and seldom more then one / how beit it hath somtyme ij It is ij or iij. cubites hyghe It hath longe leues and somthyng of the fasshon of the great satyrion The flour is excedyng white / and it hath the forme or fasshon of a long quiuer / that is to say smal at the one end / and byg at the other The leues of the floures are full of crestes The ouermost endes of the leues bowe a litle backwarde / and from the lowest parte within / come furth long small yelow thynges lyke thredes / of an other smell then the floures are of The roote is Lilium Lilium purpureum round / and one pece groweth hard to an other allmoste after the maner of the roote of Garleke / but that the clowes in the Lily are broder There is also a redish purple colored Lily besyde the white / where of Dioscorides also maketh mention The vertues and properties of the Lily THe oyntment made of Lilies softeneth the synewes and also very well the hardnes of the mother The leues of the herbe layd to / are good agaynst the styngyng of serpentes The same made hote / are good for places that burned If they be layd vj. and seasoned in vinegre / they heale woundes The iuice sodden with hony or vinegre in a brasen vessel / â—is a good medicine for olde sores and for grene woundes The roote rosted and broken wyth rose oyle / healeth places burned wyth the fyre It softeneth the mother It bringeth weomen theyr desyred sicknes It couereth woundes with a skin If it be broken brused with hony / it healeth out synewes / places out of ioynte It healeth scurfynes / scales / scabbes and Lepres / it scoureth away the rynning sores in the heade It scoureth the face and taketh away the wrynkles It is good to be brayed wyth the leues of henbayn whete mele / in vinegre to swage the inflammation or burnyng heat of the stones The sede dronken is a remedy agaynst the bytynge of serpeÌ„tes The leues and the sede are good to be layde vnto the cholerik inflammation called Erysipelas Of the herbe called Limonium Limonium LImonium hath leues like vnto a bete / but thynner and longer / ten in numbre / and oft tymes more / a thyme stalck / a streyght lyke vnto a lily It is full of red byndyng sede Some learned men hold that the herbe called pyrola / of the lyknes that it hath wyth a pere tre lefe / and in Duche Wintergruene / is the ryght Limonium But pyrola hath not leues longer then a bete / nether x. or more together Other holde / that bistorta is Limonium / but nether the leues are like betes leues / nether hath it such a stalck / as can ryghtly be compared vnto a lilies stalck But he that shoulde vse ether of both these for Limonio / he shuld not do amise For all though they differ from Limonio in lyknes / yet they agre well it in properties Matthiolus setteth furth ij figures of LimoniuÌ„ / but the former hath not a stalck lyke a lily / wherfore it can not be Limonium And as for the second / allthough it agreeth metely well wyth the description / I can not tell whether it be LimoniuÌ„ or no / because he telleth not whether the sede be byndyng or no. If he wold haue taught vs the Italiane name of it / perchaÌ„ce som of vs that here after shall go into Italy / myght spere it out and fynd it by that name But now haue we nothyng to help vs wyth al / sauyng only the figure wherefore we shal come more handly by the knowledge of hys Limonium The vertues of Limonium THe sede of Limonium broken and dronken in wyne / in the mesure of ij vnces or thereabout / is good agaynst all kyndes of flyxes /
Swartwalt in Duch / where as is the beginninge of Hircinij sylue It groweth not in England that I know / sauing only in gardines The rootes are now condited in Danske / for a frende of myne in London / called maister Alene a marchant man / who hath ventered ouer to Danske / sent me a litle vessel of these / well condited with very excellent good hony Wherefore they that woulde haue anye Angelica / maye speake to the Marchauntes of Danske / who can prouide them inough The vertues of Angelica ANgelica is hote and drye at the lest in the third degree All the later writers agre in this and experience confirmeth the same that Angelica is good against poison / pestilent ayres / and the pestilence it selfe The practitioners of Germany write thus of Angelica If that any man be sodenly taken / ether with any pestilence / or any soden pestilent ague / or with to much soden sweting / let him drinke of the pouder of the roote of Angelica / halfe a dram / mingled with a dram of triacle / in thre or foure spoundfullis of the water of Angelica distilled out of the rootes / and after go vnto bed / and couer him selfe wel / and at the lest faste thre houres after / which if he do / he shal beginne to sweate / and by the helpe of God he shall be deliuered from his disease If you haue not triacle at hand / you maye take a whole dram of the roote of Angelica in pouder / with the forenamed quantite of the distilled water / and it will bring the same effecte that the other composition did The roote of Angelica steped in vinegre / and smelled vpon in the tyme of the pestilence / and thesame vinegre beyng sometyme dronkē / if you be fasting / saueth a mans bodye from the pestilence But it were better in my iudgement / to stipe the roote of Angelica in sharpe white vinegre / and after it be sufficiently steped / to put it into a rounde hollowe balle / full of holes / ether of siluer / or of tinne / or of Ieniper woode / with some cotten or wolle dipped in the same vinegre / or ellis with some fine cloth / that anye of these maye holde the vinegre the longer and if a man haue suche a ball / he maye be the more bolder to venter where the pestilence is / then if he had a great sort of other medicines The water distilled out of the rotes of Angelica / or the pouder of the same is good for gnawing and payne of the bellye / that commeth with cold / if the body be not bounde withal To be short / the water distilled / or the pouder of the roote is good for al inwarde diseases as the pleuresy / in the beginning before the hete of the inflamation becomed into the bodye for it dissolueth and scatereth abroad / such humores as vse to geue matter to the pleuresy It is good also for the diseases of the lunges / if they come of a cold cause and for the strangurian of a cold cause / or of a stoppinge It is good also for a woman that is in trauaile of childe / and to bringe doune her sicknes At other tymes when nede requireth / it is good also to dryue wind awaye that is in the bodye / and to ease the payne that commeth of the same The roote maye be sodden ether in water or in wine / as the nature of him that is sicke doth require The iuyce of the roote put into a holow toth / taketh awaye the ache / and so likewise doth the distilled water put in at the eare Moreouer the iuyce and the water also of Angelica / quicken the eye sight / and they breake the litle filmes that go ouer the eyes / wherof darknes doth rise Of the rotes of Angelica and pitch / maye be made a good emplaster against the bytinges of mad beastes The water / the iuyce / or the pouder of the roote sprinckled vpon the diseased place / is a very good remedye against old and depe sores / for they do scoure it and clense them / and couer the bones with fleshe The water of the same in a cold cause / is good to be layde on places diseased with the goute and sciatica also for it stancheth the payne and melteth awaye the tough humores that are gathered together The sede is of lyke vertue with the roote The wilde Angelica that groweth here in the lowe woodes and by the water sydes / is not of suche vertue as the other is Howbeit the surgiones vse to seth the rote of it in wine / to heale grene wondes withal These properties haue I gathered out of the practicioners of the Germanes / but I haue not proued them al as yet my selfe / but diuers of thē I haue proued and found to be true Of Aquilegia called Columbine AQuilegia is called in Englishe Columbin / and in Duche Ackeley Columbine groweth onlye in gardines in England / as farre as I know / but I haue sene it growe wilde in Germanye both it with the whyte floure and eke with the blewe The first leues that come out / are lyke vnto great Selendine / they are iagged round aboute / and spred vpon the earth In the moneth of Iune / it groweth into a rounde and smoth stalke / higher then a mans cubite / and in the toppe it hath blewe or white floures much lyke vnto the herbe / which is called in English Larkes clawe / and in Duche Riders spurge After that the floures are gone there rise foure corners like vnto Nigella Romana / which haue sede lyke vnto flees The roote is whyte and long / and ful of smale fringes about the ende lyke thredes The herbe / the sede / and the roote resemble a certaine swetenes Aquilegia The vertues of Columbine TRagus writeth that a dram weight of the sede of Columbine brused / and with a halfpennye weight of Saffron / dronken with wine / is good for the yelow iaundies This is knowen by experience if he will go to a warm bedde after that he hath taken it / and prouoke swete After the same maner vsed / it openeth the wayes of the lyuer / of whose stopping arise many diseases After the same iudgemente of the same Tragus / the water of the floures rightly distilled / if it be dronken is good for the same purpose / it is good against soundinge Of Medewurt / or Medow wurt / or Mede swete / and of some named Vlmaria Barba capri MEdewurte is an herbe well knowen vnto all men / it groweth about water sydes / moyst places and sennes / and it hath a leafe like vnto Agrimonie / indented much The stalkes are four square / holow within / dunne in color / whiche are somtyme as highe as a man It hath verye many floures in the toppe which are lyke the floures of Philipendula / a far
frō the roote vnto the top with litle grene leaues / whereby it doth wonderfully represent an eare of corne This / whose figure ye se former in order grewe in the top of the alpes / wher as I gathered it my selfe but ther is a much lesse kinde then this is / which groweth in the mountaines of Germany and wales / and it crepeth hard by the ground / al rough and full of smal leues The vttermost braunches whilse the herbe is not full growen / represent a Crowisfoote / and euery ende alone is lyke a smalle eare of grene corne But at the fartherest ende of the herbe / when it is growen as muche as it will growe / there commeth out of the one of the braunches a litle stalke / litle more then an inche a halfe long / which is full of smal ioyntes / and euerye iointe hath litle hores tuftes coming out Out of the ende of the stalke cometh two rough fruytes / much like vnto the longe blomes that come furth of the Haselnut tree in winter but they are a great deale smaller and yellower / then the nut blomes are / somthing rough It maye be called in English Heth Crowfoot / or Heth firr / or creping pine Amatus Lusitanus writing vpon Chameleuce / sayeth that Chameleuce is called in Latin Chamepeuce / and in his enarration he sayeth / although thys chapter be red indifferently of Chameleuce Chamepeuce / that Pliny maketh mention of them as of two diuerse thinges I wold axe of Amatus / of what one auncient writer / is the chapter of Chameleuce indifferently red of Chameleuce and of Chamepeuce both If there be no auncient autor that doth so / what newe autor is there / that redeth the chapter so who oughte not to gyue place vnto the autorite of Pliny / whiche maketh two diuerse herbes of Chameleuce and Chamepeuce But Amatus folowing Matthiolus / the autorite of Pliny despised / concludeth in these wordes Chamepeuce beyng like in leaues to the Larche or Larix tre leaues / is good for the ache of the loynes and ridge bone / which herbe agreeth much in those thinges that are spoken of Dioscorides / so that we may iustly say that Chamepeuce Plinij is the herbe that Dioscorides intreateth of in this present chapter / that is to say Chameleuce So far Amatus If the Chamepeuce agre with those things that Dioscorides gyueth to Chameleuce / then hath Chamepeuce leues bowyng inward certain braunches a floure lyke a rose Chamepeuce hath leues like a Larch tre / nowe where is there one thinge that Dioscorides gyueth to Chameleuce that Chamepeuce hath / sauing that it is good for the ache of the loynes / and who sayeth that Chamepeuce is good for the loynes Is it not Pliny If it be Pliny / why doth not Amatus beleue Pliny in making Chameleuce and Chamepeuce two diuerse herbes / as in saying that Chamepeuce is good for the ache of the loynes If Plinye lese his credit / and be not worthy to be beleued in the one thing / he leseth it also in the other / and so when Pliny is not to be beleued that Chamepeuce is good for the ache of the loynes / in what one thinge doth Chamepeuce of Pliny agre wyth those thinges that Dioscorides giueth vnto Chameleuce / sauinge that they begin both in Chame / and end in euce The properties of Chamepeuce PLiny sayth that Chamepeuce is good for the ache of the loynes and of the ridge bone / they vse it in Denmarke in East Freseland with olde wine or milke / agaynst the scuerbuch / which is called in the Northcountre the scrubby ill / or the crepel ill / and in Germanye men put it vnto wyne / when it is longe / or ropinge / or hanginge / within fewe dayes as they saye / it amendeth the wine againe Tragus calleth this herbe Muscum terrestrem in Latin / and in Duch Beerlap / and he sayth that it is knowen by experience / that thys herbe dronken with wine / breaketh the stone Some both in Duchland and England abuse thys herbe for Spica celtica Of ground Pyne Aiuga prima Chamaepitys secunda CHamepitys in Greke / is called in Latin Aiuga or Abiga / and of the Potecaries Iua muscata / and Iua arthritica / in Duch Ie lenger je lieber / as Fuchsius sayeth / but other reproue him in that / and say that the name belongeth vnto an other herbe / in French Iue muscate it may be called in English Ground pyne Chamepitys is of thre kindes / the first kind hath leues like vnto stone crop / but much thinner Aiuga tertia rough and fatt / and thicke about the boughes / and hath the smell of a Pyne tree The floures be yellowe or whyte / the rootes are lyke Succore rootes This herbe crepeth vpon the ground / and somethinge croked The seconde kinde hath braunches of a cubit height or length / bowing in after the fashion of an anker / and smalle / with leues lyke the other / and a whyte floure / and a black sede The third kinde is called the male / and is but a litle one with smal leaues / white and rough / with a rough and a whyte stalke / with yelow floures / and a sede comming out at the setting on of the leaues All these thre kindes haue the smell of a Pine tree / I neuer sawe that I remember the two firste kindes / but I haue borowed their figures of them / that saye that they haue sene them As for the last kinde I haue sene it in very great plenty aboute Wormes / and in manye other places of Germany It groweth also in good plenty in Kent / and as I thynke / it groweth in diuerse other places of England But I meruel that Matthiolus maketh this that I make the laste / the firste kind / when as this kind hath in no place that euer I was in any / white floure Also it that he setteth furth for the last / as he hath set out the figure of it / is more like vnto the first kinde of Diovorides / for it hath leues more lyke vnto the lesse semperbiuo / which is called thrist / then the thirde kind hath / as any man may also se that Aiuga tertia of Matthiolus hath / which he setteth furth his owne selfe Let learned men iudge which of our opiniones is more worthy to be alowed The Properties of ground Pyne THE leaues dronken seuen dayes in wine / heale the iaundies / and the same dronken xl dayes with mede made of honye and water / helpe the sciatica they are also good for the stoppinge of the water / for the diseases of the liuer kidnes / the gnawynge of the belly some vse the broth of this herbe as a preseruatiue against the poyson of wolfes bayne leopardes bayne some vse to put barly mele and the broth
both blody flixes / other And the same is good for the blody isshue that weomen are som tyme vexed wyth all Of the herbe called Flax or line Linum FLax is an herbe wyth a small stalk / where vpon grow many smal leues / somthyng long sharpe at the ende It hath blue floures in the top of the stalk / and after that they be gone / ther come furth round knoppes / sauyng that ther is in the end a sharp thyng lyke a prick growyng out These knoppes or heades are called in Northumberland bowles / and wythin these heades are long flat sedes in color redishe / and eche sede is conteyned in hys proper cell diuyded from the rest The roote is very smal Flax which is called of the Northen men lynt / in Duche Flachs / in Frenche Du lyne / in Greke Linon / and in Latin Linum / groweth very plentuously in the North parte of England / and should grow as plentuously also in the South parte / if men regarded not more theyr priuat lucre then the kynges Lawes and the comen profit of the hole realm I haue sene flax or lynt growyng wilde in Sommerset shyre wythin a myle of Welles / but it hath fewer bowles in the top then the sowen flax hath / and a greate dele a longer stalk Whiche thynges are a sure token that flax would grow there if men would take the payn to sow it The vertues of Lint sede LYnt sede hath the same vertue that Fenegrek hath It scattereth abrode or dryueth away It softeneth any thyng that is inflāmed or very hote / hath any hardnes / whether it be with in / or wythout / if it be sodde wyth hony / oyl / and a litle water / or if it be put into sodden hony When it is raw / it taketh away the defautes of the face and frekles / and litle swellynges there / if it be layd to emplaster wyse wyth nitre or salpeter and asshes of a fygtre It dryueth away swellynges behinde the eares / hardnes rynnyng sores And if it be sodden wyth wyne it scoureth away rynnynge sores / whose matter is lyke hony It pulleth away roughe nayles with a like portione of cresses hony It draweth furth the diseases of the breste / if it be taken with hony in the maner of an electuari / it swageth the coughe If it be taken in a cake plentuously with peper / it will stirr men to generation of chylder The broth of lynt sede is good to be poured in / agaynst the gnawynges / and goyng of the skin both of the guttes also of the mother It bryngeth also furth the ordur or dung of the belly It is good for weomē to sit in water where in lynt sede is sodden against the inflammationes and hete of the mother / I haue red in a practicioner / that vj. vnces of lynt sede oyle a good remedy against the pestilence if it be dronken all at one tyme. In other practicioners I rede that the oyle of lint sede is good for to be dronken about the mesure of two or iij. vnces with barley water agaynst the pleuresi But let the oyle be freshe in anywyse / for if it be old / it is vnholsom / and not to be takē within the body Of Grummel or graymile Lithospermon LIthospermon is called of the commen herbaries and apothecaries milium solis / in Duch steinsamen / in Frenche gremil / and it should be called in English gray mile and not as it is now called grummell It is called milium of the herbaries / and in Frēche mil / and also in Englishe / because in forme and fasshō it is like the yelow sede / which is called in Latin milium / and it is called gray mil of the blewish gray color that it hath / to put a difference betwene it / and the other mile or millet The Duche men gyue the name of the hardnes of the sede which is lyke vnto a stone hardnes The description of Lithospermon out of Dioscorides LIthospermon hath leues lyke vnto an Oliue / but longer and broder and softer / namely they that come furth of the roote lye vpon the grounde The braūches are streyght / small / strōg and of the bygnes of a sharp rishe and woddishe And in the top of thē is ther a double furth growyng / or a double thyng growing out / and ech of thē is lyke a stalck / with long leues / and by them is there a stony sede / litle and rounde of the bygnes of Orobus It groweth in rough hygh places Matthiolus supposeth that Fuchsius doth not know the ryght Lithospermō of Dioscorides / because he setteth out / as he sayeth the lesse milium solis for Lithospermo As for my parte I grant that there groweth a better kynde of Lithospermon viij myles aboue Bōne in Germany in a wild countre called Kaltland / then thys cōmen Lithospermō called commenly miliū solis is But it had ben Matthiolisses deuty to haue proued by the description of Dioscorides or by some parte of it / at the lesse / that milium solis that Fuchsius setteth furth / is not the true Lithospermon / and then myght he haue layd ignorance vnto Euchsiusses charge the better But in my iudgemēt Matthiolus is more ignorāt of the true Lithospermy / then Fuchsius is for it that he setteth furth / doth nether agre with the descriptiō of Dioscoridis / nor yet of Pliny The herbe that Matthiolus setteth out he myght haue set out the best Lithospermon / and the hole perfit her be with all his partes / seyng that he maketh Lithospermon so commenly knowen vnto all men in Italy hath but two small stalkes where vpon the leues sedes grow / and they are set out / not streyght but crooked / and bowyng diuerse wayes Lithospermon of Dioscorides hath diuerse braūches that are ryght or streyght The two furth growynges that Dioscorides sayeth / are in the toppes of the braunches / can not be sene in it that Matthiolus setteth furth The leues of Lithospermon that Dioscorides describeth are longer broder then an Oliue tre leueis / namely they that are next vnto the grounde But the leues of it that Matthiolus setteth furth / semeth a lyke lōg and brode in all places of the stalck or twyg that they grow on / resemble very litle an Oliue lefe as any mā that knoweth an oliue lefe can bere witnes The Lithospermō of Dioscorides hath the sede in the top / fur Dioscorides saieth In ramulorum cacumine duplex est exortus cauliculo similis folijs longis inter quae paruum semen c. But the Lithospermō that Matthiolus paynteth hath the sedes euen from the root allmoste vnto the ouermost top of all Wherefore Matthiolus accusyng Fuchsius of an error / erreth in Lithospermo much more hys selfe If he say that he setteth furth Lithospermon Plinij / thē he
chapter he sayeth / that ther is one kinde of sesama that is whyte / he wryteth also that no beast will eat sesama when it is grene / because it is so bitter Pliny also in the xviij boke vij chapter writeth / that sesama hath a stalk lyke ferula / and that the sedeÌ„ of it is kept in litle vesselles / and in the x. chapter of the same boke he wryteth the sesama was fetched out of Iude / and that the sede of it serueth to make oyle of / and that the chaff of milium panicum and sesama / is called Apluda And as touching the leaues / Pliny sayeth that sesama hath leaues blood rede I thynke that where as there are two herbes / that are nowe taken for sesama / nether of them haue all these properties that Theophrast and Pliny geue vnto sesama The fyrst herbe whych is of long time hath ben taken for sesama / hath sedes in litle vesselles / and the sedes are full of oyle / but the leaues and stalke are not lyke sesama / nether is the hole herbe lyke vnto milium or panicum Thys herbe is liuely set furth in Matthiolus and in Hieronymus Bock It is called in Duch / flackes totter / the leaues ar lyke a brode arrow head / if the endes were not croked and to smal / but they are not rede but grene / and the sede is redishe yelow It groweth in Germany commonly amongest flachs / and men fede byrdes wyth the sede of it there / namelye syskennes / and linnettes / and golde finches / and byrdes of Canaria But for the causes aboue rehersed / it can not be sesama of the old wryters The other kinde of herbe / whych is moste commonly taken for the right and true sesama / haue I also sene growyng as well as the former kinde It hath leaues lyke basil / and a yelowish rede sede / all full of oyle It is well set oute in the seconde edition of Matthiolus / but nether the leues of it / nether the stalke / nether anye lykenes that it hath wyth panicum or milium do agre wyth the markes that Theophrast and Pliny do geue vnto theyr sesama / wherefore I can not se how ether of these can be the ryghte sesama of the olde wryters / allthough the sede of them both be verye oylishe / and in many thynges will serue in the stede of the ryght sesama The vertues of Sesama SEsama whyche maye be called in English oyle sede / is euell for the stomack / and maketh ones breth stinke / when it sticketh in the teth while it is in eating / but if it be layed to / it dryueth away the grosnes of the synewes / and it helpeth brused eares / inflammationes / burnt places / the paynes of the ioyntes / and the biting of the serpent / called cerastes Wyth rose oyle it swageth the head ache that commeth of heat The herbe sodden in wyne / doth thesame It is most fit for the inflammaciones and ache of the eyes / there oyle made of it / whyche the Egyptianes vse Of Siler mountayn SEseli massiliense is named of the Apothecaries siler montanum / it may be called in English siler mountayn Dioscorides describeth it thus Seseli of Massilia hath leaues lyke vnto fenell / but grosser and a bigger stalke also / and a spokye top lyke vnto dill / wherein is long â—ede couered / and byting streyght way after it is eateÌ„ The rote is long and well smellinge The vertues of Siler mountayn THe roote and the sede haue an hote poure / if they be dronken / they heale the stranguriam / and the shorte winde / they are also good for the frangling of the mother / and for the falling siknes / they dryue out floures / and also the byrth / and they are good for all inward diseases / and they heal an old cough The sede dronken wyth wyne / helpeth digestion / and taketh awaye the gnawyng of the bellye And it is good for agues / wherein a man is both hote and colde at one tyme. It is good to be dronken wyth wyne and pepper agaynst the coldnes in a iorney It is also geuen to gotes in drink / and to other beastes also to make them bring furth more easely Of Hartis wart SEseli Ethiopicum groweth in diuerse partes of hyghe Germanye / where I haue sene it both grene and drye / and som call it hartzwurt / but I neuer sawe it in Englande / wherefore we maye call it Hartwurt / wyth the Duche men / vntyll we fynde a better name for it It hath leaues lyke Yuy / but lesser / and longe of the fashon of Wodbinde leaues It is a great bushye herbe / or a black bushe as my Greke texte hath / for it hath melas / and not megas / and it groweth two cubites hygh / wherein are braunches two spannes long / and a top lyke dyll / the sede is black / thyck as wheat / but more byting and better smelling / and verye pleasant SEseli Peloponense hath leaues lyke vnto Homlok / but broder and grosser / or thycker It hath a greater stalke then it of Massilia / of lykenes of ferula And in the ouermoste parte of it / is a spokye top / wherein is broder sede / and thycker / and well smelling It groweth in rough places / in moyst places / an in hygh places / and also in Yda / it hath the same vertue wyth the other The figure that Matthiolus setteth out / for seseli Peloponnense / in my iudgement agreeth not wyth the description of Dioscorides for the leaues of hys herbe / in the figure / are not lyke homloke / nether in one poynte nor other The leaues of it that I saw growyng about Weissenburg in hygh Germany is somthinge lyke persely / wherefore som haue taken it for petroselino or apio montano / the roote is very long and great / and of a strong smell / but not vtterly vnpleasant Of the thre kindes of Sideritis SIderitis whyche is called of some Heraclea / is an herbe whyche hath leaues lyke vnto horehound / but longer drawyng nere vnto the lykenes of sage or an oke / but lesser and rougher it hath four-squared stalkes a span hygh / or hygher / not vnpleasant in tast / and after a maner somthyng binding / in them are round thynges lyke whorles / certayn spaces goyng betwene as horehound hath / and ther in is black sede It groweth in places somthyng rockye Thys herbe that Dioscorides describeth here / groweth in the old walles of Colon / and also about the feldes of Wormes / not far from the harnes mylles Sideritis prima It hath longe small indented leaues / with a good smell And I suppose that Fuchsius describeth the same herbe / and although Matthiolus doth reproue Fuchsius in taking of thys herbe for the fyrst kinde of Sideritis / yet he setteth one for the fyrst
of / but not nere hand / in colour whyte / and in sauour pleasant After that the floures are fallen / ther foloweth a sede like vnto a litle smale wert / ending into thre sharpe toppes The roote is longe and full of litle tasselles like thredes / black withoute / within brounishe / of a stinking smelle / of a bitter and binding taste This herbe is called of some Vlmaria / and the whole forme of it is like vnto the herbe which is called in Duche Geißbardt / which is Barba capri The vertues of this herbe after the Practitioners of Germanye THE roote of this herbe sodden in wine and honye / and dronken / loseth the bellye and draweth furth choler It is good for the bloody flixe if it be dronken when it is sodden in read wine The weomen cookes in the spring time vse to gather this herbe / and put it in there potages and mooses with other pot herbes Beware that the sede of it be not eaten / for it maketh the head ake The same practitioners of Germanye do affirme that the herbe brused layd to with mede dryueth awaye swellinges / and draweth furth shiuers / and also dartes and arrow heades Of Burnet Sanguisorbia THE herbe that is named in Englishe Burnet / is called of some comon writers Pimpinella / and of other Pimpinella Italica / to put a difference betwene it and Pimpinellam Germanicam / some of the finer sort hold that this herbe ought to be called Bipennula or Bipinnula / because there growe ouer thwart the leafe two and two litle leues like vnto the winges of birdes / standing out as the bird setteth her winges out / when she intendeth to flye Some wold it shuld be called Pampinella / and Fuchsius sayth that it ought to be called Sangui sorba / the Duch men call it Hergottes bertlin / that is Gods litle berde / because of the color that it hath in the toppe This herbe is so wel knowen in al places of England by the name of Burnet / that I should but lese my laboure / if I shoulde describe it / Therfore I wil go to the vertues of it The vertues of Burnet DIuers of the Practitioners of Germanye do holde that this herbe is good to staunche blood both in the bloody flixe / and also in the issue of bloode / that weomen haue oute of measure / some holde that that herbe holden alone in ones hand / is good for the same The truth is that this herbe is of a binding nature / and rather cold then hote / and therefore it is fit for the purposes aboue rehersed / speciallye the roote and the sede The leafe is pleasant both in taste and in smelle / and is good to be put both in wine / bere and ale / for them that are disposed muche to anye reume or flixe in the bodye / and in my iudgement the vse of it is good both within and without against an hote running goute / namely the leues Of Duch Pimpinell THEre is an other herbe called in Duche Bibernel / and of the Duche Herbaries Pimpinella Germanica and it is muche lyke in forme of the leaues vnto oure Burnet / but it is yelower a great deale / and rougher It hath a white floure in the toppe The sede of it is lyke vnto Persely sede The herbe is hote at the lest in the third degre / both the roote and the sede Some call this herbe Saxifrage / because it groweth amongest stones in many places / and cleueth them / and some call it Saxifrage / for the propertye that it hath in breakinge of the stone in a mannis bodye / and it deserueth much better the name of Saxifrage / then our English Saxifrage doth It groweth commonlye in Englande in bankes of eche syde of holowe hygh wayes / and in manye medowes also / and in verye great plentye The vertues of this herbe THE newe writers holde that this herbe is good against the pestilence to be taken in fastinge in the morninge / and as I sayde before / it is good to breake the stone The Germanes do holde that the rote of this herbe dryed / is so hote that it maye be vsed for pepper / which I would not denye if it were so pleasaunt as it is medicinable The rootes maye be sodden and condited in sugar / to the great profit of them that haue colde stomaches / and are troubled with tough fleme / the colike and the stone The roote of Pimpinel any wayes taken in / is good against any kind of poyson / against gnawinges in the bellye / which come of a colde cause And it is good for to bringe doune weomen their sicknes The sede will do al these thinges / therfore it were good that comfittes should be made thereof They saye also that the water of it dronken thre or foure dayes / in the quantite of thre or foure sponefulles / is good for the same purposes / but I geue more credite to the roote and the sede / except the water were better stilled / then it is here in England Of the herbe called of the later writers Bistorta BIstorta is called in some places of England Astrologia / and in some places Pationes / but there is no general name for it It maye be called ether of the name twise writhen / or els docke Bistorte I know no herbe in all these part of Europa / where as I haue bene / that agreeth better with the description vertues of Britannica then Bistorta doth / howbeit the rote agreeth not with the description of Dioscorides / and therfore I haue set it amongest the herbes of the newe writers Yet not withstanding I do vehemently suspect / that it is Britannica of Plinye / whereof is made mention in the booke of Pliny de naturali historia where he writeth that the souldiers of the Romaynes come into Freiceland / and that they dranke two yeare of one freshe springe / for there were no mo fresh springes / as he saith in all the hole countre / and that had suche a propertie that al that dranke of it within two yere / had the disease whiche is called scelotirbe / and stomocace / that is the losing of the knees and the disease of the mouth / for they waxed lame in their knees / and al their teth waxed loose / which later named parte of the disease many in Freiselande haue at this present houre / and when I was the Erle of Emdens Phisitian / whiche is the Lord of East Freseland / diuers asked me councell for that disease / and by the helpe of God / I did heale them / and perceiued that it was the verye same disease that Plinye spake of / wherefore although I had learned by experience to heale the disease with other herbes / yet because that Pliny wrote that the inhabitores of Freseland taught the Romaines to heale their disease with an herbe called
is dronken against all the stinging of bees / waspes / and such other lyke The leaues with a litle oyle are layd on bytinges and burninges It is euideÌ„tly knowen that water will wexe thicke / if this roote be brused and put in it / so that the water stande abroad in the ayre without the dores An oyntment to soften all hard lumpes / swellinges and bruses in any place of the bodye / whether it come of inwarde or outward cause / which also is good to anoynt horse fete withal / if they be brused or swelled a littel / or if this oyntment be not redy / it shal be good to take the iuyces of the rotes / and to sethe them with the other gere in lesse proportions / and lay it to warme to maÌ„ and beast as they shal nede TAke of the rootes of Marrish malowes / or in the stede of it of Holyhock / or of common Malowes xij vnces of Lint sede vj. vnces / a wyne quarte full of the fattes and greses of hennes / gese / capones / or of netis fete / vj. vnces of waxe / of turpentine one vnce / of rosin iij. vnces Firste of al bruse as smal as ye can the rote and sede / and stepe them for the space of iij. dayes and iij. nightes in a pottel of water beynge scalding hote / when it is first put into it / but if ye wold stepe them / and seth them in whyte wine or in halfe water halfe wine / the medicine would be much stronger / let them be sodden the fourth daye vntill that ye maye se the broth al slymy / and then streyne it thorow a cloth / take of that same slymy broth a pint / and seth it with the fattes / and when as that watery substance as ye can gather / is sod away / and the onlye slyme remaineth / melt the waxe / the rosin / and the turpentine altogether / and seth theÌ„ a littel together / and if there be any foule scome / take it away / but it were better to take a littel of the fat / and melt firste therein the waxe / then the rosin the turpentine / and so to mixe them altogether / and seth then a littel / and take the scome awaye Of Marierum gentle MArierum is called in Greke Samsychos and Amarokos in Latin Amaracus or Maiorana in Duch Meyeran or Maioran / in French Maiorain or Maron some call this herbe in English Merierum gentle / to put a difference betwen an other herbe / called MerieruÌ„ / whiche is but a bastard kind / and this is the true kinde Merierum is a thick and bushy herbe / crepinge by the ground with leaues lyke small Calamint rough and rounde / it hath litle toppes in the hyest parte of al the stalke muche like scales / one growing ouer another / as the fyre tre nuttes do appere It hath a very good sauour The vertues THE broth of this herbe dronken / is good for the dropsy in the beginning / and for them that can not make water / and for the gnawing in the bellye The drye leaues laid to with honye / take awaye blew markes which come of beting / and in a suppository they bringe doune weomens sicknes They are also good to be layd vnto the stinging of a scorpion with salt and vinegre The same receyued into a salue made of were / are good for the membres that are out of ioynte and after the same maner they are good for lose swellinges / and they are layd vnto the eyes with the floure of barly when they haue an inflammation They are mixed with medicines / which refreshe werynes and such emplasteres as are appoynted to hete The pouder of the drye herbe put in a mannes nose / maketh him to nese / the oyle that is made of Merierum / warmeth and fasteneth the synewes This herbe is hote in the thyrde degre / and drye in the seconde Of Alisson ALisson hath the name in Greke / because it helpeth the bytinge of a wod dogge Dioscorides and Plinye do not agre with Aetius and Actuarius in the description of this herbe For Dioscorides semeth to make Alisson lyke vnto Gooshare / for Dioscorides commonlye setteth herbes of lyke forme and fashion together / he setteth nexte vnto Gooshore / whiche is called in Greke Aparine Alisson howebeit this were no necessary argumeÌ„t / if that I had no more profes then this alone But Pliny maketh Alisson lyke madder in these wordes Alyssos à rubia folijs tantùm ramis minoribus differt Alissos differeth onlye from Madder in that it hath lesse leues and lesse braunches Dioscorides describeth Alisson thus Alissos is a litle bushye herbe / somethinge sharpe with round leaues / and besyde them hath a fruyte like to litle buckleres / wherein is sede somthinge broad / It groweth in hilly and rough places The herbe which I take to be Alisson of Plinye and Dioscorides / is a smale herbe of a span height / and of one smale red roote / growe manye smal stalkes / whiche haue many rowelles as it were of spores / set in order and at euerye rowel or round order of leaues nere the toppe / there springeth furth a litle smal braunche / which hath floures / fruyte / and sede The stalke is â—oursquare / and somethinge sharpe The leaues in dede are not euen playne round taken seuerally by them selues / but they taken one with an other altogether are rounde in ordre If that the roundenes that Dioscorides speaketh of / be not thus to be vnderstande This herbe can not be Dioscorides Alisson The floures are blewish purple / and appere commonly aboute the ende of Maye The fruyte groweth euer two and two together / wherein is a litle blacke sede / somethinge flat / in some top a man maye finde foure cople of litle vesselles / whiche conteyneth thys sede There are none of these vesselles founde alone The herbe is hote and specially the sede But the heate appereth not straight waye / tyll that it hath bene a good whyle on your tonge / and then it is euidently sharpe and byting Aetius writeth thus of Alisson The medicine called Hiera / is to be giuen euery day not as a purgation / but as a helpinge medicine in the quantite of an Hasel nut / with an vnce and halfe of the broth of Salge / or the herbe Sideritis which is called Heraclea Some vse this alone / and saye that it profiteth muche / and therfore name it Alisson / because it taketh madnes awaye These wordes writeth he in the helping of the bytinge of a mad dogge And wher he intreateth of Simples / he writeth of Alisson thus They saye that Alisson is the herbe called Sideritis / whiche groweth euery where by the hygh wayes / it hath a purple floure / and thick leaues Actuarius describeth Alisson after this maner Alisson is an herbe like vnto Hore hound /
or sowyng The other kind is called in Latin Corruda / or Asparagus syluestris Thys kinde maye be called in Englishe Pricky Sperage / because it hath prickes growynge on it Thys kynd dyd I neuer se but only in the mount Appenine Gardin Sperage is full of braunches / and it hath leaues lyke Fenell / but muche smaller / and a great rounde roote / whych hath a knoppe in it When Sperage commeth fyrst furth of the ground / it bringeth furth certayn bigge twigges / and in the toppes are certayne buddes lyke vnto rounde knoppes / which afterwarde sprede abroad into twigges / braunches and leaues The sede of thys kynde of Sperage when it is rype / it is rede The wilde Sperage in the stede of leaues hath nothinge but prickes / in other poyntes not vnlyke the other Sperage The Properties of Gardin Sperage THE yonge stalkes of gardine Sperage broken / and taken with whyte wyne / staunche the payne of the kydnes Sperage rosted or sodden / swageth and easeth the Strangulion / the hardnes in making of water / and the bloody flixe The roote sodden wyth wyne or vinegre / helpeth membres oute of ioynte The same sodden wyth figges and ciches / and taken in / heale the iaundes / it healeth also the Sciatica and the Strangurian The prickye Sperage is good to make ones bellye louse / taken in meate and it is good to prouoke vrine it is also good for the stopping of the water / agaynst the iaundis / the diseases of the kidnes / and Sciatica It is also good for the teth ache Sperage scoureth awaye the with out any manifest hete or cold Of Cererache ASplenum as Dioscorides writeth / is called also Asplenium / Splenium / and Hemionium / and though Hemionites be a farr other herb in Dioscorides then Asplenum is / and it is called of Asclepiades / in the nynth booke of Galenes worke of the composition of medecines after the places / Hemionites / Andromachus in the same boke gyueth the same names vnto Asplenum But Galene in the first boke of Simples / and the xij Chapter / semeth contrarie Asplenum vnto all these foure autentike autours / to make two diuerse herbes of Asplenum and Stolopendrium / whilse he rehearseth these wordes / the greater diseases of the milte and liuer / require stronger herbes / that is to wit / the barkes of Capers / the rootes of Tamarisk / Stolopendrion and Scilla / called Sea onyon / and the herbe whiche representeth thesame thing by his name / called Asplenos What a man should saye in this matter / it is not very redy at hand vnto al men / nether had it ben redy vnto me / if that I had not sene two kindes of Asplenum Whilse I went by the Ryne syde / foure myles beneth Binge I chaunsed vpon great plenty of Aspleno / and there dyd I se one herbe which had whyter leaues / deper indented / and sharper leaues thē the other had in so muche as I remembre it drew very nere vnto the lykenes of a certayne kinde of a litle thistel / whiche is indented lyke Asplenum This as I suppose was the herbe whiche Galene dyd separe from Scolopendrion And yet is not Scolopendrion Hartes tonge / whiche agreeth nothinge nether in likenes / nether in description with Scolopendrion Asplenos groweth muche in Germanye / in olde moiste walles / and in rockes / it groweth also in England about Bristowe it is named in Duche Steinfarn / in Frenche Ceterache / as the Potecarye call it I haue harde no English name of this Herbe / but it maye well be called in English Ceterache / or Miltwaste / or Finger ferne because it is no longer then a mannes finger or Scaleferne / because it is all full of scales on the innersyde Asplenon hath leaues lyke in figure vnto Scolopendra the beste / which also called Centipes / is not vnlike a great and rough palmers worme The leaues are some thinge lyke Polipodium / and are indented so that one indenting is not righte ouer agaynst an other / but against euerye diuision / cutting / or indenting / standeth a round halfe circle The inner syde of the lefe is somthinge yelowe / rough / with small thinges lyke bran / or yelow scales / which with a light occasion fal of / the outer syde is grene it hath nether floure nor sede If this description can not euidently ynough declare vnto you Asplenon / take a braunche of Polipodium / and take a finger lenght of the middes of it / the nether ende / and the high ende cut awaye / cut of both the sydes the toppes and the leues awaye / and make then the remain round / and then shall ye se the very forme of Asplenon The Properties THE leaues of Ceterach haue this vertue / when they are made hote in vinegre / and dronken of for the space of xl dayes / that they wast vp the milt / but the leues must be brused laid vnto the milte with wine This herbe is also good for the Strangurian / the iaundes or guelsought it stoppeth the hichcoke or yisking / and breaketh stones in the bladder Autors write that this herbe is not to be vsed much of suche weomen as woulde fayne haue manye childer Asplenium as Galene sayth is no hote herbe / but it hath subtil partes / and therefore breaketh the stone / and maketh the milt to melt awaye Of Astragalus AStragalus is named about Colon Erdeekelen / in Nederland Erdnutte / in Ouerlād Ein Erdtnuss I haue sene it in England in Come parke / and on Rychemonde heth But I neuer coulde learne the name of it in Englishe I am cōpelled for lacke of an other name to call it Peese earthnut / because it hath leaues lyke a litle Peese / or a Ciche / and rootes lyke an Earth nut Allthough all the description of Dioscorides besyde did agre verye well vnto this herbe yet when as I had found the roote in certayne moyst places / very litle astringēt / I began to dout but after that I found that in drye places / and that it had a manifest astriction / I douted no more but that thys herbe was the righte Astragalus / allthough Fuchsius do contend / that thys should be Apios Dioscorides described Astragalus thus Astragalus is a litle busshy Herbe / growyng a litle from the grounde wyth braunches and leues lyke vnto a Ciche / the floures are purple and litle The roote is rounde as a radice / and a great wythall There groweth certayne thynges vnto the roote / stronge as horne / and black / and one wounden within an other / and astringent in tast It groweth in places open to the winde in shadow places / and where as snow lyeth longe Thys description agreeth well with the herbe that I set furth in all other thinges as far as I can se / sauinge in the roote / for the hole roote is
good against the ake of the eare / if it be poured in Simeon Sethy writeth / the hemp sede if it be taken out of mesure / taketh mens wittes from them / as Coriāder doth / that the pouder of the dryed leues of hemp / maketh men dronken Pliny writeth that the iuice of hemp put into ones eare / killeth wormes and all beastes that are in the eare / but it maketh the head ake / that hempe is of suche a nature / that it can congele the water / and make it go together / that therfore it is good for beastes mawes / dronken in water The roote soddē in water / maketh softe the ioyntes that are shronken together goutes / lyke diseases He sayth that it is also good to be layd vpon burned places / but that it must be oft changed that it drye not Dioscorides maketh mētion of an other kinde of wilde hempe / whiche some reken to be Eupatorium vulgare but that can not be / for it hath nether sedes lyke vnto Marrish mallowe / nother may a man make ropes of the barke of it / which thinge belonge vnto wild hemp / wherefore it can not be wilde hempe Of wilde Gelouer or Gelyfloure Cantabrica Gelouer Cantabrica syluestris wilde Gelouer DIuerse learned men haue iudged the herbe that we call in English Gelouer or a Gelyfloure / to be Vetonica in Dioscorides / but seynge the place out of which they gather their opinion / is proued to be but bastarde / and set to by some other to Dioscorides they haue no sure grounde of their opinion And where as some alledge / that Paule maketh two kindes of Betonye / that their opinion might take place yet it is nothinge to the purpose / for the leues of the one Betony are indented lyke an Oke / and the other is lyke Peny ryal / and their Betonica hath leaues lyke a Leeke or broad grasse / so that their Betonica can be nether of Paulis Betonies And where as Pliny is alleged to haue two kindes of Betonica or Vetonica / it can not be founde so in Pliny / that is right corrected therefore they haue no fundation to buylde their opinion vpon I thinke that oure Gelouer is Cantabrica in Pliny / for he describeth Cantabricam thus In the selfe Spayne was founde Cantabrica / of the people of Cantabria / in the tyme of Augustus It groweth euerye where with a rishy stalke a fote height / wherevpon are longe floures / in long vesselles after the forme of a Lily floure / that is to witte / litle at the setting on / and broder euer toward the ende and in this is very smal sede This description of Pliny semeth vnto me to agree very well vnto the herbe called of the Potecaries Tunica / and in Englishe / wilde Gelouer / for it hath a smal stalke lyke vnto an rishe / both in color and quantite / and hath suche a long vessel vpon the top as represented the forme of it / called in Latin Calathus The gardin Gelouers are made so pleasaunt and swete with the labours and witt of man / and not by nature Cantabrica The Vertues of Gelouers THE iuyce of wild Gelouer / as the later writers do hold / is good to breake the stone / and to bring furth / and is also good for the falling sycknes The roote of the gardin Gelouer is good against the plague and therefore some vse to make conserues of the floures / and vse in the tyme of pestilence they holde also that it is good agaynst the shakinge of a quartane ague / and that the iuyce of it is good for the toth ake / holden in ones mouth fasting / and that it is also good for synewes that are cut / for the ache of the goute / for the bytinge of a madde dogge / if it be layd vpon the bitten place / brosed / or the iuice of it Of Fumitorye Capnos Capnos phragmites FVmitorie is called in Greke Capnos / in Latin Fumaria / of the Pothecaries Fumus terre / in Duche Erdrauch / or Duuenkeruel Fumitorye is a busshy herbe and very tender / and lyke vnto Coriandre / but it hath whyter leaues / and them in great number / which are as though it were of an ashe coloure and purple floures In the top of the herbe are litle rounde knoppes after the floures begon It groweth in the corne in gardins / in vineyardes / in hedges / and in all plowed and digged places Fumitorye is hote drye in the second degre / and of a manifest bitternes / which is a witnes of the hete of the same The Vertues of Fumitorye THE iuyce of this herbe / whiche in dede is sharpe / maketh clere eyes and teres to come furth / wherefore it hath the name / layed to with gumme / it will not let the double heyres of eye liddes to growe agayne The herbe eaten / driueth furth cholerike water The later wryters vse Fumitorye / to purge and make clene mennes blood / and gyue it in whaye / or other liquores agaynste scabbes and scourye diseases / and suche other lyke / whych come of Melancholey and burnt choler Plinye maketh mention of another Capnos / which is named of Theophrastus Capnos phragmitis / that is to saye / Fumitorye of the hedges This herbe hath leaues lyke Coriander / but greater a purple floure in the toppe of the stalke / and sometyme whyte / the roote is rounde and hollowe / and bitter / wherefore it hath the propertye for to open / and to breake in sundre grosse humores It groweth in great plentye in the hedges about Bon in Germanye / and it is called in Duche Hollworte / and it maye be called in Englishe Howelwurt or Hollowe wurt Of Capers CApparis is a Greke worde / whyche the Latines vse as their owne also and Capparis is called in Theodorus Gaza in Latin inturis / and it is called in Englishe Capers / in Duche Cappres / in Frenche Capres Capers is a prickye bushe / which lyinge vpon the grounde / stretched furth vnto a rounde circle / and hath prickes as a bramble / crokinge in / after the fashion of a hoke It hath rounde leaues lyke vnto a Quince tree / and a fruyte lyke an Oliue / whyche when it gapeth and is opened / sheweth a whyte floure / and when it is shaken awaye / there is a thinge founde in it / lyke a longe Acorne / which when it openeth / hath cornes lyke vnto the cornes of Pomgranates / litle and red The rootes are hard great and manye I haue sene Capers growe in diuerse gardins of Italy / but not in the feldes that I remembre of The Vertues of Capers CApers as Simeon Sethy wryteth / are hote and drye in the seconde degree / but they are of diuerse and sundrye qualitees / one is bitter / wherewyth they clenge / purge / and cut in sundre An
bastarde saffrone are made litle cakes by putting to the iuice of it / almondes nitre / anise / and sodden honye / whiche also louse the bellye These are parted into foure partes whiche are of the bignes of a walnut / wherof it is sufficient to haue taken two or thre before supper The maner of temperinge of this confection is this Take of the whytest sede of bastard saffrone one sextarye / of perched almondes and blanched iij. cyates / of anyse one sextary / of aphronitre one dram / and the fleshe of thyrtye dried figges The iuyce of the sede maketh milke go together and to crud / and maketh it more mete to soften the bellye Mesue writeth that bastard saffrone purgeth thinne fleme water both by vomite and also by purgation if it be taken inward / and that doth it lykewise put into the bodye by a clister / and therefore it is good for the colyke and suche lyke diseases / it scoureth the brest and the longes / speciallye with this electuarye that followeth / and his owne oyle wherefore it maketh the voice clere / and by muche vsinge of it / increaseth the sede / it scoureth and openeth The floure of it with honyed water / healeth the iaundies / and because it hurteth the stomake / ye must mixe with it anyse or Galanga / or Mastick / or suche lyke that are comfortable for the stomake Suche thinges that be byting and sharpe as Cardomomum / Ginger / and Salgemmy put vnto it / maketh him worke souner / and saue the guttes from harme so ten drammes of the kernelles of bastard saffrone with a drame and a half of Cardomomum made into pilles of the bignes of smal peases / in the quantite of v. drammes purge sufficiently / the same kyrnelles bounde in a cloth / and put into oxymel / and speciallye of squylla / whilse it is sodden / maketh it purge well Take xviij drammes of the kyrnelles of bastard saffrone / sixe drammes of penydies / of Cardomomum / of Ginger / of eche a dramme and a halfe / make of these mixed together lumpes of the bygnes of a walnut / and gyue one or ij The same kyrnelles sodden in the broth of a cock or a henne with the forsaid spices / haue the forsayd strength and operation This sede is gyuen in medicine from foure drammes to fyue The floure is geuen from one dram to iij. Galene sayeth that bastard Saffrone is hote in the thirde degree / if anye man wil laye it withoute Mesue sayeth that it is hoote in the firste degree / and drye in the seconde Of middow Saffrone COlchicon / otherwyse called Ephemerum / is named of the Potecaries / but falsely / Hermodactylus / in Duche zeitlos / and herbstblum / hundshodeu and wild Saffran bloome / in Frenche au chien / it maye be called in English middow Saffrone or Dogge stones I haue sene it muche in Germanye both in woodes and in middowes / and I haue sene it growe in the West countre besyde Bathe Colchicon as it is describeth in Dioscorides / bringeth furth a whytish floure lyke vnto Saffrone in the ende of Autumne / after that tyme it bringeth furth leaues lyke vnto Bulbus / but a great deale fatter / it hath a stalke a span longe / bearinge reade sede The roote is blackish rede / which when it is a litle bared / and hath the vtter skin scraped of / is whyte and soft / and full of whyte iuyce and swete in taste / his round roote hath in the middes of it a Wild Saffron Wild Saffron with the floure sede ryft / out of the which the floure commeth furth / it groweth moste in Mecena and in Colcus The floure of this herbe is whyte blewish and not whyte / the huskes that holde the sede / are lyke vnto dogges stones / wherfore the Duche men call this herbe hunds hoden / that is dogges coddes or stones The warning that Matthiolus gyueth vnto Apothecaries / that they shoulde vse no more the rootes of Colchicon for Hermodactilis / is worthy to be hearde and taken hede of / of al honest Apothecaries and Physicians to / that make anye pilles or any other medicines of them Let them that are syke in the goute / take hede that they take not in the pilles of Hermodactilis / except other Hermodactili go to the making / then the common Hermodactili they are sterke poyson / and will kill a man within one daye Matthiolus gesseth that an herbe in Italy / called there commonly Palma Christi / shoulde be the righte Hermodactylus but he will not geue sentence The Nature of wilde Saffrone IT is good to knowe this herbe that a man maye isschewe it / it will strangell a man and kyll him in the space of one daye / euen as some kinde of Tode stolles do The roote is swete and prouoketh men there by to eate of it / if anye man by chaunce haue eaten anye of thys / the remedye is to drinke a great draught of cowe milke Of Beane of Egypt Colocasia COlocasia called in Greke Cyamos Egyptios / and in Latine Faba Egyptia / maye be called in Englishe / a beane of Egypt I haue sene the right Colocasia in Italye / and a kinde of the same in Germanye / and ones growynge in Englande It that I sawe in Germany grewe vpon thre English miles from Bon besyde Siberge Beane of Egypt hath large leaues lyke vnto butter burr / called in Greke Petasos or Petasites / a stalke of a cubit long / and an inch thick / a floure after the lykenes of a rose / twise as bigge as the poppy floure hath And when as the floure is begon / it hath litle vessels lyke vnto the honye combes or waspes as Ruellius translateth thylakiskais or lyke vnto litle places or caskettes / wherein anye thinge is layd In them is a litle beane aboue the coueringe / comminge out lyke a littel belle / as ryseth on the water / The roote is stronger then a rede roote is The beane whilse it is grene / is eaten / and when it is drye / it is black and bigger then the common beane The properties of Beane of Egypt THE nature of the beane of Egypt is to be astringent and binding It is good for the stomak / for the bloody flixe / for the other flixe in the bellye / or the smal guttes taken with beane mele after the maner of grewel / the barkes sodden in honied wine / if iij. ciates thereof be taken / profit muche more for thesame purpose that grene thinge and bitter in tast / whiche is in the middes / if it be broken and sodden with rose oyle / and poured into the eare / is good for the ache of the eare Of Coniza Conisa magna Conizae alia species COniza is of two sortes / the greater and the lesse I haue sene both the kindes in Italy betwene Cremonia Ferraria by the Padus
prouoketh to the pleasure of the body It swageth the inflammations whiche are in turninge vnto saint Antonis fyre / it is good for the gatherings that are in the eares The roote droncken in seck / maketh a man make water well Pliny writeth thus of Saffrone Saffron driueth awaye all inflammationes / but speciallye the inflammations of the eyes with the whyte of an egge It helpeth the suffocation of the mother It is excellent good for the exulcerations and goyng of of the skinne of the stomacke / of the brest / of the kidnes / of the liuer / of the longes and bladder It is also good for the cough and pleuresye it taketh awaye iche it is good for weake braynes that can not well beare drinke it prouoketh slepe Simeon Sethi writeth these wordes of Saffron Saffrone is hote in the second degre / and drye in the first although some haue sayd that it was hote in the thyrde degre It is good for the stomake / and helpeth the meat to be souner digested It hath the power to open It healeth flegmatike diseases and the drousye or the forgetfull sycknes called Lethargus It is profitable for the interalles or inwarde partes / and for them that can not well take their breth If anye persone vse Saffron measurablye / it maketh in them a good coloure / but if they vse it oute of measure / it maketh him loke pale / and maketh the head ache / and hurteth the appetite But if it be mixed with opium or popy iuyce / milche and rose oyle / and the fete be anoynted therewith / bete leaues layd vpon them / it swageth the payne of the fete It is perillous to take to muche of it at ones Auerrois sayth also that Saffrone comforteth the hert / and Auicenna sayth that it scoureth the morphew / and healed brode swellinges Of Cucumbers and suche lyke fruytes Cucumis The Cucumber Cucumis citrullus CVcumber is called in Greke Sikios of Theophrast in viij places / that I haue marked / sikna in thre places after the iudgement of Theodore and of Galene / and also siknos / of Aetius onis sikna / and onis siknos But I red not in any of these Sikys / as it is onely nowe in the common Greke text of Dioscorides let them that haue anye writtē textes of Dioscorides se whether it be in any of thē also sikyos / as it is in all the other Greke autours aboue named Simeon Sethi semeth to call the cucumbers sykys in the neuter gendre / and also anguria Wherfore Fuchsius writing that cucumers are called also anguria / and that by the autorite of Aetius / which I haue not yet rede in Greke in Aetius / is vniustly reproued of Matthiolus for so doynge / it is called in Latine / Cucumis or Cucumer / in Duch Cucumeren / in Frenche Cucumbre Dioscorides maketh mētion of Pepones in the intreatinge of Cucumberes / wherefore pepones are vnder the kinde of Cucumbers / as it doth appeare in the maner of his intreatinge of Pepones in the same place But other autores make difference betwene Cucumbers and Pepones / as there is in dede For Galene in seuerall chapters wryteth of Cucumberes / Pepones / and Melopepons Cucumi Turcici Theodorus Gaza / wher as there are together siknos and sikna / commonlye turneth siknan cucumerem and siknon peponem / although he translateth commonly siknon cucumerem The cucumbre is not described of Dioscorides in the chapter of cucumis / but in the chapter de cucumere syluestri / a man may gather which knoweth it / how to knowe the gardin cucumbre / for he writeth of it thus The wild cucumbre differeth in nothing from it of the gardine / sauinge in the fruyt which it hath not vnlyke vnto longe acornes It hath leaues and braunches like it of the gardine The lefe is almost rounde / but about the edges full of nickes The floure is yelow / the fruyte is longe / and without there are certeyne longe cutters that go from the one ende to the other / and certeine swellinges like rigges / where vpon growe certeine litle lumpes like ploukes or scabbes The common kinde of Cucumbre / when it is yonge / is grene / but when it is ripe / it is yelowe Theophrast writeth in the vj. boke and the xiiij chapter / that the vttermost parte of a Cucumbre is bitter / which thinge as yet may be true / so as yet I could neuer finde in those Cucumbers that I haue proued / specially when they are ripe Theophrast Plinye make thre kindes of cucumbres / howbeit they do not describe them or tel of any difference in likenes betwene one another After Dioscorides tyme by handeling of the fruytes after diuerse fashones / there rose vp Melopepones Melones / and Anguria / whiche are all conteyned vnder Cucumis / as some newe writers iudge and haue there names of their forme / and bignes / and colour Cucumeri marini The vertues of Cucumbers / Pepones / and of all other that are conteyned vnder the Cucumbre / or that be of lyke kinde A Cucumber is good for the belly and stomack / it cooleth / and it is not soune corrupted / it helpeth the bladder / it calleth agayne them wyth the sauour of it which are fallen into aswoune The sede prouoketh vrine measurably with milke or swete wine It healeth the exulceration or rawenes of the bladder The leaues layd to with wine / heale the bytinge of a dogge / and with honye the ploukes or wheles that arise commonlye vpon the night The fleshe or substance of Pepones taken in meat / dryueth out water / thesame heleth the inflammations of the eyes / if it be layd vnto them The ouer partes of Pepones layd vnto the hinder parte of the head of a chylde / healeth his burning / called syriasis Thesame layde vpon the forhead / turneth an other way the running or issues of the eyes The drye roote dronken with honied water in the quantite of a dramme / maketh a man vomite / if anye man will vomite measurably after supper / let him take no more but one scruple If the same be layd to sores which are growen lyke honye combes / it will heale them Oute of Galene de simplicium facultatibus THE eatable Cucumbre Pepon / that is to saye rype / is of a fyne substance but thesame vnrype is of a grosser substance They haue power to scoure and to make shynninge / but muche more is the same brought to passe / if the sedes be broken / and beate into pouder / and layd vpon the place that nedeth scouringe Ther is an abundant colde and moyste temperature in them / but not so much that they do excede the seconde degre Cucumis anguinus Oute of Galene de alimentorum facultatibus THE hole nature of Pepones is colde with plentuous moyster they haue a certaine scouringe propertye by the helpe whereof they dryue
hath a loÌ„ger footstalk or stele theÌ„ the rest haue And the same lefe from the goyng down of the son vntill it ryse agayn / foldeth it self inwarde / then goeth abrode agayn when the son ryseth agayn After that the yelow flowr falleth away / there groweth a litle thyng to conteyn the sede in / which at the first is lyke the end of a writhen gymlet / but after that it begynneth to be rype / it draweth him self together / and is made lyke a litle water snayle or a crooked rammis horne / when it groweth muche crookedly inwarde / the end of it staÌ„deth not out of order Som of the coddes or sede vesselles are smouth / and som are roughe pricky The greatest Medica comenly hath smouth coddes / and the lesse roughe The sede is somthyng lyke in figure and color vnto fenegreke Thys herbe groweth nowhere in EnglaÌ„d that euer I coulde se / sauyng only in gardin But I haue sene it growyng wylde in Germany within an half myle of Wormes in the hygh way towarde Spyer It is called of them of Aphrica as AuiceÌ„na sayeth in the chapter of Cot / Alfasasat and som wryte that it is named in Spanishe Alfalsa I haue found no name as yet in EnglaÌ„d for it but it may be called horned claueâ— or medic fother The vertues of Medica out of Dioscorides THe sede of Medica / is good to be menged with spyced salt to make it haue a plesant taste The same grene is good to cool it that nedeth coolyng They that are grasiers / vse the hole herbe in the stede of grasse and hay The vertues of Medica out of Pliny THe grouÌ„d where in medic fother shall be soweÌ„ in / must be deliuered froÌ„ stones / made clene / theÌ„ turned vp in the latter end of the last haruest But it must be soweÌ„ in May / that very thyck to hold out wedes when it is an inche long / it must be diligeÌ„tly wedeth with handes not with a weding yron The time of mowyng of it is when it beginneth to floure / and as oft as it floureth again / that chaÌ„seth six tymes in a yere / or at the lest iiij tymes ye must not suffer it to wax rype vntill it bryng furth sede For it is good fother vntill it be iij. yere olde The beastes must not be suffered to eate so muche as they wil of it / lest we be compelled to put back the blood agayn It is best when it is grene when it withered and drye / it waxeth full of stickes / and is turned in to dust Palladius of Medic fother MEdic fother muste be sowen in April in beddes or ryges / the whiche as we haue sayd / thou hast prepared before And wheÌ„ as it is ones sowen / it will abyde x. yere / so that it may be cut iiij or vi tymes in the yere It dongeth the ground well Also it bryngeth the lene beastes into fleshe / and it helpeth the sick beastes A romishe acre of it / that is ccxl foote bredth / c.xx. foot of length / will serue iij. horses for an hole yere And euery ij vnces and an half of the sede / will be inough to saw fyue fote in bredth / and teÌ„ foot in leingth But as sown as the sede is casten in to the grounde / ye must take it with a wodden rake / or harrow / that it may be well couered with erth / or elles the sede will burn away with the hete of the son And beware that ye touch not the medic with any yron after that it is sowen Let the first haruest be som thyng late / that the Medic may bryng furth som sede Afterwarde / as for other haruestes or cuttyng down of it / let them be as sown as ye will Let it be geuen vnto beastes / but at the first tyme more scarsely / for it puffeth vp with wynde the bestes / and ingendreth muche blood After the thow hast mowen it / water the medik that is yet in the grounde oft tymes / and after a few dayes when it begynneth to spryng vp agayn / wede out all other herbes / so shalt thou mow it six tymes in the yere / and it shall be able to continew for the space of x. yeres Columella of horned clauer MEdic foother is a very excellent herbe / because when it is ones sowen / it dureth for the space of .x. yeres / and because after that it is sowen / it may be weâ—â— mowen iiij tymes euery yere / and in som yere syx tymes / because it fatteâ—â—he grownde / and because it fatteth euery lene beaste / and heleth euery sick beaste / because euery romish iugerum or acre of it / is sufficient for iij. horses / to gyue them meat inough for one yere It must be sowen as herafter I shall teache yow Plowe the place where in ye intend to sow Medic foother the next spryng / about the first day of Octobre that goeth before / and let the ground rott al wynter then about the first day of February / plow it well agayn / and cast out all the stones and breke the clottes Afterwarde in the moneth of Marche / plow it the thyrde tyme and breke the clottes and make the grownd playn When thou hast plowed the grownde / make beddes as the maner is in a gardine of the whiche euery one shall be in bredth x. foote / and in lengthe v. foote / that ye may go in patthes to water the herbes / and that of eche syde the weders may haue a way to come to wede the herbes And afterwarde cast old donge vpon the grownde / and in the last end of the moneth of Aprill sow so muche that euery xiij drammes and a scruple may occupy x. foote in length / and v. foote in bredth When thou hast done so / let the sede be couered by rakyng / with woddeÌ„ rakes / for that is very fit for it For if it be not couered / it will be sowne burned with the son After that he is sowen / the place ought not to be touched with yron And as I haue sayd / it must be roked with wodden rakes / weded agayn / leste any other kynde of herbe destroye the yong teÌ„dre medic foother At the first tyme of cuttyng of it / ye must tary somthyng longer / then ye shall nede to do at any cuttyng afterwarde / that it is to wet / vntill that it hath brought furth som sede Afterwarde ye may cut it down as yong as ye wil / and gyue it to your beastes But at the begynnyng / ye must geue it scarsely / vntill they be aquaynted with it / leste the newnes of the fother do hurt It puffeth vp the cattel filleth them with blood When thou hast cut it doune / water it that standeth in the grounde oft tymes When it beginneth to spryng vp agayn / wede out
Threleafe / because it hath thre leaues / bowing doune toward the earth lyke vnto a dock / or a lyly leafe / but lesse rede / the stalk is of a cubit hyght / and bare It hath a whyte floure like a lyly / and a knoppy roote of the bignes of an appel / broune in color without / and within white as an eg / in tast swete / and not vnplesant vnto the mouth I haue very seldom sene this kinde of Satyrion that Dioscorides describeth here For I neuer saw it / sauing twyse in Germany / and twyse in England In Germany I haue sene it growing in great plenty besyde Bonne / and aboute Weissenburg in hygh Almany / and in England in Soffock It hath a leafe broder then a lyly leafe / but shorter and rounder The floures are very whyte / and the stalck is longer then any kinde of Orchis / called Testiculus canis Besyde thys greater kinde / I haue sene about Charde in Sommersetshyr / a litle kinde of Satyrion with whyte floures / and rounder leaues / and broder for the quantite / then the lilye leaues are They are moste lyke yong plantayn leaues of the greater kinde The rootes are longer / then the rootes of the greater kinde / and are in taste not all swete / but a litle turninge to som darcke bitternes / and a litle heate The floures grew very thyck together / as they were writhen about the stalcke I haue sene about the last ende of August / this kinde in the floures / when as all other kindes of Orchis and Satyrion are far dede awaye / sauinge an other litle kinde with a purple flour / which is called of som our ladies traces The vertues of Satyrion DIoscorides writeth that the roote of Satyrion dronken in tarte binding rede wine / is good for the bowyng back of the neck / and that it is supposed to stere men to the lust of the body Out of Galene GAlene writeth that Satyrion is hote and moyst in complexion / and that not withstanding that it hath an ouerflowyng and windy moysture / by reason whereof it stirreth vp the lust of the bodye The herbe and roote are both of lyke streyngth in doynge of these thinges Of Rye Siligo Yet for all thys / there are two places in Columella / that will not suffer siliginem to be our rye The fyrst places is where as he sayeth quamuis candore praestet pondere tamen vincitur That is / allthough it excelle in whytenes / yet in heuynes or weyght other excede it Who dyd euer se rye whyter then wheate / and is it not most commonlye sene / that rye bread is heuyer then the wheat Therefore siligo whyche is whyter then the common and best wheat / and lighter also / can not be our rye The seconde place is in the seconde booke of Columella / in the sixt chapter / where as he wryteth these wordes We know many kindes of wheat / but that is moste to be sowen of all other / that is called robus / because it doth excelle both in weyght and in shyning or clerenes Ye ought secondely to regarde siliginem / whose chefe kinde wanteth weyght in breade Pliny also in the xvij boke of hys naturall history wryteth / that Siligo spicam semper erectam habet pariter nunquam maturescit That is / siligo hath the ear euer standing ryght vp / and it neuer wexeth rype alltogether But whether oure rye groweth with the eares dounwarde or no / and whether it be rype al at one tyme or no / I reporte me vnto them that are housband men / and haue skyll in corn / and both sowe it and mowe it By these places I trust / that I haue sufficiently proued / that siligo of the olde wryters / is not our rye / as the Phisiciones and Grammarians haue taught certayn hundred yeares But som will axe of me / seyng that siligo is not rye / what thynkest thou was it called of any old wryter To them I answer / that I fynde nothinge lyke vnto our rye / thē it whych is called of Sicale wherof he writeth thus The taurines that dwell vnder the alpes / cal sicale Asiane it is the worst of al other / and is only mete to dryue hungre awaye It hath a plenteous / but a small stalke / it is vgly to be sene for the blacknes / but it passeth in heuynes Then when as our rye hath these propertyes / and the Italianes in som places call rye Segale / the French men call it segle / whych countremen hold certayn remnantes of the old Latin tonge I thynke I gather not amis / that our rye was named secale of the old wryters Thys also maketh somthing for the same purpose / that som of the Northen men call rye breade / aussem brede / as though it had the name of assius The nature of Rye BY comon experience we fynde that rye bread is cold / windy / and hard of digestion / a breder of melancholy / namelye in al such persones / as want exercise of the body But it helpeth to kepe the body soluble / such as are disposed to be hard bellied But the medicine is grosse / and bringeth as much harm and more then it doth good all thinges well considered Som of the later wryters haue taught that the yong blades of rye distilled / are good for the stone / and for great heat in any parte or membre of the body But here of / because I haue no experiēce as yet / I dare not warrant anye man / that they haue that vertue and propertye It were good that som man that hath leasure / shoulde ones proue it Of the herbe called Scandix Scandix SCandix is supposed of som to be the herbe which is called in English Pinke nedle / or storkes bill And I haue iudged it to be an herbe the groweth in the corne with a fayre whyte floure / leaues lyke vnto cheruel The later herbe in my iudgement draweth nerer vnto the bitternes heat that Dioscorides requireth of scādix But because nether of thē both / hath so much heat and bitternes / as Dioscorides semeth to geue vnto scandix I dare not certaynly geue sentence / that ether of them should be scandix in Dioscorides Of the vertues of Scandix I Rede no other vertue the scādix hath / but the it is good for the kidnees bladder / lyuer / sauing that Galene sayth that it is good to prouoke a man to pisse / to deliuer al the inward bowelles from stoppinge The same Galene writeth that it is hote drye in the second degre Of the sea vnyon called squilla Scilla SCilla is named in Greke Skilla of the Apothecaries Squilla / of the hygh duch / meus zwybel it may be called in English / sea vnyon or Squilla or Squill vnyon The rote of the Squilla is like a great vnyon / couered with a thin
there reade wherin are white flowres which haue a little blew scattered in them here and there 77 19 For clephantia read elephantia 78  Note that the figure set out for virga aurea is not so well made as it shoulde be for it wanteth indented leaues 78 10 For two kindes herbe reade two kindes of this herbe 79 8 For of uuula read of the vuula 79 35 For a brode hory thing read a brode red horie thing 79 40 For operieus read experience 80 7 For call read called 80 13 For hath mention read hath made mention 80 15 For swigerland read swicherland 80 17 For verbascum read verbascula 80 20 For prinrose read primerose 80 28 For experience it hath read experience that it hath 80 47 For bone read bones 81 15 For striken read striking 81 17 For that is out of the whole herbe read that is stilled out of the whole herbe 81 32 For a sodereth read and sodereth 81 32 For kynyes read chymneys 81 35 For the stodes read the seedes Of the herbe called Saucealone Alliaria ALliaria is called in English Saucealone / and Iack of the hedge / in Duch Lenchel or Saußkraut / in Frenche Aliayre Saucealone groweth in hedges and in wild places alone with out anye setting / and it commeth vp in the moneth of Aprill with broade leaues like vnto a violet / but broader and grener / whiche when they are broken and rubbed / smell muche lyke vnto Garleke and therefore it is called Alliaria / that is Garleke wurt / The stalke is long / and in the toppe are whyte floures / out of the which after growe litle hornes / which haue in them black sedes like to mustard or Selendine sede The complexion and vertues of this herbe THis herbe is hote at the lest in the ende of the second degre after the rules of Galene / who teacheth vs to iudge of the hete coldnes of herbes / by the tast of the tong It is commonly vsed both in England and in Germany / to be put in sauces in the springe of the yeare / wherfore the English men call it Sauce alone / the Germanes Saußkraut This is good for thē that haue a cold stomake / and it is good to be minged with other cold herbes to delaye the coldnes thereof But it is not good for them that are of a cholerike nature / or haue hote blood / or be disposed to the head ake Of the herbe called Amara dulcis Amara dulcis AMara dulcis hath no Englishe name that I knowe / but for lacke of an other name / it maye be called Bitter swete The herbe groweth about ditches and watery places / and hedges / and rinneth after the maner of a vyne alonge The leues are somthing like Nightshaddes leues / but longer and rounder / and besides that they haue two litle eares standing out of eche syde of the leafe toward the setting one of the stalke / as some boore speres and lance staues haue / and the barke of the stalke when it is tasted of / is first bitter / and afterward swete / therefore it is called in Duche / Ie lenger je lieber The longer the more louely / that is / the more ye taste it / the more swete it is / and the more louely It hath grene berries first / and when it is ripe red as coral / and of an vnpleasant tast The floures are somthinge purple with yelow smal thinges like thredes comminge out of the reddest of them Matthiolus taketh this herbe to be vitis syluestris in Dioscorides but I haue sufficiently confuted him in the second parte of myne herball / intreatinge of vitis syluestris Tragus erreth in making this herbe smilax leues in Dioscorides / for the fruyte of smilax leues is litle / black as a lupine / but the fruyte of this herbe / as he him selfe writeth / is first grene / after red as coralle / therfore it can not be smilax leues The vertues of this herbe out of Tragus I Haue knowen by experience that this is the vertue of this herbe sayth Tragus Take a pound of the woode of this herbe / and cut it into smal peces / and after that you haue cut it / put it into a newe pot with a pottel of whyte wine / let the pot be wel couered / so that no ayre come in / yet not withstanding make a litle hole in the middest paste it well about with paste and seth it vpon a soft cole fyre / vntil the thirde part be sodden awaye / and then take it awaye And then if ye take a smal draught of it in the morning / an houre before ye rise / and so when ye go to bed It driueth out the iaunders by the bellye and also by the water Some geue this when it is sodden against rotten agues / of which the iaundes is commed Of the herbe called wild Tansey Tanacetum Tanacetum Indicum WIld Tansey is called of Tragus in Latine Anserina / in Duche Genserich It maye be called in Latine also Tanacetum syluestre / some call it Potentillam This herbe groweth in colde and watery places The leaues are lyke vnto Agrimonye / but that they are lesse grene aboue and whyte benethe / it crepeth after the maner of strawberries / and hath no other stalke / but a long thing lyke a packe threde / oute of the whiche growe yelowe floures The vertues of wilde Tanseye OVR weomen in Englande and some men that be sunne burnt / and would be fayre / ether stepe this herbe in white wyne / and washe their faces with the wyne / or ellis with the distilled water of the same The practitioners of Germanye write / that the herbe if it be sodden with wine / and dronken / is good for them that haue any knawing in the bellye / and for them that haue payne in their backes / and for the stoppinge of weomens whyte floures The distilled water as they write / is good for them that haue red eyes Of the herbe called Angelica Angelica satiua Angelica syluestris ANgelica hath leues somthinge lyke louage / but not so far iagged in / but it is muche lyke vnto cowe persnepe / which I take for Sphondylium when it is yonge / but the leues are sharper / smaller and yelower by reason whereof some haue by error taken Angelica to be sphondylium It hath a verye great stalke / smoth longe / and in the toppe of it sede muche like vnto louage The roote is bigge and of a stronge smelle with some pleasantnes / full of a clammy iuyce lyke a gumme / which sauoreth verye stronge / and there growe oute of this bigger rote smale litle other rotes like braunches which grow nexte to the ground It groweth much in Norwaye in the high mountaines / and also in Germany not far from Friburge / in the wood called nigra sylua / or ellis