tree make bitter honye / wherfore it is not good to be planted / where as bees are kept This writeth Pliny in the xvj boke of his natural story Matthiolus confuteth so well and learnedly Amatus Lusitanus / for saynge / that Boxe was a kinde of Guaiacum / that I nede not to geue anye warninge of the great errour that Amatus was in / and wold haue brought other into the same Of Calaminte Calamitha prima Rough calamint Calamita altera Corne minte DIoscorides maketh thre kindes of Calaminte / The fyrst kinde he describeth thus It groweth comonly in mountaines / and hath leues like vnto Basil / white in vnder / drye braunches / squared stalkes / and a purple floure This herbe groweth much in Germanye about Bon / and in England about Sion / It hath leaues lesse then greate Basil / muche lyke vnto the common Organe / or wilde Marierum / but they are rough on both sydes / but more rough of the vnder Calamitha tertia part / and whyte withall / but grene of the ouer part yet not withstanding mixed with certayne horines / the stalke is foursquare / al rough with a whyte hore / where about doth grow in equal order / one from another certaine knoppes lyke whorles / lyke vnto them that are in horehounde out of the which do grow purple floures / the leafe is hote / and holden vnder ones teth / bringeth furth slauer / and hath also a very good sauour / but somthinge stronge withall the rootes are smal / muche lyke vnto the rootes of the common organe / this kinde maye be called in Englishe rough Organ bush Calamint The second kind is thus described of Dioscorides It is lyke Peny ryal / but greater / and thys haue some called wild Peny ryal / because it is lyke in sauore The Latines call it Nepitā This kinde of Calaminte groweth much in England among the corne / and it is called in English commonly / Corne mint / and of the Potecaries Calamentum Howbeit at those dayes the Latines cal it not Nepitā / but vse the Greke terme of Calamite The thyrde kinde as Dioscorides writeth / is lyke vnto wild minte / with longer leaues / with greater braunches stalkes then the other kindes haue / but it hath lesse strenght then the rest This kinde is now a dayes called of the Pothecaries Nepita / in English Nepe / in Duch Katzenkraut / or Catzenmuntz / in French Herbe au chat / the cattes commonly / where as they can finde it in any gardin / wil eat it vp / wherfore som cal it in English Catmint This herbe groweth far from cities and tounes / in hedges and in stony groundes Calamint is hote and drye in the third degre Dioscorides writeth that Calamint groweth in playnes / hygh and rockye and in waterye places Matthiolus and I do agree in the seconde kinde of Calamint / which he sayth / is called euen at thys tyme in his countrey Nipotella But in the first and third kinde / I dissent from him / for he maketh another herbe to be the first kinde of Calamint / and he maketh my first kinde of Calamint / to be Clinopodium As for his first kinde of Calamint / if it be so of the same forme and fashion / as he hath set it out in his figure / it answereth nothinge vnto the description of Dioscorides / for he wold that his first kind should haue leaues like vnto Basill / but that herbe whiche Matthiolus setteth out / for Calaminta prima hath leaues lyke vnto Penyryal / and not vnto basil / namely to that basil that Dioscorides compareth his first Calamint to If that the first Calamint of Matthiolus had bene the first Calamint of Dioscorides / then should it haue had leaues lyke vnto Heliotropio maiori / to the right Mercury / to purple veluet floure / for these herbes leaues in Dioscorides other good autors are made lyke vnto the leaues of Ocimum or basil But the leues of his first Calamint are not like vnto the right basil / whiche Dioscorides cōpareth his first Calamint to Therfore the first Calamint of Matthiolus agreeth not with the description of Dioscorides / I wil be iudged by learned men that are indifferent In the third kind of Calamint / I do not like his confutation of Ruellius / who in my iudgement hath more furthered the knowledge of herbes for his tyme / then Matthiolus hath done for hys tyme / yet I graunt that we are much bound to Matthiolus for his paynes taken in the setting out the knowledge of herbes Ruellius sayth that the third kind of Calamint / is the herbe cōmonly called Nepe or Cat mint / but Matthiolus confuteth him thus Dioscorides maketh the thirde kinde of Calamint lyke vnto Mentastro / not to Baum or a Nettel / as Catmint is Thesame Dioscorides answer I vnto Matthiolus / sayth not only that the third Calamint is like vnto Mentastro or wild mint / but he sayth also that it hath longer leaues then wild mint hath / for so hath the Greke text / 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tertia verò menthae syluestri similis est folijs oblongior The third is lyke vnto wilde mint / longer in the leaues And thesame Dioscorides sayth that the thirde kinde of mint is greater both in the stalke and blades or braunches / then the forenamed Calamintes be Then when as the third calamint must haue longer leaues then wild mint That herbe that hath longer leues then the wild mint / called Mentastrum / is not lyke the thirde Calamint And the herbe that Ruellius setteth furth for Calaminta tertia / hath longer leaues then it that Matthiolus setteth out Therfore it that Ruellius setteth out / is lyker to be the thirde kinde of Calamint / then it that Matthiolus sheweth For it that Matthiolus setteth oute for the thirde Calamint / excepte his thirde figure be falselye graued and painted / hath not onelye shorter leaues and lesse / then euen the Mentastrum / which he setteth out his owne selfe a litle before / but also shorter and lesse leues then the seconde kinde of Calaminte hath / euen after his owne figure that he setteth furth Therfore Matthiolus erreth much more in the third kind of Calamint then Ruellius doth put a litle pece of a leafe vnto Mentastro / and se whether it will not be as long as some Nettel leaues be or no. If the increase of the leafe then make Mentastrum lyke a Nettel / then the thyrd Calaminte / which must nedes be longer leaued then Mentastrum is / maye well be like a nettel / as touching the length of the leafe An other cause is / sayeth Matthiolus / why that the opinion of Ruellius oughte to be refused and whisteled oute / is because he hath sene the right third Calamint in watery places like vnto Mentastro / with something more whitishe leaues / and with a sharper taste /
the colour of the floure / and the squares of the stalke which is yet squared in dede ought not to put furth our Langue de befe / out of the kinde of Cirsion / allthough it be not all the best As touching the litle leaues whyche shoulde represente the forme of a rose / I reken that Dioscorides meaneth that the leues spreadinge on the grounde / shoulde haue a certeyne lykenes vnto the figure of a rose / whyche thynge this oure Langue de befe doth not wante For Dioscorides maketh mention twise of the leaues / and compareth them vnto two herbes nothing like at all that is vnto a rose and to borage wherfore to saue Dioscorides from contradiction / we must saye that in the former place he meneth not of euery one lefe seuerally / that it should be lyke vnto a rose leafe / but that al the leues spred abrod that are about the rote on the ground / should resemble a rose in their fassion maner of growing out together If anye man vnderstand not what I mean / let him loke vpō the herbe which Matthiolus setteth out for cinoglossa / he shal vnderstande me Here is to be noted for thē that rede Dioscorides in Latin of Ruellius translation / that they trust him not to muche wtout the Grek text / for he trāslateth in the description of Cirsion macrotera maiora / whē in other iiij herbes he trāslateth the same word lōgiora It is also not to be passed ouer in silence that Pliny hath here / where as Dioscorides hath macrotera / and Ruellius maiora / minora / that is lesse leaues / so that Plinye meaneth that Cirsion hath lesse leaues then buglossum hath Matthiolus setteth out the figure of an herbe / that my maister Lucas Ginus sent vnto him / whiche he taketh for the right Cirsion / but he nether telleth the Italian name of it / nether the name of Herbaries / nor of the Apothecaries / nether describeth it so / that if a man se it agayne / by his description he mighte knowe it And because he doth lightely passe ouer it / nether the taste nor smell / nor the vertue of the herbe told / we can nether iudge it to be the true Cirsion / nether perfitlye confute him in sayinge that it is the true Cirsion But by the figure that he setteth out / he maye be so confuted for holdinge of that herbe to be Cirsion / as he confuteth other that hold that Buglosse is the true Cirsion / for he confuteth him thus The litle pricky leaues that come furth from belowe / resemble not the likenes of a rose in the comon Buglosse / therfore it can not be Cirsion And euen so maye Matthiolus be confuted / the leaues of the herbe that are be lowe nexte the grounde in his figure resemble not a rose / sed louga et continua prodeunt Matthiolus knoweth these his owne wordes wel / therefore by his owne reason the herbe that he setteth oute / can not be Cirsion Loke vpon his figure when ye will / and ye shall finde that it is true that I saye The herbe which I take for Cirsion / are at leste for a kinde of it / groweth commonly in gardines in England / and also abroad in the feld in great plentye betwene Sion and Branfurd Oure cookes holde that it is a good pot herbe / and so it is in dede / if Buglosse and Borage be good pot herbes / for in taste it is very lyke them / and rather pleasanter in taste then they be The sede of the herbe is rede drawinge towarde yelowe Amatus erreth in this herbe as in manye other rede his confutation of Matthiolus / and ye shal finde that he sayeth / but nescienter / amonges other reasons / to proue that Buglosse is Cirsiō Exbuglosse floribus nescio quid euanescit Out of the floures of Buglosse / I wot not what vanisheth out or away If he can not tel what vanisheth awaye / then he can not tel what herbe is Cirsion He shoulde haue said / if he had knowen it as Dioscorides sayth Soluuntur capitula purpurea in lanugmem But how should he saye so / except he lyed / for he neuer saw nether anye other man / the purple floures of Buglosse vanished awaye in to downe / for no honest man wil saye that euer Buglosse had any down Wherfore Amatus writeth of it that he neuer sawe / onely folowynge the iudgemēt of other / hauinge none at all in this herbe that we now intreate of The Properties of Cirsion DIoscorides sheweth that Andreas the Herbary wrote / that the roote of Cirsion bounde to the sicke place / swageth the ache of the great veynes whiche beynge to muche enlarged / send to manye humores to one place Of Cistus Cistus mas Cistus foemina CIstus is named in Greke Kistos / Kitharos Kissaros / of the common Herbaries rosago rosa canina / in Frenche rose canine as Gesner sayth I haue sene it in Italy in certaine gardines / and ones in Englande in my Lordes gardine at Sion But it that I sawe at Sion / hath broader and longer leaues then it which I sawe in Italye I haue not heard as yet any Englishe name for Cistus / but for lack of other / it maye be called Cist bushe or Cist sage / of the lykenes that it hath with sage Cistus as Dioscorides wryteth / is a thicke bushe and full of braunches / and groweth in stonye places / ful of leaues / but not hygh / the leaues are rounde and tarte / wyth a certeyne bindinge / and rough The male hath a floure lyke a pomgranat / the female hath a whyte floure Pliny also sayth that there are two kindes of Cistus / the male with a floure lyke a rose / and the female with a whyte floure It that I sawe in Italye was the male / and it that I sawe in England was the female The Properties of Cistus CIstus is astringent / wherfore his floures dronken twyse on the daye in tarte wine / stop the bloodye flixe / they layd to by them selues / stop sores whiche eate vp the fleshe / the floures mixed and made with wexe after the maner of a treate / heale olde sores / and the places that are burnt with the fyre Hypocistus called of the Pothecaries Hipoquistida / groweth about the rootes of Cistus / and is lyke vnto the floure of Pomgranat / some of them are yellowe / some grene / some whyte The iuyce is melted out and made thick as Acacia is / but some drye it / and stepe it when it is broken / and seeth it / and do all other thinges that is done with Licio It hath the strength of Acacia / but it dryeth somthinge more and bindeth but dronken and put in / it is good for the bloodye flixe of weomen Of Cistus ladanifera THer is as Dioscorides sayth an other
dronken with peper myr / it bryngeth downe floures If it be takē with the kyrnelles of grapes / it stoppeth the belly If it be gyuē with lieghe / it is good for places that are sodenly shronken together and bursten It is resolued or melted with bitter al mondes / or with rue / or hoote brede for to make drinkes of it The iuice of the leues will do the same / but not so effectually It is good to be chowed with oximell or with hony and vinegre to help the throte / when as the voice is horse or dulle It is sayde that there is an other Magudaris in Lybia / and that the root is lyke Laserpitio / but that it is not so thyck / sharp and spongous / out of whiche no iuice floweth furth It hath like vertu with Laserpitio If a man will compare these vertues with them that the later writers gyue to maisterwurt or pillitori of Spayn / he shal fynde that there is as great agrement betwene theyr properties / as is betwene theyr formes descriptiones But of thys mater I intende God willyng to speake more largely an other time Of the herbe called Lathyris LAthyris putteth furth a stalck of the length of a cubit / and a fingre thyck / and holow within There grow in the top thynges lyke wynges / and there grow out of the stalcke / longe leaues lyke almondes leaues / but broder and smother They that are in the hyghest toppes / are found lesse / in the licknes of Arestolochia or of a long Iuy lefe It bringeth furth Lathyris fruite in the top in the hyghest branches / whyche is notable by the reason of iij. cases or vesselles that the sede is in The fruite is round as capers / where in are cōteyned rounde cornes diuided one from an other / by filmes that rynne betwene The sedes are bigger thē greate bitter tares called erua / roūde And whē the barckis takē from thē / they are whyte and swete in taste All the hole bushe is full of milck / as the herbe called Tithymalus is Thys description agreeth well with the herbe whiche is called in Englishe spurge / in Duch springkraut / in Frenche espurge / of the apothecaries catapucia minor / not bycause it is little / but because it is lesse then ricinus / whiche is called catapucia maior But the figure whiche that Matthiolus setteth for Lathyri / agreeth not with this description For the leaues are not very lyke almonde leues / nether broder then they be But perauenture hys karuer hath begyled hym as karuers and paynters haue begyled o / ther men before this tyme. The vertues of spurge out of Dioscorides SYxe or seuen granes of spurge taken in pilles with figges or dates / purge the belly But he that hath taken them / must afterwarde drynck cold water They draw down choler / fleme / water The iuice taken out / as the iuice of Tithymal is taken furth / and dressed / hath the same workyng The leues are sodden with a cock for the same purpose Out of Actuarius SPurge purgeth thynne fleme vehemently Fiftene of the greater cornes / are geuen at ones / and xx of the lesse cornes They that wolde be effectually purged / let them chow them Let thē that desyre not to be so gretely purged / swalow them hole ouer specially / if he that taketh them haue a weke stomacke Aetius hath the same wordes and sentence of Lathyris that Actuarius hath Wherefore it appereth that Actuarius a later writer then Aetiu◠/ took it that he wrote out of Aetius of the herbe called Lauer or Sion SIon otherwise called lauer / is foūd in waters / with a fat bushe ryght vp with brode leues / lyke vnto the herbe called Hipposelino / but lesse well smellyng The herbe called in som place of Englād belragges / agreeth in al poyntes with this description But so doth not the herbe called in Englishe brooklyme / in Duche bauch pung / for when as Sion is described to be a ryght vp growyng herbe with leues lyke hyposelino broock lyme crepeth moste comēly by the grounde and hath a lefe nothynge lyke vnto hipposelino Wherfore Amatus gyueth an vnryght duche name vnto Siō / when he calleth it bauchbungē or pūgen / as the Duche mē also did before hym of whome he learned to call Sion bauchbungē I meruell that Matthiolus maketh Syon with sedes in litle coddes / when all the Syon that euer I could ether se / in England / Germany / or Itali / had euer sede in the top after the maner of Persely / with out any coddes Wherfore I reken that his Syon is not the ryght Sion Syō is not only so lyke a kynde of Selinon / called hipposelinon or olus atrum in the leues as Dioscorides writeth / but also so lyke Selino or Apio in the stalck and top / sede / that som haue taken it for Elioselino / and haue named it waterpersely Whiche name were good to be receyued in England that the herbe myght the better ther by be knowē / thē bi the name of belragges The vertues of water Persely THe leues of Syon ether raw or sodden / if they be taken in / they breake the stone and dryue it furth They moue men to make water They are good to help women to theyr sycknes They are also good for to help the byrth to come furth If they be taken in mete / they are also good for the blody flix The Laurel or Baytre LAurus is named in Greke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Englishe a Bay tre or a Laurel tre / in Duche ein lorben baum / in Frenche vng laurier The leaues of the Bay tre are alwayes grene / and in figure and fashon they are lyke vnto scala celi / and to periwincle They are long and brodest in the middest of the lefe They are blackishe grene / namely when they are olde They are curled about the edges / they smell well And when they are casten vnto the fyre / they crake wonderfully The tre in England is no great tre / but it thryueth there many partes better and is lustier then in Germany The berries are allmoste round / but not alltogether The kirnell is couered with a thick black barke / which may well be parted from the kirnell The vertues of the bay tre and it that groweth out of it THe bay leaues haue the vertue and strengthe to hete / and to soften / wherefore the broth of them is good to sit in / for the diseases of the mother and of the blader The grene leues of the bay tre binde som thyng And if they be layd to when they are broken / they he le the styngyng of bees / and waspes The same layd to with perched barley and brede / swage al inflāmationes or hoote burninges / but if they be dronken / they make all that is in
prouoke vrine that is stopped The same layd to the nether most parte of the belly / bring weomen their sycknes The iuyce put into the mother with myrre / doth the same that the bath doth The toppes and leaues of the same herbes / in the quantite of thre drammes / are commonly dronken to bringe the forsayd sykenes doune The right Mugwurt is good to be dronken agaynst the poyson of the iuyce of Poppye / called Oppium / with wine Pliny writeth that it was the opinion in hys dayes / that the men that had it vpon them / should not be wery / and that no euell medicine shoulde hurt them / and that no euel beaste should noye them Of the Reede A Reede is called in Greke Kalamos / in Latin Arundo or Calamus / in Duch Een Roer / or een Reede in Frenche / Vne Roseau Ther are diuerse kindes of Redes / some are thicke redes whereof Arrowes are made in diuerse countrees some serue for to make tounges for pypes / some serue to make instrumentes to write with / whiche we comonly called pennes Another kinde of Rede groweth aboute riuers sides / thys beyng thick and holowe / is called of some Arundo Cypria of other Donax Another kinde is called Phragmitis / or Vallatoria because it groweth about hedges and diches This is small and somethinge whyte / and well knowen of all men This laste kinde groweth muche in England / but the other kindes growe not in England that I knowe of howbeit they are brought in of Marchants out of other countrees The vertues of the Reede THE roote of the common hedge Rede called in Latin Canna by it selfe / or layd to with his knoppes / draweth out shyueres and prickes It also swageth the payne of the loynes / and membres out of ioynte / layde to wyth vinegre The grene leaues brused and layd to / heale Cholericke inflammacions / and other inflammacions also The ashes of the barke layd to wyth vinegre / heale the falling of the heyre The downe that is in the toppe of the Reede lyke floures if it come into a mannes eare / maketh him deafe Of Follfoote / or Asarabacca ASarum is called in Greke Asaron / in Englishe Follfote because it hath a round leafe / lyke a folis fote and Asarabacca / in Duche Haselwurt / because it groweth about Hasel tree rootes / in Frenche Cabaret Folfote groweth only in gardines in England / but it groweth wilde in certayne places of Germanye Folefoote is a well sauoringe herbe / and vsed to be put in garlandes It hath leaues lyke vnto Yuy / but lesse / and rounder by a great dele / wyth purple floures / lyke the floures of Henbane / and they growe but a litle from the root / and haue a good sauour / out of the which commeth sede lyke grapes It hath manye rootes full of knottes / small / one lyinge ouer an other / not vnlyke vnto grasse rootes / but much smaler / well sauoring / hote / and bytinge vehementlye the tonge The Vertue of Follfoote THE nature of thys herbe is hote / and it prouoketh water / it healeth the dropsy / and the olde Sciatica The rootes prouoke doune a womans sickenes / taken in the quantite of sixe drammes wyth mede and they purge as nesinge pouder called whyte Hellebor doth Galene sayth / that Folefoote is lyke vnto Acorus in strenght / but that thys is more stronge and vehement Of great saint Iohns wurt Ascyron GAlene and Paule conteyne Ascyron vnder Androsemo but Dioscorides describeth these herbes seuerally / and so maketh them sondry herbes Ascyron called also Ascaroides / is a kinde of Hyperici / called in Englishe saint Iohns grasse / or saint Iohns wurt but it differeth in greatnes / for it hath greater leaues / stalkes / and mo braunches / then saint Iohns grasse hath I haue marked also thys difference / that Ascyron hath a four squared stalke / and leaues wyth verye fewe holes in them / whiche I haue not sene in Hyperico The herbe maye be called in Englishe / great saint Iohns grasse I haue sene it diuers tymes in Sion parke The Vertues THE sede of this herbe is good for the Sciatica If it be dronken wyth water and honye / about the quantite of twentye vnces / it purgeth largelye choleryke humores But it must be taken continuallye / tyll the pacient be hole This herbe is also good agaynst burninge Of Swallowe wurt ASclepias is rekened of Fuchsius to be the herbe / which is called of the common Herbaries Hirundinaria / of the Potecaries Vince toxicum / of the Germanes Schwalbēwurtz It groweth in Germanye in hyghe mountaines / and in stony grounde amonges the busshes I haue not sene it in Englande but it maye be called in Englishe Swallwurte Some Physicianes Italianes / when I was in Italye / supposed this herbe whiche some call Asclepias to be Apocinum But thys herbe hath no yelow iuyce / nether doth it poyson wyth wine / as Apocinum doth Wherefore this herbe can not be Apocinum Asclepias hath long small braunches / out of which come furth long leaues / lyke vnto Yuy leues / many small rootes / whiche sauour well / The floure is of an vnplesant sauour / The sede is lyke hatchet fiche / called otherwyse Securidaca But because the rootes of Swallow wurt are not well smelling / a man maye not be to bold to hold that Swallowurt is the right Asclepias Wherefore I haue not as yet sene the right Asclepias in all pointes / agreing with the description of Dioscorides Asclepias The Vertues of Swallow wurt THE rootes of thys herbe dronken wyth wine / helpe them that haue gnauwynge in their bodye / and are remedye agaynst the bytinge of venemous beastes The leaues layd vpon the almost incurable sores of the pappes or breastes / and of the mother / heale them The later writers of Physike / wryte that this herbe is good to bringe doune weomens floures / that it is good agaynst the byting of a mad dogge / and agaynst poyson Wherefore it is called Vince toxicum / that is / master poyson / or ouercome poyson They saye that the roote of thys herbe steped in wyne / is good agaynste the dropsye / and that the floures and leaues broken / and put into woundes / healeth them shortelye They saye also that this herbe healeth materye and old sores / and is good agaynst burstinges / and the diseases of the priuityes Of Sperage Asparagus SPerage is called in Latin Asparagus / in Duche Spargen / in Frenche Esperage / some Potecaries call thys herbe Sparagus Asparagus is of two sortes / the one is called Aspa altilis / Asparagus alone / and this is the comon Sperage whiche groweth in diuerse gardins in England / and in some places by the Sea syde / in sandy hylles / as it groweth right plentuously in the Ylandes of East Freselande / and in hyghe Germany / without anye setting
and in the beginninge dryue awaye swellinges if they be broken and layd to with breade The broth of them dronken prouoketh vrine Some do sow them besyde behyues / because they allure bees to come to them Varro / Virgil / Pliny and Columel wryte all with one consent / that Citisus is good for bees but Columella writeth more largelye of Cytisus after thys maner It is verye expedient to haue muche Cytisus in the feldes / because it is wonderfully good for hennes / bees / bullockes and al kindes of cattel / for by the eating of it / they wexe shortlye fat / and it maketh shepe haue muche milke ye maye vse it viij monethes grene for meat to your cattel / and afterward drye Moreouer it taketh roote shortly in anye felde / be it neuer so lene It can not lightlye be hurt with anye iniurye If weomen haue scarsenes of milke / ye must take the drye Cytisus / and stepe it a night in water / and take thre pintes of the water that it is steped in / and put wine to it / and then gyue it to drinke / then shall the nurses be lustye / and the chylder stronge The tyme of sowyng of Cytisus is in Autumne / about the xiij of October Plinye writeth almost the same sentence after this maner Cytisus also is a bushe or a shrub / greatlye commended of Aristomachus the Atheniane to be fode for shepe / and when it is dryed for swyne It hath thesame profit that Orobus or bitter fitch hath / but it filleth soner / and the beastes wexe fatt with a litle / so that the cattel had rather haue it then barley / for they leue barley and take it There cometh of no other meat greater plenty and better milke then of Cytisus / nether is there any better medicine then the same for cattel taken al maner of wayes He commanded also the same to be sodden in water / when it is dryed / and to gyue the decoct or broth of it with wine vnto nurses / whē they want milke and he sayth that there by the childer growe greater and longer Paulus Egineta wryteth that Cytisus is a warme and temperate nature / as the mallowe is / and doth lightly dryue awaye Of Lauriel or Lowry DAphnoides is called of some Herbaries Laureola / in Englishe Lauriel or Lowry / or Lorell I neuer sawe the true Daphnoides in Germany / wherfore I know not his true Duche name Daphnoides is a bushe of a cubit hyght and hath many braunches / whiche are tough / and bowe muche / and in the toppes they are ful of leues The barke that couereth the bowes / is exceding tough hard to breake Daphnoidos The leaues are lyke a baye / of a Laurel tree / but they are tougher which set in fyre their mouthes that taste of them The floures are whyte the berrye when it is rype / is black / the rootes are nothing worth It groweth in mountaynes and hylly places / Hetherto Dioscorides Some abuse the berryes of this bushe for Mesereon / some for Coccognidium This bushe groweth commonlye in Englande in hedges / as beside Cambridge / Barkway / at Sion I haue sene it growynge The vertues of Lauriel LAurielles leues ether grene or drye dronken / draweth oute by the bellye waterye fleme / prouoketh floures / and maketh a man vomit / the same chewed in the mouth / bringe furth fleme that waye / and it maketh a man nese fyften of the berryes dronken / make a purgation Of Daucus Daucus Daucus alter DAucus in Dioscorides is of thre kindes / in Pliny of foure kindes / but Galene / Paulus Egineta / and Aetius / make but two kindes Theophrastus semeth to make thre kindes after the interpretation of Gaza / whiche he disseuereth onely by the color of the roote / he maketh one kinde grene lyke a Baye tree / and other kinde redish yelowe after the colour of Saffron / and the thirde kinde black or rather redishe black / or as it is in Greke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is rede Simeon Sethi maketh two kindes / the yelowe and the black / and he putteth no other difference betwene them / sauinge only by coloure of the roote Theophrastus and Simeon Sethi seme to me to vnderstande vnder the name of Daucus / the kindes of Carot / for it is euident / that at the leste there are two kindes of Carottes / the yelowe and the black whiche are taken for Daucus of them Gregorius Gyraldus the interpretor of Simeon Sethy turneth Daukion in pastinacam into Latin / which is called in Englishe a Carot Theodorus Gaza the translator of Theophrast turneth Daucon into pastinacam / Galene sayth that some call Daucus / staphilinos / and Paulus foloweth him Aetius doth not only say that Daucus is called staphilinos / but also writing of Staphilinus sayeth that Staphilinos is called Daucus / and although all these thre make Pipinella maior Pipinella minor two diuerse chapters of Daucus and pastinaca / yet they gyue lyke vertues vnto both the herbes / that is the nature to prouoke floures and vrine / wherfore although Daucus and Staphilinos were to sundry herbes and diuerse in forme / as I denye not / but they be yet for as much as they agre in vertue / the error of them can not be great / which take the one for the other / speciallye seynge that Aetius writeth that Daucus is called Staphilinos / and Staphilinos Daucus But it is out of doute that in Theophraste and Simeon / Daucus is oure Carot / howsoeuer Dioscorides do separate Staphilinos and Daucus Daucus creticus as Dioscorides writeth hath leues lyke Fenel / but lesse and smaller / a stalke a span longe / a whyte floure bytinge / hote sede and that whyte / rough / and of a pleasant sauour / when it is in eatinge / the roote is a finger thicke / and it groweth a span longe It groweth in stonye places / and where as the sunne cummeth There is an other of the same kinde / lyke vnto wild perselye / byting / well smellinge / hauing the smell of spice / and hote in taste The best is in Candy The thirde is set furth with leaues lyke Coriandre / with whyte floures / with a head and sede lyke Dill / with a spoky top lyke Carot / with long sede as Cumin hath / and that biting These thre kindes are thus described of Dioscorides Matthiolus although he talk of iij. kinds of Daucus / he setteth furth but one figur which he telleth not whether it be of the first or seconde or thirde kinde But it varieth not from the description of the firste kinde / if it haue the taste and other vertues belonginge vnto Daucus Daucus tertia species If Matthiolus had tolde vs the Italian name of his Daucus / it had bene muche easier for vs to come by it / and also to iudge whether it were the trew Daucus or no. As
the feldes / but only in gardines in England Of the Mulberry tre Morus MOrus is named in Greke Morea / in Englishe a Mulberry tre / in Duche ein Maulberbaum / in Frenche vng Meurier / of the apothecaries morus celsi The Mulberry tre hath leues allmoste roūde / sauyng that they are a lytle sharp at the ende / they are indented about the edges after the maner of mynte It hath hory floures / a fruite in proportion / som thyng long in color / whē it cōmeth first furth whyte / in cōtinuāce of tyme it waxeth rede / and afterwarde whē it is full rype / it is black The vertues of the Mulberry tre THe fruite of the Mulberry tre louseth the belly is good for the stomack / but it is easeli corrupt or rotten The iuice of Mulberries doth the same If it be soddē in a brasen vessel / set out in the son / it is made more byndyng / it is good for the flowynge of humores / for eatyng sores / and for the inflammation of the kirnelles vnder the chin / with a lytle hony But hys streyngthe increaseth / if ye put vnto hym alum de pluma / galles / saffron / myr / the sede of Tamarisk / Ireos or Aris / and Frankincense The vnripe berries of thys tre are good to be dryed and brused / and put into mete in the stede of sumach berries / for them that haue the flix The barke of the roote of thys tre sodden in water / louseth the belly It dryueth brode wormes out of the belly It is also good for them that haue dronken the poyson called aconitum pardalianches or libardis bayn The leues are good to lay to a burnyng The iuice of the leues taken in the quantite of a cyat / is a good remedy agaynst the bytyng of the felde spyder It is good to washe the achyng teth with the broth of the barck and leues hote / to dryue the payn away The roote beyng cut / nicked / or scotched / about the last end of heruest / ye must make a furrow round about it / and it will put furth a iuice whiche ye may fynde in the next day after / clumpered or growē together Thys iuice is excedyng good for the tuthach / it scattereth and dryueth away swellyng lumpes and purgeth the belly Out of Auicenna THe leues of the mulberry tre / are a susseran medicine for the squinsey or sqinancy / and agaynst stranglyng The bark is a triacle agaynst the poyson of henbayn Out of Galene de facultatibus alimentorum THe rype fruite of the mulberry / doutles softeneth the belly But the vnrype fruit / after that it is dryed / is a very byndyng medicine / wherefore it is good for the blody flix or for any other flix But it must be brayed cast into your meat / as ye do with som ach or if a man will / he may drynk it with wyne water But that the iuice of the rype mulberries is a good mouth medicine / by the reason of the byndyng that it hath / euery man knoweth But vnrype mulberries besyde theyr tartnes / they haue also a sournes Yea the hole tre in all hys partes / hath a mixt or menged pour / made of a stoppyng and a purgyng qualite But in the barck of the roote / the purgyng vertue excelleth with a certayn bitternes / in so much that it can kill a brode worm In other partes the bindyng or stoppyng qualite passeth the other qualites There is in the leues and buddes a certayn mean complexion or temperature Of Tamarisk MIrica otherwise called Tamarix in Greke Myrike / is called of the apothecaries / and comen herbaries Tamariscus / of the Duche Tamarischen holtz It may be named in Englishe Tamarisk / because as we want the bushe / so also we haue no name for it in England Myrica is of ij kyndes as Dioscorides writeth The former kynde groweth about slow / standyng waters / and bryngeth furth a fruite lyke a floure / with a mossy growyng together Egypt and Syria bryng furth an other gentler thē thys / in other poyntes lyke the wilde It bryngeth furth a fruite next vnto a gall / vnequally byndyng in taste Myrica The secōd kynde I grant that I neuer saw / and that is no meruel / seing that Dioscorides appoynteth Syria and Egypt for hys naturall places / where as I haue neuer bene But as touchyng the former kynde I haue sene it in diuerse landes in Italy in an yland betwene Francolino Venish in Germany in diuerse places about the Ren not far from Strasburg / and in Rhetia in a stony place som tyme of yeare vsed to be ouer flowen with the Rhene Theophrast writeth that Myrica hath a flesshy or fat or thick lefe And Pliny writyng of leues of plantes in generall / sayeth that the Cypres tre and the Tamarisk haue carnose or flesshy leues Which sayng is not so to be vnderstād that euery lefe by it self were fat or flesshy but that they are called fat / because they grow so thyck together vpon the twygges The leues of the Tamarisk are lyke the leues of Samin or of the Cypres tre / but they are som thyng lesse And both Dioscorides and Pliny write that Erica whiche is called in the North parte of England hather or tyng / and in the South countre hethe / is lyke vnto Tamarisk Wherefore seyng that there is no liknes at all betwene the rountre or quikbem / the hethe or hather / they haue ben far deceyued in London / which haue comenly vsed the barkes of quickbeme for Tamariske as here after I intend to declare more at large The Tamarisk bushe that groweth in Germany is about viij foot long / and comenly it is not greater then a mans thum The color of the bark in the vttermost parte of all is gray / and next vnto that / it is rede / but next vnto the wod it is yelow / as the wod is whilse it is grene The wod is very holow and hath very great pith / or hart / somthyng in that poynte lyke vnto cloder / or bourtre The taste of the barck is very byndyng / as the leues are also The vertues of Tamarisk THe fruite of Tamarisk which is lyke a gall / is vnequally byndyng in taste / and we may vse it in the stede of galles / both for the diseases of the eyes / and mouth It is good to be geuen vnto them in drynk that spit blood / and to them that haue the flix / and to weomē that are vexed with theyr vnmeasurable isshue It is also good agaynst the iaundes / and the bytyng of the feld spyder The same layd to / after the maner of an emplaster / swageth swellynges the barck is good for the same purpose The broth of the leues dronken with wyne / wasteth vp the milt and is good to washe the teth
altogether rounde and wtout corners / and the leues of the moste parte of our comon peasen ar roūde / the comon white peason and other lyke vnto them in form and fasshon can not be pisa of the old writers The comon gray pease with the long leues / which is not round / but cornered / is ether the pisum of the old writers / or ellis I know it not all The vertues of peasen out of Galene PEasen of theyr hole substance haue a certayn lyknes with fabis which ar called of the moste parte of learned men and taken for our beanes and ar after the same maner takē in that fabe ar But they differ in these two poyntes / frō fabis both in that they ar not so wyndy / and that they haue not suche a scowryng nature / therfore go slowlier down throw the belly Galene in that place where as he writeth of fabis / sayeth that all thynges which ar fryed want the wyndenes that they had before / but that they ar harder of digestion Then the perched or burstled peasen which ar called in Northumberlād carlines by Galenis ruel / ar not so wyndye as otherwaies dressed / ar harder to be digested / although they noy not so muche with theyr wyndenes The physiciones of Salern wryte thus of peasen in theyr booke whiche they wrote vnto the kyng of Englande Sunt inflatiua cum pellibus atque nociua Pellibus ablatis sunt bona pisa satis That is peasen with theyr skinnes ar wyndy and noysum / but when as that skynnes ar takē away they ar good inoughe Thus do they say But for all theyr sayng / I will aduise all them that haue ether wyndy stomackes / or miltes / that they vse not much pease at any tyme / howsoeuer they be dressed / except there be ether anis sede / or cumin / or mynte / or som other sede or herb of lyke propertie put thereto Wherefore I must nedes commēde the honest and lerned Physicianes who of olde tyme haue taught our cookes to put the pouder of mynte in to pease potage / for that taketh away for the moste parte the wyndines of the pease / which might els hurt all men disposed vnto any wyndines ether in the milt or stomack The cause why I do commend them is / because they haue don bothe accordyng vnto reason and to the learnyng of Galene who wrytyng of peasen / and other wyndy meates / sayeth that whatsoeuer wyndines is in any kynde of meat / the same may be amended by such herbes as ar hote and make subtile and fyne Of pitiusa or pyne spourge out of Dioscorides PItiusa is iudged to differ in spicie or kynde from the cypresse spourge / called in latin cyparissias Wherefor it is numbred amongest the kyndes of tithimales Pitiusa which I name pyne spourge bryngeth furth a stalk longer thē a cubit / hauyng many knees or ioyntes The leues ar sharp small lyke vnto the leues of a pyne tre The floures ar small / in color purple / the sede is brode as a lentil is The roote is whyte / thyck / and full of iuice Thys same is found in som places a great bushe Hytherto Dioscorides Thys pitiusa is called of the common Herbaries and apothecaries esula maidr / but how that it is called in Englishe / I can not tell / allthoug it be foūd in many places of Englād But leste it shuld be without a name / I call it pyne spourge after the Greke name and lyknes of the leues of it vnto the leues of a pyne tre It may also be called lynespourge / of the lyknes that it hath with linaria The comon herbaries hold that it is hard to discern esulam from linaria / and therfore they haue made a verse whereby a man may learn to discern the one from the other / but the verse is thys Esula lactescit linaria lac dare nescit Pinespourge hathe much milck / which linari lacketh in hyr lefe But because linari is also lyke the Cypresse spourge which is much lesse then thys is it wer best for the auoydyng of confusion continually to call pitiusam pine spourge The great kynde that Dioscorides maketh mention of / haue I sene in diuerse places of Germany / first a litle benethe Colen / by the Rhene syde / and afterward / besyde Wormes in high Germany I haue sene it diuerse tymes as hyghe as a man / and somtyme much lōger Thys herbe may be called in English spourge gyāt / or merrish or water spourges / because it groweth only in merrish and watery groundes The vertue of pitiusa out of Dioscorides TWo drammes of pitiusas rote with mede purgeth / so doth a dram of the sede / so doth a spounfull of the sap made in pilles with flour Thre drammes of the leues / may be taken for a purgation Of plantayn or weybrede Plantago maior Plantago minor Plantago II. minor Plantago aquatica THere at two kyndes of plantayn or Waybrede the lesse and the greater The lesse hath narrower leues / lesse and smother / softer and thynner It hath litle stalkes bowyng to the grounde / full of corners and pale yelowishe floures The sede is in the top of the stalkes The greater is larger with brode leues lyke vnto a bete The stalk in thys kynde is full of corners / somthyng redish of a cubit hyght / set about with small sede from the myddes vnto the top The rootes ar tender roughe / white / and of the thiknes of a finger It groweth in myri places in hedges and in moyst places / and the greater is the better Hyther to Dioscorides Besyde these two kindes there ar diuerse mo besyde which may all well be conteyned vnder these / sauyng it that groweth by the see syde only / which semeth to be a seuerall kynde from all the rest The greatest kynde is called in the South parte of England plantayn or grete plantayn / in the North countre waybrede or grete weybrede The lesse kynde is called sharp waybred or sharp plantayn / and in many places rybgrasse The Duche call the great plantayn breid Wegerich / and the lesse Spitzwegerich The vertues of bothe the Plantaynes or waybredes out of Dioscorides THe leues of plantayn / haue a drying pour and byndyng together Wherfore if they be layd to / they ar good for all perillus sores and hard to heale / and suche as draw towarde the comon lepre / and for such as ar flowyng or rynnyng and full of foul mater They stopp also the burstyng out of blood / carbuncles / fretyng sores / crepyng sores / ryght blaynes / or ploukes / they couer with a skin olde sores vneuen / and sores all moste vncurable / they heal vp corners / and hollow sores They heal also the bytyng of a dog / and burned places / and inflammationes or burnynges / and the inflammationes or
Iuy / diuided into fyne corners as it were synewes / appearinge somthyng furth aboue the rest / drawyng themself into a sharp poynte The leaues are lyke Iuye in figure / sauing that they are round / and haue a sharper ende The commodites and properties of the Lynde tre The later wryters hold that the distelled water of the floures of the Lind tre / is good for the growyng and griping of the belly / and for the blody flixe / som vse the same agaynst the falling siknes The coles of the Linde tre beaten into pouder / menged wyth the pouder of the eyes of creuesses / dissolue clotted blood / and are good for them that are brused wyth a fall The middel or inner bark layd in / stepe in water / hath a slymye moysture / whyche is knowen by experience to be good agaynst all kindes of burnyng ther is no cole of any tre that serueth better to make gun pouder of / then the coles of the Linde tre Of the kindes of Tithymales or kindes of Spourges DIoscorides maketh vij kindes of Tithymales or Spourges The fyrst is the male called Chariacias / of other Comeles / of other Cobius or Amigdeloides The stalkes of thys excede a cubit in hyght / in color rede / full of bitinge and whyte iuyce The leaues are about the twigges like vnto oliue leaues / but longer and narrower The roote is thyck and woddye In the toppes of the stalkes there is a thyck busshy thynge lyke vnto small twigges / and vnder them are holowe places lyke vnto basynes / and there in is sede It groweth in roughe places and in mountaynes Thys kinde haue I sene in diuerse places of England Fyrst in Suffock in my lorde Wentfurthis parte besyde Nettelstede / afterward in Sion parke / aboue London / it maye be called woode spourge The seconde kinde is the female / and is called myrtites / and it hath leaues lyke a myrtel tre / but greater and sounde / at the poynte sharp and prickye / it bringeth furth long braunches a span longe It bringeth furth euerye other year a fruyte lyke a nut that gently biteth the tonge Thys groweth also in sharp places Thys kynde haue I neuer sene growynge oute of gardines I knowe no English name for it / but it may be called myrtel spourge Tithymalus Helioscopius Thys kind in dede hath leaues lyke flaxe / but they are much broder and longer / and growe thycker together vpon the braunches I knowe no English name that this hath / but vntill we get a better / it maye be called ether sea spourge / or flax spourge The fourth is called Helioscopius It hath leaues lyke vnto porcellayne / but thinner / and rounder It bringeth furth from the roote iiij or v. braunches / small / a span hygh / rede / full of much whyte licore The top is lyke vnto dyll / and the sede is as it were in litle heades / the ouermost busshy top of it / is turned about / wyth the turnyng of the sonne where vpon it is called Helioscopius / that is sonturner It groweth most comonly in olde wastes / and fallen dounwalles / and about cities This kinde is called in diuerse partes of England Wartwurt it maye also be called son spourge / or son folowynge spourge It groweth muche in the grounde / where as flaxe hath growen / shortely after that it is pulled vp Cyparissias The fyft is called Cyparissias / and it hath a stalk a span long or longer / somthyng redish / out of the whych grow leaues lyke vnto the pyne tre / but tenderer and smaller / and to be short / it is lyke a yong pyne trē / lately sprong vp / where vpon it hath the name thys hath also very much whyte iuyce Thys kinde groweth much in the stuble after the corne is caried in / it is so lyke Chamepitis / that if a man take not hede / he maye be easely deceyued in taking the one for the other I haue hetherto learned no English name of thys herbe / but it maye for lack of a better name be called / pyne spourge The sixt is called Dendroides / it groweth in rockes / aboue it is very large / and full of busshy leaues full of iuyce It hath braunches somthyng rede / about the whych are leaues lyke vnto a smal myrtel The sede is lyke the sede of wod spourge I neuer sawe thys kinde that I remembre of Tithymalus Platyphyllos The seuenth kynde is called Platyphyllos / and it is lyke vnto mullen / I remembre not that euer I sawe thys kinde The vertues of the kindes of Spourges The fyrste hath a iuyce whych hath the nature to purge the belly by neth driuing out fleme and coler / taken in the quantite of a scruple wyth vinegre and water But if it be taken wyth mede / it prouoketh vomite It taketh awaye wartes that are lyke vnto pismires / and hangyng wartes / and great thyck ones / lyke the heades of tyme and scurfines If it be layd to / it is also good for aguayles and tarbuncles and freting sores and fistels The sede is gathered in Autumne / and dried in the son / and lightly brused / clenged / and it is layd vp clean The sede and the leaues do the same / that the iuice doth / if they be taken in the measure of an half aceptable The rote cast into mede in the quantite of a dram / and dronken / driueth furth by the belly The seconde kinde hath lyke vertue wyth the former kinde / but that the former kinde is stronger in prouoking of vomit The thyrd kinde is of lyke vertue wyth the former kindes The fourth is of the same nature wyth the former / but not so strong The fyft kinde and the sixt kinde is lyke the reste and the seuenth kinde killeth fishe / as all the other kindes do Of Thyme THyme as Dioscorides sayeth is a litle bushe ful of braunches / compassed round about wyth narrow leaues / and in the top it hath litle heades wyth floures / resemblinge a purple color It groweth moste in rocky groundes / and in leane or bare places Allthough Dioscorides maketh here mention but of one kinde of thyme / yet writing of epithymum / he semeth to make two kindes of thyme / where he sayeth that epithymum is the floure of an harder thyme lyke vnto sauerey And Pliny maketh mention of two kindes of thyme / wherof the one is black / and the other whyte And we se that the thime that cummeth from Venis and from Candy / is of an other kind then it that we haue growyng in England Thyme is called in Greke thyme / in Latin thymus / in Duch thymian / or welsh quendell The vertues of Thyme Thyme hath the poure to driue furth sleme throw the belly / if it be taken wyth vinegre and salt in a drinke The broth of it wyth hony helpeth them that are shortwinded / and
infuse from v. ʒ vnto xx CHEBVLI The vertues of Kebuli KEBVLI purge fleme / increase a mans reason and vnderstandinge / and helpe the memorye / and stoppe the rewme / they scoure the stomach and strenghten / it quickeneth the eye sight and other senses / and are good for the dropsey and old agues The ponder of the Indianes and the Kebuli maye be taken from ij ʒ to iiij ʒ / the broth of the infusion of them maye be takē from iiij ʒ vnto xx but he that taketh them / must not take them whiles the North winde bloweth / and must eat no fishe The sodden broth of these do stoppe more then the infusion / whiche is onelye pressed out without sethinge Of the black Mirobalanes THE black Mirobalanes purge oute Melancoly burnt choler / they are good for trimbling / sadnes / the lepre / the quartaine / such other deceases as rise of melancoly They are also good to make the color of the skinne liuelye The hurtes of the Mirobalanes and helpe of the same AND because all these kindes of Mirobalanes do lightlye stoppe the vaynes and lyuer and other places / cleue vnto the filmes of the stomach / and guttes / and hurte them with their wringkles / they are not to be geuen vnto them that are muche geuen vnto stoppinge / but vnto other they maye be geuen with those medicines or herbes that driue vrine / or they maye be infused in whaye / and so taken / or in the iuyce of fumitorye / or with Rubarbe / or Agarike / or Spiknarde If they be steped and rubbed in rose oyle / or the oyle of swete Almondes / or violet oyle / or with swete Almondes / or swete rasines or broken with their streyninge / or hony / or taken with Cassia / Manna / Tamarindes / or with the conserue of Violettes / or if they be taken with any other softeninge medicine / they soften the stomache and the guttes / that is purge gentlye and slide thorow as sliperye and cleue no more to the guttes / nether make anye wrinkles there The vertues of Emblike Mirobalanes THE Emblikes are somthinge colde and drye in the firste degre / they scoure the stomache of rotten fleme / and they strenghthen it and the brayne / the sinewes / the hart / the liuer / and other louse partes by binding them together agayne / and therefore they are good for the trimblinge of the harte / they stere vp an appetite / they stoppe vomiting / they staye and hold doune madnes / they increase or at the least helpe the reasonable pour of the soule They slake the notable heat of the bowelles and the thirst that commeth thereof The measure of takinge of them is from one aureo / that is a dram / and the viij parte of a dram vntill thre / in the infuse they are taken from iij. aureis vntill sixe Of bellerick Mirobalanes BEllerick Mirobalanes are cold in the first degre / and drye in the seconde Their chefe properties are to comfort and to strenghten Auerrois writeth that they purge choler The same quantite is to be taken of these that is taken of Emblike Mirobalanes Of the Fen shrub or bushe called Gall. THere is a shorte bushe that groweth in the Fenne / whiche is called in Duche in Netherland / Gagel / in Cambridge shyre Gall / in Summerset shyre Goul or Golle / of the Apothecaries in Englande and lowe Duchlande / Mirtillus / although it be no kinde of Myrtus / but onlye because the leaues are well smellinge and are lyke vnto the leaues of wild Myrtus / sauinge that they are shorter and rounder / and blunter at the ende As far as I can perceyue / oure Apothecaries haue vsed the leaues of this bushe / for the leaues of the righte Myrtus But they erre / for the properties are not all one For the gall is hote in the ende of the second degre / and farther it is so very wel smelling and meruelous bitter / and notable astringent or bindinge But Galene writing of the right Myrtus / sayth it is made of contrary substances / but the colde erthlye propertye ouercommeth the other It hath also a subtile propertye that is hote / by reason whereof it dryeth Wherefore the one can not be well vsed without error / for the other although they agre in manye poyntes The Westfalians vse to put the leaues / buddes and floures of Gall for it hath no fruyte as the Myrtus hath into beare / and it maketh it haue both a good taste and a good smell / and for a nede it wil serue in the stede of hoppes But I woulde aduise that either hoppes should be mixed with it / or els Rosmarye / Calamint or Chamepitis called Groundpine / or suche other lyke openinge herbes or sedes / as are the sedes of Fenel / Caroway / or Anise It is tried by experience that it is good to be put in beare / both me and by diuerse other in Summersetshyre Of the nutte of Inde Nux Indica THE nutte of Inde is called in Latin Nux Indica / it is so bigge as a good halfe pinte in receyuinge of Licore / in figure like a Melon / but sharper at the endes / and especial at the one ende The outer barke is of a rede coloure turninge towardes blacke / somthinge harde tough / with a wollise nature within / whiche groweth hard together / and when it is hard rubbed with handes / it is lyke heares / vnder that is a hard shell as hard as horne / thresquare It hath a kernel within it of the bignes of a goose egge / hollow within / the substance thereof is fat of the thicknes of halfe a figge of a swete taste / and like butter They are most commended that haue much of a Licor within them like water / for by that it is knowen that they are new and freshe The vertues and complexion of the nutte of Inde THE nut of Inde is hote in the seconde degre as the Italianes write / and moiste in the firste But in them that I haue tasted / I haue found no such heat / if it be eaten / although it engendre not an hurtful iuyce / yet they trouble the stomake somthinge It encreaseth sede / and stereth men to the worke of procreation of childer The oyle that is pressed out of the Indiane nut / is good for the payne of the emrodes / specially menged with the oyle of peches The same is good for the ache of the knees and sciatica / if they be anoynted therewith / and it killeth wormes Of the nutte called the vomitinge nutt / and of the nut of Methel THE vomitinge nut and the Methel are not in al poyntes vnlyke But yet is there great difference betwene them Matthiolus writeth that the flat nuttes like litle cheses which haue ben solde hytherto for vomitinge nuttes are nuttes methel / and they that haue bene hytherto
/ if ye gather this when it hath dewe vpon it / and strawe the chamber with it / and afterswepe the dust and the herbe out together / it killeth flees Of the bushe and fruyt called Ribes Ribes RIbes is a litle bushe and hath leaues lyke a vyne / and in the toppes of the bushe are red berries in clusters / in taste at the firste somthinge sower / but pleasant inough when they are fully rype I haue sene them growynge in gardins in Englande / and also by a waters side at Clouer in Somerset shyre in the possession of maister Horner The vertues of the common Ribes THE iuyce and syrope of Ribes / are good for hote agues and agaynst hote flixes and vomitinge of choler They stoppe laxes / prouoke appetite / and quenche thyrste Ye maye two wayes kepe Ribes / ether in there oune iuyce and verges / or ellis dried in the sunne and so kept Ribes in al poyntes hath the vertue of Barbenes Of the noble roote called Rubarbe Rabarbarum RVbarbe is called of some Rhabarbarum / of others Reubarbarum / and there are thre sortes of Rubarbe / whereof one commeth out of Inde / and it is called Rauetsceni of the Arabical writers / and an other kind is called Raued turchicum or Reuturchicum / or Rha turchicum The beste Rubarbe is that / that we call Rauetsceni that commeth out of Inde / and because it groweth in Tanguth / that is in Sinarum regione / it is called of the better Latinistes Rha siniticum or sinicum or Rha Indicum This cometh from Tanguth throw the lande Cataia into the land of the Perses / whereof the Sophia is the ruler / and from thence it is sent to Egipt / and so to Italy The seconde sorte in goodnes is it that is called in Latin Rhabarbarum and it commeth of the countre / whose inhabitours are called Troglodytae that is dwellers in holes dennes and caues / in the hyest places of Ethiopia / and this is the worst of the thre That sorte that is called Rha turcicum / is thoughte to be of some newe writers Rheon ponticum of Dioscorides and other olde writers But I can not consent vnto them / for Mesue maketh his kindes or sortes of Rauet to purge But who can shewe me any kinde of Rheon ponticum / that purgeth none I trowe / for all that they saye that they haue proued it / therefore it foloweth not that allthough that Pontus is nowe vnder the Turke / that therefore that Rauet turcicum of Mesue is Rha ponticum of Dioscorides Galene / for it maye haue the name turcicum of an other cause / then because Pontus is vnder the Turke / for there are other places vnder the Turke / where as Rauet turcicum maye growe besyde Pontus It shal be an easy matter to anye man that hath leasure to aunswere Marinus the Italian in this matter / wher he goeth aboute to proue that Rauet turcicum is Rha ponticum The beste Rubarbe of Inde is it that is freshe / somethinge blacke / and turninge to rednes rare or spoungius yet heauy withal / and if it be broken / it loketh something reddishe / and somethinge blewish / and if it be steped in liquore / it dieth it yelowe like Saffron The inhabitours of the countrey / where as it groweth / vse to stepe it fyue dayes in water / and let the water drye vp / and then make trociskes of the ground thereof / whiche they sell to kinges and princes / and then send Rubarbe vnto vs which hath bene steped / and lost his strenght for true Rubarbe / but Mesue sayth that suche Rubarbe / and it that is so marred / is more bindinge and faster compact together then the other / and the other dieth not like saffron / or ellis verye litle Ye maye knowe what figure and forme the leaues of Rubarbe haue by the figure that is set furth here / the which Andreas Marinus hath firste of all set furth / and if thou wilt knowe anye more of the description / rede it that Marinus alledgeth of Ioan Baptista / Ramusius vpon Mesue The nature and vertues of Rubarbe out of Mesue REubarbe is hote and dry in the second degre / It hath a duble substance / one waterish / and erthly geuing vnto it a bindinge substance / and an other aerishe geuing vnto it the varite or lousnes of substance / and there is a firishnes in it making it perfit The which thinge hath made it bitter by the workinge of it into the erthlynes But the erthlynes is depe in and the fyrishnes is in the outward parte And these substances may be disseuered or parted by steping / so that it that is hote and purging / may be remoued in the licor / and the erhtly and binding property abide behinde Rubarbe purgeth away choler and fleme / specialy from the stomach and liuer / and it purgeth the bloode / and putteth away stoppinges / and the deceases that arise there vpon / the iaundes / otherwise called the guelsoght / that is the yelow sicknes / the dropsye / the swelling of the milt / it heleth rotten agues and longe the prickinge ache of the midriffe toward the sides This same stoppeth the spittinge out of blood out of the lunges or of other places / and it heleth places brused by fallinge or by a stripe and inward brusinges and brekinges / if one dram be taken with two greines of mummia / and one greyne and halfe of madder sayth Mesue / but I wold aduise to take at the least half a dram or two scruples / for this mesure is a great deale to litle / it must be taken with tart or binding wine The oyle of Rubarbe is good for stripes / brusinges / and shrinking together of the muscles and synewes / and for the ache of them It is also a good medicine against the bloodye flixe / if it be perched or tosted at the fyre / and be taken in with red wine / or with the iuyce of Plantaine It is also good for agues that come about by courses The infusion of one dram and an halfe / or thre drammes is sufficient It may be taken in pouder from one dram to thre as Mesue sayth / but I would not aduise English men gladly to excede two drammes in pouder / and I would geue foure drammes in the infusion rather then two and halfe in pouder Rubarbe maye be preserued ether in good hony or in flewurt called Psyllium or in Turpentine and waxe / or waxe alone or in mile / or millet called in Duche Hirß and in Latin Milium Of Salsa perilla SAlsa perilla is named of some also Sparta perilla It is so lyke vnto the roote of Walwurte or Danwurte / that Matthiolus thought it had bene the verye roote of Danwurt / but he durste not pronunce / because he had not sene the leaues of the herbe The newe writers geue the same vertues vnto
a cold liuer / and it streyngthteneth the stomack / and helpeth digestion It staÌ„cheth perbrekyng and the hitch cough It helpeth the gnawynges of the stomack and stirreth vp an appetite / and dryueth wynde away It killeth wormes / and specially the broth of the wilde mynt It stirreth vp the lust of the body / and openeth the stoppyng of the milt and liuer But ye must not eat your fill of it / for it fineth the blood / and maketh it waishe / and turneth it lyghtly into yelow choler / and also because it is of subtill or fyne partes / it driueth abrode and wasted it way But it leueth still it that is grosse and melancholishe Therefore they that are hurt with yelow gall / must forbere from mynt Bruse it with salt and it is an holsom remedy agaynst the bytyng of a mad dog When it is withered and made in pouder / and taken after mete / it helpeth digestion an heleth them that are diseased with the milt It is also good for weomen that haue an harde labor / when it is dronken with wyne The sede of it scoured the belly / but it hurteth the lunges Of the wild mynte called mentastrum MEntastrum called in Greke hediosmos agrios / hath a rougher lefe / in all poyntes greater theÌ„ SisymbriuÌ„ hath / and is of a more greuous sauor Dioscorides describeth hys wilde mynte no largelier then ye se Wherefore when as there are diuerse kyndes of wilde mynte / it shall be hard to know whiche of theÌ„ Dioscorides meaneth of But by the short descriptioÌ„ of Dioscorides we are taught that / that kynde whiche hath the greate and roughe lefe / and not any that hath any small or smothe lefe is menthastrum SisymbriuÌ„ / which is a kynd of wild bauÌ„ mynte / hath a broder lefe then mint hath / and wilde mynt hath a greater lefe then Sisymbrium hath / wherefore after the mynde of Dioscorides who teacheth it that I haue sayde / the wilde mynte must nedes haue a great lefe Thys wilde mynte groweth in moyst groundes by watersydes / with a rough lefe and hory / with certayn toppes in the ouermost parte of the stalkes / lyke vnto short eares of corn the herbe looketh muche more whytishe then the gardin mynt doth / and it hath a verye strong sauor The horse mynt semeth also to be a kynde of menthastrum how be it I take it not for the right kynde of Dioscorides The vertues of wilde mynte Mentha syluestris uel Mentastrum THe wilde mynte as Dioscorides sayeth is not so muche desyred to be vsed of holemen as the gardin mint is / greuous because it hath a more sauor Galene wryting of thys herbe vnder the name of calamint / in the proper chapter of mint writeth that thys mint is not so moyst as the gardin mint is / but that it is hoter and dryer / therfore that it is not fit for diuerse purposes that the other mint is fit for Pliny writeth thus of the wilde mynte / MeÌ„tastruÌ„ is a wild mint / differyng in the kynde of leues / for they haue the figur of Basil / the color of peny ryall Wherfore som calle it wilde penny ryall It was fouÌ„d in the tyme of PoÌ„peius the greate / that the lepre called Elephantiasis is healed with these chowed and layd on / by the experience or profe of a certain man that for shame couered hys face therwith The same are layd to and are dronken against the styngyng of scorpiones with salt / oyle / and vinegre / and agaynst scolopendres stynginges of serpentes in the quantite of ij drammes in ij cyates of wyne The leues are keped in pouder agaynst all poysones If they be strowed vpoÌ„ the grounde and smooke made of theÌ„ / they will dryue away scorpiones c. Pliny semeth to take for hys meÌ„tastro an other then Dioscorides doth / whilse he geueth the proportion of the leâ—â— of basil vnto it / and colour of peny ryall / whiche thynges agre not with the description of mentastrum in Dioscorides It appereth that the comen rede fish mynt that groweth about watersydes with whorlish circles goyng about the stalck / is the mentastrum that Pliny writeth of But as I haue sayd afore / it that Dioscorides setteth out / hath long thynges lyke eares of corn / in the toppes of the stalkes / and long roughe leues and hory / nether lyke in figur to Basil / nor in color to peny ryall / except I be farr deceyued Of Mercury MErcurialis is named in Greke ermou batanioÌ„ / and linozostis / in Englishe Mercury / in Duche rekraut / or bingelkraut / in Frenche mercurall Mercury sayeth Dioscorides hath the leues of Basil / but lesse / much like vnto Parietori or Pilletori of the wall / with litle branches compassed about with a dubble knot of ioyntes or knees The sede of the femall is very pleÌ„tuous / and resembleth Mercurialis foemina Mercurialis masc / as it were a cluster of grapes But the fruite and sede of the male coÌ„meth furth betwen the stalck and the leues / round / litle / lyke vnto ij stones ioyned together The bushe is a spaÌ„ hyghe or hygher By thys descriptioÌ„ it 〈◊〉 playn / that our forfathers haue erred in EnglaÌ„d / which hitherto in the moste parte of all EnglaÌ„d / haue vsed an other herbe in the stede of the ryght Mercury Therfore as many as had leuer ete whete / then a cornes / let them vse nomore theyr old Mercury / but thys Mercury which Dioscorides describeth The ryght Mercury groweth comen in the feldes and wynyardes of Germany without any settyng or sowyng And it beginneth now to be knowen in London / and in Gentle mennis places not far from London I neuer saw it grow more plentuously in all my lyfe then about Wormes in Germany The vertues of Mercury BOth the Mercuries are eaten in sallettes or mouses to louse the belly If ye drynke the water that Mercury is sodden in / it draweth choler and water It is perfitly knoweÌ„ as Dioscorides writeth / that the male herbe dronken / maketh men childer / that the female maketh females / if they be taken after the scouryng or purgyng / and be layd to the places conuenient Out of Pliny IT is wonderfull that is tolde of both the mercuries / that is / that the male maketh meÌ„ childer / the femal weomen chylder They say that thys coÌ„meth so then to passe / if by and by after the conceptioÌ„ / the iuice be dronkeÌ„ in maluasei / or if the leues be sodden eateÌ„ with oyl and salt / or if they be eaten raw with vinegre Of the Medler tr MEspilus is named in greke Mespile / in Englishe a Medler tre or an open arss tre / in Duche / ein nesselbaum / in FreÌ„che mesplier The mespil or medler tre / is full of prickes with a lefe lyke vnto
properties that he confesseth / that the bramble hath / writeth also that the barke of the route of the bramble / breaketh also the stone Of the Brere bushe or Hep tre or Brere tre RVbus canis or canirubus is named in Greke Kynosbatos / in English a Brere bushe / or of other som an help tre / in Duche Wilde rosen / or heck rofen The description of the Hep tre Rubus canis By thys description of Dioscorides maye diuerse errores be confuted / fyrst theyrs that take rubum canis / for the bramble and theres also that holde that holde styflye / that rubus canis is our hawthorn / for nether the fruyt of the black berry bushe is long / nether hath any downe in it / nether hath the fruyt of the hawthorn any downe or flockes with in it / wherfore seyng that the fruyt of rubi canini hath downe in it / and nether the fruyte of the black berry tre / nether of the hawe tre hath any in it / nether of these can be rubus canis As touchynge the Eglentine I take it to be a seuerall kinde from the brere / and reken it to be the bushe that is called of good wryters Kynorrodon / or rosa canina The vertues of the Brere tre or Hep tre THe fruite of the brere called an Hep / if it be dryed / and the downe that is within taken out / stoppeth the belly / whereby a mā may gather that it bindeth strongly But the leaues binde weykely Ye must beware that ye eat none of the downe that is within For it is very perilous for the throte and winde pype Let them therfore take hede that make tartes of Heppes / that they purge them well from the down The tartes made onlye of Heppes serue well to be eaten of thē that vomit to much / or haue any flixe / whether it be the blody flixe or the common flixe Of the busshe called raspis or hindberry Rubus RVbus ideus is named in Greke Batos idea / in Englishe Raspis or Raspices / and in the North countre Hyndeberries / in Duche Hyndbere / in Frenche Frambois Rubus ideus as Dioscorides writeth / hath that name because it groweth very plenteously in the hyll Ida. This bushe is muche tenderer / then the comon bramble bushe / and is roughe or sharpe / with fewer prickes howbeit / it may be found in som places withoute anye prickes at all The bushe that I take for the ryght Rubo ideo / groweth in the greate hygh hilles a littel aboue Bōne / and in East Fresland in a wod besyde Anrik / and in many gardines of England It hath much smother stalkes then the bramble / and no great howky prickes at all / the berries are rede Matthiolus writeth that there is in the mountaynes of Trent / a kinde that hath rede berries and very pleasant / and without kirnelles / which som of the later writers haue iudged to be rubum ideum But he sayeth he can not se how / that it can be proued to be so For when as Dioscorides sayeth / that rubus ideus hath the name of idea / he supposeth that ther vpon it may be well gathered / perchance not vnaduisedly that rubus ideus groweth no where ellis / but in Ida / as radix idea doth / and as dittani / the righte groweth only in Candy / except a man take this word idam / for growing vpon the mountayn Because this kinde of argument is oft vsed of Mathiolus / I thinke nowe that is mete / because the place requireth 〈◊〉 cōfute this kind of argumente / because he vseth it in confuting the truth / whiche other men found that he could vnderstande and consent vnto If this be a good argument / rubus ideus groweth in plēty in Ida / therefore it groweth no where ellis then this is also a good argument / Stechas groweth only in the ylandes of Frenche agaynst Massilia / which are called Stechades / whervpon it hath the name / therfore there is no Stachas / but it that groweth in those ylandes Therefore it that groweth in Arabia / and it that groweth in Spayne and Italy / is no Stechas This must also be a good argument Dioscorides sayeth that Aconitum lycoctonon groweth plenteously in Italy in the Iustine mountaynes ergo / wheresoeuer any herbe hauing the forme and properties of Aconiti lycoctoni / be founde if it grow not in Italy / it is not Aconitum lycoctonum But seyng that these be noughty argumētes so is it that Pliny and Matthiolus make / also noughty Rubus ideus hath the name / because it groweth very plēteously in the hill Ida ergo it groweth only in Ida. For Dioscorides sayeth not / that rubus ideus groweth only in Ida but that it groweth there in plentye / and therefore denieth not / but that it may grow also in other places as well as there Conradus Gesnerus writing of suche herbes as are in mounte Fracto / sheweth a bushe to grow there / which he calleth Rubum Ideum / and he describeth it thus Rubus ideus is there almost with a fruyt of a black berrie without any prickes / low with a woddish or hard roote / with leaues like the brāble / or strawberry / with litle kirnelles two together or thre together / or one alone in one berrie The tast of it is foure / it groweth vpon a rock The vertues of Raspis THe Raspis hath the same vertues that the common bramble hath / and besydes also the floure of it brused with honye / and layed to / is good for the inflammationes and hote humores gathered together to the eyes / and it quencheth the hote burninges / called erisypelata it is good to be geuen with water vnto them that haue weyk stomackes It were good to kepe some of the iuyce of the berries / and to put it into som pretty wodden vessel / and to make of it as it were raspis wine / which doutlesse should be good for many purposes / both for a weyke stomack / and also for the flixe / and diuers diseases of the goumes / teth vuula tong / and pallat and other places thereabout Of the kindes of Dockes Rumicis primum genus Rumicis secundum genus Rumicis tertium genus Rumicis quartum genus RVmex is called in Greke Lapathon / in Englishe a Dock / in Duche Menwelwortz / in Frenche de la parelle Of the kindes of Dockes / they call one Oxilapathon / and in the vppermoste partes / it is harde and somthing sharp / and it groweth in pooles and diches the seconde is it of the garding / not lyke vnto thys The thyrde is a wilde kinde / and it is small / and lyke vnto plantayne softe and lowe There is also the fourth kinde / whiche is called of som Oxalis or Anaxaris / or Lapathum agreste / whose leaues are lyke vnto the leaues
/ whyche are layd to agaynst sharpe flowynges of the eyes If it pe poured in / it is good for the ache of the eares if it be layd to wyth wool / it stoppeth the isshue that weomen haue Of Alkakinge or winter chirres Halicacabum vulgare THere is an other kind of Solanum / called Halicacabus and Phissalis / it hath leaues lyke vnto nyghte shade / but yet broder When hys stalkes are fully growen / they bowe to the ground it hath the fruyte in litle sede vesselles lyke vnto bladders round and rede lyke golde / and also smouth lyke a grape or wynberry / whyche the garlande makers vse in making of garlandes The vertues of Alkakinge It hath the same vertue that gardin nyghtshad hath / but that it is not to be eaten / the fruyte of it dronken / healeth the iaundes / and prouoketh water The iuice of both the herbes called Solanum / is vsed to be pressed furth / and when it is dried / it is set vp in the shadowe / and when it is dressed after this maner / it is good for all these purposes aboue named Of the kindes of Sorbus Sorbum ouatum DIoscorides maketh mention but of one kind of Sorbus / Theophrast writeth of two of the male and female / but Pliny maketh mētion of iiij kindes / wherof I haue sene iij. kindes / but one kinde I confesse that I neuer saw vnto my remembrance The two fyrste kindes whyche I knowe / haue leaues so lyke as can be / set wynge wyse as the asshe leaues grow / indented / but they differ in the fruit The former of them hath rede berryes lyke corall bedes / growyng in greate clusters / whych the byrdes eat in the beginning of winter / the tre groweth in moyst woddes / and it is called in Northumlande / a rowne tre / or a whicken tre / in the South partes of England / a quick beame tre The seconde kinde hath a fruyt of the bignes of a small crabbe or a wild peare / a litle longer then a crab / but not full of the fashion of a pear This tre groweth very plenteously in hygh Almany / where as the fruit is called sorbere or sorbepffel / and spierlin it may be called in English sorb appel The thyrde kinde which is called of Pliny sorbus forminalis / hath a lefe much lyke vnto a playn tre leafe Thys tre is called in English a seruyse tre / as though a man wold say a sorbus tre The fruyte is almost as small as are haw / in color broun / in taste binding / as the other two kindes are And thys kinde euen as the sorb appel is verye pleasant to be eaten vntill it be rotten / but then it is very pleasant / but not so pleasant by a greate deale as the sorb appel is The vertues of the thre kindes of Sorbus The sorb appels beyng yelow in colour before they be full rype / if they be cut in peces / and dryed in the sonne / if they be then eaten / they will stop the belly Also the pouder of them / after they be beten or ground / if it be taken in the stede of perched barley mele / and taken in / and the broth of them doth the same Of the herbe called Sparganium SParganium hath leaues lyke vnto the herbe whyche is called in Latin gladiolus / and in Greke xiphion / and that is small after the maner of a small sege or sheregrasse / called in Latin carex but the leaues are yet narrower / then the leaues of it that is called gladiolus / and more bowynge in the top of the stalk are rounde knoppes lyke bedes / where in is sede Thys herbe groweth most commonly in waters and fennes / the knoppes are full of litle tuftes Thys herbe is comon in England and in many places of Germany / but I neuer heard anye Duche nor English name of it but vntill we can happen vpon a better name / it maye be called bede sedge or knop sedge The vertues of Sparganium The roote is good to be geuen wyth wyne agaynste the poyson of serpentes Of French or Spanish brome SPartium is called in Greke spartion / in English / spanish brome o◠Frenche brome that spartium is not ginista of the Latines / I haue sufficiently proued before intreating of the brome bushe The description of Spanish brome SPartium is a bushe / hauinge longe twigges withoute leaues sounde / very tough / and som binde vyndes wyth them It beareth coddes lyke vnto phaseles / wher in are sedes lyke vnto lentilles It hath a floure lyke vnto wall gelouer / called of som Hartis ease This bushe groweth in diuerse gardines in England / in Spayn / and Italy Spartium wylde It groweth in my Lorde Cobhammes gardin at Cobham hall / and also at Shene in the gardine It hath leues in dede / but so small that I suppose that Dioscorides toke them for no leaues / because they were so litle and fewe / that they deserued not the name of leaues / or ellis Dioscorides looked vpon the braunches / whych at that tyme had no leaues And that thys is lyke to haue bene so the affirminge of Dioscorides / that Dictamnus of Candy had no floures nor sede / may bring credit vnto my gessinge For it is well knowen / that it hath bothe floures and sedes / thoughe Dioscorides neuer sawe them The vertues of Spanish brome THe sede and floures of the Spanish brome are good to be dronken wyth mede in the quantite of two scruples and an halfe / to pourge strongly / but wythout iepardye vpwarde but the sede purgeth dounward If the twigges be steped in water / and the iuyce be pressed out / after they be well brused / a ciat of it will heale the diseases of the sciatica the squynansie or chokes / if it be dronken fasting / som vse to stepe thē in bryne / and poure them in by a clister / to them that haue the sciatica / by this meanes it driueth furth blodye matter and full of stringes or ragged peces Of the herbe called Spartum or Sparta Spartum BEside the bushe that is called in French brome / whych is called spartum There is an herbe also called spartum / and of som writers sparta / as in thys prouerbe Spartam nactus es hanc adorna for Pliny in the xix boke and second chap. maketh mention in these wordes folowyng of the herbe spartum or sparta Herba hic sponte nascens quae non queat seri iuncus quod propriè aridi soli vni terrae dato vitio nanque id malum telluris est nec aliud ibi seri aut nasci potest c. And a litle after / in sicco praeferunt è cannabi funes spartum alitur demersum veluti natalium sitim pensans c. And a litle after Iunco Graecos ad funes vsos nomini
smother / and longer The stalk is a span long / wherin are purple floures / and a knobby root / somwhat lōge / two growyng together / narrow lyke an oliue berry / the one aboue / and the other beneth / and the one of them is full / and the other soft / and full of wrinkelles There are diuers kindes of orchis / which are called in Latin testiculus / that is a stone One kinde of them hath many spottes in the leafe / and is called adder grasse in Northūberland the other kindes ar in other coūtrees called fox stones or hear stones / they may after the Greke be called dogstones Of the vertues of Adder grasse THe roote of it / when it is sodden inough / is eatable as bulbus is / they write of thys herbe / that if the greater roote be eaten of men / it maketh men chyldren / and if the roote be eaten of weomen / it maketh weomen childer And moreouer / this is also tolde of it / that the weomen of Thessalia geue it wyth gotes milk / to prouoke the pleasure of the body / whylse it is tender / but they geue the drye one / to hinder and stop the pleasure of the bodye And it groweth in stony places and in sandy groundes There is an other kinde whych is called Serapias / as Andreas sayth for the manyfolde vse of the root / it hath leaues lyke vnto a leke / long / but broder and fat / bowynge inward about the setting on of the leaues / and litle stalkes a span hygh / and floures somthyng purple there is a roote in vnder lyke vnto stones The vertue of the second kinde of Testiculus Thys layd to / hath the propertye of dryuing awaye swellinge and scouring of sores / and to stay running tetters It putteth awaye fistules / and if it be layd to / it swageth places that are inflamed set afyre The same drye / stoppeth eating sores / and rottē sores / and it healeth the greuous sores that are in the mouth It stoppeth also the bellye / if it be dronken wyth wyne Men geue all the properties vnto thys / that are geuen vnto the former kindes Of triacle mustarde called Thlaspi THlaspi is a litle herbe wyth strayte leaues / a fingre long / turned toward the ground / aboute the edge iagged / and somthynge fat It hath a smal stalke / of the hyght of two spannes / whych hath a few furth growynges and about the hole / the fruyt is somthyng brode from the top / wherein is sede lyke vnto cresses / of the figure of a disshe or coyte as it were thyrst together / after the turnyng of Cornarius broken of / wherevpon it hath the name It hath a floure somthynge whyte / and it groweth in wayes and about hedges / after the translation of Ruellius / whych is nerer the Greke Thlaspi is named in Latine thlaspium / in Duche baurensenff / it may be named in English triacle mustard / boures mustard / or dishe mustarde It groweth much in the corne both in England and in Almany / Thlaspi and I haue sene it besyde Wormes growyng besyde diches / and at Frrancfort about the walles of the cytie / in England in moste plentye aboute Sion In London it groweth in maister Riches gardin / and maister Morgaines also / and in maister Hambridges gardin in Summersedshyre as I remembre The vertues of triacle mustard THe sede of it is sharp / or biting / and heateth / and it purgeth choler vpwarde and dounwarde / if it be dronken in the quantite of two vnces and an half It is also good to be put in by a clister / for the disease of the sciatica Taken in drink / it driueth also blood / and it breaketh inwarde impostemes / and bringeth doun to weomen theyr floures / and it is euell for weomē whych are wyth chylde Out of Galene The Thlaspi that is brought out of Candy / and groweth there / is betwene redish yelow / and pale yelow / in figure rounde / so litle som tyme that it is lesse then the corne of millet The Thlaspi that cometh out of Cappadocia / is toward blacknes / and the sede is not fully rounde / and it is muche greater then the forenamed is / and vpon one syde it hath a litle thyng / like as it wer a brusinge in / where vpon it hath the name That is rekened to be the beste groweth in saurot / and it is nether lyke it that groweth in Candy / nor it the groweth commonly in other places These wordes hath Galene written of Thlaspi Matthiolus compleyneth that the thlaspi in Italy hath no indenting about / but in Englande we haue no suche cause For it hath litle cuttinges or iaggynges about the edges of the leaues / and speciallye of them that are next vnto the roote And as touchyng the sede / I could neuer fynde it in any place as yet flat / but euer round and rede / and it that is written of the breakynge of it / and of the form of a dishe / after my iudgement ought rather to be vnderstanded of the sede vesselles / then of the sede it selfe For the sede vessell bringe hole / hath the form of a dishe / and the same a litle brused / is broken into two partes as into two halff disshes Let euery man folowe it that he fyndeth to be moste true / both by reason and by experience / in this mater Of the Linden tre Tilia TIlia is named in Greke philyra / in Duche ein Linden baume / in English a Lind tre It groweth very plentuously in Essekes in a parke within two mile from Colichester / in the possession of one maister Bogges / it is also very comon in high Germany / it groweth so far abrode ther / that men set tables aboue in it / whereof som are so long that ten men maye sit well at one table / and yet roume remaynyng inough for many other besyde the table The description of tilia out of Theophrast Ther is one kind of tilia that is the male / and an other that is the femal They differ in tember / in all the fasshon of theyr bodies / because that the one of them beareth fruyt / and the other is barren / the timber of the male is harde and yelow / fuller of knottes and fuller of prickes / the tymber of the female is whyter / the male hath a thicker barck / and when it is drawen of / it is not bowyng by reason of the hardnes The barck of the female is more whyte and more bowyng / and therof they make cradelles The bark of the female is better smelling / the male is barren and hath no floures the female bringeth furth both fruyt and floures The floure is couered wyth a litle couering The fruyt is long / rounde of the bygnes of a great pease lyke vnto the berrye of an