it giveth small nourishment though not bad and is withal a little statuâ—ent or windy yet Country-people in divers places of Germany and Italy do feed hereon as almost their onely bread-corn and are strong â—nd lusty Persons following hard Labor for the bread or cakes made â—herof are pleasant but do somwhat presse or lye heavy on the stomack I never knew any bread or cakes made of it for people to eat â—n this Country but it is generally used to fatten Hogs and Poultry of â—ll sorts which it doth very exceedingly and quickly The physical uses of it are these It provoketh Urine Vrine Milk Belly Melancholy Sight increaseth milk loosneth the belly and being taken in wine is good for melancholy persons the juice of the leaves dropped into the eyes cleareth the sight Bane-wort Names IT is also called in some places of England Sperewort Descript This plant hath reddish stalks full of knees or joynts upon which grow long narrow leaves almost like the leaves of Withy but longer and a little snipt or toothed round about especially those that grow lowest the flowers are yellow as Gold somwhat rough in the middle in Fashion and Colour like those of Golden Crowfoot After the flowers be past there succeed knops or heads like those of Crowfoot the reed is threddy Place It groweth in moist medows watry places and standing puddles Time It flowreth in May and yeeldeth his seed soon after Government and Vertues This is an herb of fiery Mars hot and dry in the fourth degree it blistereth the body as Ranunculus doth and is like it in complexion and operation This herb is no way to be given inwardly for it is hurtful both to man and beast the sheep which happen to eat thereof are troubled with a greivous inflamation which burneth up and consumeth their Livers whereof they dye the Dutchmen call it Egelcoolen because sheep that have eaten of it have a disease which they call Egel that is the blistering and inflamation of the Liver Spanish-Broom Names IT is also called Italian-Broom Descript The Spanish-Broom hath woodish stems from which grow up long slender and pliant twiggs which be bare and naked without leaves or at least having very few small leaves set here and there far apart from one another the flowers are yellow not much unlike the flowers of our English Broom after which it hath Cods wherein are contained brown and flat seed Place This Broom groweth in dry places in Spain and Languedoc and is not found in this Countrey but in the Gardens of Herbarists It is plentifull in the Physick Garden at Westminster Time It flowers in this Countrey in June and somwhat after the seed is ripe in August Government and Vertues It is under the planetary influence of Mars hot and dry of temperature the flowers and seed of Spanish Broom the quantity of a dram being drunk in mede or honyed-water cause strong Vomiting Vomiting but without danger the seed taken alone looseth the belly Belly loosned and bringeth forth great plenty of watry and tough humors out of the twigs or little branches being steeped in water is pressed forth a juice which taken in quantity of a little glass full fasting is good against the Squinancy and also is good against the Sciatica Base-broom Name IT is called also in English Woodwoseen Descript This is not much unlike the common broom saving that it is not so high nor so straight but lieth along almost upon the ground with many small branches proceeding from a woody stem and set with little long small leaves and at the top with small fair yellow flowers not much unlike those of the Common Broom but smaller after them come narrow husks or Cods wherein is a flat seed the root is hard and of a woodish substance Place It groweth in untilled places that lye low and is very frequent in moist clay pasture grounds Time It flowers in July and August and sometimes after and shortly after the seed is ripe Government and Virtues It is hot and dry of temperature and under the same planetary influence as the other Brooms and is in nature and operation like unto the common Broom but not so powerful It is seldom suffered to grow while the seed is ripe in the Country they gather it while it is in flower for the dyers who dye clothes yellow with it Behen Names IT is also called Been-album and Polemonium Descript Behen hath tender stalks with joynts the leaves are meetly broad set two at every Joynt one against another at the highest of the stalks grow white flowers hanging down and joyning one to another like a little nose-gay after the flowers there cometh black seed inclosed in round huskes the root is white plain and long Place Behen groweth upon mountains and rough stony places but is planted here in Gardens Time It flowers in June and July Government and Vertues It is dry in the second degree a Saturnine plant the root being drunk in wine is good against the bloudy Flux flux Venemous bitings Vrine Strangury and the bitings and stingings of Venemous beasts the same drunk in water Provokes Urine and helps the strangury and pains in the huckle bone It is good to be taken with Vinegar against the hardnesse and stoppings of the Spleen Spleen and all pains thereof being chewed in the mouth it helpeth the Tooth-ach Tooth-ach the same being pounded and applied cureth the stingings of Scorpions and is reported to have so great Antepitheticall power against Scorpions that whosoever doth but hold the same in his hand cannot be stung by any Scorpion Black-bind-weed Name IT is also called With-wind Descript Black-bind-weed hath smooth red branches very small like great threds wherewithal it wrappeth and windeth it self about trees hedges staks and all things it can lay hold upon the leaves are like to Ivy but smaller and tenderer the flowers be white and very small the seed is black tryangled or three square small and black growing thick together every seed is enclâ—sed and covered with a little skin the root is also small and tender as a thred Place It groweth in borders of Fields and Gardens and about hedges and ditches and amongst herbs Time It delivereth ' its seed in August and September and afterwards perisheth Government and Virtues Bind-weed is a plant of Mercury of a hot nature and of subtil parts having power to dissolve the juice of the leaves being drunk do loosen and open the belly and being pounded and laid to the grieved place dissolveth wasteth and consumeth hard swellings Rough bind-weed Names IT is also called prickly Bind-weed and commonly known in shops by the name of Sarsa-parilla Descript Rough or prickly Bind-weed groweth with tender stalks and branches garnished or set round about with many sharp prickles or thorns winding it self about trees hedges and bushes like our English Bind-weed taking hold with its clasping branches upon every thing stands near it the leaves be
hot and dry in the second degree and somwhat astringent the bark of the root is most used in Physick the flowers and leaves are not so strong in operation and are an excellent sawce The bark of the Caper roots is good against the hardness and stopping of the Spleen to be taken with Oxymel or mingled with oyles or oyntments for that purpose and outwardly applied upon the region of the Spleen Spleen the root hereof is good in decoction to be given in drink to such as are troubled with the Sciatica and Palsy Sciatica Palsie and to such as are hurt or bruised by falls or otherwise Bruises it mightily provokes Urine and stirrs up womens courses Termes the fruit and leaves have the like virtue as the roots but not so strong the seed of Capers boyled in Vinegar and kept warm in the Mouth asswageth the Tooth-ach Tooth-ach the juice of the leaves flowers and young fruit of Capers killeth Worms in the Eares Worms in the Eares being dropped therein the Capers which are brought into this Country preserved in pickle being eaten are meat and medicine for it stirreth up appetite fortifies the Stomack openeth obstructions of the Liver and Spleen and consumeth and wasteth cold flegm that is gathered about the Stomack Soldonella Names IT is called also in some places Sea-cawle and in Dutch Zee-wind but in shops it is known by the name of Soldonella or Brassica-marina Descript Soldonella hath many small branches somewhat red by which it spreadeth and creepeth along the ground covered here and there with little round green leaves rounder and smaller then leaves of Assarabana the flowers are red or carnation colour the seed is black and groweth in husks or round Cods the root is small and long the leaves have a saltish tast Place This herb groweth abundantly in Zealand upon the Sea-banks and in most salt grounds and Marshes which the Sea flowes over Time It floureth in June after which time it is fit to be gathered and kept to serve in medicine Government and Vertues It is hot and dry in the third degree a martial plant it purgeth very forceably down all watry humors Watry humors Liver Dropsie and opens obstructions of the Liver and is given with good successe to hydropicall people the best way to give it is boyled with the broth of fat flesh or else it may be dried and taken in powder but if it be taken in powder alone it hurteth and troubleth the Stomack the correcters of it are Anniseeds Ginger and Cynnamon and a good quantity of Sugar and so taken altogether The Carob-tree Names IT is called in shops Xylocaracta Carob and Carobs Descript This fruit groweth upon a great tree whose branches are small and covered with a red bark the leaves be long and spread abroad after the manner of Ashen leaves consisting of six or seven small leaves growing by a rib one against another of a sad dark green colour above and of a light green underneath the fruit is certain crooked cods or husks sometimes of a foot and an half long and as broad as ones thumb sweet in the husk is contained seed which is great plain and of a Chestnut colour Place This plant grows in Spain Italy and other hot Countries Government and Vertues The fruit of the Carob-tree is some what hot and dry and astringent especially when it is fresh and green somewhat subject to the influence of Saturn the fresh and green Carobs do gently loose the belly but are somewhat hard of digestion if eaten in great quantity hurtful to the Stomack but being dried they stop fluxes of the belly Fluxes provoke Urine Vrine and are not prejudicial to the Stomack being much fitter to be eaten then the Carobs which are fresh gathered or green Cassia-fistula Names IT it called Cassia in the cane but is usual known by the general name of Cassia-fistula in most Countries Descript The tree which beareth the canes hath leaves not much unlike those of the Ash-tree they be great long and spread abroad made of many leaves growing one against another along by one stem the fruit is round long black and with woodish huskes or Cods most commonly two foot long and as thick as ones thumb severed or parted in the inside into divers small cells or Chambers wherein lyeth flat and brownish seed laid together with the pulpe which is black soft and sweet and is called the flower marrow or cream of Cassia and is very useful and profitable in medicine Place It groweth in Syria Arabia and the East-Indies and in the West as Jaimaca Government Nature and Vertues The black pulpe or moist substance of Cassia is of a gentle temperature moderatly hot and moist in the first degree under the Government of Venus the inner pulpe of Cassia is a sweet and pleasant medicine and may safely be given to all weak people as women with Child and young Children It looseth the belly gently and moderatly purgeth cholerick humors Choler and slimy flegm Flegm gathered about the Guts to be taken the quantity of an ounce at a time Cassia is excellent good for those who are troubled with hot Agues Agues the Pleurisie Pleurisie Jaundies Jaundise or any inflamation of the Liver especially being mixed with waters Liver drinks or heâ—bs that be of a cooling nature It is good to cleanse the Reines and Kidneys Reines Kidneys it driveth forth Gravel and the Stone and is a preservative against the Stone to be drunk in the decoction of Liquorish and Parsly roots or Ciches It is good to gargle with Cassia to asswage and mitigate swellings of the Throat and to dissolve ripen and break imposthumes and Tumors Avicen writeth that Cassia being applied to the part greived with the Gout asswageth the pain Wild-Carrot Names THere is one kind that groweth not in England which is called Daucus Cretensis because it groweth in Crete or Candy or Daucus of Candy the wild Carrot which groweth here is also Daucus and often passeth in shops for the true Daucus of Crete it is also called birds-nest from the great tufts of the flowers resembling a birds-nest Descript The Daucus Cretensis is a tender herb having a stalk of a span long set with leaves a great deal smaller and more tender then the leaves of Fennel at the top of the stalk grow little spikey tufts with white flowers like unto the tops of Coriander yeelding a little long rough white seed of a good savor and sharp tast the root is of the thickness of ones finger and about a span long The Wild-Carrot or birds-nest hath leaves like Coriander but greater and not much unlike the leaves of the yellow garden Carrot the flowers be white growing upon tufts or rundells like to the tuffets of the yellow Carrots in the middle whereof there is found a little small flower or twaine of a brown red colour turning towards black the
third kind is like to the second in figure saving that his leaves are greener and more hoary covered with a fine white soft hair almost like the leaves of Watermint the whole plant hath a good and pleasant smell as it were a mean betwixt the scent of Watermint and Sage as saith Dioscorides Place The first kind or the right Dictamnum cometh from Crete now called Candia which is an Irland in the Mediterranean Sea formerly belonging to the Venetians but two or three years sinee taken by the Turks The other two kinds grow not onely in Candia but in divers other hot Countries Government and Vertues The right Dictamnum is hot and dry and of subtil parts the other two kinds are also hot and dry but not so hot as the first they are all under Venus The right Dictamnum is of the same vertue as is Penny-royal but it is better and stronger it bringeth down the Flowers Flowers After-birth After-birth and dead Child deadchild whether it be drunk or eat or used as a pessary or mother suppository the like vertue hath the root which is hot and sharp upon the tongue the juice is very good to be drunk against all Venome Venome and bitings of Venemous beasts and Serpents Dictamnum is of such force against Poison Poison that the onely favor and smell thereof driveth away all Venemous Beasts and Serpents Serpents the juice of the same is of singular force against all kinds of Wounds Wounds to be dropped or poured in it both mundifieth cleanseth and healeth the same it qualifieth and asswageth thâ— pain of the Milt or Spleen Milt and wasteth and diminisheth the same being either taken inwardly or applied outwardly to the place it draweth forth Splinters Splinters and thorns Thorns if it be bruised and laid upon the place It is written by the Antients that the Goats of Candy and likewise Deer if they be shot with any Shaft Javelin or Arrow that hangeth or sticketh fast in their flesh they forthwith seek out the plant Dictamnum and eat thereof by vertue whereof the Arrows fall out and their Wounds are cured The bastard Dictamnum hath the same vertues as the first but not so strong The third kind is very profitable to be put into medecines drinks and Emplaisters that are made against the bitings or stingings of Venemous beasts False-Dictamnum Names THis herb is called in Latine Tragium and by some Fraxinella some Apothecaries do use the root hereof instead of the right Dictamnum from whence it hath gotten the name of Bastard and false Dittany Descript This plant is like unto Lentisms or Licoras in leaves and branches it hath round blackish rough stalks and leaves displayed and spread like those of Licoris at the top of the stalks grow fair flowers of a blewish colour which on the upper part hath four or five leaves and in the lower part of the same flower it hath small long threds crooking or hanging down almost like a Beard after the flowers are gone in the place of each flower there come four or five Cods somewhat rough without slimy to be handled and of a strong smell almost like a Goat in the which is contained a black plain shining Seed the roots be long and white sometimes as thick as a finger and do grow one against another Place It groweth in the Isle of Candy aswel as the true Dictamnum and is found in the Gardens of some curious Herbarists Time It floureth in June and July Government and Vertues This plant is also under the dominion of Venus It is hot almost in the third degree and of subtill parts the seed taken to the quantity of a dram is good against the Strangury Strangury provoketh Urine Vrine Stone is good against the Stone in the Bladder breaketh and bringeth it forth and likewise driveth down the Terms Terms Thorns or flowers of Women the like vertue hath the leaves and juice to be taken after the same manner and being laid to outwardly it draweth out Thorns and Splinters Splinters the root taken with a little Rhubarb killeth and driveth forth Worms Worms and is of singular vertue against the same Dioscorides also reporteth of this plant that the wild Goats when they be struck with Darts or Arrows by the eating of this herb do cause the same to fall out of their bodies aswell as if they had eaten of the right Dictamnum For which cause it is possible that this herb became first to be used in shops instead of the true Dictamnum Dittander Names IT is also called Dittany and Pepperwort Descript Dittander or Dittany hath long broad leaves not much unlike the Bay-tree leaf but larger and longer notched about like a Saw the stalks and branches be round uneasie or hard to be broken and about two foot high at the top whereof grow very many small white flowers and after them a small seed the root is long and single creeping under the earth and putteth forth yearly in divers places new sprigs and leaves Place It groweth plentifully in divers low grounds and salt Marshes as in the Marshes by Rochester in Kent Time Dittander floureth and is in seed in June and July Government and Virtues This herb is hot and dry in the third degree a Martial plant some people use this herb with meat instead of Pepper because it hath the nature and tast of Pepper whereof it took the name of Piperitis the root of this plant is very good against the Sciatica Sciatica being applied outwardly to the huckle bone or haunch made into a pultis with some Goose or Capons-grease and an oyntment made of the leaves with Hogs-grease or the leaves bruised and applied to the place helps the Hip-gout Hip-gout and pain in the Joints Joints the part being afterwards bathed with Wine and Oyl and wrapped in wool or Lambskin a spoonful or two of the juice of Dittander in Ale given to Women in travail causeth Easie and speedy Delivery Easie-Delivery it is likewise good to take away Scars Sun-burning and Scabs and clean-seth discolourings of the skin Double-tongue Kind and Names THere is found two kinds hereof it is called likewise Horse-tongue and Laurus of Alexandria Descript Double-tongue hath round stalks like Solomons-Seal of a foot and half long upon each side whereof grow thick brownish leaves not much unlike to Bay-leavs upon the which there groweth in the middle of every leaf another small leaf fashioned like a Tongue and bet wixt those small and great leaves there grow round red berries as big as a pease the root is tender white long and of a good scent 2. There is also another kind of double tongue which also bringeth forth his fruit upon the leaves and is like the first in stalks leavs fruits and roots saving that there grow no other small leavs by the fruit upon the great leaves Place Double-tongue groweth in Hungaria and
four foot high sometimes more and sometimes less the winged leaves are somewhat narrower than those of the Elder but else very like it the flowers are white with a dash of purple standing in Vmbells like those of the Elder but more sweet in smell after which come small blackish berries full of juice while they are fresh wherein there lie small hard kernels or seed the root doth creep under the upper crust of the ground springing a fresh in divers places about the bigness of ones finger Jagged Dwarff-Elder Descript 8. THis is called in Latine Ebulus foliis laciniatis there can be known no difference between this and the other save onely in the leaves which do so deform the whole face of the plant that none almost would think it should belong to the former the flowers fruit and smell onely leading us to Judge of the Species the leaves are almost Jagged as much as the jagged Elder wherein consists the only difference in this from the former The Place and Time Common Elder groweth very frequently in hedges and in many places it is planted to serve for hedges and partitions for grounds and Gardens especially about London where the Gardeners plant it not onely to serve in their grounds but for the annual profit it yeeldeth both for the green buds flowers and fruit and it is planted likewise in many places where Coneys breed for shadow every stick or branch being thrust into the ground will easily take root and grow The second it is said was first found by Tragus in the Woods of Germany The third is found wild on Hills in watry Woods The fourth is only found planted in the Gardens of the Curious The fifth is found by watersides and Moorish places in Germany France England Italy and Peidmont in Savoy as Pena saith The sixt is nursed up onely in Gardens but best delighteth in moist Grounds The seventh groweth Wild in many places of England where if it be once gotten into a Ground it will so creep and spread it self under the upper crust of the earth that is will hardly be gotten out again The last is as yet a stranger in England The Time The common Elder shoots forth his buds early in the year-in the beginning of January if the weather be mild all or most of the Elders flower in June but the Danewort somewhat late as his fruit likewise is later ripe even not untill September but the others are ripe for the most part at the middle or latter end of August Government and Vertues In the judgement of Culpepper about the planetary dominion of these plants he much mistakes himself saying that both Elder and Walwort were under Venus but they are numbred amongst the violent purgers and of a heating and drying quality quite contrary to the nature of Venus as also their rank smell demonstrates I do therefore attribute them to the dominion of Mars in Scorpio both Galen and also Dioscorides do attribute to the Walwort aswell as to the common Elder for they account their properties both one a hot and dry temperature purging watry humors abundantly but not without trouble to the Stomack the first shoots of the common Elder boyled like unto Sparagus and the young leaves and stalks boyled in fat broth draweth forth mightily Choler and tough Flegm Choler Flegm the tender leaves also eaten with oyl and salt doth the same the middle or inner bark boyled in Water and given to drink worketh much more violently and the berries also either green or dry expell the same humors and is often given with good successe to help the Dropsie by evacuating great plenty of watrish humors Watry humors the bark of the root also boyled or the juice therof drunk worketh the same effects but more powerfully than do either the leaves or fruit the juice of the root taken provoketh Vomiting Vomit Dropsie mightily and purgeth the watry humors of the Dropsie the same decoction of the root cureth the biting of the Viper Viper Adder or Adder as also of a Mad-dog Mad-dog Mother and mollifieth the hardness of the Mother if Women sit therein and openeth the Veins and bringeth down their Courses Courses Hair made black Eyes inflamed Burning the berries boyled in Wine perform the same effects the hair of the Head or other parts washed therewith is made black the juice of the green leaves applied to hot inflamations of the Eyes asswageth them the leaves boyled until they be tender and then beaten and mixed with Barly-meal and applied to hot inflamations asswageth them and helpeth Burning Burning Scalding Sealding Fistula's Vlcers cureth Fistula's Ulcers being laid thereupon and easeth the pains of the Gout Gout Brain being beaten and boyled with tallow of a Bull or a Goat laid theron the juice of the leave snuffed up into the nostrills purgeth the Tunicles of the Brain the juice of the berries boyled with a little hony and dropped into the Eares Eares pained easeth the pains of them the decoction of the berries in Wine being drunk provoketh Urine Provoke Vrine to make lean the powder of the seeds first prepared in Vinegar and then taken in Wine Wind Chollick half a dram at a time for certain daies together is a means to abate fat and keep the body lean the berries so prepared and asmuch white Tartar and a few Anniseeds put unto them a dram of this powder given in Wine cureth the Dropsy humor Dropsie humors very gently purging the dry flowers are very often used in the decoctions of Glisters to expell Wind and easeth the Chollick for they lose their purgeing quality which they have being green and retain an attenuating and digesting property being dried The distilled water of the flowers is of much use to clear the skin from Sunburning Sunburning Freckles Freckles Morphew Morphew or the like and saith Mathiolus the Head being bathed therewith it taketh away all manner of Head-ach Head-ach that cometh of a cold cause The Vinegar made of the flowers of Elder by maceration and insolation is grateful to the Stomack Stomack and of great power and effect to quicken the Appetite and helpeth to cut grosse or tough Flegm Flegm hot in the chest a sirrup of Vinegar made thereof will work more effectually for these purposes the leaves boyled and laid hot upon any hot and painful Aposthumes Aposthumes especially in the more remote and sinewy parts doth both cool the heat and inflamation of them and ease the pains the distilled water of the inner bark of the tree or of the root is very powerful to purge the watry humors of the Dropsie Dropsie Tympany Burning or Tympany taking it fasting and two hours before Supper Mathiolus prescribeth a Receipt hereof to help any Burning or Scalding Scalding which is made in this manner viz. Take saith he one pound of the inner bark of the Elder
doth cause Sweat if one sit over it The Wall or Yellow-Gillow-flower Names THe Yellow-Gillow-flower is reputed amongst the kinds of Violets It is a little shrub or bush and is called in Latine Leucoia Lutea and by the Apothecaries Keyri in English Yellow-Gillow-flowers and Wall-Gillow-flowers Descript The Yellow-Wall-Gillow-flower is a little shrub that is green both Winter and Summer the stalks thereof are hard and of a woody substance and full of branches the leaves are thick set thereupon long narrow and green at the tops of the stalk do grow the flowers which are of a very fair yellow colour a strong but pleasant smell every flower divided into four small leaves after the flowers are fallen away there succeed long Cods or husks wherein is contained large flat and yellow-seed Place The Yellow-Gillow-flower plentifully groweth upon the old ruined Stones of the walls of Monasteries Castles and such old buildings it is likewise very frequently planted in Gardens where it usually grows very full set with double flowers but those which grow naturally upon the old walls have onely single flowers Time The Yellow-Gillow-flower usually flowers in March April and May. Government and Vertues The Yellow Violets or Wall-Gillow-flowers are hot and dry plants of the Sun whose influence they are subject unto and are of subtill parts Wall-flowers dryed and boyled in water provoke Urine Vrine and drive down Womens Terms Terms it helpeth the Scirrhus or hard Imposthumes of the Matrix Matrix when the same is fomented therewith a plaister made of the same flowers with oyle and Wax do heal chops of the Fundament and falling down thereof and closeth up old Sores Fundament old Sores the same flour mingled with hony cureth Ulcers and Sores of the Mouth two drams of the seed hereof drunk in Wine driveth down the Terms Secondine Secondine and Dead child Dead-Child a pessary made of the same and put up into the Matrix worketh the same effects the juice of this Gillow-flower dropped into the Eyes Eyes taketh away Spots and dimness of the same and the root stamped with Vinegar applied to the Spleen Spleen helpeth the hardness therof The Gall-Oake Descript THe strong or Gall-Oak so called because it beareth Gauls groweth not so great or high as other Oaks but shorter and more crooked with fair spreading branches and long leaves very much cut in on the edges and hoary underneath this tree also floureth and beareth Acorns and besides those it beareth also a round woody substance which is called a Gaul the wood or Timber hereof is hardly to be bored of this kind there be divers sorts some growing much lower then others some having their leaves lesse cut in or jagged on the edge some bearing more store of Gauls and others no Acorns at all some bear great Gauls others smaller some knobbed or bunched others smooth and of colour some white-some red others yellow and some small and green which is the Omphacitis Place These Oaks grow frequently in Italy Spain and other hot Countries Time They put forth their long Catkins or bloomings early in the Spring which fall away for the most part before the leaves do come forth the Acorns are not ripe until October Government and Vertues My intention here is to declare the temperament use and virtues of the Gauls of these forreign trees their Acorns being like those of our English Oaks The small Gaul called Omphacitis is dry in the third degree and cold in the second Saturnine of a soure harsh nature Weak it it fit to draw together and fasten faint and loose Loose parts Parts as the overgrowing of the flesh it expelleth and drieth up rheums Rheums and other fluxes Fluxes especially those that fall upon the Gums Gums Almonds of the Throat Throat and other places of the Mouth Mouth The other whiter Gaul doth also bind and dry but not so much as the former having a lesser quantity of sower harshness in it and is good against the dysentery Dysentery or bloody Flux Flux The decoction of them in water is of a mean astriction but in Wine is stronger and in harsh or red Wine strongest this decoction being warm is good for Women to sit in that are troubled with the falling down of the Mother Mother the Gauls themselvs after the boyling being bruised and applied to the Fundament Fundament that is fallen down or hath any hot Swelling Swelling or inflamation doth wonderfully help them the coals of them when they are burned and quenched in Wine or Vinegar is good to be applied to stanch bleeding Bleeding in any place They dye the hairs black and with them is made our writing Ink and they are used by dyers for a black dye The Oak-Apple is much of the nature of the Gaul yet much inferior thereunto but may be used for want of Gauls for Rheums fluxes and other such distempers Sweet Gaul Names IT is called also Sweet Willow Rhus Silvestris in Latine and Myrtus Anglica English Myrtle Descript It is a small low shrub or woody bush not above a yard in height having spreading slender branches with many brown yellowish green leaves somewhat long narrow thick and fattish round-pointed resembling both box and Myrtle-leaves in some sort having a strong sweet smell the flowers are yellow and stand upon short stalks coming forth at the joints with the leaves in small tufts many set together which being past the said stalks are plentifully stored with cornered yellow seeds bedewed with a clammy moisture of a very bitter tast but a strong sweet sâ—ent the root is hard and woody Place It groweth in boggy moorish grounds in lower Danmoore at Hailshot in Hampshire and at Bramsil in a boggy Moore of William Turners which they call Gold-Moore Time It blossomes about August and the seed is ripe in September or thereabouts Government and Vertues Saturn ownes this plant the nature of it is by the bitterness and harshness found to be drying and diâ—cussing and is very effectual to kill Worms in the Belly or Stomach Worms Belly Stomack head It mightily affecteth the Brain causing first perturbations and then stupifying the senses It is much used to be laid in Wardrobes Chests Presses and the like to keep Moths from Cloaths and to give them a good scent Ginger Names Description and Place THe Latine appellâ—tion is Zinbiber Ginger groweth in all Countries of the East Indies and many parts of the West as in Barâ—adoes It is planted either by the root or sown of seed we have two sorts of Ginger brought unto us differing in the substâ—nce and colour of the roots but not in the form saving that the one is more slender which is the blacker than the white for the one is white within and cutteth soft which is the Ginger which is wholly â—sed with us both in Meats and Medicins the other is hard and
way Place and Time This tree groweth in Arabia in many places and in Aegypt and floureth and beareth fruit twice a year and hath alwayes green leaves Government and Vertues It is Saturnine the gum hath a thickning condensing and cooling property and is very effectual to represse and cool the heat and sharpness of humors and to bind or close up the open passages of the skin and keeping the places from blistering that are burnt with fire being dissolved with the white of an Egg and applied It is also very serviceable for Limners Dyers to make the best writing Ink and many other external uses Gum Tragacanth Names and Descript THe tree hereof is called Goats-thorn which is a small bushy plant rising up with many tough pliant or flexible woody stems about two foot high divided into many slender branches covered with a white hoariness with divers long white thorns in a double row among which rise up many small long and round leaves which abide always green there grow flowers at the tops of the branches and amongst the leaves of a pale yellow colour which turn into small white cods containing in them small whitish cornered seed the root is great and long much spreading in the ground which being cut or broken yeeldeth a pure white shining Gum in small crooked peeces of a sweet tast Place All sorts of these trees are found in Candia and about Marselles and Mompelier Time In the places where they naturally grow they flower and seed in the beginning of Autumne Government and Vertues There is no physical use known of either the leaves flowers seeds or roots of Tragacantha but onely of the gum it self which partaketh of the influence of Venus it is of a temperate property and besides the medicinal uses thereof it serveth for many external purposes as a starch or glew for which young Ladies use it to make their Artificial flowers and other gum-works This gum being dissolved is often used to be mixed with pectoral syrrups honey or juice of Liquorice to help the Cough or Hoarseness Coughs Hoarseness in the Throat salt and sharp distillations of Rhume upon the Lungs Rhume Lungs being taken as an Electuary or put under the tongue so to go gently down he said gum diâ—â—olved in sweet Wine a dram at a time and drunk is pâ—ofitable for the knawing pains in the Bowells Knawings-Bowels and the sharpness of Urine and frettings either in the Reins or Bladder Reines Bladder especially if it be mixed with some burnt Harts-horn the said Gum is also good for the Eye sight Eyes Sight being used alone or mixed with other things proper for the same purpose to allay the heat and sharpness of hot Rhumes the said gum mingled with milk taketh away white spots growing in the black of the Eyes and the Itching of the Eyes and Wheals or scabs upon the Eye-lids and being mixed with the juice of Quinces and used in a glister is good against the Bloody-flux and is generally used where there is cause of making smooth the Lungs breast or Throat or the wind-pipe being grown sharp or harsh by Rhumes and is excellent to represse and dry up sharp and thin matter and is excellent for Ulcers in any of the parts before-named Gum Elemni Description and Vertues WHat tree this gum is taken from we have no certain description it is a yellowish gum cleer and transparent which being broken sheweth more white and gummi within it will easily take fire and is of a quick scent and tast The properties of it are these It is of excellent use for all wounds and fractures of the Head and skull to be mixed with Balsomes and Oyntments for that purpose and is good for the Tooth-ach when Rhumes fall into them to be applied unto the Temples as Mastick Gum Tacamahacca THis Gum is reported to be gathered from a tree like unto Poplar being very sweet having a red fruit or berry like unto a Peony Government and Vertues Mercury rules it the gum is good for many external uses but not being known to be given inwardly it is useful for Women to retain the mother in its place by laying a plaister thereof upon the Navel Matrix and putting a little Musk Amber or a little Civet in the middle of the plaister This gum being applied as a plaister spread upon leather to the side or Spleen Side Spleen Tumors Pains Joints stomach digestion head-ach Brain Memory Defluxions Face Eyes Eares Teeth Gout Sciatica Punctures that is grown hard and Windy disperseth the Wind and dissolveth the Tumors and is effectual in all Tumors and pains of the body or Joints which come from cold raw and Windy humors applied thereon Take of this gum with a third part of Sâ—orax a little Ambergreese and some Wax and make a plaister thereof and apply it to the Stomack doth much strengthen the weakness thereof and digestion provokes appetite and breaks Wind it is good in the Headach and to strengthen the Brain and Memory as also in all defluxions from the Head into the Face Eares or Teeth to be applied to the Temples or to be put into the Ear tyed in a little fine silk or Cloth it is good also for pains in the joints Gout and Sciatica it speedily helpeth Punctures and Wounds in the joints it is hot almost in the third degree and dry in the second with much astriction Herb Robert Names IT is called Geranium Robertianum vulgare the common Herb Robert Descript The common Herb Robert springeth up with a reddish stalk about two foot high having divers leaves thereon upon very long and reddish footstalks divided at the ends into three or four divisions and each of them cut in on the edges some with deeper cuts than others and all dented likewise about the edges which oftentimes turn reddish at the tops of the stalks come forth divers flowers consisting of five leaves a peece larger then those of the Garden Musk and of a more reddish colour after which come beaky heads like long bills the root is small and threddy the whole plant is of a very strong smell Place Herb Robert groweth frequent every where by wayes sides upon the banks of Ditches and wast grounds Time It flowereth chiefly in June and July and the seed is ripe soon after Government and Vertues Herb Robert is a plant of Mars and is very much commended against the Stone and not onely so but also to stay blood Stone Flux of Blood Green wounds Vlcers from what part soever flowing it is excellent good speedily to heal all green wounds and is effectual likewise in old Ulcers either in the secrets or any other parts Hermo-dactyls HErmodactils are to be reckoned amongst the number of unknown drugs they being brought into England in abundance but no Author hath hitherto declared the place or growing thereof but only Mesne who saith it is the root of a Mountain herb whereof some are long and round
like a finger white both without and within but the Hermodactils used in shops are not such they are small and somewhat flat thick short white roots and some are blackish which are not good they are of a firm substance yet easie to be cut or made into powder and of little or no tast but drying Government and Vertues They are Solar hot and dry in the second degree and are effectual in purging forth flegmatick slimy and watry humors Flegm Watry Humors from the joints and therefore good to help the Gout and other running joint-aches and is used to good purpose with other things in diet-drinks Hermodactils are apt to stir up Windiness and trouble the Stomach but may be corrected with either Ginger long Pepper Anniseeds or Comin Hone-wort Names IT is called also Corn-parsly and Selinum Segetale and Hone-wort Descript It is a small low Herb having sundry winged long leaves lying on the ground many being set one against another finely dented about the edges with one at the end which are each of them longer than Burnet-leaves and pointed at the ends among which rise sundry round stalks half a yard high with the like but lesser leaves on them branching forth likewise from the joints and all of them bearing small Vmbells of white flowers which turn into a small blackish seed lesse than Parsley seed but in tast as hot and sharp as it the root is small long and white and perisheth every year after it hath yeelded its seed and springeth up again of its own sowing Place It groweth in Fields among Corn or in places where Corn hath been sown and by the sides of Corn-fields I have found it grow plentifully in the Fields between Camberwel and Dulwich Time It flowereth in Harvest time and the seed is ripe in September Government and Virtues It is under the planetary rule of Mercury as the other parsleys are of a cutting exterminating nature and effectual for the same purposes Parsley is Parkinson saith that Mr Goodier of Hampshire reported to him that the use of a handful of the leaves being drunk in a draught of Beer every morning for a fortnight did cure one that had a Swelling in her cheek arising there yearly and Mr. Roger Dixon Chirurgion did use it for Swellings and Tumors Jack by the Hedge Names IT is called also Sawce-alone and in Latine Alliaria Descript This Herb at his first springing up hath roundish leaves the lower are rounder then those that grow towards the tops of the stalks and are set singly one at a joint being somewhat round and broad and pointed at the ends and jagged about not much unlike Nettle-leaves but greater and of a fresher green colour and not rough nor pricking the which being bruised between the fingers have the savor and smell of Gar-like but more pleasant and tasteth somewhat hot and sharp the flowers are very small and white growing at the tops of the stalks one above another like to Rocket and after them succeed long Cods or husks wherein is contained a small round blackish seed the root is stringy and threddy perisheth every year when it hath given seed and of its own seed springeth again Place This plant delighteth to grow in low untilled grounds undâ—◠〈…〉 the borders of Meadows and moist pastures and by He◠〈◊〉 and path wayes in many places Tiâ—â—â—â— â—ack by the Hedge floureth in May and June and the seed is ripâ— soon after Government and Vertues It is a plant of Mars of temperature hot and dry in the third degree Sawce-alone hath been much used and is still in some places by people for sawce to their meat in stead of Garlick and it is likewise a good sawce to fish and helpeth to digest the crudities and other corrupt humors ingendred by the much eating of Fish it warmeth the Stomack Stumack and causeth digestion Digestion the juice boiled with hony is very good for the Cough Cough to help to cut and expectorate tough Flegm Flegm the seed bruised and boiled in Wine is a good remedy for the wind-Chollick Chollick and S one Stone being drunk warm the same for Women troubled with the Mother Mother both to drink warm and the seeds put into a Cloth and applied warm the decoction of the leaves or seed is good in glisters to ease pains of the Stone the green leaves are good to cleanse and heal Ulcers Vlcers in the legs the root hath a tast like unto Radishes and may be used in the same manner and to the same purposes as they are Jessamine or Jesmine Names IT is called Jasminum and Gelseminum vulgatius et album there being reckoned amongst Authors four other kinds as Jasminum vel Gelseminum Catalonicum simplex the single Spanish Jasmine Gelseminum vel Jasminum Catalonium multiplex The double Spanish Jasmine Gelseminum sive Jasmimum Indicum flavum odoratissimum The Indian most sweet yellow Jasmine And Gelseminum sive Jasminum luteum Odoratum Virginianum scandens et semper virens The sweet yellow climing Virginian Jasmine Desâ—ript The ordinary Jasmine springeth up with many long shoots from the root divided into many small branches full of joints or knots and covered with a dark grayish bark these shoots or twigs are filled with a white spongy pith within like the Elder the leaves be of a dark green colour winged and parted into several other little leaves the flowers be white and long of a sweet and pleasant savor standing divers in a tuft together at the tops of the small branches which fall away without bearing of any fruit in our Country but in hotter Countries where it naturally groweth it beareth a flat seed like a Lupine the root spreadeth far in the ground and increaseth by yeelding of many suckers Place Jasmine the three first sorts thereof grow well in Spain and are supposed to have been brought thither out of Syria none grows here but such as are planted in Gardens Time Jasmine floureth in July and August but the fruit thereof never cometh to perfection in this Country Government and Vertues Jasmine is under the Solar Influence It is hot almost in the second degree as saith Serapio and hath a bitter tast Jasmine is effectual to cure the foul dry Scurff and red Spots Scurff Spots Swellings Wens flegm Catharrs Head-ach Freckles Morphew Tetters Ring-worms Cramp Stiches and dissolveth cold Swellings and Wens or hard lumps or knobs gathered together in the flesh being pultis-wise applied thereon It discusseth humors is good against salt Flegm and is profitable for old men that are troubled with Catharrs and tough Flegm but it breedeth the Head-ach in those who are of an hot constitution if they use it the leaves either green or dry do cleanse Freckles Morphew Spots and discolourings of the Face and other parts of the body and helpeth Tetters and Ring-worms There is an Oyle made of the flowers by infusion which is good for any cold part
it hath lesser leaves stalkes and branches not growing above a hand breadth high and perisheth every year Descript 3. Small smooth Madder with sharp-pointed leaves Rubia Pratensis levis acuto folio This springeth up with one smooth square jointed stalk about a foot and a half high from the joints grow small branches whereat are set usually four long leaves ending in a small point The flowers come forth at the tops consisting of four leaves and are small and yellow at the first and afterwards become of a pale white colour Descript 4. Small smooth Madder with round pointed leaves Rubia quadrifolia rotunda levis This hath many square stalks about half a foot high which send forth other smaller branches at every joint four small round pointed leaves a little rough and not so smooth as the last the flowers are small and white and stand at the tops upon small threddy footstalks each having four leaves the root is small threddy and reddish Descript 5. Small creeping Madder with purplish blew flowers Rubia minor pratensis Coerulea This hath many small square branches which creep upon the ground divided into other small ones full of joints and at every of them five or six round green leaves smooth or very little rough from the joints and tops of the branches come small flowers consisting of five blewish purple round pointed leaves having some small threds in the middle the seed is small and long the root is small and of a reddish yellow colour it continueth green all the Winter Descript 6. Small rock-Madder Rubia minima Saxatilis Tâ—is groweth not above a hand-breadth in height it hath a small square stalk sending small branches from the joints at which grow seaven or eight small pointed leaves and somewhat rough the flowers are very small of a pale red standing in Vmbells at the tops of the branches the root is small and reddish Descript 7 Small rock-Madder with prickly heads Rubia Echinata Saxatilis This hath a small whitish threddy root which sendeth up many square render branches small and slender below and thicker up higher having many thick and hairy joints whereat grow four small leaves between which and the branches come forth small greenish flowers of four leaves a peece standing together upon a footstalk having small threds in the middle after which come small heads somewhat rough which become sharp and prickly when they are ripe divided into four parts on each side of the head the middle part being also prickly the seed is small and yellow It flowreth at the lower joints first and afterwards at the higher Descript 8. Candy Silver-leaved Madder Rubia argentea Cretica This is like the former small Madder but that the leaves are longer and whiter and the flowers yellow Place The fifth groweth plentifully in many places in England and so doth the sixt as upon the Chalky hills neer Drayton over against the Isle of Wight the others are strangers in our land Time They flower in the Summer Months and perfect their seed shortly after Government and Vertues These small Madders are all likewise plants of Mars and are of the same property and temperature as the former greater Madders are but not so powerfull Mayweed Kinds and Names THere is found three sorts of Mayweed 1. Cotula foetida stinking Mayweed 2. Cotula non foetida Mayweed with no scent Stinking Mayweed groweth more upright then that which sâ—nelleth not or the common Camomile neither of them creep or or run on the ground as Comomile doth the leaves are longer and greater then these of Camomile yet very like unto it but of a paler green colour the one sort hath a very strong smell the other no scent at all the flowers are like those of Camomile but larger there hath also been found of this sort in many places of this Land a Mayweed which hath double flowers almost as large as double Camomile-flowers which is called Cotula flore pleno Place The stinking Mayweed groweth abundantly among Corn and will blister the hands of the reapers that which stinketh not groweth also very plentifully wild in many places and often amongst wild Camomile Time They flower all the Summer-Months some earlier and some later Government and Vertues Mayweed is governed by Mars yet Galen saith The Sophi of the Egyptians consecrated Camomile to the Sun which is much of the same temperature but the stinking Mayweed is more hot and dry and is used for the same purposes that Camomile is to dissolve Tumors and Wind and to ease pains and Aches in the joints and other parts Tumors Wind Paines Aches Matrix Fallen down Suffocations of the Matrix it is also good for Women whose Matrix is fallen down or loosed from one side to another their feet being washed with a decoction thereof made in water It is likewise good to be given to smell unto for such who are troubled with the rising or suffocation of the Matrix Jewes-Mallow Names IT is called Melochia or Molochia and Corchorus Descript It is a small low herb rising up a foot and an half from the stalks shoot forth divers branches on all sides whereon grow many leaves without order up to the tops somewhat longer and broader then the leaves of Basil and some are shorter and broader almost round all of them finely nicked and pointed about the edges having at the bottom of each leaf a small thred as it were on each side which are of a little sourish tast the flowers for the most part come forth singly but one standing at a place every one upon a short footstalk consisting of five broad small pointed leaves of a yellow colour with some threds in the middle which being past there rise up slender long pods somewhat like unto those of Swallow-wort which when they are ripe open into five parts having within them small seed like unto Nigella but lesser and of a blewish green colour the root is long fibrous and perisheth every year Place It groweth in Syria Asia Aegypt and in those places abundantly in the Gardens where it is sown and in many places of Spain and Italy It is so common in Aegypt that they seldom make a meal without a dish therof as saith Alpinus Time It seldom cometh to flower with us and being sown groweth not above a hand high a cold night quickly killeth it Government and Virtues Alpinus assimilateth the faculties hereof unto the Marsh-Mallow that is of a temperature moderate in heat and moisture but this thought to be dryer even in the first degree it is under the government of Venus It is much used to suppurate digest resolve and mollifie all hard Tumors in that the muscilage hereof is more slymy then that of our Marsh-mallows Hard tumors Dry Coughs Hoarseness Throat two drams of the seed he saith is usually taken at a time to purge all sorts of humors the decoction of the leaves is very frequently used against dry Coughs hoarsness of the Throat or voice and
and Spleen strengthneth the Stomach and corroborates the inward parts after purging and opening the obstructions of them It helpeth also all diseases proceeding from them as Dropsie Jaundice it rectifieth the evil constitution of the Liver openeth and dissolveth the hardness thereof as also of the Spleen and Stomach and expelleth wind It helpeth and taketh away all old and inveterate pains in the head by cleansing the brain and the nerves and purging those Rheumatick distillations and humours that are in them It helpeth also Joynt-Aches or Gout-pains in the bladder and Reins provokes Urine It helps the Chollick powerfully expelling the wind It also helps pains and windiness of the Mother shortness of breath and an old Cough It is also effectual in the French disease by taking it as often as there is cause purging old peccant humours especially if the disease be not of any long continuance It takes away also the cause of old and long lingring Agues The Jalap is in operation and purging somewhat like unto the Mechoacan but worketh more strongly and somewhat more churlishly both upon Flegmatick and watry humours yet it strengthens both the Liver and Stomach The manner to take it is being made into powder to drink it in White wine fasting or in the distilled water of Cichory or Borrage or else in broth made with cold herbs and some use to drink it in Posset-drink Millet Names Kinds THere are three sorts growing in Europe they are generally all called by the name of Millium with their Adjectives for distinction Gesner calleth it Panicum Indicum Descript 1. Common white Millet Millium vulgare album This groweth with many hard joynted tall stalks full of white pith yet soft and a little hairy or downy on the outside with long and large Reed-like Leaves compassing one another The tops of the stalks are furnished with a great many whitish yellow long Sprigs like feathers bowing down their heads set all along with small seeds inclosed in whitish husks of a shining pale yellowish colour somewhat hard little bigger than the Seed of Fleawort the Root spreadeth much in the ground but perisheth every year Descript 2. Black Millet Millium nigrum differeth from the other but little being somewhat less saving that as the tuft is brownish so is the seed blackish and shining else it is very like to the other Descript 3. Indian Millet called also Melica sive Forghium and higher than the former rising to be five or six foot high or more the stalks are full of joynts and large long leaves at them the juba or Tuft standeth upright and doth not hang down the head as the others whereon stand somewhat round seed as big but not as flat as Lentils and is either whitish yellow red or blackish hard and shining the root busheth more than the other yet endureth all Winter Place All the sorts of Millet came first into Europe out of the Eastern Countries and require a strong well watered ground they soon will impoverish a ground that is not still inriched it will not prosper in dry or hungry ground Time It is to be sown in April and the grain in the hotter Countries will be ripe in August or September Government and Vertues It is Mercurial of a cooling temperature in the first degree and dry almost in the third according to Galen and is also endued with a little tenuity of parts Theophrastus saith that if the grain be kept from wind and weather it will last always It is sometimes made into bread but it is very brittle it dryeth up moist humours In Germany they much use it boyled in milk and some sugar put to it Mathiolus saith that at Verona they eat the bread thereof with great delight while it is hot by reason of the sweetness but being cold it is hard and unpleasant Dioscorides saith that Gruel or Pottage made with it Binding of the belly Vrine Feavers thirst Chollick Sides Pains Joynts Sinews bindeth the belly and provoketh Urine the Apozeme made thereof called Syrupus Ambrosianus or Syrupus Ambrosii taken warm with white wine procureth sweat very much the party being covered in bed and is effectual to cool hot Feavers and to quench thirst Being put into a bag and fryed and applyed hot it easeth the griping pains of the Chollick and of the sides and pains in the Joynts and Sinews in Italy and other places they fat their Poultry with the grain Mathiolus saith that the Indian Millet-stalks are good to help those that are troubled with kernels under the ears or else where to be used in this manner For Kernels under the Ears or elsewhere TAke ten of the joynts of the Indian Millet of the Stalks thereof take out the pyth of them which burn with a new red Sponge take the powder of them with twelve grains of pepper and an ounce of Wheat Paste or Dowe make it up into a Cake with a new-layd egg and let it be baked under the Embers this Cake divide into six parts and let the Patients take one part of it every other night when the Moon is decreasing as they go to bed and not drink after it that night This must be repeated two or three Moons and by this he saith he hath known many to have been cured He also saith that the red flowers taken in red wine to the quantity of a dram cureth women of the Reds as the white flowers doth the Whites It is also good for all Fluxes of the belly Myrtle Names and Kinds THere are several kinds hereof whose names shall follow with their descriptions The Druggists and Apothecaries in their Shops call the berries Myrillus and we in english Myrtle-berries Descript 1. The greatest open Lawrel Myrtle Myrtus latifolia maxima This greatest Myrtle hath great and thick woody branches set with a double row of large leaves coming near unto the smaller leaves of the Baytree but of a paler green colour abiding always green and very â—weet Clusius saith that this sort in Spain seldome beareth either flowers or fruit because they prune it often being kept in Hedges for pleasure Descript 2. The strange broad-leaved close Myrtle Myrtus Latifolia Exotica This doth grow up higher than the former and shooteth from the root many strong thick stemmes more pleasantly stored with large leaves yet not fully so large as the first sort but closer set together that they almost touch one another sometimes in a double rowe and sometimes in a treble and very sweet The flowers are white like unto others but larger the fruit is somewhat longer than in the small sorts green at the first purplish before it be ripe and black when it is full ripe with many crooked white seeds in them Descript 3. The usual broad-leafed Myrtle Myrtus latifolia vulgaris This Myrtle groweth to be four or five foot high with us and in the hot Countries to be a little Tree full of branches and leaves like a small Bush the leaves are somewhat
mystica and in Shops Nux moscata the Tree groweth very tall like our Pear-trees having leaves always green somewhat resembling the leaves of the Orange-tree the fruit groweth like our Walnuts having an outer thick husk which when it growes ripe it openeth it self as the shell of the Walnut doth shewing the nut within covered with the Mace which is of an orient crimson colour while it is fresh but the air changeth the colour to be more dead and yellowish Government and Vertues The Nutmegs and Maces are both Solar of temperature hot and dry in the second degree and somewhat astringent and are good to stay the Lask they are effectual in all cold griefs of the head or Brain Lask Head Brain Sinews Mother Wind Stomach sight for Palsies shrinking of Sinews and Diseases of the Mother they cause a sweet breath and discuss wind in the Stomach or Bowels quicken the Sight and comfort the Spirits provoke Urine increase sperm and are comfortable to the Stomach they help to procure rest and sleep being laid to the temples by allaying the distemper of the Spirits The way to use it to cause rest is to take two pieces of red Rose-cake and warm them in vinegar over a Chafing-dish of Coals then scrape nutmeg upon the cakes and bind it warm to the temples The Mace is of the same property but somewhat more warming and comforting than the Nutmeg the thick oyl that is drawn from both Nutmegs and Mace is good in pectoral griefs to warm a cold Stomach Stomach Cough and help the Cough and to dry up distillations of Rheum falling upon the lungs Navelwort of Mathiolus Kinds and Names THere are hereof three sorts called 1 Androsaces major 2. Androsaces minor and 3. Androsaces minima Mathioli Mathiolus his greater lesser and least Navelwort Descript 1. Androsaces major hath divers broad fresh green leaves a little hairy lying upon the ground like Plantain-leaves but smaller and unevenly dented about the edges from among which spring up divers round hairy stalks four or five inches high without any leaves up to the tops where stand four or five leaves like the lower but lesser and among them grow divers slender foot stalks bearing every one of them a small white flower with five small notched leaves standing in a green husk divided at the top into five parts wherein after the flower cometh a small round head full of small blackish seed the root is small and fibrous and perisheth as soon as it hath born seed and riseth again of its own sowing which if it spring before winter or that it doth not run to seed the first year of the sowing it will abide the first winter and flower the Summer following Descript 2. The lesser Androsaces or Navel-wort of Mathiolus groweth like the former but the leaves are smaller and narrower yet hairy and dented about the edges the stalks are like the other but have no leaves at the tops but an Vmbell or Tuft of many small flowers like the former but whiter after which shoot forth small round heads with seeds the root is more fibrous than the former small and fibrous and perisheth every year after it hath given its seed Descript 3. Androsaces minus the least Navel-wort of Mathiolus is very like the former having very many hairy leaves lying on the ground like those of the smallest Shepherds-purse with edges dented deeper than the former and having smaller and shorter stalks but as hairy as the others having five small green leaves set in a round compass at the joynt from whence arise three or four small white flowers which bear seed in heads as the former The root consists of a few small threads Place and Time They all grow in divers places of Germany they flower in May and their seed is ripe in June and July Government and Vertues These Plants are governed by Mars and are of a somewhat sharp taste of temperature hot and dry in the second degree they cleanse old Sores and Ulcers and staye the malignity of those that are corroding or fretting Old Sores Vlcers drying up the superfluous moisture which hindreth their healing cleanseth the roughness of the skin and Sun-burning the juice being clarifi'd and dropt into the eyes cleanseth them from films or skin growing over them Apple-bearing Nightshade Kinds and Names OF these there are several kinds which are accounted amongst the number of Nightshades called Solanum pomiferum and also Mala insana or mad Apples Descript 1. Lobel's red berried Nightshade called in Latine solanum pomiferum herbariorum Lobellii this groweth like common nightshade but greater the leaves are like small Tobacco-leaves the flowers are white the Berries small and round of a reddish colour containing white seeds within them of an insipid taste and perisheth every year as Nightshade doth Descript 2. Mad Apples of Syria called in Latine mala insana Syriaca This springeth up with a great hard round purplish or brownish green stalk about two foot high divided from the bottom into divers branches whereon are set many hairy broad rough leaves unevenly cut in on the edges At the joynts with the leaves come forth several large flowers having six large pointed leaves in some Plants white in others of a pale deadish purple colour with yellow threads in the middle after which come a somewhat long round fruit in hot countreys as big as a Cucumber but in colder places seldome exceeding the bigness of an egg set in the same husk that contained the flowers before having a thin skin and full of a whitish pulp and juice within having many small flat and whitish seeds within it the root is fibrous and perisheth with the first cold frosts Descript 3. Mad-apples of Ethiopia Mala insana Ethiopica These are somewhat like the former but that it groweth not so high nor so much spreading and hath but one upright stalk about half a yard high set in divers places with many small pricks and at several joynts with ragged leaves having some pricks on the middle rib in the back side the flowers stand on the branches at the joynts consisting of six white short leaves with a yellow point in the middle of divers threds joyned together after which cometh the fruit which is round and pointed at the end smaller and harder than the greater kind of Love-Apples and straked in several places of a fine red colour more deeper when it is ripe having sometimes small bunches on them like unto other small apples growing unto them having within them a juicy pulp more sharp than the other with flat yellowish white seed within it the root consisteth of threds and perisheth every year Descript 4. Mad-Apples of Europe Mala insana Europaea this kind groweth with a round upright stalk a foot and an half high from whence spring forth at several joynts divers long and somewhat broad green leaves unevenly cut on the edges and ending in a long point three for the most
sharp and aromatical is of more effect in medicines and so is the long being more used to be given for Agues to warm the stomach before the coming of the fit thereby to abate the shaking thereof All of them are used against the Quinsie being mixed with honey Quinsie Kernels and taken inwardly aswell as applyed outwardly and disperseth the kernels aswell in the throat as in the other parts of the body Mathiolus writeth of a kind of Pepper which he calleth Piper Aethiopicum brought with other Merchandise from Alexandria into Italy and groweth in long Cods like beans or pease but many cods set together at a place whose grains within them being like Pepper both in form and taste but smaller stick very close to the inside this sort Serapio calleth granum Zelin Monardus also maketh mention of a kind of long Pepper that groweth in all the tract of the Continent of the West-Indies This kind of pepper is half a foot long and of the thickness of a small Rope consisting of many rowes of small grains set close together as in the head of Plantane and is black being ripe and hotter in taste and more aromatical and pleasant than Capsicum and preferred before black Pepper and groweth saith he on high Trees or Plants Guinny Pepper Kinds and Names THere are many sorts hereof found out and brought to our knowledge in these latter dayes more than formerly were one Gregorius de Reggio a Capuchine Fryar maketh mention of a dozen several sorts or varieties at the least in the fruit or Cods though in any thing else very little differing there are likewise some other varieties observed by Clusius and others Descript 1. The most ordinary Guinny Pepper with long husks Capsicum majus vulgatius oblongis siliquis By this you may frame the Description of all the rest the main difference consisting in the form of the fruit whether husks or Cods This Plant riseth up with an upright firm roundstalk with a certain pyth within them about two foot high in our Countrey and not above three foot in the hotter spreading into many branches on all sides even from the very bottome which divide themselves again into other smaller branches at each joynt whereof come forth two long leaves upon short footstalks somewhat bigger than those of Nightshade else very like with divers veins in them not dented about the edges at all and of a very sad green colour the flowers stand severally at the joynts with the leaves very like unto the flowers of Nightshade consisting most usually of five and sometimes of six white small-pointed-leaves standing open like a star with a few yellow threds in the middle after which come the fruit either great or small long or short round or square as the kind is either standing upright or hanging down as their flowers shew themselves either of this or that form in this somewhat great and long about three inches in length thick and round at the stalk and smaller towards the end which is not sharp but round-pointed green at the first but being full ripe of a very deep shining Crimson red colour on the outside which is like a thick skin and white on the inside smelling reasonably well and sweet having many flat yellowish white seeds therein cleaving to certain thin skins within it which are broader at the upper end and smaller at the lower leaving the end or point empty within not reaching so far the which husk but especially the seed being of so hot and fiery a taste that it enflameth and burneth the mouth and throat for a long time after it is chewed almost ready to choak one that taketh much at a time thereof the root is composed of a great Tuft or bush of threds spreading plentifully in the ground and perisheth even in hot Countreys after it hath ripened all its fruit Descript 2. Capsicum minus Brasilianum small round Guinny-pepper This groweth in the same manner as the former doth not differing in any thing but in the leaves which being of the same form are not so great and large and in the fruit which is small and round standing some forthright and some upright but none hanging down each of them upon a long footstalk about the bigness of a Barbery but round and nothing so red and in another sort almost black having such like seeds within them but somewhat smaller no less hot and fiery than the former and abideth the winter-colds no otherwise than the former and seldome beareth ripe fruit in our Countrey Descript 3. The greater round upright Guinny Pepper Capsicum rotundum majus surrectum The chiefest difference in this sort of Guinny-pepper consisteth most in the form of the fruit which standeth upright as the flowers do being great and round like an apple even the greatest of all the sorts that bear round fruit of an excellent red colour when it is ripe like unto a polished Corall Descript 4. The great upright Spire-fashion'd Guinny-Pepper Capsicum erectum pyramidale majus This differeth very little from the first the difference of the fruit is that this standeth upright great below and smaller and smaller to the point which is sharper than in the first of as brave an orient Corall-like colour as the last Descript 5. The lesser upright Spire-fashion'd Guinny-Pepper Capsicum erectum pyramidale minus As the fruit of this sort is lesser by the half than the last and not so sharp or small at the end but somewhat round so the green leaves also are smaller and narrower and the stalk smaller and not growing so high the flowers of this as of all the rest that bear their fruit upright do stand upright also which is a certain rule to know what fruit will be pendulous and what will be upright Descript 6. The least Spire-fashioned Guinny-Pepper Capsicum exiguum erectum Pyramidale The form of this is very like the second sort but these are smaller and longer than those of the second sort of an inch long at the least and of a blackish red before they be through-ripe and then as red as the rest This groweth taller fuller of branches and more stored both with flowers and fruit the leaves are of the same dark green colour with the rest Descript 7. The greater upright Heart-fashioned Guinny-Pepper Capsicum Cordatum erectum majus This groweth not so high as most of the former having large leaves but not so small at the ends the fruit is not pendulous or hanging downwards with his footstalk but standing upright being somewhat great flattish and as it were bunched out at the upper end next unto the stalk and smaller below short and round-pointed somewhat resembling the form of a mans-Heart as it is intituled Cordatum Descript 8. The lesser upright Heart-fashioned Guinny-Pepper Capsicum Cordatum erectum minus This doth not differ from the last but in the smallness of the fruit standing also upright but much smaller and shorter Descript 9. Pendulous Heart-fashioned Guinny-Pepper
and the decoction of the same drunken hath the like property The same is also good against all Scorchings and burnings with fire to be pounded together with litharge of silver and Frankincense and if there be some Coperas mixt therewith it will cleanse and heal Consuming and fretting Sores The leaves of the Pine-tree healeth Green Wounds and boyled in Vinegar they ease the Tooth-ach The kernels of the Nuts which are found in the Pine-apples are good for the Lungs Burning Old Sores Green Wounds Tooth-ach Lungs they cleanse the Breast and expectorate tough Flegm Breast Flegm also they nourish well and ingender good blood and are good for such as have the Cough and begin to pine away and consume in what sort soever they be taken These kernels also do open the Liver Cough Liver and Spleen and mitigate the sharpness of Urine Spleen Vrine and are good for those that are troubled with the Gravel and Stone Gravel Stone The Pitch-tree Names THis Tree is called in Latine Picea and Pytis Descript The Pitch-tree is also of an indifferent bigness and tall stature but not so great as the Pine-tree and alwayes green like the Pine and Firre-trees The Timber is fat and resinous and doth yeeld Rozen of divers sorts The branches be hard and parted into other sprayes most commonly cross-wise upon which grow small green leaves not round about the branches but by every side one right over against another like to little Feathers the fruit is smaller than the fruit of the Pine-tree In burning of this tree there doth issue out Pitch aâ— also there doth out of the Pine-tree Place and Time The Pitch-tree groweth in many places of Greece Italy France and Germany and the fruit hereof is also ripe in September Government and Vertues The leaves bark fruit kernels or Nuts of this Tree are almost of the same Nature Vertues and operations as the leaves bark fruit and kernels of the Pine-tree The Rozen that cometh out of the Pine and Pitch-trees OUt of the Pine and Pitch-trees riseth three sorts of Rozen besides the Pitch and Tar. 1. The one floweth out by force of the heat of the Sun in Summer from the Wood or Tymber where it is broken or cut 2. The other is found both upon and betwixt the bark of the Pine and Pitch-tree and most commonly in such parts thereof as are Cloven or hurt 3. The third kind groweth betwixt the scales of the fruit Names All the kinds of Rozen are called in Latin Resina In French Resine and in Dutch Herst The first kind is call Resina liquida and Resina Pini of this sort is also the Rozen which is Molten with the Sun in Summer and remaineth dry and may be made into powder which some call Resina Arida or dry Rozen The Second kind is called in Latine Resina arida but that which sweateth out of the Pine-tree is called Resina Pinea and that which cometh out of the Pitch-tree Resina Picea The third kind is called Resina Strobilina Government and Vertues All these Rozens are Solar and of an hot and dry temperature and of a cleansing and Scouring nature Rozen doth cleanse and heal new Wounds and there New-wounds fore is a principal ingredient in all Oyntments and Emplaisters that serve for that purpose It softneth hard Swellings and is comfortable to bruised Parts or Members being applied or laid to with Oyls and Oyntments or Plaisters appropriate thereunto Pitch and Tar. Kinds and Names THere be two sorts of Pitch the one moist and that is called liquid Pitch the other is hard and dry they do both run out of the Pine and Pitch-trees and out of certain other Trees as the Cedar Turpentine and Larch-trees by burning of the Wood and Timber of the lame Trees Pitch is called in Latine Pix in Frencâ— Poix in Dutch Peck The liquid Pitch is called in Latine Pix liquida in Brabant Teer and in English Tarr The dry Pitch is called in Latine Pix arida and Pix Navalis in English Ship-Pitch or Stone-Pitch in Dutch Steen-peck Government and Vertues The Pitch and Tar are both Solar hot and dry in the second degree and of subtile parts but the Stone-Pitch is the dryest the liquid Pitch or Tar is the hotter and of more subtile parts Liquid Pitch taken with Hony doth cleanse the Breast is good to be licked in by those that are troubled with shortnes of Breath breast shortness of Breath whose Breast is stuffed with corrupt Matter It mollifyeth and ripeneth all hard Swellings Hard swellings and is good to anoint the Neck against the Squinancy or Swelling of the Throat it is good to be put into mollifying Plaisters Anodynes to take away Pains and Maturatives or ripening Medicines being applied with Barly-meal it softneth the hardness of the Matrix and Fundament Squinancy Matrix fundament Liquid Pitch mingled with sulphur vivum or quick Brimstone represseth fretting Ulcers foul Scabs Vlcers Scabs and Scurff and if that some Salt be put thereunto it is good to be laid upon the Bitings and Stingings of Serpents and Vipers It cureth the rifts and cloven Chaps that happen to the Hands Feet Scurff Venemous Beasts Hands Feet and Fundament Fundament being laid thereto The Stone-Pitch being pounded very small with the fine powder of Frankincense healeth hollow Ulcers and Fistula's Vlcers Fistulas filling them up with Flesh the Stone-Pitch is not so strong as the Liquid Pitch but is better and apter to soder and glew Wounds together as Galen saith Sea-Plantane Kinds and Names THere are several sorts of Herbs referred to the Plantanes the first whereof is called Holostea but more fitter Sea-Plantane or ordinary Sea-Plantane their several Names shall follow in their Descriptions Descript 1. Ordinary Sea-plantane Plantago Marina vulgaris This Sea-plantane hath many narrow long and thick green leaves having here and there a dent or two on the edge pointed at the end among which rise up sundry bare stalks with a small spiked head thereon smaller than Plantane else a like both in blooming and Seed the root is somewhat white thick and long with long fibres thereat abiding many years Descript 2. Spanish Sea-plantane Holosteum Salmanticum This Spanish Sea-plantane also differeth not much from the former greater kind having many narrow hoary leaves lying on the ground but shorter and broader then they are among which rise up divers naked short stalks little more than an hand breadth high furnished from the middle almost to the tops with many whitish green flowers standing more sparsedly in the spiky heads then the former which do afterwards yeeld small Seed in husks like unto plantane-Plantane-Seeds the root is somewhat long and hard with divers Fibres at it There is another sort hereof much lesser than the former the leaves greener and narrower and the heads of Flowers are smaller Descript 3. The greater Sea-plantane with grassy leaves Holosteum angusti-folium majus sive Serpentaria
is good to be given to Children for the worms Liver Spleen Vrine Griping in the Guts Inflamations Stone Wounds Lask Vomiting Worms Sea-spiked Quick Grass Kinds and Names THere are several sorts hereof whose names shall severally follow before their Descriptions Descript 1. Sea-spiked quick grass or dogs grass Gramen caninum geniculatum maritimum spicatum this Sea grass hath divers joynted stalks about a foot high with hard leaves thereon long and like the other quick grass the spiked heads are much shorter and harder than the common kind the root is full of joynts and creepeth under ground like it Descript 2. Sea quick grass Gramen caninum vulgare Canariae simile This other grass is a slenderer lanker and harder grass than the ordinary quick grass and of a blewish green colour and differeth not in any thing else but there are two other differing sorts hereof the one in the roots which at the several joynts as it runneth doth shoot up the like stalks of leaves and spiked tufts and will be sometimes twenty foot in length with many of these tufts of stalks and leaves at them the other in the spikes which will have two rowes or orders in them Descript 3. Sea quick grass with long roots Gramen caninum alterum maritimum longius radicatum this long rooted Sea grass differeth little from the former either in the hard leaves or in the running roots but that they spread more and instead of spiked heads at the tops of the stalks this hath chaffie heads among the leaves Descript 4. Sea-spiked quick grass of Mompelier Gramen caninum maritimum spicatum Monspeliense this French Sea-grass hath slender woody roots with few fibres thereat from whence rise divers trayling stalks a foot or more high with sundry joynts and branches at them and short narrow reed-like leaves at the tops whereof grow spiked heads of three inches long apiece of a darkish Ash-colour Place and Time The three first are found on our Sea-coasts especially in Kent and the fourth about Mompelier and Narbone near the Sea Coasts they are in flower and seed towards the end of Summer Government and Vertues These are under the same Planetary regiment as the ordinary Quick grass of the Land and the roots hereof are held as effectual to all the effects and purposes that the ordinary sort serveth for only this hath been observed that Cattel will not feed on these of the Sea because of their hardness roughness and sharpness Rattle Red and yellow Kinds Names OF this we shall describe two sorts the one called common red Rattle pedicularis pratensis rubra vulgaris the other yellow Rattle or Coxcomb pedicularis sive crista galli lutea it is also called Fistularia of the hollowness of the stalks and Coxcomb because the flowers as some think do stand like a Cocks comb at the tops of the stalks it is also called Rattle grass and Louse-wort Descript 1. Common red Rattle Pedicularis pratensis rubra vulgaris this hath sundry reddish hollow stalks and sometimes green rising from the roots lying for the most part on the ground yet some growing more upright with sundry small reddish or greenish leaves set on both sides of a middle rib finely dented about the edges the flowers stand at the tops of the stalks and branches of a fine purplish red colour like small gaping hoods after which come small blackish flat seeds in small husks which lying loose therein will rattle with shaking the root consisteth of small whitish strings with some fibres thereat Descript 2. Yellow Rattle or Coxcomb Pedicularis sive crista galli lutea The common yellow Rattle hath seldome above one round green stalk rising from the root about half a yard or two foot high and with but few branches thereon having two long and somewhat broad leaves set at a joynt deeply dented or cut in the edges resembling therein the Crests or Combe of a Cock broadest next to the stalk and smaller to the end the flowers grow at the tops of the stalks with some shorter leaves with them being hooded after the same manner that the red ones are but of a fair yellow colour in most or else in some paler and in some more white the seed is contained in large husks and with lying loose in them will rattle when they are ripe the root is small and slender and dyeth every Winter Place and Time Some of both these kinds grow in Meadows and Woods generally througâ— out our Land where they are rather an annoyance than of any good use for Cattel They are in flower from Midsummer till after August sometimes Government and Vertues These Plants are Saturnine of a cold and drying property the red Rattle is good to heal up Fistula's and hollow Ulcers and to stay the flux of humours to them and also the abundance of womens courses Fistula's Vlcers Courses or any other flux of blood to be boyled in harsh or red wine and drunk The yellow Rattle is also held to be good for those that are troubled with a Cough or dimness of Sight Cough Dimness of Sight if the herb being boyled with Beans and some honey put thereto be drunk or dropped into the eyes The whole seed being put into the eyes doth draw forth any skin film or dimness from the sight without trouble or pain Sweet or Aromatical-Reed Kinds and Names THere is one sort called Calamus Aromaticus Mathioli Mathiolus his Aromatical-Reed a second called Calamus Aromaticus Syriacus vel Arabicus suppositivus the supposed true Syrian or Arabian Aromatical-Reed and the third the true Acorus of Dioscorides or sweet smelling Reed called in shops Calamus Aromaticus and likewise Acorus verus sive Calamus officinarum Descript 1. Mathiolus his Aromatical-Reed This groweth with an upright tall stalk set full of joints of certain spaces up to the top not hollow but stuffed full of a white spongeous pith of a gummy taste somewhat bitter and of the bigness of a mans finger and at every one of them a long narrow leaf of a dark green brown colour smelling very sweet differing therein from all other kinds of Reeds on the tops whereof groweth a bushy or Featherlike pannicle like unto those of the common Reed the root is knobby with divers heads thereat whereby it increaseth and shooteth forth new heads of leaves smelling also very sweet having a little binding taste and sharp withal Descript 2. The supposed true Syrian or Arabian Aromatical Reed riseth up from a thick root three or four inches long big at the head and small at the bottom with one and sometimes more stalks two Cubits high being straight round smooth and easie to break into splinters full of joints and about a fingers thickness hollow and spongy within of a whitish yellow colour the stalk is divided into other branches and they again into other smaller ones two usually set together at a joint with two leaves under them likewise very like unto the leaves of
Lysimachia the Willow-herb or Loose-strife but lesser being an inch broad and an inch and an half long compassing the stalk at the bottom with sundry veins running all the length of them from the joints rise long stalks bearing sundry yellow small flowers made of leaves like also unto Lysimachia with a small Pointel in the middle after which follow small blackish long heads or Seed-Vessels pointed at the end and having in them small blackish seed the stalk hath little or no scent yet not unpleasant as Alpinus saith being bitter with a little Acrimony therein but Bauhinus saith it is of an Aromatical tast and very bitter Descript 3. The sweet smelling Reed or Calamus officinarum or Acorus verus hath many flags long and narrow fresh green leaves two foot long a peece or more yet oftentimes somewhat brownish at the bottom the one rising or growing out of the side of the other in the same manner that other flags or flower-De-luces grow which are thin on both sides and ridged or thickest in the middest the longest for the most part standing in the midst and some of them as it were curled or playted towards the ends or tops of them smelling very sweet aswel when they are green and fresh as when they are dried and so kept a long time which do so abide in a Garden a long time as though it never did nor never would bear flower the leaves every year dying down to the ground and shooting out fresh every Spring but after three or four years abiding in a place without removing besides the leaves it shooteth forth not any stalk as other Flower-de-luces do but a narrow long leaf by it self flat like unto the other leaves especially from the middle thereof upwards but from the bottome to the middle it is flat-like at which place cometh forth one long round head very seldom two in form and bigness like unto the Catkin or Aglet of the Hazelnut-tree growing upright and of the length and thickness of ones finger or rather bigger set with several small lines or divisions like unto a green Pine-Apple of a purplish green colour for the most part out of which bunches shoot forth small pale whitish flowers consisting of four small leaves a peece without so good a scent as the leaves falling quickly away and not yeelding any seed The root is thick and long lying under the upper face of the ground shooting forward and with small roots or suckers on all sides like unto the Garden Valerian whitish on the outside or greenish if it lye above the ground and more pale or whitish on the inside with many joints thereabouts and whereat it hath or doth shoot forth long thick fibres underneath whereby it taketh strong hold in the ground of a firm or fast substance yet not hard or wooddy but easie to be cut of a sweet scent and somewhat bitter tast Place and Time The first is said by Mathiolus and others to grow in India Syria and Judea the dry stalks of the second are said to grow at the foot of Mount Libanus in Syria not far from Tripoli in the wet grounds there The third in sundry moist places in Aegypt and by the lake Gennesareth in Judea and in divers places of Syria and Arabia The other Calamus of the shops or true Acorus groweth in many places of Turk y in moist grounds from whence the largest roots the firmest whitest and sweetest are brought unto us it groweth also in Russia and those places thereabouts in great plenty Mr. Morgan hath of it growing in the physick-Garden at Westminster and he himself told me that he was informed by some that they had found it growing in moist grounds in Yorkshire and the Northern parts of England Government and Vertues These Reeds are under the dominion of Venus of a temperate quality The Calamus of Dioscoâ—ides he saith hath these properties it provoketh Urine and boyled with Grass roots and smallage it helpeth those that have the Dropsie Vrine Dropsie it fortifieth the Reins and is good against the Strangury or pissing by drops and is also profitable for those that have the Rupture Reins strangury Rupture or are broken Bellied It provoketh Womens Termes or Courses either drunk or applied to the place the fumes of it taken through a Tobacco-pipe either by it self or with some dryed Turpentine cureth them that have a Cough Termes Cough it is put into bathes for Women to sit in as also in Glisters to ease Pains Pains eased It is used in mollifying Oyles and Plaisters that serve to ripen hard Imposthumes Imposthumes as also for the sweet scent thereof Galen saith it being of a temperature moderate between heat and cold and somewhat Astringent and having a very little Acrimony it is profitably used among other things that help the Liver Liver and Stomack Stomack doth gently provoke Urine and is used with other things in fomentaions for the Mother Mother when it is troubled with inflamations and gently to move the Courses Courses Dioscorides saith that the sweet flag it good to provoke Urine Vrine if the decoction thereof be drunk It helpeth to ease pains in the Sides Sides Liver Liver and Breast Breast as also to ease the Griping pains of the Chollick Chollick and Cramp Cramp and is good against Ruptures It wastes the Spleen Spleen helps the Strangury strangury and Bitings of Venemous Creatures Serpents It is also good in Baths for Women to sit in for distempers of the Womb. Womb The juice dropped into the Eyes Eyes dryeth Rheums Rheums therein and cleareth the sight taking away all filmes Filmes that may hurt them The Root is of much use in all Antidotes against Venome and Poison or infection it is a good remedy against a stinking Breath Stinking Breath to take the Root fasting every Morning for some time together The hot fumes of the decoction made in Water and taken in at the Mouth thorow a funnel are Excellent good to help those that are troubled with a Cough Cough a dram of the powder of the Roots with asmuch Cinnamon taken in a draught of Wormwood Wine is singular good to comfort and strengthen a cold weak Stomack Cold Weak stomack the decoction thereof drunk is good against Convulsions Convulsions or Cramps Cramps and for falls Falls and inward Bruises Bruises an Oxymel or surrup made hereof in this manner is wonderful effectual for all cold Spleens Spleen and cold Livers Liver Take of the Roots of Acorus one pound wash and pick them clean then bruise them and steep them for three days in Vinegar after which time let them be boyled together to the Consumption of the one half of the Vinegar which being strained forth set to the fire again putting thereto as much Hony as is sufficient to make it into a syrrup an ounce
were with blisters in divers places with thorns thereon like a Bryar or wild-Rose the leaves are not many but small like the wild hedge-bryar or rather smaller and turning red in Summer the Roses are single and small of a deep incarnate colour more than the former Descript 4. The Virginia Bryar Rose called in Latine Rosa sylvestris Virginiensis The Virginia Rose hath divers as great stems and branches as any other Rose whose young are green and the elder greyish set with many pricks and a few great thorns among them the leaves are very green and shining small and almost round many set on a middle rib one against another somewhat like unto the single yellow-Rose the flowers stand at the tops of the branches consisting of five small leaves of a pale purple or deep Carnation-colour like unto those of the sweet Bryar Descript 5. The single sweet white Rose called in Latine Rosa Campestris flore albo odora This Rose hath woody stems about three foot high set as thick with sharp thorns as any of the other and hath the like leaves but not so green at the tops of whose branches stand usually but one flower apiece consisting of five white leaves reasonable large and of a sweet smell with divers yellow threads in the middle in their places come such like round and short heads or berries as are in other Roses but are black when they are ripe and not red with white seeds lying in flocks of Down Descript 6. The Vermilion Rose of Austria Rosa sylvestris Austriaca flore phoeniceo The younger branches of this Rose are slender and reddish the elder brownish grey set with divers thorns but not very thick great or sharp the leaves are somewhat sharper than those of the single yellow Rose else not much unlike the flowers are single and as large as those of the yellow-Rose but of an excellent Orange-tawny-colour with an eye of vermilion cast over it and of a paler-yellow on the outside after which the fruit follows Descript 7. The single dwarf red-Rose of Austria Rosa pumila rubra Austriaca This Dwarf-Rose groweth not above half a yard high with slender green stems set with few or no thorns below but having many higher having whitish green leaves upon them like the other roses and greyish underneath five or seven set on a stalk together at the top of the branches come forth very great bearded husks wherein stand large flowers made of five leaves apiece somewhat sweet red at the first but decaying with standing growing much more pale before they fail away with yellow threds in the middle after which come the fruit which are red as the others but greater somewhat more like unto a pease than the others Descript 8. The small Burnet-Rose or Pimpinel-Rose Rosa Pimpinella sive pomifera minor This small Rose seldome riseth above a foot high being of two sorts whereof the one hath but few thorns and the other full of small thorns which is most frequent set with long winged stalks of leaves being many small leaves round and greenish set one against another upon the stalk finely dented about the edges seeming like unto a Burnet leaf for the form and number set together The flowers are single small and white without any scent after which come small round heads black when they are ripe and full of seed as the other Roses Descript 9. Dwarf single white Rose Rosa pumila sylvestris alba This scarce riseth above a foot above ground being set with small thorns and leaves according to the proportion of the Plant and the wildness of the kind the flowers are white and small giving heads and seed like the rest the root creepeth about more than others Descript 10. The single Dwarf-Rose without thorns Rosa simplex pumila sine spina This Dwarf-Rose groweth also very low almost upon the ground with green stalks without any thorn thereon set with small winged leaves the flower is small and of a pale reddish colour and single in some places very sweet and in others little or nothing flowring also in some places both in the Spring and Autumn Place and Time The two first grow in the Hedges of our Land every where almost yet the second not so frequent as the first the third came from Muscovy the fourth from Virginia the fifth from Germany in sundry places the sixth and seventh from Austria the eighth is found in divers places of our own land both in barren Heathy grounds and by Woods and hedges sides the ninth on some of the hills among the Switzers and the last near unto Lyons in France upon Pilates Hill there some of these Roses flower earlier than others some in May and others not until June Government and Vertues The Roses are certainly all under the dominion of Venus I shall first set down the properties of the manured-Roses Both the white and the red are of a cooling binding quality yet the white is taken to exceed the red in both these qualities but is seldom used in any inward medicine The red hath a watry substance and a warm joyned with the other Qualities The yellow threads in the middle do binde and dry more then the Rose it self The Juice of the Roses when they are fresh purgeth Choler and watry Humours Choler watry humors but being dryed they have a stopping and astringent quality The decoction of the red-Rose in wine is very good for the Headach and pains in the Ears Eyes Throat and Gums The Fundament also the lower-bowels and the Matrix being bathed or put into them The same decoction with the Roses remaining therein is profitably applyed to the Region of the Heart to ease the inflamations therein as also St. Anthonies fire and all other diseases of the Stomack and being dryed and beaten to powder and taken in steeled wine or water they stay womens Courses Headach pains in the Ears Eyes Throat Gums Fundament Lower-Bowels and Matrix Inflamation of the Heart St. Anthonies fire stomack Womens Courses Eyes and are good for the eyes being mixed with other medicines for that purpose The yellow threads in the middle of the red Roses being powdered and drunk in the distilled water of Quinces stayeth the abundant flux of womens Courses and helps the defluxions of Rheume upon the Gums and Teeth Womens Courses Rheums Gums and Teeth-loose and preserveth them from corruption and fastneth them if they be loose if they be washed and garbled therewith and some Vinegar of squils added thereto the heads with seed being used in powder or in a decoction stayeth the Laske and the spitting of Blood Red Roses do strengthen the heart the stomack and the Liver and the retentive faculties and mitigate pains that arise of heat asswage Inflamations procure sleep and rest stay womens Courses Gonorrhaea and the fluxes of the belly The husks of the Roses with the beards and the nailes of the Roses are binding and cooling and the distilled water of
and long as the great Night-shade leaves but some deeplier dented than others almost torn especially at the lower end of the leaf next the stalk each standing on a long footstalk The stalk riseth from among the leaves being streight thick fat strong and round two or three foot high from whence shoot forth on all sides if it be in warm fat ground divers stalks of leaves like unto the other or in a barren ground its bare without branches two for the most part set at a joynt and at each joynt of the stalk up to the top cometh forth one flower of a whitish colour which is somewhat long like unto a Bell-flower made of one leaf without division at the edges having a few long threads at the bottom not rising so high that they may be seen without opening the flower after the flowers are past there come up in their steads small long hard Cods having three or four or five Ribs or Crests which do open themselves into many parts having in each part small whitish yellow flat seeds lying therein the root is somewhat great and long with many strings and fibres at it taking fast hold in the ground both leaves stalks and seeds are very bitter while they are green but being dryed they become more pleasant The seed is more oyly than Linseed from whence is pressed forth a whitish oyl very sweet while it is fresh and will not in a long time decay or grow stronger Place and Time It groweth naturally in the Indies and other Eastern Countreys It flowreth in July and the seed is ripe about the end of September Government and Vertues This is an herb of Mars both seed and oyl are of temperature hot and moist near in the second degree and are of a mollifying and dissolving quality The green leaves are fit for fomentations to be used for the eyes to repress inflamations and pains thereof the seeds may be taken inwardly in decoctions or otherwise or used in a glister looseneth the belly the oyl is often used for the same purposes It sticketh in the teeth when it is eaten thereby causing a stinking breath It is said that the Egyptians use the Decoction of the seed for the Cough shortness of breath Eyes inflamed Bellly Cholick Cough Shortness of breath Plurisie and hard swellings of the Liver Mesue saith it lenifieth the roughness or hoarsness of the throat and voice Plurisie Liver Throat Voice and making it clear and free of pain It easeth pains of the head proceeding from the heat of the Sun The decoction of both herb and seeds with some honey is good for women to sit over whose wombs are hard or swollen Womb Hard Courses to bring down Scurf Dandrif Scabs and to bring down their courses and to wash their heads who are troubled with scurf dandrif or dry scabs the herb or seed doth stay vomiting Vomiting taken in an egge the oyl is effectual to anoint the face or any other part of the body to cleanse the skin and to take away Sun-burning Morphew Freckles Sun-burning Sinews shrunk Freckles Morphew Spots or skars or any other deformities of the skin it helps sinews that are shrunk and is good to anoynt any part scalded or burnt The true Sycomore-tree Names Descript Kinds THere are two sorts of this tree the one bearing fruit out of the Body and greater Arms of the tree only the other upon stalks without leaves The first is called in Latine Sycomorus and Ficus Egyptia the Egyptian Fig-tree and is the true Sycomore tree those trees which are vulgarly called Sycamores in England are a kind of Maples Descript 1. This Sycamore groweth to be a very great tree bigger than the Mulberry tree with great Arms and Branches full of round and somewhat long leaves pointed at the ends and dented about the edges very like the leaves of the Mulberry tree but harder and rougher like Fig-leaves this beareth small Figs or fruit and no flower differing in that from all other trees for it putteth forth the fruit out of the very body or trunk of the tree only and the elder branches next to the body and no where else And are very like unto white or wild Figs and of the same bigness but much sweeter and without any kernels therein The whole tree and every part aboundeth with milk if the bark be but gently wounded but if it be cut too deep it yieldeth no milk at all which maketh it to bear three or four times a year new rising out of the places where the old grew The root is solid hard and black and will abide fresh long after it is felled Descript 2. The other Sycamore is called Sycomorus altera ceu Ficus Cypria the Sycamore of Cyprus This groweth to be as big as a Plum-tree or white Poplar-tree the Arms and Branches bearing broad and somewhat round leaves like unto the Elm but very like unto the former This beareth such like fruit as Figs but smaller which rise both from the body and the greater Arms but not as the former but on certain stalks in branches which rise by themselves without any leaves with them and are as sweet as Figs and bear four times every year but not unless they be slit that the milk in them may come forth Place and Time The first chiefly in Egypt Syria and Arabia and other places adjacent The other in Cyprus Caria Rhodes and the neighbouring parts their time you may know by their Descriptions Government and Vertues These are under the particular Influence of Venus The fruit maketh the belly soluble but by its overmuch moisture it troubles the Stomach and giveth but little nourishment The milk that is taken from the tree by gently piercing the bark and afterwards dryed and made into Trochiss and kept in an earthen pot hath a property to dissolve Tumors and soften them and to soder and close together the lips of green wounds Belly soluble Tumors mollified Green wounds The fruit it self being applyed as a plaister worketh the same effect The said dryed milk is good against venemous creatures and the Plague Venemous Creatures Plague Pains in the head Ears Spleen and easeth the pains of the head and Ears and is good to be drunk by those persons that are Splenetick Spikenard Descript Names IT is a Root called Spike because it shooteth up hairy stalks of hairy-like Spikes many set together of a brownish colour the root doth somewhat resemble that of the French Nardus but of a paler blackish colour and without any scent Place It s natural growth is in the East-Indies Government and Vertues It 's Venu's Plant the properties are these It is of a gentle heating drying quality provokes Urine Vrine Fluxes Reds Whites Loathing meat stayeth Fluxes and both the reds and whites in women it takes away the loathing to meat and the gnawing in the stomach Gnawing of the stomach Swellings Stone Kings-Evil helps swellings the Stone in the
the back and Reins and stayeth the running of the Reins wiâ—h a little powder of Rubarb put thereto it provoketh Urine and helpeth to expel both stone and gravel it ripeneth Impostumes and helpeth to expel them and mightily dissolveth winde in the pains of the Chollick stomack or sides and is good also against the Gout Sciatica and all pains in the joints aswell to take it inwardly with Chamepitis Sage and Stoechas as to be made into a Cerecloth and applyed thereto It is a special ingredient in those Balsoms that are to heal any green wounds and is effectual in all wounds and fractures of the head all punctures in the head and sinews and all breakings out in the skin be it Itch or Scab Piles Pushes or wheals it draweth forth Splinters Piles Pushes Thorns Lips Hands Fundament thorns or the like out of the flesh and healeth the chaps of the lips hands fundament or other parts It is put into all salves oyls oyntments or plaisters that serve to cleanse Ulcers to draw or heal any sores and to warm and comfort any cold and weak parts the Chymical oyl of this Turpentine is very effectual in many of these diseases if it be carefully applyed it being of very subtil parts and therefore inwardly or outwardly it must be used as it were by drops Descript The Turmerick brought unto us is an Indian Root In which Countreys it springeth up and beareth larger and thinner leaves than Millet of a paler green colour a stalk full of leaves compassing one another to the top The Root is slender and yellow near unto the form of Ginger Government and Vertues It is a Plant of Mars and is of great use in the yellow Jaundise Jaundise Old diseases Dropsie either the powder or the decoction being taken for it doth open obstructions of the gall and other parts It is of very good use in old and inveterate griefs and sicknesses and the evil disposition of the body called Cachexia and is very profitable against the dropsie Turn-Sole Kinds and Names OF Turn-Sole there are several kinds whose names shall follow with their Descriptions Descript 1. The greater Turnsole called in Latine Heliotropium maius This riseth up with one upright stalk about a foot or more high dividing it self almost from the bottom into divers smaller branches of a hoary colour At each joynt of the stalk and branches grow two small broad leaves somewhat like unto those of Calamint or Basil somewhat white or hoary also at the tops of the stalks and branches stand in any small white flowers consisting of four and sometimes of five very small leaves set in order one above another upon a small very crooked spike which turneth inwards like a bowed finger opening by degrees as the flowers blow open after which in their places come small cornered seed four for the most part standing together the root is small and threddy perishing every year and the seed shedding it self riseth again the next spring Descript 2. The greater creeping Turnsole is in a manner but the same with the fomer greater Turnsole because it is in most things so like it yet differeth in these particulars That it hath more and slenderer stalks not standing upright as the other doth but leaning down to the ground the stalks and leaves are lesser but hoary in like manner the flowers are white and stand in crooked spiky heads bowing like a Scorpions tail as the other but the seed being smaller standing singly or but two together the roots are small and perish in like manner Descript 3. The smaller Turnsole Heliotropium minus this smaller Turnsole groweth very low lying almost with his slender weak branches upon the ground having thereon many small leaves like the other in form but three times less in substance neither stalks nor leaves white nor hairry but of a dark green colour the flowers are much smaller and yellowish not growing in long crooked or bowing heads like the former nor at the tops of the branches but standing at the joynts upon very small stalks some above the leaves and others under them which afterwards turn into small round heads or buttons like unto warts wherein is such like seed as the last but smaller and rounder Descript 4. The Colouring or dying Turnsole Heliotropium triconum This dying Turnsole that beareth berryes three alwayes set together riseth up with an upright stalk branching it self diversly to the height of half a yard or there-abouts whereon grow broader and softer leaves than on any of the former like unto those of the sleepy night-shade and whitish withall set without order at the joynts up to the tops yet lesser above than below at the ends of the branches come forth small mossy yellowish flowers which quickly perish and fall away without giving any seed herein like unto the Ricinus or Palma Christi called the great Spurge for in the same manner also at the joynts with the leaves come forth the fruit or berries standing three for the most part alwayes joyned together upon short footstalks which are of a blackish green colour and rough or rugged on the outside wherein is contained ash-coloured seed which if the heads be suffered to grow over-ripe and be dryed with the Sun will fall out of themselves upon the ground and spring again in their natural places the next year thereby renewing it self for the root is small and perisheth after it hath born seed But these berries when they are at their full maturity have within them that is between the outer skin and the inward kernel or seed a certain juice or moisture which being rubbed upon a paper or cloath at the first appeareth of a fresh and lively green colour but presently changeth into a kind of blewish purple upon the cloath or paper and the same cloath afterwards wet in water and wrung forth will colour the water into a Claret-wine colour And these are those rags of cloath called Turnsole in the Druggists and Grocers shops and with all other people and serveth to colour Jellies or other things Place and Time These doe grow in Italy France and Spain in divers places The two first are planted in gardens here with us and doe flower and seed well every year but the other two will scarce grow to shew any seed in our cold Climate Government and Vertues These are Solar Plants to whom they yield obedience the head of the flowers always facing the Sun a good handfull of the greater Turnsole boyled in water and drunk purgeth both Choler and phlegm and being boyled in wine it is good against the stinging of Scorpions Choller Phlegm Scorpions Stone Reins Kidneys Bladder Vrine Womens Courses Easie birth Worms Gout Joynts pained Warts Wens Kernels Excrescencies Face Eye-lids to be aswel drunk as layd upon the place that is stung The same also boyled with Cummin and drunk helpeth them that are troubled with the Stone in the Reins Kidneys or Bladder provoketh Urine and Womens Courses
something like those of our Ivy but longer and sharper at the point the flowers are white and the fruit are red berries when they be ripe clustering like Grapes the root is of a thick hard substance Place It groweth in the West-Indies as in Peru and Virginia delighting in places that incline to moisture and in low and shadowy Valleys and is sometimes found in the Gardens of curious herbarists Time In its natural Country it flowers in Spring and Autumn Government and Virtues It is hot and dry of temperature but of subtile and thin parts under the influence of Mars to which plant he flies for cure after he hath been too much inflamed in his fiery assaults with Venus the decoction of this plant is excellent for the French-pox Pox Rhumes Gouts Stomach Catharrs Kings-Evill Spleen and is good in Rhumes Gouts and cold diseases of the head and stomach and expelleth Wind from the Stomach and Mother it helpeth also Catharrs and salt distillations from the Head it is good in Tumors and the Kings-Evill A dram of the powder with the like quantity of Tamarisk being taken in Ale or Wine mollifies Tumors and hardness of the Spleen It is so great an Antidote against Poyson that it doth not serve only for Venome received before hand but also against all poyson after that one hath taken hereof so that whosoever taketh thereof daily no Venome can hurt him it is also reported of this plant that if the juice thereof be given to a child newly born no Poyson shall ever after hurt him Bombace-tree Name IT is also called the Cotton-Tree Descript This plant is but a shrub or low-tree which groweth not very high the leaves be broad with deep cuts or slits somewhat like Vine leaves but smaller the flowers be yellow and somwhat purple in the middle jagged about the edges the fruit is almost like unto Filberds broad and flat and full of fair white Cotton or Bombace in which the seed lyeth hidden Place The Bombace or Cotton-tree groweth in Egypt Candy Maltha and the Indies it is now very plentifully planted in the Island of Barbadoes Government and Vertues This plant is under the dominion of Venus the seed whereof is of temperature moderatly hot and moist and is very good against a Cough and all cold diseases of the breast It augmenteth natural strength increasing the seed of Generation and exciteth and stirreth up the desire to Venus sports Box-tree Names IT hath been also called Palm-tree because on Palm-sunday people use to dresse up Churches and their houses therwith Descript It is so well known a description is needlesse Place It delighteth in hilly Grounds as Boxwood in Surry can testifie they usually plant it to make knots in Gardens Time It is planted in the beginning of November it floureth in February and March and the seed is ripe in September or thereabouts Government and Vertues It is a Saturnine plant the leaves are hot and dry and astringent It is not useful in any medicine but rather hurtful for box taken into the body doth not only hurt the head and brain but the very smell thereof is hurtfull unto the brain and causeth Head-ach Some writers do affirm that the lye wherein boxen leaves have been steeped make the hair yellow if the head be often washed therewith Prickly-Box Names IT is called also Box-thorn Asses-box and Thorn-box Descript It is a tree not much unlike the other Box the leaves be thick and somewhat round like boxen leaves and amongst them grow sharp prickles the flowers grow amongst the leaves and after them there cometh a black round seed as big as a pepper corn the roots are woodish and spread much abroad Of the small branches and roots of this tree steeped in water and boyled or of the pressing forth of the juice of the seed they make Licium which formerly was in much use with Physitians Place The prickly Box-tree groweth in Capadocia Lybia and in some parts of Italy and Slavonia Government and Vertues Mercury governs it the dryed Licium is of subtil parts and astringent it helpeth those who have the Lask and Bloudy-flux Lask Bloudy-flux Spitting-bloud Cough Vlcers Gums Lipps Eyes as also those that spit Bloud or have a Cough It stoppeth the inordinat course of the flowers either taken inwardly or applyed outwardly it is good against corrupt Ulcers and running Scabs running of the Eares inflamation of the Gums and against chops of the lips and fundament being applied thereto It cleereth the sight and cureth scurvy festred sores of the eye lids and corners of the Eyes Comin Name IT hath no other names there are two kinds hereof Garden Comin and wild Comin Descript The Garden Comin hath a straight stem with divers branches the leaves be jagged not much unlike Fennel the flowers grow in rundells or spiky tops like Annise Fennel or Dill the seed is brown and long The wild Comin hath a brittle stalk of a span long upon which grow four or five leaves all jagged or snipt or dented round about Place The Garden Comin groweth in Ethiopia Aegypt Galatia lesser Asia and Cicily from whence the seed is brought to us Government and Vertues The seed is hot and dry in the third degree and solar Comin scattereth and breaketh windiness of the Stomack Bowels and Matrix it is singular against Gripings Griping of the Guts and frettings of the Bowells either to be received at the Mouth administred in Clisters or outwardly applied pultis-wise with barly-meal The same eaten or drunken is very good for the Cough Cough Colds Cold stoppings in the Breast and if it be drunk in Wine it is good for those that are hurt with any Venemous beast it asswageth swellings of the Cods and Stones Cods swelled being applied pultis wise The same mingled with Yuray meal and pulpe of raisins and applied to the Belly stops the inordinate flux of Womens courses Flowers Comin-seed pounded and given to smell to with Vinegar stops bleeding at Nose Bleeding at Nose Capers Names NAmes it hath none but Capers or Cappers Descript It is a prickly plant or bush almost like the bramble with many branches spread abroad and stretched along the ground upon which do grow hard sharp and crooked prickles with blackish round leaves standing one against another not much unlike the leaves of Assarabacca or the leaves of a Quince-tree but much rounder amongst the leaves spring up small knops or buds which do open into fair starlike flowers of a pleasant smell after which cometh the fruit which is long and round and hath in it small corns or kernells the root is long and woodish covered with a thick bark or rind very useful in Physick Place Capers grow in rough untilled places in stony sandy ground and by hedges sides in Spain and Italy and other hot Countries the fruit and flowers are brought unto us from Spain preserved in pickle Government and Virtues Capers are plants of Mars
yellow in the middle There is another kind that is yellow in the middle and bears many more flowers which are smaller than those before described Place The first two kinds grow plentifully in divers places of France as Burgundy and Languedoc in Meadows and pastures but in this Country they grow only in Gardens where they are planted Time They flower most of them in March and April and some kinds flower not untill the beginning of May. Temperature and Vertues Venus challengeth the dominion over these plants for her own and gave them their name from her darling Narcissus the root hereof is hot and dry in the third degree the which root being boyled or rosted or taken in meat drink provoketh the stomack to Vomiting Vomiting burnings the same pounded with a little honey is good to be applied to burnings and scaldings Scaldings and cureth Sinews Sinews-strains that are hurt or sprain'd and is good to help dislocations or Members out of joint Joinst Pains being applied thereunto it also giveth ease in all old griefs and pains of the joints the roots of Narcissus taketh away all spots Spots Face of the Face being mingled with Nettle-seed and Vinegar and applied it mundifieth and cleanseth corrupt and rotten Ulcers Vlcers and ripeneth and breaketh hard Impostumes if it be mixed with the meal of Vetches honey applied pultis-wise to the part greived and being mixed with the meal of Yuray and honey it draweth forth thorns and splinters being applied thereunto Yellow Daffodil Names THis kind of Daffodill is also called Lide-lilly because it flowereth in March which Moneth in some Countries is called Lide and they are also called Daffa-down-dillies Descript It hath long narrow green leaves the stalks be round upon which grow pleasant yellow-flowers to see to but somewhat unpleasant to the smell after which come round knops or husks like little heads wherein the seed is contained it hath abundance of roots which grow thick together and increase by new sprigs and blades whereby it spreadeth and increaseth it self under ground so that of one plant you may soon have a great increase Place It groweth not naturally in this Country but in Gardens where it is planted Time Daffodills flower in March and April Government and Vertues Yellow-Daffodil is under the dominion of Mars the roots hereof are hot and dry almost in the third degree The root boyled in posset drink and drunk causeth Vomiting Vomiting and is used with good successe in the beginnings of Agues Agues Imposthumes especially Tertians which frequently rage in the spring-time a plaister made of the roots with parched Barley-meal and applied to swellings and Imposthumes do dissolve them the juice mingled with hony Frankincense Wine and Myrrhe and dropped into the Eares Eares is good against the corrupt filth and running matter of the Eares the roots made hollow and boyled in oyl doth help raw Kib'd heels Kibed-heels the juice of the root is good for the Morphew Morphew and discolourings of the skin Date-tree Names THis is also called Palm-tree and the fruit Dates or fruit of the Palm-sree Descript This plant groweth to be a great tree with a straight thick trunk cover'd with a scaly bark at the top thereof grow many long branches with great plenty and store of long straight narrow leaves or twigs like reeds so that the branches seem to be no other thing but a bundle or sort of reed leaves growing thick together upon one branch amongst those branches groweth the fruit clustering together at the first and wrapped in a certain long and broad covering like to a pillow which afterwards openeth and sheweth the fruit standing along by certain small sprigs growing out of a flat yellow branch the fruit is round and long containing within it a long and hard stone there is the Male Palm-tree and the Female the Male tree bringeth forth flowers onely which vanish away and the Female beareth the fruit and bringeth it unto perfection and ripeness Place The Date-tree groweth in Africa Arabia India Syria Judaea and other of those Eastern-countries Time The Date or Palm-tree continueth alwaies green and floureth in the spring-time and the fruit in hot Countries is ripe in Autumn Government and Virtues The branches and leaves are cold and astringent the fruit is hot and dry almost in the second degree but somewhat astringent especially before it is throughly ripe Mars governs them Dates are hard of digestion and cause oppilations in the Liver and Spleen they ingender Windiness Headach and gross blood being eaten green and fresh but being through-ripe they are not so hurtful but nourish indifferently being well digested in a good Stomack Dry Dates stop Looseness Looseness Vomiting and stay Vomiting and Wambling Wambling in the Stomack especially of Women with Child if they be eaten or mingled with other proper medicines and applied plaister-wise to the Stomack and being administred inwardly or applied outwardly with medicines convenient they strengthen the weakness of the Liver Liver Spleenn and Spleen The leaves and branches of the Date-tree do heal Green-Wounds Green-Wounds and soder and close them up and refresh and cool hot inflamations There is a direction in the plaister Diacalcitheos that it be stirred with a stick of the Palm-tree that it might be of the more vertue and efficacy from whence also the same plaister is called Diapalma you may see the composition of the plaister in Galens first book de medicamentis secundum genera Dictamnum of Candy Kinds and Names DIoscorides maketh mention of three kinds hereof the first whereof is the right Dictamnum onely the second is the bastard Dictamnum the third is another kind bearing both flowers and seed it is called also Dittany of Crete and in shops Diptamum Descript The first kind which is the right Dictamnum as saith Dioscorides is a hot and sharp plant much like unto Penny-royal but having greater leaves somewhat hoary or mossey with a certain fine down or woolly white Cotton at the top of the stalks or branches grow certain small spikey tufts hanging by little small stems greater and thicker than the eares or spikey tufts of wild Marjoram and are somewhat of a red colour in which there grow little flowers 2. The second kind called Bastard Dictamnum is much like unto the first saving that it doth not hurt nor bite the tongue neither is it hot It hath round soft woolly stalks with knots and joints at every of which joints there stand two leaves somewhat round soft and woolly not much unlike the leaves of Penny-royal but that they are greater all hoary and white soft and woolly like to the first leaves of white Mullein or Tapsus Barbatus without any scent but bitter in tast the flowers be of a light blew compassing the stalk by certain spaces like to garlands and like the flowers of Penny-royal and Hore-hound the root is of a wooddy substance 3. The
Austria and in some dark Woods in Italy some curious Herbarists plant it in their Gardens Time The seed hereof is ripe in September Government and Vertues Double-tongue or tongue blade is good to asswage pain as Galen saith the Laurel of Alexandria is hot and dry of temperature Double-tongue is an herb of Venus the leaves-and roots thereof are much commended against Swellings Swellings of the Throat Throat Vvula the Vvula and kernels under the tongue and against Ulcers and Sores of the same being taken in a Gargarism Marcellus saith that in Italy they use to hang this herb about childrens necks that are sick in the Vvula Vrine Terms and Dioscorides writeth that if it be worn upon the bare Head it is good for the Head-ach Headach Mother this herb is good for diseases of the Mother and a spoonful of the leaves of Double-tongue given causeth the strangled Matrix to descend down to its natural place The root of Laurel of Alexandria boyled in Wine and drunken helpeth the Strangury Strangury provoketh Urine Vrine and Womens natural sickness procures Easie-delivery Easy-delivery expelleth the Secondine and all corruption of the Matrix Garden Dragons Dragon-wort and Water Dragons Kinds and Names THere be three kinds the first is called the great Dragon Dracunculus Major of some Serpentaria and Colubrina in shops Serpentaria Major The second kind is called Dracunculus Minor in Latine the lesser Dragon and of some Aron maculatum in English small Dragon-wort and speckled Aron The third kind is called in Latine Dracunculus palustris sine aquatilis in English Water-Dragon or Marsh-Dragon in low dutch Water-Draken-wortel Descript The first kind called the great Dragon or Serpentary beareth an upright stalk of a cubit long or more thick round-smooth and speckled with divers colours and spots like to an Adder or Snakes skin the leavs be great and large compact or made of six seaven or more leaves whereof each single leaf is long and like to a sorrel or Dock-leaf and are very smooth and plain at the top of the stalk groweth a long hose or husk like to the hose or Cod of Cuckow-pintle or Wake-robin of a greenish colour without and of a dark red or purple colour within and so is the clapper or pestle that groweth up within the said husk which is long and thick and shart-pointed peeked like to a horn whose fruit by increase waxeth so as it stretcheth and at length breaketh out of a certain skin or Film and appeareth like to a bunch or cluster of Grapes which at the first are green but afterwards become very red these berries or Grapes are full of juice or liquor in which is a certain small hard seed the root of this Dragon is lasting thick and white and groweth like to a Bulbous Onion covered with a thin skin and of the quantity of a middle-siz'd apple and bearded with divers little white hairs or strings and oftentimes there is joyning to it other small roots which spring out of it whereby it is multiplied 2. The smaller Dragon in his leaves husk or Cod pestil or clapper berry and Grape is like unto Aron or Cuckow-pintle saving that his leaves are not marked with black but with white spots neither do they perish so soon as Cuckow-pintle but they grow together with their berries until Winter Their berries also are not fully so red but of a certain yellowish red the root is not much unlike the root of Aron white and round like an Onion and hath certain hairy threds hanging by it with some small roots or buds of new plants 3. Water-Dragon hath not a round Bulbous root like the other Dragons but it is a long creeping root full of joints and of a good thickness out of which joints springeth up the stalks of the leaves which are smooth without and spongy within but downwards towards the ground the said roots send out of their said joints certain small hairy or threddy roots the fruit groweth alone upon a short stem and cometh forth with one of the leaves compassed about with white small thrommes or threds at the first which is the blowing and afterward it groweth forth into a cluster which is green at first and waxeth red when it is ripe smaller then Grapes or cluster of Cuckow-pintle berries but as sharp or biting the leaves be large green fine smooth fashioned like Ivy leaves yet smaller than the leaves of Cuckow-pintle but that leaf wherein the cluster of berries groweth is smallest of all and on the upper part or side next the fruit it is white Place The first or great Dragon-wort groweth in shadowy places in this Country it is planted in Gardens 2. The second kind or lesser Dragon-wort delighteth also in shadowy places it groweth not in England but it is found plentifully in the Islands called Majorca and Minorca 3. The third kind groweth in moist watry places in the brinks of ditches and also in floating waters and also along the running streams and Rivers Time They flower in July and the fruit is ripe in August Government and Virtues All these herbs are under the dominion of Mars and are all especially their roots and fruits hot and dry in the third degree The roots of these plants either boyled or rosted and mingled with honey Short-Breath and taken as a Lohoc is good for them that cannot fetch their breath for those who are troubled with dangerous Coughs Coughs Catharrs and Catharrs that is the distillation and falling down of humors from the Brain to the Breast and against Convulsions Convulsions or Cramps Cramps they divide ripen and consume all grosse and tough humors and scoure off and cleanse the inward parts They have the like power when they are three or four times boyled untill they have lost their Acrimony or sharpness to be afterwards eaten with meats as Galen saith The roots dried and mingled with hony scoureth malignant fretting Ulcers Vlcers Spots that are hard to cure especially if it he mingled with the root of Briony and it taketh away all white Spots and Scurviness from any part of the body that is rubbed therewith the juice of the root putteth away all Webbs Manginess Web and Spots from the Eyes and it is good to be put into Collyries and medicines made for the Eyes the same dropped into the Eares with Oyl taketh away the pain Eyes Pained-Eares and grief of the same The fruit or berries of Dragons cureth virulent and malignant Malignant Ulcers Vlcers Polypus and consumeth and eateth away the superfluous flesh called Polypus which groweth in the nose and it is good to be laid unto Cankers Cankers and such fretting and consuming Ulcers Some write as Pliny amongst the rest of his Romantick fancies that those who carry about them the leaves or roots of great Dragon-worts cannot be bitten or hurt of Vipers or Serpents Dunch-down Names IT is called Dunch-down
boyled doth quicken and clear the sight if it be often dropped into the Eyes the seed used in glisters asswageth the griping pains of the Belly and of the Matrix or Mother and cureth the Wounds of the Bowels and Matrix Linseed mingled with hony and taken as an electuary oâ— lohoch cleanseth the Breast and appeaseth the Cough and taken with Raisins is good for such as are fallen into Consumption or Hecktick-feavers The seed of Lin taken into the body alone or in too great quantity is bad for the Stomack ingenders much Wind and hinders digestion of meats Flea-bane Names IT is called in Latine Psyllium by which name it is known in shops it is also Herba pulicaris and in English Fleabane and Flea-wort Descript Fleabane hath long narrow hairy leaves amongst which spring up round and tender branches set full of like leaves but smaller and garnished at the top with little long round spiked knops like Eares with greenish flowers or blossoms which do afterwards change into brown or shining seeds in proportion colour and quantity like unto Flea's Place Dioscorides saith It groweth in fields and desart places In this Country it groweth not but in some Gardens where it is sown and where it is once sown it groweth continually afterwards of its own sowing or shedding of seed Time It floureth and seedeth in July and August Government and Vertues Flea-wort is a Saturnine plant the seed therof which is chiefly used in medicine is cold in the second degree and temperate in moisture and dryness as Galen and Serapio write The seed of Fleabane steeped in water and boyled and the decoction thereof being drunken purgeth downwards addust and Cholerick humors It asswageth pain and stacketh the inflamation and heat of the entrails or Bowels and is good against hot Feavers or burning Agues Choler inflamed Bowels Fevers Agues and in all inward heats and against Drought and Thirst The same seed grossely bruised but not broken being parched at the fire is good against the Bloudy-Flux Bloudy Flux vehement Lask especially when they proceed of taking strong and violent medicines the Fleabane-seed mingled with oyle of Roses and Vinegar or water is good to be applied unto hot griefs of the joints Aposthumes or swelling behind the Ears and other hot Swellings Hot pains Ears Swellings Also it is good against the Head-ach Head-ach the same applied pultis-wise with Vinegar is good against the going out of the Navel and the bursting Navel bursting of young Children The water wherein the seed hath been steeped is good to be laid on the burning heat called St. Anthonies-fire St. Anthonies fire and to all hot Swellings Some are of opinion that if this plant when in it is green be strowed in any House it driveth away Fleas so that they will not come near it Too much of Fleabane-seed taken inwardly is very hurtful to the body and ingendereth coldness and stiffness dulness of the Spirits and heaviness of the heart If any one find himself distempered by taking of it a speedy remedy is to provoke Vomiting and afterwards drink of the best old Wine that can be gotten either by it self or boyled in Wormwood or Wine mingled with a little hony Firre-tree Names THis Tree is called in Latine Abies and the Dutch call it Mastboom because of the usefulness of the Timber in serving to make Masts for Ships the liquid or clear Rozen that runneth out of the bark of the young trees is called Terebinthina Veneta and in English Venice Turpentine Descript The Firre-tree is great high and long and continueth always green it groweth much higher than the Pine and Pitch-trees The stem is very even and straight plain beneath and without joints but upwards it groweth with joints and knops upon which joints grow the branches bearing leaves almost like Ewe but smaller longer and sharper at the points or ends of a blewish green colour the fruit is like to the Pine-apple but smaller and narrower not hanging down as the Pine-apples do but growing straight upward from out of the bark of the young Firre-tree is gathered a fair liquid Rozen clear and shining which in tast is bitter and Aromatical in tast almost like to Citron pills or Lemon pills condited There is also found upon this tree a Rozen or white Gum like as there is found upon the Pine and Pitch-trees which is sold for the right Frankincense and so is vulgarly esteemed Place The Firre-tree groweth upon high Mountains in Greece Italy Spain and France But in divers places of Germany and most in Norway from whence the Timber thereof is plentifully brought hither and is very serviceable in building Government and Vertues The Firre-tree is under the rule of Mars The bark and dry Gum or Rozen of this Tree are in temperature and vertues like the bark and Rozen of the Pine-tree but these of the Firre-tree are of a more Acrimonious and cleansing quality The liquid or clear Rozen is hot and dry in the second degree having a sharpe quality and is of a digestive or cleansing nature the liquid Rozen of the Firre-tree taken about the waight of half an ounce looseth the Belly driveth forth hot and Cholerick humors it doth cleanse and mundifie the Kidneys Choler Kidneys and Bladder provoketh Urine Bladder Vrine driveth forth the Stone and Gravel Stone Gravel and is good to be taken oftentimes of such as are troubled with the Gout the same taken with Nutmeg and Sugar to the quantity of a Nut helpeth the Strangury Gout strangury and is very good against excoriations or going off of the skin or Flux of the Secret parts Secret parts It is also very excellent for all fresh and green Wounds especially Wounds of the Head Wounds Head for it cleanseth and healeth very much Galangall Names IT is called in Latine Cyperus Descript This plant hath long hard and narrow leaves the stalk is triangled about a foot and an half long at the top whereof grow little leaves among which are spiky tops and white seed the root is long interlaced one within another having many threds of a brown colour and sweet savor Place Galangall as Dioscorides writeth groweth in low and moist grounds but is not common in this Country but as it is planted in some Gardens Time This herb bringeth forth his spikey top and seed with leaves in June and July Government and Vertues It is a plant of Mars the root is hot and dry in the thrid degree The roots of Galangal boyled and the decoction drunk provoketh Urine Vrine bringeth down Womens Flowers driveth forth the Stone Stone and is good for those who are troubled with the Dropsie Terms the same is also good against the Cough Cough the stingings of Scorpions Scorpions and bitings of Venemous beasts being taken after the same manner It is also good against the hardness of the Mother Mother remedieth Stoppings and
many growing close together each hanging on a long foot-stalk by it self with a notch or clift at the head or end thereof The wood hereof is harder more knotty and yellower then the Female Descript 2. Tilia foemina major The greater Female Line-tree groweth to be a larger tree then the former especially if it happen to be planted in good ground covered with a dark coloured bark the next thereunto being very pliable to bend and bind having some other thin rindes within it the leaves are fair broad greener smoother gentler rounder than Elm-leaves and with a longer end dented about the edges and of a reasonable good scent at the end of the branches oftentimes and at the foot of the leaves shoot forth long and narrow whitish leaves along the middle rib whereof springeth out a slender long stalk with divers white flowers thereon smelling very sweet after which follow small berries wherein is contained black round seed the wood is whitish smooth and light Descript 3. Tilia foemina minor The lesser Linden-tree is like the last in all things saving that it groweth smaller in body leaves and flowers the leaves are of a darker green colour and beareth no fruit after the flowers Place and Time The greater Female-kind is planted in many places in this land in pleasant Walks it making a large sweet shadow and usually flowreth in May. The other are great strangers and scarce to be seen any where in this land Government and Vertues There is no medicinal use made of the Male Linden The Female is under the dominion of Venus of a moderate temperature and somewhat drying and astringent the decoction of the leaves being sod in water is a pood Lotion to wash the sore Mouthes Sore mouths of young Children or any sore Mouths that have Ulcers blisters Vlcers blisters or Cankers in them The leaves being pounded or bruised after the boyling and applied to the Legs or Feet cankers swelled Feet that are swelled with falling down of humors doth help them the hark is also effectual for the same purpose The flowers of the Line-tree and of Lilly Convally distilled together the water thereof is good against the Falling-sickness so likewise is the distilled water of the bark and is good against those fretting humors that cause the bloody Flux and griping in the Guts the water wherein the inner bark hath been steeped till the water become thick and muscilaginous and applied with clothes wet therein helps burnings and scaldings Liquid Amber Descript and Place LIquid Amber is a thick Rozen like gum droping by incision from certain great trees in the West-Indies which trees are full of branches covered with a thick Ash-coloured bark the leaves are like unto Ivy leaves and the Gum which issueth from the tree is of a strong and sweet smell and is somewhat like unto Liquid Storax and may passe instead thereof for the same uses but there is a coarse sort which is the scum of the uppermost fatness that is made by boyling the branches and is supposed to be that Storax liquida sold by Druggists and Apothecaries out of the first sort while it is fresh and laid in the Sun there droppeth a certain clear reddish oyl called oyle of Liquid Amber and of some Liquid Amber it self Government and Virtues Both Tree and Gum are under the influence of Jupiter of a moderately hot and moist temperature and is useful either of it self or mixed with other things to comfort and warm a cold moist braine Brain Stomack Digestion Apetite Mother Tumors being used as an oyntment and easeth all pains proceeding from a cold cause being applied thereunto It comforts and strengtheneth a weak Stomack helps digestion and procures an Appetite But more effectually if a plaister be made thereof with some Storax Musk and Amber and applied to the Stomack it is also profitably used in all cold griefs of the the Mother it warms mollifies and dissolves Tumors and opens obstructions and stoppings of the Terms Lung-flower or Autumn Gentian Kinds and Names THere are several sorts of these plants are generally called Autumn small Gentians Gentianellae Autumnales and of some Pneumonanthe Descript 1. The greater Autumn Gentian Pneumonanthe dicta riseth up according to the richness of the ground higher or lower sometimes two foot high and sometimes not above a foot and sometimes with many and sometimes with fewer stalks of a brownish green colour with many long and narrow dark green leaves set by couples upon them up to the topsâ— which seldom branch forth but bear every one a large hollow flower in most of them of a deep blewish purple colour but in some a little paler ending in five points the roots are many small and long growing deep into the ground and abiding all the Winter Descript 2. Gentianella Autumnalis simbriato flore Antumn-Geatian of Naples This doth creep up like Couch-grasse from a long yellowish small root shooting forth a few long and narrow leavs likâ— those of Flax but shorter but those that grow up to the middle of the stalk are larger and lesser again from the middle to the top two set at every joint all along and striped from every one of the joints on both sides to the top of the stalk which is green and about a foot high at the top commeth a purplish green husk which hath four large pointed leaves and encloseth the flower which is long and writhed before it be blown and of a pale blew colour but when it is blown open is of a deeper blew colour having four leaves somewhat long and as it were purfled about the edges with a little hairiness at them and a small leaf at the bottom of each flower with a few yellow threds in the middle standing about a head which groweth to be the seed-vessel forked into two parts at the head being greater there then below and containeth in it very small black seed when it is ripe Descript 3. Autumn-Gentian with small Centory-leaves called in Latine Gentianella Autumnalis Centaureae minoris folio This riseth up with sundry stalks scarce a foot high parted into many small branches whereon do stand two leaves together very like those of the lesser Centaury not so long as either of the former but a little broader and of a whiter green colour at the tops of the stalks and branches grow divers blew flowers set in small long husks half way rising above the tops of them the seed is small and groweth in long horned vessels the root is small and fibrous Descript 4. There is another sort with small Centory-like flowers which is more spreading small but hath larger leaves and flowers than Centory and of the same colour as are the flowers of Centory yet having many more and lasteth longer the root abideth not the Winter Descript 5. Another smaller Gentian with Centaury-leaves is very like unto the last but smaller and the stalks much lower not above three inches high having
only planted in Gardens Time The Lupines do flower in July and August and the seed is ripe soon after Government and Vertues Lupines are under the dominion of Mars and have an opening cleansing dissolving and digestive property but if they be steeped in water untill they have lost their bitterness they may be eaten but they are very hard to digest and breed grosse humors and passe slowly through the belly yet do not stop any flux If they be so steeped Appetite Stomack Liver Spleen Vrine Terms Dead-Child Scabbs Morphew cankers Tetters Sores and afterwards dryed and taken with Vinegar they provoke Appetite and help the loathing of the Stomack to meat The decoction of Lupines taken with hony opens obstructions of the Liver and Spleen provokes Urine and the Terms and expelleth the Dead-child if it be taken with Myrrhe The decoction of them cleanseth the body of Scabs Morphew Cankers Tetters and soul running Ulcers or Sores It also cleanseth the Face and taketh away the marks or pits which the Pox leaves behind it and cleareth the skin of Marks and black and blew Spots An oyntment of Lupines to beautifie and make the Face Amiable is made after this manner Take the meal of Lupines the gaul of a Goat or Sheep juice of Lemons and a little Alumen Saccharimum mingle them into the form of a soft oyntment The meal of Lupines being boyled in Vinegar and applied taketh away knobs and kernels or pimples The smoak of the shells being burned drives away gnats and flyes which annoy many houses in Summer Madder great and small BEsides the Garden and Wild Madder there are many other kinds hereof sound out Parkinson makes six kinds of the Rubia major or greater Madder and eight sorts of the Rubia minor or little small Madder Rubia Tinctorum is the general name of the manured Madder in Shops not onely so called from the colour of the root but also from its propety to dye a red colour The names of the other kinds follow in their Descriptions Descript 1. Culpepper hath described the Garden or manured Madder therefore I say no more of it Descript 2. Rubia sylvestris wild Madder is very like unto the manured but the stalks are smaller and not so spreading neither are they so rough or hairy the leaves are lesse the flowers are white the root groweth greater but not so red as the Garden-kind Descript 3. Wild Madder with long leaves called Rubia sylvestris longioribus foliis hath divers round jointed stalks two or three foot long or thereabout not so rough as the other wild sort the leaves that stand at the joints are somewhat rough narrower and longer than the other seaven or eight at a distance the flowers are white and stand at the tops of the stalks having four leaves apeece which turn into small round seed like the other the root is red as the former but smaller Descript 4. Smooth-leaved-Madder Rubia levis Taurinensium hath divers round smooth stalks two or three foot long whereon stand leaves not rough at all but smooth larger broader than garden Madder towards the tops of the branches and at the joints with the leaves standing round about the stalks come white flowers consisting of five or six small leaves apeece the roots are smaller then the other and run not far into the ground Descript 5. The 〈◊〉 smooth Candy-Madder called Rubia levis arborescens Cretica It hath a thick short stalk about the thickness of one's singer from whence spring many straight smooth branches with small short leaves standing at distances like the former sorts at the tops of the branches shoot out two or three slender sprigs which bear whitish flowers like those of the ordinary Madder the root is long and reddish and of a bitter harsh tast Descript 6. Sea-Madder Rubia marina hath many square hard and somewhat rough stalks full of joints and spreading round about the root upon the ground the leaves are somewhat rough small and long broadest at the bottom and pointed at the end growing lesser towards the tops the flowers are of a star-like fashion and whitish the root is more red on the outside then within more wooddy and harder then the other Place The first is manured in Gardens and large fields for the profit that is made of it for dyers as well as medicinal uses the second groweth by hedge-sides in many places of Germany and so doth the third which groweth also in many places of our own Land the fourth is found by Turin on the hills of Piemont according as Pena and Lobel say the fift in Candy and the sixt by the Sea-side in Provence and neer Mompelier Time They flower towards the latter end of Summer and the seed of some of them is ripe shortly-after Government and Vertues All the Madders are plants of Mars our Antient and modern writers have controverted each other about the properties of Madder whether it be of an opening or binding quality Galen and Dioscorides say that the root doth open and cleanse the body of thick and tough Flegm Vrine Terms Dead-Child After-Birth Yellow Jaundice Liver Spleen Melancholy Palsie Sciatica that it provoketh Urine bringeth down Womens Courses and expelleth the Dead-child and afterbirth but Dodoneus affirmeth that it is dry and astringent and hath no opening faculty at all but it is sound to have both an opening and an astringent quality even as Rhubarb hath which first opens and then binds and strengthens it turneth the Urine into a red colour as Rhubarb doth colour it yellow it is an excellent remedy for the yellow Jaundies opening obstructions of the Liver and Spleen and cleanseth those parts it abates Melancholy humor it is effectual for those that have the Palsey and Scitica the roots boyled in Ale drunk is good for those that have received any hurts by bruises or falls and for all these purposes the root may be boyled in Wine Ale or Water and some hony or Sugar put thereunto afterwards The seed taken with Vinegar and hony helps swellings and hardness of the Spleen Spleen Freckels Deformity of the skin the decoction of the leaves and branches is good so Women to sit over to drive down their Courses The leaves and roots bâ—â—â—sed and applied cleanse and take away Freckles Morphew white Scurff or any deformity of the skin Small or little Madder Descript 1. Candy-Madder with a spikey head and larger leaves called in Latine Rubia spicata Cretica latiore folio It hath divers square rough slender stalks full of joints from which shoot many branches with four or five small rough leaves compassing them the top-branches end in small long spiked four square heads with many short rough husks set close one above another which send forth small whitish green flowers scarce to be seen after which come small greenish Seed The root is fibrous and wooddy but dyeth every Winter Descript 2. Spiked-Madder with small leaves Rubia spicata angusti-folia This differeth from the former in that
shortness of breath and taken with Sugar-candy it is a present remedy Alpinus further saith that the oyle thereof is so familiarly used by the Aegyptians in their meals as that they do seldom eat without it yet it breedeth many obstructions and the viscous nourishment of it turneth into Melancholy and other diseases It will not be improper here to add somewhat of the virtues of our Marsh-mallows both leaves seeds and roots wherein Culpepper falls too short It is the chiefest of all other Mallows and most effectual and is therefore called Dismalva being twice as good as any other The root being boyled in wine and drunk is good against the pain and grief of the Gravel and Stone Gravel Stone Bloody Flux Sciatica cough Tooth-ach the blood Flux the Sciatica the trembling and shaking of any member and for such as are troubled with Cramps and burstings Pliny writeth the same boyled in sweet new milk healeth the Cough and being boyled in some Vinegar and holden in the mouth it asswageth the pain in the Teeth The same being boyled in Wine or hony-water and bruised or pounded very small Green Wounds Tumors Swellings Wens Kernels Impostumes chaps of the fundament doth cure and heal new Wounds and doth dissolve and consume cold Tumors and Swellings Wens and hard kernels and Imposthumes behind the Ears and is good for the burning Imposthume of the Paps It doth soften ripen digest breaketh and covereth with skin old Imposthumes blastings and Windy Swellings Mother it cureth rifts and chaps of the Fundament and trembling of the sinews and sinewy parts the same being so prepared pounded with hogs-grease goose-grease and a little Turpentine and a Pessary or Mother suppository made thereof and put up doth mollifie and asswage Imposthumes and sores of the Mother and openeth the stoppings of the same The leaves are likewise used instead of common Mallows to loosen the belly gently and are very effectual in decoctions for Glisters to ease all pains in the body Pains in the body Stone to open the straight passages and make them slippery whereby the stone may descend the more easily out of the Reins and Kidneys and the bladder and to ease the great and torturing pains that come thereby the roots being boyled very well in water and after they be strained out the decoction being boiled again with Sugar to a just consistence and troches rowls or Lozinges made thereof is effectual against the diseases of the Breast Chest and Lungs as Coughs Hoarseness Wheefings and shortness of Breath Coughs hoarseness shortness of Breath Guts Bloody flux the roots and seeds of the Marsh-mallow boyled in Wine and Water is very effectual to be used by such as have any excoriation in the Guts or bloody flux by qualifying the violence of the sharp Cholerick fretting humors which are the cause thereof and by sliminess easing the pains and healing the soreness and in some sort staying the further erruption of blood Ruptures cramps Convulsions Kings Evil Chin cough It is very profitable for them that are troubled with Ruptures Cramps or Convulsions of the sinews and being boyled in White-wine it is profitable for the Impostumes of the Throat called the Kings-evill for kernels behind the Ears and swellings or Inflamations in Womens breast The dryed roots boyled in Milk and drunk are singularly good for the chin-Cough Hippocrates used to give the decoction of the roots or the juice thereof to drink to wounded persons who were ready to faint through loss of blood and applied the same mixed with Hony and Rozen unto the Wounds he gave also the decoction of the roots in Wine to those to drink that were hurt by bruises or Falls or by blows or stripes and to such who had any bone or member out of joint and to those who had any swelling pain or Ach in the muscles sinews or Arteries it is good also to be used in all Ulcers and sores that happen in any Cartilaginous place The muscilage of the roots and of Linseed and Fenegreek put together is of much use in pultisses oyntments and plaisters to mollifie hard tumors and the Inflamations of them and to ease pains in any part of the body The seed either green or dry mixed with Vinegar cleanseth the skin of Morphew and other discolourings thereof being bathed therewith either in the Sun or in a Hot-house or Stove Mandrake Kinds and Names THere is described by Authors both a Male and Female Mandrake and two of the Males-Mandrak It is called Mandragoras both in Latine and Greek and Dioscorides saith in his time called Circaea because Circe the great Witch or enchantresse used it as is thought in love-matters Descript 1. The more ordinary Male Mandrake Mandragoras mas vulgatior sendeth forth from a somewhat great and downright root in some but with one in other two three or four twines or branches divided a little below the head or top and divers small fibres besides blackish on the out side and whitish within having many large leaves lying on the ground greater then any Beete-leaves from the middle whereof rise up sundry pale green flowers of five round leaves a peece each standing on a small slender footstalk within a green five-leaved husk wherein afterwards is set the fruit being of the bigness of a reasonable Pippin and as yellow as Gold when it is through ripe with divers round whitish flat seeds in it of a heady or strong stuffing scent This is the true Description of the plant without other shape of Mans or Womans parts although some Cheats have made counterfeit forms thereof and have exposed them to publick view both in our own and other Countries but they are utterly deceitfull forgeries to cheat people of their mony Descript 2. Mandragoras mas alter another Male-Mandrake whose leaves were of a more grayish green colour and somewhat folded together herein differing from the former This Mr. Parkinson saith he saw in the Lord Wottons Garden at Canterbury when John Tradescant had the keeping of it but that it had never born any fruit Descript 3. The Female Mandrake Mandragoras foemineus hath many leaves lying on the ground but smaller narrower more crumpled and of a darker green colour then the Male like those of Lettice as saith Dioscorides The flowers also rise from among the leaves each on a slender footstalk as the former but of a blewish purple colour the fruit is much lesse then those of the Male but round like them of a paler yellow colour when they are ripe and of a more pleasing and lesse heady-scent having in them such like seed as the Male but smaller and blacker the root is also like the former blackish without and white within neer unto the same form parted into sometimes more and sometimes fewer branches Place They grow in Woods and shadowy places and the Female by Rivers-sides in diverse Countries beyond the Alps but not naturally on this side thereof as in Greece Candy Isles
much larger and many more standing together the wood is whitish and smooth but not so smooth hard and close as our common Maple is Place This great Maple or falsly-called-Sycomore groweth no where wild or natural in this Kingdom but is onely planted before houses or in walks for the shadowes sake but groweth naturally in many places in Germany c. This as-well as our Wood-Maple flowers about the middle of April and the fruit is ripe in the end of September Government and Vertues It is a tree of Jupiter and is nevertheless scarcely made any mention of for its medicinal virtues but onely Pliny saith that the root of the Maple being bruised is with very great effect applied unto those that have obstructions or other pains of the Liver and Spleen but the root made into powder and given the quantity of a dram in Wine often is more effectual The Mealy-tree Names IT is called in Latine Viburnum and it is also called the Way-fairing-tree and by Mr. Parkinson from the pliantness of the twigs and branches the Pliant Mealy-tree Descript This tree hath from a small body rising to the height of a hedge-tree or bush covered with a dark greyish bark sundry small short but very tough and pliant branches of a fingers thickness whose bark is smooth and whitish whereon grow broad leaves like Elm-leaves but long and hoary rough thick white like meal and a little hairy set by Couples and finely dented about the edges at the ends of the branches stand large tufts of white flowers which turn into large branches of round and flat seed like unto Lentils but greater green at the first and afterwards and black when they are ripe The branches hereof are so tough and strong that they serve for bands to tye bundles or any other thing or to make fast gates of the Fields better than withy or any other Place It groweth as a hedge-bush and is often cut and plashed by Country-men to spread on the hedges in length and is very frequently found in Kent and in many other places of this Land Place It flowreth about the end of May and the fruit is ripe in September Government and Vertues It is a plant of Saturn the leaves thereof have a harsh binding quality and are good to strengthen and fasten Loose-teeth Loose-teeth the decoction of the leaves hereof and of Olive leaves together in Vinegar and Water is excellent good to wash the Mouth and Throat that are swelled by sharp Rhumes falling into them and is good to set the Palate of the Mouth or Vvula in the right place and to stay Rheums that fall upon the Jawes the kernels of the fruit hereof taken before they be ripe dryed and made into powder and drunk do stay the Looseness of the belly and all other fluxes Of the roots being steeped under ground and then boyled and beaten a long time afterwards is made Bird-lime to catch small birds with all The leaves boyled in Lye and the Head or Haires washed therewith doth keep them from falling and make the Hairs black Mechoacan and Jalap Kinds and Names THe Mechoacan of Peru is called also in Latine Brionia alba Peruana sive Mechoacan There is also another kind called Wild Mechoacan and a third sort called black Mechoacan or Jalap Descript 1. The Mechoacan of Peru that hath grown in these parts sendeth forth divers dark greyish long branches winding themselves about poles that are set for them or any other things that are next unto them whereon do grow fair broad leaves pointed at the ends of a dark green colour thin and hard in handling seeming so dry as if they had no juice in them the flowers are many standing in long clusters of a sullen yellow colour in the Indies as Monardus saith and as large as an Orenge-flower with an Umbone in the middle which afterwards cometh to be the fruit which when it is ripe is as big as an Hazel-nut divided by a thin skin in the middle in each side whereof lye two black seeds of the bigness of Pease of a dark whitish colour in the warmer Countryes of Europe but not with us yeelding berries and seed but not so large the root groweth to be as large as any Briony-root being not bitter or loathsome to tast as it is but rather without either tast or smell having many circles in it as may be discerned in the dry roots and may easily be brought into powder Descript 2. Wild Mechoacan called in Latine Mechoacan Sylvestris is altogether like the other both in manner of growing with branches leaves flowers and roots but in every particular lesser and the root wherein is the chiefest difference being sharp and loathsome procureth Vomiting and troubling the Stomack when it is taken asmuch as any ordinary Briony Descript 3. Mechoacan nigricans sive Jalopium black Mechoacan or Jalap The dryed roots of this plant are brought as a Merchandize unto us in England It cometh to us in small thin peeces some greater some smaller yet nothing so large as the greater but rather as the smaller peeces of Mechoacan of a brownish black Colour somewhat more solid compact and Gummy for out of it will rise a black Gum being laid on a burning Coal and of no unpleasant tast but sticking a little in the Teeth when it is chewed Place Mechoacan groweth beyond Mexico in the Province of Mechoacan but since hath been plentifully brought from the main Land of Nicaragna and Quito The wild Mechoacan was brought from the Promontory of St. Helen which is on the same Continent with Nicaragna The last is brought from a place in the Indies called Chelapa or Calapa from whence it obtained the name of Jalap Time They flower in the months of July and August some earlier or later than others as their original is from colder or hotter Climates and do seed soon after where they give any Government and Vertues The Mechoacans are plants of Mars the Mechoacan of Peru is a familiar Medicine used by many It is given to all Ages young and old and to young Children and Women with child without any harm or danger as also at all times of the year for being without any evil taste or smell it may be the better taken of the most delicate and tender stomachs that loath all other medicines It is most usually being made into powder taken in wine or the Root may be boyled in a little broth or wine and so taken The Dose in powder is from half a dram to a whole dram or a dram and an half or two drams as there is cause and according to the Age and strength of the Patient It purgeth cholerick and Flegmatick gross viscous and putrid humours whatsoever Choler Flegm putrid humours Liver Spleen Dropsie Jaundice Wind Pains in the head Bladder Reins Vrine Cholick Mother shortness of breath Cough French Pox. as also the yellow waterish humours of the Dropsie with much ease and facility It cleanseth the Liver
which together with the Bark and Rinde is to be eaten like an Apple the rynde not being tough nor bitter as the rest Descript 4. The Orange without seeds Malus Aurantia unico grano This only differeth from that Orange with the best sowr juice in having but one grain or seed in the whole juice lying within it Descript 5. The Dwarf-Orange-tree Malus Aurantia pumilio The stock of this Dwarf-tree is low and the branches grow thick well stored with leaves but they are lesser and narrower than the other the flowers also are many and thick set on the branches which bear fruit more plentifully than the former but is lesser than the greater sorts yet as well coloured Place and Time All these sorts of Oranges aswell as the Lemons and Citrons are brought unto us from Spain Portugal Biscany and places adjacent they hold time with the Lemons having their leaves ever green and have on them blossomes green and ripe fruit altogether continually Government and Virtues All these trees and fruits are governed by Jupiter the fruit is of differing parts and qualities the rynde of the Oranges are bitterer and hotter than those of the Lemons or Citrons and do warm a cold Stomach the more breaking away the wind therein and the Flegm and after that the bitterness is taken from them Stomach Wind Flegm Heart Spirits by steeping them in water for sundry dayes and then preserved either wet or dry besides their use in Banquets they are very effectual for the strengthening of the heart and spirits and other vitals the juice is inferiour to those of the Citron and Lemon and fitter for meat than medicine yet four or five ounces of the juice taken at a time in wine or Ale will drive forth putrid humours from the inward parts by sweat and strengthen and comfort the heart the distilled water of the flowers besides the odoriferous scent it hath fit for any perfume Pestilence Feavers moist womb Cough Flegm is good against Contagious Diseases and pestilential Feavers to drink thereof at sundry times it helpeth also the moist and cold infirmities of the Womb the oyntment that is made of the flowers is good to anoint the Stomach to help the Cough and expectorate cold raw flegm and to warm and comfort the other parts of the body Yellow Oranges of Malabar Names Descript and Vertues THis is called Carcapuli and is a great Tree growing in Malabar in the Indies the fruit is like an Orange when the outer pill is taken away which consisteth of sundry lumps of pulp not to be separated as they may be in the Orange whose rynde is thin smooth and shining as gold when they are ripe of a sharp taste and binding quality yet pleasant to the taste and are good to stay Fluxes of all sorts and to refresh the stomach and restore a dejected appetite taken with sowr milk or boyled Rice Stomach Hard labour Mists and Rheums in the eyes The Midwives give it women in hard labour to cause a speedy Delivery as also to expell the After-birth the juice is profitably used to clear the stomach and Mists and Rheums in the Eyes Pepper Kinds and Names THere are several sorts of Pepper as black white and long Pepper called Piper nigrum album longum The black and white Pepper differeth not either in manner of growing or in form of leaf or fruit the long pepper also doth grow after the same manner but differeth in the fruit All these sorts do grow each on a several climing bush in the East-Indies but after one manner that is as Hops do grow with us so that if they be not sustained by some tree or Pole on which they may climb spread they will lye down on the ground thereon run and shoot forth small fibers at every joynt But the usual manner is to Plant a branch taken from the Bush near to some tall tree great Cane or Pole and so it will quickly by winding it self about it get to the top thereof being full of joynts and shooting forth fair large leaves one at a joynt being almost round but ending in a point green above and paler underneath with a great middle rib and four other ribs somewhat lesser spreading from it two on each side and smaller veins therein also unto the edges which are smooth and plain somewhat thin and set on a pretty long footstalk the fruit or pepper it self whether black white or long groweth at the same joynt but on the contrary side opposite to the leaf and not between the stalk and the leaf as some have falsly described it round about a long stalk somewhat thinly set all along thereon or not so thick as a bunch of grapes the root hath sundry joynts creeping in the ground with sibres at the joynts the white pepper is hardly distinguished from the black by the very plants thereof until it come to ripeness for the white and black Pepper do grow on several bushes but that the leaves are of a little paler green colour the grains or berries are white solid firm without wrinkles and more aromatical The long Pepper hath leaves very near to the same form and bigness but a little longer-pointed of a paler green colour thinner also and with a shorter footstalk and not having four so eminent ribs passing from the middle-one as in the other but four or five or more sometimes on each side according to the largeness of the leaf with other smaller veins therein and with lesser acrimony and hot taste than the black the fruit of this also groweth in like manner at the joynts opposite to each leaf which are closer set together than in the black being some greater or lesser shorter or longer than others consisting of many small grains as it were set close together in rowes and not open and separate as in the black and white pepper of an Ash-colour when it is ripe Government and Vertues All the Peppers are under the dominion of Mars and of temperature hot and dry almost in the fourth degree but the white Pepper is the hottest which sort is of much use both with the Indians and other nations The Indians use to chew the leaves spitting it out again as some amongst us do Tobacco and the pepper it self they also chew and from the branch take every grain one after another while they are fresh Pepper is much used with us in meats and sawces which it very well doth if not taken too much at once and comforteth and warmeth a cold stomach consumeth crude and moist humours therein Stomach Wind Bowels Cough Breast Serpents Poisons and stirreth up the appetite It helpeth to break or dissolve wind in the stomach or bowels to provoke Urine to help the Cough and other diseases of the breast and is effectual against the bitings of Serpents and other poisons and to that purpose it is an ingredient in the great Antidotes but the white pepper as being more white
in the mouth it helpeth a stinking breath it also helps digestion and is good against Melancholy These outer rinds being preserved with Sugar are used as a Junket at Banquets yet they are often used in Cordial Electuaries and preservatives against infection and Melancholy It also helpeth to loose the body and therefore there is a solutive Electuary made therewith called Electuarium de citro solutivum to evacuate the bodies of cold flegmatick Constitutions and may safely be used where Choler is mixed with Flegm The inner white rinde of the fruit is almost unsavoury and without taste and is not used in Physick but being preserved is used at Banquets the sowr juice in the middle is cold and farre surpasseth that of Lemons in the effects although not so sharp in taste it is singular good in all pestilential and burning Feavers to restrain the venome and Infection to suppress the Choler and hot distemper of the blood and to quench thirst and correcteth the ill disposition of the Liver stirreth up an Appetite and refresheth the over-spent and fainting spirits Burning Feavers Choler Thirst Appetite Faint Spirits resisteth drunkenness and helpeth the turnings of the Brain by the hot vapours arising therein which causeth a Frenzy for want of sleep the seed not only equalleth the rind but also surpasseth it in many particulars yet Galen and Avicen contradict one another herein Galen saith that the seed is cold which Mathiolus excuseth with diverting his intent to the juice and Avicen saith it is hot in the first degree and dry in the second the Bark or rynd hot in the first and dry in the end of the second degree the inner white substance between the outer bark and the inner juice hot and moist in the first degree and the sowr juice cold and dry in the third degree These seeds are very effectual to preserve the heart and vital spirits from the poyson of the Scorpion and other venemous creatures as also against the infection of the Plague or Pox or any other contagious disease they kill the worms in the stomach provoke the Terms cause an Abortment and have a digesting and a drying quality fit to dry up and consume moist humours both inwardly in the body and outwardly in any moist or running Ulcers or Sores Heart poyson of Scorpions Plague Pox Worms Terms Moist humours Vlcers Sores and to take away the pains that come after the biting of any venemous Creature The whole fruit or the branches of the trees layd in Presses Chests or Wardrobes keepeth Cloth or silk Garments from Moths or worms and likewise giveth them a good scent Quick-Grass Kinds and Names THere are several sorts of these Grasses some growing in the fields and other places of the upland grounds and others near the Sea it is also called Dogs-grass and Gramen Caninum the other several names shall follow in the Descriptions Descript 1. Common quick-grass Gramen caninum vulgare This grass creepeth far about under ground with long white joynted roots and small fibres almost at every joynt very sweet in taste as the rest of the herb is and interlaceing one another from whence shoot forth many fair and long grassie leaves small at the ends and cutting or sharp at the edges the stalks are joynted like Corn with the like leaves on them and a long spiked head with long husks on them and hard rough seed in them Descript 2. Quick grass with a more spread Panickle Gramen caninum longius radicatum paniculatum This differeth very little from the former but in the tuft or panickle which is more spread into branches with shorter and broader husks and in the root which is fuller greater and further-spread Descript 3. The lesser quick-grass with a sparsed tuft Gramen caninum latiore panicula minus This small quick-grass hath slender stalks about half a foot high with many very narrow leaves both below and on the stalks the tuft or panickle at the top is small according to the Plant and spreadeth into sundry parts or branches the root is small and joynted but creepeth not so much and have many more fibres among them than the others have and is a little browner not so white but more sweet Descript 4. Low bending quick grass Gramen caninum arvense This creepeth much under ground but in a differing manner the stalks taking root in divers places and scarce rising a foot high with such like green leaves as the ordinary but shorter the spiked head is bright and sparsed or spread abroad somewhat like the field grass Descript 5. Gramen caninum supinum Monspeliense This differeth very little from the last in any other part thereof than in the panickle or spiked head which is longer and not spread or branched into parts as that is Descript 6. A small sweet grass like Quick-grass Gramen exile tenuifolium Canariae simile sive gramen dulce This small grass hath divers low creeping Branches and rooting at the joynts as the two last having many small and narrow leaves on them much less than they and a small sparsed panickle somewhat like the red dwarf-grass Descript 7. Wall-grass with a creeping root Gramen murorum radice repente this Wall grass from a blackish creeping root springeth forth with many stalks a foot high bending or crooking with a few narrow short leaves on them at whose tops stand small white panickles of an inch and a half long made of many small chaffy husks Place and Time The first is usual and common in divers plow'd Grounds and Gardens where it is often more bold than welcome troubling the Husbandmen as much after the plowing up of some of them as to pull up the rest after the springing and being raked together to burn them as it doth Gardners where it happeneth to weed it out from amongst their trees and Herbs the second and third are more scarce and delight in Sandy and Chalky grounds the three next are likewise found in Fields that have been plowed and do lye Fallow and the last is often found on old decayed Walls in divers places they flourish chiefly in the beginning of Summer Government and Virtues These are Plants of Mercury The root is of temperature cold and dry and hath a little mordacity in it and some tenuity of parts the herb is cold in the first degree and moderate in moisture and dryness but the seed is much more cold and drying of some tenuity of parts and somewhat harsh This quick grass is most medicinable of all other sorts of grasses it is effectual to open obstructions of the Liver and Spleen and the stoppings of Urine the decoction thereof being drunk and to ease the griping pains in the belly and Inflamations and wasteth the excrementitious matter of the Stone in the Bladder and the Ulcers thereof also the root being bruised and applyed doth knit together and consolidate wounds the seed doth more powerfully expell Urine bindeth the belly and stayeth vomiting the distilled water
nostras This Wild North Country Rosemary groweth not so high with smaller leaves nothing so great and long as Rosemary leaves but thicker and shorter of a dark green shining colour above and somewhat yellowish green underneath set very sparsedly on very slender and pliant blackish green twigs at the tops whereof grow the flowers not out of scaly heads as in the former of a reddish colour the whole plant hath very little scent if any at all that can be perceived Place and Time The Ordinary Rosemary groweth in Spain abundantly neer the Sea-side on Commons as Heath doth with us the scent whereof is many times smelt by those that passe by in Ships very many leagues off from the Land in Provence also of France and sundry other those hot Countries but will not abide unless kept in Stows the Winter in divers places of Germany Denmark Swedland and those other Northerly Regions The fifth in Silesia Bohemia and the parts thereabouts The sixt in the same places with the fifth The last in divers places in Lancashire and Yorke-shire The first flowereth in April and May with us and sometimes in August the others not until August But at Christmas last at Hedsorwharffe in Buckinghamshire there was Rosemary with very fresh blossomes Government and Vertues Rosemary is an Herb of the Sun and is indued with many physical Remedies both for inward and outward diseases it helpeth all cold diseases both of the Head Stomack Head stomach Liver and Belly Liver Belly the decoction of it in Wine helpeth the cold distillation of Rheum in the Eyes Rheum Eyes and all cold diseases of the Head and Brain Head Brain Giddiness or Swimming therein Drowsiness Drowsiness or Dulness of the Mind and Senses the dumb Palsie Dulness Palsie or loss of Speech the Lethargy and Falling-sickness Lethargy falling-sickness to be both drunk and the Temples bathed therewith It helpeth the paines of the Gums and Teeth Gums Teeth by Rheums falling to them or by putrefaction causing a stinking-breath It helpeth a Weak Memory by heating and drying up the cold moistures of the Brains and quickning the Senses Stinking-Breath Weak-Memory Senses It is very comfortable to the Stomach in all the cold griefs thereof and to stay the aptness to Vomiting causing the Stomack the better to contain and Digest Stomack cold griefs vomiting Digestion the Meat either the decoction or powder taken in Wine It is a remedy for the Windiness in the Stomack or Bowells Wind in the stomack or bowels as also for the Hypochondriack passion and Wind in the Spleen Hypocondriack Passion Wind in the Spleen it openeth Obstructions of the Liver and helpeth those that are Liver-grown Liver-grown It helpeth dim Eyes Dim-Eyes and to procure a clear sight Clear-sight if all the while it is in flower one take of the flowers fasting with Bread and Salt If a decoction be made thereof in Water and they that have the yellow Jaundice do take thereof and Exercise their Bodies presently after the taking thereof it will certainly Cure them thereof as Witness both Galen and Dioscorides The flowers and the conserve made of them is singular good to comfort the Heart Yellow-Jaundice Heart and to expell the Contagion of the Pestilence Pestilence to burn the Herb in Houses and Chambers to Correct the Air in the time of Infection Both the flowers and leaves are good for Women that are troubled with the Whites they being taken daily the dryed leaves shred small and taken in a pipe as Tobacco is taken helpeth much those that are troubled with the Tissick Whites in Women Tissick Cough or Consumption Cough Consumption the leaves are effectual in Bathings and like-wise made into Oyntments or Oyles is very good to help cold benummed Nerves Joints Nerves joynts Sinews or Members Sinews Members The Chymical Oyl drawn from the leaves and flowers is a Soveraign Remedy for all the diseases aforesaid to touch the Temples and Nostrils with two or three drops therof for all these diseases of the Head and Brains spoken of before and for the inward griefs before metioned some drops thereof being taken in Ale or Wine you may make Rosemary-Ale with four or six drops thereof in a pinte of Ale at any time which is good for the aforesaid purposes There is another oyl made by insolation in this manner Take what quantity you will of the flowers and put them into a glass close stopped and digest them in Horse-dung fourteen dayes which then being taken forth and unstopped tye a fine linnen-cloath over the mouth and turn the mouth down into another strong glass which being set in the Sun an oyl will distill down into the lower glass which is precious for divers uses both inward and outward as a soveraign Balm to heal the diseases before spoken of to clear a dim sight and to take away spots marks and scars in the skin Roses Kinds and Names IT is not our intention here to say any thing of the Garden or manured Roses but I intend liere to shew you the several kinds of the Rose sylvesters or wild Roses of which I shall set down about ten several kinds whose names follow with their Descriptions Descript 1. The ordinary wild Bryar-bush or wild-Bose called in latine Rosa sylvestris inodora sive Canina This wild-Rose or Bush groweth of it self on the Hedges very high with upright hard wooddy stems covered with a greyish bark especially the old ones set with sharp thorns up to the tops not so thick as the sweet Bryar having divers leaves somewhat large thereon but not so green on the upper side nor so greyish underneath as the other the middle Rib whereof hath divers small crooked thornes and without any scent at all the flowers stand at the tops of the branches divers set together of a whitish blush-colour made of five round-pointed leaves somewhat longer than the Eglantine Rose standing in such husks as the other Roses do After the flowers are gone the fruit cometh somewhat long and round of a reddish colour when it is ripe having a soft sweetish pulp under the skin and seeds lying therein the root is somewhat great and runneth deep and far under the ground upon this Rose is often found a Burre or Ball of brown threads aswell as upon the Eglantine Rose Descript 2. The wild bush bryar Rose whose latine appellation is Rosa sylvestris odorata carneo flore This is so like the former that it is hardly to be discerned from it either for the height of the stem or store of thorns or smallness of the leaves but onely for the flowers which are somewhat larger and of a deeper blush or pale purple colour somewhat sweet withall Descript 3. The wild Bryar of Muscovy called in latine Rosa sylvestris Rustica This hath sundry reddish yellow stalks rising from the root spotted or rather bunched out as it
Bryar-ball is often used being made into powder and drunk to break the stone to provoke Urine and to ease and help the Chollick Whites Stone Vrine Chollick In the middle of these balls are often found certain white worms which being dryed and made into powder and some of it drunk is found by long experience of many to kill and drive forth the worms of the belly Rice Descript THis grain or Corn riseth up with a stronger stalk than wheat about a yard high with sundry joynts and a large thick leaf at each of them like unto the Reed at the top it beareth a spiked tuft spread into branches whose blooming is said to be purplish with the seed standing severally on them inclosed in a hard brown straked husk and an Arm at the head of every one of them which being hulled is very white of the bigness almost of wheat Cornes blunt at both ends Names Rice is called in latine Oriza and the Italians call it Rizo the French Rys Place and Time This grain originally was brought out of the East-Indies where in many places it yieldeth two Crops in a year being the chiefest Corn they live upon and not with them onely but through all Aethiopia and Africa and from thence hath been brought into Syria Aegypt Italy c. It delighteth to grow in moist grounds and is a Summer Corn ripe about the middle of Autumn Government and Vertues It is a Solar grain The physical use thereof is chiefly to stay the Lasks and Fluxes of the stomach and belly especially if it be a little parched before it be used and steel quenched in the milk wherein it is boyled being somewhat binding and drying It is thought also to increase seed Lasks Fluxes increase Seed being boyled in milk and some sugar and Cinnamon put thereunto The flower of Ryce is of the same property and is sometimes also put into Cataplasmes that are applyed to repell humours from flowing or falling to the place and is also conveniently applyed to womens breasts Repell humors Inflamations in womens breasts to stay Inflamations therein in the beginning thereof Spanish Safron Kinds and Names I shall describe severally the sorts hereof and therein set down their names Descript 1. The manured Spanish or bastard Safron called in Latine Cnicus sive Carthamus sativus This hath sundry large leaves lying next the ground without any pricks or with very few white ones at the corners of the leaves and divisions among which riseth a strong round stalk three or four foot high branching it self up to the top bearing shorter leaves sharp-pointed and prickly at the edges and at their ends a great open scaly head out of which shoot forth many gold yellow threads of a most orient and shining colour which being gathered in a dry warm time and kept dry will abide in the same delicate colour which it bare when it was fresh for a long time the seed when it cometh to maturity is white and hard somewhat long and round and a little cornered the root is long white and woody perishing yearly after seed time Descript 2. Wild or bastard Safron of Candy Cnicus alter Creticus This hath a thick and long black root from which riseth up one streight round stalk half a cubit high set here and there with long sharp-pointed leaves thick set with prickles at the dents of the edges at the top whereof standeth a scaly head compassed with prickly leaves of the bigness of the Atractylis or distaff-thistle out of which break forth divers thick yellow Safron-like threads thrust thick together a fier which the seed groweth therein being white and as big as the greater Centory-seed Descript 3. Clusius his everliving bastard Safron Cnicus alter perennis Clusâ—i This groweth up with divers hard strong and round stalks without any branches at all from them to the height of three or four foot bearing thereon at several places somewhat large and long leaves dented about the edges of a sad or dusky green colour at the top of every stalk standeth one great close hard scaly head but not prickly at all not so great as the other bastard-Safron never opening the scales of the head as that doth from the middle whereof cometh divers threads yet nothing so many as in the other of a sad blewish ash colour and whitish at the bottom of them the seed which lyeth among the down in those heads is greater than of the other thick and short but not white and in lesser quantity than it The Roots run down deep into the ground and being there increased do run and spread themselves taking up a great deal of room Place and Time The first is generally sown in Spain Italy and other places for the especial use thereof The second Alpinus saith was brought out of Candy the last groweth wild in Spain aswel about Sevil as Cordula and in several other places as Clusius saith These kinds of Safron are called both in Greek and Latine Cnicus and Cnecus and in Apothecaries shops Carthamus of some also Crocus Saracenicus the Arabians call it Kartan the Italians Saffarano Sarasenisco the Spaniards Alacor and Acafran Salvia the Germans call it wilder Safron the French Safron-bastard and graine de Peroquets because they use to feed Parrots with the seed in English wild Safron Bastard-Safron Spanish Safron and Catalonia Safron Government and Virtues These are all Solar the flowers of the first Spanish Safron are much used in Spain and other places to be put into their broths and meats they are also of great use in dying silk into a kind of a Carnation-colour the seed is chiefly used in physick or rather the kernels within the seed which beaten and the emulsion thereof taken in honyed water or the broth of a Pullet and taken fasting doth open the body and purgeth watry and Phlegmatick humours Phlegm Watry humours Chollick Dropsie both upwards and downwards which it also performeth if the emulsion thereof be given in a Glyster and thereby helpeth the Chollick and dropsie and those other diseases that proceed from those humours Being made into a lohoch or licking Electuary with Sugar and honey and a few Almonds and Pine-kernels it wonderfully cleanseth the breast and lungs of phlegm sticking thereon causing it to be spit forth Phlegm Breast Lungs Sperm Voice cleared it clears the voice and increaseth seed by the often use of it but it doth somewhat trouble the stomach and therefore some stomachichal helpers are to be used with it As Anniseed Galanga Mastich or if need be of more forceable Cardamoms Ginger Salgem a dram of the flowers in powder taken in Hydromel or honyed water or in Barley-water helpeth the Jaundise Jaundise a dram of the pulp of the seed taken with an ounce of Syrup of wormwood doth the like also the Confection made of the seeds of it called in Shops Diacarthamum is an especial good medicine to purge Choler and flegm as also to clear and
paler white colour The flowers stand in the same manner three or four together upon a stalk but are somewhat of a paler white colour to whom succeed sometimes but one and sometimes two pods together which are thicker and shorter than those of the white kind straked all along and double-forked at the ends wherein lie silk and seeds as in the former The roots have not so strong a smell as the last and have aswel as the rest of the Plant a strong smell like Box-leaves Place and T me The two first grow in rough and untilled ground upon divers Mountains in France about Narbone Marseilles and Mompelier and in Italy also The last in Candy They flower in the months of June and July and sometimes not until August and their Cods are ripe about a moneth after the empty husks abiding on the dry branches when the seed and silk is fallen out Government and Virtues These are Solar Plants the roots have a most soveraign faculty against all poysons Poysons Venemous beasts Serpents mad doâ— Plague Pâ—stilence Pâ—ssions of the heart Griping in the Belly particularly against the Apocynum or Dogs-bane and is effectually given to such as are bitten by any venemous beast or stung by any Serpent or other Creature as also against the biting of a mad dog and a dram and an half thereof taken in Carduus-water for divers days together It is taken also in wine every day against the Plague and pestilence a dram thereof taken in Bugloss-water is effectual against all passions of the heart if the same quantity of Citron-seeds be taken therewith it easeth all the griping pains in the belly the Decoction of the roots made with white-wine taken for divers days together a good draught at a time and sweating thereupon cureth the dropsie The same also cureth the Jaundice Jaundice Dropsie Vrine provoketh Urine and easeth the cough and all defects of the Chest and lungs The powder of the roots taken with Peony-seeds is good against the Falling-Sickness Cough Chest Lungs Falling-Sickness Melancholy Worms or with Basil-seed or the rinde of Pomcitron-seeds is good against melancholy and taken with the roots of Dictamnus albus or bastard-Dittany will kill and expell worms of the maw or belly the roots are also used amongst other things for baths for women to sit in to ease pains of the Mother and to bring down their courses the decoction hereof with comfrey roots made in wine Pains of the Mother Courses Rupture Bruises Vlcers Sores is good for those that have a Rupture or are bursten or have received hurts by bruises The powder of the roots or leaves is effectual to cleanse all putrid rotten and filthy Ulcers and Sores and may safely be used in all Salves Unguents and Lotions made for such purposes The leaves and flowers boyled and made into a Pultis and applyed to the hard tumors or swellings of womens breasts cureth them speedily and all sores in the matrix Womens breasts Matrix Tobacco Names Descript IT is called Petum and Nicotiana There have several kinds thereof been planted here in England which they did manure for Smoaking but that is now prohibited I shall only describe one kind which is planted here for its uses in physick and Chirurgery only It riseth up with a thick round stalk about two foot high whereon do grow thick fat fleshy green leaves nothing so large as the other Indian kinds neither for breadth nor length somewhat round-pointed also and nothing dented about the edges the stalk brancheth forth and beareth at the tops divers flowers set in green husks scarce standing above the brims of the husks round-pointed also and of a greenish yellow colour after which followeth the seeds contained in great heads The root is woody byt perisheth in winter but generally riseth of the seed that is suffered to shed it self Place and Time This as is supposed was first brought from Brazile it giveth ripe seed in our Countrey here earlier than the other Indian sorts It flowreth from June to the end of August or later and the seed ripeneth in the mean time Government and Vertues Tobacco is a Plant of Saturn Culpeppers deity of a stupifying quality it is held to be available to expectorate tough phlegm out of the stomach chest and lungs the juice thereof made into a Syrup Phlegm Stomach Chest Lungs worms or the distilled water of the herb drank with Sugar The same also helps to expell worms in the stomach and belly as also to apply a leaf to the belly and to ease the pains in the head or Meagrim Pains in the head Meagrim Stone Gravel Mother and griping pains in the bowels It is also profitable for those that are troubled with the stone in the kidneys to ease pains and by provoking Urine to expell gravel and the stone ingendred therein and hath been found very effectual to suppress the malignity and windy vapours which cause the strangling of the mother The seed hereof is much more effectual to ease the pains of the teeth than Henbane-seed and the ashes of the burnt herb to cleanse the gums and teeth and make them white The herb bruised and applyed to the place of the Kings-Evil is a speedy rememdy as is said It is also said to be effectual to cure the Dropsie Kings-Evil Dropsie by taking four or five ounces of the juice thereof fasting which will strongly purge the body both upwards and downwards And too strongly too unless it be a well steeled body indeed The distilled water is often given with some sugar before the fit of an Ague to lessen the fits and alter them and to take them quite away in three or four times using if the distilled faces of the herb having been bruised before the distillation and not distilled dry be set in hot dung to digest for fourteen days and afterwards hung up in a bag in a Cellar the liquor that distilleth therefrom is singular good to use for Cramps Aches the Gout and Sciatica and to heal Itches Cramps aches Gouts Sciatica Scabs Cankers Lice Green wounds Old Sores Scabs and running Ulcers and foul Sores whatsoever The juice is good for all the said griefs and likewise to kill lice in childrens heads The herb bruised and applyed to any green wound doth speedily heal the same the juice put into old sores doth heal the same A good salve thereof may be made in this manner Take of the green herb three or four handfulls bruise it and put it into a quart of good oyl-olive boyl them on a gentle fire till the herb grow dry and the oyl will bubble no longer adding thereto wax Rozen and sheeps-tallow or Deers suet of each a quarter of a pound of Turpentine two ounces which being melted put it up for your use Some will add to it the powder of round Birthworth and white Frankincense each half an ounce which is to be put in when it is nigh cold and well
of temperature hot and dry in the third degree the white or inward pith or pulpe of the Apple taken about the waight of a scruple openeth the belly mightily and purgeth grosse Flegm and Cholerick humors Flegm Choler Slime Guts Pains gripings Apoplexy Falling-sicknesse Meagrim Breath Cholick Sinews pain and noise in the Eares and cleanseth the Guts of slimy filthiness and stinking corruption which oftentimes sticketh amongst them and causeth those greivous pains Gripings and wamblings of the belly and if taken in too great quantity it causeth blood to come forth like vertue it hath if it be boyled or laid to soke in honied water or any other liquor and after given to be drunken it profiteth much against all cold dangerous sicknesses Giddiness of the head pain to fetch breath the Cholick looseness of the Sinews and places out of joynt for all the same purposes it may be put into clisters and suppositories that are put into the fundament the oyl wherein Coloquintida hath been boyled being dropped into the Eares easeth the pain and singing thereof Coloquintida if administred by an unskilful hand is very dangerous and hurtful to the Stomack and Liver and troubleth the Bowells and entrails for remedy yee must put to the pulpe or pith of Coloquintida Gum-tragant and Mastick and after make it into trochis or balls with hony The Cornel-tree Names IT is called of some long Cherry or long Cherry-tree Descript The Cornel-tree sometimes groweth up to a reasonable bignesse like other trees and sometimes it is but low and groweth like to a shrub or hedge-bush as divers other small trees do the wood or timber of this tree is very hard the flowers are of a faint yellowish colour the fruit is very red and somewhat long almost like an Olive but smaller with a long little stone or kernel inclosed therein like the stone of an Olive-berry Place The Cornel-tree is in this Country to be found no where but in Gardens and Orchards where it is planted Time The Cornel-tree floureth betimes in March and afterward bringeth forth his leaves the fruit is ripe in August Government and Vertues The fruit of the Cornel-tree are cold dry and astringent under the dominion of Saturn the fruit eaten is good against the Lask and and bloody Flux Lask Bloody Flux Stomack and do strengthen weak and hot Stomacâ—s Wild-Cucumber Names IT is called also spirting Cucumber and the dryed juice of the root Elaterium Descript Wild Cucumber hath leaves somewhat round and rough but lesser and rougher then those of the Garden Cucumber the stalks be round and rough creeping along the ground without any claspers or holders upon which out of the hollowness of the branches or wings among the leaves grow short stems bearing a flower of a faint yellow colour after the flowers there come little rough Cucumbers of the bigness and length of ones thumb full of sap with a brown kernel which being ripe skippeth forth as soon as one touch the Cucumbers the root is white thick and great with many other small roots hanging to it the whole plant is of a very bitter tast but especially the fruit whereof the juice is dryed to be used in medicine and is called Elaterium Place It is in this Country found in Gardens only where it is planted but where it is once sown it cometh easily again every year Time These Cucumbers do flower in August and their fruit is ripe in September Government and Vertues It is under the dominion of Mars the juice thereof is hot and dry in the second degree and of a resolving and cleansing nature the root is of the same nature but not so strong as the juice Elaterium taken in quantity of half a scruple driveth forth gross Flegm Flegm Choler Waterish humors Dropsie Breath Eyes Brain Head-ach Courses Squinancy Cholerick and especially all waterish humors so that it is singular good against the Dropsie and for them that are troubled with shortness of Breath the same allayed with sweet milk and snuffed up into the nose cleanseth the Eyes from the evil colour which remaineth after the Jaundise asswageâ—h head-ach and cleanseth the brain the same boyled in honied Wine and applied to the Matrix driveth down the Courses and Dead-birth Elaterium being outwardly applied with oyle or hony or the Gaul of an Ox helpeth the Squinancy and the swellings of the Throat the juice of the bark and root of wild Cucumber doth also purge Flegm and cholerick and waterish humors and is good for such as have or are inclinable to the Dropsie Dropsie but is not so strong in operation as the Elaterium the root of Wild Cucumber made soft or soked in Vinegar and laid to the place greived asswageth the pain and taketh away the swelling of the Gout Gout Tooth-ach Cold Tumors Imposthumes Scurffe Tetters Wheals Scars the Vinegar wherein it hath been boyled holden in the mouth easeth the pain in the Teeth the same laid to with parched Barly-meal dissolveth cold Tumors and applied with Turpentine it doth ripen break and open imposthumes the same made into powder and laid to with honey cleanseth scoureth and taketh away foul Scurviness spreading Tetters Manginess Pushes or Wheals red spots and all blemishes and Scars of the body the juice of the leaves dropped into the Eares takes away the pain of the same Danger If Elaterium be taken into the body in too great quantity unadvisedly or crude and uncorrected it much hurteth the inward parts and Gripes much the Belly in the time of its operation Remedy To correct it and take away it 's griping quality that it may do no hurt let it be given with Mede or sweet milk a little Salt and Anniseed or give it in powder with a little Anniseed Gum-tragacanth and Salt Cypress-tree Names IT hath no other name in English but this tree is called Cupressus in Latine and the Nuts or fruit thereof Nuces Cupressi in English Cypres-nuts Descript The Cypresse-tree hath a thick straight long stem upon which grow many slender branches the which do not spread abroad but grow up in length towards the top so that the Cypress tree is not broad but narrow growing to a great height the bark of the Cypress-tree is brown the timber yellowish hard thick and close and when it is dry of a pleasant smell especially if it be set near the fire the Cypress-tree hath no particular leaves but the branches instead of leaves bring forth short twigs green and small divided again into other small twigs the which be cut and snipt in many places as if they were set about with many small leaves the fruit is round almost as big as a prune or plum which being ripe doth open in divers places and hath in it a flat grayish seed Place The Cypress-tree delights in dry Hilly and mountanous places in hot Countries Time The Cypress-tree is alwayes green the fruit is ripe in September at the beginning of winter Government
of a very sweet tast with a round stone in the middle thereof like an Olive-stone but not long Place and Time These plants in Syria Egypt Arabia and those parts thereabouts they continue with their leaves green on them all the Winter which the red Jujubes do not in those Countries but in Candy and other neerer Climats they fall off as other Trees do in the hotter Countries they bear twice a year but the fruit of the spring is seldome ripe being spoiled by the moisture of the season but in the Antumn the fruit is perfectly ripened and pleasant Government and Vertues Venus also owns the Fruit of both these The fruits before they are ripe are cold and dry in the first degree and binding but when they are ripe they are moist and are effectual to strengthen the Looseness of the Stomack and Belly Looseness Stomack Belly Vlcers Bowels Feavers Choler Feavers the juice of them either taken inwardly at the Mouth or given in a glister The dryed fruit infused in water and the infusion drunk is good against slipperiness and Ulcers of the Bowells The decoction or infusion of the dry ripe fruit is good against Pestilential Feavers and to resist putrefaction the fruit being endued with an excellent property against Venemous qualities The juice of the fruit being throughly ripe is effectual to purge Choler from the Stomack the infusion of them is profitably used to cool the heat and violence of all putrid Feavers Kali Names and Kinds IT is called also Glasse-wort Salt-wort There are 4 kinds of Kali described by Parkinson viz. 1. Kali majus Cochleatum great Glasse-wort with snailt like seeds 2. Kali minus album small Glasse-wort 3. Kali Aegyptiacum Glasse-wort of Aegypt And 4. Kali geniculatum sive salicornia jointed Glasse-wort I shall only describe the last This jointed Kali or Glasse-wort groweth up usually but with one upright round thick and almost transparent stalk a foot high or more thick set and full of joints or knots without any leaves at all but shooting forth joints one out of another with short cods at the heads of them and such like smaller branches on each side and they also divided into other smaller ones it is thought to bear neither flower nor seed the root is small long and threddy Some other kinds there are differing somewhat in the form of the joints and one kind wholly reddish and differing from the other in nothing else The first and third are absolute strangers in our Countries but grow in Syria and Egypt Italy and Spain the second groweth not onely in those Countries but in Colder Climates upon many places of our own Coasts especially of the West Country The last groweth generally in all Countries in many places of our Sea-coasts where the salt-water overfloweth it Tims They all flourish in the Summer and those that perish give their seed in August or later the last abideth all Winter Government and Vertues Kali or Glasse-wort all the sorts thereof are under the dominion of Mars they are all of a cleansing quality without any great or manifest heat the powder of any of them or the juice which is much better taken in drink doth purge downwards flegmatick Flegm Waterish Water and Adust or Melancholy Melancholy humors And therefore is very effectual for the Dropsie to provoke Urine Vrine and expell the Dead-child Dead-birth It also opens stoppings of the Liver Liver and Speen Spleen and wasts the hardness thereof but it must be used with discretion for a great quantity is dangerous hurtful and deadly The Ashes hereof are very sharp and biting like a Caustick and the Lye that is made thereof is so strong that it will fetch off the skin from the hands or any part of the body but may be mixed with other more moderate medicines to take away Scabbs Leprosie and to cleanse the skin The powder of stones and the ashes hereof being melted is the matter whereof Glasse is made which when it gloweth in the furnace it casteth up a fat matter on the top of it which when it is cold is fat and brittle and is called Sandiver It worketh much to the same effect with the herb or ashes It is used often in powder to blow into horses Eyes or being diossolved to be squirted in them to take away any superfluous film or skin beginning to grow thereon both of them likewise serve to dry up running Sores Scabbs Scabbs Tetters Tetters Ringworms and to help the Itch. Itch Lacca or Gum-lake DEscript This is neither gum distilling out of any tree as other gums do nor condensed juice yet it will melt with heat and burn with fire but is a certain matter wrought by great winged Ants that breed in the ground and sucking out from trees of divers sorts but especially from that which is called Mala Indica from which they take the substancâ— of their work about the smaller branches as Bees do Hony Combs and make this Lacca which is a dark red substance and somewhat transparent harder than any gum and being chewed it will make the spittle look red It is first wrought on sticks by the Ants and then melted being cleered from the sticks and the wings of the Ants and made into Cakes or small peeces is so brought unto us aswell as on the sticks and is the original of the hard Wax wherewith Letters are sealed whose colours of red green yellow or black are added in the new melting of it again and making it into such Rouls as we buy it in but some do Counterfeit it by putting of wax unto it which maketh it softer and run thinner The Painters Lake or Lack is made of Brasill or other dying stuffes and hath in former times been very ignorantly by some put into the composition called Dia-lacca but that Error is reformed Government and Vertues Lacca is governed by Jupiter it is of temperature hot in the second degree it strengthneth the Stomack and Liver Stomack Liver and freeth them from obstructions Obstructions and dissolveth the hardness of the Liver helpeth the yellow Jaundies and driveth forth watry humors of the Dropsie Jaundies dropsies provokes Urine and breaks the Stone Vrine Stone both in Kidneys and Bladder Larch-tree Names IT is called in Latine Larix and the liquid Rozen Resina laricea or larigna and Terebinthia Venetia Description The Larch-tree is usually lower then the Pine or Firre-tree but sometimes groweth as high as either it hath a rugged thick bark full of Chaps and reddish in the inside the branches very comely one above another having several small yellowish knobs or bunches set at several distances from which do yearly shoot forth many long narrow thick soft and smooth leaves as it were in a tuft together of a green-colour which do not abide in Winter but fall away shooting fresh ones every Spring the flowers are of a Crimson colour and very sweet which
afterwards turn into small soft Cones like to Cypresse Nuts while they are close but longer than they made of many fine scales lying one upon another standing on a short stalk having seed in the inside of every scale formed like a small bird with two wings and a small sweet kernel within them like the Pine kernel the wood is very firm hard and close long in growing and long lasting It yieldeth forth a liquid Rozen being bored veâ—y clear and white which is called Venice Turpentine There is also found upon the bodies and great boughs thereof a kind of hard and dry Mushroom called Agarick Place and Time It groweth plentifully in the Woods by Trent and in many other places of Germany and between Germany and Italy It shooteth forth leaves in the Spring and the blossomes presently after and the fruit is ripe towards the latter end of Summer The Turpentine is gathered in the hottest time of the Summer but the Agarick about November and December Governments and Vertues The Larix-tree is under the dominion of Venus the leaves bark and fruit are of the same temperature as those of the Pine-tree the Turpentine thereof taken to the quantity of an ounce will gently open the belly provoke Urine and cleanse the Reines Kidneys Reines Kidneys and Bladder and helps to dissolve the Stone Bladder Stone and drive forth the Gravel and gives ease to those that have the Gout Gravel Gout if it be rouled up in Sugar and taken it helps the running of the Reins But pills most excellent for the Gonorrhaea or running of the Reins may be made thereof in this manner Turpentine Pills for the Gonorrhaea or Running of the Reins Take Turpentine-and wash it in Plaintain and Rose-water then with the powder of white Amber red Corral Mastick and a little Camphire make it into Pills which are to be taken morning and Evening for certain dayes together It is good also for the Tissick and Consumption of the Lungs Tissick Lungs being taken with hony in an Electuary it expectorates tough flegm and helps those that are troubled with a continual Cough it is of excellent use also outwardly to be used as an ingredient amongst salves It doth both draw cleanse and heal all sores or Ulcers whether new or old and green Wounds the Chymical oyl drawn from Turpentine is more drying and consolidating than the Turpentine it self so that it is singular good to be used in Wounds Wounds Vlâ—ers and to warm and ease paines in the joints and sinews caused with cold and being mixed with oyl of St. Johns-wort it is singular good against Sprains Pains Sprains Wrinches and outward Bruises Bruises-freckles caused by falls or otherwise the parts being fomented This oyl being drank the quantity of twenty drops at a time in Ale or white Wine provokes Urine cleanseth and cureth all Ulcers and Sores in the Kidney Kidneys or Bladder Bladder or Uretory passages The water that is distilled with the oyl is good for freckles and spots in the Face A scruple in weight of that water taken in white Wine procureth a Vomit and giveth much ease to those whose Stomacks are overcharged with Flegm Agarick which is the Tuberous substance which groweth upon this tree is a good purging medicine and often used by it self but more commonly is mixed with other medicines of a purging quality to open obstructions of the Liver Spleen Liver Spleen and entrails it purgteh all vitious humors which offend the body It is usually corrected wich Ginger and given with Oxymel that is a sirrup made with Vinegar and Hony otherwise of it self it is apt to trouble the Stomack and cause Vomiting It purgeth thin and rotten tough flegm both yellow hard and black burnt Choller Flegm Choler from the Head and Brain Breast Lungs Head Lungs stomack Liver Stomack Liver and Spleen Spleen Gout and from the Reins joints Sinews and Muscles whereby it helpeth such as are troubled with the Gout Dropsie Falling-sickness Jaundise Chollick Dropsie Chollick Sciatica shortness of Breath Cough Consumption of the Lungs spitting of Blood paines of the Womb Blood Womb sharpness of Urine and the Wormes It is also helpful to cure all sorts of Agues Agues to ease griping pains of the Stomack and Belly and such as have had Falls and Bruises or are bursten-Bellied Half a dram or two scruples being taken in Wine either by the infusion or in powder is good against all poisons and bitings of Serpents The most usual way of preparing it for the other diseases before mentioned is to slice a dram and put it into a gentle purging decoction or an Infusion If it be boyled in Lye with other Cephalicks and the head washed therewith it comforteth the Brain Memory Brain Memory and giddinessof the Head and stayes Rhumes and Catarrhs and cleanseth it from scurff Rhumes Scurff and Dandriff Spurge-Laurel Names IT is also called Wild Laurel and in Latine Laureola Descript The Spurge Laurel springeth up usually but with one stem but sometimes with more very tough and pliant having a whitish thick tough bark branching forth into divers parts towards the tops whereon grow many long thick somewhat broad and shining dark green leaves longer smoother and softer than Bay-leaves and without any veins therein the flowers come forth towards the tops of the stalks and branches and at the joints with the leaves many set together which are somewhat long and hollow having four small leaves of a whitish yellow green colour after which come small round and somewhat long black berries when they are ripe wherein is contained a white kernell the root groweth deep into the ground and spreadeth with long white strings and is somewhat wooddy The leaves flower bark and root are very hot in tast burning the mouth and Throat of any that shall tast them the leaves continue green all the Winter Place Spurge Laurel groweth Wild in many places of this land particularly in Cobham Park in Kent Time It floureth very early as about January if the Winter be mild and the berries are ripe about June Government and Vertues Mars rules this plant both leaves and berries hereof are violent purges of a heating burning quality so that they inflame the throat and Stomack of whosoever shall take thereof yet being given advisedly and prepared by a skilful hand it cleanseth the Stomack of Flegm Flegm Terms both by purge and Vomit it driveth down Womens Courses and being chewed in the Mouth it draweth down much corrupt matter from the Head and brain if the leavs and berries when they are fresh be boyled in oyl and the oyle strained forth this oyle looseneth the belly and helpeth the Chollick the belly being anointed therewith it provokes Urine and helpeth the Piles some give the powder of the leaves in a little broth to ease the pains of the Chollick and purge forth watry humors in the Dropsie The
are sweetest But this Pina surpasseth all other fruits in the West-Indies for pleasantness and wholsomeness so that many eat them abundantly but a surfeit with them is dangerous as it is with the best Meats drinks or fruits whatsoever The Physitians there forbid it their Patients lest it should breed inflamations Some wonders are reported hereof which I never had experience of neither do intend to go thither to disprove them As namely That if one of these fruits be cut through the middle with a knife and they joyned together again the peices will joyn and stick so fast together as if they had not been cut asunder at all Another property it hath that if one cut the fruit with a knife and leave the knife sticking therein untill the next day so much of the blade thereof as stuck within the fruit will be wholy consumed and wasted or as it were eaten away the knife also that did cut one of them if it be not forthwith clean wiped but let alone unwiped will seem as if it had been eaten in with Aqua fortis Descript 2. Wild-Indian Pine Anana Sylvestris this Wild kind of Pine groweth naturally both greater higher and more prickly or thistle-like having a great tuft of leaves at the bottom of their stalks or stems next the ground seeming to be Aloe-leave afar off but lesser and of a pale green colour set with sharp prickles It is increased by the off-sets one arising from another from the main stem grow sundry branches bearing at their ends heads of soft tender leaves closed round together which are nothing but the flowers and are of a yellowish colour smelling very sweet out of these heads rise spikes not unlike to those of the Reed but thicker closer set and far more beautiful smelling like the Cedar from the branches hang down the fruit called by the Portugalls Anana's Breva's that is Wild Anan's or Pina's which do somewhat resemble the manured ones of the bigness of a Melon of a beautiful red colour very pleasant to behold which is divided into parts like unto Cypresse-nuts when they are dry and set with bunches or knobs very much resembling a Cone or Pine-apple which are nothing so good although a little pleasant but harsh withal whereof few do at for pleasure but they are more physically used Government and Vertues These rare fruits are plants of Venus and of a moderate temperature six or eight ounces of the juice of this Wild kind taken in a morning fasting with some Sugar is a most present and certain remedy against the heat or inflamations of the Liver or Back Liver Back and is of singular use and very effectual against Ulcers inflamations and soreness of the Kidneyes and Bladder and foul purulentous Urines Kidneys Bladder Vrines and is good for the Excoriations of the Yard all which diseases this cureth in three dayes time The Pine-tree Kinds THer are two kinds of the Pine-tree that is the Garden and the wild Pine-tree and of the Wild Pine-tree there be divers sorts Names The Pine-tree is called in Latine Pinus and the nuts which are found in the Pine-apples are called in Latine Nuces Pineae in English Pine-Apple kernels or nuts in French Pignous The tame or Garden kind of Pine-apple is also called in Latine Pinus Sativa and the wild Pine is called in Latine Pinaster and Pinus Sylvestris the first wild kind is supposed to be the Pinus Tarentina whereof Pliny writeth the second kind is called in Latine humilis Pinus or Pinus terrestris and in Italian Mughi The third is called in some places in the Mountains betwixt Italy and Germany Cambri and Cirmoli and is that kind which the French-men call Sniffe The Fourth is called in Latine Pinus Idaea The fift is called in Latine Pinus marina and in French Pin-marin The fruit of the Pine-tree is called in Latine Conus and nux pinea and in English a Cone or Pine-apple in French Pome de pin Descript The Pine-tree groweth to a great and lofty height with many branches at the top parted into other round branches set round about with little hard leaves and almost sharp-pâ—inted or prickly very straight and narrow and of a green whitish colour The Timber is red and heavy and within about the heart full of sap and liquor The fruit is great balls of a brown Chesnut colour which are called Cones or Pine-apples in which grow small nuts wherein is a sweet white kernel Descript 1. Of the first Wild kind The first wild sort of the Pine-trees is high great and thick and yet not so high as the Tame or Garden Pine the branches be spread abroad with long sharp-pointed leaves the fruit is short and not hard which doth open easily and soon falleth Descript 2. The second kind of the wild Pine doth not grow so high neither is the stem growing straight up but bringeth forth many branches suddenly from the root creeping by the ground long slender and pliable or easie to be bent or ployed insomuch that hereof they may make hoops for Wine Hogs-heads and other Vessels and Casks the fruit of this tree is greater than the fruit of any other of the Wild Pine-trees Descript 3. The third kind groweth straight upright and waxeth great and high yet not so high as the other Wild kinds the branches of this sort do grow like the Pitch-tree the fruit is long and big almost like the fruit of the Pitch-tree in the same is contained triangled small nuts like to the Nuts of the Pine-apple but smaller and britler with a kernel of a very good taste like unto the kernel of the tame Pine Descript 4. The fourth wild kind hath a long hard fruit the which will not open easily nor fall lightly from the tree Descript 5. The fifth kind hath small round nuts not much greater than Cypresse-nuts the which will open and fall quickly From out of these trees cometh that liquor called Rozen especially from the wild-trees and it runneth most commonly out of the bark or from the Timber and is sometimes found in the fruit And from these trees cometh also Pitch both liquid and hard Place and Time The Tame or Garden Pine groweth in many places in Greece Italy Spain France and in some places in England where it hath been planted The wild Pines grow upon Mountains and that sometimes on very high Mountains where none other Trees or Herbs do grow especially the first wild kind which also groweth in Germany Poland Leifland and other cold Regions The fruit or Pine-apples are ripe in September Government and Virtues The Pine-trees are under the dominion of Saturn the bark is dry and astringent especially the scales of the Cones or Apples and the leaves be almost of the same temperature The kernels of the nuts are hot and moist and somwhat astringent The scales of the Pine-apple with the bark of the Pine tree do stop the Lask and bloudy-flux and provoke Urine Lask-Bloody Flux Vrine
major This greater Sea-plantane hath a number of small long leaves almost like Grass but that they are stiffe and hard sometimes lying upon the ground and sometimes from a stem under them raised a little higher of a grayish or hoary green colour and having on some of them some small gashes on the edges among which rise up naked stalks about half a foot high with small spikey heads like unto Plantane-heads set at the top of them wherein also is contained such like Seed the root is somewhat thick long and woody with some fibres growing thereat Descript 4. The lesser Sea-Plantane with Grassy leaves Holosteum angusti-folium minus This lesser Holosteum is very like the former but that it is smaller and scarce having any dent on the edges and groweth much lower not exceeding three or four inches in height having such like heads but smaller Descript 5. Candy Sea-Plantane Holosteum Creticum sive Leontopodium Creticum This plant hath a reddish root somewhat great and as it were scaly at the head growing smaller downwards and spread into many long fibres from whence springeth up many long and narrow soft woolly leaves a hand-breadth long with three Ribs in each of them among which rise up divers small and short footstalks about two or three inches long and covered with a soft woolliness on every one whereof standeth a thick short reddish woolly head like unto a Plantane-head having divers whitish flowers upon them with blackish spots within them seeming so many holes in them which after they are past have small brownish Seeds inclosed in their husks very like unto Plantane-Seed or the Seed of Psyllium or Fleawort which heads when they are fully ripe do bend downwards to the ground and are so drawn or bended together that they resemble herein a Lyons-foot clasped together whereof it obtained the name of Leonto-podium Descript 6. Mouse-tail Holosteum Loniceri cauda muris vocatum This being in tast and property like unto these Holostea's is therefore ranked amongst them It shooteth forth divers small Grassy leaves very short rough and hard among which spring divers small slender stalks with small long blackish green spiked heads like unto a small Plantane-head but smaller with white flowers on them which quickly fade and fall away after which there are found very small blackish Seeds in the long heads which then in some are a little crooked and in others straight resembling a Mouse-tail the root is small and threddy Place and Time The first groweth in divers places about our Sea-coasts aswell as others The second of both sorts groweth in Valentia Salamanca and divers other parts of Spain as Clusius saith the third and fourth as saith Mathiolus by the Sea-side in Italy Camerarius saith by a lake of Salt-water neer Istebia which is in Germany The fifth in Candia The last groweth in many fertile Pastures and Meadowes as also on dry Banks and by the path-sides in divers places of our own Land They do flower in the Moneths of June and July and their Seed ripeneth quickly after The last which is the earliest of them all flowreth often in April and is almost gone in May. Government and Vertues These are of the same temperature and regiment as our ordinary Plantanes so very little differing in quality of cold dryness that all the virtues of the other Plantanes may properly be attributed to these onely the third kind Mathiolus saith that the people of Gorilia who call it Serpentina have used it to very good purpose as he himself also saith he hath found by good experience against the Bitings or stingings of Venemous Beasts Serpents serpents-bitings especially as also to help those that are troubled with the Dropsie especially that which hath possessed the whole body The Mouse-tail is cooling and drying like the Plantane and the Country people in some places of this Land apply it not onely to those that bleed at the Nose Dropsie bleeding at the Nose by bruising of the leaves and putting it up therin or pounding it and letting the party snuffe up the juice but also use it with good effect to stay the much bleeding of Wounds and to heal them up it being a singular good Wound-herb The Pomegranate-Tree Kinds and Names THe Pomgranate-tree is distinguished into three kinds that is The manured Pomegranate bearing fruit and the greater and lesser wild kinds the first is called Malus Punica and Malus granata and the fruit Malum Punicum and Malum granatum because it is supposed that they wer brought over from that part of Africa where old Carthage stood into that part of Spain which is now called Granada and froâ— thence called Granatum The flowers of the manured kind Dioscorides saith are called Citini but Pliny calleth the flowers the wild kind Citinus and the flowers of both kinds Balaustium but Cytinus is more properly the cup wherein do stand the flowe of both kinds and Balaustium is with us generally taken for the doble flowers of the wild kind only Descript 1. The Pomgranate-tree bearing fruit Malus Punica saâ—va This Tree groweth not great in the warm Countries and where it is natural not above seven or eight foot high spreading into manny slender branches here and there set with thorns and with many very fair green shining leaves like in form and bigness unto the leaves of large Myrtle-leaves every one upon a small reddish footstalk Among the leaves come forth here and there the flowers which are like Bell-flowers broad at the brims and smaller at the bottom being one whole leaf divided at the top into five parts of an orient red Crimson colour naturally but much paler with us and many veins running through it with divers threds in the middle and standing in a brownish hollow cup or long hard husk the fruit is great and round with a hard smooth brownish red rind not very thick but yellowish on the inside and a Crown at the top stored plentifully with a most cleer Liquor or juice like Wine either sweet or sower or between both full of seeds inclosed in skins and the liquor among them Sometimes this breaketh the rind as it groweth which will cause it to rot very soon Descript 2. The greater double blossomed Pomgranate-tree Malus Punica Sylvestris major sive Balaustium majus The great wild Pomegranate-tree groweth into slender brownish branches with some thorns amongst them and shining green leaves somewhat larger than the former but it is a shrubbish low Tree naturally from the branches shoot forth flowers very double as large as a double Provence-Rose but with shorter small leaves of an excellent bright crimson colour tending to a silken carnation standing in brownish hard cups or husks divided into five parts but no fruit followeth Descript 3. Balaustium minus the lesser double Pomgranate-tree There is but little difference in this from the other the leaves onely are of a sadder green colour the flowers smaller and lesse thick and double and of a sadder
cleanse the body of the watry humours of the dropsie the second sort is used to the same purposes of the last little is said but being alike in form it may be so likewise in quality Sarsaparilla THis is reckoned amongst the sorts of prickly bindweeds of which there are two sorts and this Sarsaparilla brought from the West-Indies makes the third kind Their names with their Descriptions severally follow Descript 1. Prickly Bindweed with red berries called in Latine Smilax aspera fructu rubro This groweth up with many branches wherewith it windeth about trees and other things set with many crooked pricks or thorns like a bramble all the whole length bending this way and that in a seemly proportion at every joynt it boweth or bendeth it self having somewhat a broad and long leaf thereat standing upon a long foot-stalk and is broad at the bottom with two forked round ends and then groweth narrower unto the point The middle rib on the backside of most of them having many small thorns or pricks and also about the edges The lowest being the largest and growing smaller up to the top smooth and of a fair green colour and sometimes spotted with white spots at the joynts with the leaves also come forth clasping tendrels like as a Vine hath whereby it winds it self the flowers stand at the tops of the branches at three or four joynts many breaking forth in a cluster which are white composed of six leaves a piece star-fashion and sweet in scent after which come the fruit which are red berries when they are ripe of the bigness of Asparagus berries or small grapes and in some lesser wherein are contained sometime two or three hard black stones like also unto those of Asparagus the root is slender white and long in hard dry grounds not spreading far but in the looser and moister places running down into the ground a pretty way with divers knots and joynts thereat and sundry long roots running from thence Descript 2. Prickly Bindweed with black berries Smilax aspera fructu nigro This other prickly bindweed groweth like the former his branches being joynted in like manner with thorns on them but nothing so many climbing like the former the leaves are somewhat like it but not having those forked ends at the bottom of every leaf but almost wholly round and broad at the bottom of a darker green colour also seldome having any thorns or pricks either on the back or edges of the leaves with tendrels like a Vine also the flowers come forth in the same manner and are Star-fashion consisting of six leaves like the other of an incarnate or blush-colour with a round red umbone in the middle of every one which is the beginning of the berry which when it is ripe will be black being more sappy or fleshy than the other with stones or kernels within them like unto it the roots hereof are bigger and fuller than the former for the most part and spreading further under the ground Descript 3. Sarsaparilla of America Smilax aspera Peruana The Sarsaparilla that cometh from America into Spain hath been seen fresh even the whole plant and hath been verified in all things to resemble the prickly Bindweed and in nothing different from it But certainly the Plant of Sarsaparilla that groweth in Peru and the West-Indies is a peculiar kind of it self differing from the Smilax aspera as Mechoacan doth from our Briony This doth wind it self about Poles or any thing else it can lay hold on to climb on the branches have crooked prickles growing on them as the Smilax aspera hath but fewer and not so sharp it hath very green leaves like those of Bindweed but longer and cornered like Ivy-leaves ending in a long point the flowers are said to be very great and white every one as big as a middle-sized dish which opening in the morning fadeth at night which occasioned the Spaniards to call the whole Plant Buenas noches that is goodnight Gerard describes the Sarsaparilla to be the roots of a shrub having leaves like Ivy but saith nothing of the flowers or fruit which it may be believed was not then discovered Although I have set down the usual and common names of these three kinds in their Descriptions both English and Latine yet because the word Smilax is among writers diversly taken and with various and several significations it is not improper here by the way to make some exposition thereof It is taken for two sorts of trees and it is also taken for three kinds of herbs Theophrastus maketh mention of one of the trees in lib. 3. cap. 16. of his History calling it Smilax Arcadum a soft Oak which is like unto an Ilex or Holly-oak The other which the Grecians call Smilax simply is called in Latine Taxus the Yew-tree The Herbs are first this here expressed aswell as the other more gentle sort which is the common Bindweed this the Grecians call Smilax Tracheia Smilax Aspera as they call the other Smilaxlia Smilax Laevis sive levis And the other the Grecians call Smilax Kepaia Smilax hortensis which is Dolichus or Phaseolus the French or Kidney Bean. Place and Time The two first grow in Italy Spain and other the warmer Countries whether Continent or Isles throughout Europe and Asia The third is found onely in the West-Indies The best is said to come from the Honduras others not so good from other places as the fertility or barrenness of the ground and the temperature of the Climate affordeth it and it hath ripe berries early in hot Countries Government and Virtues These are all plants of Mars of an healing quality howsoever used Diascorides saith that both leaves and berries being drunk before or after any deadly poyson is taken are a remedy there-against Remedy against deadly poyson serving to expell it It is said also saith he that if to a new born Child some of the juice of the berries hereof be given it shall not be hurt by Poyson ever after it is given as an antidote against all sorts of Poison and Venemous things Venomous things if a dozen or sixteen of the berries being beaten to powder be given in wine it procureth Urine Procureth Vrine cleanseth the Reins inward Inflamations Heat and Redness in the Eyes Dryeth Humours and washeth away when it is stopped the distilled water of the flowers being drunk worketh the same effect and cleanseth the Reins asswageth inward inflamations If the eyes be washed therewith it taketh away all heat and redness in them And if the Sores of the Legs be washed therewith it healeth them throughly The true Sarsaparilla is held generally not to heat but rather to dry the humours yet it is easily perceived that it doth not only dry the humours but wasteth them away by a secret and hidden property therein much whereof is performed by sweating which it performeth very effectually It is much used in many kinds of diseases as in all cold
causeth an easie and speedy birth when they are in travail It killeth the Worms of the belly both long and round if the herb and seed of the lesser kind be taken with Hysop Cresses and Nitre the leaves bruised and applyed to the places pained with the Gout or that are out of joynt and being set are full of pain do give much ease as also for Children which are troubled with an Inflamation in the parts about the brain and the tunicles thereof The seed of the greater or least kind being rubbed with a little salt upon warts or wens and other hard kernels or Excrescencies in the face eye-lids or any other part of the body will take them away by consuming them by little and little with often using it The dying or colouring Turnsole is good against all venemous creatures chiefly against the great Spider Phalangium and the stinging of Scorpions being applyed thereto The Vine Kinds THere are great varieties of Vines both of the manured and wild kinds most whereof came at first from one original but alter in nature and in the wine as the Climate differs Descript 1. The manured Vine Vitis vinifera This where it hath stood long groweth to have a great stem spreading without end or measure if it be suffered many slender weak branches that must be propped up from falling down the young being red and the old of a dark colour with a pyth in the midst at the sundry ioynts whereof grow several large broad green leaves cut into five divisions and dented also about the edges at the joynts likewise against the leaves come forth long twining Tendrels clasping or winding about whatsoever it can take hold of at the bottom of the leaves come forth clusters of small greenish yellow flowers and after them berries set thick together in branches of several forms of greatness colour and taste in some the clusters are close and others more open and some being long others more round tending to a square some likewise are very small as the Curran-grape others great and some in a mean between both some are white others black or blewish or red or parti-coloured and for tastes they are very variable some sweet according to the several Climates they grow in and sowr or harsh or mixt more or less pleasant one than another within which there are usually one two or three kernels They that keep their Vines in the best manner do keep them low and cut them often whereby they grow the better and take up less room bringing their grapes both fairer and sweeter Descript 2. The Parsly-Vine or Grape with thin-cut leaves Vitis laciniatis foliis This also groweth as other Vines do the difference chiefly consisting in the leaves which are very much incised or cut into many parts even almost to the middle and dented the grapes which are white and great are like the white muscadine-grape and of as good a rellish bearing great bunches and ripening with the middle sort of grapes Descript 3. The wild Vine of Europe Labrusca sive Vitis sylvestris Europaea The wild Vine in regard it is natural and therefore neglected lyeth for the most part on the ground and therefore is less fruitful unless it meet with some hedge or tree whereon it may climb and then spreadeth as the manured being both in branches leaves and tendrels like unto the manured Vine as also in blossomes but beareth either little or no fruit or seldome cometh to ripeness and what it doth is small and black and no way comparable to any of the manured Vines being rather binding and sowr than sweet Descript 4. The wild Vine of Virginia Vitis sylvestris Virginiana This one sort of the Vines of Virginia like all other wild sorts runneth on the ground and taketh hold of whatsoever it meeteth with being in all things like the former wild sorts but that the grapes are small and white and with little sap or juice in them and the kernels twice as big as others There is another sort that hath bigger blew grapes and sowr in taste a third they call the Fox-grape and hath a more rugged bark a very broad leaf without any division almost but dented and the grape is white but smelleth and tasteth like unto a Fox Descript 5. The wild Vine of Canada This groweth like unto the other wild Vines of those parts with slender reddish branches climbing where it can get thereon but the leaves on them being little more than half so large as the manured Vine hath only three partitions in every leaf but each cut-in deep even to the long smooth stalk whereon they stand making them seem as three leaves which are of a dark green colour and somewhat thick also the fruit is like the other wild sorts having more skin and kernel than substance or juice The cheifest sorts of grapes whereof Wines are made and which are brought unto us are these The Damasco white grape which is the true Vvae Zibebae that the Apothecaries should use in several of their compositions if they can get it The Muscadine grape both white and red most if not all destroyed by the Turks The Frontiniack or Musk-grape The Particoloured-grape The Raisin of the Sun-grape The Curran-grape is the small blew currans that the Grocers use have no kernels whereof there is another sort that beareth red berries almost as small but not so sweet but rather a little tarter The small early black grape The black grape of Orleance There is a grape without stones g owing in many places as by the River Zyreck near Ascalon in Palestina giving a red wine as also in divers places of Arabia and in the Maderas There is reported also to be a Vine that beareth green leaves continually yet yieldeth fruit but at the same times that others do There is said likewise to be some that bear twice in a year and some oftner having both ripe and green fruit together at one time upon the tree Place and Time The manured kinds are planted every where and according to the Soyl and Climate is both the rellish and strength of every sort For the Vine that groweth in the Canary Islands is the same with that at Malaga and Sherris and yet the one excelleth the other still in strength and sweetness the other wild sorts are all expressed in their Titles The first wild sort in sundry places of Europe both Italy France and Germany The wild sorts flower somewhat later than the manured and therefore what fruit they bear must likewise be ripe later than others Government and Virtues The Vine hath in it so many divers differing and contrary properties some cold some hot some sweet some sowr some mild some sharp and some moistning and others drying that they may be assigned to several stars But the glorious Planet the Sun hath the sole Regiment of this most noble Plant I shall distinctly set down the names of the several parts of the Plant and such medicaments and wines as
are taken from it which are the weakest before the last and strongest riseth but not the last which is the Empireuma and serveth even as the vinegar it self doth but with more force and as the vehiculum wherein the tincture and spirits of simple medicines are reserved Vinum Wine To shew all the several colours scents strengths ages and tastes of simple wines were an Herculean labour and so it is likewise to shew you all the sorts of compound or artificial wines which are as infinite as the herbs roots seeds or other parts of them are and take their names from the several Ingredients that compound them I shall therefore set down the particular properties of Wine it self both as it is mediclnable and nourishing Wine taken moderately by such as are of a middle age or well in years or are of a cold and dry Constitution it increaseth blood Increaseth blood Nourisheth Appetite Vrine Raw humors Vital Spirits Leanness Fears Cares Heaviness Stomach Liver and nourisheth much procureth an appetite and helpeth to digest being taken at meat it provoketh Urine and driveth forth raw humours thereby strengthneth the vital spirits and procureth a good colour in them that want it or are macilent drawing to a Consumption so as it be not accompanyed with a Feaver It expelleth fears cares and heaviness It doth comfort all cold infirmities of the stomach Liver Spleen and womb and helpeth windy swellings in the body and general evi dispositions thereof green-sickness and the dropsie Virtues of the true Spirit of wine The pure spirit of wine must be taken but very little in quantity and that not of it self but in some wine or other liquor for fear of inflaming the bloud and spirits and chiefly upon symptoms and passions of the heart And then taken with respect and good consideration it worketh much more effectual than the wine it self doth to all the purposes aforesaid in comforting and nourishing the natural heat in elder persons given strength and quickness to the senses Strength Senses Memory Brain Faintings Heart Wind Poysons Headach Toothach Sores it repaireth memory and the cold and moist diseases of the brain helpeth the fainting and trembling of the heart warmeth a cold and moist stomach helpeth digestion expelleth wind from the sides and belly and all cold poysons Being outwardly applyed to the Temples it easeth the pains in the head and cold distillations and the Toothach being gargled a little and cicatrizeth old Sores These Spirits of wine aswel as the wine it self serve as a vehiculum to draw out the tincture of divers things The Lees of wine being hardned is called Tartarum Tartar or Argall and that which is taken from the whitest wines is accounted the principal best for any medicine but the red sort serveth Goldsmiths and others to pollish silver and the Dyers to set their dye The best white Tartar is either given of it self simply being made into powder and taken the quantity of a dram at a time in some convenient drink or broath for some time together in Dropsies or evil dispositions of the body Dropsies Vrine Siege Watry humors to expell both by urine and siege those wheyish and watry humors thereof and applyed to womens breasts that are over-full of milk doth dry it up But the Cremor tartari which is the purer part thereof and especially if it be made as clear as crystal doth work more safely and more effectually than the crude Tartar can do but this Tartar that is calcined until it be white hath then put off all purging quality and hath gained a Caustick burning property that will corrode and eat away-scabbed nails and warts and soon be brought into a salt and will also soon be resolved into an oyl or liquor if it be layd upon a stone or hung up in a linnen bag in a moist cellar to be received as it dropped down it is of admirable use in chymical operations There is another kind of oyl of Tartar of a far milder temper and is more like unto clear water which is very effectual to cleanse the skin from all manner of spots scars morphew Spots Scarrs Morphew Hair or discolourings whatsoever and maketh it smooth and amiable and will help to bring on hair on the places decayed The wild vines are in property no less cooling but more binding than the branches of the manured stayeth the lask and spitting of blood Lask Spitting of blood Stomach Sore mouths Privy parts Eyes provoking Urine and is pleasing to a hot stomach or that loatheth meat the leaves hereof are as good for Lotions as the other for sores in the mouth privy parts and Fundament The ashes of the branches are likewise used to clear the Eye-sight of filmes and what else may offend them to cleanse sores and Ulcers and to take away the over-growing skins of the nayls of the hands or toes Indian wheat Maiz. Frumentùm Indicum vel Turcicum vulgare Kinds THere are two sorts hereof the greater and the lesser Descript 1. The usual Indian or Turkey wheat This Indian wheat shooteth from the root which is thick and bushy sundry strong and tall stalks about eight foot high as thick as a mans wrist if it grow in any rank ground full of great joynts with a white pyth in the middle of them the leaves are long twice as large as of Millet at the tops come forth many feather-like spâ—igs bending downwards like unto the top of Millet which are either white or yellow or blew as the grains in the ears will prove which fall away nothing appearing after them but while they are in slower at the joynts of the stalks with the leaves from within two or three of the lower joynts up towards the tops come forth the ears one at a joynt which have many leaves folded over them smallest at the top with a small long bush of threads or hairs hanging down at the ends which when they are ripe are to be cut off which folds of leaves being taken away the head appeareth much like unto a long Cone or Pine-apple set with six or eight or ten rowes of Cornes orderly and closely set together each being almost as big as a pease not fully round but flat on the sides that joyn one to another of the same colour on the outside as the bloomings were hard but brittle and easie to be broken or ground with white meal within them somewhat dry and not clammy in the chewing Descript 2. The other lesser Indian wheat Frumentum Indicum alterum sive minus This other Indian wheat is like the former both in stalks and leaves but not half so high or great the ears likewise are not half so big of as differing colours as it but they do not grow at the joynts of the stalks as the other but at the tops following the flowers which maketh a special difference between them the grain it self is being made into bread not of that nourishing quality as the