of England Nature and Vertues It is a Venerial Plant saith Culpepper but he forgets his Logick when he ascribed all bitter plants to Mars Fox-Gloves are bitter in taste hot and dry having a cleansing quality The Italians call this Herb Aralda and use this proverb concerning it Aralda tutte piaghe salda Aralda salveth all Sores they use it to heal green Wounds cutting the leaves and applying them they use also the juyce to cleanse and dry up old Sores it is found helpful for the Kings Evil the flowers stamped with fresh Butter and applyed or the juyce in an Oyntment the bruised leaves are also good being applyed but not so powerful being boiled in water or wine it consumes thick phlegm and viscous humours in the Chest and Stomach A syrrup may be made thereof with Sugar or honey for the same purpose and to cleanse the body of clammy humours and open the Liver and Spleen by later experience it hath been found to cure many of the falling Sickness taking the decoction of two handfuls thereof with four ounces of Pollipody of the Oak bruised Mr. Culpepper magnifies an Oyntment thereof for a Scabby Head Fumitory Fumaria IT is a tender sappy Plant Description sending forth from one square slender stalk leaning downwards many branches two or three foot long with fine jagged leaves of a pale blueish or Sea-green colour the flowers stand like a long spike one above another on the tops of the branches of a reddish purple colour with whitish bellies commonly yet in Cornwal it bears perfect white flowers it bears a small black seed contained in small round husks the root is yellow and small full of juyce while it is green but quickly perishes with the ripe seed Names The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Fumus terrae and Fumaria in English Fumitory Places and Time It grows in Corn Fields almost every where as well as in Gardens It flowers for the most part in May and the seed is ripe in August Nature and Vertues It is a bitter herb which sheweth it to be hot and is hot in the first degree and dry in the second it gently purges melancholly and salt humours opens and cleanses the Entrails and strengthens those parts it purges chollerick humours by Vrine and helps soul diseases of the skin as the Itch c. arising from adust bumours and the French Pox it prevails in chollerick Fevers the Jaundies and Quartain Agues and chronical diseases arising from stoppings of the viscerous parts three or four ounces of the distilled water drunk morning and evening cures the yellow Jaundies and is good against the Itch and Leprosie A dram or two of London Treacle and a scruple of Bole-Armonick taken in two ounces of the water is good in the Pestilence it provokes the Terms and dissolves congealed blood The decoction helps the Gout the feet being bathed therewith The distilled Water with some honey of Roses helps Sores and Vlcers of the Mouth the juyce dropped into the Eyes clears the sight and the juyce having a little Gum-Arabick dissolved therein and applyed to the Eye-lids where the hair hath been pulled off will keep it from growing again the juyce mixed with the juyce of Docks Oximel and Vinegar cures the Morphew and a bath made of the same with Barley Bran Mallows Violets Nep and Dock Roots cures Scabs Itch and Leprosie Wheals and Pimples in the Face or elsewhere Fursbush or Furres THese are so well known they need no description Names In Norfolk they are called Whinns in some Countreys Goss and in Hampshire Furres Place and Time They plentifully grow in dry barren Heaths and sandy Grounds and flower in the middle of Summer and are seldom without flowers at any time of the year Nature and Vertues They are under the dominion of Mars hot and dry the flowers are effectual to open obstructions of the Liver and Spleen and the decoction thereof is good against the yellow Jaundies provokes Vrine and cleanses the Kidneys and Bladder from the Gravel and Stone Galanga THis plant grows in the East Indies and China from whence it is brought to us Nature and Vertues It is hot and dry almost in the third degree it is profitable in all cold Diseases of the Stomach it helps concoction expells winde from it being boiled in Wine and taken morning and evening it helps a moist brain and the Vertigo trembling of the Heart and knawings of the Stomach it cleanses the passages of the Vrine provokes Venery helps conception and remedies cold and windy distempers of the Womb being drunk with the water or juyce of Plantain it stops the bloody Flux and strengthens nature helps the trembling of the Heart and comforts the brain half a dram of the powder thereof is the dose at one time to be taken in the morning or an hour before meat Garlick Allium IF you smell ones breath that hath eaten it you may know it by the scent Names Allium the Latines call it and Gallen Theriaca Rusticorum Countreymans Treacle in English Garlick It is planted in small cloves in Gardens which grow to great heads by the latter end of Summer Nature and Vertues It is hot and dry in the fourth degree a Martial Plant it heats the body being eaten digesting and consuming tough and clammy humours opens obstructions remedies cold poisons and the bitings of venomous Beasts it helps old Coughs provokes Vrine kills Worms breaks Winde helps the Chollick and Dropsie proceeding of cold it stirs up natural heat and helps a cold and moist Stomach it is good against the biting of mad Dogs for shortness of breath the cold Head-ache Consumption of the Lungs and pissing of Blood being tempered with Honey and the parts anointed with it cures scabbed Heads Scurff Morphew and Tetters the Ashes strewed in Vlcers heals them being applyed with Figs and Commyn it cures the biting of a Shrew-Mouse Vices Many are the Vertues of Garlick yet accompanied with some Vices it is hurtful for young men and chollerick persons for women with Childe and such as give suck and being eaten raw too liberally it dims the sight offends the Stomach and burns the Blood it is good for old cold and phlegmatick persons the best way of preparing it is to boil it well either in milk or otherwise and eat it with Oyl or Vinegar Gentian or Felwort Gentiana MAster Coles reckons six sorts hereof to grow within Great Brittain Description Master Culpepper but two which I shall onely describe The first hollow leaved Felwort or English Gentian hath small long roots deep in the ground and abiding all Winter having stalks of a brownish green colour with long narrow dark green leaves set by couples up to the top the flowers are long and hollow of a purple colour with five corners The other smaller sort hath many stalks not a foot high with several branches the leaves very like those of the lesser Centaury of a
very dangerous being mach haunted by Tygers Temperature and Vertues It is hot and dry in the second and according to the judgement of some in the third degree of subtle parts a little astringent and bitter This wood is used as a main Ingredient in those Powders and Electuries which are used to strengthen the heart and inward parts to resist saintings and cold diseases of the heart and corroborate the spirits for which it is very essectual It is also useful in the Apoplexy Palsie Lethargy and left Memory by strengthning and drying the brain and stopping rheumatick defluxions which cause those Diseases It helps faint Swetings Dysenteries Lasks and Pleurisies expells Winde dryeth up Crudities fortisies a weaks Stomach and resists Putrefaction for which it is used in drivers Cordials and Antidotes The Extract thereof it good for the forementioned Diseases It is used outwardly in sumigations to dry up Rheum and in Quilts for that purpose it helps also cold diseases of the Womb The fumigation thereof is said also to provoke the Tearms it helps told diseases of the Womb and killeth Worms by reason of its bitterness as much of the powder thereof as will lye upon a groat being taken three mornings together either in broth or wine is profitable in diseases of the Liver and Spleen openeth their obstructions and strengtheneth them Yarrow Millefolium IT hath many long leaves lying upon the ground Description which are divided or finely cut into many small parts finer then Tansie a little jagged about the edges amongst which rise up two stalks round and green with such leaves but smaller and finer the nearer the tops where stand many small white flowers upon a tuft or umbel each flower having five leaves with a yellowish thrum in the middle somewhat strong in scent but not unpleasant The Root is deep and spreading consisting of many white fibres Names It is called in Latine Millefolium and of some Supercilium Veneris in English Millefoil Yarrow Nose-bleed and thousand leaf Place and Time There are very few Pasture-grounds free from it they flower in July and August Nature and Vertues Yarrow is meanly cold and dry and somewhat astringent an Herb of Venus and is excellent good for Vlcers and Inflammations of the Privities and for inward Excoriations of the Yard the juyce being injected with a Seringe Mathiolus commends it against pissing of blood an ounce of the powder of the herb and flowers with a dram of fine Bole-Armonick being taken three dayes together fasting in a draught of milk The same powder taken in Comphrey or plantain-Plantain-water is excellent to staqy inward bleadings and stayeth the bleeding of fresh wounds being strewed thereon and being put into the nostrils stayeth bleeding at rose The juyce put into the Eyes cleareth them of blood and redness and the rox or green leaves chewed in the mouth easeth the Tooth-aches The juyce of the herb and flow 〈◊〉 taken in Goats milk or the distilled water stayeth the running of the Reins in men especially if taken with a little powder of Corral Amber and Ivory The decoction of Yarrow in white wine being drunk stoppeth womens Courses and the bloody Flux and a good quantity thereof boiled in water and made into a bathe and sate over performeth the same It is good to close up the stomachs of those in whom the Retentive Faculty is so weak that they disgorge or vomit up whatsoever they eat It is a good Medicine for an Ague a draught thereof being drunk before the fit come and used for two or three fits together An Oyntment made of the herb is good for green wounds and also for Vlcers and Fistula's especially such as abound with moisture The said Oyntment or Oyl is good to stay the shedding of hair the head bieng anointed therewith Yew Tree Taxus THis Tree is well known for hard timber and good to make strong Bowes the Latine name thereof is Taxas but it is not mentioned by me for any medicinal Vertue that is in it though the bark thereof is by some used instead of that of Tamarisk I say not how judiciously Nature and Vertues Yew is hot and dry in the third degree and hath such an attractive quality that if it be set in a place subject to poysonous vapours the very branches will draw and imbibe them Hence it is conceived that the judicious in former times planted it in Church-yards on the West side because those places being fuller of putrefaction and gross oleaginous Vapours exhaled out of the Graves by the setting Sun and sometimes drawn into those Meteors called Ignes fatui divers have been frighted supposing some dead bodies to walk others have been blasted c. not that it is able to drive away Devils as some superstitious Monks have imagined nor yet that it was ever used to sprinkle Holy-Water as some quarrel some Presbyters altogether as ignorant of natural Causes as the signification of Emblems and useful Ornaments have fondly conceived Wheresoever it grows it is dangerous and deadly both to man and beast according to most Authours how much more then if it be encompassed with Graves into which the lesser Roots will run and suck nourishment poisonous mans flesh being the rankest poison that can be yet a certain Vicar unwilling to own the effects thereof upon his Cows would fain deny it to be so Other Creatures as Rabbits have been poisoned with it and the very lying under the shadow hath been found hurtful Yet the growing of it in a Church-yard is useful and therefore it ought not to be cut down upon what pittiful pretence soever Zedoary Zedoaria IT is a Root growing in the East Indies Description called in Latine Zedoaria growing much like unto Ginger Nature and Vertues It is hot and dry in the second degree It stops Lasks and is good against venomous bitings stoppings and pains of the Stomach It stayes vomiting helps the Chollick amends a stinking Breath and is a very good Antidote against the Plague and other contagious Diseases FINIS An Alphabetical Table of all the Herbs and Plants contained in this Book with their several Latine Appellations directed to their several Pages A. ADders Tongue Ophioglossum Page 1 Adders-grass idem Page 1 Agrimony Eupatoria Page 2 Water-Agrimony Eupatorium Page 3 Agarick Agaricus Larix Page 172 Ague tree Sassafras Page 295 Agnus castus Chaste tree Page 4 Alecoast Costus hortorum Page 5 Alehoof Hedera terrestris Page 6 All-heal Panax Herculeum Page 7 Alexanders Hipposelinum Page 8 Black Alder-tree Alnus nigra Ibid. Alleluia Page 311 Almond-tree Amigdalum Page 9 Alkekengi Page 10 Angelica Page 11 Apple-tree Pomus Page 12 Apricock-tree Malus Armeniaca Page 13 Archangel Lamium Ibid. Aron Page 92 Arrach Atriplex Page 14 Arsmart Persicaria Page 15 Alkanet Fucus Herba Page 16 Amara dulcis Page 41 Amaranthus Page 346 Anemonies Herba venti Page 18 Artechokes Cinara Page 19 Assarabacca Asarum Page 20 Asparagus Corruda Ibid. Ash-tree Fraxinus Page 21 Asp or
and evening with a little milk against the heat of the Vrine and therefore is effectual in virulent Gonorrhea's it cleanseth foul Vlcers in the reins and bladder dissolves the stone in the reins kidneyes and bladder opens the uritory passages and provokes Vrine and helps those that make foul or bloudy Vrine the decoction of the fruit being taken in wine or water it likewise opens the liver and gall and therefore is good for the yellow Jaundies Angelica THere is both garden Angelica Description and wilde Angelica some also reckon up a water kinde it groweth up with great hollow stalks four or five foot high having broad divided leaves of a pale green colour at the top cometh forth large umbells of white flowers after which succeedeth flat round seeds somewhat whitish the root perisheth every year if it be suffered to seed not else Names Place and Time It 's common name with us both for Latine and English is Angelica it grows common in our Gardens and wilde likewise in many places flowers about July and the seed is ripe soon after Temperature and Vertues It is an herb of the Sun hot and dry almost to the third degree it opens and digesteth it is a great cordial for the heart in defending it from poison a dram thereof in powder being taken in the distilled water of the same plant and sweat upon it it heats and comforts the Blood and Spirits and is good against the Plague Pestilence and other infections the root being taken green helps such as are troubled with stuffings in their Stomack it also abates lust the water thereof and some of the root in powder helps cold and winde the Collick and Strangury Coughs Ptisick and other diseases of the Lungs and Breast it provokes womens Courses and helps to expell the after-birth it likewise provokes Vrine and helps the Chollick and Strangury The decoction helps inward bruises discusseth congealed blood it helps digestion is an excellent remedy for a Surfeit The decoction helps an Ague at two or three times taking if it be drunk and sweat upon before the fit comes The roots being taken in powder and made into a plaister with a little pitch helps the bitings of venomous creatures and mad dogs the water or juyce being dropped into the eyes and ears helps dimness of sight and 〈◊〉 The Apple-Tree Pomus IT is needless to describe the Apple trees nor reckon up their several kindes many sorts of them being generally known to almost every boy and is out of my purpose here many of them are early ripe in Summer others more late towards Winter which are most durable to keep some of them are sweet fragrant and odoriferous others more sharp The Names The tree is called in Latine Pomus and malus the fruit Pomum and malum The English name you have already Places and Time They grow wilde in the hedge rows and Woods in many places of this Land but the best are manured in Orchards they flower in April the fruit of the latest is ripe in October which is the John Apple Temperature and Vertues There is a great difference in Apples in regard there are both sweet sowre and bitter they are generally held to be cold and moist but the sweet and bitter do somewhat incline to heat but to omit the general use which is made of Apples both in City and Countrey they are effectual in hot diseases cooling the stomack and heart The Apple called a Pomewater being roasted and the pulp laboured in fair water till it be like that we call Lambs-wool and drunk going to bed helpeth such as are troubled with an involuntary passage of the seed either in dreams or otherwise and is also effectual for such as piss by drops Rotten apples are good to be applyed to the eyes which are blood-shotten or bruised by any stripe or stroke Apples expel melancholly humours and stir up mirth being roasted and eaten with rose water and sugar Cider and also Verjuyce do both singularly cool the stomack and is effectual in hot Agues and is good against casting and vomiting and the verjuyce being applyed to burnings or scaldings draweth out the fire and cools and heals the same Apricock-Tree Malus Armeniaca THis plant needs no description being very well known yet it is a tender plant in our cold Countreys for if a frost meet with the flowers or young fruit they are quickly gone Names It is called in Latine Malus Armeniaca the fruit Malum Armeniacum In English Apricocks Place and Time They are planted against walls in most Gentlemens Gardens and against the walls of houses too in many places They flower in March and the fruit is ripe about the latter end of July Temperature and Vertues This is one of Venus plums and is cold in the first degree and moist in the second the fruit is better to be eaten before meals then after because of their quick descension into the belly they cause other meats to descend the sooner There may an oyl be pressed out of the kernells of the stones which being taken in wine helpeth the Chollick and driveth forth the stone out of the reins and bladder helps pains in the ears hoarseness of the voice inflammations of the Piles Vlcers and the roughness of the tongue and throat The leaves I have proved effectual to dry up the corrupt matter of hot running scabs Archangel or Dead nettles Lamium THis herb is generally known Description it needs no description Names It 's called in Latine Lamium andVrtica mortua In English dead or blinde Nettle or Archangel Herbarists reckon up eight sorts hereof but I shall here mention onely three which are common and those are that with the white flower the red and the yellow Places and Time And these may be found under hedges old walls amongst rubbish by high wayes sides and in corners of Gardens which are not digged nor planted they flower about the Spring of the year and so continue all Summer Temperature and Vertues Archangel is hot and dry in the first degree bitter in taste under the dominion of Mars and it is good against Quartain Agues the flowers of the Archangel or the distilled waters stayeth the whites in women and the flowers of the red Archangel stayeth the reds The herb is effectual for Tumors or swellings of the Kings Evil in the throat to dissolve them being bruised with some Hogs Lard and applyed thereunto It also allayes the pains of the Gout or Sciatica and aches of the joynts being used in like manner it openeth obstructions and dissolveth the hardnesse of the Spleen by drinking the decoction of the herb in wine and applying the herb hot pultiswise to the Region of the Spleen it is a good repercussive in inflammations and stayeth the corroding of old Vlcers it cureth the rising up of the skin about the roots of the nails being applyed thereunto and is said to stanch bleeding at the nose the bruised herb being applyed to the nape of
it abates the redness of the face and nose caused by drinking or otherwise being given with Raisins as Wormseed is to Children it cleanseth the Matrix and so it doth the fume being received mixed with Rozin Bistort or Snakeweed Bistorta Form THis Herb hath a thick short knobbed root blackish without and reddish within crooked or wreathed together of a harsh astringent taste with divers blackish fibres thereon from whence ariseth divers leaves upon long foot stalks much like a dock leaf a little pointed at the ends of a blueish green on the upper side and of an Ash colour gray and a little purplish underneath having many veins therein the stalks are small and slender about half a yard high growing without leaves which beareth a spiky head of pale flesh coloured flowers which produceth small seed like unto Sorrel seed but greater Names It is called Bistorta and Serpentaria in English Bistort and Snakeweed Places and Time It grows in shadowy places at the foot of Hills in moist Grounds and Meadows I have found it in the Meadows by Wickomb in Buckinghamshire It flowers in May and the seed is ripe in July Nature and Vertues It is hot and dry in the third degree and astringent it is good against the bitings of Snakes and Serpents from whence it got its name and the poison of Toads Spiders and other venomous Creatures if the place be washed with the distilled water of the Roots and leaves It stayes all Fluxes cures inward Bleeding and Spitting of Blood and Vomiting the powder of the root being taken in Wine or the Decoction being drunk the juyce is good against the Polipus and other Sores of the Nose both the Leaves and Roots resist poison The root in powder taken in drink the quantity of a dram at a time expells the venome of the Plague small Pox Measels Purples and other Infectious Diseases driving it out by seating The Root in powder or the Decoction thereof being drunk helps Ruptures and Bruises dissolving congealed Blood The Decoction in Wine hindreth Abortion the leaves kill Worms in Children and helps them that cannot hold their Water if some juyce of Plantain be added thereto and outwardly applyed it helps the running of the Reins A dram of the root in powder taken in the water thereof wherein some Steel hath been quenched is essectual for the same the body being first purged The decoction of the whole plant is good for Wounds or Sores the decoction of the roots in water with some Pomegranate Pills and Flowers is a good injection to reduce the Matrix to its right place and stop the overflowing of the Courses the Roots will keep good a year or two The Dose in powder is from a Scruple to a Dram in decoction from one dram to two or three which may be made in posset drink bruising the root onely ☞ See more of this in Adam in Eden by W. Coles Blackthorn or Sloebush Spinus THe Black Thorn is very well known to every boy for its Sloes so that it needs no further description Names It is called in Latine Spinus in English Black Thorn and the Sloe Tree Place and Time They grow plentifully in Hedge-rowes in most places of this Land they flower usually in March if the Spring be forward yet the Sloes are not ripe till October Frosts bite them Nature and Vertues Both the Sloe Tree and Fruit is cooling drying and the Sloes howsoever used are effectual against Lasks Looseness and Fluxes of Blood either in men or women The decoction of the bark of the root performeth the like effects and caseth pains in the Sides Bowells and Guts that come by overmuch Scowring or Looseness the Conserve hath the same effect the distilled water of the Flowers steeped one night in Sack and drawn therefrom in a body of glass easeth gnawings in the Stomach Sides and Bowels to drink a small quantity when they are troubled therewith Sloes being stamped and tunned up in an earthen pot with new Ale and so drunk helps pains in the Breast and the decoction of the Bark is good against pissing in bed The distilled water of the green Sloes and Flowers as also the decoction of the green leaves is good to wash a sore Mouth or Throat and to stay distillations of Rheume into the eyes and to case hot pains of the Head the Forehead and Temples being bathed therewith ☞ See more of this in the Art of Simpling written by W. Coles Blites Blitue THere are two kindes of Blites white and red the white groweth up two or three foot the leaves are somewhat like Beets but smaller rounder and of a whitish green colour the Flowers grow on the tops in long tufts or clusters wherein is contained a small round seed the roots is fibrous Names It is called in Latine Blitus and Blitum in English Blite and Blites Place and Time Both sorts are found wilde in many places of this Land and are also nourished in some Gardens they slourish all Summer seeds about August or September and continues green all Winter Quality and Vertues Blites are cold and moist in the second degree under the dominion of Venus their Physical use is to restrain Fluxes of Blood other in man or woman the red stay the Reds and the white the Whites in women The white Blite is proved a delightful bait to Fishes as Anglers say Bloodwort Vide Docks Borrage Borrago THe Garden Borrage is so well known it needs no Description Borrago is the Latine name thereof Place and Time It grows plentifully in Gardens in most places of this Land and flowers in July and August Quality and Vertues Borrage is one of Jupiters Cordials hot and moist in the first degree all parts of it are cordial and do expel Sadness and Melancholly it cleanseth the Blood and is effectual in putrid and pestilential Feavers to defend the Heart The juyce made into a Syrrup is good for the same purpose and cleanseth the Blood and tempers the heat thereof the conserve of the Flowers is good for the same purposes and is a good Cordial for such as are in Consumptions it comforts the Heart and Spirits and is therefore good for those that are troubled with Swoonings and Passions of the heart The distilled water is effectual for the same purposes and helps Inflammations and redness of the Eyes they being washed therewith The Herb in Summer being boiled with some other Sallet Herbs is an excellent Sallet and grateful to the Stomach being eaten with Butter and Vinegar The Bramble Bush Rubus I Shall not need describe this Bush if you go by a Hedge it will be acquainted with you if it can lay hold of your cloathes Names The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Batus in Latine Rubus and Sentis of some Cynosbatus in English Bramble and Black-berry-bush the fruit Black-berries which are called in shops Mora Bati Place and Time It is a companion for every hedge almost most it flowers in July
Lappa minor and Asperugo in English Cleavers Clivers and Goosegrass because young Goslings feed on it Place and Time It runs up by hedge sides and hangs to what grows next it it flowers in June and July and the seed is ripe in August which soweth it self Nature and Vertues Cleavers are of thin parts indifferently hot and dry an herb of Mars the young herb boiled in Water-Gruel in the Spring cleanses the Blood and strengthens the Liver An unguent made of the herb with Hogs Suet helps Wens the Kings Evil and Paps swollen with curdled milk The distilled water and the decoction helps the yellow Jaundies drunk twice a day and stops Fluxes The juyce dropped into the Ears takes away the pains of them the juyce or bruised leaves applyed to a green Wound stops the Bleeding and closes it up so doth the powder thereof and helpeth old Vlcers Cloves Caryophillus THis aromatical Indian Fruit doth much comfort the Head Heart and vital parts they strengthen Nature break Winde and stir up Venery helps Fluxes of the Belly is good against Infection and stayes Vomiting the chymical oyl is good in a Quartain Ague and weakness of the Stomach and for the Head-ache two or three drops given in Beer or Wine or other drink it easeth the Tooth-ache let old and phlegmatick persons use it young people and chollerick are to refrain it Clove Gilly-flowers Caryophylleus flos THis cordial flower is well known Nature and Vertues It is a temperate slower no way exceeding in heat or dryness cold or moisture a plant of Sol the Conserve and Syrrup of the slowers are gallant cordials comforting the Heart it resisteth the Plague or any Venome it strengthens Nature and is good against Consumptions the flowers pickled are an excellent sauce and stir up appetite being set in a glass in the Sun in vinegar they make a good vinegar to preserve from the Pestilence and revive one in a Swoon the Temples and Nostrils being washed therewith ☞ See further in Adam in Eden by W. Coles Clowns Woundwort Sideritis IT springs up with square rough green stalks near two foot high Description at every joynt grow two long narrow dark green leaves sharp at the point and bluntly dented about the edges the flowers compass the stalks towards the top and grow to a spiky head of a purplish colour having long gaping hoods with some white spots in them the seeds are round and blackish the root is fibrous with some tuberous knobs among them both herb and root have a strong smell much like stinking horehound Names Gerhard as I remember saith he gave it the name of Clowns-wort from a clownishianswer he had of a man that had cut his Leg with his Sithe and it is called Panax Coloni in Latine and Sideritis Places and Time It grows by Ditches sides in most places of this Land flowers in August and the seed is ripe in September Nature and Vertues It is dry in the first degree and reputed hot in the second of an earthy Saturnine quality it doth cure green Wounds and closes them up to admiration being stamped with Hogs Lard and applyed thereunto it stanches Blood and dryes up Fluxes of humours in old Vlcers a syrrup made thereof and taken inwardly heals inward Wounds Veins broken spitting pissing or vomiting blood and stayes the bloody Flux A Plaister or Vnguent of the Herb and some Comphrey with it helps swollen Veins and consolidates a cut muscle and is excellent for Ruptures of the Belly being applyed to the place Columbines Aquilina THere are Columbines of several colours Description as white flowers purple and carnation colour with divers others but they are so generally known I shall describe it no further Names No good Latine name can I finde for it yet it is termed Aquileia Aquilina and Aquilegia the onely English name Columbines Place and Time I have seen both the white and purple coloured grow wilde in our Meadows in Hampshire where the ground is somewhat dry as in a place called Gassen Mead in Holshot but they frequently grow in Gardens they flower about the beginning of May and are gone by the end of June Nature and Vertues They are temperately cold and dry moderately digestive a plant of Venus and sympathizingly cures sore Throats Canker and the Kings Evil the leaves boiled in milk and given to the party affected the seeds drunk in Ale is good for the Quinzy it also heals inflammations of the Mouth and Jaws a dram of the seed and half a penny weight of Saffron drunk in wine and the party covered to sweat opens the Liver and is good against the Janudies The decoction of the herb and root with some Ambergrease added helps Swoonings The seed drunk in wine causes speedy delivery and the juyce is good in the beginning of a Phrenzy the patient eating with it pottage of Sage Valerian and Rue Of Coloquintida or the bitter Gourd THis out-landish Indian Plant is hot and dry in the third degree very bitter of taste and strongly purging it may be taken to purge Phlegm by strong bodies being corrected with oyl of Roses Gum Tragacanth and Ginger which will help the griping pains it will cause if taken alone but being thus made up with Rose-water into pills or trochis it purges viscous humours tough Phlegm and Choller and water from the Brain Lungs and Breast and therefore is good against Fluxes of Rheume Apoplexy Falling Sickness and swimming of the Head the Jaundies old Coughs and rotten putrid Fevers the Chollick and Dropsie the decoction thereof in Vinegar easeth pains of the Teeth they being washed therewith being steeped in vinegar it helps the Morphew Scurf and Scabs in Glisters which is the safest way it may be given thus take the pulp hereof two drams Camomile flowers M. 1. Anniseed Comminseed of each ℥ ss make hereof a decoction fair water and in a pint thereof dissolve honey of Roses and oyl of Cammomile each ℥ iii. The dose otherwise is from five grains to ten Colts-foot Tussilago THis pectoral plant is well known onely hardly observed in this that it sendeth forth its flowers before the leaves Names Tussilago is the common Latine name Foals-foot and Colts-foot the English because the leaves resemble a Horses foot Place and Time It loves to grow in moist and low Grounds in good Ground it flowers in the end of March and beginning of April the flowers and stalks quickly fade away afterwards come the leaves which abide green all Summer Nature and Vertues It is cooling and drying being fresh but when the moisture is evaporated it inclines to heat and driness it is an herb of Venus very effectual for infirmities of the Lungs wheesing and shortness of Breath the leaves taken like Tobacco draws away thin Rheumes distilling upon the Lungs and helps the Cough the distilled water with Elder Flowers is good against hot Agues to drink about two ounces at a time it likewise helps hot Swellings inflammations as St. Anthonies
and Candelaria because the stalks were wont to be used to burn being dipped in grease It is also called Thapsus Tapsus Barbatus and in English Hightaper and Hagtaper Jupiters Staff Hares-beard and Bullocks Lungwort Place and Time It grows by High wayes sides in Lanes and upon Dunghills in many places of this Land and flower about June and July Nature and Vertues Mulleyn is dry of temperature like Saturn The leaves digest and cleanse A decoction of the leaves is good for the Lungs and an old Cough either in man or beast A little quantity of the root taken in Wine is good against Lasks and Fluxes of the Belly and the decoction thereof easeth the Tooth-ache the mouth being washed therewith and being drunk it is good for Burstness and for Cramps and Convulsions The seed and flowers and the powder of dryed Venice Turpentine being cast upon a Chasing-dish of Coals and set in a Close-Stool for the Patient to sit over it that is troubled with the Piles or the falling down of the Fundament it giveth much ease also to such who are troubled with an often desire to go to Stool and can do nothing and helpeth the Bloody Flux An Oyl made of the often infusion of the flowers is also good for the Piles The decoction of the root in red Wine or water if there be an Ague wherein red hot Steel hath been often quenched stayeth the Bloody Flux and opens obstructions of the Bladder and Reins when one cannot make water A decoction made with the leaves and Sage Marjoram and Camomile Flowers easeth and comforteth Veins and Sinews that are stark or shrunk with cold or the Cramp the places being bathed therewith The distilled water of the flowers drunk morning and evening the quantity of three ounces at a time for some continuance is said to be a good remedy for the Gout The powder of the root or the juyce of the leaves and flowers rubbed on rough Warts takes them away but doth no good to such as are smooth The powder of the flowers is good for the Chollick and pains in the Belly The decoction of the root and leaves is effectual to dissolve Tumors and Inflammations of the Throat The seed and leaves boiled in Wine and applyed draws forth Thorns and Splinters out of the flesh easing the pains and healing the place The leaves bruised and wrapped in double papers and baked under the Embers and then taken out and applyed warm to any Botch in the Groin or Share doth dissolve and heal it The seed bruised and boiled in wine and applyed to any Member that is newly set after it hath been out of Joynt takes away the swellings and pains thereof The bruised leaves quickly heals a Horse Hoof that is pricked with a nail being applyed thereunto ☞ See further of this in Culpeppers School of Physick Mustard Sinapis IT is very well known so as needs no describing Names It is called in Latine Sinapis and Sinapi Place and Time It grows in Gardens where it is planted and is not easily gotten out having once took possession it grows also wilde about Tewksberry which place is famous for Mustard makers Nature and Vertues The seed is chiefly used and is of temperature hot and dry in the fourth degree and doth make thin it is under the influence of Mars The seed taken in an Electuary or otherwise stirs up bodily lust and provokes womens Courses it is also good for the Falling Sickness the Lethargy or drowsie evil to use it both inwardly and outwardly to rub the Nostrils Forehead and Temples therewith it being first beaten to powder and little balls made thereof with Honey and one or two of them swallowed fasting every morning maketh a clear voice draweth down Rheume and viscous humours which distill upon the Lungs and Chest it cleanseth the Breast strengthens the Heart resisteth Poison provokes Appetite warms the Stomach and helps digestion easeth the pain of the Spleen Sides and Belly and being used for some times wasteth the Quartain Ague The decoction of the seed in Wine is a good gargle to send up the Pallat of the Mouth being fallen down and a Plaister wherein store of the seed is mixed being applyed helpeth the Sciatica and aches of the Joynts and dissolveth Tumors and Swellings about the Throat being also applyed to the Shoulders Sides or Loins which have any ache or pain it helpeth them by drawing forth the cause by Blisters it helps the salling of the hair and being chewed in the mouth is good against the Tooth-ache The seed being bruised and mixed with Honey or Wax takes away Marks black and blue spots of Bruises Scabbedness the Leprosie and lowsie Evil and helps the Crick or drawing awry of the Neck The distilled water of the Herb when it is in flower is good to drink for the diseases aforesaid to wash the Mouth when the Pallat is down and also to gargle the Throat and likewise for Scabs and Itch and to cleanse the face from Morphew Spots and Freckles An Oyl made of Mustard by infusing four pounds of the seed being beaten in four pound of Oyl for ten dayes together and then straining it is good for griefs of the Reins Palsies Gouts Stitches and Swellings The seed ground with Vinegar is a good sauce both with Fish and Flesh it is good to clarifie the Blood and to stir up Appetite in weak Stomachs but it is hurtful for chollerick people And to make it the more pleasing to the Stomach take Mustard seed two ounces Cynamon half an ounce well beaten and make it up into Balls or Cakes with Honey and Vinegar and dry them in the Sun they will keep a long while and may presently be made into a sauce by being relented with a little Vinegar Nep or Cat-mint Nepeta COmmon Garden Nep riseth up with four square stalks Description a Cubit high or more having a little hoariness upon them being full of Branches and beareth at every joynt two broad leaves like unto Balm but longer pointed softer whiter and more hoary nicked about the edges and of a strong sweet scent The flowers grow in large tufts upon the tops of the Branches and underneath them on the stalks being many together and of a whitish purple colour The roots consist of many long strings or fibres whereby it is strongly fastned in the ground and the leaves abide green all the Winter Names It is called in Latine Mentha Cattaria but more commonly Nepeta by which name the Apothecaries call it Place and Time It is cherished in our Gardens flowers in July and August and the seed is ripe in September Nature and Vertues Nep is hot and dry in the third degree and is ascribed particularly to the influence of the Planet Venus It is effectual for the rising of the Mother Winde and pains thereof and warms and comforts the womb and dryeth up the overmuch moisture thereof and brings it to a right temper taking away the cold and moist cause
Rhabarb be stewed amongst them for then they become more purging and evacuate chollerick humours do help weak stomachs and are good in Feavers and other hot diseases The Gum that issues out of the trees being drunk in wine is good against the Stone the said gum or the leaves being boiled in vinegar and applyed kills Tetters Ring-worms and the Leprosie A decoction of the leaves in wine is good to gargle and wash the mouth and throat and to dry up the flux of Rheum that falleth down to the Pallat Gums or Almonds of the Throat Poley-Mountain Polium montanum THis Plant grows not naturally in England but may be had at the Apothecaries shop to which I refer you It is called in Latine Polium but more usually with the Epithet montanum Nature and Vertues Poley is dry in the third degree and hot in the end of the second of a loathsome bitter taste It is useful to open obstructions especially of the Liver and Spleen and the decoction thereof drunk helps swelling of the Spleen the Jaundies and Dropsie being boiled in Vinegar and Water It resists poison and is used in Antidotes for that purpose the fumigation thereof drives away Vermin it moves the belly and the tearms and being applyed green it soders up the lips of wounds and being dry it healeth foul sores or ulcers Polipody of the Oak Polipodium POlipody of the Oak is a small Herb Description consisting of nothing but roots and leaves bearing neither flower nor seed from the root groweth up three or four leaves singly by themselves winged and about a handful high having many small narrow leaves on each side the stalk large below and growing smaller and smaller towards the top cut into the middle rib but not dented on the edges as the male Fern is of a sad green colour smooth on the upper side but rough on the under side by reason of some yellowish spots thereon The Root is smaller then ones little finger but long and creeping asloap and hath a sweetish harshness in the taste Names It is called in Latine Polipodium in English Polipody of the Oak Places and Time That which grows upon Oaks is the best yet Polipody is also found upon old stumps of other trees as Beech Hazle and Willow and sometimes in the woods under them upon old walls and slated Churches and in many other places It is alwayes green and may be gathered at any time yet it shoots forth fresh leaves in the Spring Nature and Vertues It is hot and dry in the second degree and that which growes upon the Oak partakes of the nature of the Oak and is an herb of Jupiter whatever others say The herb taken in decoction broth or infusion purgeth burnt choller tough and thick Phlegm and dryeth up thin humours and is good for Melancholly and Quartain Agues for which it may also be taken in Whey Barley-water or honied water or the broth of a Chicken with Epithymum or Beets and Mallows added thereto The distilled water of the roots and leaves taken with Sugarcandy is good against wheazings Coughs and distillations of thin Rheum upon the Lungs which cause Ptisicks and Consumptions It is good to soften the Spleen and ease Stitches in the sides and the Chollick A dram or two of the Powder of the dryed Roots taken in honeyed water worketh gently for the purposes aforesaid the distilled water is likewise commended for Quartain Agues and against melancholly Dreams it cures the disease in the Nose called Polipus and helpeth clefts or chops that come between the fingers or toes being applyed thereunto The fresh roots beaten small or the powder of the dryed root mixed with honey and applyed to a member that hath been out of joynt and is newly set again doth much strengthen it some put Fennel seeds Anniseeds or Ginger to it to correct it which it needs not being a gentle medicine of it self and an Ounce of it may be taken at a time in a decoction if there be not Sena or some other stronger purger with it I have found it very effectual in decoctions with other Pectoral Herbs for opening and cleansing the Liver and Lungs Pome-Citron Tree Malus Citria THis Outlandish Tree is called in Latine Malus Persica and Malus Assyria and also Malus Citria Pomum Citrium and in English Citron Place and Time They grow in Spain and other hot Countreys and flower and bear fruit all the year Nature and Vertues Avicen saith the Seed is hot in the first degree and dry in the second the Bark hot in the first and dry in the end of the second the inner white substance hot and moist in the first degree and the Juyce cold and dry in the third degree It is a Solar Plant and a sovereign Cordial for the Heart an Antidote against Poison and Infections the outer rinde being dryed and taken it also warms and comforts a cold Stomach expells and disperses Winde and indigested humours therein and in the Bowels and helps digestion and melancholly it helps a stinking breath being chewed in the mouth The outward rindes preserved are a good Cordial and very effectual against melancholly and infection There is an Electuary made thereof which purgeth cold phlegmatick humours the Syrup of the Rindes strengtheneth the stomach and heart and helps faintings thereof and resists poison and strengthens nature and is good for such as are in Consumptions or Hectick Feavers The Syrup of the juyce is effectual for most of the same purposes the seeds preserve the heart from infection of the Plague Pox and venomous Bitings they kill Worms provoke the Tearms and cause Abortion They dry up and consume moist humours in the body or outwardly in moist Sores or Vlcers The sowre juyce is good in Pestilential Feavers suppressing the violence of Choller and hot distempers in the Blood corrects the Liver quenches thirst stirs up an appetite resists venome and infection and refreshes fainting spirits The Pomegranate-Tree Malus Granata THis Plant groweth also in hot Countreys as in Spain and Italy but chiefly in Granado yet it is useful in Medicine with us therefore I shall not omit its Vertues It is called in Latine Malum Granatum or Punicum and Granatum the Flower Balaustium the Rinde Sidium but more generally Cortex Granatorum Nature and Vertues Those that are sweet are helping to the stomach and are somewhat hot but the sowre ones and seeds of each are cold and astringent it is an Herb of Venus The flowers and shells in powder help to stay blood in Wounds and the Kernels dryed in the sun stop fluxes of the Belly and Matrix and helps spitting of blood being drunk in raw water and so do the flowers and rindes The Juyce and the Kernels or the Syrup is good to quench thirst in burning Fevers and hot diseases a Gargarisme or Lotion made of the Rindes is good to bring down the hot swellings of the Almonds in the Throat the juyce of the Kernels sodden with Honey
leaves which turn into leaves as small as dust the root is small and long growing deep into the ground the taste hereof is not perceivable at first but after a little while there may be perceived a somewhat astringent taste a little bitter and sharp withal but without any manifest heat Names This plant hath acquired several names according to the various opinions of Authours as Polygonum minus by Mathiolus and Castor durantes Herba Turca by Lobel but the most usual and known Latine name is Herniaria from Hernia a Rupture and in English Rupture-worb Place and Time It delights to grow in barren sandy and rocky grounds as upon the dry chalky and sandy grounds in Kent and elsewhere and flowers and flourishes in the four Summer Moneths which are spelled sine littera R. Nature and Vertues Rupture-wort is very drying binding closing and sasting Saturnine It s name speaks its Vertues that is to cure the disease called the Rupture or Burstness which is the falling down of the Guts into the Cods A dram of the herb in powder taken in wine for many dayes together or the decoction of the herb in Wine or the juyce or distilled water drunk in the same manner marvellously helps that Disease and being so taken it stayes Fluxes Vomiting and the Gonorrhea it helps the Strangury stopping of Vrine Stone or Gravel in the Reins or Bladder stitches in the Side griping pains in the Stomach or Belly and obstructions of the Liver and cures the yellow Jaundies and killeth Worins in Children it conglutinates Wound cheing outwardly applyed and helpeth to stay defluctions of Rheumes from the head to the eyes nose and teeth the temples and nape of the Neck being bathed with the decoction of the dryed herb or the green herb being bruised and bound thereto it dryes up the moisture of foul spreading and fistulous Vlcers and is good to be bruised and applyed to the place of a Rupture having a Truss bound thereunto Rice Oriza THis is an East-Indian grain and groweth up there much like the stalk of Wheat but in regard it groweth not with us I shall describe it no further but proceed to declare its vertues we having it plentifully brought hither by industrious Merchants Names The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latines following them call it Oryza Nature and Vertues Rice is binding and drying temperate and not exceeding in heat or cold the pottage made thereof with milk and spiced with Sugar and Cynamon is pleasant and easie of digestion and is reputed to increase seed it is very useful to stay all Lasks or Fluxes being so eaten or beaten to powder and mixed with yolks of Eggs and fryed with fresh Butter and eat morning and evening and being so taken it helps the bloody Flux it is good to put in Cataplasms to repeli humors and being boiled in running Water and the face bathed therewith it takes away spots and pimples it is an excellent and wholesome food and in great estimation amongst the Indians though not so much in repute with us Perhaps because it is too cheap for the wanton rich and too dear for the pining poor c. Rye Secale THis Grain is well known in England more for food then Physick but the bread and leaven of it is good to ripen Imposthumes and Boils or other swellings Mathiolus saith that water wherein the Ashes of Rye straw hath been infused four and twenty hours heals chops of the hands and feet being washed therewith Meal of Rye put between a double cloth and moistned with Vinegar and heated in a pewter Dish over a Chafing dish of Coals ond applyed hot to the head easeth continual pains thereof Rye is more digesting then Wheat but it is windy and griping in the Bowels Saffron Crocus THe Chives of the Flower commonly called Saffron are generally well known so that a description is needless Names It s Latine names are Crocus and Crocum it is also termed Filius ante patrem because it putteth forth flowers before the leaves Place and Time It is plentifully manured in Fields in Essex and Cambridge-shire Saffron-Walden takes her name from its growing there it begins to flower in September and presently after the leaves shoot forth and abide green all the Winter dying again in April when it puts forth another Crop of Flowers which must be gathered as soon as it is blown or else it is lost so that Jack Presbyter for covetousness of the profit can reach his Sabbatarian Conscience to gather it on Sunday and so he can to do any thing else that redounds to his profit though it destroy his Brother Nature and Vertues Saffron is hot in the second degree and dry in the first of a little astringent quality it is an Herb of the Sun a great Cordial and comforter of the spirits it expells venome from the Heart strengthens the Stomach helps concoction preserves the Entrails and is very useful in the Plague Pestilence small Pox and such contagious diseases the Tincture thereof is profitable in fits of the Mother it strengthens the Memory Head Stomach Spleen Bladder animal vital and natural spirits and helps cold diseases of the Brain and Nerves it is profitable for the Lungs Consumption and shortness of Breath it is best for eld phlegmatick and melancholly persons it is good against melancholly and the Jaundies and stoppings of the Liver and Gall and is profitable for the Plurisie and provokes Vrine and Venus take ten grains of Saffron two ounces of Walnut Kernels Figs two ounces Mithridate one dram and a few Sage leaves stamp them into a mass with a sufficient quantity of Pimpernel water and keep it for use twelve grains thereof taken fasting is an excellent Antidote against the Plague and expelleth it from those that are infected Some write that two or three drams hereof taken brings death doubtless too great a quantity cannot do otherwise it is not safe to be given to women with childe Sage Salvia TO avoid prolixity we proceed to its vertues The Latine name of it is Salvia and so wholesome an Herb reputed by Schola salerni that they say Cur moritur homo dum Salvia crescit in horto Nature and Vertues Sage is hot and dry in the third degree an herb of Jupiter it restores natural heat and comforts the vital spirits and helps the Memory and quickens the sences it is very healthful to be eaten in May with Butter and also to be drunk in Ale it is good for women that are apt to miscarry or cannot conceive by reason of the over-much moisture-or slipperiness of their Wombs Sage Rosemary Honey-suckles and Plantain boiled in water or wine and some Honey and Allome added thereto is a good gargle for Cankers or Sores in the Mouth or Throat and for sores in the privy parts of Man or Woman and is good to be boiled with other comsortable and hot herbs to bathe the cold Sinews and to warm the Joynts and help
are mistaken who take Siser to be a Parsnip Nature and Vertues The roots of Skirrets which are onely in use are moderately hot and moist the roots are but of indifferent nourishment yet they provoke Lust being windy and are easily concocted whereby they yield a reasonable good juyce they are dressed much after the manner of Potatoes either baked or boiled and stewed wiht Pepper Butter and Salt and so eaten they may be eaten also cold with Vinegar and Oyl being first boiled the juyce of the roots drunk with Goats milk stoppeth the Lask and being drunk in Wine it is said to help windiness in the Stomach gripings in the Belly and the Hiccough it doth somewhat provoke Vrine and is a little effectual to consume the Stone and Gravel in the Bladder and Kidneys Smallage Paludapium IT is so well known I need not describe it Names It is called in Latine Paludapium and Apium palustre and in Shops onely Apium in English Smallage and Marsh-parsley Places and Time It is found in Gardens and sometimes in wet and moorish Grounds whence it was first brought it flourisheth when the Garden Parsley doth the stalks coming up the second year and then the seed is ripe in August Nature and Vertues Smallage is hot and dry in the end of the second degree of a bitter taste and opening quality being an herb of Mercury it opens obstructions of the Liver and Sleen rarifies thick phlegm and cleanseth the Blood being used in pottage amongst other herbs as Water-cresses c. It drives down the Courses and is good for the Green Sickness it provokes Vrine and is good against the yellow Jaundies if a syrrup be made of the juyce it is very useful in lasting Agues The juyce with honey of Roses and Barley Water cures Vlcers of the Mouth and the almonds of the Throat being bathed or gargled therewith and cleanseth other foul Vlcers and Wounds being mixed with honey and used it preserves exulcerated Cancers from stinking and putrefaction and helps to heal them the leaves boiled in Hogs grease like a pultis helps Felons and Whitloes on the fingers The seed is good to break Winde kill Worms and help a stinking breath The herb and root do warm the Stomach and expell Winde and help digestion The root is to be sliced and eaten with oyl and Vinegar The root is stronger in operation then the herb for all the said purposes but especially to open obstructions and rid away an Ague the juyce thereof being taken in wine or a decoction thereof made in Wine Sorrel Acetosa THis is very well known plentifully to grow both in the Gardens and Fields and needs no further describing Names It is called in Latine Acetosa and Acedula from its sowreness Nature and Vertues Sorrel is cooling and drying in the second degree and cutteth tough phlegm by reason of its sowreness it is ascribed to the dominion of Venus it is a pleasant sauce to many meats grateful to hot Stomachs it provokes appetite tempers the heat of the Liver and opens the stopping and prevents the wasting thereof it cools inflammations and heat in Agues and Fevers and faintings arising from heat it refresheth the spirits A Sorrel posset is excellent to quench the thirst the leaves taken fasting preserve from infection but much more the Conserve which is good for all the forementioned purposes The seeds bruised and drunk in wine or water are good against the fretting of the Guts and the Chollick and stops hot Fluxes of the Tearms and of humours in the Bloody Flux or flux of the Stomach the leaves wrapped in a Colewort leaf and roasted under the Embers and applyed discusseth kernels in the Throat and ripens and breaks any hard Imposthume Tumor Boyl or Plague Sore the juyce used with Vinegar is good for Tetters Ring-worms and the Itch. The distilled water kills worms resists poison and is good for all the said purposes The roots either in powder or decoction are good for many of the forementioned purposes and helpeth the Jaundies and Gravel and Stone in the Kidneys A decoction of the flowers made in Wine and drunk helpeth the black Jaundies and inward Vlcers Wood-Sorrel Alleluia IT groweth low upon the ground without any stalk Description with a great many leaves coming from the root made of three leaves like Treefoil every leaf somewhat resembling a heart being broad at the ends cut in the middle and sharp towards the stalk of a faint yellowish green colour every one standing on a long red foot stalk which at their first coming up are close folded together to the stalk but opening themselves afterwards they are of a fine sowre taste and yieldeth a juyce which turneth red when it is clarified amongst these leaves rise up weak slender foot stalks bearing every one of them a white flower at the top consisting of five small pointed leaves star fashion and in some desht over with a small shew of blush after the flowers succeed small round heads with yellowish seeds in them the root consists of small strings fastned to the end of a small long piece of a yellowish colour abiding with some leaves thereon all the Winter Names It is called in Latine Trifolium Acetosum and in Shops Alleluia and Lujula in English Wood-Sorrel and Scab-wort Place and Time It grows in moist Woods and shadowy places and upon the old stems of Withyes Alders and such Trees as delight to grow in wet and shadowy places it flowers in April and May. Nature and Vertues Wood Sorrel is of temperature as the other and under the Planetary Influence This herb is singular good to defend the heart in all pestilential Diseases and to cool the faintings thereof caused by heat in Agues Fevers and other diseases it preserves the Blood from putrefaction quencheth thirst stayeth Vomiting and procures a good stomach a dram of the Conserve being taken in a morning or oftner if need require it is good in any contagious Disease A syrrup made of the juyce is effectual for all the said distempers and so is the distiled water the juyce is good to gargle the mouth for any Canker or Vlcer it is good in Wounds and Scabs to stay the bleeding and to cleanse and heal the Wounds and to stay hot defluctions and Catharrs upon the Throat or Lungs Spunges or linnen cloathes wet in the juyce and applyed to hot tumors and inflammations doth cool and help them A composition made with Mithridate Sugar and Wood Sorrel hath been approved for those that are entring into a Fever ☞ See further in The Art of Simpling written by W. Coles Sow-Thistles Sonchus THey need no description Names The Latines call them Sonchus which is divided into Asperum and Levem and in English we call them prickly and smooth Sow-thistles and sometimes Hares Lettice they are called likewise Lactula Leporina Palatium Leporis and Leporum Cubile Place and Time They grow in Gardens and manured Grounds commonly against the owners will as also
the neck Aron Vide Cuckow pintle Arrach wilde and stinking Atriplex STinking Arrach groweth up with a little stalk Description having many branches the leaves are smaller then those of the Garden and pointed towards the top of a whitish green colour which we call an Ash colour it beareth yellow flowers which afterwards turn into small mealy seeds It may easily be known by the smell being very like stinking Fish Names Places and Time It is called in Latine Vulvaria and Atriplex in English stinking Arrach you may finde it upon most Dunghills under old walls about the mud walls in the fields about London it grows plentifully and also by ditches sides It flowers and seeds from June till after Bartholomewtide Temperature and Vertues This Plant Saturn rules it is cold moist and earthy an excellent plant for Womens diseases It cures fits of the Mother Dislocation or falling out of the Womb being taken inwardly It cools the over much heat of the womb and causes easie Delivery being rubbed and held to the nostrils it causeth the Womb to descend to its right place and cleanses and strengthens it It provokes the Terms if stopped and also stops the immoderate flowing of them and makes Barren women fruitful It is therefore good for such Women as are subject to be troubled with any of the aforementioned Distempers to prepare and keep alwayes by them a Syrup made of the juyce of this Herb and sugar or honey which is best to cleanse the Womb otherwise sugar is more proper Arsmart Persicaria THis Herb grows with a little joynted greenish stalk Description the leaves growing at the joynts of the stalks being not very long many times having blackish spots upon them the flowers grow in spiky heads of a blush colour after them come little blackish flat seeds the root is fibrous and perisheth every year There is dead or milde Arsmart and biting Arsmart which if you taste of it will bite your tongue very much The Names It is called in Latine Piper Aquaticum and Persicaria because the leaves do something resemble Peach leaves in English Water Pepper and Arsmart Place and time It is common in most ditches especially such as are muddy and grows also upon dunghils of mud which hath been cast out of ditches I have seen them covered with it in Hampshire and other places It is in flower in June and seeds about August Temperature and Vertues The milde is said to be cold and dry the biting hot and dry then sure there Mars and Saturn grow together The biting Arsmart being rubbed upon a tyred horses back will make him go again lively it is good to kill Fleas being strewed in Chambers The powder of the milde Arsmart being given to the quantity of two drams at a time in a little Vinegar opens obstructions of the Liver being bruised with rue and Wormwood and fryed with Butter or Suet and applyed to the belly or stomach destroyes the worms in them the distilled water thereof mixed with a little oyl of Spike and the gall of an Oxe is good to ease the pains of the Gout the grieved place being anointed therewith and a blue woollen cloath applyed upon it so likewise being mixed with Aqua vitae it takes away Aches The herb being stamped with Wine and applyed to the Matrix draweth down the Terms The leaves being stamped and applyed to green Wounds cools them and defends them from inflammations The root or seed applyed to an aking Tooth takes away the pain and the juyce of the Herb dropped into the ears kills worms in them and is good against Deafness Alkanet Fucus Herba THere are accounted four kindes of this Plant Descri ∣ ption but never a one of them common nor easily found in England though Culpepper saith there is one kinde grows commonly in this Nation which is as true as the story he tells of one of his Disciples whose horses shooes were pulled off by riding over Moonwort as he saith The red great Alkanet groweth up about a foot and a half high having usually one round stalk with many leaves prickly and hoary over like small Bugloss the flowers much like them of Echium or small Bugloss of a sky colour tending to purple yielding a small pale coloured seed somewhat long the root is about the thickness of ones finger having a woody pith within of a bloody colour dying whatsoever it toucheth The other kinde hath more plenty of leaves more hairy and woolly then the former the stalks grow higher having yellow flowers the root of a shining purple colour yielding more juyce then the first The third kinde hath a greater and more juycie root then the former but the plant smaller and the leaves narrower the flowers red like those of small Bugloss the seeds are ash-colour tasting like Bugloss and the fourth kinde is much like common Summer Savory the flowers blueish or sky colour Names It is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illinere succo vel Pigmentis to colour or paint because of its painting property it is also called Fucus herba and Onocleia Buglossa Hispanica or Spanish Bugloss and Orchanet and Alkanet in English and in Shops likewise Anchusa Place and Time They grow all naturally about Narbone and Montpelier in France and may be had especially the Roots at our Shops yet Gerhard saith he found them in the Isle of Thanet in Kent but that is contradicted by his Reviser They flourish in the Summer moneths and best yield their juyce in Harvest time Nature and Vertues The roots are cold and dry according to Gallen yet being endued with some bitterness argues them not very cold they cleanse chollerick humours the leaves binde and dry but not so powerfully as the roots Culpepper calls this herb one of the darlings of Venus I suppose because he had heard the Madams used it to paint their faces and likewise it is used by Gentlewomen to colour Syrrups Waters and Jellies as is also Turnsole and the root being used as a Pessary draweth forth the dead Birth the decoction inwardly drunk with Mead or honied water cures the yellow Jaundies diseases of the Kidneys and Spleen and is effectual in Agues a Searcloath made with the root and oyl is good for Vlcers and with parched Barley meal it helps the Leprosie Tetter and Ringworms as saith Dioscorides But Culpepper teacheth how to kill Serpents with it which he saith is done if any one hath newly eaten the root and spits in a Serpents mouth the Serpent instantly dyes but this is as ridiculous as Culpepper himself yet the decoction is said to drive out the Measels and small Pox if it be drunk in the beginning with hot beer the leaves boiled in wine and drunk is good against the Laske the root boiled in Wine and sweet butter without salt till it is red is good for bruises received by falls and for green wounds made with pricks or thrusts Make
chewed in the mouth it comforts the stomach and expells the shaking fits of Agues it provokes Urine resisteth poison and expells winde it is profitable against the falling Sickness and pains in the belly a dram thereof in powder drunk at a time in wine Of Carrots OF these there is the Garden manured Carrot fit for food and the wilde Carrot for Physick the garden kinde needs no description the wilde groweth much like the Garden kinde but the leaves are whiter and rougher so are the stalks which bear tufts of white flowers with a deep purple spot in the middle when the flowers begin to grow ripe the whole umbel looks like a Birds nest the root is small long and hard sharp and strong it groweth plentifully by hedge sides and untilled places flower and seed about the beginning of August Temperature and Vertues The roots are hot and moist temperately the seeds hot and dry The seed of Carrots expels Winde helps gripings of the belly and the Chollick provokes Vrine and womens Courses The seeds or powder of the root of the wilde Carrot drunk in wine helps hurts by venomous beasts resists poison and the Pestilence it provokes venery and helpeth Conception Cassia Fistula THis is the fruit of an Indian Tree and is to be had at our Druggists it is hot and moist in the first degree Cassia purgeth the Reins and Kidneys and cooleth and cleanseth them it likewise brings forth the Gravel and Stone it 's effectual against all chollerick and melancholly diseases being taken with Rubarb Anniseeds and Liquorish it cleanseth the Stomach Liver and misentery Veins from choller and phlegm clearing the Blood and cooling it and is profitable in all hot Agues and Fevers Celandine Chelidonia THis herb springeth up with divers round whitish green stalks Description with great joynts very brittle whence grow branches with tender long leaves gashed on the edges of a blueish green colour the stalks are full of a yellow sap at the tops of the branches grow the flowers of a yellow colour after which come small long pods with blackish seeds the root is thick and knobby yielding a gold coloured juyce Names It is called in Latine Chelidonia Place and Time It groweth under old walls by hedges sides and untilled places it flowers all Summer the seed ripening in the mean time Nature and Vertues It is hot and dry an herb of the Sun and excellent for the Eyes the herb gathered Sol in Leo and in trine to the Moon and made into an oyntment with Hogs suet is an excellent medicine for sore Eyes or any Filme or cloudiness thereof the yellow juyce or sap rubbed upon warts soon takes them away It likewise heals Tetters or Ringworms The decoction of the herb or roots in wine opens the Liver and Gall and helps the yellow Jaundies The juyce or distilled water with a little Sugar taken sasting is good against the Pestilence it easeth pains of the Teeth the mouth being gargled with the juyce or decoction thereof The juyce mixed with Brimstone cures the Itch Morphew and discolourings of the skin and Sun-burnings It is likewise good for the Tooth-ache Centory Centaurium THis plant is divided into two kindes the greater and lesser the last is most used in Physick whose description take as followeth The Form The lesser Centory groweth up with a round crested stalk about half a foot high at the top branching into many sprigs whence comes an umbel of pale red flowers which open in the day time and shut at night the seed grows in little husks the leaves are small and roundish the root small and hard Names There is Centaurium magnum and Centaurium minus which are the Latine Names of both Places and Time The lesser groweth almost every where in Fields Pastures and Woods in the high way going from Putney to Kingston They flower in July and seed in August Nature and Vertues The greater is hot and dry in the third degree the lesser in the second degree both bitter herbs of Mars The decoction of the lesser Centory in Wine or Ale helps gripings in the Belly the Chollick Costiveness and Worms it purges Phlegm and Choller and provokes Sweat helps Agues the Jaundies opens the Liver Gall and Spleen it helps the Dropsie green Sickness and provokes the Terms it is effectual in pains of the Joynts Cramps and Convulsions The decoction in water provokes appetite cleanseth the Stomach and Breast and purgeth the Back and Reins It is a good ingredient in wound drinks it helps the Strangury and is good against the bitings of venomous creatures a dram of the root taken in powder and the Wound washed with the decoction thereof Ceterach Vide Spleenwort Of the Cherry Tree Cerasus THough there be many sorts of Cherries as black red white and red hart-Cherries yet I think they are all so well known I shall not need make any description thereof Names The Latine name is Cerasus Place and Time Some of them grow wilde in hedges as I have seen them in Hampshire and Kent which Countrey is the most plentiful place for Cherry Gardens They are ripe in May June and July Nature and Vertues They are cold and moist in the first degree plants of Venus they cool and loosen the belly and slack thirst the black strengthen the Stomach and being dryed stop Lasks The distilled water of them with the stones bruised is good to be given to them that have the falling Sickness provokes Vrine and breaks Winde The Gum dissolved in wine and drunk helps the Gravel and Stone is good for the Cough and Hoarseness and excoriations of the Throat Lungs and Breast the preserved Cherries are good in severish hot and thirsty diseases Chervil Cerefolium CHervil groweth up at first like Parsley Description the leaves jagged like Hemlock of a whitish green colour the stalk riseth half a yard high and beareth white flowers the seeds are sharp pointed and blackish the root is small and long and perisheth every year after it hath born seed Names It s common name in Latine is Cerefolium or Cherifolium in English Chervil Place and Time It is planted in Gardens and is a good sallet herb at first while it is young and tender and groweth also wilde in many places the seed will be ripe about June and being sown again presently will spring again and be a good sallet in Autumne Nature and Vertues Chervil is moderately hot and dry it provokes Vrine and easeth the pricking pains of the Stone and openeth inward obstructions it warms the Stomach and the decoction thereof provokes sleep it provokes the Terms is effectual against the Plurisie and pricking pains in the sides and according to Pliny the root beaten with Mallows draweth sorth splinters out of the flesh it is an herb of Mars The Chesnut Tree Castanea THis groweth to be a tall Tree Description bearing great rough dented leaves and bloometh sorth long Catkins in the Spring of a greenish yellow colour the fruit
fire and cools the heat of the Piles clothes being wet therein and applyed it likewise takes away hot Pushes and Wheals ☞ See further in Adam in Eden by W. Coles Comfrey Consolida THis herb I suppose needs no description being generally known Names It is called Consolidae of which there is major and minor the greater and lesser Consound Comfrey is the greater and is so called from consolidating or knitting together which faculty it hath and is therefore called also Knit-back or Backwort because it bindes and strengthens the Back Place and Time It grows in Meadows by rivers sides and ditches in fruitful grounds as near Debtford in Kent it grows in abundance it is also planted in Gardens they flower in May and June and seed in August Nature and Vertues It is of a cold drying binding Saturning quality it is very good for the Back and the running of the Reins being boiled and eaten with Butter and Vinegar it is a very good Sallet some boil it and eat it with Bacon which way it is also effectual for the aforesaid purpose it stops Fluxes inward or outward Bleeding and the Terms the decoction of the roots being drunk it heals inward Wounds and Vlcers of the Lungs it stops the Reds and Whites the syrrup is effectual for all the said purposes and the distilled water is good to wash Wounds and Sores The Roots bruised and applyed is good to close together the lips of green Wounds and stayeth the bleeding of the Piles and Hemorrhoides and cools the Inflammations thereof it likewise eases the pains of the Gout being so applyed Walter Caltrops Tribulus Aquaticus THey rise with long slender stalks from the bottom of the water Description and float above the water the root is long and greater towards the top of the water then the bottom having tassels full of small strings on the stem the leaves are large and round notched a little about the edges somewhat resembling Poplar or Elme leaves the fruit groweth in prickley heads which are hard sharp and trianguler wherein is contained a white kernel in taste like Chestnuts Names The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Tribulus Aquaticus Tribulus Lacustris and the Apothecaries Tribulus Marinus in English Caltrops Saligot and Water Nuts and the fruit is called Castania Aquatiles or Water Chesnuts Place and Time It groweth in lakes standing waters and Springs in Germany Brabant and the Low Countreys so that being an outlandish Plant I would not have troubled the Reader with a description but to acquaint him that it is thrust in by the writer of that Book called Culpeppers English Physician enlarged amongst the English Plants as a great many more are both Outlandish and useless yet there is a small kinde hereof called small Frogs Lettice which bears small whitish flowers consisting of four leaves apiece which groweth in the River by Droxford in Hampshire alwayes continuing under the water and is green both Winter and Summer they all flower in June and July Nature and Vertues Caltrops are of a cold and moist nature so that a pultis made thereof is good against inflammations and hot swellings and being boiled with honey and water it cures Cankers of the Mouth sore Gums and the almonds of the Throat knobs and swellings and the Kings Evil The green Nuts drunk with wine is good for the Stone and Grayel and a powder thereof bindes the Belly and is good for them that piss Blood The same drunk wich wine resists poison venome and bitings of venomous creatures and the herb applyed outwardly helps venomous bitings Campions Wilde Lychnis THere are divers kindes hereof both wilde and in Gardens Lychnis sylvestris purpurea called red Batchelors Buttons and Lychnis alba white Batchelors Buttons they are useless in Physick yet Culpeppers writer will ascribe them to Saturn and saith The decoction stayes inward bleedings and the herb outwardly applyed doth the like and that being drunk it provokes Vrine expells the Gravel and Stone in the Reins and Kidneys and two drams of the seed drunk in wine purgeth chollerick humours helps venomous bitings and may be effectual for the Plague and that the herb is useful in old sores Vlcers and the like to cleanse and heal them All this may be true for any thing either he or I know to the contrary Indeed most of the kindes hereof except the two first named are strangers in England and are onely planted in Gardens for the beauty of the flowers Carduus Benedictus Vide Holy Thistle Carawayes Carui CAraway hath fine cut leaves much like Carrot leaves Description but not so bushing lying on the ground in divers stalks of a quick taste among which riseth up a square stalk not so high as the Carrot having the like leaves at the joynts but smaller and finer having at the top small open umbels of white slowers which produce a small blackish seed less then Anniseed and hotter in taste the root is somewhat like a Parsnip but is much less and hath a more wrinckled bark and a little hottish taste Names The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Caros Carum and Caruum and in the Shops Carui in English Caraway and Carawayes Place and time It is sown in our English Gardens flowers in June and July and the seed is ripe soon after Nature and Vertues The seeds are most used in Physick and according to Gallen are hot and dry almost in the third degree of a moderate sharp quality the herb may be eaten raw with other herbs in Sallets or boiled and the roots may be boiled and eaten as Parsnips they break winde comfort the Stomach and help Digestion The herb or seed and herb bruised and applyed hot in a cloth or bag to the bottom of the Belly eases the winde Chollick and is good against hot swellings The seeds eaten alone or mixed with meat or medicine comfort the Stomach break Winde and help digestion for which purpose also they are used to be put into bread they also help cold griefs in the head windiness in the Bowels and Mother and used to be mixed with purgative medicines to correct their windiness it also provokes Vrine helps the Cough and is good against the Phrensey and venomous bitings being put into a poultis it takes away black and blue spots which come by blows or bruises and used with allom it helps Scabs Tetters and falling off the hair Earth Chest-nuts Nucula terrestris THis root is round and knobbed Description with some bunchings out brown without and white within tasting much like a Chesnut but sweeter from whence springeth up small cressed stalks about a foot high whereon grow leaves next the ground like Parsley leaves but finer and towards the top like dill The flowers are white and stand at the tops of the stalks in spoky rundels like the tops of dill The seeds not much unlike Fennel seed but much smaller growing together by couples having a good smell
Names It is called Nucula terrestris and Bolbocastanon which is also the Greek name in English Earth Nuts Kipper Nuts and Pig Nuts I suppose because Hogs will greedily dig after them Place and Time They grow in dry Pastures and Corn Fields by the hedge rowes as at Holshot in Hampshire at Kensington Paddington and divers other places about London they flower in June and July perfecting their seed soon after the stalk dyes at Winter The roots are best in season about February and March before they begin to spring forth the Branches Nature and Vertues The roots are moderately hot and dry the seeds hotter and dryer both seed and root provoke Vrine the root is good for them that spit or piss Blood eaten either raw or roasted The Dutch eat them boiled and buttered as we do Turnips and being so dressed and eaten they comfort the Stomach nourish the Kidneys and Bladder and increase seed ☞ See further in The Expert Doctors Dispensatory by P. Morellus Cich Pease or Cicers Cicer. A Description is needless of these outlandish Tares there is a Garden kinde thereof sown in some of our London Gardens but not common they are all sown in the Fields in Spain Italy and France to feed their Cattle in Winter as we do Tares and Vetches The Garden Cich is windy and is said to provoke lust and ingender seed the broth of them wastes the Stone and provokes Vrine and a decoction thereof with Rosemary is good for the Dropsie and yellow Jaundies but it is hurtful for such as have Vlcers in the Kidneys or Bladder Cives Vide Leeks Cocks-Head red Fitchling and Medick Fitch Onobrychis TWo kindes hereof I shall describe Description The first springeth up with many small tender branches like the Vines growing through and about bushes and whatever grows near it the leaves and the rest of the pulse or plant are like the wilde Vetch the flowers grow at the tops of the small naked stalks like a pease blossom of a purple colour laid over with blue which turn into round prickly husks which are the seed The second hath many stalks especially when it is old which are round hard and leaning to the ground like other pulses the leaves are like those of the wilde Vetch of a loathsome scent and bitter taste amongst which come forth small round stems whereon grow the flowers which are of a shining purple colour growing spike fashion three inches long like the great Meadow Trefoil but longer and without smell after which come small Cods containing hard black seed in taste like the Vetch The root is great and long hard and wooddy spreading abroad and growing deep under ground Names The ancient name both Greek and Latine for this kinde of pulse is Onobrychis it s called also Caput Gallinaceum and the second kinde Onobrychis flore purpurec in English Cocks-head red Fitchling and meddick Fitch Place and Time Gerhard saith these two kindes grow upon Barron Hill within four miles of Lewton in Bedfordshire upon the grassy balks between the Corn two miles from Cambridge and in divers places of the way between London and Cambridge they grow likewise in divers places of this Land in Fields and under Hedges There are three other kindes hereof which are strangers in England they flower in July and August and the seed is ripe soon after Nature and Vertues Gallen saith these herbs do rarifie make thin and waste away and therefore a Salve made of the green leaves and applyed to hard Kernels and Swellings Knobs and Nodes in the flesh doth waste and consume them away and may be effectually used in that swelling called Struma or the Kings Evil and being rubbed on with oyl it causeth Sweating being dryed and drunk with wine it cures the Strangury saith Dioscorides It causeth Cattle to give good store of milk and from thence Culpepper argues it is as good for Nurses he making no distinction between man and beast Corral Corallium ALthough the Corral seems rather to be a stone Description yet it is a vegetable Plant there are several kindes thereof the red and the white most in use with us but the greater red Corral is the best which groweth upon Rocks in the Sea like unto a shrub with arme and branches breaking forth into sprigs some greater and some lesser with craggy eminencies of a whitish or pale red colour for the most part when it is taken out of the water but when it is scraped and polished it is very fair it is very pliable whilst it is in the water but when it is kept a while out of the water it becomes of a firm or hard stony substance Names The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latines Corallium adding rubrum or album for distinctions sake the black sorts are called Antipathes and there is a sort of rough bristly black Corral called Sambeggia Place and Time They are found in the Isle of Sardinia and other places of the Mediterranean Sea Gerhard saith the white and yellow Corral do grow upon the Rocks in the West of England about Saint Michaels Mount they are all times of the year found growing and at all times to be had at our Druggists Shops Nature and Vertues All the sorts of Corral do cool and binde yet the white is thought to be colder then the red or black it is an excellent astringent for the Gonorrhea in men and the whites in women the red Corral stops bleeding being but held in the hands of those that bleed either at nose or mouth and is effectual for those that spit Blood or for any Flux of Blood and being often taken in Wine or other drink it doth diminish the Spleen it helps the stoppage of Vrine and such as piss by drops the powder of it being burnt and taken in drink helps the tormenting pains of the Stone in the Bladder it strengthens the Heart Stomach and Liver and is useful in all pestilent Fevers and malignant diseases against venome chears the Heart and resists Melancholly especially the tincture of it called Tinctura Coralii The powder taken in Wine or distilled water brings rest to such as have Agues helps such as are troubled with the Cramp and is commended against the Falling Sickness for which purpose some hang it about the necks of such as have that Disease It is said if ten Grains of the powder be given to a Childe as soon as it is born in some black Cherry water or the Mothers milk that Childe shall never have the Falling Sickness it is also affirmed to procure easie Delivery in Childe-birth by a specifick property it is used to rub Childrens Gums to help them to breed Teeth and is useful for all accidents that belong unto the Teeth it helps sore Gums and Vlcers in the Mouth and healeth up foul hollow Vlcers in other parts and is used in Medicines for the Eyes to stay the Flux of Rheume cools and dryes up the moisture and takes away the
upon a brownish foot-stalk Description being doubled or folded downwards at their first rising out of the ground and then they open into five or seven leaves of a sad green colour each leaf being somewhat long dented about the edges and pointed standing on both sides of the middle rib one against another the stalk that bears the flowers riseth up with the leaves and is naked to the middle where it shots forth a leaf a little higher it shooteth forth one or two leaves more each consisting but of five leaves and sometimes but two or three at each whereof cometh forth a small round bulbe divided into some parts or cloves of a sad purplish gren colour about which at the top come the flowers which are like the flowers of stock-gilly-flowers of a purplish colour growing upon short foot stalks opening into four leaves after which come cods wherein the seed is contained the root is white smooth and creeps under ground both leaf and root is bitter and sharp and biting like Radish Names It is called in Latine Dentaria in English Corral-wort and Dog-toothed Violet Place and Time It hath been found growing in Sussex and about Croyden in Surrey and many other places they flower in April and May and are gone before July Nature and Vertues The roots are drying and binding and do also strengthen it provokes Vrine and cleanses the Bladder of gravel it should be a Saturnine herb yet Culpepper ascribes it to the Moon it helps gripings in the Belly and sides and inward hurts in the Breast Lungs and Bowels a dram of the root taken in powder in red Wine and used often it stayes Fluxes provided they proceed not from Choller and is good for the Dropsie and Ruptures the same dose being given in the distilled water of Horse-tail and the decoction of the herb helps Maladies of the Teeth the mouth being gargled therewith and so doth the dry root being held between the Teeth it consolidates green wounds and dryes up the moisture in Vlcers causing them thereby the sooner to heal the decoction of the herb being applyed unto them Doves-foot or Cranes-Bill Geranium Columbinum IT grows up with divers small round pale green leaves Description dented about somewhat more then Mallows lying round upon the ground upon reddish hairy stalks among which rise up two or three weak joynted reddish hairy stalks with small leaves on the tops grow many small red flowers of five leaves apiece the seed is like a Cranes Bill the root is slender and fibrous Names It is called Geranium Columbinum Gruinalis and Gruinum in English Doves-foot and Cranes-Bill Place and Time It grows frequently in pasture grounds in many places of this Land and flourishes most part of the Summer Nature and Vertues Doves-foot is cold and dry with a binding quality rather Saturnine then Martial It is good to expell Winde and the Stone and Gravel in the Kidneys the decoction being drunk which is also good for inward Wounds Vlcers and Bruises to dissolve congealed blood The powder of the herb and root taken in red Wine first and last many dayes together cures Ruptures young or old in aged persons mix with it the powder of nine red Snails dryed in an Oven and being made into a Salve it heals outward Sores Vlcers and Fistula's and being bruised and applyed to green Wounds it quickly heals them Ducks-meat Aquae Lenticula IT needs no description being well known Names Aquae Lenticula and Lens palustris the Latines term it in English Grains and Ducks meat Place and Time It grows on the tops of standing waters and ponds and will cover them quite over if the Ducks meet not with it Nature and Vertues It is cold and moist ascribed to the Moon and Cancer it is good in a pultis with Barley meal to ease the pains of the hot Gout and cool inflammations and St. Anthonies fire and the swelling of the Cods the distilled water helps inward inflammations redness of the Eyes and is good in Burning Fevers and it easeth pains of the head coming of heat the fresh herb being applyed to the forehead Dragons Serpentaria THese are very well known in Gardens and the stalks are speckled so like a Snake that he that knows one may soon know the other Names It is called in Latine Serpentaria Bisaria Colubrina and Dracunculus in English Dragons Place and Time They are onely planted in Gardens with us they flower in July and the Berries are ripe in September Nature and Vertues It is a Martial herb hot and dry astringent biting and bitter in taste it is somewhat of the nature of Cuckow-pintle both incite to Venery it is good against Coughs Catarrs Convulsions and Cramps it consumes gross humours and cleanseth the inward parts the distilled water helps Freckles Morphew and Sun-burning and clears the sight the juyce helps the pin and web in the Eye An oyntment thereof is good in Wounds Vlcers Cankers and Pollipus the green leaves are good for Vlcers green Wounds and venomous bitings the distilled water is good against the Plague Poison and pestilential Fevers being drunk with Treacle or Mithridate Women with childe are not to meddle with this herb Dropwort Filipendula IT shooteth forth long winged leaves Description dented somewhat like Burnet or wilde Tansie but harder in handling the stalk rises about two foot high at the top come white sweet flowers of five leaves apiece with some threds in the middle standing in an Umbell the seeds are small and black Names Filipendula is the Latine name and it is also called in English Filipendula and Dropwort Place and Time It grows in many places of this Land by hedges sides they flower in June and July and the seed is ripe in August Nature and Vertues It is an herb of Venus saith Culpepper but it is contrary to her nature being hot and dry in the third degree opening cleansing and a little binding it is good to help the Strangury or pissing by drops to expell the Stone in the Kidneys and Bladder being taken in a decoction with white Wine and a little Honey it provokes womens Courses and is good against the Dropsie Jaundies and Falling Sickness An Electuary of the roots breaks Winde helps diseases of the Lungs the Cough and brings away Phlegm the knots of the roots in powder is good for Fistula's and old Sores and allayes the swellings of the Piles or Hemorrhoides Elder Sambucus THis is very well known therefore I shall describe another kinde called Dwarf Elder Dwarf Elder rises in the Spring with a four square rough hairy stalk four foot high or more the leaves are narrower then those of the Elder Tree but very like them the flowers stand also in Umbels like the other being white mixed with purple but of a sweeter scent then Elder after which come blackish Berries full of juyce wherein is contained hard kernels or seeds the root dyes every year Names The common Elder Tree is called in Latine Sambucus the
the latter end of Summer and seeds about a month after Nature and Vertues Sea-holly is temperate of a cleansing drying nature a Venerial plant the roots confected stir up the affection to Venery and are a restorative against the consuming of old age being decocted in Wine they open obstructions of the Spleen and Liver provoke Vrine expell the Stone and move the Terms helps the yellow Jaundies Dropsie pain in the Loins and winde Chollick The roots bruised and applyed to the Throat helps the Kernels there and heals bitings of Serpents being taken inwardly and applyed to the place and if the roots be boiled in Hogs Lard and applied to thorns in the flesh it draws them out and heals the place the juyce of the leaves helps Imposthumes in the Ears The distilled water of the whole herb being young drives away Melancholly and helps Quartane and Quotidian Agues the young tender shoots may be eaten fresh or pickled they are a good Venerial Sallet ☞ See more of this in the Art of Simpling written by W. Coles Eye-bright Ocularia IT is a small low herb rising seldom above a span high Description having a blackish green stalk which spreadeth from the bottom into sundry branches whereon grow small dark green leaves finely snipt about the edges growing two together very thick the flowers are small and white striped with purple and yellow spots and grow at the joynts with the leaves from the middle upwards the seeds are very small growing in small round heads which succeed the flowers The root is long small and threddy Names Euphrasia is both a Greek and Latine name for it it is also called in Latine Opthalmica and Ocularia in English Eye-bright Places and Time It grows plentifully in many places of this Land by Hedge rowes and on Hills sides it groweth in the High way between Gravesend and Rochester and in the Fields about Gravesend They flower in August which is the best time to gather it before it seeds Nature and Vertues It is a Solar herb hot and dry it is excellent to clarifie and preserve the sight from dimness either the powder of the dry herb being used or the juyce of the green plant the distilled water clears the dimness of the Eyes either being dropped into the Eyes or drunk in Wine or Broth a Conserve of the Flowers works the like effects being eaten It restoreth a decayed Memory and helps a weak Brain and Memory being used any of the aforesaid wayes if it were tunned up with Bear or Ale it will work the like effects Some Authours write that Birds make use of it to repair their sight and Arnoldus saith that it did restore their sight who had been blinde a long while Ferne. Filix IT s very well known there is accounted a Male and Female and Water Ferne or Osmond Royal. Names The Latine name for Ferne is Filix the Water Fern Osmunda Regalis and St. Christophers Herb. Place and Time Fern grows too plentiful in many places and can hardly be rooted out where it hath possession the seeds are small trebble pointed black and shining and may be gotten on Midsummer-eve at night at which time I have gathered it my self The Water Ferne grows by wet Ditiches sides bogs and watrish places Nature and Vertues Ferne is hot and dry bitter and somewhat astringent a Mercurial Plant the roots of Ferne boiled in Mead kills worms in the Belly and abates swelling and hardness of the Spleen and being bruised and boiled in Oyl or Hogs Grease they make a good Oyntment to heal Wounds and Bruises and cases the Chollick and Diseases of the Spleen especially those of the Water Fern A bath made of the leaves is good to strengthen the Sinews the powder of the root dryes up the watry humours of Vlcers A dyet Drink being made of it with other Capillary Herbs is good for the Rickets The water Fern is effectual for Ruptures an Oyntment being made thereof and the decoction of the root in white Wine provokes Vrine and opens the uretory passages Feathersew Parthenium IT grows up with many large green leaves Description very much torn or cut about the edges the stalks are hard and round beset with smaller leaves the flowers stand fingle upon several foot stalks at the cop consisting of finall white leaves standing round about a yellow thrum in the middle the root is tough hard and short having many fibres thereat the whole Plant of a strong scent and bitter taste Names Parthenium from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Matricaria and Febrisuga in Latine Place and Time It grows by divers Walls and Hedges and frequently in Gardens they continue in flower the gratest part of Summer Nature and Vertues Featherfew is hot and dry in the third degree having a quality of cleansing and opening its temperature scent and taste attributes it to Mars but its vertues are ascribed to Venus it is an excellent herb for womens Diseases for all Diseases of the Mother the decoction being drunk or the fume set over helps fits of the Mother it drives down the Courses expells the dead Childe and After-birth The juyce with the juyce of Motherwort taken in old Ale with a little gross Pepper is good to prevent fits of the Mother The decoction with Sugar or HOney helps the Cough and short Windedness and cleanses the Reins and Bladder so doth the powder of the herb and expells Melancholly helps the swimming of the Head and windiness in the Stomach and is good against the Dropsie it is good for cold and moist bodies to stir up the procreative vertue but it is naught for hot and dry bodies it s a good remedy for such as have taken too much opium being fryed with Oyl and Wine it eases the griping pains of winde being applyed to the Stomach and Belly The distilled water cleanseth the Skin Fellwort Vide Gentian Fennel Feniculus FEnnel is well known its Latine name Feniculus Gardens are his habitation he flowers in June and July and the seed is ripe in August Nature and Vertues Most affirm Fennel to be hot in the third degree and dry in the first and according to Gerrard the seed is hot and dry in the third degree it is a Mercurial herb saith Culpepper but I suppose rather Solar it is used to be boiled with Fish and other viscous meats to digest their crude and phlegmatick qualities and the seed is used in bread to break Winde and strengthen the breath The distilled water cleanseth the Eyes being dropped therein and the condensate juyce cleanseth them from Mists and Films It is good to increase milk in Nurses it provokes Vrine and eases the pains of the Stone The leaves or rather the seeds boiled in water stay the Hiccock helps loathings of the Stomach of sick persons and allayeth the heat thereof and is a remedy for such as have eaten poisonous herbs and against bitings by Serpents The seed and root opens obstructions of the Liver Spleen and
flowers the seed is small and shining while it is fresh very like Fleas but turning black when it grows old the root is white hard and woody perishing every year The whole plant is whitish hairy and smelling somewhat like Rozin Names It s called in Latine Herba pulicaria and in Shops Psyllium in English Fleawort Place and time It grows with us no where but in Gardens but there is another kinde much like the former which grows in Fields near the Sea-coasts they flower in July or thereabouts with us but in thier natural Countreys all the Summer Nature and Vertues The seed of Fleawort which is chiefly used in Physick is cold in the second degree and temperate in moisture and driness according to Gallen and Serapio it is a Saturnine Plant. The muscilage made with Rose water and taken with syrrup of Violets or a little Sugar purges Choller and Phlegm is useful in burning Fevers to lenisie chirst and driness of the mouth and throat it helps also Hoarseness Inflammations of the Breast Lungs and Head and hot pains in the joynts the muscilage of the seed in an Electuary with Marmalade of Quinces and Sugarcandy hath the same effects and stayes the fluxions of hot Rheumes The seeds dryed and taken with Plantain water stayes fluxes of the Belly and helps the gripings thereof caused by Chollerick humours or the over-working of violent Medicines the seeds bruised or the herb mixed with juyce of Night-shade or Housleek oyl of Roses and Vinegar easeth the hot Gout and hot Imposthumes the water wherein the seeds have been steeped is good against St. Anthonies fire the juyce with Honey put into the Ears stayes the running thereof and is good for sore Breasts being often applyed thereunto being mixed with Hogs Grease and applyed to corrupt Sores and Vlcers it heals them The muscilage of the seed made in Plantain water and mixed with the yolk of an Egge or two and a little of the Vnguent Populeon easeth the pains of the Piles and Hemorrhoides being bound thereto It is not safe for cold and moist bodies Flixweed Thalictrum FLixweed springs up with a round upright hard stalk about two foot high Description spread into many branches whereon grow many grayish green leaves finely jagged like Roman Wormwood the flowers are small of a dark yellow colour and grows in a spiky fashion on the tops of the spriggy branches after which grow long pods with small yellowish seed in them The root is long weedy and perishes every year Names It is called in Latine Pseudonasturtium Sylvestre Thalictrum and Sophia Chirurgorum Places and Time It grows by Hedge sides High wayes upon old walls in many places of this Land and flowers from the beginning of June till the end of September Nature and Vertues It s a drying astringent Saturnine Herb the seed drunk in Wine or water wherein Steell hath been often quenched stops the Lask Bloody Flux and all other issues of Blood the Herb boiled performs the same effects and also it consolidates Bones broken or out of Joynt from which vertue it obtained the name of Sophia Chirurgorum a syrrup of it may be made to be taken inwardly for the former purposes The juyce drunk in Wine or the decoction of the Herb kills Worms in the Stomach and Belly and Worms which sometimes breed in Vlcers the juyce or bruised herb put into Oyntments or Salves quickly heals old Sores how foul or malignant soever they be They whose Stomachs cannot brooke any of the former Medicines may take the distilled water which worketh the same effects but not so effectually or powerfully Fluellin or Lluellin Veronica Mas. OF this plant there is a male and a female kinde Description called male and female Speedwell before the Welch-man gave it her Countrey name Lluellin The common Speedwell hath divers soft leaves about the breadth of a two pence of a hoary green colour a little dented about the edges set by couples at the joynts of the hairy brownish stalks which lean upon the ground never standing upright but shooting forth roots as they lie upon the ground at divers joynts the flowers grow one above another at the top and are of a blueish purple colour sometimes white the seed is small and blackish contained in small flat husks The root is fibrous Names In Latine it hath been called Veronica Mas and Veronica Femina and Betonica Pauli in English Male and Female Speedwel and Pauls Betony but the Shentleman of Wales hath given it the name of Lluellin because it saved her Nose which the French Pox had almost gotten from her Place and Time They grow upon dry Banks and Wood sides and in sandy grounds in many places of this Land They flower in June and July and the seed is ripe in August Nature and Vertues The Male is temperately hot and dry the Female cooling and drying the Male is most common and of greatest use they are both good wound Herbs a Salve being made therewith with wax oyl and Turpentine it also hinders the fretting of old Vlcers stayes Bleeding of Wounds dissolves Swellings it strengthens the Heart and expells Poison and Venome from thence it strengthens the Memory eases swimmings and pains in the Head The decoction given in Wine it cleanses the Blood and helps the Leprosie as is said A dram of it in powder in its own distilled water helps the Cough and diseases of the Lungs and Breast It opens the Liver and Spleen cleanses Vlcers in the Reins and Bladder the distilled water is good to wash Wounds and Sores and helps Morphew Scabs and Freckles a little Coper as being dissolved therein and bathed therewith The Female Speedwel or Fluellin bruised and applyed with Barley Meal helps watring Eyes caused by hot Rheumes flowing from the Head it stops the overflowing of the Terms and all Fluxes of Blood it helps the inward parts which need consolidating and strengthning the leaves being sod in broth with a Hen or piece of Veal It is effectual to heal green Wounds and to cleanse and heal old soul Vlcers and fretting Cancers the juyce and decoction of the herb taken inwardly and the herb used outwardly ☞ See more of this in The Art of Simpling written by W. Coles Fox Gloves Digitalis IT is known so commonly almost to every Childe in my Countrey of Hampshire that I shall forbear to make any large description of it Names Authours call it by many strange Latine names as Digitalis Virga Regia Campanula silvestris and many other affected names We in English call it Fox-Gloves and in Hampshire it is very well known by the name of Poppers because if you hold the broad end of the flower close between your finger and thumb and blow at the small head as into a bladder till it be full of winde and then suddenly strike on it with your other hand it will give a great crack or pop Place and Time They grow generally in dry grounds and under Hedges sides in most Countreys
is white round and shining the root is hard and wooddy with many fibres it abides all the year but the stalks dye Names It is called Milium solis and Granum solis in Shops and also Litho-spermum in English Gromel and Pearle Plant. Place and Time The first groweth in Gardens the second and third grow wilde in many places of this Land on barren grounds they flower from Midsummer till September the seed ripening in the mean time Nature and Vertues Gromel-seeds are hot and dry in the second degree under Venus saith Culpepper they are singular good to break the Stone to open and cleanse the Reins Kidneys and Bladder to drive forth the Gravel provoke Vrine and do expell Winde exceedingly two drams of the seed in powder given in Breast milk to a woman in Travel procures speedy delivery The Herb it self boiled in Wine and drunk worketh all the same effects but weaker then the seeds ☞ See further in The Expert Doctors Dispensatory by P. Morellus Winter Green Pyrola THis sendeth up round pointed leaves Description every one standing on a long foot stalk of a sad green colour almost like Pear-Tree leaves and so are the flowers the stalk is weak and slender yet standing upright bearing many small white flowers smelling sweet consisting of five round pointed leaves with many yellowish threads in the middle about a green head which groweth to be the seed vessel and is five square when it is ripe with a small point in it is the seed as small as dust it hath a brownish creeping root Names It is called in Latine Pyrola in English Winter green Place and Time It groweth in the Northern parts of England they flower about July or later Nature and Vertues Winter green is cold in the second degree and dry in the third having a Glutinous and very binding quality a Saturnine Herb it is a very good Wound Herb to close and consolidate green Wounds the green Herb or juyce applyed or a Salve made thereof with Hogs Lard or with Sallet Oyl Wax and Turpentine The decoction is good for inward hurts used by it self or with other Herbs as Comfrey c. and for Vlcers in the Kidneys or Bladder it stayes Fluxes and overslowing of the Courses it is good for foul Vlcers and Fistula's The distilled water performs the same The herb may also be kept dry to use in Decoctions and made into powder to be taken in drink Ground-pine Chamaepitie GRound-pine seldom groweth above the height of a hand breadth from the ground Description it hath many small branches which are set with slender long narrow gray whitish leaves hairy and sometimes divided into three parts many of them growing together at a joynt and having a scent like Rozen or pitch it yields a pale yellow small flower growing amongst the leaves at the joynts of the stalks after which follow small long and round husks the root is woody but small and dyeth every year Names In shops it is usually called Chamaepitys which name both Greeks and Latines use it is called also in Latine Abiga and by some Thus terrae and Iva Arthrytica in English Herb Ivy Forget me not Ground-pine and Field Cypress Place and Time It groweth plentifully in Kent about Gravesend Cobham Southfleet Dartford and other places flowers in June and july and yields its seed about August Nature and Vertues It is hot in the second degree and dry in the third the decoction of Ground pine being drunk procures Womens Courses helps diseases of the Mother expells a dead Childe and After-Birth and is very powerful in causing abortion wherefore let not Women with Childe meddle with it The same prevails against the Stranguary and inward pains of the Reins it opens the Liver and Spleen cleanseth gross Blood The decoction of the Herb in Wine taken inwardly or outwardly applyed helps diseases of the Joynts as the Gout Sciatica Cramps Palsie and Aches for which purpose there is also a Pill made with the powder of Ground pine Hermodactil and Venus Turpentine which Pills are also good for the Dropsie and Jaundies pains in the Belly and Joynts and helps cold diseases of the Brain and is good for the Falling Sickness it s a good remedy against poisonous Herbs as Aconites and the stinging of Venomous Beasts The green herb or the decoction applyed dissolves Tumours in any part of the Body and the hardness of Womens Breasts and the juyce or herb applyed with Honey cleanseth Vlcers and soders up the lips of green Wounds The herb tunned up in drink the Conserve of the Flowers and the distilled Water have the same effects for the forementioned diseases but more weakly ☞ See further in The Art of Simpling written by W. Coles Groundsel Senecio GRoundsel riseth up with a round Description green and somewhat brownish stalk spread toward the top into branches set with long narrow green leaves cut in the edges somewhat resembling an oaken leaf but lesser and round at the ends at the tops of the stalks and branches grow many green knaps or heads out of which grow small thrums of yellow flowers which continue brown a few dayes and after pass into doun which with the seed is blown about with the winde the root is small and threddy quickly perishing and the herb as soon springing again from the seed that it sheds so that it is green and in flower many moneths in the year springing and seeding twice a year at least in a Garden Names The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latines Senecio because it soon becomes hoary it is called in English Groundsel and Grunsel Place and Time It grows frequently in Gardens and will not easily be wedded out it grows also on tops of old Walls and at the bottom amongst any rubbish in untilled grounds and by ditches sides about London plentifully and is to be found almost all the year Nature and Vertues Groundsel is cold and moist and digesteth and is by Culpepper accounted to be the chiefest flower in Venus Nosegay the decoction thereof in Wine purgeth Choller by vomit and so easeth pains of the Stomach the juyce thereof in drink or the decoction thereof with a few Currans in water doth the like it provokes Vrine also and cleanseth Gravel it is good also against the Jaundies and Falling Sickness taken in wine or a dram thereof in Oxymel it also provokes the Terms and a pultis made of the herb easeth hot Inflammations and Swellings of the Breasts privy parts Arteries Joynts or Sinews of man or woman and helps to dissolve Knots or Kernels in any part of the body of man or woman the distilled water of the herb helps Inflammations and watring of the Eyes and so doth the clarified juyce Guaiacum THis Tree grows in the West Indies Description and the Wood and Bark is prentifully brought here into England so that I shall forbear any further description thereof Names The Latines call it Guaiacum Lignum Indicum Lignum sanctum
venomous worms The Ashes may be mixed with medicines to take away Scabs Leprosie and to cleanse the skin and likewise it consumes proud and superfluous flesh in poisonous and filthy Vlcers as say Avicen and Serapio Sandiver doth dry and takes away Scabs and Manginess the foul parts being washed and bathed with the water wherein it hath been boiled ☞ See more of this in The Expert Doctors Dispensatory by P. Morellus ☞ See further in Adam in Eden written by Will. Coles Goats Thorn or Gum Dragon Tragacantha IT is a bushy plant Description having thorns which represent a Goats beard having a great root which being wounded with some instrument yieldeth a liquor which by the heat of the Sun is soon condensed into a shining white Gum shrivelling its self into little crooked pieces sweet in taste Names Place and Time It is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is known in Latine by the name of Tragacantha Gummi Tragacanthae and Gum Trajant in English and is brought to us from Candy and Syria where it yields his Gum in Autumne Nature and Vertues Gum Dragant is somewhat dry having a quality to dull and allay the sharpness of humours a dram of it dissolved in sweet wine and a little burnt Harts-born washed and a little Allome mixed with it and drunk is good against the sharpness of the Vrine and helps pains of the Guts and Bowels being dissolved and mixed with other pectorals it helps the Cough and hoarseness of the Throat salt and sharp distillations upon the Lungs being taken as an Electuary or put under the tongue letting it distill gently down and so it taken away the roughness of the Tongue The said Gum being torrefied or dryed at the fire and mixed with the juyce or wine of Quinces and used in a Glister is good against the bloody Flux being boiled in wine with Stoechas and drunk it warmeth and cleanseth the Breast Stomach and Bowels being afflicted with any cold helps the Chollick and stopping of the Spleen and Vrine it is also used in Medicines for the Eyes to allay the heat and sharpness of hot Rheumes and being dissolved in milk and used it takes away white spots growing in the Eyes the itching of them and Wheals and Scabs that grow upon the Eye-lids it cleanseth the face and maketh it white if it be steeped a night in Rose-water and in the morning a little Borace or Camphire be put thereto and the face washed therewith being dissolved in rose-Rose-water and strained and some white starch mixed with it it is effectual to help sores and Chaps of the Mouth Lips and Hands the place being anointed therewith the Muscilage mixed with Honey doth the same and is good for the Leprosie The powder of it taken in broth is available for those that have broken a Vein or have the Cramp There is another kinde hereof called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poterion because it delights in watry places which grows in Candy and about Marselles and Montpelier in France the root whereof being boiled in Wine and drunk is profitable against the poison of the Red Toad and being made into a pultis and applied to any Nerve or Sinew that is cut wounded or hurt doth heal them and soder them together and all other kindes of wounds and cuts The said decoction of the roots in Wine is effectual to be drunk for the said purposes and for inward Wounds or Veins that are broken There is another Gum brought into England and to be had at our Druggists called Gum Arabick which is effectual for many of the aforesaid purposes but especially for helping those frettings of the Reins and Bladder which cause bloody Urine being used in the same manner as Gum Tragant Harts-ease or wilde Pansies Herba Trinitatis Description and Names THis is a kinde of Violets growing 〈◊〉 well in Gardens as 〈…〉 rally known by the name of Hartsease 〈…〉 is called Viola 〈◊〉 Herba Trinitatis 〈…〉 Trinity and by some Love in idleness Call me to you and Three Faces under a hood Place and Time They grow as I said before as well in Fields as Gardens they flower all the Spring and Summer Nature and Vertues They are cold and moist and much of the nature of Violets though nor so effectal it is reputed to be Saturnine and an excellent anti-Venerial Medicine for the French Pox a decoction used of the herbs and flowers or a syrrup made therewith the spirit of it is good for the Falling Sickness Convulsions Plurisie and Inflammations of the Lungs and Breast Harts Tongue Scolopendria HArt Tongue riseth up with divers leaves springing severally from the root Description at first crumpled like Ferne but at their full growth almost a foot long smooth and green above but straked underneath overthwart with small and somewhat long brownish marks the bottom of the leaves are a little bowed on each side of the middle rib somewhat narrow and small at the end the root consists of many black threds interlaced together Names It is known in Shops by the Latine name of Scolopendria and Scolopendrium and is called also Lingua Cervina in English Harts tongue Place and Time It delights to grow in shadowy moist places in the insides of Wells and by Walberton towards the Sea-side near Arundel in Sussex it grows so plentifully by the High-way sides on the banks of the Ditches you may gather loads of it it bears no flower but is green all the year and bringeth forth new leaves in the Spring and Summer Nature and Vertues Authours disagree whether it be hot or cold but I judge it to be moderately hot of the nature of Jupiter it hath a binding drying faculty it is an excel-cellent herb for all diseases of the Milt by reducing it to its right temper whether it be too much opened or swollen hard or stopped The decoction thereof taken in Wine and the herb boiled and laid to the grieved place it likewise mollifies opens and strengthens the Liver and Stomach and stops the Terms spitting of blood and other Fluxes A decoction made of Harts Tongue Knot-grass and Comfrey roots a draught thereof being drunk every morning and the boiled herbs applyed to the grieved place is a good remedy against Burstness it is also profitable in the Jaundies Kings Evil and bitings of venomous Beasts The herb or juyce applyed cleanseth Wounds and Vlcers and the distilled water is commended against the passion of the Heart Hiccop and bleeding of the Gums ☞ See more of this in the Art of Simpling written by W. Coles Hazel Nut Tree Nux tenuis IT is so well known it needs no Description Names Nux tenuis or Parva some call it to distinguish it from Walnuts others Corylus and Nux Avellana Those in Gardens are called in English Filberds and the wilde kinde Hazel and Small Nuts Place and Time They are commoners in most Woods and Hedges the fruit of some of them is ripe in August and of
water is comfortable for the Brain and is good for the Palsie and cold diseases of the Head the Temples Nape of the Neck and place behinde the Ears being washed therewith it is good against the Megrim and falling Sickness and two or three spoonfuls being drunk recovers lost speech A decoction of the flowers of Lavender Horehound Fennel and Asparagus roots with a little Cynamon is good against the Falling Sickness and Giddiness of the Brain it is good also for Convulsions Apoplexies Cramps Lethargies and gripings of the Body coming of cold it helps the stoppings of the Milt heats the Belly provokes the Terms and being holden in the Mouth it helps Vlcers and pains in the Teeth the water helps blisters of the Mouth being washed therewith the smell thereof comforts the sight it is not to be used where the Body is full of Blood and humours The lesser Lavender is good against diseases of the Mother for Women to be bathed with and to help forward their Travel and is good against venomous bitings The chymical Oyl of Lavender called Oyl of Spike is good for the falling Sickness Palsie Gout and aches of the Joynts being taken inwardly and the parts anointed but a few drops of it amongst other things is sufficient to be taken inwardly or outwardly Lavender Cotten Chamaecyparissus IT is an Herb well known in Gardens it is called by some in Latine Chamaecyparissus and some take it to be the Abrotanum Faemina of Dioscorides it flowers about July or August Nature and Vertues Both herb and seed are hot and dry in the third degree the plant is also Mercurial the seeds or the herb stamped and strained with milk and given fasting kills Worms in the Belly both of elder persons as well as Children half a dram of Lavender Cotten taken in Fether-few water every morning ten dayes together is good to stay the Whites in Women and the running of the Reins in men the leaves drunk in Wine is good against the Jaundies and opens the Liver and Kidneys it is good against all venomous bitings and the smell thereof drives away vermine The decoction is good to help Scabs and Itch it is good in Bathes and Oyntments to help Burstness Cramps Convulsions shrinking of Sinews to provoke Vrine and womens Courses Spurge Laurel Laurcola IT riseth up with one Description and sometimes more stalks about three foot high with a whitish Bark and branching into many stalks which are tough and pliant the leaves are long and smooth of a shining dark green colour like bay-leaves but lesser softer and smoother at the joynts with the leaves toward the tops come forth the flowers set many together long and hollow of a whitish yellow green colour after which comes round and somewhat long black berries when they are ripe wherein lieth a black Kernel the root runs deep into the ground and spreadeth with tough white strings somewhat woody the whole plant is very hot in taste It continues green all the year Names In Latine it is called Laureola in English Spurge Laurel Place and Time There grows abundance of it in Cobham Park in Kent some set it in Gardens the berries be ripe about June Nature and Vertues It is of a very hot and biting temperature a churlish Martial plant fourteen or fifteen of the berries or five or six of the leaves taken purge slimy Phlegm and waterish humours and is good for the Dropsie but it purges very violently and therefore must carefully be used it provokes vomiting procures womens Courses and easeth pains of the Chollick It may be thus prepared steep the leaves four and twenty hours in good Vinegar then dry them and drink their powder in wine with Anniseeds and Mastick or else in sweet Whey or Capon Broth. The dose is ℈ ii or ʒi A Glister may be made of the flowers for the Dropsie in this manner ℞ the flowers of Laurel ʒii roots of Polipody and Agarick ana ʒi ss Dodder ʒiii boil them in Wine or Water to the consumption of a third part then take of the decoction lb. i. of Benedicta laxativa ʒss honey of Roses ℥ i. oyls of Rue Camomile and Flower de Luce ana ℥ i. sal gem ʒi ss mix them for a Glister Leeks and Cives Porrum I Shall not need to describe either of them the Latine name of a Leek is Porrum they grow plentifully in our Gardens the Cives abide the coldest Winter Nature and Vertues Leeks are hot and dry in the third degree of subtle parts one of Mars his plants which infuseth much valour into the Welshmen they are very unwholesome being eaten raw but the boiling abates their evil qualities whereby used in pottage they are good for phlegmatick Bodies and help the Chollick and Stone the distilled water drunk morning and evening a good draught or two opens a costive Belly helps pain of the Hips purges the Kidneys and Bladder provokes Vrine and helps to break the Stone The seeds are good to kill worms in Children they are also held good to expell rotten Phlegm from the Chest and Lungs The juyce drunk with honey is good against the bitings of venomous Beasts and the herb stamped and laid thereon being boiled and eaten often they make women fruitful and increase lust in men Lettice Lactuca IT is a common Sallet manured in our Gardens there is also a wilde kinde called Lambs Lettice or Corn Sallet Names Lactuca is the Latine name thereof the place I have told you already it is sown usually in the Spring and may be had all the year if it be sowne at several seasons Nature and Vertues Lettice is cold and moist almost in the third degree a Lunar herb it tempereth driness and heat in the body and increases milk in Nurses who have hot dry bodies it is good for a hot Stomach and yields good nourishment to the body it causeth sleep and rest it loosens the belly either raw or boiled it helps digestion quenches thirst and easeth pains of the Stomach and Liver that come of Choller it abates lust and cools the Vrine which likewise doth the seeds and distilled water the juyce of Lettice with Oyl of Roses applyed to the forehead and Temples easeth the Head-ache and procures rest and applyed with Camphire to the Cods it abates the heat of Lust The Lambs Lettice is a pleasant Sallet to be eaten with Oyl and Vinegar Liquorice Liqueritia THe root is very well known and it is needless to describe the branches Liqueritia and Glycyrrhyza are the Latine names thereof Place and Time It is planted in our Gardens which yield the best Liquorice that is it will flower in July and yield a seed in September if it be suffered to grow many years without removing Nature and Vertues It is temperate in heat and moisture an excellent pectoral Plant Mercury rules it the root is a great opener of the Pipes of the Lungs it ripens a Cough and brings forth Phlegm it is good
alone in beer and drunk it cools the heat of the Liver and Kidneys and helps the running of the Reins in men and the whites in Women it is good against Hectick Fevers and all other Fevers and Agues coming of Choker and all other heats of the Liver and takes away the cause of Scabs Blains and Blisters being stamped with Hogs Grease and applyed it heals Sores Tetters Ringworms and fretting Vlcers ☞ See further in Adam in Eden written by Will. Coles Loose-strife or Willow-herb Lysimachia THere are many kindes of it Description I shall describe onely the purple spike headed Loose-strife which groweth with many wooddy square stalks full of joynts about three foot high having two leaves at every joynt like Willow leaves but shorter and of a deeper green colour some of them being sometimes brownish the stalks branch forth into many long stems of spiky flowers half a foot long growing in rundles one above another out of small husks somewhat like the heads of Lavender but far bigger every flower consisting of five round pointed leaves of a purplish violet colour somewhat inclining to redness in the husks lies the seed after the flowers are fallen the root creeps under ground almost like Couch-grass but is greater Names The Latines call it Lysimachia in English Loose-strife and Willow-herb Place and Time It groweth by Rivers and Ditches sides and in wet grounds almost in every Countrey of this Land the yellow Willow herb is more rare They flower about June and July Nature and Vertues They are all hot dry and binding yet Culpepper saith they are cold and ascribes them to the Moon the distilled water of both the purple and the yellow is excellent good for green Wounds being thus applyed to every ounce of water adde two drams of May Butter unsalted as much Sugar and wax boil them gently to an Oyntment then dip tents in the Liquor that remains after it is cold and put them into the Wound covering it over with a linnen cloth doubled and anointed with the Oyntment it also cleanseth foul Vlcers The distilled water very much preserves the sight helps hurts and blowes in the Eyes and cleareth them of dust it is good to gargle the Mouth and Throat therewith against the Quinzy and Kings Evil it is also good to take away Warts and Scars of the Skin it quencheth thirst is good to stay Fluxes of the Belly the overflowing of Womens Courses and to bathe Sores and Vlcers of the privy parts Lovage Levisticum LOvage hath many long great stalks of large winged leaves Description divided like smallage but larger of a dark green colour smooth and shining every leaf cut about the edges and broader forward then toward the stalk the stalks are green and hollow towards the tops of them come forth other smaller branches bearing at their tops large Umbels of yellow flowers which turn into flat brownish seed like Angelica seed the root is large brownish without and white within the whole Plant is of a strong smell and in taste hot sharp and biting Names It is called Levisticum in Latine Places and Time It is an inhabitant of the Garden flowers in July and seeds in August Nature and Vertues Lovage is a Solar herb hot and dry in the third degree and of thin parts the dryed root in powder drunk in Wine is good for a cold Stomach consuming superfluouus moisture in the Stomach and Belly and expelling winde and helps digestion it likewise resists poison and infection The decoction of the root in Wine or Barley water cleanseth the Lungs provokes Vrine and Womens Courses and heals inward wounds The decoction of the herb is good for any sort of Ague and to help cold pains of the Bowels The seeds drunk in powder in white Wine fasting or boiled therein purges upwards and downwards and opens the stoppings of the Spleen take with the seeds the like quantity of Anniseeds and Fennil seeds to qualifie them The distilled water is good for the Quinzy and helps the plurisie being drunk three or four times it takes away the redness of the Eyes and helps the dimness of them being dropped therein and takes away spots and Freckles of the face The leaves bruised and fryed with Hogs Lard and applyed to a Botch or Boil will quickly break it Lungwort Pulmonaria IT is a kinde of Moss that grows on many Trees Description especially old Oaks and Beeches in dark shady old Woods and upon the old Oaks in Forrests grows abundance of it it hath broad grayish rough leaves diversly folded crumpled and gashed on the edges and sometimes spotted on the upper side it bears no stalk nor flower Names Pulmonaria Physicians call it in Latine and of some Lichen Arborum or wood Liverword and tree Lungwort Nature and Vertues It is of a cold and dry quality but I suppose that Jupiter rules it it is very effectual for all diseases of the Lungs for all obstructions Vlcers and inward inflammations of the same and also for Coughs Wheesing spitting and pissing of Blood it is good for Vlcers in the privy parts to stay Fluxes Looseness and Vomiting the bloody Flux and other Scowrings especially if they proceed of Choller Lupines Lupinus THey grow onely in Gardens here where they are planted Description therefore I shall not further describe them Lupinus is the Latine name and Lupines in English and of some they are called Fig beans being flat like a Fig that is pressed they flower in June and July and the beans are ripe quickly after Nature and Vertues Lupines are very bitter in taste by reason of their bitterness they open dissolve digest and cleanse I suppose they are under the dominion of Mars the decoction thereof is good for the Spleen being taken with Rue and Pepper it will be the pleasanter but if they be steeped two or three dayes in water they lose their bitterness The said decoction is good to kill worms and so is the meal taken with Honey or water and Vinegar or mixed with an Oxe gall and applyed to the Navel they also cleanse the Stomach help digestion and provoke appetite being first steeped in water and then dryed and powdered and taken with Vinegar The decoction also provokes Vrine and womens Courses and being taken with Myrrhe it expells a dead Childe it is also good to cleanse Scabs Vlcers Morphew and Tetters and cleanseth the Face and Skin from spots and other marks The meal boiled in Vinegar discusseth hard Swellings breaks Carbuncles and Imposthumes ☞ See more of this in The Expert Doctors Dispensatory by P. Morellus Ladies Smock Cuckow Flowers or wilde Water Cresses Cardamine THose kindes of these flowers which grow naturally with us in England are a kinde of Water-cresses for which cause they are called Nasturtium aquaticum minus and also Flos cuculi because they flower in April about the time the Cuckow uses to sing without hoarseness but for the Vertues if they have any they are of the nature of Water Cresses to
which I refer you White Lillies Lilium THe English white Lilly groweth in most Gardens of England and will increase much by the root where it is planted it is so vulgarly known as needs no further description They flower from May to the end of June Names The white Lilly is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Lilium and Rosa Junonis or Juno's Rose it being reported that it sprung up of her milk which she spilt upon the ground after Hercules had sucked her in her sleep Nature and Vertues The white Lilly is hot partaking of a subtil substance the root dry in the first degree and hot in the second the leaves boiled in red Wine and applyed to old Wounds or Vlcers doth them much good in expediting the cure as saith Gallen The distilled water being drunk causeth easie deliverance and expelleth the After-birth saith Alexandrinus The flowers steeped in oyl Olive and set in the Sun in Summer in a glass and repeated two or three times is good to harden the softness of the Sinews and help the hardness the Matrix The root stamped and strained with Wine-and drunk two or three dayes together expelleth the Pestilence causing it to break out and the juyce thereof tempered with barley Meal and baked in Cakes and eaten ordinarily for a moneth or six weeks together forbearing all other bread in the mean time helps to the cure of the Dropsie the same root roasted in the Embers and stamped with some leaven of Rye Bread and Hogs grease breaketh Plagues Sores and Pestilential Botches and ripens Venerial Imposthumes and Buboes in the Flank or elsewhere The same root stamped with Honey and applyed gleweth together Sinews that be cut it consumeth and cleanseth away the Vlcers of the head called Achores and all scurviness of the Beard and Face and being stamped with Vinegar Henbane Leaves or Barley Meal it cures Humours and Imposthumes of the privy parts Laserwort and its Assa Faetida Laserpitium THis is an Outlandish Plant growing in Syria America and Libia There issueth a Gum or liquor out of the same called Laser but that which is gathered from those Plants in Media and Syria is that stinking Gum called in our Shops Assa Faetida which is good to be applyed unto the Navels of such Women as are troubled with the rising of the Mother and for them to smell unto for that purpose the reason whereof you may read in my Womens Counsellour The root of Laserpitium is hot and dry in the third degree and so is Laser The root well pounded with Oyl scattereth clotted Blood cureth the Kings Evil and takes away black and blue marks that come by stripes or bruises the places being anointed or plaistered therewith The same root chewed in the Mouth asswageth the Tooth-ache A plaister made thereof with the oyl of Ireos and Wax is good to help the Sciatica The Laser or Gum of Laserpitium dissolved in Water and drunken taketh away a sudden Hoarseness being supt up with a rear Egge it cures the Cough and taken in broth is good against an old Plurisie being taken with dryed Figs it cureth the Jaundies and Dropsie A scruple thereof taken with a little Pepper and Myrrhe is good against the shrinking of Sinews and taken with syrrup of Vinegar it is good against the Falling Sickness The same drunk in Wine with Pepper and Frankincense is good against the shaking's of Agues being applyed with Copperas and Verdigrease it takes away superfluous out-growings of the Flesh Polypus in the Nose and nianginess and applyed with vinegar pepper and wine it cures the Scurf of the Head and hinders the falling off the Hair Lignum Aloes Vide Xylo-Aloe White Maiden-hair or Wall Rue Ruta Muraria IT brings forth many small round slender leaves Description cut into two or three parts very hard in handling on the outside smooth and green and of an ill-favoured dead colour underneath set with little fine spots the root is black and full of strings Names It s called in Latine Ruta muraria and Salvia vitae in English Wall Rue Stone Rue or white Maiden-hair Place and Time It grows upon old Walls near unto Waters and Wells is green as well Winter as Summer and beareth neither flower nor seed Nature and Vertues Wall Rue is much like the other Maiden-hair both in temperature and vertue it is commended against Ruptures in young Children and affirmed to be good if the powder be taken continually for forty dayes together it is likewise good for the Cough shortness of breath pains and stitches in the sides the decoction of it being drunk digesteth raw humours which stick in the Lungs takes away the pain of the Kidneys and bladder gently provokes Vrine and expelleth the Stone ☞ See further of this in Culpeppers School of Physick Sweet Maudlin Vide Alecoast Dogs Mercury Cynocrambe IT is like the Garden Mercury Description but that the leaves hereof are greater the stalk not so tender but very brittle growing about half a yard high having no branches at all the flowers are small and yellow Names Dogs Mercury is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Cynocrambe Canina Mercurialis Sylvestris in English Dogs Cole and Dogs Mercury Place and Time It grows about Green Hithe and Gravesend in Kent and about Hamsted near London and in many Woods Copses and Borders of Fields flourishes all the Summer Nature and Vertues Dogs Mercury comes near the other Mercury in Nature and quality though seldom used it is also reported to cure the biting of mad Dogs from whence it is thought to obtain the name of Dogs Mercury Naile-wort Vide Whitlow-grass Madder Rubia Tinctorum THere be six kindes Description whereof I shall describe the Garden Madder which shoots forth many stalks standing upright at first and so continue if they be kept cut but if they grow without cutting they become weak and trailing upon the ground unless they grow by some hedge and then they climb thereon being four square rough and full of joynts at every of which come forth long and somewhat narrow leaves standing about the stalks like the rowel of a Spur at the tops whereof come forth many small pale yellow flowers after which come small round heads green at the first and reddish afterward but black when they are ripe wherein is contained the seed the root is long growing deep and creeping far about the ground fat full of substance and of a very clear red colour Names In Latine it is called Rubia Tinctorum in English Madder Place and Time It is manured in Gardens and flowers in June and July and the seed is ripe in August Nature and Vertues Madder roots are hot in the second degree and dry in the â—â—rd an Herb of Mars it hath an opening quality and also a binding The decoction in Wine provokes Vrine Womens Courses and also brings away the Birth and After-birth it cures the Jaundies purges melancholly and opens the Spleen and Gall
against the stinging of Bees and Wasps the oyntment of Marsh Mallows doth mollifie heat and moisten and is good against the Plurisie and other pains of the Sides and Breast Maple Tree IT is a Tree well known to Turners who use the Timber of it it is said to be under the dominion of Jupiter and a strengthner of the Liver The decoction of the leaves or Bark being used strengthens the Liver and opens obstructions of the Liver and Spleen but I believe it is not much experienced if at all Wilde and Sweet Marjoram Marjorana SWeet Marjoram is very well known Description and the Field Marjoram is very like it but we shall describe the wilde It hath a root which creepeth much under ground and continueth a long time sending up sundry brownish hard square stalks with small dark green leaves like sweet Marjoram but harder and broader at the tops of the stalks stand trufts of flowers of a deep purplish red colour the seed is small and somewhat blacker then that of sweet Marjoram Names In Latine it is called Amaracus and Marjorana in English Sweet Marjoram and Marjoram gentle and the wilde kinde Organy Origanum and bastard Marjoram Place and Time The sweet grows onely in Gardens the wilde kinde in borders of Corn Fields and Pastures in sundry places of this Land It flowers about July and August Nature and Vertues They are all Herbs of Mercury the common Sweet Marjoram is hot and dry in the second degree it is comfortable in cold Diseases of the Head Stomach Sinews and other parts taken inwardly and outwardly applyed it digesteth openeth and strengthneth comforts the Brain helps the Memory and is good against the Apoplexy the Head being washed with a Lye made of it eases grievous pains thereof it helps coldness of the Stomach and digestion being given in powder in wine The oyl of it is good to supple warm and stretch forth stiff Joynts and hard Sinews it helps cold griefs and windiness of the Womb and the dead Palsie the back Bone being anointed with it it helps Spasmus Cynicus which is a wrying of the mouth aside being snuffed up into the Nose it is a gallant Oyl to strengthen the Muscles and other parts of the Body it helps noise of the Ears being dropped into them The decoction of this Herb is good in the beginning of a Dropsie it heats the inward Members softens the Milt and asswageth the swelling of it it helps those that cannot make water and easeth pains of the Belly The powder of the leaves snuffed upon into the Nose stayes Rheume cleanses and warms the Head The flower and herb being put into a fine Bag and applyed to the Stomach easeth pains thereof Marigolds Calendula THis well known herb needs no description Names It is called in Latine Calendula and of some Caltha in English Marigolds and Ruds Place and Time I think there are few Gardens without them they flower all Summer and in Winter too if it be milde Nature and Vertues Marigold flowers are hot almost in the second degree especially being dryed it is a Solar Herb and under the sign Leo a great comforter of the Heart and though it be so plentiful and therefore less regarded it is not much inferiour to Saffron The Marigold Flowers resist poison and are good in contagious Fevers and the Jaundies and are very expulsive and therefore effectual in the Small Pox and Measles they provoke Sweat and Womens Courses and expell the After-birth The Conserve of the Flowers is very good against corrupted Air and in time of Pestilence to prevent Infection it helps the trembling of the Heart being taken morning and evening The flowers used in Possets or Broth either green or dry do comfort the Heart and Spirits and expell Pestilential qualities that might annoy them The Juyce taketh away Warts being washed therewith and helps the Tooth-ache and being mixed with vinegar and a hot swelling bathed therewith asswages it and gives ease and being dropped into the ears it kills worms therein The distilled water is good for sore Eyes and a Plaister made of the dry flowers in Powder Hogs Grease Turpentine and Rosin and applyed to the Breast comforts and strengthens the Heart in Feavers very much ☞ See further in The Expert Doctors Dispensatory by P. Morellus Masterwort Imperatoria IT hath divers great broad leaves divided into many parts Description standing three together for the most part upon a foot stalk being somewhat broad and cut in on the edges into three or more divisions all of them dented about the brims of a dark green colour much like Angelica amongst which rise up two or three short stalks about two foot high and slender with such leaves at the Joynts as grow below but lesser bearing Umbels of white Flowers and after them small thin flat blackish seed bigger then Dill seeds The root is somewhat great and groweth rather side-wayes then down right into the ground and is the hottest and sharpest part of the plant and the seed next unto it being somewhat on the out-side and smelling well Names It is called Imperatoria Masterwort and false Pellitory of Spain Places and Time It is usually kept in Gardens with us flowers and seeds about the end of August Nature and Vertues The root of Masterwort is hot in the third degree and of subtle parts an herb of Mars The dried root chewed in the mouth draweth Rheume from the head easing pains of the Head and Teeth and draweth away defluxions of Rheume upon the Lungs or Eyes it dissolves winde and is good in cold grief of the Stomach and Body it provokes Vrine helps to break the Stone and expells Gravel it is good against the suffocation of the Mother drives down the Courses and expells a dead Childe it is good against the Dropsie Cramp and falling Sickness it provokes Sweat and is good against all cold Poisons The juyce dropped or Tents wet therein and applyed to green Wounds or old fretting Vlcers doth soon cleanse and heal them it is likewise good for the cold Gout Mastick Tree Lentiscus THis Outlandish Tree I shall not describe but onely sum up the Vertues of its Gum called Mastick The Tree is called in Latine Lentiscus the Gum Resina Lentiscina Mastiche and Mastix Mastick is very good for the Tooth-ache being steeped in Rose water and the Mouth washed therewith it fastens loose Teeth and strengthens the Gums being held or chewed in the Mouth it draws away phlegm and causes a sweeet Breath it cleanses and dryes up Vlcers and Sores being used in plaisters and oyntments it strengthens and comforts the Stomach mollifies Tumors and eases pains of the Joynts and Sinews for all which purposes the chymical oyl is most effectual being taken inwardly it stayes Vomiting and brings good digestion it stops the Flux of the Belly and taken with syrrup of Colts-foot it helps Coughs it is a good corrigent in strong purging Medicines abating their acrimony or sharpness Sweet
Maudlin Vide Alecoast or Costmary Mechoacan and Jalap Mechoacana THis plant groweth in the West Indies there are two kindes white and black they are both not in the first degree and dry in the second of an airy substance and also an earthly quality Mechoacan is effectual for the Dropsie purging water and phlegm and strengthens the Liver it purgeth the Brain and Nerves and is good for a long continued Head-ache it helpeth pains in the Joynts and also in the Bladder and Reins by provoking Vrine it expells Winde easeth the Chollick and pains of the Mother it is said to have all the Vertues that are either in Agarick or Rhabarb and therefore is commended in the French Pox Kings Evil Scurvy and Gout and in inveterate Agues and also in the Falling Sickness Catharre old Cough shortness of Breath Jaundies and stoppings of the Liver and Spleen it may be given to Children a scruple or a scruple and a half of the powder in white Wine to strong bodies a dram or two Jalap purgeth Phlegm Choller and Melancholly and watry humors The dose thereof may be a dram in white Wine with a little Anniseeds and Ginger to correct it otherwise it troubles the Stomach making it subject to Vomit Meadsweet Vide Queen of the Meadows The Medlar Tree Mespilus THis Tree is generally well known being a companion in Orchards and Gardens amongst other fruit Trees it is called Mespilus and the fruit Mespilum in Latine the Tree in English is called the Medlar or Open-arse Tree and the fruit Mediars and Open-arses They flower in May and the fruit is ripe about Michaelmas and then when they are gathered they must lye till they are rotten before they be fit to eat Nature and Vertues Both leaves and fruit of the Medlar Tree are cold dry and astringent a plant of Saturn The decoction of Medlars is good to gargle the Mouth and Throat it stayes defluxions of humors which might cause pains and swellings there it is also good to drink and to bathe the Stomach warm that is subject to loathing or vomiting for it fortifies digestion and strengthens the retentive faculty A pultis or a plaister may be made for the same purpose with dryed Medlars mixed and beaten together with the juyce of red Roses a few Cloves Nutmegs and a little red Corral The said decoction is a good bath for women to sit in whose courses flow overmuch and to stay the bleeding of the Piles The powder of the leaves is good to stay the bleeding of fresh Wounds The stones bruised to powder and drunk in liquor wherein some Parsley roots have been steeped all night or a little boiled doth expel stones and gravel from the Kidneys The fruit is good to stay womens longings and is good for those that are apt to miscarry Melilot Corona Regia COmmon Melilot springeth up with many green stalks about half a yard high Description or more from a tough long white root which dyeth not every year set round about at the Joynts with small and somewhat long strong and well smelling leaves standing three together dented about the edges unevenly the flowers are yellow and well scented standing in long spikes one above another a hand breadth long or better after the flowers come long crooked Cods wherein are contained brownish flat seeds Names The Latines call it Corona Regia because the flowers crown the tops of the stalks but it is generally called Melilota from the Greek and in English Melilot Kings Claver and Harts Claver because Deer delight to feed upon it Place and Time It is found plentifully in many places of this Land in Corn Fields the Corners of Meadows and by Ditches sides Nature and Vertues It is a Plant of Mercury and hath mixt qualities like him binding and yet digesting and the hot faculty abounding more therein then the cold The seed thereof applyed with Linseed Fenugreek and Camomile flowers asswages Tumors and hard swellings provokes the Courses opens obstructions of the Veins and strengthens the parts The compound Plaister of Melilot is effectual to dissolve Tumors windiness and swellings of the Spleen Liver and Belly it eases the Hypocondria or any other pain and is good for the Rickets The other Plaister of Melilot is good to draw such sores and wounds as need cleansing The juyce dropped into the ears easeth pains of them and being dropped into the eyes it clears them of pearls and spots and takes away the Web and clears the sight being steeped in Rose water and vinegar and applyed it easeth the Head-ache it mollifieth all Tumors and Inflammations either in the privy parts or other places of the body being boiled in wine and applyed and sometimes the yolk of a roasted Egge or the powder of Linseed Fenugreek Poppy seed Endive or fine flower is added to it The flowers of Melilot and Camomile are much used in Glisters to ease pains and expel winde and likewise in pultisses to asswage Swellings and Tumors being boiled in water it helps Wens and running Vlcers of the Head being applyed with Chalk Wine and Galls it is effectual for those who have suddenly lost their senses by any fit and to strengthen the Memory and comfort the Head and Brain to preserve them from pains and the Apoplexy the head being often washed with the distilled water of the Herb and Flowers or with a Lye made thereof French and Dogs Mercury Mercurialis BOth these kindes of Mercury have a male and a female Description The French Mercury riseth up with square green stalks full of Joynts about two foot high with two leaves at every joynt and branches on both sides the stalks with fresh green leaves somewhat broad and long finely dented about the edges In the male at the Joynts towards the tops of the stalks and branches come forth two small round green heads standing together upon a short foot stalk which growing ripe are the seeds without yielding any flower The stalk of the female is longer and of a spike fashion set round about with small green husks which are the flowers made like small branches of Grapes which yield no seed but continue long upon the stalks the root consists of many fibres which dyeth every Winter and springs again of its own sowing The Dogs Mercury hath many stalks smaller and lower then the other and without branches the male hath two leaves at every joynt somewhat greater then the female more pointed and harder at the joynts with the leaves come forth longer stalks then the former with two round hairy seeds on them twice as big as those of the other Mercury from the joynts of the female come forth spikes of flowers like the female French Mercury The root is fibrous yet abideth the Winter the stalks dying down to the ground and springing every year Names It is known in Latine by the name of Mercurialis and the dogs Mercury Mercurialis Canina and Cynocrambe Place and Time The French Mercury grows in Kent and divers other places
drink it it will not curdle in the Stomach and some say a Cheese will not come if it be put into the milk or Runnet The distilled water is available for all the aforesaid purposes though more weakly but the Chymical Spirit drawn from the herb is most effectual Chollerick persons must abstain from Mint for much of it taken makes the Blood thin and turns it into choller The horse Mints are good to expell winde in the Stomach to help the Chollick and short windedness and is good to help nocturnal pollutions being applyed to the Cods Myrtles Myrtilli THis Outlandish plant cannot endure the Winter with us unless it be kept in pots within doors The Tree is called in Latine Myrtus and the berries Myrtilli Nature and Vertues The myrtle hath contrary qualities cold and earthy warm and thin powerfully binding and drying The dry leaves beaten and boiled in water and drunk is good against Cathars the Whites Vlcers and creeping Sores The berries and seed is good against passions of the Heart stingings of Serpents and venomous Creatures and the poison of Toadstools being drunk in Wine it helps a stinking Breath diseases of the Bladder and provokes Vrine The decoction is good for the falling down of the Fundament and the Piles being mixed with oyl of Roses and applyed it helps swelling of the Cods Imposthumes of the Fundament and St. Anthonies fire The decoction of the berries makes the Hair black and keeps it from falling cures sores of the Head and helps those that are Bursten The syrrup of Myrtles is good against the Cough and Vlcers of the Lungs And although I have not told you where this Tree grows because I doubt you will not go so far to fetch it you may have it near home at the Druggists and Apothecaries Myrobalanes MYrobalanes are an East Indian Fruit and are called in English by Mr. Parkinson purging Plums My Authour reckons up five kindes of them viz. Cytrina Chebula Bellerica Emblica Indica Nature and Vertues They are all cold in the first degree and dry in the second and do purge and also strengthen the Stomach The Citrine Myrobalanes purge Choller strengthen the Stomach Heart and Liver help such as have the Hemorrhoides and Piles they are good in Tertian Agues cause a good colour and hinder old Age the Chebule purge Phlegm quicken the brain and sight and strengthen the Stomach They are good in the Dropsie and for long continued Agues The Embellick and Bellerick purge Phlegm from the Stomach strengthens the Brain Joynts Heart and Liver helps passions of the Heart provokes Appetite allayes Thirst stayes Vomiting qualifies inward heat and allayes Choller and gives ease to those that have the Piles The Indies or Black Myrabolanes purge Melancholly and adust Choller and cause a good colour and are good against Quartain Agues the Leprosie and all Paralytical Diseases The Citrine are also often used in Cholleries with the juyce of Fennel or Rose water against Inflammations and flowing of humours to the Eyes and likewise in powder with Mastick or Rose water to dry and heal Vlcers Misleto Viscum I Think Misleto is so well known that its needless to describe it The Latines call it Viscus and Viscum and so is the Birdlime called that is made of the Berries The Misleto of the Oak is called Viscus Quercini and so of the rest Places and Time Misleto groweth plentifully upon Fruit Trees as Apples Pear Trees and Crab Trees in divers Counties of the Land sometimes on Ashes and Oaks but that of the Oak is most rare in England It flowers in the Spring and the Berries are ripe in October abiding on the branches all the Winter unless the Birds devour them Nature and Vertues Misleto is hot and dry in the third degree the leaves and berries do heat and dry and are of subtle parts and questionless participates of the nature of that Tree it grows upon as that which grows upon the Oak partakes of the nature of the Oak and therefore is ascribed to Jupiter and is the most effectual It is held to be very effectual for the curing of the Falling Sickness and is by some prescribed to be taken in Pills thus prepared ℞ Visci Quercini seeds and roots of Piony ana ʒi § Nutmeg Anniseeds ana ʒi § Sacchari Buglossati ʒvii make Pills thereof Mathiolus saith that the Misleto of the Chesnut Tree made into powder and given in drink cures the Falling Sickness Some attribute so great vertue unto it as they have called it Lignum sanctae Crucis and believe it to help the Falling Sickness Palsie and Apoplexy being onely hung about their Necks Tragus saith that the juyce of fresh Misleto dropped into the Ears of them that have Imposthumes in them easeth them and helps them in few dayes The Birdlime which is made of the Berries ripens and discusses Tumors and Imposthumes and mollifies hard knots and draweth forth both thick and thin Humors from the remote places of the Body digesting and separating them and being mixed with equal parts of Wax and Rozen it mollifieth the hardness of the Spleen being applyed thereunto Gerrard saith being taken inwardly it is mortal I never did prove any of it but onely the Birdlime upon Birds and I am sure that hath proved mortal to them Money-wort or Herb two pence Nummularia MOney-wort shooteth forth many long Description weak slender branches lying and running upon the ground with two leaves at each joynt equally opposite one to another almost as round as a Penny but that they are pointed a little at the ends smooth and of a yellowish green colour at the joynts with the leaves from the middle forward come forth sometimes one sometimes times two yellow flowers standing each upon a small foot stalk consisting of five narrow leaves pointed at the ends with some yellow threds in the middle after which come small round heads of seed the root is small and threddy Names It is called in Latine Nummularia and Serpentaria in English Two Penny Grass Herb Two-Pence and Money-wort Place and Time It grows by Ditches sides low Meadows and watry places flowers about June and July and the seed is ripe soon after Nature and Vertues Money-wort is an herb of Venus and cold drying and astringent The flowers and leaves are good to heal green Wounds speedily and for old spreading Vlclers especially if it be bruised and boiled in Sallet Oyl with some Rozen Wax and Turpentine added to it or Tents dipped in the juyce and put into the Wounds The juyce taken in Wine or the decoction thereof stayes the overflowing of Womens Courses and the Whites and also Lasks bloody Fluxes inward and outward Bleedings helps weakness of the Stomach that is subject to Vomiting being boiled in Wine and Honey and taken it cures inward Wounds and Vlcers of the Lungs and is a remedy against the Chin-Cough in Children Moonwort Lunaria IT riseth up with one dark Description green thick fat
leaf standing upon a small foot stalk about an inch high unless when it is in flower and then it hath a small slender stalk about three inches high the upper part whereof groweth out of the bosom as it were of the said leaf which is divided on each side into five sometimes seven or more parts on a side each whereof is small next the middle rib but broad forwards and round pointed much resembling an half Moon The stalk riseth above this leaf about two inches bearing many branches of small long tongues much like the spiky head of Adders Tongue of a brownish colour which afterwards resolve into a mealy dust so that you may call them flowers or seed which you please the root is small and threddy Names It is called in Latine Lunaria in English by some Unshooe the Horse but rightly Moon-wort Place and Time It delights to grow upon Hills and Heaths amongst grass and dry mossy places and in divers places of Kent as near Maidstone It may be found about April and May the heat of June banisheth it away Nature and Vertues Many idle Fables have been told of this Herb by lying Cachochymists such as Culpeppers Commanders were that he prates on for I believe they never saw the Herb in their lives and I am confident though it be the Moons herb yet it is neither Smith Farrier nor Picklock but is of Temperature cold and dry somewhat more then Adders Tongue and is a good Wound Herb either for inward or outward Wounds Blowes or Bruises it likewise helps to consolidate Fractures and is good for Ruptures and Cancers of the Breast It may excellently be used with other wound herbs to make Oyls and Balsoms for fresh and green Wounds and being boiled in red wine and drunk it is excellent to stay the overflowing of womens Courses and the Whites Bleeding Vomiting and other Fluxes The learned Grollius saith that it is good for the Cancers in Womens Breasts its Signature speaking so much Moss Muscus THere is Moss of Trees Description and Names and Ground Moss but neither of them want a description The Apothecaries call itVsnea it is likewise called in Latine Muscus Places and Time I have told you before where they grow Nature and Vertues The ground Moss is cold dry and astringent that of the Trees is cool and binding yet it partakes somewhat of the nature of the Tree whereon it grows yet all Saturns pot-herbs as saith Culpepper The ground Moss is held good to break the Stone being boiled in Wine and the decoction drunk it is likewise good being boiled in water to allay Inflammations and hot pains The Oak Moss is good to stay Fluxes and Lasks in man or woman Vomitings Bleedings spitting and pissing of Blood and the Terms the powder thereof being boiled in Wine and drunk The same being drunk stayes the Hiccough as saith Avicen And it procures deep sleep saith Serapio and some say the powder thereof for some time together taken in drink is good against the Dropsie Fresh Moss steeped a while in Oyl of Roses and then boiled therein and applyed to the Temples and Forehead helps the Head-ache that cometh of a hot cause and distillations of hot Rheumes to the Eyes or other parts It was anciently used in Oyntments against Weariness and to strengthen the Sinews There is a Moss that grows upon dead Mens Sculls which is a principal ingredient in the Weapon Salve but the receipt is it should be taken from the Skull of one who dyed a violent death I lately saw one which was brought out of Ireland all grown over with Moss Cup Moss if it be powdered and given in sweet Wine for certain dayes together is a remedy against the Falling Sickness and the Chin cough in Children Motherwort Cardiaca THis herb riseth up with hard Description square rough strong stalks of a brownish colour shooting two or three foot high and sometimes more spreading into many branches whereon grow the leaves on each side with long foot stalks two at every joynt broad and long rough and crumpled with great veins of a dark green colour deeply jagged about the edges almost torn or divided the flowers grow in sharp pointed rough husks from the middle of the branches to the top round about them at distances somewhat like Balme or Horehound but of a more red or purple colour after which comes plenty of small round blackish seed which shedding fills the place about it with their young growth The root is fibrous the plant of a rank smell and bitter taste Names It is called Cardiaca in the Latine though Matricaria which is used for Fetherfew might be more proper for it for it is effectual to help the Mother as well as the Heart and therefore with good reason is called in English Motherwort Place and Time It groweth rarely with us but onely in Gardens yet delighteth to grow by Walls sides and amongst rubbish it flowers and seeds from the Spring till Winter and then perisheth but the root abideth all the Year Nature and Vertues Motherwort is of temperature hot and dry in the second degree of a cleansing and astringent faculty and is by Astrologers reputed to be subject to the influences of Venus and the Sign Leo so that it is excellent for the fits of the Mother and diseases of the Womb and also for the trembling of the Heart the Cramp Convulsion and Palse it helps the hard labour of Women a spoonful thereof in powder being taken in Wine For the fits of the Mother let little Bags of Motherwort Camomile Wormwood Penntroyal and Lovage be applyed warm to the bottom of the Belly of the Patient The said powder used as aforesaid provokes Vrine and Womens Courses it may also be made into a Syrrup and Conserve and being so used it chears the Heart expelling Melancholly from thence Expectorates Phlegm opens obstructions of the Entrails and kills Worms in the Belly it is likewise good being bruised and applyed to green Wounds to stop the Blood cleanse and cure them and is a remedy against the Cough Murrain and other Diseases in Cattle ☞ See further in The Art of Simpling written by W. Coles Monsear Pilosella COmmon Mousear creeps upon the ground by strings or wires much like the Strawberry Description the strings taking root as they run and shooteth forth small short leaves set in a round form together hollowish in the middle where they are broadest of a hoary colour all over and very hairy out of which issues a white milk being broken from amongst these leaves spring up divers small hairy stalks about a handful high with a few smaller leaves thereon standing one at a place as the flowers do usually one at the top which consists of many pale yellow leaves much like a Dandelion flower but smaller and a little reddish underneath near the edges turning into Doun which with the seed is blown away by the Winde The root is small and fibrous Names It is called
it perfects its seed in August the second year after it is sown Nature and Vertues It is a Mercurial herb and is hot and dry in the second degree the seed is hot in the second degree and dry almost in the third its root is temperately hot Parsley is excellent to provoke Vrine to break the Stone and ease the pains thereof it provokes the Terms and is comfortable to the stomach breaking winde both there and in the belly the roots open obstructions and provokes urine mightily and may be boiled and eaten like Parsnips for the purposes aforesaid for which the seed decocted in wine is very effectual it is profitable for the Yellow Jaundies Falling Sickness and Dropsie the root is one of the five opening roots and is used amongst other herbs and roots that move the belly downwards the seeds are effectual against venome and poison and for them that have taken Litharge it is also used amongst other things for the Cough and being boiled in white wine and drunk it brings away the Birth and After-birth The leaves of Parsley eaten after Onions or Garlick takes away their offensive smell and suppresseth the Vapours that offend the head or eyes the leaves laid to inflamed or swoln eyes with bread or meal doth much help them and it abates the hardness of womens breasts caused by the curdling of their milk it takes away black and blue spots and marks which come by blows bruises and falls if it be fryed with butter and applyed thereunto the juyce mixed with a little wine and dropped into the ears easeth pains thereof the distilled water is good to give Children for the frets winde or gripings in their bellies or stomacks Parsley-pert or Break-stone Calculum frangens THis rises up with many leaves spread upon the ground Description standing upon a small long foot-stalk about the bigness of a mans nail much dented in the edges much like Parsley but of a dusky green colour the stalks are weak and slender two or three singers long set full of leaves to the top so that the stalk cannot be seen amongst which come forth greenish yellow flowers so small they can hardly be seen and the seed is very small the root is small and threddy yet abideth many years Names Lobel gave it the name of Percepier Anglorum and it is called Calculum frangens in Latine in English Break-stone Place and Time Parsley-pert delights in sandy and fallowed Ground and also amongst Corn it groweth commonly in most Countreys of this Nation it is found from April to the end of October Nature and Vertues It is cold and dry about the second degree I suppose under the influence of Venus it is singular to provoke Vrine and expel gravel and the Stone in the Reins and Kidneys washing it down by Vrine and expelling it out of the Bladder either to drink the decoction of the said herb in Wine or water or the juyce in white Wine taken morning and evening or a dram of the dryed herb in powder drunk in white Wine or other drink first and last divers dayes together it will make a good Sallet herb for the said purposes being pickled up like Sampire and eaten as a sauce in Winter when the green herb cannot be had Parsnip Pastinaca I Think this needs no description Pastinaca is their Latine appellation they are common amongst Gardners and is a good root to be eaten buttered by it self or amongst salt Fish their particular vertues you may read before in Carrots there being little difference but onely in colour Cow Parsnip Spondylium THis plant is known by the name of wilde Parsnip Description it answering thereunto both in his rank savour and in the likeness of the root the leaves hereof are long and large deeply notched or cut about the edges like the teeth of a Saw of an over-worn green colour having long hairy foot stalks the flowers grow in tufts like the wilde Parsnips in white and sometimes reddish Umbels the root is long and white like to the Henbane root The whole plant hath an ill-favoured smell Names It is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine also Spondylium in English Cow Parsnip Meadow Parsnip and Madnep Place and Time Cow Parsnip grows commonly in moist fertil Meadows and Pastures and flowreth in June and July the seed is ripe in August Nature and Vertues It is manifestly hot of temperature and of a cutting faculty the leaves hereof being bruised and applyed doth consume and dissolve cold swellings the Oyl wherein the leaves and roots hereof have been botled is good to anoint the Heads of such as are troubled with the Lethargy Forgetfulness or the Head-ache and much helpeth phrenctick or Melancholly persons their Heads being anointed with it The seed of Cow-Parsnip being drunk in convenient liquor purgeth Phlegm out through the Guts helps short windedness the strangling of the Mother Jaundies and falling Sickness and the sume of the seed will revive such as are sallen into a swoon or deep sleep and helps womens passions of the Mother the smoke being received underneath The juyce of the flowers dropped into the ears cleanseth and healeth them of filthy matter and stayeth the running thereof The Peach Tree Nux Persica THis Tree is nourished onely in Gardens so that a description is needless Names It is called in Latine Nux Persica I suppose the reason because they came originally from Persia Nature and Vertuâ—s The fruit is cold in the first degree and most in the second the Kernels be hot and dry it is a tree ascribed to Venus Pouches moderately eaten as all fruit ought to be are good for hot constitutions to cool the Stomach and to sea the Belly according to Galen the best time of eating them is before meals for then they mollisie the Belly provoke appetite and qualifie choller in the Stomach The Kernels of the Stones are profitable amongst other ingredients to break the Stone and do ease pains and gripings of the Belly caused through windiness and sharp humours an oyl drawn from them and put into Glisters doth the like A milk or cream of the said Kernels being drawn forth with some Vervain water and applyed to the Forehead and Temples doth procure rest to sick persons and so doth the said oyl the places aforesaid being anointed with it the same Oyl or the juyce of the leaves dropped into the Ears easeth pains of them and being bruised and boiled in Vinegar till they be thick and applyed to a bald Head it causes hair to grow The leaves boiled in Ale or Milk and drunk loosens the Belly and killeth worms and so they do being bruised and laid on the Belly and being dryed they discuss humours The powder whereof strewed upon fresh bleeding Wounds stayeth the bleeding and closeth them up The flowers infused all night in Wine in a warm place and strained in the morning and drunk gently moves the Belly or you may make a syrrup of them by
is good for sores of the Yard Mouth and Fundament and for looseness of the skin about the nails and swellings and knots in any part of the body a decoction of the seeds is good to strengthen and fasten the Teeth Poplar Vide Aspen Tree Poppy Papaver THere be divers kindes of Poppies Description as white Garden Poppy black Garden Poppy red wilde Poppy or Corn-rose the two first grow onely in Gardens where they are sown the other is so well known in almost every Corn field that it needs no description Names Papaver is the general Latine Name for Poppy yet to the wilde red Poppy is added the Adjectives erraticum rubrum or sylvestre and it is generally known by the English Names of Redweed Corn-rose and Cheesebouls There is another kinde called Papaver spumeum Spatling Poppy being usually found with a froth like spittle upon the stalks and leaves more then upon any other Plant It hath many weak tender stalks full of joynts about a foot or half a yard long usually lying on the ground whereon grow many pale whitish green leaves two alwayes set together at the joynts one against another having many times upon the leaves but more often upon the stalks at the joynts a white frothy substance like that which is called Cuckow-spittle or Wood-seer at the tops of the stalks upon many slender foot-stalks stand divers white slowers composed of five small leaves a piece with a deep notch in the middle of every one of them standing in a thin loose striped husk wherein afterwards is contained black seed The Root is white and spreadeth in the ground continuing many years but the roots of all the other Poppies dye every Winter Place and Time The two first as I told you grow onely in Gardens where they are sown the red weed almost in every Corn Field the spatling Poppey grows also in Corn Fields sometimes in Pastures and by high-way sides they begin flowring in May and continue till the end of July The seed is ripe presently after Nature and Vertues The Moon claims particular dominion over these Herbs and assigneth them these Vertues A syrrup made of the Garden Poppey heads with the seeds procures rest and sleep in sick persons and stayeth Catarrhs and defluxions of thin Rheumes from the Head upon the Stomach and Lungs which cause a continual Cough the sore-runner of a Consumption The seed of black Poppey drunk in Wine stops the Flux of the Belly and the overflowing of the Tearms A pultis made of the green knops with Barley Meal and Barrows Grease helps St. Anthonies sire and the green knops being stamped with Vinegar womans Milk and Saffron mightily easeth the Gout and cureth another kinde of St. Anthonies fire called Erysipelas and put into the Fundament as a Glister it causeth sleep The condensate juyce is called Meconium and is many times used in Narcotick Medicines instead of the true opium which is brought from Thebes but it is weaker it is an ingredient in Treacle and Mithridate and other Medicines made to procure rest and sleep and to ease pains of the Head and other parts and is used to cool Inflammations Agues and Phrenzies but it must be carefully used inwardly for too great a quantity causeth the Lethargy and sometimes death it giveth much ease in the Gout being outwardly applyed and easeth the pain of hollow Teeth being put therein The Syrrup made of the Redweed Flowers or wilde Poppey is good against Surfeits cools the Blood and may be safely given in Fevers Phrensies and hot Agues and other Inflammations The distilled water of the said flowers is good to drink morning and evening against Surfeits and is effectual in the Plurifie and all other griefs of the Breast and Head The dryed flowers boiled in water or the powder of them drunk in the distilled water or in some other drink worketh the same effect The Syrrup of Meconium or Diacodium which is made of the heads of white and black Poppeys may safely be given to those which are troubled with hot and sharp Rheumes According to Gallen the seeds of spatling Poppey purgeth Phlegm and Dioscorides saith it causeth Vomiting but being taken in Mead or Honeyed Water it is good for them that are troubled with the Falling Sickness Purslain Portulaca IT is a well known Garden Sallet Herb and needs no description Names It is called Portulaca in Latine Place and Time It may be sown in March or April and flourisheth from June till Michaelmas Nature and Vertues Purslain is cold in the third degree and moist in the second and is also a Lunar Herb it is a good Sallet eaten with Oyl and Vinegar to provoke Appetite and cool a hot Stomach it fastneth the Teeth asswageth the swelling of the Gums and cooleth the Mouth and easeth the pains of the Teeth it is good in hot Agues and to cool the Liver Blood and Reins so that it stops Chollerick Fluxes of the Belly Womens Courses and the Gonorrhea distillations from the Head and caseth pains proceeding from Heat want of sleep or the Phrenzy The seed cools the heat and sharpness of Vrine abates the heat of Lust and Venerious Dreams and the overmuch use thereof extinguisheth the natural seed the seed bruised and boiled in Wine and given to Children killeth Worms The juyce is singular good for all the said purposes and for Inflammations or Vlcers in the secret parts and helpeth excortations in the Bowels and the Hemorrhoides The said juyce used with Oyl of Roses is good for Blastings by Lightning burnings with Gun-powder to-allay the heat of sore Breasts or of any other Sores It is likewise effectual to stay Vomitings and taken with Sugar or Honey it quencheth immoderate thirst helps an old and dry Cough shortness of Breath and the Ptisick and the thickned juyce made into Pills with Gum Traganth and Arabick helps such as make bloody water The bruised herb being applyed to the Forehead and Temples allayeth excessive heat therein and applyed to the Eyes it helps redness and Inflammations in them and Pushes and Wheals and St. Anthonies fire in other parts especially having a little Vinegar put to it and being mixed with the like quantities of Galls and Linseed it helpeth the Crick in the Neck and taketh away pains therein being applyed thereunto Potatoes Battata THese came originally to us from the Indies and those which we call Jerusalem Artechokes from Canada The Spanish Potatoes are called Battata Amotes Camotes Pappus and many other names The Jerusalem Artichoke Heliotropium Indicum tuberosum c. Nature and Vertues The leaves are hot and dry the roots of a temperate quality under the influence of Venus Potatoes do much nourish and strengthen the Body and increase and stir up bodily lust being eaten which way soever they are dressed They are used in Pyes and are excellent good Preserved and Candied or roasted under the Embers and eaten with Sack and Sugar The Virginia Potatoes are not so pleasant as the other
but the Jerusalem Artichokes which you may have plentiful enough if you will let them once take root in your Gardens being boiled tender and then stewed with Butter and Wine or how you please taste much like the bottom of an Artichoke and are no less nourishing then they ☞ See further of this in Culpeppers School of Physick Primrose Primulae Veris THese are very well known to be the Ladies of the Spring being the first that flower wherefore they are called in Latine Primulae Veris They are somewhat dry and astringent of temperature The leaves are good to apply to Inflammations and to heal burnings and scaldings and an Oyntment made thereof is excellent to heal green Wound they are very near in nature unto Cowslips to whose particular Vertues I refer you Privet THis is seldom used in Physick therefore I shall onely read to you its Uses because they that have it near them may use it when they cannot get other helps It is usually planted in Hedges in Gardens to make walks and knots and groweth wilde in many Woods and Parks of this Land It flowers in June and July and beareth ripe berries in September Nature and Vertues Privet is a Lunar Herb of temperature cold and dry the decoction of it is a good Lotion to wash sores and sore mouths to cool inflammations and dry up Fluxes The distilled water of the flowers is good for the same purposes and to stay womens Courses and Fluxes of the belly bleeding at mouth and distillations of Rheums in the Eyes being used with Tutia An Oyl made by infusion of the Flowers is good for inflamed Wounds and the Head-ache proceeding of an hot cause as saith Mathiolus Queen of the Meadows or Meadsweet Regina Prati MEadsweet springeth up with divers broad winged leaves Description deeply dented about the edges set on each side of a middle rib and are somewhat rough hard and crumpled like Elm-leaves having lesser leaves with them like Agrimony of a sad colour on the upper side and grayish underneath of a pleasant scent and taste like unto Burnet the stalks are reddish and grow two or three foot high having on them such leaves as those below but somewhat lesser at the tops whereof and of the branches stand many tufts of small white flowers thick together smelling sweeter then the leaves after which come crooked and cornered seed The Root is somewhat wooddy blackish on the outside but reddish within and is nourished by fibres so that it continues many years and hath also a good smell Names It is called in Latine Vlmaria because of the likeness between its leaves and Elm-leaves and also Regina prati Place and Time It grows frequently in moist Meadows by watery ditches and rivers sides it flowers in some place or other all the Summer Quarter Nature and Vertues Meadsweet is cold and dry with an astringent quality and ascribed to Venus Two or three of the leaves put into a cup of Claret giveth it a fine rellish and also maketh the heart merry and chearful The decoction thereof in wine helpeth the Chollick and taken warm with a little honey it opens the belly but being boiled in red wine and drunk it stayes Looseness The decoction thereof is good to heal sores in the mouth or secret parts The distilled water helps Inflammations of the Eyes and clears the Sight The smell of the flowers make the heart chearful and therefore are excellent to adorn houses the root helps horses of the Bots and Worms and so it would do in men if they drink the decoction thereof and therefore the Germans call it Wormkrant the worm-plant The root likewise made into powder or boiled and drunk powerfully sâ—â—yes Womens Courses the Whites the Bloody Flux Lâ—â—k and all other Fluxes of Blood and is good against vomiting and it is said that if it be boiled in wine and drunk it first altereth and afterwards taketh away the fits of Agues Quince-Tree Malus Cydonia I Suppose the Tree but especially the fruit to be so well known they need no description Names It is called in Latine Malus Cydonia and Cotonea The Spaniards call it Membrillio and Marmello from whence comes the word Marmalade Place and Time They delight to grow near ponds and waters sides and are plentiful in this Land It flowers in April and May and the Fruit is ripe about Michaelmas Nature and Vertues They are cold in the first and dry in the second degree they are earthy and binding the Fruit is not durable and is harsh and unpleasant to eat raw but being scalded roasted baked or preserved they become very pleasant They are Saturnine The Syrrup of the Juyce of Quinces strengthens the heart and stomach relieves nature stayes looseness and vomiting for looseness take a spoonful of it before meat for vomiting after meat It corrects Choller and Phlegm and helps Digestion To make Quinces purging put honey to them instead of sugar and if you would have them more laxative then to purge Choller adde Rhabarb for Phlegm Turbith and for watry humours Scammony If you would have them binde forceably use the unripe Quinces with Roses Acacia or Hypocistis and some Rhabarb torrefied The juyce of raw Quinces is accounted an Antidote against deadly poyson and it hath been found certain that the smell of a Quince hath taken away the strength of white Hellebore outwardly to binde and cool hot fluxes the Oyl of Quinces or other medicines made thereof are available to anoint the belly or other parts therewith It also strengthens the stomach belly and sinews and restrains immoderate sweatings The muscilage of the seeds boiled in water is good to allay the heat and heal the sore breasts of women and with Sugar it is good to lenifie the hoarseness and harshness of the throat and roughness of the tongue The Marmalade is both toothsome and wholesome and a decoction of the doun that grows upon the Quinces is good to restore lost hair and being made up with Wax and applyed as a plaister it bringeth hair to them that are bald and keepeth it from falling if it be ready to shed Radish Rhaphanus THe Garden Radish needs no description it is called in Latine Rhaphanus Nature and Vertues Radishes are rather a sawce then a nourishment they are hot in the third degree and dry in the second and do open and make thin and is governed by Mars The roots do provoke urine and so doth the distilled water the root stamped with honey and the powder of a sheeps heart causeth hair to grow The seed causeth vomiting and provoketh urine and being drunk with Oximel or honied water it drives forth Worms The root boiled in broth is good against an old Cough it moveth womens Courses and increases milk and is good for the Dropsie the Chollick gripings in the belly and griefs of the Liver It is good for them which are sick with eating Toadstools or other poison they are much used as sawce with meat to
and of some Redrot because some think it rots sheep that feed thereon but of this be sure if sheep feed much on the places where it grows they will quickly run to rot Places and Time It grows upon Bogs and moist wet places and in moist boggy Woods as in lower Danemore in Holshot and in a boggy piece of ground where my Father dwells adjoyning to the same Wood called the Grove which will scarce bear any thing else but this Plant It flourisheth from May till August and ought to be gathered in the heat of the day for then it is fullest of dew Nature and Vertues Authours differ in opinion concerning this Herb some hold it to be Caustick and much biting and hot and dry in the fourth degree others that it is sharp and a little drying and binding Dodonaeus held it to be extream biting and that the distilled Water is not safe to be taken inwardly But the truth is it is an Herb of the Sun and the distilled Water is good against the Consumption of the Lungs and is effectual against salt Rheums distilling on the Lungs which cause a Consumption it also comforts the heart and fainting spirits and is available against wheâ—sings Ptysick Cough and Shortness of Breath and heals Vlcers in the Lungs The leaves outwardly applyed will raise Blisters the Cordial Water made hereof called Rosa solis is good against heart-qualms and to strengthen the body Root of Peru. Radix Peruviana THis Cordial Root is known best in our shops by the name of Contra Yerva which title the Spaniards in the Indies gave it being as much as to say an Antidote against Poison because the powder thereof taken in wine is a present remedy against poison causing it to be cast up by vomit or expelled by sweat It also killeth worms in the belly and being taken in the morning in powder in a glass of wine it strengthneth the heart and vital spirits A modern Physician writeth that if it be beaten to powder and infused in wine two hours before the fit of an Ague and then drunk at the coming of the fit and the Patient covered to sweat upon it it cures an Ague at twice or thrice the Dose may be from half a dram to two drams according to the age strength and constitution of the Patient Rosemary Rosmarinus I Shall not need to describe this excellent Herb being so well known in every good Housewises Garden It usually flowers in April and May. Names It is called Rosmarinus and Rosmarinum in Latine the Flowers are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Composition made thereof Dianthos Nature and Vertues It is accounted an Herb particularly under the Influence of Sol in Aries it is hot and dry in the second degree having an astringent quality and consists of divers parts but partakes most of the earthly substance Rosemary hath a warming and comforting heat helping all cold diseases of the Head Stomach Liver and Belly The Herb but especially the Flowers are good for all cold and moist infirmities of the Head and Brain they dry the brain and quicken the sences and memory and strengthens the sinewy part It is also good against all Fluxes The flowers and leaves are profitable against the Whites to be taken daily the Conserve of the flowers is good to comfort the heart and expell the poison of the Pestilence and the branches of Rosemary is good to burn in infectious times the dryed leaves taken like Tobacco dryes up thin distillations and therefore is good against any Cough Ptysick or Consumption Rosemary doth also cleanse and comfort the Stomach and makes a sweet Breath being thus used Take an handful of Rosemary with the flowers or without boil it a good while in white wine adding thereto a little Cinamon then drink it and wash your mouth therewith it maketh the skin very clear being used without Cinamon It helps cold Rheums falling into the eyes giddiness or swimming of the head the Lethargy and Falling-sickness the dumb Palsie or loss of Speech if it be drunk and the Temples bathed therewith It helps such as are liver-grown opening the Obstructions and warmeth and strengtheneth the same it expells Winde powerfully in the Stomach Bowels and Spleen and helps the Hypocondriack passion The Chymical Oyl of the leaves and flowers is effectual for all the Diseases aforesaid being carefully applyed it is very quick and piercing and therefore the Dose must be very little at once for inward griefs It helps the Head and Brain if the Temples and Nostrils be touched with a drop or two it likewise helps any cold joynt sinew or member if it be anointed with two or three drops thereof True Rhabarb Bastard and Moncks Rubarb Rhabarbarum THe true Rubarb groweth in China and the Eastern Countreys therefore I shall not describe it the root being to be had in most Druggists Shops yet I confess it may be seen growing in some curious Gardens with us but not in such plenty as Mr. Culpepper seems to talk of through the multiplying glass of his carping fancy Names It is called Rha from the River Rha in China where it groweth and in our Shops Rhabarbarum the place I have told you the roots are to be taken up about October when the leaves and stalks are fully withered Nature and Vertues Rubarb is hot and dry in the second degree of mixt parts airy thin and purging and partly gross earthly drying and binding the Bastard and Moncks Rubarb are also dry but cooling Rubarb is certainly a herb af Jupiter it is called the friend the life heart and treacle of the Liver being so effectual for the same it purgeth it of Choller Phlegm and watry humors and helps the hardness and coldness thereof and is useful in chollerick and long continued Fevers in the Jaundies Green Sickness Dropsie and stoppings of the Liver the powder steeped in White Wine all night and drunk fasting or being taken amongst other purges being taken in powder with Cassia and a little Venice Turpentine Washed it cleanseth the Reins and strengthneth them and is effectual to stay a Gonorrhea or running of the Reins it is also good against pains windiness wambling and weakness of the stomach Cramp gnawings and gripings of the Kidneys Belly and Bladder pains of the Breasts Mother and Sciatica it helps spitting of blood the Hicket bloody Flux Lasks and all venomous stingings and bitings one dram thereof taken in Hydromel or honied water it easeth the Gout helpeth those that are troubled with Melancholly and is good against pains and Swellings of the Head It is most properly insused in Whey or White Wine which liquors make it work more effectually in opening obstructions and purging the Liver and Stomach The oyl wherein Rubarb hath been boiled is good to anoint any bruised place to dissolve the clotted Blood and Rubarb taken in powder with Mummy and Madder-roots in red Wine healeth Burstings and broken parts as well inward as outward and dissolveth clotted
Palsies and Cramps and to strengthen and comfort the parts it is good against the Stitch and pains of the Side coming of Winde the Place being fomented with the decoction thereof in Wine and the boiled Sage afterwards applyed hot thereunto and the decoction thereof according to Dioscorides provokes Vrine and womens Courses The juyce of Sage taken in warm water helps a hoarseness and the Cough Rue is good to be planted amongst Sage to prevent the poison which may be in it by Toads frequenting amongst it to relieve themselves of their poison as is supposed but Rue being amongst it they will not come near it Wood Sage Salvia sylvestris WOod Sage springeth up with square hoary stalks Description sometimes two foot high having two leaves at every joynt much like other Sage but smaller softer whiter and rounder and a little dented about the edges smelling somewhat stronger the flowers stand on a slender long spike on the tops of the stalks and branches turning all one way when they blow and are of a pale whitish colour smaller then Sage but hooded and gaping like unto them the seed is blackish and round four usually in an husk together the root is long stringy and fibrous and abideth many years Names It is called in Latine Salvia sylvestris Place and Time It grows in Woods and by Hedge sides and High wayes and flowers about July Nature and Vertues Wood Sage is hot and dry in the second degree and attributed to Venus the decoction thereof provokes the Tearms and Vrine and provokes Sweat digests humors and dissolves swellings and nodes in the flesh and is therefore thought to be good against the French Pox. The decoction of the green Herb in Wine is good for those that have any Vein inwardly broken by a fall bruise or beating to disperse the congealed blood and consolidate the Vein and it is also good for such as are bursten the drink taken inwardly and the herb applyed outwardly and in the same manner used it is also good for the Palsie The juyce thereof or the herb in powder is goods to dry moist Vlcers and sores in the Legs or other parts thereby causing them to heal the more speedily and is also effectual in green Wounds Burnet Saxifrage Pimpinella Saxifraga IT hath great long roots like a Parsnip Description of a biting hot taste like Ginger the stalk is hollow and riseth up about three foot high with joynts and knees beset with large leaves much like those of Smallage or the Garden Parsnip The Plant consisteth of many leaves growing upon one stem cut about the edges like a Saw the flowers grow in white round tufts at the top of the stalks The seed is like Parsley seed but hotter and biting upon the Tongue There is a lesser kinde little differing from the greater but that the stalks and veins of the leaves of the lesser are of a purplish colour and the root hotter Names It is called Pimpinella major Saxifragia major and the lesser kinde Saxifragia minor in English great and small Saxifrage and Burnet Saxifrage Place and Time They grow plentifully in dry Pastures and Meadows and flower from June to the end of August Nature and Vertues The leaves seeds and roots of both kindes are hot and dry in the third degree and of thin and subtle parts The juyce of the leaves cleanseth the face of Spots and Freckles and causeth a good colour The distilled water thereof mingled with some Vinegar in the distillation dears the Sight and helps the dimness thereof The seed and root in powder drunk in wine or the decoction thereof made in Wine provokes Vrine breaks the Stone and is good against the Strangury and stoppings in the Kidneys and Bladder The Service Tree Sorbus THis grows to be a great Tree delighting in Woods and Groves and are also planted in Orchards there doth grow of them in the Woods of Mr. Hinde at Hedsor and in Woods and by High way sides I have found them in Surrey and Kent the Tree and fruit are both so well known that a further description is needless Names The Greeks call this Tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Sorbus and in English Service and Sorb-Tree Place and Time They flower in March and the fruit is ripe in September or the beginning of October Nature and Vertues The Service berries are of temperature cold and binding and more being hard then when they are rotten yet then people usually eat them but they yield no nourishment but what is gross and cold therefore they are better for medicine then meat and being gathered while they be hard and cut and dryed in the Sun they may be kept all the year to stay bleedings of Wounds Mouth or Nose Fluxes and Vomiting the decoction drunk or outwardly applyed Solomons Seal Sagillum Solomonis COmmon Solomons Seal groweth with a round stalk about half a yard high Description with the top bending down set with single leaves one above another somewhat large like the leaves of May Lilly of a blueish green colour with some Ribs therein and a little yellowish underneath at the foot of every leaf almost from the bottom it hath small long and white pendulous flowers like those of May Lilly but ending in five longer points for the most part two together at the end of a small foot stalk standing all on one side the stalk under the leaves after which come round berries green at first but afterwards of blackish green tending to blue wherein is contained small white hard stony seed The root is white and thick full of knobs or joynts in some places resembling the mark of a Seal the taste thereof is sweet at first but afterwards somewhat bitter and sharp Names It s common Latine name is Sigillum Solomonis and in English Solomons Seal and sometimes white Wort or white Root Jacobs Ladder and Scala Caeli in Latine Place and Time It grows in divers places of this Land as about Odiham in Hampshire in a Wood within two miles of Canterbury by Fish-pool Hill and between Newington and Sittingbourn in Kent and divers other places it flowers about May and the seed is ripe in September Nature and Vertues The roots of Solomons Seal are hot and dry and astringent a Saturnine Plant the roots have great vertue in sealing or closing up the rim of the Belly when it is bursten the decoction thereof taken in Wine or the powder in broth or drink and being outwardly applyed to the place it is likewise good for other hurts wounds or outward sores to heal and close up green wounds and to dry up and restrain the flux of humors into old sores it also slayes bleedings vomitings fluxes the running of the reins in men and the whites and reds in women it mightily conglutinates and soders broken bones in man or beast the bruised root applyed to the place and the decoction thereof or infusion in wine being strained out hard and drunk it is likewise
are hot in the third degree and dry in the second and said to be under the influence of Venus an Electuary made of the roots with honey consumes winde in the stomach and guts and easeth gripings in the belly and is good against Catharrs Rheumes and Aches of the Joynts and phlegmatick humours that fall upon the Lungs The decoction in wine or water being drunk opens stoppings in the Kidneys and Bladder helps the Strangury provokes Vrine and stirs up Lust It also provokes the Tearms and helps griefs of the Mother but too great a quantity thereof causeth the head-ache The Roots which are onely used in Physick are effectual against the stinging or biting of any venomous creature and is an Ingredient in those main Antidotes Venice Treacle and Mithridate Spikenard Nardus Indica IT is naturally an Indian Plant called Nardus Indica therefore I shall proceed to declare its Vertues not troubling you at all with its description Nature and Vertues Spikenard is of a heating drying faculty as saith Dioscorides it is good to provoke urine and easeth pains of the stone in the Reins and Kidneys being drunk in cold water it helps loathing swelling or knawing in the stomach the yellow Jaundies and such as are liver-grown It is a good Ingredient in Mithridate and other Antidotes against poison to women with childe it is sorbidden but a decoction thereof may be a good bathe for others to sit over that are troubled with Inflammations of the Mother The Oyl of Spikenard is good to warm cold places and to digest crude and raw humours It worketh powerfully on all cold griess of the Head and Brain Stomach Liver Spleen Reins Bladder and of the Mother It purgeth the brain of Rheum being snuffed up into the nostrils being infused certain dayes in wine and then distilled in a hot bathe the Water is good inwardly and outwardly to be used for any coldness of the members It comforts the brain and helps cold pains of the head and the shaking Palsie Two or three spoonfuls thereof being taken helps passions of the heart swoonings and the Chollick being drunk with wine it is good against venomous bitings and being made into Trochis with wine it may be reserved for an Eye-medicine which being aptly applyed represseth obnoxious humours thereof Spinage Spinachia I Shall say but little of this it being more used by the Cook then the Physician for it is seldom used in physick and I believe not very substantial food though some greedily eat it some Latine Authours call it Spinachia and some say that the broth thereof makes the belly solluble easeth pains of the back clears the breast and strengthens the stomack Spleenwort or Ceterach Asplenium SPleenwort beareth many leaves near a span long Description jagged on both sides almost to the middle rib set in several orders not one against the other but one besides another being slippery and green on the upper side and of a dark yellowish roughness underneath which is conceived to be the seeds at its first coming up it rowleth and foldeth it self as Fern doth with many hairs on the outside The Root is small black and rough much platted or interlaced having neither stalk nor flower Names Caterach is the usual name of it in shops yet it is called Asplenium and Splenium in English Spleenwort and Milt-waste Place and Time It groweth upon stone walls and rocks and in moist and shadowy places in the West Countrey on the Church of Beconsfield in Barkshire and at Strowd in Kent and other places It continues green all the year Nature and Vertues It is hot and dry in the first degree of thin subtle parts no way Saturnine but rather Mercurial It is profitable for all diseases and infirmities of the Spleen especially such as cause it to grow too big for it diminisheth it it is effectual for the yellow Jaundies stoppings of the Liver and the Hiccough It helps the Strangury and Stone in the Bladder it helps the Running of the Reins a dram of the dust scraped from the back side of the leaves and taken with half a dram of Amber in powder in the juyce of Plantain or Purslain The decoction helps Melancholly Diseases and such as arise from the French Pox but if it be boiled over long the strength will be lost The distilled water is good for the Stone and the lye made of the Ashes being drunk some time together helps spleenatick persons and so doth the herb being boiled a little and applyed to the region of the Spleen The use of this plant hinders Conception and therefore women that desires Children must forbear it Squinant Sweet Rush or Camels Hay Schaenanthos SChaenanthos or Juncus Odoratus are the Latine names hereof it is an Arabian Plant. Nature and Vertues The whole Plant hath an astringent saculty the roots do binde most and the flowers are more hot it gently cutteth humors and digesteth them The decoction of the flowers being drunk stayeth spitting of Blood and is conducible to diseases of the Scomach Lungs Liver and Reins The root is held effectual for the loathing of the Stomach a dram thereof in powder with the like quantity of Pepper being taken fasting certain mornings together and is a good remedy for the Dropsie Convulsions and Cramps being boiled in the broth of a chicken it is effectual for pains of the Womb and pains after Childe-bearing Dioscorides saith it provoketh Vrine and Womens Courses discusseth Swellings and Winde but troubles the head a little Starwort Bubonium THere be many kindes of this Herb Description yet that which grows most naturally in England is the Attick or yellow Starwort which groweth about a foot high with three or more hairy stalks with long rough hairy brownish dark green leaves on them divided into two or three branches at the tops whereof stand a flat scaly head compassed underneath with five or six long brown rough geeen leaves like a Star the flower standing in the middle consists of narrow long pale yellow leaves set with brownish yellow thrums which turning into doun are carried away with the Winde the root is fibrous and of a binding sharp taste Names This kinde is called Aster Atticus and Bubonium in Latine Place and Time It is said to grow upon Hampsted Heath One sort of Starwort or other is in flower from June to October Nature and Vertues Starwort is said to be cooling and drying and doth moderately waste and consume an herb of Venus the leaves and flowers boiled in water helps pains and sores in the Groin and so doth an oyl made by infusion thereof the dryed flowers being bound to the grieved place takes away Inflammations thereof it helps the Quinzy and Falling Sickness in Children An oyntment made of the green Herb and Hogs Grease is good to anoint a hot Stomach and inflamed Eyes to help falling down of the Fundament and such as are bitten by a mad Dog it consumes swellings of the Throat and the herb being burnt
astringent quality and said to be a Plant of Venus The decoction of the herb in Wine being drunk easeth pains of the Bowels and is good for the Sciatica and Joynt Aches The bruised herb applyed to the hand-wrists and soles of the feet cooleth the violent hot fits of Agues The distilled water dropped into the Eyes or a Cloth wet therein and applyed takes away heat and Inflammations thereof The said water or the leaves steeped in Wine Butter milk or strong white Wine Vinegar cleanseth the skin and face from Morphew Sun-burning Freckles Pimples and the like Wilde Tansie boiled in Vinegar with Honey and Allome and the mouth gargled therewith easeth the Tooth-ache fastneth loose Teeth helpeth sore Gums and reduceth the pallat of the Mouth to its place when it is fallen down it also cleanseth and healeth Vlcers in the mouth or secret parts and is good for inward Wounds and to close the lips of green Wounds and to heal old running corrupt sores in the Legs or elsewhere being boiled in Wine and drunk it stops the Lask bloody Flux and all other fluxes of Blood the green herb onely worn in the shooes stops the Terms and its possible the Whites but the powder of the herb will certainly do it being taken in some of the distilled water with a little Corral and Ivory in powder added to it it also stayes spitting or vomiting of Blood and is good for Children that are bursten or have a Rupture being boiled in water and salt and applyed Tarragon Draco Herba THe Sallet Herb called Tarragon Description shooteth forth long and narrow leaves of a deep green colour greater and longer then those of common Hysop having slender brittle round stalks about two foot high about the branches hang little round flowers which do never perfectly open they are of a blackish yellow colour like those of common Wormwood and yields no seed but a chaffy matter which is carried away with the winde but is propagated by the root which is long and fibrous creeping under the ground like unto Couch-grass shooting forth in divers places by which it increaseth Names The Latines call it Draco herba and Dracunculus Hortensis and in French Dragon in English Tarragon Place and Time It is cherished onely in Gardens with us and as I said is increased by the young shoots Nature and Vertues Tarragon is hot and dry in the third degree à good Sallet Herb to be eaten with Lettice Purslain and other cool herbs it is grateful and comfortable to the Stomach and tempers their coldness but to be eaten alone it is too hot The root held between the Teeth draweth down Rheume and easeth the Tooth-ache Thistles Carduus THough there be many kindes they are all well known Names The general Latine name of a Thistle is Carduus Place and Time They grow frequently almost every where and flower in July and August the seed ripening soon after Nature and Vertues Common Thistles are of Temperature hot and of a drying quality They are held good to provoke Vrine and remedy the stinking smell thereof and the rank smell of the Arme-pits and whole body being boiled in Wine and drunk and they are said to be good to help a stinking Breath and to strengthen the Stomach though I believe it hath been seldom proved The juyce restores lost hair the place being bathed therewith as Pliny reporteth Our Ladies Thistle Carduus Mariae LAdies Thistle hath divers large leaves lying on the ground Description cut in and crumpled somewhat hairy on the edges of a white green shining colour having many streaks of a milky colour and set with sharp prickles round about the stalk is strog round and prickly set full of like leaves at the top of every branch cometh forth a prickly head with brigh purple thrums in the middle after which comes flattish brown shining seed lying in the said heads in soft white Doun The root is great spreading in the ground with many fibres fastned thereunto the whole plant is biter in taste Names It is called in Latine Carduus Lacteus and Carduus Mariae in English Striped milky Thistle and Ladies Thistle Place and Time It is frequent upon Banks of be Fields about London about such places it delight to grow they flower and seed in June till August as other Thistles do Nature and Vertues Our Ladies Thistle is hot and dry in the second degree and somewhat binding especially the root an herb of Jupiter the decoction thereof or the herb taken in powder is good for Stitches and other diseases in the Sides for Agues and to prevent infection it opens obstructions of the Liver and Spleen and is good against the Jaundies The tender leaves having the prickles taken off are a good Sallet in Spring to cleanse the Blood the young stalks dressed are also good meat especially for Nurses to increase their Milk the root is good for the Lask and bloody Flux it stayeth Bleedings wasteth away cold swellings and easeth pain of the Teeth if they be washed with the decoction thereof The decoction of the herb is good to provoke Vrine and breaketh and expelleth the Stone and is good for the Dropsie The seed is as effectual if not better for the same purposes and also for the Cramp and so is the distilled water which is also used inwardly to drink and outwardly to cool distempers of the Liver Swoonings and passions of the Heart being applyed with Spungâ—s or wet cloathes to the region thereof Thorow-wax Perfoliata THorow-wax riseth up with one streight round stalk Description about half a yard high or more having leaves of a blueish green colour the lower leave being smaller and narrower then those that grow highr standing close thereto but not quite compassing it buts they grow higher they do more and more encompass the stalk until they close so together that it passeth almst through the middle of them branching towards the top into many parts where the leaves grow smaller again sanding every one singly The flowers are very small and yellow standing in tufts at the tops of the branches the seed is small and blackish many of them thrust together The Root is small long and woody perishing every year after it hath perfected its seed and the seed which it sheds riseth again the next year Names It is called in Latine Perfoliata in English Thorow-wax and Thorow-leaf Place and Time It groweth in Corn fields and Pastures in many places of this Land flowers about July and the seed is ripe in August or soon after Nature and Vertues Thorow-wax is hot and dry somewhat bitter and astringent and I judge rather Martial then Saturnine It is a good remedy against Ruptures and Burstings in Children especially before it grow too old the decoction of the Herb or the herb in powder taken inwardly and the green leaves bruised and outwardly applyed It is a good remedy for Children that have their Navels sticking out being applyed thereunto with a little Honey and
in wine and drunk It aeseth the Strangury stayes the Hiccough and vomiting of Blood helps gripings in the belly Cramps the Lethargy and Inflammations of the Liver and is comfortable to the head stomach and Reins and helps to expell Winde being taken in decoction or in an Electuary with Honey Liquorice and Anniseeds Tormentil Tormentilla IT springeth up with many reddish Description slender weak branches from the root leaning or lying on the ground having many short leaves that stand closer to the stalks as Cinquefoil doth with the foot-stalks encompassing the branches in several places they which grow next the ground are set upon longer foot-stalks much like Cinquefoil leaves but longer and lesser dented about the edges having five six or seven divisions and sometimes eight at the tops of the branches stand yellow flowers consisting of five leaves like Cinquefoil but smaller The Root is smaller then Bistort somewhat tuberous thick and knobby blackish without and reddish within sometimes a little crooked having many blackish fibres Names It is called in Latine Tormentilla because it easeth torments of the Guts and Heptaphyllum or Septifolium and Stellaria in English Tormentil Setfoil or Seven-leaves Place and time Tormentil groweth in Woods and shadowy places and also in Pastures and Closes as in Pray Wood near St. Albans in Cobham Park in Kent and in the Fields and Common near Horsham in Sussex and many other places Nature and Vertues Tormentil roots are dry in the third degree not very hot but of a binding quality under the Solar Influence It is effectual to stay all fluxes of blood or humors in man or woman either in wound or elsewhere it resists poison provokes sweat and is good to cure wounds It is good in the Pestilence Small Pox spotted Fevers and other contagious Diseases especially if the Patient have a flux of the belly withal It is a special Ingredient in Antidotes and Counterpoisons and excellent in Dyet-drinks against the French Disease and to dry up Rheums and Catarrhes The distilled Water taken fasting is good against Venome and Infection Two or three ounces thereof taken both morning and evening cures inward Vlcers and Fluxes of the belly especially the Disentery or bloody Flux The best way to distill it is to steep the herb all night in wine and then distilled it in Balneo Mariae which water taken with some Venice Treacle and the party sweating after it will expell any venomous poison the Plague and other contagious Diseases Cakes made with the powder of the dryed root and the white of an Egg and baked upon a hot tyle stayes Fluxes restrains Chollerick Belchings Vomiting and loathings in the Stomach The leaves and roots bruised and applyed dissolves knots and kernels of the Kings Evil and hardness about the Ears Throat and Jaws and easeth pains of the Sciatica The juyce of the leaves and roots used with vinegar is effectual for the Piles and Hemorrhoids Sores of the head or other parts Scabs or Itch being washed therewith or with the distilled Water of the herb or roots A little prepared Tutia or white Amber used with the distilled water hereof is helpful to dry up sharp Rheums that distill from the Head into the Eyes causing redness pain waterings or itchings therein Turnsole Heliotropium IT s natural Soil is in Italy Spain and France yet may be found in England in some curious Gardens but more plentifully at the Druggists shops Names It is called Heliotropium in Latine and herba Cancri because it flowers about the time when the Sun enters Cancer Nature and Vertues It is of temperature hot and dry and of a binding faculty a Solar Herb A handful thereof boiled in water and drunk purgeth Choller and Phlegm as saith Dioscorides and the decoction thereof with Commin breaks the Stone in the Reins Kidneys or Bladder provokes Vrine and the Tearms and causeth speedy delivery in Childe-bearing The seed and juyce of the leaves rubbed with salt upon Warts Wens and other hard kernels in the face eye-lids or other parts of the body will take them away by often using it The bruised leaves easeth pains of the Gout or places that have been out of joynt and are newly set and are full of pain being appled thereto Turpentine Terebinthina THere is a Turpentine which drops out of the Fire Tree Description and Names but this I speak of is a liquid substance issuing from the Larch Tree called in Latine Larix from whence also proceeds a tuberous excrescence called Agaricus or Agarick of which we have treated of The Turpentine in Latine is Terebinthina Place and Time It grows about Trent in Italy and the Turpentine is to be gathered in the hottest part of Summer Nature and Vertues Turpentine is moist and without sharpness of a cleansing quality an ounce thereof taken will gently open the Belly provoke Vrine and cleanseth the Reins Kidneys and Bladder being taken with Honey it expectorates tough Phlegm and is good for an old Cough the Ptisick and Consumption of the Lungs it is an excellent ingredient in Salves for Vlcers or green Wounds The chymical oyl of Turpentine is singular good in Wounds and to warm and ease cold pains in the Joynts and Sinews take Turpentine and wash it in Plantain Water and then make Pills thereof with the powder of white Amber red Corral Mastick and a little Camphire they will purge and cleanse the Reins and stay their running Turmerick Curcuma THis Plant groweth in the East Indies and is called by some Crocus Indicus but the common Latine Name is Curcuma Nature and Vertues Turmerick is hot and dry in the second or near the third degree it is excellent for the yellow Jaundies and obstructions of the Gall and for the Dropsie and Greeen Sickness to open stoppings of the Stomach Womb and Bladder and to bring down Womens Courses it is useful in old Diseases and the ill habit of the body it is good likewise in Medicines for the Itch and Scabs used with juyce of Oranges The Indians use it to colour meats and broths instead of Saffron and we to colour Wooden Dishes and Cups Turnips Rapum THese need no description they are called in Latine Rapum and Rapa Nature and Vertues Turnips are cold moist and windy but being boiled they are hardly perceived to cool The decoction of Turnips taken with Sugar is good to clear the Voice A syrrup made of the juyce when they are baked mixed with Honey or honey of Roses and a spoonful thereof taken at night helpeth a Cough and Hoarseness opens the Breast and is good for those that have a Vein broken Oyl of Roses boiled in a hollow Turnip under hot Embers cures kibed Heels The young Turnip tops boiled and eaten are a good Sallet to provoke Vrine The seed mixed with Treacle and drunk is good against poison Turnips being baked ingender less winde then when they are boiled but howsoever dressed they provoke Vrine increase seed and milk in Womens Breast ☞ See
further in The Art of Simpling written by W. Coles Tutsan or Park leaves Siciliana TUtsan groweth up with brownish Description shining round stalks crested hard and woody about two foot high branching out from the bottom having divers joynts and two fair large leaves at every joynt of a dark blueish green colour on the upper side and yellowish underneath turning reddish toward the Autumne and abiding on the branches all the Winter at the tops whereof stand large yellow flowers after which come heads of seed at first greenish then reddish and last of a darkish purple colour wherein are contained a small brownish seed and also a reddish juyce like unto blood of a reasonable scent and a harsh stiptick taste like as the leaves and flowers are though in a lower degree The root is brownish great hard and woody spreading in the ground and continueth a long time Names The Latines call it Androsaemum and some call it Dionysia and Siciliana in English it is called Park-leaves because it familiarly grows in Woods and Parks and Tutsan from the French word Toutsaine it being a good Wound Herb. Place and Time It delights to grow in Woods and woody Grounds Parks and Forrests flowers in July and August and the berries are ripe in September Nature and Vertues Tutsan is moderately hot and dry yet abstersive a Saturnine Plant The leaves and flowers of Tutsan abate lust and venerial motions being taken in drink or otherwise and the seeds more powerfully being toasted and then eat or drunk Castory boiled in the juyce of Tutsan and drunk helps the Gonorrhea The Green herb bruised and applyed helps burnings by fire and the same or the powder of the dry herb stayes bleeding of Wounds it is a sovereign Wound herb for any Wound either inwardly or outwardly it may be used in drinks lotions balms or oyntments for any green Wound or old Sores or Vlcers Two drams of the seed in powder taken in the morning or after supper in Mead Wine or fair water purgeth chollerick Humors and helpeth the Sciatica or Hip-Gout Throat-wort Trachelium THroat-wort groweth with many large hairy leaves Description somewhat rough a little dented about the edges and of an overworn green colour the stalk is also hairy about half a yard high whereon stand leaves from the bottom almost to the top after the fashion of Nettles towards the top on a short foot stalk come forth hollow flowers bell fashion of a blueish purple colour and hairy within the root is white thick and endureth long Names The Latines call it Trachelium Cervicaria and Vvularia some likewise call them Campanula the flowers being like Bells in English Throat-wort Canterbury-bells and Haskwort Place and Time It groweth in Stow Wood by Oxford and doubtless in many other places in England though Germany and Italy be their more natural places they flower in June and July scarce perfecting their seed but increase by the root Nature and Vertues This Plant is cold and dry and so are most Bell Flowers the roots are sweet and therefore eaten in Sallets as Rampions are they have an astringent quality and are effectual for all Vlcers in the Mouth and Throat and also for the Vvula or Pallat of the Mouth being swollen or fallen down and also for all Sores in the privy parts of man or woman or elsewhere to be used in a decoction with Honey Wine and Allome and likewise to close up the lips of Cuts and green Wounds Valerian Phu majus VAlerian hath a thick short grayish root Description lying for the most part above ground shooting out such like roots on all sides having long strings or fibres under them in the ground which nourish them from these roots spring up many green leaves which at first are somewhat broad and long without any dent or division in them but those that come after are more and more divided on each side some to the middle rib being winged as made of many leaves together on a stalk and those upon the stalk are more divided but smaller towards the top then below the stalk riseth to be two or three foot high sometimes branched at the top with many small whitish flowers sometimes dashed over at the edges with a pale purplish colour of a small scent after which followeth small brownish white seed which is carried away with the winde the root smelleth more strong then either leaf or flower and is of more use in Physick Names The ordinary sort is called Phu majus and Valeriana major hortensis and of some Herba Benedicta and Theriacaria it being an ingredient in Treacle Place and Time It is nourished and kept in our Gardens it flowers in June and July and so continueth till the Frosts destroy it Nature and Vertues Valerian hath little heat while it is green but the dryed roots are hot and dry near unto the second degree it is a Mercurial plant The Garden Valerian is used in Antidotes and being dryed and taken in drink it helps pains in the Sides provokes Vrine helps the Strangury procures womens Terms helps chokings or stranglings in any part caused by pains in the Chest or Sides and the decoction thereof doth the same the root taken in wine is good against venomous bitings the Plague and expelleth Winde The decoction of the root with Liquorice Raisins and Anniseeds helps such as are short winded and have the Cough opens the Breast and expectorates Phlegm The green Herb is excellent to heal any inward Sore or Wound and to draw any Thorn or Splinter out of the Flesh The green herb and root bruised taketh away pains and prickings of the Head being applyed thereunto and stayeth rheumes and distillations and being boiled in white Wine and a drop thereof put into the Eye takes away any Pin Haw or Web therein and helps dimness of the Sight The decoction thereof in Wine is profitable to asswage swelling of the Cods caused of cold or Winde The distilled water of the Herb and root made in May is singular good for all the aforesaid purposes and is good in time of the Plague it killeth Worms in the Belly and is good to wash green Wounds or old Vlcers The decoction of the leares is good to gargle a sore mouth or Gums Vervain Verbena COmmon Vervain hath divers leaves towards the bottom Description of a middle size deeply gashed at the bottom and the other part deeply dented about the edges and some onely dented and cut all alike somewhat like an Oak leaf and of a dark green colour on the upper side and grayish underneath The stalk is square and branched into divers parts and riseth abour half a yard high having a spike of flowers at the top set on all sides thereof one above another and sometimes two or three together being small and gaping of a whitish colour intermixt with some blue and purple The seed being small and round is contained in somewhat long heads The root is small and long and of no
Palsie Fevers and consumes the Liver and inward parts Violets Viola BOth the Garden kindes and wilde Violets are generally known Names Viola is the common Latine name for a Violet and Herba Violaria There is also a kinde called Viola tricolor having three colours in the flower which in English is called Hartsease Pansies and three faces under a hood They begin to flower in March and the beginning of April and are then in prime The Pansies flower till the end of July Nature and Vertues Both Garden and wilde kindes while they are fresh and green are cold and moist under the milde influence of Venus the flowers are accounted one of the chief cordial Flowers and are much used in cooling Cordials and so is the syrrup they are good to cool any heat or distemper of the body either inward or outward as inflammations of the Eyes falling down or pain of the Womb or Fundament Imposthumes and hot Swellings To drink the decoction of the leaves and flowers made in water and Wine or to apply them pultiswise to the grieved place it also easeth pains of the Head which are caused by want of sleep The powder of the flowers drunk with water is said to help the Quinzy and Falling Sickness in Children if taken in the beginning of the Disease A dram of the dryed flowers taken in Wine or other drink doth purge the Body of chollerick humors and asswageth heat The flowers of the white Violets ripen and dissolve swellings The seed resists poison of the Scorpion The green or dry herb and flowers are effectual to abate the heat and sharpness of Vrine and hot Rheumes to ease pains of the Back Reins and Bladder and to help the plurisie and other diseases of the Lungs and hoarseness of the Throat The syrrup is good for the Liver and Jaundies and in hot Agues to cool the heat and quench thirst being taken in some convenient liquor and a little juyce or syrrup of Lemons added to it or a few drops of oyl of Vitriol put therein it doth more powerfully cool the heat and quench thirst they are more cooling being made up with Sugar and with Honey more cleansing ☞ See further in Adam in Eden written by Will. Coles Vipers Bugloss Echium COmmon Vipers Bugloss hath many long rough leaves lying upon the Ground Description amongst which rise up divers round stalks very rough as if they were set with prickles or hairs having many black spots on them like a Vipers skin whereon are set such long rough hairy or prickly sad green leaves somewhat narrow the middle rib for the most part being white The flowers stand at the tops of the stalks branched forth into many spiked leaves of flowers bowing or turning like the Turnsole all of them opening for the most part on the one side which are long and hollow turning up the brims a little of a purplish violet colour in those that are full blown but more reddish while they are in the Bud but in some places of a paler purple colour with a long pointel in the middle feathered or pointed at the top after the flowers come blackish cornered and pointed seed somewhat like the head of a Viper inclosed in round heads the root is somewhat great blackish and woody and perisheth in Winter Names It is called by most Authours in Latine Echium and of some Buglossum sylvestre Viperinum Place and Time It groweth wilde on Hills and dry Grounds almost every where that with white flowers about the Castle Walls at Lewes in Sussex and the other about Rochester Castle and elsewhere they flower and seed in the Summer Moneths Nature and Vertues Vipers Bugloss is cold and dry in temperature a Solar Herb the roots and seeds are a good Cordial to comfort the Heart and to expell Sadness and Melancholly it tempers the Blood and mitigates hot sits of Agues The seed drunk in Wine procures Milk in Womens Breasts easeth pains in the Loins Back and Kidneys and is a special remedy against the bitings of Vipers and venomous Beasts and against poison and poisonous herbs Dioscorides saith that whosoever shall take of the herb or root before they be bitten shall not be hurt by the poison of any Serpent There is a syrrup made thereof after this manner Take of the clarified juyce of Vipers Bugloss four pound of the infusion of the flowers one pound fine Sugar three pound boil it to a syrrup which is effectual to comfort the Heart and expell sadness and Melancholly The distilled water made of the herb and flower when it is in its full strength is effectaul for all the griefs aforesaid inwardly or outwardly applyed Wall Flowers or Winter Gillow-Flowers Viola lutea BOth those which are planted in Gardens and those which grow wilde upon old Walls are very well known Names They are called in Latine Viola lutea in Spanish Violettas Amarillas and in French Violieres des murailles from their growing on Walls Place and Time They grow wilde as I said upon old stone Walls mighty plentiful upon the Castle Walls of Rochester and the double kindes are planted in Gardens they flower very early in the Spring Nature and Vertues They are Lunar and of temperature meanly hot of thin parts and of a cleansing faculty the yellow Wall Flowers according to Galen are of most use in Physick it cleanseth the Blood and opens obstructions of the Liver and Reins helps hardness and pains of the Mother and Spleen comforts and strengthens any part that is weak or out of joynt and stayeth Inflammations and Swellings it is a good remedy for the Gout and Aches and Pains in the Joynts it clears the Eyes from Films and Mistiness and cleanseth Vlcers in the Mouth or other parts and provokes the Tearms and expells the secondine or dead Childe and a Conserve of the Flowers is good for the Apoplexy and Palsie The Walnut Tree Juglans THis Tree is very well known the Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jovis glans and the Latines Juglans they blossom early before the leaves shoot forth and the fruit is ripe in September Nature and Vertues It is a Solar Plant. Dodoneus saith the fresh Nuts are cold and moist but others say and that 's most likely that they are drying and heating the Bark doth dry and binde very much and the leaves are much of the same nature the old Nuts are hot and dry in the second degree and of harder digestion then the fresh The kernels of Walnuts do comfort the brain and resist poison or being bruised with the quintissence of Wine and applyed to the Crown of the Head they comfort the Head and Brain The peels being taken off they comfort the Stomach and are said to kill broad Worms in the Belly being old they offend the Stomach and increase Choller King Mithridates medicine against poison was to take in the morning two dry Walnuts as many Figs twenty leaves of Rue and two or three corns of Salt beaten and