on 



I 



points, and narrow at their bafe. The flowers come 

 out from the wings of the ftalk in fliort fpikes ; they 

 have four yellow leaves^ which are by fome called pe- 

 tals, and others make them the empalement. The 

 female flowers tire fucceeded by round white berries, 

 ■which are almoft pellucid, about the fize of large white 

 Currants, full of a tough vifcid juice, in the middle 

 of which lies one heart-ihaped flat feed. 

 It grows upon the white Thorn, the Apple, the Crab, 

 the Hazel, the Afli, and Maple, but is rarely found 

 upon the Oak, though the Mifleto of the laft has 

 been always accounted the belt of all ; which opini- 

 as Mr. Ray well obferves, may be owing to the 

 fuperftitibus honour which the ancient Druids of this 

 ifland gave to this Mifleto, to whom nothing was 

 morefacred. . * * 



This plant is always produced from feed, and is not 

 to be cultivated in the earth, as moft other plants, 

 but will always grow upon trees j from whence the 

 ancients accounted it a fuper-plant, mofl of whom 

 thought it was an excrefcence on the tree, without 

 the feed being previoufly lodged there, which opinion 

 is now generally conruted from a repeated number of 

 experiments. - - ; 



The manner of its being propagated is this, viz. The 

 Mifleto Thrufli, which feeds upon the berries of this 

 plant in winter, when it is ripe, doth often carry the 

 feeds from tree to tree ; for the vifcous part of the 

 berry, which immediately furrounds the feed, doth 

 fometimes fatten it to the outward part of the bird's 

 beak, which, to get difcn^aged of, he ftrikes his 

 beak againft the branches of a neighbouring tree, and 

 thereby leaves the feed fticking by this viicous mat- 

 ter to the bark, which, if it lights upon a fmooth 

 part of the tree, will fatten itfelf thereto, and the fol- 

 lowing winter will put out and grow; and in the fame 

 manner it may be propagated by art, for if the ber- 

 ries, when full ripe, are rubbed upon the fmooth 

 part of the bark of a tree, they will adhere clofely 

 thereto, and, if not dettroycd, will produce plants 

 the following winter. ■ -^ .... ^■ 



The trees which this plant doth moft readily take 

 upon, are the Apple, theAfli, the white Thorn, and 

 other fmooth-rind trees before-mentioned-, but I have 

 feveral times tried it upon the Oak without fuccefs, 

 for the bark of that tree is of too clofe a texture to 

 admit, the feeds fticking thereto, which is alio the 

 reafon it is fo rarely found upon that tree ; and not- 

 withftanding the great encomiums which have been 

 given to the Mifleto of the Oak for its medicinal vir- 

 tues, yet I cannot help thinking that it is equally 

 good from whatever tree it be taken, nor is it pofli- 

 ble to find this plant growing in any quantity upon 

 the Oak ; fo that thofe perfons who pretend to fur- 

 nifti the town with it for phyfical ufe, do but impofe 

 upon the world, for it is fo farelv met with, that 

 whenever a branch of an Oak-tree hath any of thefc 

 plants growing upon it, it is cut oflF, and prefcrved 

 by the curious in their colledions of natural curio- 

 fities, and of thefe' there are but few to be feen in 



England. — 



As to what fome perfons have afl^erted of the manner 

 how it is propagated, from tree to tree, by the Mif- 

 leto thrufties, which cat the berries, and void the 

 feed in tl\eir dung upon the branches of trees, where- 

 by the feeds are ftuck thereon, and take root into the 

 bark, and produce frelh plants, I can by no means 

 agree to, fince, if it were only this way propagated, 

 it would always be found on the upper part Or the 

 . fides of fuch branches, upon which the dung can only 

 be fuppofed to lodge -, whereas it is generally found 

 upon the under fide of the branches, where it is al- 

 moft impofllble for thefc birds to caft their dung ; be- 

 fides, 1 believe the ttomachs of thefe birds are too 

 powerful digefters to fuffer any feeds to pafs fo entire 

 through the inteftines as to afterwards grow; but I 

 Ihall leave this to fuch as have leifure to make obfer- 

 vations in thofe places where this plant abounds, and 

 {hall add only a. fliort account of the method ufed to 



make birdlime, which may not be iiiiproper to infeit 

 m this place for the fatisfaftion of tlie curious. 

 The Italians make their birdlime of tl;e berries of 

 Mifleto heated and mixed with oil, as is that made of 

 Holly bark, and to make it bear the Water, they add 

 turpentine. 



Of the berries of 'this plant birdlime was formcriy 

 made in England. This was done by boihng the ber- 

 ries in water rill they burft, when they were well beat- 

 en in a mortar, and afterward waflied till all the bran- 

 ny huflcs were cleared away. 



• That which is now commonly ufed with us is made 

 of the bark of Holly, which is ftripped off about 

 Midfummer ; this they boil for ten or twelve hours, 

 and when the green cpat is feparated from the other, 

 they cover it up with Fern for a fortnight, and put it 

 in a moift place, where it lies a fortnight, by which 

 time the bark will be turned to a jelly, and no fibres 

 of the wood be left ; then they beat it in a ftone mor- 



. tar till it becomes a tough pafte ; this they wafti in a 

 running ftream till no motes appear, and pur it up to 

 ferment for four or five days, and fcum it as often as 

 any thing arifes, and then lay it up for ufe. -When 

 they ufe it, they incorporate with it a third part of that 

 oil over the fire. , , 



The birdlime that is brought from Damafcus is fup- 

 pofed to be made ofSebeftens, their kernels being 

 frequently found in it, but this will not endure cither 

 froft or wet. 



The birdlime brought from Spain is of an ill fmell. 

 The bark of our Wayfaring Shrub, as it is faid^ will 

 make birdlinie as good as the beft. 



VISNAGA. SeeDAucus. • 



V I T E X. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 603. tab. 373. Lin. Gen. 

 Plant. 708. [fo called of vieo, Lat. to bend, bccaufe 

 its branches are very flexible ; it is alfo called Agnus 

 Caftus, bccaufe it is believed to allay luft, for which 



. the monks were wont to ufe it in their cloifters ; but 

 by the tafte and fmcU it fliould rather be aprovoeativc] 

 Agnus Caftus, or the Chaftc-trcci 



The Characters are. 

 The empalement of the flower is jbtrU cylindrical^ and 

 indented in five parts. The flower has one ringent petals 

 with a flender cylindrical tube 'y the brimisplain^ and di- 

 vided into two lips ; the two lips are trifid ; the middle 



fegment is the. broadeft in both. 



has ft 



mina which are a little longer than the tube, two being 

 rjhorter than the other^ terminated by moveable fummits^ 

 and a roundijh germen^ fiipporttng a Jlender ftyle^ crown* 



'yd by two awl-paped fpreading Jiigmas. The germen cifl- 



terwardturm to a globular berry with four cells ^ each 

 containing one oval feed, . - ~ - : . • ■ - - 



This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond fedion 

 of Linnasus's fourteenth clafs, which contains thofe 

 plants whofe flowers have two long and two fhortcf 

 ftamina, and the feeds are included in capfules. 

 The Species are, 

 I. ViTEX {Agnus Caftus) foliis digitatis, Ipicis verticil- 

 ' latis. Lin. Sp. Plant. 938. Chafte-tree with fingered 

 leaves^ and whorled fpikes of flowers. Vitcx foliis an- 

 guftioribus cannabis modo difpofitis. C. B. P. 475. 



2. 



3 



4 



5 



-- , difpofed like thofe of He, .^^ 



or common Chafte-tree. 



ViTEX {Latifolid) foliis digitatis ferratis, ipicis pani-* 



culatis. Chafte-tree with fingered fawed leaves^ and fpikes 



in panicles. . Vitex folio latiorc fcrrato. Lob. Icon. 139, 



Chafte-tree with a broader f awed leaf ■ . - 



ViTEX {Integerrimis) foliis ternatis quinatifve inte- 

 gerrimis, paniculis dichoromis, Lin. Sp. Plant. 890. 

 Chafte-tree with trifoliate and quinate leaves, and panicles 

 of flowers rijingfrom the divsfion of the branches. Vi- 



tex trifolia minor Indica. Pluk. Aim. 390. Smaller Irt^ 

 dian trifoliate Chafte-tree, 



ViTEX (Negunda) foliis quinatis ternatifque ferratis, 

 fpicis alaribus terminalibulque. Chafte-tree with quinate 

 and trifoliate fawed leaves^ and fpikes of flowers from the 

 wings terminating the branches. 



ViTEX {Chinenfis) foliis ternaris quinatifque pinnato- 

 incifis, fpicis verticillatis terminalibus. Chafte-tree with 



alternate 



-* 



c 



— ' 



