/ 
/■■ 
147 
Clafs Monadelphia. Ord, Polyandria. Un. Gen. Plant, 839. 
mf.Gen.Ch. 6*^/. duplex; exterior 9™fidus. ^r///i plurimi, monofpermi 
9 
Sp. Cb. 
A. foliis fimplicibiis tomentofis. 
THE 
upr 
2ii 
t, fi 
perennial, long, tougli, white, and fib 
tlie ftalk 
woolly, Ibmewliat b 
e 
d toward 
rifes to the height of three or four feet : th 
heart 
are 
top, 
^alifh 
id 
or 
^^ 
fhaped, commonly with 
a lobe on each fide, pointed, irregularly 
ferrated, covered with a foft down, and ftand upon long round foot- 
ftalks 
the ftipiilse 
narrow^ 
f-ftalk : the flower 
d placed at the bafe of each 
o 
r^ 
heart-ihaped, indented at the apex, ar 
the calyx is double, the exterior confifting of 
d confifl of five 
s, and of a pal 
pet 
purpl 
iverfely 
colour : 
d the inte 
rior of five narrow pointed fegment 
th 
ftamina are 
numer 
, / 
[lited at the bafe, and terminated by kidney-fiiaped anth 
> 
the 
germen is orb 
the ftyli cylindrical, and furnifhed with 
many 
g briftly fligmata : the feeds are kidhey-fhaped, numerous, placed 
in a circle, and 
and 
d with an arillus. It 
of England 
rows commonly near the fea fhore, or about fait marfhes, and 
flowers in Auguft. 
The A 1th as a feems to have been known to the ancients,' and has 
y 
continued in 
very g 
offi 
ufe 
by practitioners in every 
ntry where the fcience of medicine is regularly cultivated. " The 
dry roots of 
of 
boiled in water 
g 
out half their weieht 
a gummy matter,*^" which, "on evaporating the aqueous fluid 
forms a flavourlefs yellov/iih mucil 
fourth of 
e. 
The leaves afford fcarcely 
weight 
d th 
flowers and feeds ftill lefs 
55 b 
* It is called Alth<Ea, fays Diofcorides oix ro ntoXvxXQss avrvis a multiplici excellentique 
quam In methodo praeftat utilitate. L 3. c. 163 p* 236. Hence alio vifmalva & bif- 
i^alva, malvavifcusj malva-ibifcuSj ^Alfton Ledt* on the Mat. Med.) and therefore 
^ay be fuppofed to be the hibifcus - 
Hcedorumque gregem viridi compellere hibifco. 
Ec. 
IK 
h 3 
7 
t This is thought to be nearly allied to Gum arable, Tragacantb, Starch, &c. and it 
has been found to diffolve myrrh, and fome other refinous fubftances, more readily than 
thefirft. Buchholz ^i^, iV^/.Cz^r. T^OT. /'. 60. Expt. 32. 
No 
II. 
Lewis Mat. Med. p, 40 
This 
^■^ 
\ 
