S6 IIORTUS JAMAICENSIS. avens 



Branrhv asphodel hath roots rompose<l of fleshy fibres, to each of which is fastened 

 an oblong bulb as large as a small potatoe ; the leaves are long and flexible, having sharp 

 edges ; between them come out the flower stalks, which rise more than three feet higii, 

 sending forth many lateral branches. The upper parts of these are adorned witb many 

 white star-shaped flowers, which grow in long spikes, flowering gradually upward. 

 They are easily propagated by parting their roots, and are pretty ornaments to a flower 

 garden. 



The roots are of an acrimonious taste, and heating quality ; being drank they pro- 

 mote urine and the menses ; and the weight of a drachm, taken in wine, is used with 

 success in pains in the side, coughs, convulsions, and ruptures. Tliey are good 

 against bitos of serpents, and make a good cataplasm for foul spreading ulcers, inflaTu- 

 mations, &c. The ashes of tlic burnt root, rubbed on an alopecia, cause new hair to 

 spring. Chambers' Cj/c/op. 



AsPLENiUM See "Harts Tongues and Spleen Wort. 



Aster See Star-Wort. 



Atropa See Tree Atropa. 



Attoo See Chaw Stick. 



AucuEA .S^ir Japan Aucuca. 



Auricula Sec Primrose. 



AVENS. GEUM. 



Cl. 12, OR. 5. Icosandria moiiogynia. Nat. or. Lenticoste. 

 The derivation of this name is uncertain. 



Gen. char. Calyx a one-leafed, ten-cleft, upright, perianthium, segments alter- 

 nately small ar-'l sharp ; the corolla has five petals ; the stamina are nun>erou9 

 filaments, length of the calyx ; short anthers ; tlie pistillum has numerous germs, 

 collected into a head ; styles hairy, long ; stigmas simple : there is no pericarpium, 

 the common receptacle of the seeds oblong : seeds numerous, compressed, Lisped, 

 avvned, with a long style. One species is a native of this island. 



VIRGINUNUM. VIRGINIAN. 



Caryophyllata foliis alatis. Sloane, v. 1, p. 224. 



Flowers upright ; awns hooked, naked ; stem-leaves tcrnate, the irpper ones 

 lanceolate ; petals shorter than the calyx. 

 There are two or three sorts of thorn growing '.4' \merica. One sort, Pere le Feu- 

 ville calls canjophyllata foliis (ileitis Jlore ample coccineo. It is an aperitive herb, which 

 the natives make a tea of, to keep tlieir bodies in order. It grows about half a yard 

 high, on the side of the mountains, and hath a scarlet blossom. The same sort 1 found 

 growing in Jamaica : It is hot and dry, attenuates, cleanses and opens obstructions ; is 

 good m bruises and pleurisies, and heals wounds. Bar/iain, p. 10. 



Sloane rays this plant is very common hi the woods of this ii^land. 



AVOCADO 



