192 HORTUS JAMAICENSIS. spleenworv 



great quantities of ground, not to begot out without much pains an J difficult}'. The 

 whole plant much resembles the gentianella alpina verna major et minor of Parkinson. 

 It is an admirable vulnerary herb ; the planters make an excellent balsam of it to cleanse 

 and heal all ulcers. It is also called felteort. Barham. It grows under the shrubs in 

 the savannas about the town, and is in perfection some time after a rainy season. The 

 admirable contrivance of nature in this plant, to propagate itself, is most plain; or, 

 the seed-vessels being the best preserver of the seed, it is there kept from the injuries 

 of the air and earth, till it be rainy, when it is a proper time for it to grow, and then 

 it i , thrown round the earth as grain bv a skilful sower. This is a very good wound 

 herh, a very excellent salve being made with it and suet boiled together, and then 

 ^trained. It is used likewise applied on issues to make them run. Sloane. 



See Christmas Pride. 



SPLEENWORT. ASPLENIUM. v 



Cl. 1\, or. l. Cryptogamiafilices. Nat. or.. 'Ferns. 



So named, as it was supposed to dry up the spleen. 



Gi'N. CHAR Fructifications dispersed in right lines along the under disk of the frond; 

 Seventeen species have been found in Jamaica. 



1. RHIZOPLYLLUM. ROOT-LEAVED. 



Fronds ere n ate- uniform undivided, top filiform rooting. 



Root fibrous ; fronds triangular, acuminate, point long, linear; at the base hol- 

 lowed, eared ; on long petioles. Fructifications irregularly dispersed over the whole 

 disk of the leaves in oblong spots. The ends of the fronds hi nd down to the ground, 

 and there throw out roots, by which it propagates itself. Martyn. 



2. SERRATUM. SERRATE. 



Phyllitis non sinuafa foliorum limbis leviter serratis. Sloane, v. l. p. 

 72. Acaulefoliis amplissimus, margine inequali et ! rata, 



petiolisangulatis et rndrginatis. Browne, p. 92, A. 1. 



Fronds simple, lanceolate serrate, subsessile. 



The root consists of brown fibres, sending up eight or nine fronds, three inches long, 

 three fourths of an inch broad, where broadest, yellowish green, narrow at the begin- 

 ning; increasing to near the end, and then decreasing to a blunt point. Native of 

 woods in the inland parts of Jamaica. Sloane. Browne calls it the large simple aspic- - 

 niutn or harts tongue, with a serrated margin, found in all parts of Jamaica, an I 

 Derail y observed to grow in tufts. The leaves rise from a thick fibrous root two or three 

 feet, growing sometimes on trees, sometimes on the ground. 



3. PLAKTAGINEDM. PLANTAIN-LEAVED. 



Acaule minus, foliis otilongis, petiolis glabris. Browne, p. 92, A. 2. 



Fronds simple, ovate-lanceolate, subcrenate, stipe four-cornered. 



The simple asplenium, or hart's tongue, with a smooth shining footstalk, seldom rises 

 above ten or twelve inches, but grows from a fibrous root, which generally runs into 



the 



