AND COMPLETE HERBAL: 93° 
Dzscription. The common white briony groweth ramping upon the hedges, 
fending forth many long, rough, very tender branches at the beginning, with many 
very rough, broad leaves thereon, cut for the moft part into five partitions, in form 
very like a vine leaf, but fmaller, rougher, and of a whitish or hoary green colour, 
f{preading very far, and twining with its {mall clafpers that come forth at the joints 
with the leaves, very faft on whatfoever ftandeth next to it 5 at the feveral joints alfo, 
efpecially toward the tops of the branches, cometh forth a long {talk bearing many 
whitifh flowers, together in a long tuft, confifting of five fmall branches each, laid 
open like a ftar ; after which come the berries, feparated one from another more than 
a clufter of grapes, green at the firft, and very red when they are thorough ripe; of 
no good fcent, and of a moft loathfome tafte, provoking vomit: the root groweth 
to be exceeding great, with many long twines or branches growing from it, of a pale. 
whitifh colour on the outfide, and more white within, and of a fharp, bitter, loath- 
fome tafte. Z 
Prace. It groweth on banks, or under hedges, through this land, and the roots 
ns ne oe ee Tie ne ee 
Time. In flowereth in July and Augutt, fome earlier and fome later than other. 
Government anp Virtuzs, They are furious martial plants*: the roots of 
briony purgeth the belly with great violence, troubling the ftomach and burning the 
liver, and therefore not rafhly to be taken; but being corrected, is very profitable 
for the difeafes of the head, as falling ficknefs, giddinefs, and {wimmings, by draw~ 
ing away much phlegm and rheumatic humours that opprefs the head, as alfo the 
joints and finews, and therefore good for palfies, convulfions, cramps, and ftitches in 
the fide, and the dropfy ; and in provoking urine, it cleanfeth the reins and_kidnies | 
from the gravel and ftone, by opening the obftruétions of the fpléen, and confum- 
eth the hardnefs and fwellings thereof. The decottion of the root in wine drank - 
once a week at going to bed, cleanfeth the mother, and helpeth the rifing thereof, 
expelleth the dead child for fear of abortion; a drachm of the root in powder taken 
in white wine, bringeth down their courfes ; an electuary made of the roots and ho-. 
Spor em, 
" Ifthe juice be tempered with the meal of vetches or fenugreek, or boiled in oil till it be con 
fumed, it will take away black or blue fpots, and Galen affirmeth it is a plant profitable for Tan- : 
ners to thicken their leather hides with.—The root {pread upon a piece of theep’s cath er, 
in manner of a plaifter, whilft it is freth and green, takes away black or blue marks, and all fears. 
and deformities of the fkin; it breaks hard apofthumes, draws forth {plinters and broken bones, 
gealed blood, and being laid on and ufed upon the hip, or huckle-bone, fhoulders, 
diffolves congeale 
-+ arms, or any other part where there is great pain, it takes it away in a fhort {pace, and 
wary cHCclaallys Fee eee 2 ne te 
No. 7: 3 a mS 
age 
. 
