AND COMPLETE HERBAL; 245 
MELILOT, orn KING's-CHAFER. 
Description. THIS hath many green ftalks, two or three feet high, rifing 
from atough, long, white, root, which dieth not every year; fet round about at 
the joints with {mall, and fomewhat long, {weet-fmelling leaves, three together, 
unevenly dented about the edges. The flowers are yellow, alfo of a fweet fcent, 
and formed like other trefoil, but fmall, ftanding in {mall fpikes, one above ano- 
ther, for an hand’s-breadth long, or more, which afterwards turn into long crooked 
pods, wherein is contained flat feed, fomewhat brown. 
Prace. It groweth plentifully in many parts of this kingdom ; on the borders of _ 
Suffolk ; in Effex, Huntingdonfhire, and many other places ; but moft ufually in 
corn-fields and corners of meadows. ee 
Time. Itflowereth in June and July, and is ripe quickly after. 
GoveRNMENT AND Virtues. Melilot, boiled in wine, and applied tothe parts, 
mollifies all hard tumours and inflammations that pA Kid eye, or other. parts 
of the body ;. and it is not unufual, in fuch cafes, to add the yolk of a roafted ege, 
fine flour, poppy-feed, or endive. It healeth fpreading ulcers in the head, being | 
wafhed with lye made thereof; being applied freth, or boiled with any of the afore- 
named articles, it relieves pains in the ftomach ; it alfo helpeth pains in the ears, be- 
ing dropped intothem ; and, fteeped in vinegar and rofe-water, it mitigateth the 
head-ach. The flowers of melilot and camomile are frequently mixed in clyfters 
to expel wind and to eafe pains; alfointo poultices, for the fame purpofe; and to 
affuage fwellings or tumours in the fpleen, or other parts; -and helpeth inflamma: 
tions in any part of the body. The juice, dropped into the eyes, is a fingular good 
medicine, to take away any film or fkin that cloudeth or dimmeth the eye-fight. 
The head often wafhed with the diftilled water of the herb and flowers, or a lye 
made therewith, is effectual for thofe that have fuddenly loft their fenfes; as alfo 
to ftrengthen the memory, comfort the head and brain, and to preferve them from 
Pains and the apoplexy. eo 
 Sags ; = = FR E NCH ann D OG’s MERCURY. jo 
Deseriprion, THIS rifeth up with a fquare green ftalk, full of joints, two : 
feet high or thereabouts, with two leaves at every joint, and branches likewife from 
both fides of the ftalk, fet with frefh green leaves, fomewhat broad and long, about ut 
the bignels of the leaves of bafil, finely dented about the edges, Towards the tops 
