(52 FAMILY HERBAL. 



so much regarded for their virtues as thej ought 

 to be ; there are on the contrary some which are 

 celebrated more than they deserve : the carline 

 thistle is of this last number. It is not wholly 

 without virtues^ but it has not all that are ascribed 

 to it. 



This is a plant without any stalk. The leaver 

 are long, narrow, of a dark green colour^ divided 

 and prickly at the edges ; and they lie spread upon 

 the ground in manner . of a star. The flower 

 appears in the midst of these without a stalk, rising 

 iramediafely from the root, with several small 

 leaves round about it. It is the head of a thistle, 

 and the flowery part is white on the edge, and yel- 

 low in th« middle. The root is long, and of a brown 

 colour on the outside, and reddish within ; it is of a 

 warm aromatic taste. 



This is the only part of the plant used in medi- 

 cine. They say it is a remedy for the plague : but 

 however that may be, it is good in nervous com- 

 plaints, and in stoppages of the menses. 



The Caraway Plant. Carum. 



A WILD plant of the umbelliferous kind, fre- 

 quent in most parls of Europe, but cultivated in 

 Germany for the sakeof the seed. I have met with 

 it very common in Lincolnshire. 



It grows to a yard high ; the sialks are striated 

 and firm ; the leaves are finely divided, and the 

 flowers are white and small, they grow in tuffs, or 

 umbels, on the tops of the branches ; the seeds that 

 follow them are very well known. 



The seeds are excellent in the colic, and in disor- 

 ders of the stomach, thev are best chewed^ 



