85 . ■ FAMILY HERBAL. 



liigli : the leaves are large, long, not very broad, 

 rotigh to the touch, and of a deep disagreeable green : 

 the stalks are green^ thick, angulated, and up- 

 right. The flowers grow along the tops of the 

 branches, and are white, sometimes reddish, not 

 very large, and hang often downwards. The root 

 is thick, black, and irregular ; when broken it is 

 found to be white within, and full of a slimy juice. 

 This root is the part used, and it is best fresh, but 

 it may be beat up into a conserve, with three times 

 its weight of ][sugar. It is a remedy for that terri- 

 ]>le disease the whites. It is also good against 

 spitting of blood, bloody fluxes, and purgings, and 

 for inward bruises,. 



The CoNTRAYERVA Plant. Contvaijeroa 



A VERY lingular plant, native of America, 

 and not yet got into our gardens. It consists only 

 cf leaves rising from the root, upon single foot- 

 stalks, and flowers of a singular kind, standing also 

 on single and separate foot-stalks, with tio leaves 

 upon them. The leaves are large, oblong, very 

 broad, and deeply divided on each side ; their co- 

 lour is a dusky green ; and the footstalks on 

 which they stand are small and whitish, and often 

 bend under the weight of the leaf. The stalks 

 which support the flowers, are shorter and weaker 

 than these ; and the flowers are of a very pecu- 

 liar kind; they are disposed together in a kind of 

 flat form, and are very small and inconsiderable. 

 The bed on which they are situated is of an oval 

 figure, and is called the placenta of the plant ; 

 it is of a pale colour and thin. 



We are told of another plant of the same kind ; 

 the leaves of which are less divided, and the 

 centa is square, but the roots of both arc allowed 



