^ 



FAMILY HERBAE. , 97 



H 



tinder hedges^ and in uncultivated places : there 

 are many kinds of it/ but that which has most vir- 

 tue, is the kind called herb robert ; this is a prett/ 

 and regularly growing plant. The stalks are a 

 foot long, but they seldom stand quite upright ; 

 they are round, branched, and jointed, and are often 

 red, as is frequently the w hole plant ; the leaves are 

 large, and divided into a great number of parts, 

 and they stand upon long foot-stalks, two at every 

 joint. The flowers are moderately large, and of 

 a bright red, they are very conspicuous and pretty; 

 the fruit that follows is long and slender, and haa 

 8orae resemblance of the long beak of a bird, whence 

 the name. ^ 



The whole plant is to be gathered root and all/ 

 and dried for use ; it is a most excellent astringent : 

 scarce any plant is equal to it. It may be given 

 dri6d and powdered, ,or in decoction. It stops 

 overflowings of the menses, bloody stools, and all 

 other bleedings. 



It is to be observed that nature seems to have 

 set her stamp upon several herbs which have the 

 -virtue 'to stop bleedings. This and the tusan, the 

 two best remedies the fields aff"ord for outward and 

 inward bleedings, become all over as red as blood 

 at a certain season « 



The Garden Cress. Nasturtium kortense. 



A COMMON garden plant, raised for§allads. It 

 is two feet high : the stalk is round and firm, and 

 of a hluish green ; the leaves are divided into seg- 

 ments, and the flowers are small and white ; but 

 the full grown plant is not seen at our tables ; we 

 eat only the leaves rising immediately from the root. 



These are large, finely divided, of a bright green. 



