FAMILY HERBAL 133 



^ 



by the roots^ that the seeds are less necmf^ty ; and 



; 



where it is so, they are always procmced more 

 sparingly A certain quantity of every species is 



to he kept up, but the earth is not to be o\er-rvia 



with any. 



The roots of female fern fresh gathered, and 

 made into a decoction, are a remedy against thai 

 long and flat worm in the bowels, called the tape* 

 Worm ; no medicine destroys them so effectually. 



Flowering Fern. Osmunda regalis 



THERE is something that at first sight appears 

 alngular in the manner of this fern's floweriugj but 

 when particularly examined, it is not different in 



any thing material from the other. It grows three 

 feet high, and ^he leaves are very regularly con- 

 structed, and very beautiful ; they are composed 

 in the manner of the other ferus, each of several 

 small ones, and these are broader and bigger than in 

 any of the other kinds, not at all indented on the 

 edges ; and of a bluish green colour, and afterwards 



yellowish. Many leaves arise from the same root, 

 but only some few of them bear seeds. These 



principally rise about the middle^ and the seeds stand 



only on the upper part : they cover \\\e whole 



surface of the leaf, or nearly so in this part, and the 



little pinnules turn round inwards, and shew their 



backs rounded np. These are brown from being 

 covered with the seeds, and they have so different 

 an appearance from all the rest of the plant, that they 

 are called flowers. The root is long and covered 

 with fibres. The plant grows in ho^^y places; 

 but it is not very common wild in England. 



A decoction of the fresh roots promotes urine, 

 And opens obstructions of the liver and spleen ; it is 



