FAMILY HERBAL. 159 



4 



gplecn, and is good in jaundice, the rhcum?,iism, 

 and most of the chronic disorders. 



\ 



Groundsel. Erigeron sive Venecia. 



A COMMON weed in our gardens, and upon 

 walls, with little yellow flowers, and downy seeds ; 

 it grows eight inches high; the stalk is rot^id^ 

 fleshy, tolerably upright, and green or purplish ; 

 the leaves are oblong, broad, blunt, and divided 

 at the edges. The flowers are small and yellow; 

 they grow in a sort of long cnps at the tops of the 

 stalks and branches. 



The juice of this herb is a gentle and very good 

 emetic. It causes vomiting without any great 

 irritation or pain ; and it is also good for cutane- 

 ous foulnesses applied outwardly. 



The GuAiAcuM Tree. Giiaiacum. 



A GREAT tree, native of the West Indies, and 

 to be seen in some of our curious gardens. The 

 fruit is very large, and the branches are numerous ; 

 the leaves are small, each is composed of two or 

 three pair of smaller ones, with no odd leaf at the 

 end of the rib. These are short, broad, roundish, 

 and of a l3usky green colour. The flowers arc 

 small and yellow, hut they grow in large cluster** 

 together, so that the tree, when in bloom, makes 

 Sl very j)retty appearance. 



The bark and wood are the only parts of the tree 

 used ; they are given in decoction, to promote sweat, 

 and so cleanse the blood ; they are excellent against 

 the rheumatism, scurvy, and all other disorders, 

 which arise from what is commonly called foulnesB 



€f the blood, hut they must be taken for a consider- 



