V 



^18 FAMILY herbal; 



are best taken in infusion : they strengthen the sto-* 

 raach, and are good against habitual colics : they 

 arc also good in head-achs, and in all nervous com- 

 plaints ; and they open obstructions, and are good 

 in the jaiindicej and to promote the menses. Chy- 

 mists sell what they call oil of origanum, but its 

 commonly an oil made from garden thyme, it is 

 very acrid : a drop of it put upon lint, and laid to 

 an aching tooth, often gives ease. 



Cretic Majoram.^ Origanum creticupi. "■ 



"v 



A BEAUTIFUL plant, of the wild marjoram 



kind, frequent wild in the east, and kept in our 

 gardens. It grows a foot high. The stalks are 

 Square, upright, and brown. The leaves arc ob- 

 long and 'broad : they are of a whitish colour, and 

 stand on long foot stalks : there grow scaly heads 

 at tlie tops of the branches, as in the other kinds, 

 and from these burst out the flowers, which are 

 little and white. 



The tops are the part used : our druggists keep 

 them dry; but they generally have lost so much 

 of their virtue, that the fresh tops of our own wild 

 maj Oram, or the dried ones of the last season, ate 

 better.^^ 



* Marigold. " Calendula. 



A PLANT too common in our kitchen gardens, 



to need much description. It is a foot high. The 

 «talks are thick, angulated, and not very upright. 

 The leaves are long, narrow at the base, aini* broad- 

 er toward the end. The flowers are large and 

 yellow, and they stand at the tops of the branches. 

 The whole plant is of a pale bluish greeft colouFi 

 and feels clammy. The ro*ot is fibrous. 



A tea made of tJie fresh gathered flowcri of 



