FAMILY HERBAL 319 



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marigold, picked from the cups^ is good in fevers ; 

 it gently promotes perspiration, and throws out 

 anj thing that ought to appear on the skin. 



The Mastic Tree^ Lentiscus. 



^ 



A NATIVE of the warmer countries, but not 

 uncommon in our gardens. It grows to the big- 

 ness of our apple trees, and is as irregular in the 

 disposition of its , branches. They are covered 

 with a greyish bark, and are brittle. The leaves 

 are composed, each of about four pairs of sm^ll 

 ones, without any odd leaf at the end: they are 

 affixed to a kind of rib or pedicle^ which has a film * 

 running down it, on each side. They are oblong, 

 narrow, arid pointed at the ends. The flowers are 

 little, and yellowish ; and they grow *ia tufts. 

 The fruit is a bluish berry. 



We use the resin which drops from the wounded 

 branches of this tree. The tree itself is common 

 in France and Italy, but it yields no resin there ; 

 we have that from Greece ; It is whitish, hard, 

 and in \\i\\i^ lumps. It is good for all nervous 

 dis<5rders, and acts also as a balsam. There is 

 scarce any thing better for a spitting of blood, 

 oj iti the first stage of a consumption : it is also 

 good against the whites, and in the gleets after 

 gonorrhoeas* Some have a custom of chewing 

 ^, to preserve the teeth and sweeten the breath. 



Herb Mastic. Mavnm. 



A PRETTY little plant, native only of the 

 warmer climates, but common in our gardens. I< 

 is a foot high, and the stem and principal hrancber 

 arcshrubbv or woodvin their texture: the sn^all- 



er shoots are whitish. The leaves grow two »t 



