232 FAMILY HERBAL. 



was given as a purge, but at present none rpcrard 

 it. There are also four others of the same kind, 

 the names of which we see in books of niediciae, 

 but the fruits are not to be met with^ nor is it 

 much loss/ for we have better things to answer 

 their purposes. They were called the citrine, 

 chebule, belleric, and emblec inyrobalarius ; they 



1 used as purges/ but common senna is worth 



them 



MooNWORT. Xunaria. 



\ 



. A VERY singular^ and very pretty plant, fre- 

 quent in some parts of the kingdom, but in most 

 very scarce. It grows six inches high ; and con- 

 sists of the stalk, one leaf, and the flowers. The 

 stalk is round, firm, and thick. It is naked to the 

 middle, and there grows the leaf, which is composed 

 as it were of several pairs of small ones, or rather 

 is a whole and single leaf divided deeply, so as 

 to resemble a number of smaller ; these are round- 

 ed and hollowed, and thence canie its name of 

 moonwort ; from the base of this leaf, the stalk 

 IS continued up an inch or two, and then rise the 

 clusters of flowers and seeds ; these are very small, 

 and like dust, and of a brown colour. The leaves 

 of moonwort dried and given in powder, stop 

 purgings, and the overflowing of the menses. 

 The fresh plant bruised and laid to a cut, stops 

 the bleeding, and heals it in a day or i^o. 



f 



Hairy Tree Moss. Usnea, 



A VERY singular plant of the moss kind, fre- 

 quent in our large forests, but rare elsewhere: 

 it grows to the branches of old oaks and bushes, 

 and hangs down from them in long strings. The 



