.^FAMILY HERBAL. 247 



K 



J 



fs four.d upon it ; and has at sometirnes been suppo- 

 sed a fruit of it : tUe shrub thence obtained its 

 name of the scarlet oak. It grows only six or 

 ^ight feet high. The branches are toughj and 

 covered with a smooth greyish bark. The leaves 

 are an inch long, three quarters of an inch broad^ 

 of a figure approaching to oval, serrated about 

 the edges, arid a little prickly The flowers are 

 small and inconsiderable; the fruit is an acorn, like 

 that of the common oak, but smaller, standing in 

 its cup. The kermes, or scarlet grain, is a small 

 round substance of the bigness of a pea, of a fine 

 ted colour within, and of a purplish blue without, 

 covered with a fine hoary dust_, like a bloom upon 

 a plum. It is an insect at that time full of young. 

 When they intend to preserve it in its own form, 

 they find ways of destroying the principle of life 



oung 



spoiled 

 whole 



When they expr 

 grains, nnd squeeze it through a hair cloth ; they 

 then add an equal weight of fine sugar to it, and 

 send it over to us under the name of juice of kerraes ; 

 this is used in medicine much more than the grain 



Itself. 



It 



It is a cordial, good against faintings, and to 

 ire out the small pox ; and for women in childbed, 

 supports the spirits, and at the same time pro- 



motes the necessary discharges 



I 



Oak of JERusALErtf. Bofry^. 



A LITTLE plant, native of the warmer coun- 

 tries, and kepi in our gardens, with leaves which 

 have been supposed io resemble those of the oak 

 tree, whence it got its name, and small yellowish 

 flowers. The stalk is a foot and half high, round- 

 'sh anjrulated a little, or deeply striated, and of & 



