FAMILY HERBAL. 29 1 



common in boggy places on our heaths. It grows 

 fiix or seven inches high. The leaves all rise ira- 

 niediattly from the root ; they are roundish and 

 hollow, of the breadth of a silver two-pence^ arnd 

 placed on footstalks of. an inch long; they are 

 covered in a very extraordinary manner with -iong 

 red hairs, ard in Ihe midst of the hottest days they 

 have a drop of clear liquor standing on them. 

 The stalks are slender |nd naked ; at their tops 

 stand little white flowers, which are succeeded 

 by srcd-vessels, of an oblong form^ ccntain- 

 ing a multitude of small seeds. The root is fi- 

 brous. ' 



r 



. The whole plant is used fresh gathered. It is 

 estitmed a great cordial^ and good against convul- 

 sions^ hysteric disorders^ and tremblings of the limbs; 

 but it is not much regarded. 



^ 



y 



Rhubarb. Rhahariarum. 



4 



A TALL, robust, and not unhandsome plant, a 



native of many parts of the' East, and of late got 

 into our gardens, after we had received many others 



falsely called by its name. 



It grows to ihree feet in height. The stalk is 

 round, thick, striated, and jof a greenish colour, 

 frequently stained with purple. The leaves are 

 very large, and of a figure approaching to triangu- 

 lar ; they are broad at the base, small at the point, 

 and waved all along the edges. These stand on 

 thick hollowed foot-stalks, which are frequently 

 also reddish. ^ The flowers are whitish, small and 

 inconsiderable ; they stand at the tops of the stalks 

 in the manner of dock-flowerSj and make little more 

 figure ; the seed is triangulated. The root is thick, 

 long, and often divided toward the bottom; of a 



yellow colour veined with purple, but the purple 



