FAMILY HERBAL. S05 



apotliecaries saxifrage seed. It is diuretic, and 

 good against the gravel. The roots are best fresh, 

 and the best way of giving them is in deeoction. 



Meadow saxifrage. Stseli pratense. 



A WILD plant alsa, but though kftown by the 

 same English name with the other^ very different 

 in form and flower. It grows to more than two 

 feet in height. The stalks are rounds deeply stri- 

 ated, of a dark green colour, and considerably 

 braqched. The leaves are large, but they are di- 

 vided into a multitude of fine narrow segments. 

 The flowers stand at the tops of the stalks, in little 

 umbels or round clusters, and they are small and 

 yellow. The root is brown, long, and slender, and 



is of an aroinatic and acrid taste. 



The root is used: it is best fresh tali en up. 

 Given in a strong infusion, it works powerfully 

 by urine, and brings away gravel. It also eases 

 those colics> which are owing to the same 



cause. 



Scabious* Scabiosa. 



A COMMON wild plant in our corn-fields, dis- 

 tinguished by its tall round stalks, and round blue 

 flowers. It grows to three feet in height. The 

 leaves rise principally from the root, and they lie 

 spread upon the ground. They are oblong, aad 

 irregularly divided at the edges ; they are of a 

 pale green, hairy, and rough to the touch. The 

 frtalks are round, upright, hairy, of the same pale 

 green colour, and they have a few leaves on them, 

 placed two at a joint ; these are more deeply 

 divided than those on the ground. The floweri 

 stand at the tops of the branches, they are of « 



H r 



