FAMILY HERBAL. 339 



Goats' Thorn. Tragdcantha. 



A LITTTE white looking prickly shrubs native 

 of the East^ but kept incur gardens. It is not 

 above two or three feet high^ very spreading, and 

 full of branches. The stem is of a tough and verv 

 firm substance^ covered w ith a whitish rough bark*; 

 the branches are as tough, and the bark is pale 

 but smoother. The leaves are long and, narrow ; 

 they arc each composed of a great many pairs of 

 smaller set on a middle rib, which is continued 

 into athorn^ and when these leaves fall ofr^ remains 

 a white thorn of that length. The flowers are 

 white and small ; they are of the shape of a pea 

 blossom, but flatter; the pods which follow are 

 short and flat. 



No part of the shrub itself h used, but wc have 

 a gum produced by it, and called by its name in 

 the shops ; this is what they also call gum dragant; 

 it is white and tough, and is in long twisted pieces ; 

 it sweats out of the bottom of the trunk in the heat 

 of summer. It is good in coughs arising from a 

 sharp humour ; and in sharpness of urine, and 

 sharp stools, but it is a disagreeable medicine ; it 



1 



s very diflicuHly powdered, and the solution is not 



pleasant. 



Thorouchwax. FerfoUata. 



A VERY beautiful wild plant among oirr 

 corn, distinguished by the stalk growing tbrough 

 the leaves. It is three feet high. The stalk i« 

 round, firm, upright, whitish, and toward the top 

 divided into some branches. The leaves are broad 



tiadoval; the stem runs {hrough them toward the 



