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FAMILY HERBAL. 365 



tinctures of tbeshops^ but it does very vrell alone ; 

 boiling water poured upmi it^ and suffered to 

 stand till it is cold^ then strained off, is an excel-^ 

 lent medicine to cause an appetite. Put into white 

 nvine^ it also gives a pleasant bitter ilavourj with 

 the same virtues. 



Roman WoiiMWooD. ^bsj/nikium Bomanum.^ 



VERY delicate plant 



native of the warmer parts of Europe^ but kept 

 in our gardens. It is two feet and a half high ; 

 the stalk is round, smooth, hard, upright, of 

 a browish colour, and somewhat woody. The 

 leaves stand irregularly on it, and they are small 

 and divided into very fine segments : they arc 

 more like the leaves of the common southern- 



r 



wood in fiirure. than 



other 



%vormwoods. The flowers are little and brown, 

 like those of common wormwood, but vastly 

 smaller ; they are very numerous, and stand at 

 the tops of the stalks in a kind of long and thick 

 spikes. The root is creeping and spreading, and 

 composed of fibres* The whole plant has a bitter 

 taste, but not at all like that of wormwood, ex-^ 

 tremely aronlatic and pleasing. The flowers afc 

 very bitter, and have little of this aromatic fla- 

 vour. 



The fresh tops are used, and the whole plant 

 dried. It is excellent to strengthen the stomach ; 

 but that is not all its virtue. The juice of the fresh 

 tops is good against obstructions of the liver 



and spleen, and has been known singly to cure the 

 jaundice. 



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