182 
THE COMPLETE HERBAL 
long and narrow, set thereon, waved, but 
not cut into the edges, broadest towards the 
ends, somewhat round pointed; the flowers 
are white that grow at the tops of the 
branches, spike-fushion, one above an- 
other; after which come round pouches, 
parted in the middle with a furrow, having 
one blackish brown seed on either side, 
somewhat sharp in taste, and smelling of 
garlick, especially in the fields where it is 
natural, but not so much in gardens: The 
roots are small and thready, perishing 
every year. 
Give me leave here to add Mithridate 
Mustard, although it may seem more pro- 
perly by the name to belong to M, in the 
alphabet, 
MITHRIDATE MUSTARD. 
Descript.| Tuis grows higher than 
the former, spreading more and higher 
branches, whose leaves are smaller and nar- 
rower, sometimes unevenly dented about 
the edges. The flowers are small and white, 
growing on long branches, with much 
smaller and rounder vessels after them, and 
parted in the same manner, having smaller 
brown seeds than the former, and much 
sharper in taste. The root perishes after 
seed time, but abides the first Winter after 
springt 
Place.| They grow in sundry places in’ 
this land, as half a mile from Hatfield, by 
the river side, under a hedge as you go to 
Hatfield, and in the street of Peckham on 
Surrey side. 
Time.] They flower and seed from May 
to August. 
Government and virtues.| Both of them 
are herbs of Mars. The Mustards are said 
to purge the body both upwards and down- 
wards, and procures women’s courses so 
abundantly, that it suffocates the birth. It 
wardly; and used in clysters, helps the 
It is an especial ingredient in mithridate 
and treacle, being of itself an antidote re- 
sisting poison, venom and putrefaction. It 
is also available in many cases for which 
the common Mustard is used, but somewhat 
weaker, 
THE BLACK THORN, OR SLOE-BUSH. 
Ir is so well known, that it needs no de- 
scription. 
Place.| It grows in every county in the 
hedges and borders of fields. 
Time.] It flowers in April, and some- 
‘times in March, but the fruit ripens after 
all other plumbs whatsoever, and is not fit 
to be eaten until the Autumn frost mellow 
them, 
Government and virtues.] All the parts 
of the Sloe-Bush are binding, cooling, and 
dry, and all effectual to stay bleeding at 
the nose and mouth, or any other place; the - 
lask of the belly or stomach, or the bloody 
flux, the too much abounding of women’s 
courses, and helps to ease the pains of the 
sides, and bowels, that come by overmuch 
scouring, to drink the decoction of the bark 
of the roots, or more usually the decoction 
of the berries, either fresh or dried. The 
conserve also is of very much use, and more 
familiarly taken for the purpose aforesaid. 
But the distilled water of the flowers first 
steeped in sack for a night, and drawn 
therefrom by the heat of Balneum and 
Anglico, a bath, is a most certain remedy, 
tried and approved, to ease all manner of 
gnawings in the stomach, the sides and 
bowels, or any griping pains in any of them, 
to drink a small quantity when the extre- 
mity of pain is upon them. The leaves also 
are good to make lotions to gargle and wash 
the mouth and throat, wherein are swell- 
ings, sores, or kernels; and to stay the de 
fluctions of rheum to the eyes, or other 
parts; as also to cool the heat and inflam 
mations of them, and ease hot pains of the 
{head, to bathe the forehead and temples 
