98 OF THE ROOT, 



which cannot be better described than in Gerarde'b 

 Herbal, under the plant first named, p. 726.(16) 



*' The great part of the root seemeth to be bitten 

 away : old fantasticke charmers report, that the divel 

 did bite it for envie, because it is an herbe that hath 

 ^ so many good vertues, and is so beneficial to man- 

 kinde." The malice of the devil has unhap- 

 pily been so successful that no virtues can now be 

 found in the remainder of the root or herb. ' 



5. Radix tuberosa, f. 9. A Tuberous or Knobbed 

 Root, is of many different kinds. The most genuine 

 consists of fleshy knobs, various in form, connected 

 by common stalks or fibres, as in the Potatoe, Sola- 

 num tuberosum^ and Jerusalem Artichoke*, Heliati- 

 thus tuberosus J acq. Hort. Find. t. 161. These knobs 

 are reservoirs of nourishment, moisture, and vital en- 

 ergy. Several of the Vetch or Pea kind are furnish- 

 ed with them on a smaller scale ; see Ficia lathyroi- 

 des, Engl. Bot. t. 30, and several species of Trifolium^ 

 either annuals, as glomeratum, t. 1063, or perennials. 

 2& fragiferum, t. 1050. — The knobs in these instan- 

 ces are only of annual duration ; in the Paonia, Pseo- 

 ny, t. 1513, and Spircea Fihpendida, Drop wort, t. 



(16) [A striking example of the abrupt roof is found in the 

 Viola jiedata, a North American blue Violet, with many cleft 

 leaves. This root however is not abrupt from any decay of its 

 descending point .J 



* A corruption, as I presume, of the Italian name- Giranolc 

 Articiocco, sun-flower Artichoke, as the plant was first brought 

 from Peru to Italy, and thence propagated throughout Europe 



