TETRANDRIA. 

 CLASS IV. 



FOUR STAMINA. 



This Class has three Orders. 

 ORDER I. 



DEVIL'S-BIT SCABIOUS abounds in grassy monogy. 

 pastures that are somewhat moist, and blossoms from . — _' 

 August to October inclusively. This plant has an £™ Pi5til - 

 abrupt root, as if it were cut or bitten off; and from 

 the notion that formerly prevailed as to the cause of 

 this peculiarity, it was supposed to have great efficacy 

 in medicine. Gerarde/ in his Herbal, has given this 

 whimsical account concerning it : " It is commonly 

 called Morsus Diaboli, or Devil's bit, of the root (as 

 is seemeth) that is bitten off: for the superstitious 

 people hold opinion, that the Devil, for the envy that 



P John Gerarde was born at Nantwich, in Cheshire, in 

 1545, and was educated as a surgeon. He lived in London, 

 and in Holborn he had a considerable Physic Garden, probably 

 the best at that time in England, for the number and variety of 

 its productions. In 1597, he published a General History of 

 Plants, in folio, now known by the name of Gerarde's Herbal. 

 He died about the year 1607. 



