i8 'The Ufeftd Family Herbal, 



- Asparagus. 



ASPARAGUS SATIVUS. 



^HE Afparagus Plant is one whofe Root 



^ is ufeful in Medicine, although a different 



Part of it be eaten at the Table. Its Virtues 



are not unlike thofe of the Artichoke Root but 



greater. 



The Afparagus is a wild Plant in many Parts 

 of England about the Sea-Coafts, and its Root, in 

 this wild State, is better than that of the cultivated 

 Plants, btit its Shoots have not that fine flefhy 

 Fulnefs. The Plant, when full grown, is three 

 Feet high, and very much branched, and the 

 Leaves are fine and of a pale Green ; the Flowers 

 are fmall and greenilh, but the Berries which fuc- 

 ceed them, are as big as Peafe and red. 



The Root is a powerful Diuretic, and is good 

 in all Obftrudions of the Vifcera. It has httn 

 known fingly to perform Cures in Jaundices and 

 Dropfies. It is beft given in Decodion, 



Asphodel. 



ASPHODELUS VERUS RAMOSUS 



ALBUS. 



A N el egjmt Garden Flower, a Native o^ Italy, and 

 ■^ preferved with us more for its Beauty than its 

 Ufe, though fometimes taken as a Medicine. It 

 grows to three Feet in Height, and the Stalk di- 

 vides into three or four Branches towards the 

 Top; The Flowers are white, and they ftand" in 

 Spikes on the Tops of thefe Divifions. They are 

 ftreaked with Purple on the Top, and have yel- 

 low Threads in the Middle. The Leaves are long 

 and narrow, hollowed and fharp -pointed; the Root 

 is compofed of feveral oblong Lumps. The Root 



is 



