3;S FAMILY HERBAL. 



high : the leaves are large, long, not very broad, 

 rough to the touch, and of a deep disagreeable green : 

 the stalks are green, thick, angulated, and up- 

 right. The {lowers grow along the tops of the 

 branches, and are white, sometimes reddish, not 

 very largo, and hang often downwards. The root 

 is thick, black, and irregular ; when broken it is 

 found to be white within, and full of a slimy juice. 

 This root is the part used, and it is best fresh,, but 

 it may he beat up into a conserve, with three time* 

 its weight of sugar. It is a remedy for thatterr 

 ble disease the whites. It is also good aguiiii- 

 spitting of blood, bloody fluxes, and purging*., and 

 for inward bruises. 



The Contrayerva Pl.h.'t. Contrayerva. 



A VERY singular plant, native of America, 

 i yet got into our gardens. It consists only 

 vis rising from the root, upon single foot- 

 and flowers of a singular kind, standing also 

 le and separate foot- stalks, with no leaves 

 upon them. The leaves arc large, oblong, very 

 broad, and deeply divided on each side ; their co- 

 lour is a dusky green ; and the foot- stalks on 

 which they stand are small and whitish, and often 

 bond under the weight of the leaf. The stalks 

 Afiieh support the flowers, are shorter and weaker 

 than these ; and the flowers are of a very pecu- 

 liar kind ; they arc disposed together in a kind of 

 l.'ai form, and arc very small and inconsiderable, 

 i'hc bed on which they are situated is of an oval 

 figure, and is called the placenta of the plant ; 

 it is of a pale colour and thin. 



V. e are told of another \i\nvA of the same kind ; 

 Iho leaves of which are less divided, and the pla- 

 tva'.a is square, but the roots of both arc allowed 



