146 FAMILY HERBAL: 



Frog Bit. Morsus ran<e. 



A little plant, not uncommon on waters, 

 with round leaves and small white flowers. It 

 has been by the common writers called a kind of 

 water lily, because its leaves are round, and it 

 floats upon the water, but it is as distinct as any 

 thing 1 can be, when we regard the flower. Duck- 

 weed has round leaves, and floats upon the water, 

 and it might be called water lily for that reason, 

 if that were sufficient. The leaves are of a round- 

 ish figure, and a dusky dark green colour : they 

 are of the breadth of a crown piece, and they rise 

 many together in tufts, from the same part of the 

 stalk. This stalk runs along at a little distance 

 under the surface of the water, and from it descend 

 the roots, but they do not reach down into the mud, 

 but play loose like the fibres of duck-weed in the 

 water. The flowers stand singly upon slender 

 foot-stalks ; they are white, and composed of 

 three leaves apiece, which give them a singular 

 appearance. 



The fresh leaves are used in outward applications, 

 and are very cooling. 



Fumitory. Fumaria. 



A pretty wild plant, with bluish divided leaves, 

 and spikes of little purple flowers, common in 

 our corn-fields in June and July. It grows ten 

 inches high. The stalk is round, striated, of a 

 pale green, thick enough, but not very firm or 

 perfectly erect. The leaves are large, but they are 

 divided into a vast nwmbcr of little parts, which 

 are blunt and rounded at the ends ; their colour 

 is a faint green. The flowers are small and pur- 

 ple : they have a heel behind, and a number of 



