FAMILY HERBAL 183 



blunt at the points: they are of a bright green 

 colour, and if held up against the light, they seem 

 to be full of pin holes. The Bovvers grow in 

 abundance on the tops of the branches : they are 

 large, and of a bright and beautiful yellow, full 

 of yellow threads, which, if rubbed upon the hand, 

 stain it like blood. The fruit is a dry seed- 

 vessel. 



The part used is the flowery tops of the plant 

 just as they begin to ripen. A decoction of these 

 works powerfully by urine, and is excellent against 

 the gravel, and in ulcerations of the ureters. The 

 same tops fresh gathered and bruised are good for 

 wounds and bruises ; they stop bleeding, and serve 

 as a balsam for one, and take oft' blackness in the 

 other 



Jujube Tree. Zizyphus. 



A tree of the bigness of our plum trees, and 

 not unlike to them in shape. The bark is grey on 

 the trunk, and brown on the branches. The leaves 

 are moderately large, and each is composed of a 

 number of smaller ones, set on each side of a middle 

 rib, but not opposite to one another, and with an odd 

 one at the end : these are oblong, obtuse, and serrated 

 round the edges, and the odd leaf at the end is the 

 largest and longest. The flowers are small and 

 yellow. The fruit is oval, and of the bigness of a 

 moderate plum ; it has a soft substance on the outside, 

 and a stone within, which is large and long, and 

 pointed at both ends. 



The fruit is used. It was at one time brought 

 over to us dried, but we see little of it now ; it was 

 esteemed balsamic, and was given to cure coughs, 

 nnd to work bv urine. 



