202 FAMILY HERBAL. 



are of a beautiful green colour ; authors refer it to 

 the kinds of moss. It grows on old walls, in wells, 

 and other damp places. The leaves are oblong, blunt, 

 and thin, they spread one over another and take 

 root wherever they touch the ground. They often 

 cover the space of a foot or more in one cluster. 

 This is all that is usually seen of the plant, but in 

 spring when the place and the weather favour, there 

 rise up among these leaves certain long and slender 

 stalks, on the tops of which stand imperfect flowers, 

 as they are called, small roundish, and resembling the 

 heads of I'ttle mushrooms. 



The whole plant is used, and it is best green and 

 fresli gathered. It is to be given in a strong decoc- 

 tion. It opens obstructions of the liver, and works 

 Tbv urine. It is good against the jaundice, and 

 i- an excellent medicine in the first stages of con- 

 traptions. It is not nearly so much regarded as it 

 right to be. It is also used externally for foulness of 

 the skin. 



Grey Ground Liverwort. Lichin ciiicreus ter 

 restris. 



A tlant, very common by our dry wood sides, 

 and in pastures, in some degree resembling the 

 last described, but differing in colour and in its 

 fructification. This consists' also entirely of leaves ; 

 they are of a bluish grey colour, on the outside, 

 and of a whitish grey underneath. They are two 

 inches long, and an inch and a half broad ; and grow 

 in clusters together ; often they are less distinct, and 

 therefore appear larger. These do not send up any 

 stalks to bear a kind of tlowcrs in heads. The tips of 

 the leaves turn up, and are reddish, and in these parU 

 are contained the seed*. The whole plant seems dry 

 and tapless. 



