tfB FAMILY HERBAL. 



grows four feet high. The stalks are slender, 

 tough, and covered with a smooth brown bark. The 

 leaves are oblong and narrow : they arc small, 

 of a dusky green colour, broadest in the middle, 

 and placed in pairs opposite to oue another, and 

 tbey are of a somewhat firm substance, and have no 

 indenting at the edges. The flowers are white and 

 little, but they stand in tufts at the ends of the branches, 

 and by that make a good appearance. The fruit h a 

 black berry : one succeeds to t evcry flower in the 

 cluster. 



The tops are used ; and they are best when the 

 flowers arejust beginning to bud. A strong infusion 

 of them in water, with the addition of a little honey 

 and red wine, is excellent to wash the mouth and 

 throat, when there are little sores in them, and when 

 the gums are apt to bleed. 



Purslain. Portulaca 



A common plant in our gardens, and of a very 

 singular aspect : we h&ve few so succulent. It 

 grows a foot long, but trails on the ground. The 

 :4alks arc round, thick, and fleshy, of a reddish 

 colour, and very brittle. The leaves arc short and 

 broad . they are of a good green, thick, fleshy, and 

 broad, and blunt at the end. The flowers are little 

 and yellow : they stand among the leaves toward the 

 tops < f the stalks. The root is small, fibrous, and 

 whitish. 



Purslain is a pleasant herb in sallads, and so whole- 

 some, that 'tis a pity more of it is not eaten : it is ex- 

 cellent against the scurvy. The juice fresh pressed 

 out with a little white wine, works by urine, and \n 

 excellent against stranguries and violent heats, ant? 

 also against the scurvy. 



