312 FAMILY HERBAL. 



they have been exposed to the sun, where they art 

 sometimes reddish ; the taste is \nvy pleasant when 

 they are ripe. 



The unripe fruit is used; they press the juice, 

 and give it against purgings, but is little known. 



Common Servk l Thee. Sorbus vulgaris. 



A large tree, aiui very beautiful, its growth 

 being regular, and the leaves of an elegant shape ; 

 the bark of the trunk is greyish, and tolerably 

 smooth ; on the branches it is brown : the leaves are 

 single, large, and of a rounded figure, but divided 

 into five, six, or seven parts, pretty deeply, and 

 serrated round the edges ; they are of a bright green 

 on the upper part and whitish underneath. The 

 flowers are little and yellowish, and they grow in 

 clusters ; the fruit is small and brown when ripe. 

 It grows in bunches. 



The unripe fruit of this service is excellent 

 against purgings, but it can only be had recourse to 

 when in season, for there is no way of preserving 

 the virtue in them all the year. 



Shepherd's Purse. Bursa Pasloris. 



The most common almost of all wild plants, 

 over-running our garden-beds, and court-yards. 

 The leaves spread upon the ground, and are long 

 somewhat broad, and more or less indented at the 

 edges, for in this there is great variation : the stalks 

 are round, upright, and eight or ten inches high, 

 they have few leaves on them. The flowers stand 

 at the tops in little clusters, and they are small and 

 white: below there is commonly a kind of spike 

 f the seed-vessels : these are short, broad, and of 



