446 SYNGENESIA: POLYGAMIA ^QTJALIS. 



underneath, and %htly dented on the edo-es : 

 the flalk is two or three feet high and branch'd : 

 the flowers are purple and grow in Tpha^rical heads, 

 forming a kind of clufter'd umbel : the calyces 

 are fometimes fmooth, and fornetimes interwoven 

 with a \rooly or cobweb kind of matter; the 

 fcaies are hooked at the end, and readily adhere 

 to any thing they touch : the florets are all tu- 

 bular, hermaphrodite, and have fiye dents in the 

 rim : the receptacle upon v/hich the florets are 

 diipos'd is cover'd with briftly 'l>aiea : the feeds 

 are crown'd with afliort brittle down, wliich thro' 

 a microfcope appears to be plumofe. 

 This plant, tho' generally neglefted, is capable of 

 being apply'd to i^.any ufcs,—- the root and llalks 

 are efculent and nutritive : the flalks for this pur- 

 pofe fliould be cut before the plant flowers, the 

 rind peel'd off, and then boil'd and ferv'd up in 

 the manner of cardcons, or eaten raw as a failad 

 with oil and vinegar. 

 It is likewife us'd in medicine : the great Bcerhave 

 recommends a deco6tion of it in pleurifies, perip- 

 neumonies, and malignant fevers. In the fame 

 manner it: is faid to have cur'd the venereal dif- 

 eafe. An elixir of it has been alfo much ex- 

 toU'd for the gOut -, and an cmulfion of the feeds 

 has a pGv,erful diuretic quality. Outwardl) ap- 

 ply'd the haves have been found ferviceable In 

 hcadachs, the gout, and cedematous fwellings. 



Cattle rcfufe to eat it: but flieep propagate it by 



conveying 



