104 



ANT 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



ANT 



orders, in the gravel, and intermittent fevers. The dose 01 

 the dried flowers in substance is from ten or twelve grains to 

 half a drachm, or more ; in tea, two or three drachms. The 

 expressed juice is an excellent remedy for the strangury, 

 asthma, jaundice, and dropsy ; and the flowers are much 

 used, in conjunction with other ingredients of a similar nature, 

 to promote perspiration. Culpeper says, that bathing with 

 a decoction of Chamomile removes weariness and eases pain, 

 to whatever part of the body it is applied ; and that the 

 flowers boiled in posset-drinks provokes sweating, and bring- 

 ethdown women's courses. Syrup of the juice of Chamomile, 

 with flowers of white wine, he also recommends for the 

 jaundice and dropsy ; and a decoction of the flowers in lee, 

 us good to wash the head in disorders of the brain. This 

 plant may be increased by planting slips a foot asunder in 

 the spring ; as it is hardy, it will soon cover the ground ; 

 and the gardener would do well to prefer the single-flowered 

 kind, for the reasons above given. 



9. Anthemis Arvensis ; Corn Chamomile. Receptacles 

 conic; chaffs bristle-shaped ; seeds crown-margined ; leaves 

 thinly downed. Biennial. It flowers in June and July, and 

 is a common weed amongst corn in most parts of Europe. 



10. Athemis Austriaca ; Austrian Cltamomile. Recep- 

 tacles conic ; chaffs oblong, mucronate ; seeds naked ; leaves 

 bipinnate, woolly-villose. Root annual. It has a bitter taste ; 

 flowers the whole summer. Found by way-sides, in corn- 

 fields, and sometimes covering fallow grounds in Austria. 



11. Anthemis Cotula ; Stinking Chamomile, or Mayweed. 

 Receptacles conic ; chaffs bristly ; seeds naked ; leaves 

 smooth. Stems much branched, smooth ; leaves light green ; 

 hipinnalifld ; disk of the flower convex, yellow ; florets 

 white. An annual plant, the whole of which is fetid, and so 

 acrid as to blister the skin of those who handle it. Loeselius 

 avers, that it drives away fleas, is offensive to bees, and is 

 given as a medicine to sheep troubled with the asthma. An 

 infusion of the root is good in hysteric disorders, and pro- 

 motes the menses. The herb boiled till it becomes soft, and 

 then applied by way of poultice, is an o\ec!lont thing for the 

 piles. Mr. Ray says, it has been beneficially administered 

 in scropbulous cases. It is a common weed, flowering from 

 May to August, and abounding by way-sides, on dung-hills, 

 and i. v corn-fields ; and farmers are little aware of the vast 

 fortility of this and some other weeds, which they first suffer 

 to exhaust their dunghills, and afterwards to be distributed 

 with them over their fields. 



12. Anthemis Pyrethruiu ; Spanuk Chamomile, or Pelli- 

 tory of Spain. Stems simple, one-flowered, decumbent ; 

 leaves pinnate-multifid. Rout perennial, as big as a man's 

 linger, the colour of horse-radish, white within, of an acrid 

 biting taste. Flower large, the florets of the ray purple on 

 the outside. Lewis says, the roots having a hot pungent taste 

 when chewed in the mouth, by stimulating the salivul ;! 

 promote a flow of viscid humours from the head and the 

 adjacent parts, and frequently by tiiis means relie\ e the tooth- 

 urh, head-ach, lethargy, and palsy of the tongue. It is 

 also successfully giseu in small doses for paral) tu and rl.i-u- 

 matic complaints. In palsies, its stimulation alone will 

 sometimes restore the voice. According to Culpeper, ;in 

 ounce of the juice taken in a draught of Museailel tin hour 

 before the fit of the ague comes on, will remove it at the 

 -.com] or third time of taking it ; and the powder of the 

 Iwrb, snuffed up the nostrils, removes the head-ac'n by ex- 

 citing snee/.iitg. It is a native of the Levant, and southern 

 parts of Europe. 



** WMt, a concolour, or yellow Ktii/. 



13. Anthcmi* Valentino; Purple-stalked Chuinomile. Stem 



branching ; leaves pubescent, tripinnate, bristle-shaped ; 

 calices villose, peduncled. It grows naturally in tpai:i, 

 Portugal, and Provence; and is supposed to be the same 

 which Dioscorides recommends as good for the jaundice, and 

 to restore the skin to a good colour. This plant may be 

 easily increased by sowing the seeds upon a bed of common 

 earth in spring, and transplanting them three feet asunder, 

 when they are strong enough to remove. Some of the 

 flowers are white, some sulphur-coloured, and some of a deep 

 yellow; and in large open spots they form a pleasins: variety 

 from June till November, which is the time they continue to 

 flower. The Levant seeds produce the tallest plants and 

 largest flowers. 



14. Anthemis Repanda; Rcpa.nd-lf.aved Chamomile. Leaves 

 simple, ovate-lanceolate, repand-crenate. Native of Spain 

 and Portugal. 



15. Anthemis Trinervia ; Three nerve-leaved Chamomile. 

 Leaves ovate, serrate, three-nerved, opposite, petiolate ; 

 receptacle conic. Found in South America, 



16. Anthemis Americana ; American Chamomile. Leaves 

 triternate ; peduncles terminal, longer than the branch. 

 Native of America. 



17. Anthemis Tinctoria ; Yellow Chamomile, or Ox-eye. 

 Leaves bipinnate, serrate, tomentose underneath ; stem co- 

 rymbed. A native of dry open pastures in Germany and 

 Sweden ; and Mr. Ray found it near the river Jaco in Dur- 

 ham. Linneus says, it is much used in Gothland for dying 

 yellow. A decoction of the fresh herb with ale, is given us 

 a remedy for the jaundice ; it operates by urine. 



18. Anthemis Arabica ; Arabian Chamomile. Stem decom- 

 pound ; calices branch-bearing. Root annual. A native of 

 Arabia. Its flavour is bitter and aromatic, but far weaker 

 than Common Chamomile. It is an ornamental plant, and 

 merits a place among hardy annuals. Its flavour is bitter 

 and aromatic, but far weaker than the officinal Chamomile. 

 Unless the seeds be sown in autumn they will seldom be 

 reproduced in perfection in England. 



19. Anthemis Odorata ; Shrubby Chamomile. Leaves pin - 

 natifid at the tip ; peduncles elongate ; calices membrana- 

 ceous; ray barren. Native of the Cape ; flowering in April. 



Anlhericvm ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 ;rynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : none. Corolla: pe- 

 tals six, oblong, obtuse, spreading very much. Stamina : 

 filamenta subulate, erect ; anthers small, incumbent, four- 

 furrowed. Pistil: germen obscurely three-cornered ; style 

 simple, the length of the stamina ; stigma obtuse, three-cor- 

 nered. Pericarp : capsule ovate, smooth, three-furrowed, 

 three-celled, thrce-valved. Seeds: numerous, angular. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: six-petalled, expanding. 

 <'ti)iule: ovate. All the plants of this genus, except the 17th 

 species, are perennial, and may be increased by offsets or 

 su(.k'ers, taken off during the summer or autumn ; and those 

 \\liich do not throw out these freely, by seeds sown in the 

 pring or autumn, on a bed of light sandy earth in a warm 

 situation. They require covering with straw or pease haulm 

 n severe weather, and will last several years if not destroyed 

 jy frost. The species are, 



1. AnMiericum Floribundum ; Thick-spiked Antherirum. 

 Leaves" flat, smooth, linear-lanceolate, unite, channelled ; 

 scape simple ; raceme many-Howcrcd, cylimlric, compact ; 

 irtals spreading, stamina smooth. Native of the Cape ; 

 lowering in March and April. 



i. Anthericum Serotinum. Leaves flatfish ; scape one- 

 iloweredj tilameiHagenerully smooth. A vernal plant, which 

 ippcars in Switzerland and on Snowdeu in Wales, after the 

 melting of the snows, and flowering in April and May. 



