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C E N 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL 



C E N 



running deep into the ground ; corollets in the ray very long, 

 blue, with a white tube, neuter ; in the disk short, purple, 

 fertile. It flowers in May and June, and is a native of the 

 south of Europe. It is now become a common plant in large 

 gardens, from the facility with which it Is increased ; the 

 roots indeed creep so much, that it is apt to become trouble- 

 some : it will grow in any soil and situation. 



15. Centaurea Cyanus ; Corn Centaury, or Annual Blue 

 Bottle. Calices serrate ; leaves linear, quite entire, the 

 lowest toothed. Stem one to two feet high, angular, slightly 

 tomentose, branched at top. It is a common weed among 

 corn, flowering from June till August ; the wild flower is 

 usually blue, but sometimes white or purple. Our old English 

 writers, besides blue-bottle, a name it has commonly obtained, 

 call it blue-ball, blue-blow, corn-Jlower, and hurt-sickle ; in 

 the Booke of Husbandrye, ascribed to Fitzherbert, it seems 

 to be called hadods or haudod : some modern agriculturists 

 speak of it under the name of buddle, which is evidently 

 nothing more than a corruption of bottle. It is called batche- 

 lor's buttons in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, but that name is 

 given to many other flowers : in Scotland, it is called blue 

 bonnets; the Germans, Dutch, Swedes, and Danes, call it 

 korn-blume ; the French, bluet ; the Italians and Portuguese, 

 ciano ; and the Spaniards, aciano, and azulcio. The ex- 

 pressed juice of the neutral florets makes a good ink ; it also 

 stains linen of a beautiful blue ; but the colour is not perma- 

 nent in any mode hitherto used. Mr. Boyle says, that the 

 juice of the central florets, with the addition of a very small 

 quantity of alum, makes a lasting transparent blue, not infe- 

 rior to ultramarine. A water distilled from the flowers of 

 this plant is good in inflammations and weakness of the 

 eyes ; and the leaves which grow on the stems; fresh gathered 

 and bruised, will stop the bleeding of a wound, even if a 

 large vessel be cut ; their use in such cases, is but little 

 known, but they surpass all other things of the kind, and 

 may often be the instrument of saving life, where a surgeon's 

 assistance is not to be procured in time : it is good for 

 wounds or bruises in the breast, spitting of blood, &c. The 

 juice dropped into old ulcers, cleanses and disposes them to 

 heal. I have known it, says Meyrick, to be made use of 

 by the country people for the jaundice ; and, infused or 

 boiled in white wine, it is an exceedingly good diuretic. 

 There are great varieties of colours in the flowers of the 

 common annual blue-bottle, and some of them are finely 

 variegated. The seeds are sold under the name of bottles of 

 all colours ; they will rise in any common border, and re- 

 quire no other care but to be kept clean from weeds, and 

 thinned where they are too close. If the seeds be sown in 

 autumn, they will succeed better, and the plants will flower 

 stronger, than those which are sown in spring. 



16. Centaurea Paniculata; Panicled Centaury. Calices 

 ciliate ; scales flat ; leaflets bipinnate ; branch-leaves pin- 

 natifid, linear. Stem panicled, almost woody, stiff, striated, 

 or angular, whitish, branched, from a foot to eighteen inches 

 and two feet ;n height ; florets flesh-coloured, or pale purple. 

 Native of the south of France, Switzerland, Germany, 

 Austria, Carniola, Italy, and Spain : annual. 



17. Centaurea Spinosa ; Prickly-branched Centaury. Ca- 

 lices subciliate ; branches spinous. The whole plant is to- 

 mentose. Native of the island of Candia. 



18. Centaurea Ragusina ; Cretan Centaury. Calices ciliate ; 

 leaves tomentose, pinnatilid ; leaflets obtuse, ovate, quite 

 entire, the outer ones larger. Leaves white, as it were pap- 

 pous, pinnated with rounded lobes ; flower solitary, pedun- 

 cled, bright yellow. As this plant retains its leaves, which 

 are extremely white, all the year, it makes a pretty variety 



in a garden. Native of the island of Candia, and of several 

 places on the coasts of the Mediterranean, both in Europe 

 and Africa. This, and the two following species, may be 

 propagated by slips, or by planting the young branches 

 which do not shoot up to flower, in a shady border, any time 

 during the summer ; in the autumn they may be removed 

 into warm borders, or put into pots to be sheltered in winter. 

 This species will endure the cold of our ordinary winters in 

 the open air, if it be planted in dry lime rubbish. 



19. Centaurea Cineraria ; White-leaved Mountain Cen- 

 taury. Calices ciliate, terminal, sessile ; leaves tomentose, 

 bipinnatifid ; lobes acute. Stems nearly three feet high, 

 branching from a perennial root ; flower purple, with white 

 styles ; rays scarcely longer than the rest of the corolla. 

 The flowers come out in June, and in favourable seasons 

 the seeds are perfected in autumn. It grows naturally in 

 Italy, on the borders of the fields. 



20. Centaurea Argentea ; Silvery Centaury. Calices ser- 

 rate ; leaves tomentose ; root-leaves pinnatitid ; leaflets ear- 

 less. Stem next the root very tomentose ; flowers yellow : 

 leaves white. Perennial ; flowering in July. Native of 

 Candia, or Crete. 



21. Centaurea Sibirica ; Siberian Centaury. Calices cili- 

 ate; leaves tomentose, undivided and pinnatifid, quite entire; 

 stem declined. Stem quite simple, sometimes, but rarely, 

 having one small branch, pubescent, somewhat grooved, usu- 

 ally one flower ; corolla purple, sometimes flesh-coloured, 

 with a large barren ray. Found by Gmelin in Siberia. 



22. Centaurea Sempervirens ; Evergreen Centaury. Ca- 

 lices ciliate ; leaves lanceolate, serrate, substipuled at the 

 lowest tooth ; lower leaves hastate. Stem round, pubescent, 

 gray at bottom ; flowers flosculous. It is a perennial plant, 

 and the leaves continue in verdure through the year : it 

 flowers in June and July, and in warm seasons the seeds 

 ripen in September. Native of Spain and Portugal. 



23. Centaurea Scabiosa ; Scabious Centaury, or Great 

 Knapweed. Calices ciliate ; leaves pinnatifid ; pinnas lance- 

 olate. Stem nearly cylindric, upright, alternately branched, 

 leafy, striated, two feet high ; leaves roughish, and slightly 

 hairy ; flowers solitary, terminating. Native of most coun- 

 tries of Europe, except the southernmost parts, being found 

 in meadows, on the borders of corn-fields, and by road-sides : 

 it is perennial, flowering in July and August, and is called 

 the great horse-knobs, in Yorkshire. 



24. Centaurea Tatarica ; Tartarian Centaury. Calices 

 ciliate ; leaves pinnate ; pinnas lanceolate, undivided. Per- 

 ennial. Native of Siberia. 



25. Centaurea Stoebe. Calices ciliate, oblong, leaves pin- 

 natifid, linear, quite entire. Root perennial ; stems nearly t 

 three feet high, branched, with a single leaf at each joint ; 

 flowers solitary, terminating ; they appear in June, and the 

 seeds ripen in August. 



26. Centaurea Acaulis ; Slemless Centaury. Calices cili- 

 ate ; leaves lyrate ; stem scarcely any. The flower is I 

 yellow ; the root sweet and esculent. Native of Arabia. 

 It is called To/s by the Arabs. 



*** Rhapontica : with the Scales of the Calix dry and 

 scariose. 



27. Centaurea Orientalis ; Oriental Centaury. Calices 

 scariose-ciliate ; leaves pinnatifid ; pinnas lanceolate. The 

 stems rise nearly five feet high, dividing at top into many 

 smaller brunches ; flowers solitary, terminating, yellow ; 

 they come out from June to August, and the seeds ripen in 

 autumn. Native of Siberia. 



28. Centaurea Behen. Calices scariose ; radical leaves i 

 lyrate; lobes opposite; stem leaves embracing, decurrent. 



