ER Y 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



ER Y 



sometimes used in medicine abroad ; and the green herb for 

 feeding cattle in some countries, but the plant is not worth 

 cultivating for that purpose in England. 



Eryngium; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: receptacle common, 

 conic; chaffs separating the sessile floscules. Involucre of 

 the receptacle many-leaved, flat, exceeding the floscules ; pe- 

 rianth proper, five-leaved, upright, sharp, shorter than the 

 corolla, seated on the germen. Corolla: universal, uniform, 

 roundish ; floscules all fertile ; proper fi ve-petalled ; petals 

 oblong, the tips bent inwards to the base, straitened longitu- 

 dinally by a line. Stamina : filamenta five, capillary, straight, 

 exceeding the floscules. Antherse oblong. Pistil: germen 

 hispid, inferior; styles two, filiform, straight, length of the 

 stamina; stigmas simple. Pericarp : fruit ovate, divisible in 

 two directions. Seeds : oblong, columnar. Observe: In some 

 species the seeds are deposited from the crust of the pericarp, 

 in others they remain included in it. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Flowers: in a head ; receptacle chaffy. These plants 

 have somewhat the appearance of thistles ; the leaves are 

 often spinous, as are also the involucres; the umbellets in 

 some are enclosed in an involucre, which is often irregular 



and branched, in others they are dispersed. The species 



are, 



1. Eryngium Foetidum; Stinking Eringo. Root-leaves 

 lanceolate-serrate; floral leaves multifid ; stem dichototnous. 

 Root annual, or biennial ; root-leaves bluntish, the serralures 

 terminating in harmless spines ; stem a foot high or more, 

 green, somewhat angular, spreading, with the extreme 

 branches flexuose. The whole plant has a penetrating, strong, 

 though not very unsavoury, smell; the flowers are produced 

 in small sessile heads, coming out at every division of the 

 stalks, and at the ends of the branches; they are of a dull 

 white colour, and make little appearance : they appear in 

 June and July, and the seeds ripen in autumn. It is a native 

 of the West Indies, Mexico, Surinam, and Virginia. All 

 parts of this plant are reckoned very powerful anti-hysterics, 

 and much used by the negroes and poorer whites, on all oc- 

 casions of that nature, from whence they name it Fit-weed; 

 it is chiefly administered in decoctions or infusions. As this 

 plant is a native of hot countries, it will not thrive in England 

 but in a warm stove. It is propagated by seeds, which, if 

 sown in pots, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, will 

 come up much sooner than those which are sown in a hot- 

 bed ; and when the plants are fit to remove, they should be 

 each planted in a small pot, and plunged into the bark-bed, 

 and afterwards treated like other tender plants from the same 

 country : the second year they will produce flowers and 

 seeds ; soon after which they commonly decay. 



2. Eryngium Aquaticum; Marsh Eringo. Leaves gla- 

 diate-serrate, spiny ; floral-leaves undivided. This plant has 

 a perennial root, from which rise several long leaves, disposed 

 round the root, like those of the Aloe or Yucca ; they are of a 

 gray colour, a foot long or more, and one inch and a half 

 broad, stiff, and ending in spines ; the stem is strong, two 

 feet high, and divides at top into several peduncles, each 

 terminated by an oval head of flowers, which are white, with 

 a little cast of pale blue. They come out in July, but unless 

 the season be very warm, the seeds will not ripen in England. 

 It grows naturally in Virginia and Carolina, where it is 

 called Rattlesnake Weed, from its use in curing the bite of 

 that venomous creature. This sort is propagated by seeds, 

 which, if sown in pots, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, 

 will come up much sooner than those which are sown in the 

 full ground, whereby they will be much stronger before the 

 winter. When the plants are fit to remove, they should be 



each planted in a separate small pot filled with light earth; 

 and if they are plunged into a moderate hot-bed, it will for- 

 ward their taking root; then they must be gradually inured 

 to bear the open air, into which they may be removed at the 

 latter end of May, and placed among other hardy exotic plants. 

 When the plants have filled these pots with their roots, some 

 of them may be shaken out, and placed in a warm border; 

 the others may.be put into larger pots, and in the autumn 

 placed under a common frame, where they may be exposed 

 to free air in mild weather, but sheltered from severe frost ; 

 the following spring these may be turned out of the pots, and 

 planted in a warm situation, where they will endure the cold 

 of our ordinary winters very well ; and if in severe frost they 

 be covered with straw, pease-haulm, or any similar light 

 covering, it will secure them from injury. 



3. Eryugium Planum ; Flat-leaved Eringo. Root-leaves 

 oval-flat, crenate ; heads peduncled ; root perennial ; stem 

 upright, round, furrowed or streaked, whitish, about a foot 

 and half in height, bluish at top, where it divides into three 

 parts, each of which is terminated by a peduncled axillary 

 flower; flowers in terminating heads, fenced with a six-leaved 

 involucre, spreading, and reflex; the leaflets long-lanceolate, 

 mucronate, as long as the flowers. It makes a pretty appear- 

 ance when in flower, which is in July, especially that with 

 blue stalks and flowers, for there is a variety in which they 

 are white, with the leaves of a lighter green. As it does not 

 spread at the root, it ought to be allowed a place in the 

 pleasure ground. Native of Austria, Silesia, Poland, and 

 Russia. It is propagated by seeds, which if sown in the 

 autumn, will more certainly succeed than when sown in the 

 spring, for the latter commonly remain in the ground a year 

 before they vegetate ; and if the seeds are sown where the 

 plants are to remain, they will flower stronger than those 

 which are transplanted ; for as they have long downright 

 roots, so they are commonly broken in taking out of the 

 ground, which greatly weakens them. The culture they 

 require is, to thin them where they are too near, keep them 

 clean from weeds, and dig the ground about them every 

 spring before they shoot. 



4. Eryngium Pusillum ; Dwarf Eringo. Root-leaves ob- 

 long, gashed ; stem dichotomous ; heads sessile. This plant 

 puts out oblong plane leaves from the root, which are cut on 

 their edges ; the stalks rise about a foot high, and branch 

 out into many forked divisions, which are regular, and have 

 a small head of flowers in each, sitting very close between 

 the branches. It flowers from June to August. Native of 

 Spain and the Levant. 



5. Eryngium Tricuspidatum ; Trifid Eringo. Root-leaves 

 cordate ; stem-leaves palmate, with ears bent back ; chaffs 

 three-cusped ; root biennial, tuberous, approaching to the 

 shape of the Radish ; stem a foot high, with spiny heads at the 

 top, and in the axils, with purple florets in them; involucres 

 of long, narrow, hard, prickly leaflets, much longer than in 

 the common sort. Native of Spain, Sicily, and the Levant. 



6. Eryngium Maritimum; Sea Eringo, or Sea Holly. 

 Root-leaves roundish, plaited, spiny; heads peduncled; 

 chaffs three-cusped; root creeping, and running deep into 

 the ground ; leaves roundish, stiff, gray, set with sharp spines 

 on the edges; stems a foot high, branched, smooth, having 

 at each joint leaves of the same form with the lower ones, but 

 smaller. The flowers come out at the ends of the branches . 

 in roundish prickly heads, and are of a whitish blue colour; 

 under each head is a range of narrow, stiff, prickly leaves, 

 spreading like the rays of a star. The flowers appear in 

 July. The young flowering-shoots, eaten like Asparagus, are 

 very grateful and nourishing; the leaves are sweetish, with a 



