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THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



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ders, surgeon, of Stourbridge. Hill kiforms us, that the 

 whole plant is used, but that an infusion of it when fresh is 

 to be preferred. A strong infusion is a good attenuater and 

 dissolver of tough phlegm, and is excellent in asthmas, hoarse- 

 ness, and other complaints of the breast : this simple infusion, 

 made into a syrup with honey, also answers the same pur- 

 pose, and keeps all the year round. This, and some others 

 of the class, are apt to spring up among the ashes where 

 charcoal has been made, or where there has been any consi- 

 derable fire. Besides its common name of Hedge Mustard, 

 it has those of Bank Cresses, and Scrambling Rocket: Turner 

 calls it Winter Cresses. The Germans name it tier hederich, 

 wegesenf, wilder senf, falscher wassersenf, das gelbe eisen- 

 kraut, das weibchen des eisenkrauts, kreuzkraut ; the Danes, 

 told senep, veysenep ; the Swedes, vaggkrassa; the French, 

 / velar, la tortelle, I'herbe au chantre ; the Italians, erisamo ; 

 the Spaniards, jaramugo, hierba de San Alberto, irion ; the 

 Portuguese, erisimo ; and the Russians, gorczyca polna and 

 pszonak ziele. It is warm and acrid to the taste, and, when 

 cultivated, is used as a spring potherb. Birds are fond of 

 the seeds; sheep and goats eat it; cows, horses, and swine, 

 refuse it. 



2. Erysimum Barbarea ; Winter Hedge Mustard, or Cress. 

 Leaves lyrate, the outmost lobe roundish; root perennial; 

 stem a foot or eighteen inches high, smooth, round, deeply 

 furrowed, much branched ; flowers in racemes, or thick 

 spikes, at the ends of the stem and branches; peduncles 

 compressed, quadrangular ; calix green, caducous ; two of 

 the leaflets larger, with a helmet-shaped hollow at the top; 

 petals yellow,. much longer than the calix. There are several 

 varieties of Winter Cress ; one, mentioned by Linneus and 

 Tournefort, is distinguished by Ray as having smaller leaves, 

 more frequently sinuated, the pods thicker, and the seeds 

 larger, pale brown, inclining to white. Petiver figures it 

 under the name of Early Winter Cress, and says, that it 

 flowers in April. A variety with double flowers is common 

 in the gardens, under the name of Yellow Rocket. The com- 

 mon people in Sweden use the leaves in salads early in the 

 spring, and late in the autumn ; they also boil them as Kale. 

 Some persons in England also cultivate it for spring salad, 

 under the name of French or American Cress; but it has to 

 most people a bitter unpleasant taste. It is found on the 

 banks of ditches and streams, in watery places ; sometimes 

 in cultivated fields, and even on walls ; flowering from May 

 to July. It is called Winter Rocket as well as Winter Cress, 

 and Herb St. Barbara. The Germans name it die winter- 

 kresse, barbenkraut, barbelkraut, rapunzel, senskraut, schno- 

 desens, habichtskruut, gelber beyfuss, falsche human ; the 

 Danes call it vinterkars ; the Swedes, vinterkrasse ; the 

 French, la Barbirce, I'herbe Sainte Barbe, I'herbe aux 

 charpentiers, la Julienne jaune, roquette ; the Italians, Bar- 

 barea, erba di Santa Barbara, ruchetta; the Spaniards, 

 hierba de Santa Barbara, raqueta; the Portuguese, herva 

 de Santa Barbara. 



3. Erysimum Alliaria ; Stinking or Garlic Hedge Mustard. 

 Leaves cordate; root biennial; stem upright, from two to 

 three feet high, round, smooth, somewhat striated, at bottom 

 purple and slightly hairy, at top branched ; the branches are 

 few, alternate, and upright; flowers in a corymb, terminating, 

 upright, on peduncles the length of the flowers ; leaflets of the 

 calix pale green, obtuse, deciduous, hollow at the tip; corolla 

 white; petals obovate ; border spreading, marked with a few 

 veins. The leaves are recommended to be taken internally, 

 as sudorifics and deobstruents, of the nature of Garlic, but 

 much milder ; externally, as antiseptic, in gangrenes and can- 

 cerous ulcers. According to Linneus's observation, horses, 



sheep, and swine, refuse it, but cows and goats eat it; if eaten 

 by cows, it gives a very strong disagreeable taste to the milk. 

 When it grows in poultry yards, the fowls eat it, and it gives 

 an intolerably rank taste to their flesh. The whole plant has 

 a strong smell and taste of Garlic, and is therefore used by 

 the country people in sauces, with bread and butter, salted 

 meat, and with lettuce in salads ; from which it has acquired 

 another name, that of Sauce Alone. The fresh leaves, plenti- 

 fully eaten, says Meyrick, or the juice of them, taken either 

 by itself or boiled into a syrup with honey, operate power- 

 fully by urine, and are found serviceable in dropsies. The 

 syrup is likewise good to cut and attenuate tough viscid 

 phlegm, and for coughs and hoarsenesses. The seeds snuffed 

 up the nose excite sneezing, and a discharge of watery 

 humours from the head ; and the herb, when eaten as a salad, 

 warms the stomach, and strengthens the digestive faculties. 

 It is commonly found by hedge-sides, on banks, and in shady 

 places, and thence derived another vulgar name, that of Jack- 

 by-the-hedge. It flowers in April and May. The Germans 

 call it das knoblauchkraut, der knoblauchhederich, lauchel, 

 waldknoblauch, ramfen, rampen, ramschelwurzel, gernsel, 

 salsekrant, saskraut ; the Danes name it livid logfurt, gafte- 

 kaal; the Swedes, hvit '<> sort ; the French, 1'alliare, I'herbe 

 des eaux, I'herbe aux aillets; the Italians, Spaniards, and 

 Portuguese, alliaria. 



4. Erysimum Repandum ; Small-flowered Hedge Mustard, 

 Leaves lanceolate, toothed ; racemes opposite to the leaves ; 

 siliques racemed, subsessile; corollas minute; stem upright, 

 angular ; flowers small, pale ; stigmas very slightly emargi- 

 nate. Annual: flowering in May and June, and a native of 

 Spain, Bohemia, Silesia, Austria, and Italy. 



5. Erysimum Cheiranthoides ; Treacle Hedge Mustard, 

 or Wormseed. Leaves lanceolate, quite entire, sometimes 

 toothed; siliques patulous, an inch long. Root annual; stem 

 from one to two cubits in height, upright, stiff, streaked, 

 rough, usually simple, sometimes branched a little, others say 

 very much branched ; corollas small, yellow ; rhomb quad- 

 rangular, obscurely knobbed where the seeds lie; partition 

 membranaceous ; valves keeled on the outside, at an acute 

 angle; receptacle between the valves, filiform, ending in the 

 very short style, with a blunt stigma. Seeds about eighteen 

 in each cell, ovate, a little turgid, beaked, of a yellowish 

 brown colour. They are as intensely bitter as Wormseed or 

 Coloquintida, but are, according to the united testimony of 

 Withering and Meyrick, undoubtedly excellent for destroying 

 worms in the stomach and intestines, for which purpose they 

 are much used by the inhabitants of the places where the 

 plant is found, who therefore call it Wormseed, or Treacle 

 Wormseed. The seeds are also given in obstructions of the 

 viscera, and in the rheumatism and jaundice, with success: 

 they operate moderately by urine, when taken in small doses; 

 in larger, they purge briskly; and in still greater quantities, 

 occasion vomiting they should on this account be givpn with 

 caution, and then they will answer all the purposes of mercu- 

 rial worm medicines, (which are frequently attended with 

 danger, especially amongst those who have not skill to manage 

 such medicines properly.) All kinds of cattle will eat it. 

 It flowers from May to August, and is a native of most parts 

 of Europe, though not very common in England : it is found, 

 however, on the Osier-holts near Ely, and on the banks of 

 the river between the bridge and that city ; also in the corn- 

 fields about Klden ; among Turnips, near Bungay in Suffolk; 

 and near Ashburne in Derbyshire. 



6. Erysimum Hieracifolium ; llnwkweed Hedge Mustard. 

 Leaves lanceolate-serrate; root biennial ; sterns upright, stiff, 

 sometimes branched, many-angled, smooth ; flowcis in ra- 



