(\ A L 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



GAL 



many-flowered, unequal, leafy, with single leaflets on the 

 pedicels ; corolla yellow. It is observed by Dr. Withering, 

 that the segments of the corolla are greatly expanded, that 

 the style is cloven more than half way down, and that not 

 only the corolla, but the stamina and pistil, are yellow. It 

 is an almost universal opinion, that the flowers and herb of 

 this plant will curdle milk. Both Dioscorides and Galen 

 attribute to it this quality; and Matthiolus informs us, that 

 the Tuscans use it for this purpose, in order that the cheese 

 they make from the milk of goats and sheep, may eat the 

 sweeter. Gerarde, who was himself a Cheshire man, says, 

 that in his county, especially about Namptwich, they use it 

 in their rennet, esteeming that to be the best cheese that is 

 made with it; and in some of the Western Isles, they curdle 

 milk with a strong decoction of this herb. Though, says Mr. 

 Miller, no coagulation has followed the experiments which I 

 have seen tried, yet I should not, perhaps, have ventured to 

 dispute the fact, were 1 not supported by Bergius and Kroc- 

 ker, who could not succeed in coagulating milk with this 

 herb alone. It has been probably put into the milk designed 

 for cheese-making, not so much for the purpose of curdling 

 it, as of giving it a flavour; or, as Matthiolus expresses it, to 

 make it eat the sweeter. The French prescribe the flowers 

 in hysteric and epileptic cases. Both flowers and leaves are 

 sensibly acid to the taste, and the flowering-tops, committed 

 to the still as soon as gathered, afford, says Lewis, a pretty 

 strong acid liquor, in a moderate heat. Hence it appears, 

 that the restringent and refrigerating virtues ascribed to this 

 plant, are not grounded on mere conjecture. An infusion of 

 the plant in boiling water, is esteemed useful in the gout, 

 rheumatism, and sciatica. The leaves and branches dried, 

 and reduced to powder, are sometimes taken internally for 

 spitting of blood, and other hcemorrhages, with success ; and 

 have also been said to cure cancerous ulcers. The flowers, 

 digested for six weeks in oil of olives, make it a more effica- 

 cious ointment for burns and scalds. Made into syrup, they 

 are said to promote the menses ; and a bath or fomentation 

 of them cures the scabs in the heads of children. The flow- 

 ering-stems, when boiled in alum-water, yield a dye of a good 

 yellow colour. The roots, though small, afford a very fine 

 red dye, not inferior to madder; indeed, an ingenious gentle- 

 man, who was conversant in dyeing, assured Mr. Curtis, that 

 the Toots produced a brighter colour than madder; and, on 

 that account, the experiment of their cultivation may be well 

 worth trying, especially as the rest of the plant may be suc- 

 cessfully used in dyeing yellow. They were cultivated a few 

 years since, under the direction of the committee of privy 

 council for trade. The roots were supposed on an average 

 to weigh seven ounces ; and the produce, when dried, to be 

 twelve hundred and a half per acre. This plant is common 

 in most parts of Europe, in pastures, and by the sides of 

 fields and roads, in a dry soil, flowering from June to August 

 and September. It will flourish in the most unremitting 

 drought, when not a blade of grass is to be seen. The best 

 soil for it is a sandy loam ; heavy soils will not answer. Pre- 

 pare the land as for flax; sow four pounds of seed on an 

 acre. In April, hoe out the plants to six inches square. The 

 crop will require three or four hoeings more in the first sea- 

 son. In May or June, take up as many plants as will leave 

 the rest at the distance of one foot square; and in M;m-h 

 following take up again as many as will leave the rest standing 

 at two feet square ; and in the fourth, take up the whole crop 

 in March ; keeping it always free from weeds. Besides the 

 names set down in the title, Gerarde says, it is called Maid's- 

 hair and Petty Muywet, which last is derived from the 

 French, petit muguet. The common name, Bcdstraw, is 



from the verb to strew or straw, for, before the invention of 

 feather-beds, a variety of herbs were used to strew beds with, 

 of which this was undoubtedly one. 



17. Galium Erectum ; Upright Ladies' Bedstraw. Leaves 

 mostly in eights, lanceolate, with fine prickly serratures ; pa- 

 nicles trichotomous ; stem flaccid ; root perennial, branched. 

 Stems several, rather upright, swelled at the joints, roughish 

 at the corners, a little hairy, branched ; flowering-branches 

 opposite; panicle terminating, dividing into three; flowers 

 white ; seeds small. It flowers in June and July, and is 

 found in meadows, and moist pastures. Mr. Bryant observed 

 it on Heydon common in Norfolk. 



18. G'alium Mollugo; Great Ladies' Bedstraw. Leaves 

 in eights, ovate-linear, subserrate, spreading very much, 

 mucronate; stem flaccid; branches spreading. The whole 

 plant is smooth to the touch; root perennial, creeping; stem 

 two, three, and four feet high, and even more, generally 

 depressed, unless supported by the weight of the branches, 

 quadrangular, (by which it is distinguished from the next 

 species,) thickest just above the joints ; flowering-branches 

 very much extended, sustaining abundance of white flowers, 

 the four segments of which are lanceolate and pointed ; they 

 rise from the whorls of leaves, generally two long and two 

 short ones from each wlwrl, forming in the whole a panicle. 

 There are several varieties. It is common in hedges and 

 bushy places, flowering from June to August. It is called 

 Wild Madder, and Great Bastard Madder. The roots yield 

 a red dye like the true madder, and of brighter colour : it 

 is also remarkable, that the animals feeding on this plant, as 

 well as those feeding on madder, have their bones dyed red. 



19. Galium Sylvaticum ; Wood Ladies' Bedstraw. Leaves 

 in eights, smooth and even, but scabrous underneath ; a pair 

 of floral leaves on capillary peduncles; stem smooth and 

 even. Stems lofty, weak, smooth and even, very obscurely 

 cornered or roundish ; peduncles elongated, the outmost 

 often two-flowered, and near these two leaflets; flowers 

 very minute, nodding before they open. The root is per- 

 ennial, yellowish on the outside, and affords a very fine red 

 dye like the last. It flowers from June to August, and is a 

 native of woods in Germany, Switzerland, and the south of 

 Europe. 



20. Galium Linifolium ; Flax-leaved Ladies' Bedstraw. 

 Leaves in sevens or thereabouts, linear-lanceolate, smooth 

 and even; peduncles capillary; stem upright, four-cornered. 

 It flowers in June and July, and is perennial. Native of the 

 south of Europe. 



21. Galium Rigidum; Rigid Ladies' Bedstraw. Leaves 

 whorled, linear, scabrous above; panicles divaricate; stem 

 upright, roundish, hairy, and roughish. Perennial; flower- 

 ing in June. 



22. Galium Aristatum; Bearded Ladies' Bedstraw. Leavei 

 in eights, lanceolate, smooth and even; panicle capillary; 

 petals awned. Perennial. The whole plant is smooth and 

 even ; stem a foot high : leaves eight or nine in a whorl, 

 nicely lanceolate, by no means stiff. It flowers in July. 

 Native of Italy, on Monte Baldo and Cenisio. 



23. Galium Scabrum; Rough Ladies' Bedstraw. Leaves 

 about eight, scabrous, mucronate. Perennial : stems up- 

 right, closely beset with very short soft hairs. There is no 

 appearance of prickles on the stem or leaves : flowering- 

 branches opposite, one always shorter than the other ; 

 peduncles smooth. Found by Dr. Stokes in a hedge-row 

 in a marly soil on the side of Red House lane, near Wor- 

 cester; and by Professor Jacquin, in Austria. It flowers in 

 August. 



'21. Galium Sylvestre. Leaves six to nine, linear-lanceo- 



