762 



I S A 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



ISA 



seeds, which, nevertheless, may be done in the way directed 

 for the Bulbous Iris and Hyacinth. In light land it will be 

 proper to lay rubbish in the bottom of the border where the 

 Iris is planted, to prevent the roots from running deep into 

 the ground, or they will seldom produce flowers. 

 ***** New Species. 



48. Iris Japonica. Bearded : leaves ensiform, falcated, 

 shorter, smooth; scape compressed, many-flowered; corollas 

 one-petalled, white. Native of Japan. 



49. Iris Orientalis. Beardless : leaves linear ; scapes sub- 

 biflorous, round, jointed; germina three-cornered; corollas 

 netted. Native of Japan. 



50. Iris Ensata. Beardless: leaves linear; scape subbi- 

 ilorous, round; germina hexagonal. Native of Japan. 



51. Iris Cuprea. Beardless: stalk cylindrical, flexuose : 

 leaves broad-sword-shaped ; stigmata linear, short ; petals 

 reflected, emarginated, obovate ; capsules large, hexagonal ; 

 flowers of a fine copper-colour, veined with purple. Found 

 by Mr. Euslen, collector to Prince Lichtenstein of Austria, on 

 the eastern banks of the Mississippi, near New Orleans. 



52. Iris Prisraatica. Leaves long and very narrow ; cap- 

 sules elongate, prismatical, and acute on both sides ; flowers 

 pale purple. Found in the deep swamps of New Jersey. 



Iron-wood. See Fagara and Sideroxylon. 



Iron-wort. See Galeopsis and Sideritis. 



Isatis; a genus of the class Tetradynamia, order Siliculosa. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Culix: perianth four-leaved; leaf- 

 lets ovate, rather spreading, coloured, deciduous. Corolla: 

 four-petalled, cross-shaped ; petals oblong, obtuse, spreading, 

 gradually attenuated into the claws. Stamina: filamenta six, 

 upright, spreading, length of the corolla: of these two are 

 snorter; antheree oblong, lateral. Pistil: germen oblong, 

 ancipital, compressed, 'length of the shorter stamina; style 

 none ; stigma obtuse, headed. Pericarp : silicle oblong, lan- 

 ceolate, obtuse, compressed, ancipital, one-celled, not gaping, 

 bivalve ; valves navicular, compressed, keeled, deciduous. Seed: 

 single, ovate, within the centre of the pericarp. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Silicle: lanceolate, one-celled, one-seeded, de- 

 ciduous, bivalve ; valves navicular. The species are, 



1. Isatis Tinctoria; Dyer's Wood. Root-leaves crenate ; 

 stem-leaves sagittate ; gilicles obcordate. This is a biennial 

 plant, with a fusiform fibrose root; stem upright, round, 

 smooth, woody at bottom, branched at top; flowers small, 

 terminating the stem and branches in a close raceme ; both 

 corolla and calix yellow; petals notched at the end. The 

 stalks of the cultivated plant rise nearly four feet high, divid- 

 ing into several branches, with arrow-shaped leaves sitting 

 close ; the ends of the branches terminated by small yel- 

 low flowers, in very close clusters ; the pods are shaped like 

 a bird's tongue, half an inch long, and one eighth of an inch 

 broad, turning black when ripe. It flowers in July, and the 

 seeds ripen in the beginning of September. Mr. Miller men- 

 tions another species, which he calls the Dalmatian Woad, 

 with flowers of a brighter yt^low colour, and larger than the 

 above ; but it is probably only a variety. Dyer's Woad is a 

 native of several parts of Europe, as on the coast of the Baltic 

 and German Ocean, by way-sides in Switzerland ; and in Eng- 

 land, in and on the borders of corn-fields, as at New Barns, 

 near Ely, and by the river Wear near Durham, &c. Linneus 

 says, it is a maritime plant; but as it seems probable that it is 

 the plant with which Pliny informs us, the ancient Unions 

 painted their bodies, it must in that case be a native of our 

 islands. Stow and Hume record, that " Good Queen Bess" took 

 such a dislike to the smell of this herb, that she prohibited its 

 cultivation. We were formerly dependent upon France for 

 supplies of Woad, which is much employed by dyers for pro- 



ducing blue, and forming the basis of black and many other 

 colours. Propagation and Culture. It is sown upon fresh 

 land in good heart, for which the cultivators of Woad pay ft 

 large rent: they generally choose to have their lands situated 

 near great towns, where there is plenty of dressing ; but they 

 never stay long on the same spot, for the best ground will 

 not admit of being sown with Woad more than twice, for if 

 it be oftener repeated, the crop will seldom defray the expense 

 of its culture. After having selected a good spot of land, 

 which should not be too light and sandy, nor over stiff and 

 moist, but rather a gentle hazel loam, whose parts will easily 

 separate ; the next is, to plough this up just before winter, 

 laying it in narrow high ridges, that the frost may penetrate 

 through them to mellow and soften the clods ; then in the 

 spring plough it again cross-ways, laying it again in narrow 

 ridges: after it has lain some time in this manner, and the 

 weeds begin to grow, it should be well harrowed, and the 

 large perennial weeds must be rooted out, and carried off the 

 ground; which should be ploughed a third time in June, with 

 narrow furrows, and as deep as the plough will go, that the 

 parts may be as well separated as possible ; and when the 

 weeds again appear, repeat the harrowing, which will destroy 

 them. At the end of July, or in the beginning of August, the 

 land should be ploughed for the last time, and laid smooth. 

 When there is a prospect of showers, it should be harrowed, 

 to receive the seeds, which should be sown either in rows 

 with the drill-plough, or in broad-cast, after the common 

 method. It will be proper to steep the seeds one night in 

 water, which will prepare them for vegetation, and if they 

 be sown in drills with the plough, they must be covered by an 

 instrument fixed to the plough for that purpose; but those 

 which are sown broad-cast in the common way, must be well 

 harrowed in. If the seeds be good, and the season favour- 

 able, the plant will appear in a fortnight, and in a month or 

 five weeks after will be fit to hoe : the sooner the hoeing is 

 performed after the plants are distinguishable, the better they 

 will thrive, and the weeds, being then young, will be destroyed. 

 The method of hoeing these plants is the same as for Turnips, 

 with this difference only, that these require lees thinning; for, 

 at the first hoeing, if they be separated at the distance of 

 three or four inches, and at the last to six inches, it will be 

 space enough for the growth of the plants. If the thinning 

 be carefully done in dry weather, most of the weeds will be 

 destroyed; but as some of them may escape in this operation, 

 and young weeds will arise, the ground should be a second 

 time hoed in October, in dry weather, when the plants must 

 be singled out to the distance at which they are to remain. 

 The ground will then remain free from weeds till the spring, 

 when young weeds will come up ; therefore about a fortnight 

 in April will be a good time to hoe the ground again, as the 

 weeds will then be young, and it may be performed in less 

 than half the time it would require if they were permitted to 

 grow large; besides, the sun and wind will much sooner kill 

 them. This hoeing will also stir the surface of the ground, 

 and greatly promote the growing of the plants : if it be per- 

 formed in dry weather, the ground will remain free till the 

 first crop of Woad is gathered, after which it should be again 

 well cleared ; and if this be carefully repeated after the 

 gathering of each crop, the land will always lie clean, and 

 the plants will thrive better. The expense of the first hoeing 

 will be about six shillings per acre, and for the after-hoeings 

 half that price will be sufficient, provided they are performed 

 when the weeds are young. If the land in which the seed 

 is sown should hnvc been in culture before for other crops, 

 so not in good heart, it will require dressing before it is sown, 

 in which rotten stable-dung is preferable to any other ; but 



