^srrr CENA THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



(E NO 



when separated, bear some resemblance to Parsneps, for 

 which some ignorant persons have boiled them. An infu- 

 sion of the leaves, or three tea-spoonfuls of the juice of the 

 root, taken every morning-, effected a cure in a very obstinate 

 cutaneous disease, but not without occasioning a very great 

 disturbance, and suffering in the constitution. The country 

 people in Westmoreland apply a poultice of the herb to 

 the ulcer which forms in the forepart of the hoof in horned 

 cattle, and is called the foul. Dr. Withering says, the whole 

 of this plant is poisonous ; and Dr. Pulteney remarks, that 

 the root is the most virulent of all the vegetable poisons that 

 Great Britain produces. Many instances of its fatal effects 

 are recorded, wherein it has been eaten for Water Parsneps, 

 or Celery, which it very much resembles in its leaves. Mr. 

 Ehret, the botanic painter, was heard to say, that while he 

 was drawing this plant, the smell rendered him so giddy, that 

 he, was several times obliged to quit the room, and. walk 

 out in the fresh air, to recover himself; but that having opened 

 the door and windows of the room, the free air enabled him 

 to finish his work. A large spoonful of the juice of this plant 

 being given to a dog, made him very sick and stupid, but in 

 about an hour he recovered. Goats and sheep eat it with 

 impunity, but horses and cattle refuse it. It may be safely 

 used in external applications, but should be taken with great 

 caution internally, as is evident from the above account, and 

 also from the following. It is recorded in the Philosophical 

 Transactions, that two French prisoners at Pembroke died by 

 eating the root, which the inhabitants of that place call Five- 

 fingered Root, and use as a cataplasm for the felon, or worst 

 kind of whitlow. Eight young lads near Clonmel in Ireland, 

 where the plant is called Tahow, mistook the root for the 

 Water Parsnep, and having eaten of it, five of them d led. Dr. 

 Allen mentions an instance of four children, who had eaten 

 of these roots, but by proper care did well ; and also that a 

 hog having grubbed up and eaten some of the roots, died in 

 convulsions ; Mr. Miller himself informed Sir William Watson, 

 that a whole family were poisoned with this plant at Battersea. 

 The method of cure is, to empty the stomach and intestines 

 as soon as possible, and then to cause the patient to swallow 

 large quantities of olive oil, or of oleaginous fluids; this is 

 attended with difficulty, because the jaws are, as it were, 

 locked together by the violence of the spasm. Hence the 

 necessity of caution respecting this dangerous plant becomes 

 very obvious, especially as it abounds in some places, and 

 resembles Smallage very much; besides, the flavour of the root 

 is by no means disagreeable, and is likely to prove very 

 tempting to children. It will not grow except in muddy 

 places; and whoever wishes to cultivate it for botanical or 

 medical purposes, must treat it accordingly, by planting it in 

 very moist places. 



4. (EnantheProlifera; Proliferous Water Dropwort. Mar- 

 ginal peduncles of the umbels longer branched, male; root 

 perennial, consisting of several tubers, which are round, 

 narrowing to each end, long, of a dirty brown on the outside, 

 white within ; stem herbaceous, a foot and a half in height, up- 

 right, a little branched, green, angular, striated. It flowers 

 in June and July. Native of Sicily, and Italy. 



5. (Enanthe Globulosa.- Globular-headed Water Dropwbrt. 

 Fruits globular ; roots like those of Navew, perennial, 

 branched; stem a foot high, or more, branched, angular at 

 the base, and often purple. It flowers in June and July. 

 - -Native of Portugal. 



6. OEnanthe Pimpinelloides; Parsely Water Dropwort. 

 Root leaflets wedge-shaped, cloven ; those of the stem entire, 

 linear, very long, simple. Native of the southern parts of 

 Europe, and of England, growing in marshes, especially near 



the sea-coast; as at Quaplod in Lincolnshire; near Spalding; 

 Hinton Moor, in Cambridgeshire; Bulvan Fen in Essex; near 

 Mortlake ; and between Sydenham and Southend. 



7. CEnanthe Inebrians. Pinnas of the lower leaves ovate, 

 of the upper linear; petioles angular. Native of the Gape. 



8. CEnanthe Tenuifolia. Leaves bipinnate; pinnas linear, 

 the upper ones undivided. Native of the Cape. 



9. (Enanthe Ferulacea. Leaves superdecompound; pin- 

 nules awl-shaped, grooved. Native of the Cape. 



10. (Enanthe Interrupta. Leaves interruptedly bipinnate ; 

 segments gash-serrate. Native of the Cape. 



11. CEnanthe Exaltata. Stems striated; seeds turbinate, 

 striated. Native of the Cape. 



CEnothera; a genus of the class Octandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 superior, deciduous; tube cylindrical, erect, long, deciduous; 

 border four-cleft, the segments oblong, acute, bent down. 

 Corolla: petals four, obcordate, flat, inserted into the inter- 

 stices of the calix, and the same length with the divisions of 

 the calix. Stamina: filamenta eight, awl-shaped, curved 

 inwards, inserted into the throat of the calix, shorter than 

 the corolla; antheree oblong, incumbent. Pistil: gerrhen 

 cylindric, inferior; style filiform, the length of the stamina; 

 stigma four-cleft, thick, blunt, reflex. Pericarp: capsule 

 cylindrical, four-cornered, four-celled, four-valveo\ with cpn- 

 trary partitions. Seeds: very many, angular, naked: recep- 

 tacle columnar, free, four-cornered, with the angles contigu- 

 ous to the margins of the partitions. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calix: four-cleft. Petals: four. Capsule : cylindrical, 

 inferior. Seeds: naked. This is an ornamental genus of 

 herbaceous plants, chiefly American. They are all proper tor 

 affording ornament and Variety, either in the open ground, 

 or among other potted plants. The species are, 



1. CEnothera Biennis ; Broad-leaved Tree Primrose. Leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, flat. Stem muricated, subvilloje ;' root fusi- 

 form, fibrous, yellowish on the outside, white within, biennial. 

 From these, the first year, arise many obtuse leaves, which 

 spread flat on the ground : from among these, in the second 

 year, the stems come out ; they are three or four feet high. 

 The flowers are produced all along the stalks, on axillary 

 branches, and in a terminating spike : they are of a fine pale 

 yellow colour, and delicately fragrant. They usually open 

 between six and seven o'clock in the evening : and hence the 

 plant is called the Evening, or Night Primrose. The mode of 

 their expanding is curious : the petals are held together at 

 top by the hooks at the end of the calix, the segments of 

 which first separate at bottom, and discover the corolla, a 

 long time before it acquires sufficient expansive force to nn- 

 hook the calix at top ; when it has accomplished this, it 

 expands very fast, almost instantaneously, to a certain point, 

 and then makes a stop, taking a little time to spread out quite 

 flat ; it may be half an hour from the first bursting of the 

 calix at bottom, to the final expansion of the corolla, which 

 commonly becomes flaccid in the course of the next day, 

 sooner or later, according to the heat or coolness of the 

 weather. The uppermost flowers come out first in June, the 

 stalk keeps continually advancing in height, and there is a 

 constant succession of flowers till late in autumn. The roots 

 are eaten in some countries in the spring; for though a native 

 of North America, it has been imported, first into Italy, and 

 has been carried all over Europe. We often meet with it in 

 English gardens, where it is cultivated as a hardy plant, in 

 the following way ; sow the seeds in autumn ; when the plants 

 appear, thin them, and keep them clean; the following 

 autumn, transplant them to places where they are designed 

 to flower : as the roots strike deep in the ground, care should 



