212 



6RO 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



RO 



sometimes has little knobs adhering to the roots, a circum- 

 stance common to leguminous plants. The flowers appear 

 from May to September. It is not uncommon on dry heaths, 

 commons, and downs, on banks, and by road sides, espe- 

 cially in a gravelly or sandy soil. 



2 Ornithopus Compressus ; Hairy Bird's Foot. Leaves 

 pinnate ; legumes bowed back, compressed, wrinkled ; bracte 

 pinnate: The roots run deeply in the ground, sending out a 

 few small fibres on the side ; stalks about six inches long ; 

 flowers yellow, generally succeeded by two flat pods, not 

 much more than an inch long, turned inwards like a bird's 

 claws. It flowers in June and July. Native of the south of 

 Europe. 



3. Ornithopus Durus ; Spiral Bird's Foot. Stem suffruti- 

 cose ; leaves pinnate, glaucous, somewhat fleshy, shorter 

 than the peduncle. Root whitish, round, gradually sharper, 

 fibrous, an inch and half in length ; flowers in a sort of um- 

 bel ; corolla deep yellow. It flowers in June. Native of 

 the hills of Spain. 



4. Ornithopus Scorpioides ; Purslane-leaved Bird's foot. 

 Leaves ternate, subsessile, the end leaflet very large. This 

 has many smooth branching stalks, which rise nearly two feet 

 high. The flowers stand upon slender peduncles ; they are 

 yellow, and succeeded by taper pods two inches long. 

 Native of the south of Europe ; among corn, and on the 

 borders of fields. 



5. Ornithopus Tetraphyllus. Leaves in fours ; flowers 

 solitary, yellow. This plant rises to a foot high, erect, 

 branched, and having twigs set with leaves alternately, on 

 petioles three quarters of an inch long. Native of Jamaica. 



Orobanche ; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Angio- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, two or five cleft, erect, coloured, permanent. Co- 

 rolla: one-petalled, ringent; tube inclined, wide, ventricose; 

 border spreading; upper lip concave, open, emirginate ; 

 lower lip reflex, tritid, with an unequal margin ; all the seg- 

 ments nearly equal. Stamina: filamenta four, awl-shaped, 

 concealed beneath the upper lip, two of them longer ; antherse 

 erect, converging, shorter than the border; nectary a gland 

 at the base of the germen. Pistil: germen oblong; style 

 simple, length and situation of the stamina ; stigma semibifid, 

 blunt, thickish, nodding. Pericarp : capsule ovate-oblong, 

 acuminate, one-celled, two-valved. Seeds: numerous, very 

 small ; receptacles four, linear, lateral, adnate. Observe, 

 each segment of the stigma is emarginate. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: bifid. Corolla: ringent. Capsule: 

 one-celled, two-valved, many-seeded. A gland under the 

 base of the germen. The plants of this genus are not strictly 

 parasites, for they derive sustenance and stability not only 

 from the foster plants to which they are attached, but also 

 in a great degree from the soils into which they send forth 

 radical fibres. The want of leaves gives them a very ungrace- 

 ful appearance, and their surface is in a greater or less degree 

 beset with minute pellucid glanduliferous hairs, which pro- 

 ject perpendicularly from the stems, and are occasionally 

 found even upon the stamina and pistilla within the flowers. 

 The stamina and pistilla have each an articulation at the 

 distance of about two-thirds from their base, and are tipped 

 with a globular sort of cup bearing a viscid gland, which 

 seem intended to carry off secretions, and to answer the 

 purposes of leaves in the offices of respiration. These plants 

 are acotyledonous ; for when a seed has attached itself to 

 the roots of Hny living pl.uit, to which it is suited by its nature 

 to adhere, it. swells into a pellucid scaly germen or bulb; 

 and after throwing out around the point of adhesion several 

 tender fibres, itptishen out at once into a perfect plant, with- 



out any lateral lobes or cotyledons ; developing' first the 

 scales and then the stalk, with a head of flowers concealed 

 by bractes, in form resembling a young head of Asparagus : 

 the flowers afterwards expand in succession upwards, and 

 the head becomes a spike. It is singular that these plants 

 should attach themselves to shrubs and herbs of the class 

 Diadelphia chiefly ; and though commonly deemed baneful, 

 there has yet been no decisive proof adduced. They have 

 an acid astringent taste, and are rejected by all animals, 



except the minuter tribes of cimiccs and thripses. The 



species are, 



1. Orobanche Major ; Common Broom Rape. Stem quite 

 simple ; corollas quadrifid, inflated ; stamina naked below ; 

 stigma with two distant lobes ; style pubescent above. Root 

 oval, large, thick and fleshy, sometimes bulbous, adhering 

 to the woody roots of Broom and Furze, " which (as Turner 

 quaintly expresses it) it claspeth about with certain lyttcl 

 rootes on everye side lyke a clogge holdinge a bone in his 

 mouthe." Stems several, upright, fleshy, hollow, channelled 

 or angular, hairy, the thickness of a finger, from eight inches 

 or a foot to eighteen inches in height, of a dusky yellow or 

 rust colour tinged with purple, clothed with lanceolate scat- 

 tered scales, which are much closer under the ground ; flow- 

 ers in spikes, sessile, appearing in June. The whole herb is 

 of a dull purplish brown, the corolla only when fresh being 

 a litlle more purple than the other parts. Meyrick says, that 

 a strong infusion of the plant is good against obstructions of 

 the liver, and other visceri. It operates powerfully by 

 urine, and is therefore efficacious in the jaundice, dropsies, 

 grave), &c. The powdered herb is an almost instantaneous 

 remedy for the colic. Candied, or made iuto a syrup, it is 

 recommended by some against hypochondriacal affections. 

 Made into an ointment, it resolves and disperses hard tumors 

 in any part of the body. 



2. Orobanche Elatior ; Tall Broom Rape. Stem quite 

 simple ; corolla quadrifid ; stamina with glandular hairs 

 below, stigma obcordate ; style smooth above ; flowers in a 

 long spike, hairy, of a pale russet or fuillemort colour, with 

 darker veins, and pale yellow stigmas. It is found among 

 Clover, but not in the first year ; also on the borders of corn- 

 fields, by Ccntaurea Scabiosa and Nigra, and Sccbiosa 

 Arvensis, &c. It flowers in July, and is not an uncommon 

 plant, but has been confounded with the preceding; although, 

 notwithstanding they are similar in general appearance, the 

 difference is very discernible on a closer inspection. It has 

 been found on Gamlingay heath, and between Cambridge 

 and Granchester. 



3. Orobanche Caryophyllacea ; Clove-scented Broom Rape. 

 Stem simple; corolla inflated, fringed, and curled; seg- 

 ments of the lower lip blunt and equal ; stamina hirsute at 

 the base within. Root bulbous, covered with scales; flowers 

 solitary, alternate, sessile, erect, forming a loose spike, 

 closer at top ; sometimes there are two or three flowers toge- 

 ther from a bracte, and about twenty-two in the whole spike. 

 The whole plant has a strong smell of cloves, when fresh, 

 from which it derives its specific name. Native of pastures 

 and hills, in various parts of Europe. 



4. Orobanche Gracilis ; Slender Broom Rape. Stem 

 simple ; corolla inflated ; lower lip very short, with the seg- 

 ments obcordate, unequal, fringed, and curled ; stamina and 

 style with hairs standing out; corolla as large as that of the 

 first species, but the upper lip is of a dark or purplish colour, 

 and less fimbricated or crisped. Native of hilly pastures 

 near Genoa in Italy. 



5. Orobanche Minor; Small Broom Rape. Stem quite 

 simple ; corollas quadrifid ; stamina with glandular hairs 



