280 The Garden of p leaf ant Flowers. 



heads, pointed at the end, greene at the firft, and a little yellower when they bee ripe, 

 containing within them fmall round blackifh feede, which will foone skippe out of 

 the heads, if they be but a little hardly preffed betweene the fingers : the rootes fpread 

 themfelues vnder ground very much from the toppe, with a number of fmall fibres, an- 

 nexed thereunto : this is a very tender plant, dying euery yeare, and muft bee fowne 

 carefully in a pot of earth, and tended and watered in the heate of Summer, and all 

 little enough to bring it to perfection. 



The Place. 



Wee haue alwaies had the feede of this plant fent vs out of Italy, not 

 knowing his originall place. 



The Time. 



It flowreth from the middle of luly, to the end of Auguft: the feed doth 

 feldome ripen with vs, efpecially if the Summer be backward, fo that wee 

 are oftentimes to feeke for new and good feede from our friends againe. 





 The Names. 



Some vfe to call it Charantia faemina, Balfamina ffemina, Balfamella, and 

 Anguillara, Herba Sanftce Katharine We haue no other Englifh name to call 

 it by, then the Female Balfame Apple, or Balfamina. 



The Vertues. 



Some by reafon of the name, would attribute the property of Balme vn- 

 to this plant, but it is not fufficiently knowne to haue any fuch ; yet I am 

 well perfwaded, there may bee fome extraordinary quality in fo beautifull a 

 plant, which yet lyeth hid from vs. 



CHAP. LI. 

 Nafturtium Jndicum. Indian Crefles, or yellow Larkes heeles. 



THe likenefle (as I faid before) of this flower likewife, hauing fpurres or heeles 

 maketh me ioyne it with the reft, which is of fo great beauty and fweetneffe 

 withall, that my Garden of delight cannot bee vnfurnimed of it. This faire 

 plant fpreadeth it felfe into very many long trayling branches, enterlaced one within 

 another very confufedly (yet doth it not winde it felfe with any clafpers about either 

 pole or any other thing, but if you will haue it abide clofe thereunto, you muft tye it, or 

 elfe it will lye vpon the ground) foure or fiue foot in length at the leaft, wherby it ta- 

 keth vp a great deale of ground : the leaues are fmooth, greene, and as round as the 

 Penniwort that groweth on the ground, without any cut or incifure therein at all 

 in any part, the ftalkes whereof ftand in the middle of each leafe, and ftand at e- 

 uery ioynt of the ftalke, where they are a little reddifh, and knobbed or bunched out : 

 the flowers are of an excellent gold yellow colour, and grow all along thefe ftalkes, 

 almoft at euery ioynt with the leaues, vpon pretty long foote-ftalkes, which are com- 

 pofed of fiue leaues, not hollow or gaping, but (landing open each leafe apart by it 

 felfe, two of them, that be larger and longer then the other, ftand aboue, and the other 

 two that are lefler belowe, which are a little iagged or bearded on both fides, and the 

 fift loweft : in the middle of each of the three lower leaues (yet fometimes it is but in 

 two of them) there is a little long fpot or ftreake, of an excellent crimfon colour, with 

 a long heele or fpurre behinde hanging downe : the whole flower hath a fine fmall 

 ferrt, very pleafing, which being placed in the middle of fome Carnations or Gillo- 



flowers 



