344 The Garden of p leaf ant Flowers. 



downe the caufes, reafons, and errours, were to fpend more time then I in- 

 tend for this worke. Wee call them in Englifh, Peonie, and diftinguifh 

 them according to their titles. 



The Vertues. 



The male Peony roote is farre aboue all the reft a moft fingular appro- 

 ued remedy for all Epilepticall difeafes, in Englifh, The falling fkknefTe 

 (and more efpecially the greene roote then the dry) if the difeafe be not too 

 inueterate, to be boyled and drunke, as alfo to hang about the neckes of the 

 younger fort that are troubled herewith, as I haue found it fufficiently expe- 

 rimented on many by diuers. The feede likewife is of efpeciall vfe for wo- 

 men, for the rifing of the mother. The feede of the female kinde, as well 

 as the rootes, are moft vfually fold, and may in want of the other be (and 

 fo are generally) vfed. 



CHAP. LXXXI. 

 Helleborus niger. Beares foote. 



r ~T~^Here are three forts of blacke Hellebor or Beares foote, one that is the true and 



right kinde, whofe flowers haue the moft beautifull afpecl, and the time of his 



flowring moft rare, that is, in the deepe of Winter about Chriftmas, when no 



other can bee feene vpon the ground : and two other that are wilde or baftard kindes, 



brought into many Gardens for their Phyficall properties ; but I will only ioyne one 



of them with the true kinde in this worke, and leaue the other for another. 



I . Helleborus niger verus. The true blacke Hellebor, 

 or Chriftmas flower. 



The true blacke Hellebor (or Beare foote as fome would call it, but that name doth 

 more fitly agree with the other two baftard kindes) hath many faire greene leaues ri- 

 fing from the roote, each of them ftanding on a thicke round flefhly ftiffe greene ftalke, 

 about an hand breadth high from the ground, diuided into feuen, eight, or nine parts 

 or leaues, and each of them nicked or dented, from the middle of the leafe to the point- 

 ward on both fides, abiding all the Winter, at which time the flowers rife vp on fuch 

 fhort thicke ftalkes as the leaues ftand on, euery one by it felfe, without any leafe 

 thereon for the moft part, or very feldome hauing one fmall fhort leafe not much vn- 

 der the flower, and very little higher then the leaues themfelues, confifting of fiue 

 broad white leaues, like vnto a great white lingle Rofe (which fometimes change to 

 be either lefle or more purple about the edges, as the weather or time of continuance 

 doth effedt) with many pale yellow thrummes in the middle, ftanding about a greene 

 head, which after groweth to haue diuers cods fet together, pointed at the ends like 

 homes, fomewhat like the feede veffels of the Aconitum hyemale, but greater & thicker, 

 wherein is contained long, round, and blackifh feede, like the feede of the baftard 

 kindes : the rootes are a number of brownifh ftrings running downe deepe into the 

 ground, and faftened to a thicke head, of the bigneffe of a finger at the toppe manie 

 times, and fmaller ftill downewards. 



2. Helleborajler minor. The leffer baftard blacke Hellebor, or Beare foote. 



The fmaller Beare foote is in moft things like vnto the former true blacke Hellebor ; 

 for it beareth alfo many leaues vpon fhort ftalkes, diuided into many leaues alfo, but 

 each of them are long and narrow, of a blacker greene colour, fnipt or dented on both 

 edges, which feele fomewhat hard or fharpe like prickes, and perifh euery yeare, but 

 rife againe the next Spring : the flowers hereof ftand on higher ftalkes, with fome 

 leaues on them alfo, although but very few, and are of a pale greene colour, like in 



forme 



