350 The Garden of p leaf ant Flowers. 



CHAP. LXXXV. 

 Gentiana. Gentian or Fell-wort. 



THere are diuers forts of Gentians or Fell-wortes, fome greater, others lefTer, 

 and fome very fmall ; many of them haue very beautifull flowers, but becaufe 

 fome are very fuddenly part, before one would thinke they were blowne open, 

 and others will abide no culture and manuring, I will onely fet forth vnto you two of 

 the greater forts, and three of the letter kindes, as fitteft, and more familiarly furnifhing 

 our gardens, leauing the reft to their wilde habitations, and to bee comprehended 

 in a generall Worke. 



i. Gentiana maior flore flauo. The great Gentian. 



The great Gentian rifeth vp at the firft, with a long, round and pointed head of 

 leaues, clofing one another, which after opening themfelues, lye vpon the ground, 

 and are faire, long and broad, fomewhat plaited or ribbed like vnto the leaues of white 

 Ellebor or Neefeworte, but not fo fairely or eminently plaited, neyther fo ftiffe, but 

 rather refembling the leaues of a great Plantane : from among which rifeth vp a ftiffe 

 round ftalke, three foote high or better, full of ioynts, hauing two fuch leaues, but 

 narrower and fmaller at euery ioynt, fo compaffing about the ftalke at the lower end 

 of them, that they will almoft hold water that falleth into them : from the middle of 

 the ftalke to the toppe, it is garnifhed with many coronets or rundles of flowers, with 

 two fuch greene leaues likewife at euery ioynt, and wherein the flowers doe ftand, 

 which are yellow, layd open like ftarres, and riling out of fmall greenifh huskes, with 

 fome threds in the middle of them, but of no fent at all, yet ftately to behold, both 

 for the order, height and proportion of the plant : the feede is browne and flat, con- 

 tained in round heads, fomewhat like vnto the feede of the Fritillaria, or checkerd 

 DafFodill, but browner : the rootes are great, thicke and long, yellow, and exceeding 

 bitter. 



2. Gentiana maior folio Afclepiadis, Swallow- wort Gentian. 



This kinde of Gentian hath many ftalkes riling from the roote, neere two foote 

 high, whereon grow many faire pale greene leaues, fet by couples, with three ribs in 

 euery one of them, and doe fomewhat refemble the leaues of Afclepias or Swallow- 

 wort, that is, broade at the bottome, and fharpe at the point : the flowers grow at the 

 feuerall ioynts of the ftalkes, from the middle vpwards, two or three together, which 

 are long and hollow, like vnto a bell flower, ending in fiue corners, or pointed leaues, 

 and folded before they are open, as the flowers of the Bindeweedes are, of a faire 

 blew colour, fometimes deeper, and fometimes paler : the heads or feede veflels haue 

 two points or homes at the toppes, and containe within them flat grayilh feed, like vn- 

 to the former, but lefle : the rootes hereof are nothing fo great as the former, but are 

 yellow, fmall and long, of the bignefle of a mans thumbe. 



3. Gentiana minor Cruciata. Crofle-wort Gentian. 



This fmall Gentian hath many branches lying vpon the ground, fcarce lifting them- 

 felues vpright, and full of ioynts, whereat grow vfually foure leaues, one oppofite 

 vnto another, in manner of a Crofle, from whence it tooke his name, in fhape very like 

 vnto Saponaria or Sopewort, but fhorter, and of a darker greene colour : at the tops of 

 the ftalkes ftand many flowers, thick thrufting together, and likewife at the next ioynt 

 vnderneath, euery one of them ftanding in a darke blewifh greene huske, and con- 

 lifting of fiue fmall leaues, the points or ends whereof only appeare aboue the huskes 

 wherein they ftand, and are hardly to be feene, but that they are of a fine pale blew co- 

 lour, and that many grow together : the feed is fmall and brown, hard, and fomewhat 



like 



