I 



The Garden of plea/ant Flowers. 445 



lilken dounc. But what reafon Cafpar Bauhinus in his Pinax Thtatri Bota- 

 nici had, to call it (tor it is Clulius his Apocynum Syriacum) hy the name ot 

 Lapathtim /Egyptiacum lafiffctm jiliqua Afclepiadis, I know none in the 

 world : tor hut that he would fhew an extreame (insularity in giuing names 

 to plants, contrary to all others (which is very frequent with him) how 

 could In- thinke, that this plant could haue any likencfle or correfpondcn- 

 cie, with any of the kindes of Dockcs, that eucr he had feenc, read, or heard 

 ot, in face, or I how of leaues, flowers, or feede; but efpecially in giuing 

 milko. I haue you fee (and that not without iuft and euident caufe) giuen it 

 a dirFcriivj Latine name from Gerard, becaufe the Afclepias giueth no milke, 

 but the Pcriploca or Apocymum doth ; and therefore fitter to be referred to 

 thi> then to that. And becaufe it (hould not want an Englifh name anfwera- 

 ble to fomc peculiar property thereof, I haue from the lilken doune called 

 it Virginian Silke: but I know there is another plant growing in Virginia, 

 called Silke Gralle, which is much differing from this. 



The Vertues. 



I know not of any in our Land hath made any tryall of the properties 

 hereof. Capt.iine lohn Smith in his booke of the difcouery and defcrip- 

 tion of Virginia, faith, that the Virginians vfe the rootes hereof (if his be 

 the fame with this) being bruifed and applyed to cure their hurts & difeafes. 



CHAP. CXXV. 

 Ligujlrum. Primme or Priuet. 



BEcaufe the vfe of this plant is fo much, and fo frequent throughout all this Land, 

 although for no other purpofe but to make hedges or arbours in Gardens, &c. 

 whereunto it is fo apt, that no other can be like vnto it, to bee cut, lead, and 

 drawne into what forme one will, either of beafts, birds, or men armed, or otherwife : 

 I could not forget it, although it be fo well knowne vnto all, to be an hedge bufh grow- 

 ing from a wooddy white roote, fpreading much within the ground, and bearing ma- 

 nie long, tough, and plyant fprigs and branches, whereon are let long, narrow, and 

 pointed fad greene leaues by couples at euery ioynt : at the tops whereof breake forth 

 great tutts ot fweete fmelling white flowers, which when they are fallen, turne into 

 imall hlackc berries, hauing a purple iuyce within them, and fmall feede, flat on the 

 one fide, with an hole or dent therein : this is feene in thofe branches that are not cut, 

 but fuffered to beare out their flowers and fruit. 



The Place. 







This bufh groweth as plentifully in the Woods of our owne Countrey, 

 as in any other beyond the Seas. 



The Time. 



It flowreth fometimes in lune, and in luly ; the fruit is ripe in Augult and 

 September. 



The Names. 



There is great controuerfie among the moderne Writers concerning this 

 plant, fome taking it to be Kvirpos of Diofcorides, other to be Phillyrea of Di- 

 ofcorides, which followeth next after Cyprus. Plinie maketh mention of 

 Cyprus in two places; in the one he faith, Cyprus hath the leafe of Ziziphus, 



or 



