THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. • 23 



Drown green husks, upon short stalks, about an inch long, 

 divided at the brims into fire divisions, Tery like the cups 

 or heads of the Henbane seed, but that they are smaller; 

 and these be all the flowers it carrieth, which are some- 

 what sweet, being smelled unto, and wherein, when they 

 are ripe, is contained small cornered rough seeds, very 

 like the kernels or stones of grapes or raisins. The roots 

 are small and whitish, spreading divers ways in the 

 ground, increasing into divers heads ; but not running or 

 creeping under the ground, as some other creeping herbs 

 do. They arc somewhat sweet in smell, resembling 

 Nardus, bat more when they are dry than green; and of 

 a sharp but not unpleasant taste. 



Place.l It groweth frequently in gardens. 

 Time.'} They keep their leaves green all Winter ; but 

 shoot forth new in the Spring, and with them come forth 

 those heads or flcwers which give ripe seed about Mid- 

 summer, or somewhat after. 



Government and Virtues."] 'Tis a plant under the domi- 

 nion of Mars, and therefore inimical to nature. This 

 herb being drank, not only provoketh vomiting, but 

 purgeth downward, and by urine also, purgeth both 

 choler and phlegm. If you add to it some spikenard, 

 with the whey of goat's milk, or honeyed water, it is 

 made more strong, but it purgeth phlegm more mani. 

 festly than choler, and therefore doth much help pains 

 in the hips, and other parts; being boiled in whey, 

 they wonderfully help the obstructions of the liver and 

 spleen, and therefore profitable for the dropsy and 

 jaundice; being steeped in wine and drank, it helps those 

 continual agues that come by the plenty of stubborn 

 humours; and oil made thereof by setting in the sun, 

 with some laudanum added to it, provoketh sweating, 

 (the ridge of the back being anointed therewith) and 

 thereby drivelh away the shaking fits of the ague. It 

 will not abide any long boiling, for it loseth its chief 

 strength thereby ; nor much beating, for the fine powder 

 doth provoke vomits and urine, and the coarser purgeth 

 downwards. 



The common use hereof is, to take the juice of five or 

 seven leaves in a little drink to cause vomiting ; the roots 

 have also the same virtue, though they do not operate so 



