THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 79 



leaves, very like those of St. John's wort, opening them- 

 selves in the day time and closing at night, aftet which 

 come seeds in litttle short husks, in form like unto wheat 

 corn; (he leaves are small and somewhat round; the 

 root small and hard, perishing every year; the whole 

 plant is of an exceeding bitter taste. 



Place.'] They grow ordinary in fields, pastures and 

 woods, but (hat with the white flowers not so frei^uent- 

 ly as the other. 



T»«e.] They flower in July or thereabouts^ and seed 

 within a month after. 



Guverument and Virtues.'] They are under the dominion 

 of the Sun, as appears in that their flowers open and shut 

 as the Sun either sheweth or hideth his face; this herb, 

 boiled and drank, purgeth choleric and gross humours, 

 and helpeth the sciatica ; it opcneth obstrudlions of the li- 

 ver, gall, and spleen, helpeth the jaundice, and easeth 

 the pains in the sides, and hardness of the spleen, used 

 outwardly, and is given with very good eflfedt in agues. 

 It helpeth those that have the dropsy, or the green sick- 

 ness, being much used by the Italians in powder for that 

 purpose ; it killeth the worms in the belly, as is found by 

 experience ; the decodlion thereof, viz. the tops of the 

 stalks, with the leaves and flowers, is good against the co- 

 lic, and to bring down women's courses, helpeth to void 

 the dead birth, and easeth pains of the mother, and is ve- 

 ry efl'e6tual in old pains of the joints, as the gout, cramps, 

 or convulsions. A dram of the powder thereof taken in 

 wine, is a wonderful good help against the biting and 

 poison of an adder; the juice of the herb with a little ho- 

 ney put to it, is good to clear the eyes from dimness, 

 mists and clouds that olfend or hinder sight. It is singu- 

 lar good both for green and fresh wounds, as also for old 

 ulcers and sores, to close up the one, and cleanse the other, 

 apd perfedtly to cure them both, although they are hollow 

 or fistulous, the green herb especially being bruised and 

 laid thereto; the deco6lion thereof dropped into the 

 ears, cleanseth them from worms, cleanseth (he foul ulcers 

 and spreading scabs of the head, and taketh away all frec- 

 kles, spots, and marks in the skin, being washed with it. 

 The herb is so safe you cannot fail in the using of it, oal/ 

 E 4 



