142 THE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 



Place] It groweth on dry sandy ground for the most 

 part, and as well on the higher as the lower places under 

 hedge sides in almost every county of this land. 



Tt/ne.] It seldom flowereth before July, and the seed is 

 ripe in August. 



Govefmiient and Virtues.'] The plant is under the domi- 

 nion of Venus, being of a gentle cleansing nature, and 

 ■withall very friendly (o nature. The herb is familiarly 

 and frequently used by the Italians to heal any fresh or 

 green wound, the leares being but bruised and bound 

 thereon, and the juice thereof is also used in old sores, 

 to cleanse, dry, and heal them. The dcco(5tion hereof 

 made up with some sugar or honey, is available to 

 cleanse and purge the body both upwards and down- 

 Manls, sometimes of tough phlegm and clammy humours, 

 and to open obstrutlions of the liver and spleen. It hath 

 been found by experience to be available for the king's 

 evil, the herb bruised and applied, or an ointment made 

 •with the juice thereof, and so used; and a decoflion of 

 two handluls thereof, with four ounces of Polypody in ale, 

 hath been found by late experience to cure divers of the 

 falling sickness, that have been troubled with it above 20 

 years. I am confident that an ointment of it is one of Iha 

 best remedies for a scabby head that is. 



Fumitory. ^ . (c. d. 1 ) 



This beautiful little weed is very much neglected. 



Descript.] Our common Fumitory is a tender sappy 

 herb, sendeth forth from one square, a slender weak stalk, 

 and leaning downwards on all sides, many branches two 

 or three feet long, with finely cut and jagged leaves of 

 whitish, or rather bluish sea green colour : at the tops of 

 the branches stand many small flowers, as it were in along 

 spike one above another, made like little birds, of a 

 reddish purple colour, with whitish bellies, after which 

 come small round husks containing small black seeds. 

 The root is yellow, small, and not very long, full of 

 juice while it is green, but quickly perishes with the ripe 

 seed. In the corn fields in Cornwall, it bcareth white 

 flowers. 



