314 TKE ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 



the icgion of the heart, against swoonitigs and i)ass!ons 

 of it. It clcaiiscth the blood exceedingly ; and in Spring, 

 if you please to boil the tender plant (but cut oil" the 

 prickles, unless you have a mind to choak yourself) it \\iil 

 change your blood as the season chaugeth, ai\d that is the 

 >vay to be safe. 



The Woollen Thistle. <?. (//. d, 3.) 



Callt.d also (he Woolly or Cotton Thistle. 



Dcsaipt.] This hath many large leaves lying upon (lie 

 ground, somewhat cut in, ami as it were crumpled on the 

 edges, of a green colour on the ujiper side, but covered 

 over with a long hairy w ool or cotton dow n, set w ith most 

 sharp and cruel pricks ; from the middle of whose heads 

 of flowers conic forth many purplish crimson tli reads, and 

 sometimes white, although but seltloui. The seed that 

 followeth in thoee white downy heads, is somewhat large 

 and round, resembling the seed of Lady's Thistle, but 

 paler : The root is great and thick, spreading much, yet 

 usually dieth after seed-time. 



Place.^ It growcth on ditch-banks, and in the corn- 

 fields and highways. 



GovernmeiU and J'irtues.J It is a plant of Mars. Diosco- 

 rides and Pliny write, that the leaves and roots hereof 

 taken in drink, help those that have a crick in the neck, 

 that they cannot turn it unless they (urn their whole 

 body. Galen saith, that the roots and leaves hereof are 

 good for such persons that have their bodies drawn to- 

 gether by some spasm or convulsion, or other infirmities ; 

 *as the rickets (or the college of physicians would have it, 

 Jlachites, about which name they have quarrelled suffici- 

 ently) in children, being a disease that hindereth their 

 growth, by binding their nerves, ligaments, and whole 

 strudlure of their body. 



The Fuller's Thistle, or Tcasle. ?. (temp. m. I.) 



Tt is so well known, that it needs no description, being 

 used with the cloth-workers. 



The wild Teaslc is in all things like the former, but 

 that the prickles are smaller, soft and upright, not booked 

 1 



