SIMTZHBKGEN AND GKKENl.AM). 51 



purple colour, and hath sometimes five, sometimes six, and 

 sometimes I have seen nine leaves ; the stamina of the flower 

 I did not tell, neither did I ever see the seeds thereof. The 

 root thereof is very small, and one plant grows close to the 

 other. We found this herb on the low lands of the English 

 Haven, afterwards we found abundance of it amongst the 

 mosses on the ^6tli of June. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Of a Snake-weed. 



This is a small snake-ioeed , and is found very rarely in 

 Spitzhergen ; the undermost leaves of this plant are the 

 biggest, but they are not above the breadth of ones nail ; 

 they grow singly on the stalk, yet not above three of them, 

 except the lowermost : the nearer the flower, the smaller 

 they are; they have within, not far from the edge, many 

 small knobs or spots, answering to the points of the leaves, 

 wherein the veins or nerves are terminated ; besides the 

 leaves are not quite plain, but somewhat rumpled at the 

 brims. Out of the root sprouts forth, sometimes single and 

 sometimes double stalks, as you may see in the cut, and this 

 by-stalk is always somewhat lower than the chief stalk. 



The flower grows in a close spike, -with many small flesh- 

 coloured flowers, it was so small that I forgot to tell the 

 leaves thereof; the seeds were not then come to maturity. 

 The root sheweth of what kind the plant is, and wherefore it 

 may be called historta or snahe-weed, for it lieth twisted in 

 the ground ; it is about the thickness of your little finger 

 where thickest, hath small fibers, is brown without and flesh- 

 coloured within, and of an astringent taste. 



^ Saxifraga oppositifolia. 



'^ Evideutly a Poli/t/onum,and the species described in the next chapter. 



