44 CrLPBPBB'S COMPLETE HERBAL. 



the stone, provoke urine, staveth inward bleeding, and 

 healeth inward wounds : the herb or flower bruis^ and 



Sut into the nostrils, stayeth their bleeding likewise : the 

 owers and herb being made into an oil bj being set in 

 the sun, ilnd changed after it hath stood ten or twelve 

 days ; or into an ointment, beine boiled in axunga, or 

 salad oil, with some wax melted therein after it is strain- 

 ed ; either the oil made thereof, or the ointment, do help 

 burnings with fire, or scaldings, with water. The same 

 also, or the decoction of the herb and flower, is good to 

 bathe the feet of travellers and lacqueys, whose long run- 

 ning causeth weariness and stiffness in their sinews and 

 joints. If the decoction be used warm, and the joints 

 afterwards anointed with ointment, it helpeth the dry 

 scab and the itch in children ; and the herb with the 

 white flower is also very good for the sinews, arteries, and 

 joints, to comfort and strengthen them after travel, cold, 

 and pains. 



BEET6.— (iBtfto.) 



Or Beets there are two sorts which are best known gene- 

 rally, and whereof I shall principally treat at this time, 

 viz. the White and Bed Beets, and their virtues. 



Descrip. — The common White Beet, {Beta ri^^am,)hath 

 many great leaves next the ground, somewhat large, and 

 of a whitish green colour. The stalk is great, strong, and 

 ribbed, bearing a great store of leaves upon it, almost to 

 the very top of it : the flowers ctow in very long tufts, 

 small at the end, and turning down their heads, which 

 are small, pale, greenish yellow buds, giving cornered 



{)rickly seeds. The root is great, long, and hard, and, when 

 t hath given seed, it is oi no use at all The common 

 EedBeet, (Beta ffortensis,) diSereth not from the White, but 

 only it is leea, and the leaves and roots are somewhat red. 

 The leaves are differently red, some only with red stalks 

 or veins ; some of a fresh red, and others of a dark red : 

 the root thereof is red, spongy, and not used to be eaten. 



Oovemment and Virtties. — The government of these 

 two sorts of beets are far different : the red beet being 

 under Saturn, and the white under Jupiter : therefore 

 take the virtues of them apart, each by itself. The white 

 beet doth much loosen the belly, and is of a cleansing, 

 digesting quality, and provoketh urine : the juice of it 

 opep<ith obstructions both of the liver and spleen, and in 



