CULPEPER'8 complete nBUBAIu 115 



The stalks are of a brownish colour, rigid, firm, straight, 

 A little branched, and from three to eight or ten inches 

 high. The leaves are of a dusky green, and the flowers 

 are blue. The seed is small and brown. 



Plac€,—lt is common in hilly pastures, 



TimA— It flowers in April and May. 



Oov«rnment and Virtues. — It is like gentian under the 

 dominion of Mars, and a very good stomachic, but infe- 

 rior to that great kind, the foreign gentian. The country 

 people use it as an ingredient in making bitters, mixing 

 it with orange peel, steeped in wine. 



FENNEL {COMiiiO^.y-iArethum Fcenicidum.) 



Detcrip. — It has large, thick, white roots, which run 

 deep into the ground, much dividing, beset with small 

 fibrea It has large winged leaves, of a dark green, 

 divided into many segments, of long, slender, very fine, 

 capilaceous parts. The stalk grows to four feet in height, 

 much divided, and full of whitish pith. The flowers are 

 found at the top in flat umbels, of small yellow five-leaved 

 flowers, each of which is succeeded by a couple of round- 

 ish, somewhat flat, striated brown seed. The whole plant 

 has a very strong, but not unpleasant smelL 



Place. — It is generally planted in gardens, but it grows 

 wild in several parts, towards the sea-^xxast, and in the 

 northern counties. 



Time. — It flowers in June and July, 



GiUMmmmU and Virtue*. — Fennel is good to break 

 wind, to provoke urine, and ease the pains of the stone, 

 and helps to break it The leaves or seed, boiled in barley 

 water, and drunk, are good for nurses, to increase their 

 milk, and make it more wholesome for the child. The 

 iMves, or rather the seeds, boiled in water, stays the hic- 

 cough, and takes away the loathings, which oftentimes 

 happen to the stomachs of sick and feverish persons, and 

 .illays the heat thereot The seed boiled in wine and 

 Irunk, is good for those that are bit with serpents, or 

 have eat poisonous herbs, or mushrooms. The seed, and 

 the roots much more, help to open obstructions of the 

 liver, spleen, and gall, ancl thereoy ease the {>ainful and 

 windy swellings of the spleen, and the yellow jaundice ; 

 as also the gout and cramps. The seed is of good use in 

 medicines, to help shortness of breath and wheezing, by 

 stopping of the lungSi It asuiats also to brini; down tbit 



