CUIiPEPEB'S COBfFLSTB HERBAL. 14i 



Tar is likewise the product of these trees, wlicb is by 

 some accounted a good pectoral medicine, and used for ob- 

 structions of the luDgs, and shortness of breath. 



From the young branches of the Piniu i46t«»*i8 produced 

 the famous spruce beer ; and the juice which runs from the 

 trunk, upon its being tapped, is what is sold in the shops 

 here under the name of the Balm of Gilead. The young 

 tops of this tree make an excellent antiscorbutic either 

 infused or boiled in beer or wine ; experience has suffi- 

 ciently confirmed their efficacy in that distemper in oui 

 American plantations, where the inhabitants used to be 

 severely afflicted vitb it, who since they have taken to 

 brewing a kind of liquor or molasses, in which they boil 

 the youne Fir-tops in the room of hops, they are very 

 little troubled with the scurvy ; and many of our sailors 

 whose diet on board of ships makes them subject to it, 

 have had reason to commend that liquor. This tree yields 

 two resinous substances ; a thin liquid sort, which comes 

 forth from the young Firs, and is known in the shops by 

 the name of Strasburg turpentine ; and a dry substance 

 resembling frankincense, to which it is not unlike in 

 quality. 



FLAG (YELLOW,) or FLEUR-DE-LYS.— T/rw 



Ptettdacorut,) 



CAIiLXD also Myrtle Flag, and Myrtle Grass. 



Descrip. — This plant is distiu^uished from all others, 

 in that, among its leaves, which are much longer and 

 narrower than the Garden Fleur-de-Lys, there arises one 

 or two like the rest, only somewhat narrower, thicker 

 and rounder towards the top, near to which come forth 

 single juli, rarely two, in shape like the catkin of the 

 hazel, or like long pepper, but ending more taper, and 

 standing up obliquely from the leaf. The root is thick, 

 full of joints, and spreads itself on the upper part of the 

 earth, transversely, and not sinking deep in it, being full 

 of large white fibres, increasing much, and soon taking a 

 great deal of ground. It has a strong smell, not so plea- 

 sant while green, but growing more grateful and aromatic 

 as it dries. 



Pl<iC6. — It growi in several rivulets, and watery places 

 in England, as about Norwich, and in Cheshire and Surrey, 

 •ocorcung to Mr. Ray ; but what is osed in the shops, if 

 mosUj imported from abroad 



