191 



HOUND'S-TONGUE.—(' Cyno^^o«*ttm OjfficinaU,) 



Descriv. — The root of the CommoD Hound's-Tongue is 

 thick ana long, of a dark brown coloar on the outside, and" 

 whitish within ; the lower leaves are near a foot lon^, and 

 two or three inches broad, pointed at the ends, and soft 

 and wooUj to the touch ; the stalk rises two or three feet 

 high, with shorter and narrower leaves, and having several 

 flowers growing in clusters on the top, of a sullen red co- 

 lour, appearing a little above the caljoes they stand in ; 

 each flower is followed by four flat seeds, standing about 

 the pistillium, like a shield or buckler. The whole plant 

 has a foetid smelL 



Place. — It is found bj hedges and road-sides. 



Time. — It flowers in June and July, the root only is used. 



Qovemment and Virtues. — The plant is governed by Mer- 

 cury. The root is cold, drying, and binding, it is useful 

 in catarrhous defluxions upon the lungs, and to temper ths 

 sharpness of the blood ; and, by consequence, excellent for 

 all kinds of fluxes, and hemorrhages, as well as for gon- 

 orrhoea. It is likewise reckoned among the vulneraries, 

 and helpful in scrofulous tumours, both taken inwardly 

 and applied outwardly as a cataplasm. The leaves boiled 

 in wine or water, and oil and salt, mollify and open ths 

 belly downwards. It also cures the bites of mad dogs, 

 some of the leaves being applied to the wound; the leaves 

 bruised, or the juice of them boiled in hog's-lard and appli- 

 ed, helps the falling away of the hair, which comes oi not 

 and sharp humours ; as also for an^ place that is scalded 

 or burnt ; the leaves bruised and laid to any green wound, 

 heals it up quickly : the root baked under the embers, 

 wrapped in paste and a suppository made thereof, and put 

 into or applied to the fundament, does very eflfectually help 

 the paintul piles or hemonhoids. The distilled water of 

 the herbs and roots is a remedy for all the purposes afore- 

 said, to be used inwardly to drink, and outwaixlly to wash 

 any sore place, for it heals all manner of wounds, and all 

 the foul ulcers that arise by the venereal disease. 



ROVSEliEEK,'--( Sempennvum Tectorum,) 



Called also Sengren. 



Descrip. — Houseleek has a great many thick, succuleat 

 leaves, set together in a round form, convex on the out- 

 xide, flattish within, sharp-pointed, with hairy edcces. The 



