tlO oulpiper's complktb bxrbal. 



without foo t-8talks ; the flowers grow several toother at 

 the top of the branches, in long rough calyces, of a single 

 leaf cut into five round partitions, of a purple colour at first, 

 and turning to a bright blue as they stand, and are suc- 

 ceeded by four-cornered rough seed. 



Place, — It grows in gardens, and wild in the fields. 



IHme. — It flowers in June and July. 



Oovemment and Virtttes. — It is under Jupiter. Its vir- 

 tues are best preserved in a conserve of the flowers. A de- 

 coction of the whole plant is deobstruent, and good to purge 

 melancholy, and for that purpose the tops are frequently 

 put into wine and cool tankards ; they are likewise alezi- 

 pharmic, and good in malignant fevers. 



liAYEKDEK-^Lavandula Spica.) 



Descrip. — ^The common Lavender is a shrubby plants 

 Having a great many woody branches, thick-set with long 

 hoary narrow leaves, two at a joint, which are round-point- 

 ed and broadest at the end ; from among these spring se- 

 veral square stalks, having but few leaves upon them, and 

 those narrower than the lower, bearing long spikes, of blue 

 galeated and labiated flowers, set in hoary calyces. 



Place, — It is a native of France and Spain, where it 

 grows wild, but is cultivated with us only m gardens. 



Time, — It flowers in July. 



Oovemment and Virtttes. — Mercury owns this herb. It 

 is of especial use in pains of the head and brain which pro- 

 ceed from cold, apoplexy, falling-sickness, the dropsy, or 

 sluggish malady, cramps, convulsions, palsies, and often 

 faintings. It strengthens the stomach, and frees the liver 

 and spleen from obstructions, provokes womens' courses, 

 and expels the dead child and afterbirth. The flowers if 

 steeped in wine help those to make water that are stopped, 

 or troubled with the wind or colic, if the place be bathed 

 therewith. A decoction made of the flowers of Lavender, 

 Horehound, Fennel and Asparagus-root, and a little Cin- 

 namon is profitable to help falling-siv^kness, and the giddi- 

 ness or turning of the brain : to gargle the mouth with a 

 decoction thereof, is good against the tooth-ache. Two 

 spoonfuls of the distilled water of the flowers help them 

 tnat have lost their voice, the tremblings and passions of 

 the heart, and fainting and swoonings, applied to the tem- 

 ples or nostrils, to be smelt unto, but it is not safe to use 

 it where the body is replete with blood and humours, be- 



