920 CULPBPSB'S COMPLETE HEBBAl.. 



SAWWORT (COMMON.)— ('>S'4rrarw/a Tinctoricu) 



Descrip. — This has a white fibrous root The first leaves 

 are undivided, oblong, broad, of a beautiful green ; some- 

 times deeply cut in a pinnated form; they vary upon the 

 stalks, being in some plants undivided, and in others very 

 deeply jagged, while the species is the same. In both forms 

 they are regularly notched on the edges. The stalk is round, 

 upright, and slender, about two feet high. The flowers are 

 in small heads, of a fine purple; but the poverty of some soils 

 produce them quite white. The seeds are oblong and large. 



Place. — It is common about woods. 



Time, — It flowers in August. 



Government and Virtites. — This is under Saturn, and is 

 Tulnerary and astringent. It has a little sourish, styptic 

 taste. It is very drying and binding, useful for diarrhoea 

 and dysentery, the Jlicxue hepaticus^ the excess of catamenia 

 and fluor albus, and against vomiting and spitting of blood. 



SAXIFRAGE (GREAT BURNET.)— ("-Pi^inW^ 

 Saxifraga Major.) 



Descrip. — The root is thick at the head, spreading into 

 several branches, growing deep in the earth, of a whitish 

 colour, and a hot taste, from which spring several pinnated 

 leaves, having three or four pinn«, set opposite, with an 

 odd one at the end ; they are hard in handling. The stalk 

 is about a yard high, stiff, jointed, and full of branches, 

 clothed with narrower leaves, with umbels of white flowers 

 at the ends, followed by very snail, dark brown, striated 

 ■eeda 



Place, — It grows in gravelly places, especially in Kent 



Time. — The seed is ripe in July. 



Oovemment and Virtues. — It is under the Moon. The 

 root is hot and dry, expelling wind, good for the colic, and 

 weakness of the stomach ; they are diuretic, useful against 

 the stone, gravel, and scurvy. It has the properties of th» 

 parsleys, but eases pains and provokes urine more effect-- 

 ally. The roots or seed used either in powder or decoction, 

 helps the mother, procures the courses, removes phlegm, and 

 cures venom, &c. The distilled water, boiled with casto- 

 rieum, is good for cramps and convulsions, and the seed 

 used in comfits (like carraway seeds) will answer the same 

 p)irpose. The juice of the herb dropped into bad wounds iv 

 the head, dries up their moisture, and heals them. 



