182 THE COMPLETE HERBAL 



long and narrow, set thereon, waved, but I resisting poison, venom and putrefaction, 

 not cut into the edges, broadest towards the! It is also available in many cases for which 

 ends, somewhat round pointed ; the flowers \ the common Mustard is used, but somewhat 

 are white that grow at the tops of the \ weaker, 

 branches, spike-fashion, one above another: i 



P. j' j TIIE BLACK THORN, OR SLOE-BUSH. 



after which come round pouches, parted in \ 



the middle with a furrow, having one black- 1 IT is so well known, that it needs no 

 ish brown seed on either side, somewhat j description. 



sharp in taste, and smelling of garlick, j Place] It grows in every county in the 

 especially in the fields where it is natural, | hedges and borders of fields, 

 but not so much in gardens: The roots j Time] It flowers in April, and some- 

 are small and thready, perishing every year. : times in March, but the fruit ripens after all 



Give me leave hereto add Mithridate j other plums whatsoever, and is not fit to 

 Mustard, although it may seem more pro- ; be eaten until the Autumn frost mellow 

 perly by the name to belong to M, in the j them. 



alphabet. Government and virtues] All the parts of 



| the Sloe-Bush are binding, cooling, and 

 MITHRIDATE MUSTARD. | dry , and aU effectual to stay bleeding at the 



Descript] THIS grows higher than the j nose and mouth, or any other place; the 

 former, spreading moreand higher branches, j lask of the belly or stomach, or the bloody 

 whose leaves are smaller and narrower, j flux, the too much abounding of women's 

 sometimes unevenly dented about the edges. | courses, and helps to ease the pains of the 

 The flowers are small and white, growing i sides, and bowels, that come by overmuch 

 on long branches, with much smaller and i scouring, to drink the decoction of the bark 

 rounder vessels after them, and parted in ; of the roots, or more usually the decoction 

 the same manner, having smaller brown 5 of the berries, either fresh or dried. The 

 seeds than the former, and much sharper in j conserve also is of very much use, and more 

 taste. The root perishes after seed time, j familiarly taken for the purposes aforesaid, 

 but abides the first Winter after springing, j But the distilled water of the flower first 



Place.] They grow in sundry places in j steeped in sack for a night, and drawn 

 this land, as half a mile from Hatfield, by | therefrom by the heat of Balneum and 

 the river side, under a hedge as you go to j Anglico, a bath, is a most certain remedy, 

 Hatfield, and in the street of Peckham on j tried and approved, to ease all manner of 

 Surrey side. jgnawrogs in the stomach, the sides and 



Time] They flower and seed from May i bowels, or any griping pains in any of them, 

 to August. ? to drink a small quantity when the extre- 



Government and virtues] Both of them \ mity of pain is upon them. The leaves 

 are herbs of Mars. The Mustards are said j also are good to make lotions to gargle and 

 to purge the body both upwards and down- j wash the mouth and throat, wherein are 

 wards, and procure women's courses so swellings, sores, or kernels ; and to stay the 

 abundantly, that it suffocates the birth. | defluctions of rheum to the eyes, or other 

 It breaks inward imposthumes, being taken \ parts ; as also to cool the heat and inflam- 

 inwardly ; and used in clysters, helps the i mations of them, and ease hot pains of the 

 sciatica. The seed applied, doth the same. \ head, to bathe the forehead and temples 

 It is an especial ingredient in mithridatej there with. The simple distilled water of 

 and treacle, being of itself an antidote [the flowers is very effectual for the said 



