VOL. XLIV.] . PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 259 



Threlkelcl, in his Synopsis Plantarum, mentions, that he has seen great plenty 

 of this oenanthe in Cumberland, where the country people call it dead tongue?, 

 and use it, when boiled like a poultice, to the galled backs of their horses. 



Neither the German botanists,* nor Haller in his Enumeratio Stirpium Hel- 

 vetise, mentions this plant as growing among them. Mr. W. believes therefore, 

 it is seldom met with but in Holland, England, and in some parts of France; 

 for Morrison mentions it growing in Bretagne near the mouth of the river Loire. 

 This plant was communicated to Matthiolus by a professor of physic at Padua, 

 (seeMatth. p. 628). Linnaeus, in the Flora Suecica, says, that he received it from 

 a correspondent, who gathered it in Scania. 



Lobel, and after him John Bauhin and others, take notice of this plant's 

 growing in the northern parts of England. It grows also in the western and 

 southern parts, by the sides of rivers, large waters, and sometimes by ponds. 

 It grows near Bath. Dr. Allen mentions its growing within 3 miles of Bridge- 

 water. Its being produced in Wales, is the occasion of this paper. Mr, W. 

 had seen it very frequently by the sides of the river Thames, both above and 

 below London. He had found it likewise by the side of a large pond near 

 the road, in the town of Dulwich, not far north of the college ; likewise by the 

 sides of a large water near the mills, -^ a mile south-east of Dartford in Kent, 



Lobel is the first who has given a small figure and a tolerable description of 

 this oenanthe, in his Adversaria Plantarum,-|- He has likewise represented it in 

 the 730th of his Icones. This seems likewise to be the plant described by Va- 

 lerius Cordus, :}; under the denomination of olsenichium ; and by Dodonaeus, 

 under that of apium sylvestre, sive thysselinum ; § where the description, place 

 of growth, and form of the roots, agree exactly with the plant under considera- 

 tion ; though his figure is execrably bad. This bad figure is copied, and the 

 description translated by Gerard || in his Herbal, without making any mention 

 of Dodonaeus, This figure is likewise copied in Parkinson's Theatre of Plants. 

 John Bauhin, Matthiolus, Gerard, Parkinson, and Morrison, have given figures 

 of this oenanthe ; but these representations give scarcely any other idea of the 

 plant, than that it is an umbelliferous one, with roots divided like those of as- 

 phodel. Of these, however, Morrison's ^ is the best ; and his description, in 

 his book de Umbelliferis, is very exact and copious. Mr. Ray's description is 

 taken from Lobel. Mr. W. has at the bottom of the page * recited the various 

 synonyma, under which this plant is mentioned among authors. 



• Unless the olsenichinm of Valerius Cordus, and tliysselinum of Dodonaeus, hereafter mentioned, 

 are other names of the plant in question. — Orig. 



+ Adversaria plant, nov. 326. — Orig. J Valer. cord. p. 149- — Orig. § Dodon. 



Pempt. 687.— Orig. || Gerard. Emac. 1020.— Orig. 5r Morrison Umbel.— Orig. 



• Oenanthe, de qua hie agitur, synonyma. — Oenanthe tenia Matthioli, p. 6"2iJ; oenanthe, siicco 



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