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“ The one plant, or ‘ herb’ as all wild plants are called by the com- 
mon people, that 1 have now more particularly in view, is Cotyledon 
Umbilicus. This plant, it is well known, is very common in Devon- 
shire, Somersetshire, and the South-west of England, as well as on 
the rocks in Wales and the counties bordering thereon. 
“In the former counties it grows chiefly on banks, and attains a 
much greater height than in its more rocky habitats. From Somer- 
setshire I have seen specimens, the flower-stalks of which were two 
feet or more high, but plants growing in more mountainous Situations 
I have seldom seen exceed eight or teninches. Perhaps I may say 
a few words here upon the shape of the leaf of Cotyledon Umbilicus. 
In Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire I have ga- 
thered plants with some of the root-leaves kidney-shaped, and others 
spathulate, and not peltate as is usual. I am unable to state whether 
these leaves would afterwards have assumed the peltate form; but 
from the fact of several of the other leaves on these plants having their 
stalks at various distances from their edges, I thought there was a pro- 
bability of their having been originally reniform or spathulate. I 
know it is by no means a general rule for the leaf-stalks to be central, 
but the two circumstances united in one plant caused the supposition 
that the peltate leaf might be a development of an earlier form. I 
name this fact because I have never before seen it noticed ; if it be 
general, itis worthy of remark. The leaves of the flower-stalk, I 
know, are generally nearly reniform, but the leaves I have spoken of 
were growing long before the flower-stalk made its appearance. 
“One of the common names of Cotyledon Umbilicus is kidney- 
wort. Now we know pretty certainly that the other vulgar names, 
penny-wort and navel-wort, are given from the shape of the leaves. 
Did the person who added to these names kidney-wort do so for the 
same reason, or from any supposed curative power? Most likely the 
latter ; but still, bearing in mind the leaves I have spoken of, there is 
a possibility in favour of the former. 
“ Respecting the medicinal use of Cotyledon Umbilicus, it is well 
known to most chemists and druggists, that Mr. Salter, of Poole, 
introduced it a few years since as a cure for epilepsy, since which 
time it has been used, although I believe to only a limited extent, 
amongst medical men. 
“In Monmouthshire and Herefordshire I found, on inquiry, that 
the leaves were taken for urinal obstructions and ‘ fits;’ im Lanca- 
shire, amongst other complaints, they are likewise taken for ‘fits.’ In 
Herefordshire I find they are used for corns and warts; in Worcester- 
