108 



Wild Damask Roses, single, but very large and sweet but 

 stiptick. Rosa Carolina or Swamp rose. 



Sweet Fern, the Roots run one within another like a net 

 being very long and spreading abroad under the upper crust of 

 the earth, sweet in taste, but withal astringent, much hunted 

 after by swine. The Scotchmen that are in New England 

 have told me that it grows in Scotland. Pteris aqullina, con- 

 cerning which Lightfoot in his Flora Scotica confirms the 

 statement of the fondness of swine for the root. 



Sarsaparilla, a Plant not yet sufficiently known by the Eng- 

 lish. Some say it is a kind of Bindweed. 



We have in New England two plants that go under the name 

 of Sarsaparilla; the one not above a foot in height without thorns, 

 {Smilax^ herbacea,) which however grows from two to six feet 

 high in richer soils, the other having the same Leaf, but is a shrub 

 as high as a Gooseberry Bush and full of sharp Thorns, {Smilax 

 1-otun.difoUa^') which however, climbs to a great height and ex- 

 tends itself very much. This I esteem as the right by the shape 

 and savour of the Roots ; but rather by the effects answerable 

 to that we have from other parts of the world. It groweth 

 upon dry sandy Banks by the Seaside and upon the banks of 

 Rivers so far as the Salt water fiowes and within Land as some 

 have reported. 



The true Sarsaparilla, is the root of a Smilax, viz : Smilax 

 Sarza ; and the root stock of another^ the Smilax china is 

 eaten in China instead of rice. What virtues may reside in 

 our Green briar or Smilax rotundifolia, remains to be proved by 

 more modern wisdom than that of our author. 



Bill Berries, two kinds. Black and sky coloured, which is 

 more frequent. Vacciniimi corymbosum and variety atro- 

 arpwn. 



Knot berry or Clowde Berry. Riibiis hispidus unless, which 

 is hardly probable, the Rubiis chamamorus. What we term 

 blackberries used to be called Kjiot berries^ as the pips are 

 collected into bunches or knots making the fruit. 



Sumach differing from all I did ever see in the Herbalists : 

 our English cattel devour it most abominably, leaving neither 

 Leaf nor Branch, yet it sprouts again next spring. Rhus glab- 

 ra or else Rhiis copallina. 



