The 
BRKETIS HM HERBAL 
D EVA Ss cOEN eI 
1. Perennial-rooted Adonis. 
Adonis radice perenni. 
The root is compofed of a {mall head, divided 
into feveral parts, and furnifhed with a great 
number of thick fibres. It is of a deep blackifh 
brown colour, and a bitterifh and acrimonious 
tafte, 
The firft leaves are two inches long, and com- 
poled of a great number of very flender fine feg- 
ments. They ftand on fhort footftalks, and are 
of a dufky green colour. : 
The ftalks are numerous, ftriated, flender, 
and eight inches high. 
‘The leaves ftand irregularly on them, and they 
refemble thofe from the root; but they are 
fmaller, They have a bitterifh tafle, and when 
rubbed an unpleafant finell. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the ftalks ; and 
are large, beautiful, and yellow. They confit 
each of fixteen ftriated petals, indented, and of- 
ten turning back at the points. 
The feeds ftand in an oblong clufter, large, 
and naked. 
It is a native of Bohemia, and other parts of 
Europe, and flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Helleborus niger tenuifolins 
Japhthalmi flore, 
The root refembles that of black hellebore in 
afpect; whence the plant, though altogether un- 
Go Ba Nee Ue S 
ROR ET GIN “S:PiE-C WB S: 
like, obtained that name. It is acrid and poifon- 
ous: it has fometimes been fold in the ftead of 
black hellebore, or mixed among black hellebore, 
and, it is faid, with fatal confequences. 
It has the fharpnefs of the moft violent of the 
crow-foots, and its juice will eat away warts. 
2. Great flowered Adonis. 
Adonis flore maximo. 
The root is compofed of a fmall head, and 
a vaft number of long and thick fibres. It is 
black, and of an acrid and difagreeable tafte. 
The firft leaves are fmall: they have very fhort 
foorftalks, and are divided into a few flender long 
fegments, Their colour is a pale green, and 
they are of an acrid tafte, 
The ftalks are fhort, thick, and flefhy: they 
have large joints, and at each one leaf divided 
into very narrow, but not numerous fegments. 
The flower is yellow, very large for the bignefs 
of the plant, and ftands at the top of the ftalk. 
It is compofed of feveral petals, and has a large 
tuft of paler yellow threads in the centre. 
The feeds ftand in a naked oval head. It is 
found in fome parts of Germany, and flowers in 
July and Auguft, 
Mentzelius calls it Helleborus niger ferulaceus, 
feu Pfeudobelleborus caule geniculato flore maga in- 
Star tulipe. 
Its virtues are unknown, 
XL 
MOUSE Pa I'L, 
MYOSUWUROS. 
HE. flower conlifts of five fmall petals, and is 
placed in a five-leaved cup. The feeds ftand 
naked in a long head; and the leaves are grafly. : 
Linnzus places this among the pentandria polygynia, feparating it, by many claffes, from the ranun- 
eulus, adonis, and other of the plants belonging to this, 
allied to them *. 
This may fhew the imperfeétion of his method, even upoa his own confeffion. 
although he acknowledges it is very nearly 
The reafon 
of his feparating this plant from the others, is that there are in them great tufts of threads in the middle 
of the flower ; and in this only five. 
though, from its having five filaments, 
Let us appeal to nature, whether this plant, which agrees with the 
others of the prefent clafs in the form and ftru@ure of its flower, 
arrangement of its feeds, fhould be taken from among them, 
becaufe the filaments or threads in the flower are in a fmaller number, 
againft this ; nor is there the juft authority of obfervation for placing it in any other, 
and in the fingular difpofition and 
and placed in a far diftant clafs, only 
Reafon declares utterly 
This author, 
he has ranked it among the pentandria; yet is obliged to con- 
fels, that the number of thofe threads is fubject in this genus to great variation +, 
This acknowledgment not only fhews he has put the prefent plant out of its place, but fhakes the 
very foundation of his method: for it depends upon the numbering of thefe filaments. 
In 
the arrangement we have made of thefe feveral genera, the moufetail appears plainly to belong to them 
and to have its proper place. We have given the difpofition of the feeds in a naked head, as the 
great character of the clafs; and in fome that head is fhorter, 
nera firft named here it is round ; 
we place next, it is long and thin, 
Of this genus there is but one known fpecies, 
in others longer. In moft of the ge- 
in the adonis it is oblong and thick; and in the moufetail, which 
There is no more difference, 
and that is a native of England, 
* Myofuri fumma eft affinitas cum-fanunculo, 
+ Numerus aminam in hoc genere valde variat. Linn. Gen. Plant. Bir. 
/ Moufera. 
co 
