The 
BRITISH HERBAL. 
28 
fmall and white; and they are extremely nume- 
rous. 
The feeds ftand three together, in a little head 
. after every Hower. 
It is common in waters, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Plantago aquatica latifolia, 
Qthers, Plantago aquatica major. 
DIVISION If. FO 
1. Blunt-leaved water Plantaini 
Plantago aquatica foliis obtujis. 
‘The root is compofed of numerous fibres. 
The leaves ftand on confiderably long foot- 
ftalks; and are large, broad, and-of a fine frefh 
green. They are divided at the  ftalk in a heart- 
like manner, and are blunt at the end. 
The ftalks are thick, weak, and branched. 
The flowers are {mall and white, and aré each 
compofed of three blunt ended peta's. 
Ge ER erm 
Secale) 
The leaves of this are cooling, and, asi it is 
faid, repellent. ‘They are good in the piles, and 
are ufed to lay on womens breafts, to dry up the 
milk. Two varieties of this plant have been de- 
{cribed as diftiné&t fpecies; the one with long and 
narrow, the other with very large and broad 
leaves. 
RET GN 2 SPE Capes, 
The feeds ftand naked in a {mall head. 
Tt isa native of Virginia, and flowers in au- 
tumn. 
Vaillant calls it Damafonium ramofum folio cor- 
diformi. Mborrifon, Sagittaria Virginiana obtufiore 
latofolio floribus minoribus albis. 
It does indeed partly refemble the fagitaria, and 
partly the water plantain; but the fmall knob of 
feeds refers it to this genus. 
XVI. 
MEADOWSWEET. 
OULMARIA. 
x 
HE, flower confifts of five petals, and ftands ina cup conipofed of a fingle leaf divided ‘into five 
parts. 
The feeds are feven after each flower, and are twifted. 
Linnaus places this among the icofendria pohgynia;: and in his eatlier works makes it a fpecies of 
filipendula or dropwort:. in. his later, he  deftroys this genus, ase makes both the dropwort and 
meadow/weet fpecies of fpiraea. 
They are diftinét in nature from fpirea, and mutually from one another. 
Bis new method there- 
fore, which was intended to render Realy: diftint, we fee; increafes the perplexity that atcended it, 
and creates confufion. 
Spiraa does not belong even to'the fame natural clafs with thefe two genera ; for its feeds are con-. 
tained in capfules, whore thofe.of dropwort:and meadowfweet are naked. 
Therefore, although they 
are joined in a method, the clafies of which are eftabliflied upon the number of Mate in the flower, 
they are far feparated by nature in the fructification. 
Their difference one from another is not fo ftriking, ‘but it is fufficient : 
the diftintions of ge- 
nera are fubordinate to thofe. into claffes, and fhould be founded on leffer particularities. 
The meadowfweet has feven twifted: feeds after every flower, and has the leaves irregularly pin- 
nated. ‘The dropwort has twelve feéds'aftéer every flower, and they are not twifted, andiits leaves are 
regularly pinnated: thefe. are fuffitient diftinctions. 
therefore he fhould have ufed them. 
Thefe Linnzus knew, for he has named them; — 
Thus on many other occafions-this author ‘may be convicted out 
of his own words, of knowing that his method! was defective and erroneous. 
There is‘only one fpecies of meadow/weet-a native of: Britain. 
DST Ve leSel Ou Nae | 
Meadowfweet. 
Ulmaria vulgaris. ‘ 
The root confifts of a vaft quantity of hard, 
tough, long fibres, of a redifh colour, rifing from 
a {mall longith head, 
The leaves ftand on moderately long: footftalks, 
and they are very beautiful in fhape and colour: 
they are pinnated: each compofed of three or 
four pairs of pinnze, with a large, irregular leaf 
at the end. They are notched at the edges: 
their colour is a bright green on the xpper 
fide, a greyifh or whinths Erde edeach : and they 
are hard to the touch. 
The ftalk is firm, redifh, upright, 
7 
and 
i 
oe oe SPECIES. 
branched. It grows to four or more feet in 
height, and is ftrongly ftriated, 
The leaves ftand irregularly on it, and are like 
thofe’at the bottom, but have fewer pinna, 
The flowers are {mall and white, and ftand in 
long, irregular tufts at the tops of the ftalks. 
The feeds are greenifh, twifted, and ftriated. 
It is common by waters, and flowers in June. 
J. Bauhine calls it U/maria. C. Bauhine, Bar- 
ba capra floribus compaétis. Some, Regina prati. 
Tt is celebrated: extreamly as a wound herb; 
and by:fome is’ recommended internally as a fu- 
dorifick. The flowers give a pleafant flavour to 
liquor..> Mixt with mead they give it the tafte of 
the Greek wines, 
DIVISION 
