en The BRITISH HERBAL 
GVIE 2@NUUS @ VE 
: ORPINE. 
TELEPHIUM. 
HE flowers confift each of five petals, and ftand in akindof umbel. The leaves are flefhy and flat. 
Linnzus places this among his decandria pentagynia, 
making it a fpecies of fedum or houfe- 
leek. The flowers and feed-veffels indeed are very likes but orpine in its general form and figure, is 
fiticientl? diftin® ; and having been called by a feparate name, and endowed with particular virtues, 
we preferve the diftinétion. 
There is the more ufe in this becaufe the fpecies of houfeleek are in themfelyes very numerous ; fo 
that the leffening the number is rendering the knowledge of them lefs perplexed and more familiar. 
Del Vel Stl OPN! = I 
x. Common Orpine, 
Telephium vulgare. 
The root is compofed of a great number of 
tuberous pieces irregularly joined together, and 
having many fibres between them. 
The firft leaves are {mall and inconfiderable; 
they are oblong, blunt at the ends, and have 
no footftalks. They prefently grow yellow and 
decay. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, thick, flefhy, 
upright, and two foot high. 
The leaves ftand thick upon the ftalks, two, or 
three fometimes rifing from the fame fpot: they 
are broad, oblong, flat, blunt at the ends, and 
flightly ferrated at the edges. Their colour is a 
freth and beautiful green. 
The flowers ftand in clufters at the tops of the 
' ftalks: they are fmall, but of a delicate red. 
Each is compofed of five {mall, radiated, pointed 
leaves, with ten threads, and the rudiments of the 
’ feed veffels in the centre. 
The flower being fallen thefe rudiments ripen 
into capfules five after every flower, in which are 
‘contained very {mall and numerous feeds, 
It is common in our paftares, and flowers in 
uly. 
The whole plant is fucculent and flefhy, and 
will preferve its form and colour a long time 
when cut from the root, efpecially if refrethed 
with water. 
C. Bauhine calls it Telephium vulgare. J. Bau- 
hine, Anacampferos vulgo faba crafja. 
We fometimes fee it with a white fower, In 
this condition it has been defcribed by fomeas a dif 
tinct fpecies. There are alfo fome other varieties 
in the breadth and difpofition of the leaves, from 
which there have been made many imaginary fpe- 
cies, fuch as the broad-leaved orpine, and the like ; 
bur thefe, when more nicely examined, will be 
found not to, differ in any thing effential from this 
common kind, : : 
Orpine is famous as a vulnerary, It is ftyptick 
DIVISION I, 
'1. Oval-leaved Orpine, 
Telephium foliis ovatis. 
The root is white, long, irregular in fhape, and 
creeps under the furface, with numerous fibres, 
BRITISH 
SePah)Celibes: 
and fubaftringent. The root contains the prin- 
cipal virtue, and it is excellent in dyfenteries, 
and in diarrhzeas that erode the inteftines. It is 
alfo ufed externally in burns. The bett Way of 
giving the root is carefully dried and reduced to 
powder ; five and twenty grains for a dofe. 
2. Roofe-root. 
Telephiun rofeym. 
The root is large, thick, and of an irregular 
form, oblong, and tuberous, and full of fibres ; 
it is brown on the outfide and white within, and 
is brittle, and of a very pleafant fmell. There is 
plainly the {cent of the damafk rofe in it, but it 
is\very flight; and the fame flavour is perceived 
in tafting it, 
The firft leaves are oblong, narrow, and with- 
out footftalks :’ they quickly fade. 
The ftalks are numerous, and rife in ‘little 
clufters from different parts of the roots, They 
are flender, round, and about a foot high. 
The leaves are very numerous, and they ftand 
irregularly on the ftalks : they, have no footftalks. 
They are oblong, narrow, fharp-pointed, and 
fharply ferrated at the edges, They are of a 
yellowith green, and ufually have @ purplith tinge 
at the point, 
The flowers ftand j 
n clufters at the tops of the 
ftalks, es 
They are fmall, and of a pale red, 
olow in feparate capfules, which 
are longifh and bent like horns, 
Tt is frequent on the mountains 
in Yorkthire. It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Rhodig radix; and Motifon 
telephium rofeum, ' 
in Wales and 
The root is Tecommended by fome againft the 
gravel. It is aperient by. urine, but invlome de- 
gree aftringent in the bowels; and poffefies in 
common with orpine, the virtue of blunting the 
acrimony of fharp humours that erode the intef. 
tines. Againtt diarrhzeas and dyfenteries it thould 
be given in powder; and as a diuretick, in de- 
Ccoction, : 
FOREIGN §PECIES 
The firtt leaves have thort pedicles, and are 
oblong, narrow, obtufe and ferrated, and. of a 
pale green. Thefe fade quickly, {6 that there is 
No remain of them about the ftalk, me 
3 The 
