The BRITISH HERBAL er 
* All the Latin writers from the earlieft time call this plant fraxinella; and if this. modern improver 
was difpleafed with that name, he might have changed it without taking that of diéfamnus: it would 
certainly have been more juftifiable to have called it ¢ragium, that being the name by which it is called 
in the earlieft Greek writers: the other however being univerfally received, is .much fitter for the 
purpofe; the Italian and Spanith frafinelli, and moft other of the European names, being formed 
upon that word; 
dens. 
é 
White Dittany- 
Fraxinella. 
The root confifts of a great’ number of thick, 
Jong, and tough fibres. 
oThe leaves rifing from it are very large, and 
beautifully pinnated ? they confift each. of about 
» five pair of fmaller, and a fingle one at the end ; 
and ftaiid on fhort footftalks.’ They’ are of a 
pale green colour, broad, oblong, pointed at the 
efids, and fearce at all ferrated ‘av’ the edges’; ‘and 
they refemble in fome degree the leaves’ of the 
afh-tree, in miniature. ef 
AThe ftalks rifé amidft thefe leaves, which foon. 
after fade and perifh. 
They are robuft, firm, branched, and two or 
three feet high. 
“Their leaves ftand alternately ; and are altoge- 
ther like thofe from the root, but fomething 
{maller. ‘ 
The flowers are of a beautiful pale red, often 
white; and have each ten long threads, which 
2dd to their beauty, ‘ 
feeds follow in five flatted pods, 
The tops of this plant have a redifh hairinefs, 
and there is a refinous matter about them which 
this 
rib ge Soret eae 
MONKS-HOOD. 
Of this genus there is but one knowa fpecies; and this is not feen in Britain, except in gar- 
\ 
fticks to the fingers on touching them, and has 
a very fragrant fmell. ig F 
This refin is fo inflammable, that if a lighted 
candle be brought near the ftalk of the plant, fo 
that the flame touch any of the refin, the whole 
takes fire in an inftant, and goes off with fa re-» 
markable explofion. The plant will not be de- 
ftroyed by this, but will recover its refinous ntat- 
ter again in a few days; and the experiment may 
be repeated with fuccefs. : oe 
It is a native of Italy and France, but ftands - 
very well in our gardens, a 
Its univerfal name among authors is fraxinella: 
it obtained this from the refemblance of its leaves 
} to thofe of the afh. ® 
The bark of the root contains the principal 
virtue of the plant; and our-druggifts keep it: but 
they often fell it old and decayed, and no root 
lofes its virtue fooner. It is a cordial and fudo- 
rifick when frefh dried. The antients.efteemed 
it a fovereign remedy againft poifons. and -vene- 
mous bites : it is: in ‘efteem-in fome places as a 
diuretick and deobftruent, arid. againft worms. 
if we had ic more frequently frefh, and pof- 
fefléd of «its full: virtues, we fhould value it 
highlys” 
XII. 
4 
ACONITUM. 
‘ea 
HE flower confifts of five petals, and has no cup: the petals of the flower are of a fingular 
. form and fituation’: one ftands uppermoft, two are placed fideways, and two below; the upper 
onié.is‘hooded ; the fide petals are broad, roundifh, and ftand inclining to one another ; and the two 
lower are longer, and droop downwards :. within the flower there alfo ftand two glandules or nec-» 
taria on little pedicles, and with crooked tails; ‘The feeds are in capfules, three after every flower. 
‘oLinneus places this among the polyandria trigynia: the flower is ‘fo extremely fingular, that it is: 
wonderful it did not keep the genus diftin&,. and the fpecies together in all authors. We muft be 
furprifed to fee larkfpurs brought into it, the flower in this genus not having that great characteriftick 
of the larkfpur, the fpur or tail. 
_ 1. Blue Monks-Hood: 
" Aconitum cerulenm vulgare. 
- The ‘root is long, thick, hard, divided into 
feveral parts, and furnifhed-with numerous fibres. 
“The leaves rifing from it are very large, of a 
beautiful green, and divided into ‘numerous, nar- | 
row, long fegments: 
The ftalk is robuft, ereét, and five feet hich, 
~The leaves ftand irregularly, and in form re- 
femble thofe from the root ; but they are fmaller. 
They are placed on long footftalks, and are di- 
vided-to the ftalk, into fix or more long, narrow. 
N° s 
fegments, which are again deeply notched at the 
edges, and often fubdivided into others. -Thefé 
are of a deep, but pleafant green, and havea line © 
running along their centre. ‘ 
The flowers are numerous, and of -a_ beautiful 
blue : they ftand in long fpikes on the tops of the 
branches, and are large, and of a fine full.colour, 
They are followed by capfules, three after every 
flower; in whichare large rough feeds. ” 
It isa native of Germany, and ‘many of the 
northern parts of Europe; and flowers in July. 
. J. Bauhine calls it Aconitum. ceruleum, five Na- 
peLius. Lobel, Napellus verus; and moft others 
fimply Napellus. ’ 
BN: >. It 
