The "3 RoE T-Sh Ra ee. 
flender, and hairy: the whole afpect of them, The feed-veffel is very fhort, and the cup con- 
at a diftance, is not unlike that of fome of the | tinues:on it enlarged. 
105. 
kinds of heath in their young fhoots ; but, when.| It is.2 native of Africa, and principally about _ 
handled; they are prickly, the-fex-coatt: : 
The flowers are large and very beautiful: they Commelin calls it Campanula Africana [Pinofa 
ftand fingly on the tops of the branches, and are | flore violaceo. 
of a pale purple, fometimes of a deep violet co- 
lour, and fometimes almoft white. fees 8 Cr viggues are not known, — 
Con pL Uys 
Ce ES e FLOWERING REED. 
: CANN AC ORS. 
HE flower confifts of a fingle petal, and is divided into fix parts irregu! larly difpofed : the fruit 
is:a-fingle capfule; which’is large, rough, and ‘contains three cells’: the cup is compofed of 
three leaves, which are fmall, coloured, and permanent. 
Linnzus places this genus among his monandria monogynia; there being oly a fingle filament Or 
thread in each flower, and the widhmene of the capfule being alfo fingle. 
He reduces the old name caunacorus to a fhorter, calling it canna. 
Broad-leaved Flowering Reed. © | "The lowers are large, and of a beautiful red ; 
Cannacorus latifolius. long, and very fingular in their ftructure : ney 
| are divided to the bafe, the feoments adhering 
The root is tuberous, and of ’an irregular fi- | to one another only there; and thefe are irregu- 
gure, full of thick parts, and of long and large | Jar in form, as well as difpofition : three of hens 
fibres. . ftand outward, and are erect and fhorter; the 
The firft leaves are very large, long, and | other three ftand inward, and are longer ; and of 
broad; of a frefh and beautiful green, and placed | thefe, two are erect and one is reflex. 
on hollow footftalks: they are pointed at ae The feed-veffel is large, and very rough on 
end, and waved at the edges. the furface ; and the feeds are large and few. 
The ftalk is:round, firm, upright, and three It is a native of Afia and Africa, and of the 
or four feet high, and is covered the greateft part | warmer parts of America; and flowers in June. - 
cof the way up, by the fcabbards of the leaves, C. Bauhine calls it Arundo indica latifolia. O- 
The leaves ftand irregularly on it, and are, | thers, Cannacorus, and Canna, 
like thofe from the root, broad, large, of a freth 
green, and fharp-pointed. Its virtues are not t Known with certainty. 
qt may appear, to thofe who are unacquainted with the praétice of phyfick, that the virtues 
attributed to plants in this work are too few ; and the detail too short on that head. 
_ La obviate this objection, it will be proper once to obferve, that the error of moft books 
written ou this fubject is afcribing too much to moft plants. Whoever fhall turn over the writ= 
ings of Gerard and Parkinfon, in this view, will fee that almoft every herb ts faid to be a cure 
for almoft every difeafe; and the fame Sault r runs through moft others, in a Seat or & effer. 
degree. 
Hence, the young phyfician, unable to judge what he is to regard, and what neglect, bas in a 
manner rejected all: becaufe too much has been written of the virtues of plants, too little is be- 
lieved. From this, chemical medicines, made principally from minerals, have come fo generally 
into ufe, and the galenical, obtained moftly from plants, bave been and are fo much negleéted. 
To remedy this evil, the utmoft care has been taken, throughout the courfe of the prefent work, 
to diftinguifh the real from the imaginary virtues of plants: the former have been rae 
preferved; and the latter rejected. 
For this reafon the catalogues of virtues will appear Shorter in this than in other books of a 
like kind ; but, it 1s apprehended, it will therefore be more ufeful. 
This is a point that has demanded the author's principal attention ; and deferves that of every 
writer more than any other part in a work on this fubject: the refi 1s amufement, but in this 
the healths and lives of mankind are concerned. | 
Th END of te FOURTH CLASS. 
NOX Ee : THE 
