Ss 
The BRITISHIMER BAL; tay 
DIV IS TON °k 
1. Common Broomrape. 
Orobanche vulgaris. 
This is a fingular and ftrange plants having 
neither the colour of the generality of plants, nor 
any thing that can properly be called leaves. 
The root is thick, roundifh, and compofed of 
a multitude of fcales, of a tough fubitance and 
yellowifh colour, laid irregularly over one ano- 
ther. : a 
The ftalic is fingle, thick, upright, undivided, 
and a foot and half high : its colour is yellowith, 
and its fubftance light and tender. 
At diftances, from the bottom to the top, 
there ftand certain little membranes of a yel- 
lowith brown alfo: thefe are fhort, and of an 
irregular figure, and are all it has by way of 
leaves: 
The flowers ftand at the top of the ftalk, and, 
for a great way down it, at diftances one from 
another ; and each has one of thefe little mem- 
branes under it. 
They are large, and gape very wide open: 
their colour is in part yellowifh, and in part a 
dead faded purple; and their threads are white, 
and have black buttons, which are as confpi- 
cuous as any thing in the flower. 
The feed-veflel is oblong, and large at the 
bottom : the feeds are very minute. 
It is common in barren paftures, and fome- 
times is found in cornfields. 
It grows no where fo plentifully as among } 
fields of broom on barren heathy hills; in thefe 
places it ufually grows to the root of the broom, 
and thence ‘obtained its Englifh name of droom- 
rape but they err who fuppofe it will not grow 
elfewhere. It flowers in July. Pa 
C. Bauhine calls it Orobanche major garyophyl- |: 
lum oleus. J. Bauhine, Orobanche flore majore, O- 
“thers, Orobanche vulgaris. 
This fpecies fometimes has a lightly aromatick 
fmell, but frequently nothing of this is to be ob- 
ferved : it depends in a great meafure on the place 
of growth and particular condition of the plant. 
Dii-V 1.S:1-O-N ID 
1. Great-flowered Broomrape. 
Orobanche flore maximo. 
This is a much larger plant than either of our 
kinds, and the flowers are alfo remarkably larger, 
even in proportion to the bignefs of the whole, 
The root is an irregular knob, with fome few 
ftraggling fibres: this knob is compofed of fcales, 
in the manner of ours, but it is not fo large. 
The ftalk is firm, upright, a yard high, and 
not at all branched ; and the whole plant is of a 
redifh colour. 
What ftand for leaves are only a kind of {mall 
membranes fticking clofe to the ftalk : there are 
more of them toward the bottom, fewer toward 
the top, and they are all of the fame colour with 
the ftalk, except that they are at firft a little 
deeper. 
FOREIGN 
BR beTss8\Hy ¢SeB B.C. Bes. 
‘It is good againft obftru€tions, and is bef 
given in a ftrong infufion, , 
The herb mutt be frefh gathered for this pur- 
pofe, and the whole cut into thin flices, and hav- 
ing water poured on it: this, with a little white 
wine and fyrup of marfhmallows, operates pow- 
erfully by urine, and is good in jaundices and 
obftructions of the fpleen. 
A confervé of it is alfo recommended by fome 
againft hypocondriac complaints: and an oint- 
ment made of it with lard againft {chirrous tu- 
mours, : 
2. Branched Broomrapes 
Orobanche ramofa. 
The root is thick, large, and tuberous ; it is 
compofed of numerous irregular feales, in the 
manner of the other; and there are feveral fibres 
grow to it. 
The ftalk is firm, erect, and vety much 
branched: it is of a redifh colour, much flen- 
derer than that of common broomrape, and of a 
firmer fubftance,and grows fix or eight inches high. 
The branches rife from it on all fides from the 
bottom nearly to the top. 
There aré no leaves but a few membranes, 
which are of a pale yellowith, and fometimes of 
-a purplith colour; and grow irregularly on the 
ftalk and branches. ; 
_ The flowers ftand in fpikes at the tops of the 
ftalks, thickly compacted together; and they are 
of a pale red, large, and confpicuous. ; 
The feed-veffel is oval, and the feeds are very 
minute, 
This is found in cornfields in the fouthern 
counties of England, but is not common, 
C. Bauhine calls it Orobanche ramofa. J. Bau- 
hine, Orobanche minor purpureis floribus five ra- 
mofa. 
The common broomrape is fometimes found with 
a flower fmaller than ordinary, and in this con- 
dition has been defcribed by fome as a difting 
fpecies; but itis no more than a variety owing 
to accident in the growth, ° 
5 P-EiCa ES. 
The flowers ftand at the top, in a thiek, fhort: 
fpike, or a large tuft ; and they are long, and of 
a deep purple; and are obvioufly diftinguithed 
by the buttons of the threads, which ftand out 
from the mouth of the flower. 
The feed-veflel is large and oblong ; and the 
feeds are very minute. 
It is frequent in woods in the fouth of France; 
and flowers in April. ; 
C. Bauhine calls it Orobanche flore majore. 
J. Bauhine, Orobanche magna purpurea monfpef- 
Sulana. ‘ 
2. Single-owered Broomrape. 
Orobanche flore folitario. 
The root is a fmall knot of a fcaly ftructure, 
from which there run lengthwife a few fibres. 
From 
