« 
140 
he BR TT rs Ef ERB AE. : 
Common Frosbit. 
Hydrocharis vulgaris. 
The root confifts of feveral very long and 
thick fibres. 
‘From thefe rife alfo clufters of leaves and 
fide-fhoots : thefe laft are long and fender ; and, 
as they fpread every way from the central root, 
they fend up alfo tufts of leave, and, down- 
wards, roots like the firft. 
The leaves rife ten or twelve together, ahd are 
fupported on long, thick footftalks of a {pungy 
fubftance. 
They are round, but indented in a_heart- 
fafhioned manner at the infertion of the. ftalk, 
and are thick, fmooth, and of a dead green. 
The flowers are large and white: they ftand 
on long, flender footftalks. 
Gok 
Nee Us 
The feed-veffels are“large and ‘rounded; and 
the feeds are numerous and fmall. 
It is common in ditches {wiming on the water. 
It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Nymphea alba minima. O- 
thers, The leaft waterlilly, Frogbit, andMorfus rane. 
It has fometimes double flowers, and is in that 
condition defcribed by fome as a diftinct fpecies : 
but this is only a variety from rich and abundant 
nourifhment. I obferved a whole ditch near 
Thorny in the ifle of Ely covered with this 
double flowered kind; the water was thick and 
redith, 
The country people make a pultice of the frefh 
leaves boiled in milk, which they lay to fwel- 
lings: but nothing is known farther of its virtues. 
It is not ufed in the fhops. 
1g 
WA Te EeRS- Onl DOL EGR. 
STRATIOTES. 
ae flower is compofed of three petals, which are broad: there are two cups, the one is a 
hufk compofed of two membranes, which remains with the feed-veffel,; the other is formed 
of a fingle‘leaf, divided into three fegments, and falls off with the fower: the feed-veffel is oval, 
but marked with fix edges, and is divided within into fix ceils, and contains numerous feeds. , 
»Linneus places this among the polyandria bexagynia; the threads being numerous, and the ftyles 
from the rudiment of the capfule fix, anfwering to the fix feparate cells or divifions in the: fruit - 
the feeds are crooked. 
Common Water Soldier. 
Stratiotes vulgaris. 
The root is compofed of feveral long, thick, 
white fibres with tufted ends: they are naked 
from the top to the bottom but juft at the ex- 
tremity they have feveral fmall, fhort filaments, 
which f{pread every way. 
From this root rife numerous leaves of a fin- 
gular figure: they are long and narrow, thickeft 
and broadeft at the bafe, and fharp at the point : 
they are flefhy, firm, of a deep green colour, and 
_ armed with flight prickles along the edges. 
The ftalks rife among thefe, and are naked, 
round, thick, and of a pale green. 
The flowers are large and white, with a tuft 
of yellow threads in the centre. 
The feed-veffel is large, and the feeds are long, 
crooked, and, as it were, winged. 
It is common in the fen countries, the ifle of 
Ely, and elfewhere ; and flowers in July. 
It fwims upon the water, or is fometimes half 
way buried in it; and, though the roots are 
confiderably long, they rarely reach the bottom, 
C. Bauhine calls it Aloe paluftris. Others, 
Aizoon paluftre, and Militaris aizoides, and Aloides, 
Nothing is known of a certainty of its virtues ; 
but the old women ufe it externally as cooling 
and repellent. : 
‘Th END o te SEVENTH CLASS, 
4 THE 
