152 
Th BRITISH HERBAL. 
right, and, like all the other {purges, full of a 
milky juice. 
The leaves are numerous, Jong, narrow, and 
of a pale green: they have no footftalks ; they 
adhere by a narrow bafe, and fland out horizon- 
tally. 
The top divides into feveral branches, forming 
a very large umbel; and the plant, when in 
flower, isa yard high. 
Thefe upper branches have numerous leaves 
but they are unlike the others: they are broad at 
the bafe, and fmaller to the point; fo that they 
are in fome degree of a triangular form. 
The flowers are large and yellowifh, and the 
feed-vefiels very large, and deeply ribbed. 
When they are fully ripe, they burft in the 
hot fun, and the feeds fly out forcibly. 
It is a native of France andItaly. We keep it 
frequently in gardens, It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Lathyris major. 
call it Cataputia major. 
and Cataputia, without the addition of major. 
The reafon of calling this the greater catapu- 
tia is, that fome have defcribed what they call a 
fmaller fpecies ; but that differing, according to 
their own accounts, in nothing but fize, isa va- 
riety, and not a diftinct {pecies. 
Others 
6. Great Myrtle-Spurge. 
Tithymalus myrtifolius perennis. 
The root is thick, divided, and perennial. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, hollow, thick, 
G38E “EN jo Us § 
Others only Lathyris . 
and two feet high: 
not at all branched. 
The leaves are large, oblong, and fharp- 
pointed, of a blackith green, and drooping. 
The flowers are large, and of a greenifh yel- 
low: they ftand in fmall umbels. 
The feed-vefiel is large, and the feeds are 
blackith. 
It is a native of Germany, and flowers in Au- 
guft. : 
C. Bauhine calls it Tithymalus myrfinites angufti~ 
folius, Others, Tithymalus myrtifolius niger. 
All the fpecies of tithymal, Englith and fo- 
reign, agree in their qualities. They abound 
with a hot and acrid juice, which applied out- 
wardly eats away warts, and other excrefcences, 
The bark of the root of the e/z/a, and fome other 
kinds, have been at different times received in 
the fhops as medicines; but they are now alto- 
gether difufed. 
Their operation was by vomit and ftool; and 
they did both fo violently, that it is with great 
reafon they are banifhed the fhops, 
Some country-people have ventured to take 
{mall dofes of the juice of fpurge: it operates vio. 
lently, and is apt to erode and inflame the in- 
teftines. If any will venture to give the ¢fula 
bark, it fhould be corrected, by fteeping in vine. 
gar, and afterwards dried and powdered; and 
mace, and a few grains of gum tragacanth, 
mixed with it. 
they are perfectly ereét, and 
VI. 
PrbeAiN 1T.yAgtoNs 
PLANT AGO. 
MPHE flower confifts of four petals, joined at the bafe: the cup is formed of a fingle leaf, divided 
into four parts, and remains with the fruit: the feed-veffel is of an oval form, and the feeds aré 
numerous and fmall. 
Linnzus places this among the tetrandria monogynia ; the threads in each flower being four, and 
the ftyle from the rudiment of the capfule fingle. 
This author joins under the fame name fome other genera, as they are called by too many, Al 
with one exception, very juftly. They erred who made a peculiar genus of the coronopus or bucks- 
horn plantain; but Linnzus is as much in the wrong, when, on the other fide, he brings in the pfl- 
ium, or fleawort, into the fame genus. We fhall fhew the diftinétion when treating of p/yllium in the 
fucceeding part of this clafs ; there being no fpecies of it Britifh. We fee in this, as in many other 
inftances, how natural it is in avoiding an error on one fide, to commit one on the other 
of prudence is to keep the moderate courfe, and to know where to ftop. 
DULAVsLStleOrN sil: 
1. Smooth, broad-leaved Plantain. 
Plantago latifolia glabra. 
The root confifts of numerous, thick fibres, 
joined to a fmall head. 
The leaves rife in a great clufter; and are 
large, broad, and of a dead green: they are of 
an oval figure, broadeft at the bafe, fmaller to 
the end, where they terminate obtufely ; and they 
have long, hollow footttalks. 
The ribs are very large and confpicuous, and 
they run lengthwife of the leaves: there are 
ufually feven of them. 
The mark 
BURGI Ag ES He S-PE.Cs1- B.S. 
The ftalks rife among thefe, and are nume- 
rous, round, tough, and a foot high. 
They have no leaves on them; but 
bear a long, flender fpike of flowers. 
The flowers are fmall and inconfiderable : 
are of a greenifh white, and foon fade. 
The feed-veffel is {mall and oval, and the feeds 
are numerous and brown. : 
C. Bauhine calls it Planta ifoli 
£0 latifolia finuata, 
Others, Plantago latifolia vulgaris, Wein Eng. © 
lith, Great plantain, or Waybred. 2 
The leaves are ufually fmooth, and fometimes 
2 lightly 
at the tops 
they 
