156 
The *B¢R I-T 1-s-H aati Siete 
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8, sabe RT 
Es I. 
Thofe of which there is no fpecies native of this country. 
Go Ea aN 
U Ss I, 
RG-UROE! 
Reo, ee dh 
A flower is compofed of four petals, which are holfow, narrow, and ftand open, and it has a 
tuft of threads in the centre: 
fegments at the edge, and permanent : 
the cup is fmall, formed of a fingle piece, but divided into four 
the feed veffel is large and fingle, but compofed of four lobes, 
and lightly divided into four partitions: the feeds are numerous and rough. 
Linnaus places this among the offandria monogynia ; 
the rudiment of the eapfule with its ftyle fingle. 
i i iation i moft flower of rue, it having 
24 ometimes a variation in the upperr 
a tele wherever fo numerous, 
there are alfo found ten inftead of eight threads in the 
This fhews the uncertainty of any one part, much more of any fmall part 
When it happens that even there is 
feed-veffel fhews a difference from all other plants, 
tals; but in that cafe all the reft of the flowers, 
in the cafe of five petals, 
generical character. 
eflential part in a generical character. 
1. Common’ Rue. 
Ruta fylveftris. 
The root is long and large, divided into many 
parts, and furnifhed with numerous fibres, 
The ftalk is round, and; when the plant has 
ftood fome time; it grows hard and woody, and is 
covered with a greyifh bark. At firft it is tender 
and green, and the branches and young Shoots 
continue of that texture’ and colour: it rifes' to 
two or three feet’ high, fometimes more, and is 
very much: brariched) 
The leaves are’ very numerous, of a bluith co- 
Jour, thick, cand: of a flethy fubftance : they 
are, properly fpeaking, doubly pinnated, feveral 
pairs: of pinnated: leaves growing on a middle 
rib, and each of thefe being compofed of four or 
five’ pair of finall ones' on its rib, with an odd 
leaf at the end; : but they are'fo numerous, that 
this difpofition is not’ much regarded:: thefe {e- 
parate leaves are’ fhort, broad, and’ obtue. 
The flowers ftand at’ the tops of the branches 
in large tufts, and are fmall, and of a bright 
yellow. : 
The feed-veffel is large, and feems as if com- 
pofed of four parts, and the feeds are rough. 
Tt is a native of the fouthern parts of Europe, 
and flowers in Auguft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Ruta hortenfis latifolia, 
Others, Ruta major latifolia, And we, Common 
rue, and Garden rue, 
Rue is:a plant of a very ftrong tafte and fmell, 
and of very powerful qualities. Rubbed upon 
the fkin, it raifes an inflammation, and is ufed by 
fome in this manner againft headachs. 
They diftil a water from it in the fhops, which 
has little virtue, for the qualities of rue are not of 
that kind which rife in diftillation, 
There is no better wa 
y of giving it than ina 
conferve made of the fr 
efh tops, beaten up with 
and is confiftent and unifor 
the threads in each flower being eight, and 
five inftead of four pe- 
confift only of four each: 
flower. 
of a plant, to fix a 
a petal too much in the flower, ftill the 
m: this therefore is an 
fugar. In this form itis excellent againft hyfterick 
complaints arifing from fuppreffions of the men- 
fes; and taken for a continuance againft the epi- 
lepfy. 
The juice of rue, exprefied with white wine, 
and taken’ in very {mail dofes, is a remedy for 
that troublefome difeafe the nightmare. 
An infufion of it taken for a Continuance of 
time, is greatly recommended alfo againit difor- 
ders of the eyes, 
The antients had an opinion of rue as a pre- 
ferver of chattity, or a preventer of lewd thoughts; 
but we give no medicines for diforders of the mind, 
C. Bauhine defcribes another kind of rue, un- 
det the name of Ruta bortenfis altera; but it is 
only a variety, not a diftingt f{pecies ; 
efcribed- by 
authors to Be alfo Varieties: we fhall thew by 
défcriptions that they are fuf- 
The true botanit fhould be as 
careful to 
Ppreferve the really. 
feparate fpecies of plants 
under their prefent names, as to explode from 
that number thofe which have’ been called fo» 
but: are only varieties. Mott have been too la- 
vifh on this head; Linnzus is too confined. 
The fpecies of plants, according to the generality 
of authors, taking all they have ‘fuppofed to be 
diftin@, amount to about fixteen thoufand three 
Linneus would reduce them to lef 
than ten thoufand; but a Moderate computation 
will eftablith them ‘at about twelve thoufand 
four hundred, This is the neareft account of the 
number of known plants. 
2. Sharp-leaved Rue, 
Ruta foliis acuminatis, 
The root is long, th 
hick, divided, and furnifhed 
with numerous fibres. . 
The 
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