4 
ThA BRETFISRI HERG ay 
rae 
UNE nate g 
Ii. 
Fie ltatienan Won@, esa, 
LENE ED IST SUB, 
TH flower is compofed of four fmall oval petals, joined at their bate: 
ormed of a fingle piece, and divided into five fegments at the edoe: the f i 
oe: d- 
anid the feeds are numerous : the ftalks are branched, and have leaves upon thet a, 
Linneus places this among the tetrandria monogynia ; 
the ftyle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. 
the cup is very fmal], 
3 
the threads in each flower being four, and 
He joins it, as before obferved, with the plaritain not allowing it to be a diftj 
2 . . 4 4 e 
Mr. Ray probably led him into this error, for he firft fell into it; but the sce ie perfectly 
diftinct. 
The flowers and feed veffels agree indeed in both; but the ftalks, 
and manner of growing, differ 
altogether : the plantains have leaves from the root only, and fimple ftalks ; the phyilliums have 
branched ftalks, and leaves on them, 
1. Common Fleawort. 
Pyllium vulgare. 
The root is long, thick, white, and furnifhed 
with many fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, very much 
branched, and a foot and half high. 
The leaves are numerous: they ftand alter- 
nately, and are long and narrow, of a deep green : 
they are not at all divided at the edges, but 
pointed at the ends; and they commonly have 
tufts of young ones, and rudiments of branches, 
in their bofoms: fo that the whole plant has a 
confufed afpect. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the branches 
in fmall, round fpikes: they are little, and in- 
confiderable. 
The feed-vefiels are {mall and oval, and the 
feeds are very numerous and glofly: their colour 
is black, and from their fhape, fize, and fhi- 
ning furface, they have been fuppofed to refemble 
fleas. 
It is common in the hedges of all the warmer 
parts of Europe, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pfyllium majus erectum. 
Others, P/yllium vulgare. 
The feeds are ufed for making a mucilage, 
which is good in fore mouths, wafhing the mouth 
well, and fpitting it out. 
It has been given internally as a purge; but 
there are accounts of very bad effeéts from it, 
faintings,/and imminent danger of death: it is 
therefore difufed. 
2. Jagged Fleawort. 
 Phllium foliis ferratis. 
The root is long, white, and flender. 
The ftalk is round, upright, branched, and a 
foot and half high. 
The leaves ftand alternately, and are long, 
narrow, and jagged, and of a pale green, 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the branches, 
in oblong fpikes, and “are fmall and inconfi. 
derable. 
The feed-veffel is oval, and the feeds are large 
and black. 
It is a native of the Eaft, and flowers in 
Jurie. : 
C. Bauhine calls it P/iium Diofcoridis, vel In- 
dicum foliis crenatis. 
This, and not our common kind, feems to 
have been the flecwort of the antients; but they 
appear fo much the fame in Virtues, that the dif- 
ference is not effential. 
3. Creeping Fleawort. 
Pfyllium repens. 
The root is long, and divided, and furnithed 
with many fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, and of a pale 
green, 
They lie upon the ground for the greateft part 
of their length, and only raife up thoots of ten 
inches high to bear the flowers, ; 
The main branches, as they lie, take root at 
the joints, and the plant fpreads into very large | 
tufts. 
The leaves are long, narrow, of a greyifh 
green, and a little hairy: they ftand alternately, 
and have thick tufts of {mall leaves, and fhoots 
of young branches in their bofoms. 
The flowers fland in fhort tufts or fpikes, on 
long footftalks rifing from the bofoms of the 
leaves, and they are fmall and whitith. 
The feed-veffels. are oval, and the feeds are 
fmall. 
Tt flowers in autumn, but the young fhoots are 
frefh and green the greateft part of winter. 
It is frequent in the fouth of France. 
C.Bauhine calls it P/yliium majus fupinum. Lo- 
bel, Pfyllium Jempervirens, Evergreen fleawort 3 
and the common writers follow him. 
Thefe are the plants, native and foreign, com- 
monly cultivated, which have four petals in the 
flower, and a fingle capfule for the feeds. 
We have obferved there is a numerous family 
of plants, with four petals in the flower, and a 
pod, not a capfule, for the feeds: thefe, if the 
number of the petals only were regarded in this 
method, would follow here; but our charaéters 
are eftablifhed upon the flower and feed-vefiels 
together; we fhall therefore here purfue the tract 
of 
