BIL 
The RoR ted LS cH Boe Agi. 
Ae Broad-leaved white Nigella. 
Nigella latifolia flore albo. 
The root is long, flender, and huag with 
many fibres. 
The firft leaves are large, and have long foot- 
ftalks : they are-divided into three principal parts, 
and thofe are again notched and fubdivided ; and 
they are of a dufky green. 
"The ftalks are round, weak, and white: they 
ftand but imperfeétly upright, and are very much 
branched. 
The leaves on thefe are oblong, and divided 
into broad, notched fegments, in a pinnated man- 
ner. 
The flowers ftand fingly at the extremities of 
the branches, and are large and white: they have 
nothing of that clufter of leaves under them, 
which diftinguifhes fome of the others. 
The feed veflel is oblong, large, and full of 
rough feed in five cells. 
Ic is frequent in the Greek iflands, and flowers 
in Augutt. 
Gok 
Nak US 
Alpinus calls it Nigella alba flore fimplici, 
Pona, Nigella alba Cretica odorata, the flowers 
and feeds having a fragrant {mell. 
Thefe fpecies all poffefs the fame virtues, but 
the firft defcribed has them in the greateft de- 
gree. The feeds are to be preferred to any other 
part: they are deobftruent and diuretic, good in 
all obftru€tions of the vifcera, and againft the 
gravel. 
Some have recommended this feed as a fpecific 
againft agues; but the bark has fuperfeded all 
other medicines for that ufe. 
The root externally applied, ftops bleeding; 
Tt is a cuftom in the Eaft to chew it, and put i 
up the nofe in hemorrhages from that part. 
It is fingular, that the flowers of the blue nj- 
gella afford a green colour, If they are bruifed 
and rubbed on linen, they ftain it toa frefh green,' 
which holds through many wafhings. It would 
be therefore worth confidering, whether they 
might not be ufeful in dying; for the plant is ea- 
fily cultivated, and the flowers arenumerous. Ie 
would grow on any indifferent light land. 
VII. 
Basle 1S: AtoM: 
BEA ES SAV Me TaN As 
veflel is of a roundifh form, and the cup is compofed of two leaves. 
SpE flower is compofed of five irregularly-difpofed petals,-and has a fpur behind: the feed. 
Linnaeus places this among the /yngenefia polygamia monogamia, making it the fame genus with the 
impatiens : but thefe plants, as I have fhewn already, differ as genera, not as {pecies of the fame cenus. 
The form of the feed-veffel alone were fufficient to eftablith the diftinétion ; but there are others ob- 
vious enough, and as effential. 
Common Balfam. 
Balfamina foliis lanceolatis. 
The root is large, thick, and fpreading. 
The ftalks are thick, flefhy, and very much 
branched: they are of a tender fubftance, and of 
a pale green. 
The leaves ftand irregularly on them ; and they 
are long, narrow, and fharp-pointed, and ele- 
gantly ferrated at the edges: their colour is a 
frefh green. i 
The flowers are large and beautiful: they grow 
fingly on fhort footftalks rifing from the bofoms 
of the leaves, and they have a fhort {pur behind: 
\ 
Gos gee | US 
their colour is naturally a bright red, but they 
change contiaually into white and variegated : 
the fame plant will frequently afford them at the 
fame time many different colours and variega- 
tions. 
The feed-veffel is roundifh, and rough; and 
when ripe, it burfts open with violence, and 
fcatters the feed, een ee 
It is a native of the Eaft, but it ftands the fum- 
mer perfeétly well in our gardens. It flowers in 
July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Balfamina femina. Others 
only, Balfamina. Our gardeners | i 
name of Balfam. : oeiaa 
VII. 
PURSLAIN. 
POVR Tag LL 4.6 4 
"THE flower is compofed of five equal petals regularly difpofed s 
and covered; fplitting in the middle when ripe, and containin 
{mall, and divided into two pafts, and it remains when the flower i aller ore 
the feed-veffel is of an oval figure, 
the cup is very 
Linneeus places this among the polyandria monogynia ; i 
Z nia; the threads in t ‘ 
numerous, and fixed to the receptacle, and the ftyle from the sore biti he Giuls GE mee 
1. Common 
x 
my 
