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TD Heh? BERS Tapers 
HATE TRABIAGET aha" 
1. Common Purflain. 
Portulaca vulgaris. 
The root is long, thick, and hung with many 
fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, thick, weak, and 
very much branched : they are of a foot or more 
in length, and they fpread themfelves upon the 
ground: they are of a frefh green colour, and of 
athick, flefhy, tender fubftance: fometimes they 
are red toward the bottoms, but that more when 
cultivated than when in the wild ftate. 
The leaves are numerous, oblong, and rounded 
at the ends: they are very thick and flefhy, of a 
pale green, fometimes redifh, and of a tender 
fubftance. 
The flowers are fmall and inconfiderable : they 
are of a faint greenifh yellow, and ftand clofe in 
the bofoms of the leaves. 
The feed-veffel is fmall, and of an oval figure, 
and the feeds are numerous and minute. 
It is a native of the warmer parts of Europe, 
and flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Portulaca anguftifolia fyl- 
vefiris. 
When it is brought into gardens, and enlarged 
by culture, the leaves grow thicker and broader, 
In this ftate it has been defcribed by many as if a 
diftin&t fpecies : they have called it Portulaca la- 
tifolia fativa, Broad leaved garden purflain, in op- 
pofition to this, which they call the xarrow-leaved 
Ge bee Nea Users 
wild purflains but there is no more difference 
than is merely the effect of cultare. 
It is raifed for the table, and is cooling, and 
geod againft the feurvy. 
2. Hairy Purflain. 
Portulaca pilofa, 
The root is long, flender, and furnifhed with 
many fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous and thick: they lie 
in part upon the ground, and are in part tole- 
rably upright. 
The leaves are oblong, narrow, and fharp- 
pointed: they ftand alternately at confiderable 
diftances, and they have a tuft of hairy matter 
in their bofoms. 
The flowers are very fmall, and of a faint red: 
they ftand in the bofoms of the leaves, and parti- 
cularly at the tops of the ftalks and branches, 
-where there is akind of fpreading head, formed 
by a large tuft of leaves, with a great deal of hairy 
matter at their bafe. 
The ftalk is lightly hairy, and the leaves are of 
a light fhining green, 
It isa native of South America, and flowers 
in July. 
Herman calls it Portulaca lanuginofa pfyllii 
folio creétior, et elatior flore dilute rubente. Others 
call it Portulaca orientalis birfutofolio, { 
IX, 
GOR CHO RUS. 
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rp BE flowet is compofed of five petals regularly difpofed: the feed-veffel is very largé, and jg 
formed of five valves, and contains five cells: the cup is formed of five {mall leaves, and faljs 
with the flower. 
Linnaeus places this among the polyandria monogynia ; the threads in the centre of the Aower bez 
ing numerous, and rifing from the receptacle, and the ftyle ftom the rudiment of the fruit fingle. — 
1. Long-fruited Corchorus. 
Corchorus folits crenatis barbatis fructu longo. 
The root is long, flender, and full of fibres. 
The ftalk is ftriated, round, upright, a foot 
and a half high, and divided into many branches. 
The leaves ftand irregularly on it, and they 
are large, of an oval form, but pointed, and 
of a pale green. : 
They are fharply ferrated all the way at the 
edges, and the two points of the ferratures on 
each fide neareft the footftalk, run out into each 
a long, flender, hooked filament of a purplifh co- 
lour ; this gives them the name of barbated 
leaves. 
The flowers rife from the bofoms of the leaves: 
they are fuppotted on fhort footftalks, and are 
of a pale yellow. 
The feed-veffel is very long and flender: it is 
pointed at the end, and contains numerous feeds. 
It is a native of Egypt and Amercia, and 
flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Corchorus Plinii. 
Alcea olitoria, five corchorus Americana. 
Others, 
2, Short-fruited Corchorus; 
Corchorus fructu brevi foliis oblongis barbutis: 
The root is large, and divided. 
The ftem is hard, woody, branched, and co= 
vered with a yellowifh bark. 
The leaves are placed irregularly ; and they 
are long, broad toward the bafe, and continued 
to a narow point: they are ferrated all the way 
at the edges, and the two lower ferraturés, as in 
the former, are continued into flender; hooked; 
or curled filaments. 
The flowers ftand in the bofoms of the leaves; 
and are fmall, and of a whitifh yellow. 
The feed-veffel is large, fhort, and marked 
on the outfide with five cuts, and in the fame 
manner divided into five parts within: the feeds 
are numerous and large. 
It is a native of the Eaft, and of America, and 
flowers in Auguft. : : 
Plukenet calls it Corchorus Americanus pra= 
longis foliis capfula ftriata fubrotunda brevi. 
The ufe of thefe plants is for the table, not for ‘ 
. medicine. 
2 GENUS 
