26 ro) The 
BRET SH HER BAL. 
The ftalk is round, upright, hairy, whitifh, 
and eight inches high. 
The leaves on this are fhort and broad, of a 
whitifh ‘green, very hairy, and foft to the touch. 
The flowers ftand in little tufts at the tops of 
the ftalk and branches; and they are moderately 
large, and of a fine gold ycllow. 
G._E 
Noes 
The feed-vefléls are oval and fmall, and they 
have a little white point: the feeds are fmall and 
brown. ‘ 
It is frequent in Germany, and flowers in 
May. ® ig 
G. Bauhine calls it Burfa paftoris Alpina bir fi. 
ta. Columna, Draba minima muralis. 
IV. 
SHEPHERDS PURSE. 
BUR S <A 
PANS Te Om AE 5: 
Tee flower is compofed of four petals, which difplay themfelves crofs-ways; they are {mall, of 
an oval figure, and have very narrow bottoms: the cup is formed of four little, hollow leaves, 
which fall with the flower: the feed-veffel is flat, large, and heart-fafhioned, narrow at the bafe, 
broad, and indented at the extremity, and full of {mall feeds. 
Linnzus ranges it among the tetradynamia Siliculofa ; the flower having four longer and two fhorter 
threads, and the feed-veffel being a filicula. 
a fpecies of rhla/pi. 
He does not keep it as a diftiné: genus, but makes it 
The feed-veflels of the #b/a/pi are indeed parted by a nick at the end, but they have not the pecu- 
liar form of thofe in this plant; which, from their refemblance of a pouch or wallet, have obtained 
the herb a name peculiar to itfelf; and preferved it through moft writers. 
There is but one known fpecies of /bepherds purfe, and that is a native of Britain. Authors have — 
defcribed feveral varieties of it as diftinét fpecies ; but they all rife from the fame feed, 
Common Shepherds Purfe. 
Burfa poftoris vulgaris. 
The root is long, flender, white, and furnifhed 
with many fibres. 
The firft leaves are numerous, and they fpread 
themfelves in a circular manner on the ground : 
they are long, narrow, and deeply indented along 
the edges in a pinnated manner : their colour is a 
dufky green. , 
This is their ufual form: but when the plant 
has little nourifhment, they are. fometimes fcarce 
at all divided; and, on the other hand, when it 
grows rank, they are finuated more frequently, 
and down to the rib: thefe are the two condi- 
tions in which the plant has been defcribed as if 
of different fpecies ; in the one ftate it has been 
called fhepherds purfe with undivided leaves, and in 
the other ducks-horn-leaved fhepherds purfe; but 
the fpecies is the fame in all, the degree of nou- 
rifhment only making the difference. 
The ftalks rife feveral together in the center of 
the tuft of leaves; and are round, tough, up. 
right, and branched : their colour is a pale green, 
and they are a foot or more in height : the leaves 
on thefe are long and narrow; the lower ones are 
deeply ferrated, the upper ones fcarce at all; and 
they furround the ftalk at the bafe. 
The flowers are {mall and white, and the feed- 
Go Ee aN 
veffels are broad and flat: the feeds are nume- 
rous, and very minute. : 
It is common in wafte places, and flowers all 
fummer. 
C. Bauhine calls it Burfa paftoris major folio f.- 
nuato. Others, Burfa paftoris vulgaris. 
That author, and many others, make the 
whitlow grafs a fpecies of this genus; but very 
improperly, the form of the feed-veffel being a 
moft obvious mark of their diftinétion. 
Shepherds purfe is an inftance of a very great 
and important truth, that Providence has made 
the moft ufeful things moft common ; and that 
men therefore neglect them. Few plants have 
greater virtues than this, which is yet utterly dif- 
regarded. : : 
A decottion of the dried herb is a gentle and 
fafe aftringent, good in fevers, attended with 
diarrhoeas, and inferior to few things againft an 
habitual purging. 
The juice of the leaves is cooling and aftrin- 
gent : two {poonfuls of it, with one of red wine, 
are excellent againft overflowings of the menfes. 
A ftrong decoétion of the frefh plant is good 
againft loofeneffés attended with bloody ftools, 
and againft {pitting of blood. Such and fo ufe- 
ful is this common plant, trampled every where 
under foot as if poffefféd of no qualities. 
as) V. 
HORSE RADISH. 
RAPHANUS RUSTICANUS. 
HIS, like the thepherds purfe, is a plant diftiguithed by Nature from all others, but which the 
modern writers of botany have, as in that inftance, joined with thofe to which it has no true 
alliance. 
The flower is compofed of four fmall petals, which difplay themfelves crofs-ways ; thefe are of an 
I 
inverted 
