330 The 
BRITISH HERBAL. 
Dl Vil Sls OeNo.als. srs BAR 
Common Cuckowpint. 
Arum vulgare. 
The root is a roundifh, tuberous lump, brown 
on the outfide, and white within, placed at a 
confiderable depth under the furface, and furnifhed 
with a few fibres, 
The leaves are placed on long, thick footftalks 5 
and they are very large, and of an arrow-headed 
fhape, fplit deep at the bafe, and fharp at the 
point: they are of a fine frefh green, and are of- 
ten fpotted with black, and fometimes with white 
fpots. 
The ftalk rifes in the midft of thefe, and is 
furrounded by the hollow bafes of their foot- 
ftalks: it is round, thick, and ten inches high: 
on its top ftands a fingle flower. The thready 
part at the bottom is yellowifh: the receptacle, 
which is lengthened out in form of a club, is red, 
purple, or white ; for thefe are accidental varieties, 
The berries are of a fine bright red. 
DIVAS 1 ON: I. FO 
1. Aigyptian Arum. 
Arum AEgyptiacum. 
The root is very large, tuberous, and of an 
irregular form; of a redifh brown on the outfide, 
white within, and of an acrid tafte, but not fo 
violently fharp as our arum. 
The leaves grow fingly on long, thick foot- 
ftalks: they are very large, of a deep fhining 
green, and of a fhape fomewhat approaching to 
heart-fafhioned: they are broad at the bafe, and 
are there very lightly and bluntly indented: they 
are from this part gradually fmaller to the end, 
where they terminate obtufely ; and the ftalk is 
not inferted at the edge, but in the fubftance of 
the leaf, a third below the top. 
The ftalk which fupports the flower is round, 
thick, juicy, and of a pale green, 
The flower refembles that of our common arum. 
The cup is a great, oblong, hollow cafe: the 
club within is white, and of an uneven furface ; 
and the thready part is yellow. 
The berries are large and red. 
It is a native of (Egypt, and of the Greek 
iflands. It rarely flowers. 
C.Bauhine calls it Arum maximum Eegyptium 
quod vulgo Colacafia, Others, Arum Agyptium, 
and Colaca/fia. 
The root is eaten in AZgypt, and other parts 
of the Eaft, as food ; and it is not confined in this 
ufe to the place where it naturally grows, but fold 
GP" see ee Neu: 
ECS .bha S Ear CLES, 
Tt is common under hedges, and flowers in May. 
C. Bauhine and others call it Arum vulgare, 
and Arum maculatum. ( 
Some have defcribed the fpotted kind as a 
diftinét fpecies ; but the variety is altogether ac- 
cidental, 
It is a very powerful and excellent medicine. 
It operates by urine, and is good againft the 
gravel. 
A piece of it bruifed and laid upon the tongue, 
has reftored the fpeech in paralytick cafes; and 
a conferve of it, made with two-thirds fugar, has 
done eminent fervice in the fcurvy, and in rheu- 
matifms. 
The virtues of it are lefs known than they 
fhould be, from this fingle circumftance, that it 
is commonly ufed dry. It lofes all its efficacy with 
its juice ; and this the tafte manifefts. Nothing 
is more acrid than the frefh root; but when 
dry it is infipid. 
REIGN SPECIES. 
into other countries. The fharpnefs of its tafte 
goes off by foaking in water, or by drying : ei- 
ther way ferves to prepare it for the table. What 
Bontius writes of its being poifonous, has no 
other meaning than that it is acrid. Three days 
foaking in water, he fays, takes off all its ill qua- 
lities ; and this, or a much fhorter time, is found 
perfectly well to prepare it for food pleafantly 
and wholefomely. 
2. Arrow-leaved Arum. 
Arum foliis anguftis fagittatis. 
The root is brown, large, tuberous, and sath 
nifhed with a few thick fibres, 
The leaves are numerous; and they are placed 
on long, flender footftalks : hes are of a perfeét 
arrow-headed fhape, oblong, flender, fharp- 
pointed, fplit at the bafe, and with fharp points 
alfo to the beards. 
The flower rifes upon a flender green ftalk, 
and is contained inva hollow cafe or cup: this is 
green on the outfide, yellowifh within, and highly 
ribbed. : 
The club is ufually yellow, fometimes white or 
purple. 
The berries are red. 
It is common in the American iflands, and 
flowers in April. 
‘Plokenet calls it Arum minus fagittaria foliis. 
S XIII. 
BUTCHERS BROOM. 
Raw. Ui: Sic Ges Uae S. 
HE flower has no petals. 
The cup is compofed of fix fmall leaves, of an oval form, convex, 
and turned at one edge: three of thefe ftand inward, and have by fome been miftaken for pe- 
tals of a lower. The fruit is a round berry, 
1 
divided within into three cells, in each of which are two 
feedsg 
