+ 
+. 
8 Tie “PORE ao a Le RBA 
. 
and alittle hairy : they are of a fine green colour, 
and fharply ferrated. 
The ftalks rife in the centre of thefe, four 
or five from each head of the root. They are 
Jong, flender, redifh, and run upon the ground 
in the manner of thofe of cinquefoil, and fend 
roots at every joint downwards, and tufts of 
leaves, and often new ftalks upwards. 
The flowers are moderately large, and of a 
beautiful yellow, with a little tuft of paler threads 
in the middle: They confift each of four petals, 
whence it is plain the plant is a sormentill, not 
a cinquefoil. : 
When thefe are fallen, the feeds ripen in a 
fmall oval ¢lufters 
Gre Es Neu Ss 
It is not common. Plot and Morifon found it 
in Oxfordfhire. I have feen it on the edge of 
Charlton foreft in Suffex, 
Its virtues are probably of the fame kind with 
thofe of the former, but in a lefs degree, 
Morifon calls it Pentaphyllum minus viride flore 
auveo tetrapetalo radiculos in terram ad genicula dé- 
mittens. Plot, Pentaphyllum reptans aureum foliis 
profundius ferratis. : 
Bauhine and others defcribe a larger kind of 
tormentill with a fweet-fcented root; but this is 
an accidental variety, not a diftin&t {pecies. 
VI. 
ACV EUN-S, 
CARYOPHYIYLLATA,. 
ELE flower of avens confitts of five petals, with a tuft of threads in the centre. 
The feeds have 
long and crooked hairs growing to them; and the leaves are pinnated. i 
Linnaeus ranks this among the icofandria polginia ; and taking away its antient and proper name, 
calls it geum, 
This laft is a name ufually underftood to be long to a very different plant. This is therefore one 
of thofe inftances in which he has brought in needlefs confufion. 
The antient name, caryophyllata, 
3s very proper; the root of this plant having a fragrant and aromatick fmell, refembling that of 
the clove fpice, caryophyllus. 
D WNVIgS ION 1) 
1. Common Avens. 
Caryophyllata vulgaris. 
The root is thick, and of an irregular figure, and 
ufually lies obliquely in the ground. It is of a 
redifh colour, an auftere tafte, and a very light, 
pleafant, aromatick fmell; and has many thick 
fibres. : 
The leaves rife in a little clufter fix or eight 
together and are of a very pretty fhape. They 
are pinnated, but ina fingular manner, the feve- 
ral pairs of {mall leaves on the fides bearing no 
proportion to the odd one at the end, which is 
large and rounded. There are three or four of 
thefe pairs, and they are fmall, broad, and ob- 
tule. The colour of the whole leaf is a pale 
green, and it is fomewhat hairy. 
The ftalk is round, firm, hard, upright, and 
branched. There ftand irregularly on it feveral 
leaves. They have a couple of broad, fhort 
fegments at the flakk; and at the extremity 
are divided into three parts, and are deeply 
ferrated, 
The flowers are fmall and yellow, and ‘have 
threads of a paler colour in the centre. 
The feeds ftand in a large button, naked, and 
furnifhed with hooked points. 
It is common in paftures and under hedges ; 
and flowers in June, 
Authors deferibe j 
Phyllata vulgaris , 
and herb bennet. 
t under the name of caryo- 
in Englith we call it avens 
Tt poffefles the virtues of the tormentill, but is 
more a cordial, and fudorifick with lef aftrin- 
gency. The root in powder, is good in fevers 
attended with diarrheas. ‘Ten grains is a dofe. 
‘An infufion made by pouring a pint of boiling 
BRUT PS SB c PR's: 
water on half an ounce of it cut to flices, is an 
excellent fudorifick. The powder of the root in 
a dofe of half a dram, repeated in the manner 
of the bark, will frequently cure agues, where 
the bark irfelf, through ill management, has 
failed, 
The phyfician often meets with patients who 
are'fo averfe to the bark that they will not touch 
it: thefe home-produced remedies thould then be 
tried, for they will generally fucceed. 
2. Purple Avens, 
Caryophyllata flore purpurea. 
The root is oblong, irregularly fhaped, and 
lies obliquely under the farface : it is black on 
the outfide, paler within, and has many thick 
black fibres. Its tafte is auftere and bitterith. 
The leaves rife in little clufters, and ftand on 
fhort pedicles, They are compofed each of fe- 
veral pairs of {mall pinnee, and a large rounded 
leaf at the end. They are notched rudely and 
irregularly at the edges, and are a little hairy. 
At firft they are of a pale, afterwards of a brown- 
ifh green; and in fome places, but not in all, 
they have a pleafant finell: this variation is per- 
ceived alfo in the roots of the other kind, which 
are very fragrant in fome places, and little fo in 
others. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, hairy, and 
robuft: they are a foot or more in height, and 
divide into many branches, Their leaves are fmall, 
notched, hairy, and difpofed irregularly, 
The flowers are fmall, ftriated, and purple. 
They grow in a pendent manner on the tops of 
the branches, or on little bending, hairy footftalks 
tifing from them toward the top. They feldom 
open perfectly. Their colour isa deep purple on 
the 
