4+ 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
GENUS XI. 
STAVESACRE. 
S r A P H I S A G R I A. 
THE leaves are thick, palmated, or divided into broad fegments from their footllallv, and in 
the whole of a rounded figure. The flowers confift of five petals ; the upper one of which 
is obtufe in the fore part, and runs behind into a fpur : the feeds are contained in capfulcs, three 
fucceeding every flower. 
Linnfcus places this among the folyaniria Irigyma, and makes it a fpccics of larkfpur. 
The flower indeed difl^rs little from that of the larkfpur, but the leaves fufliciendy. 
Sla-jefam has been called by that diftinft name among the antients, and has peculiar virtues, 
which are not found in larklpur : wherefore, in works intended for utility, the diftinflion Ihould 
be prefcrved and fupixjrted, fo far as nature gives foundation. 
Striaiy, that digitated larkfpur dcfcribed lall: but one, might be called a kind of Jiavefacre. The 
authors who have named it, we fee know not well to what genus to refer it; and it bcft belongs to 
this, a genus diftinguiflied from larkfpur by broad digitated leaves ; but for the fame reafon that I 
have not called jiavefacre a larkfpur, I have not named that larkfpur a Jtavcfacrc; that is. becaufc it 
has not the qualities of Jiavefacre. 
The ronfidernte reader will fee in this inftancc how far the ftj-iancfs of method is to be indulged in 
works of this kind, and where it is to be made free with. There is no way bcfides to write at once 
fcientifically and ufefully. 
Of this genus therefore, thus dillinguilhed, there is but one fpecies, which is not known in Bri- 
tain, except in gardens. 
Stavefacre. 
Slaphifagria.' 
The root K long, thick, woody, and furnilhed 
with many fibres. 
The leaves that rife from it ate fupportcd on 
long, thick, pale, and fomewhat hairy foot- 
ftalks : they are large, of a deep unpleafant 
green, and divided down to the ftalk, into five, 
fix, or more broad indented fegments. 
The ftalk is round, thick, upright, two feet 
and a half high, and very much branched. 
Its leaves ftand irregularly, and in fhape re- 
femble thole from the root. 
The flowers fl:and in long fpikes at the tops 
of the branches ; and are large, and of a duflty 
blue. They much refemble the flowers of the 
larkfpur ; but they arc larger. 
The feeds are contained in capfulcs, thtec of 
which ufually, and fometimes four, follow every 
flower. 
They are large, hard, and rough. 
It is common in the Levant, and in many of 
the warmer parts of Europe, and thrives very 
well in our gardens. 
Linnsus calls it Delphijiium neSiarih diphyUis 
foliij palmatis lohis inlegrts. C. Bauhine, and 
others, from the days of Theophraftus, Staphis- 
agrla. 
The druggifts keep the feeds of Jiavefacre: 
they have been given in fmall dofes as a purge in 
dropfies, and other defperate diforders ; but they 
are very rough. 
Some chew them in the tooth-ach, in which 
cafe they bring a great deal of water into the 
mouth, and fometimes are of fervice ; but their 
greateft ufe is among the vulgar, for defliroying 
vermin in their childrens heads ; for this purpofe 
they have tlie feeds coarfely powdered, and ftrew 
them on ; and this never fails. 
GENUS XII. 
WHITEDITTANY. 
FRAXINELL.I. 
THE flower confifts of five petals, three of which turn upwards, and two or three fideways ; and 
it ftands in a fmall five-leaved cup. The feeds are contained in capfulcs ; five of which follow 
every flower, and grow together. , „ . „ r i, 
Linnxus places this among the decandria mcnogynia, and allows it to be a genus diltmtt trom all 
others ; but he takes away its ufual and anticnt name frexinella, and calls it diSiamnus. This is doubly 
mon"', in that it introduces at the fame time confufion and error. Dictamnus is underfl:ood among 
the dru-J^ifts and apothecaries as the name of another plant, the leaves of which arc ufed in medicine, 
and whTcli we (ball defcribe in its place : this they call from the place of its growth, DiHammis Crt- 
thm ■ and they know nothing clfe by that name. There were fome at one time who called the roots 
of fraxintlla diHamnm albus ; but the leaves of the other diltaiiy being alfo white, this created con- 
fufion'- wherefore it was wholly difufed. This author, in the too violent fpirit of reformation, has 
hrousht it in again ; and with refpeft to the other plant called dillany, the diflammis Cr-ilicus, he makes 
that a fpecies of origanum. 2 
