The BRITISH HERBAL. 
49 
teeth ; and hence arofc the pradice of anodyne 
necklaces. The opinion, however flightly founded, 
is as old as Galen : he names a gir! who was kept 
free from the epilepfy eight months by wearing 
a piony root about her neck, and immediately 
leized with the difeafeon droping it. 
There are other grave authors who conBrm the 
fame account: but whatever may be its virtue 
in this manner of applicadon, this I know from 
experience, that taken inwardly it is a very great 
and excellent medicine, and deferves to be brought 
more into ufe. 
GENUS XVL 
INDIAN MALLOW. 
A B U r I L O N, 
*TpHE flower is compofed of five petals : the feeds are contained in capfules, a great number of 
which follovv every, flower. The leaves are undivided. 
Linna:us places this among his inonaddpbia decmidria, and joins it with fome others not allied to it, 
under the name of ftda : others have joined it with the mallows, which is a much greater error; thofe 
plants belonging to a former clafs, as having their feeds naked, whereas the abutilo7i has them 
enclofed in capfules, as the reft of this clafs. 
I. Yellow Indian Mallow. 
Ahutilon flore flavo. 
The root is long, thick, and furnifhed with 
many.ftrong fibres. 
The leaves that rife from it ftand on long foot- 
flalks : they are large, and of a heart-fafhioned 
fhape, indented at the ftalk, and pointed at the 
end. They are of a whitifh colour, foft to the 
touch, and a little notched at the edges. 
The flalk is robuft, firm, upright, branched, 
and three foot high : it is whitiHi and woody : 
"The outer rind eafily flips off, and there is a 
■woody fubflance within. 
The leaves ftand irregularly on it: they have' 
(lender footflalks, and are of the fame form with 
thofe from the root, and of the fame foftnefs. 
The flowers are moderately large, and of a 
beautiful ftrong yellow, ftriateJ, and full of 
* threads, with their buttons in the centre. 
The capfules which follow each flower are nu- 
merous, ten, twelve, or more. They are con- 
neftcd at their tops ; fo that they form a large 
head. 
It is a native of the Eaft, and of fome parts 
oF Europe. It flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls itAlthct'a Theophrajli fiore luteo. 
Others, Ahutilon. 
2. White Indian Mallow. 
Abuiilon album. 
The root is a fmall, long body, producing a 
great number of thick and large fibres. 
The firft leaves are lar^e, oblong, fliarp point- 
ed, and fland on flender footflalks : thc-y are of 
a pale green, and fomewhat hairy, but have not 
the foftnefs of the others. 
The ftalk is round, uprightj firm, hairy, and 
very little branched ; the leaves hang irregularly 
upon ir, drooping down. They are of the fame 
form with thofe from the root, but fmaJcr. 
The flowers ftand on long footftalks, and are 
white, or nearly fo, with a deep ycllownefsin the 
centre. 
The feed-vcffcls are numerous, and form a 
large head. 
It is frequent in Afia, and flowers in June. 
J. Bauhine calls it Abuiilon Imlicum. 
The virtues of thefe plants are not known in 
our part of the world; but in the Eart they are 
famous in the gravel, and fuppreOions of urine. 
They are of the mallow kind, as the tafling of 
their roots will fhew any one accuftomed to thefe 
refearches ; but they are not fo mucilaginous as 
our European fpecies, fo that they have probably 
lefs virtue. 
They are alfo commended in fevers, but wc 
know not if with reafon. 
GENUS XVII. 
SWEETBEARD. 
B A R B A C A P R /E. 
THE flower is fmall, and confifts of Hve petals. It Hands in a fmall cup divided into five feg- 
ments, and is followed by three fmall, feparate capfules. The flowers fl:and in long tufts, 
and the leaves are winged. 
There are male and female plants in this genus, but they differ only in this, that on the male 
plants the flowers have only threads, and in the female only the rudiments of the capfules in the 
centre. 
Linnsus, in his Genera Plmtanim, places this among the diacia pelyanJria ; for this reafon making 
it a difliinft genus, under the name of annnis ; but in his Species Plantarum it is removed from that 
clafs. It there ftands among the icofandria penlagynia, and is made a fpecies of fpirsa. 
N° 5. O 1 can 
