14 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
DIVISION II. FOREIGN SPECIES. 
I. Perennial-rooted Adonis. 
Adonis redice ferenni. 
The root is compofed of a fmall liead, divided 
into fcveral parts, and furnifhed with a great 
number of tliiclc fibres. It is of a deep blackifli 
brown colour, and a bitterifh and acrimonious 
tafte. 
The firll leaves are two inches long, and com- 
pofed of a great number of very flender fine fcg- 
ments. They ftand on fhort footftalks, and are 
of % duflcy green colour. 
The (talks arc numerous, ftriated, fiender, 
and eight inches high. 
The leaves ffand irregularly on them, and they 
refemblc thofe from the root ; but they are 
fmaller. They have a bitterilh talle, and when 
rubbed an unplcafant fmelh 
The flowers Hand at the tops of the flalks ; and 
are large, beautiful, and yellow. They confifl: 
each of fixtccn fl;riated petals, indented, and of- 
ten turning back at the points. 
The feeds Hand in an oblong clufter, large, 
and naked. 
It is a native of Bohemia, and other parts of 
Europe, and flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Hellthriis niger iimiifcUus 
haphihalmi fiorc: 
The root refembles that of black hellebore in 
al'peft ; whence the plant, though altogether un- 
like, obtained that name. It is acrid and poifon- 
ous : it has fomctimes been fold in the ftead of 
black hellebore, or mixed among black hellebore, 
and, it is faid, with fatal confequences. 
It has the fharpnefs of the moft violent of th? 
crow-foots, and its juice will eat away v/arts. 
2. Great flowered Adonis. 
Adorns jioYE maxima. 
The root is compofed of a fmall head, and 
a vaft number of long and thick fibres. It is 
black, and of an acrid and difagreeable tafte. 
The firfl: leaves are fmall ; they have very ihort 
footftalks, and are divided into a few flender long 
fegments. Their colour is a pale green, and 
they are of an acrid tafl:e. 
The ftalks are fliort, thick, and flcihy : they 
have large joints, and at each one leaf divided 
into very narrow, but not numerous fegments. 
The flower is yellow, very large for the bignefs 
of the plant, and ftands at the top of the ftalk. 
It is compofed of feveral petals, and has a large 
tuft of paler yellow threads in the centre. 
The feeds ftand in a naked oval head. It is 
found in fome parts of Germany, and flowers in 
July and Auguft, 
Mentzelius calls it Hdkhorus niger ferv.laceus, 
[at Pfeudohelleborus caiile geniculato fore mago in- 
Jlar tulipa. 
Its virtues are unknown. 
GENUS XI. 
MOUSETAIL. 
M r O S U R o s. 
THE flower confifts of five fmall petals, and is placed in a five-leaved cup. The feeds Hand 
naked in a long head ; and the leaves are grafly. 
Linnsus places this among the fenlandria fohgynia, feparating it, by many clafiis, from the ramn- 
and other of the plants belongrng to this, although he acknowledges it is very nearly 
'"This°marfllew the imperfeftion of his method, even upon his own confefiion The reafon 
of his feparating this plant from the others, is that there are in them great tu ts of threads ,n the middle 
of the flower i and in this only five. Let us appeal to nature, whether this p ant which agrees with th= 
o hers of the prefent clafs in the form and ftrutture of its flower and in the fingular dilpofition and 
a raneement of its feeds, flrould be taken from among them, and placed m a far diftant clafs, on y 
becaufnhe filaments or threads in the flower are in a fmaller number. Reafon declares utterly 
S this ; nor is there the juft authority of obfcrvation for placing it in any other. This author, 
rhnnlh from its having five filaments, he has ranked it among the pcntm,dna ; yet is obliged to con- 
fefs °th'at the number of thofe threads is fubjeft in this genus to great variation t- 
This acknowledgment not only ftews he has put the prefent plant out of its place, but flrakes the 
verv foundation of his method: for ,t depends upon the numbering of thefe filaments. In 
th?ar angement we have made of thefe feveral genera, the mufetail appears plainly to belong to them, 
and to hafe its proper place. We have given the difpofition of the feeds in a naked head as the 
treat charafter of the clafs ; and in fome that head is flrorter, in others longer. In moft of the ge- 
Sra firft named here it is round . in the adonis it is oblong and thick, and tn the mcufeta.l. which 
we place next, it is long and thin. There is no more diff-erence. ^ ^ , ^ 
Of this genus there is but one known fpecies, and that is a native of England, 
« Myofiiri fumma eft afEnitas cu.Ti ranuncdo. 
t Numeios fiaminom m hoc gctiere valde vaiiat. Lira. Gen. Plant. 3. .. 
MoufetaiL 
