The BRITISH HERBAL. 
77 
Linnaa. 
The root is long, fleiider, divided, and fur- 
nifhed with fibres. 
The ftall^s are numerous, flender, round, and 
commonly redilh : they lit; upon the ground, and 
take root at different places, thus fpreading into 
large tufts. 
The leaves are fliort, broad, ferrated, and 
fharp-pointed : they ftand in pairs, and have no 
footitalks. 
The flowers are moderately large, of a pale 
purple, and divided deeply into five fegments; 
they ftard on long, flender footflialks, which 
fometimes terminate the branches, andfometimes 
rile from the bofoms of the leaves. 
The feed-vefiel is oval, fmall, and finooth. 
It is a native of Ireland ; but is not found 
wild in England. It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls ic Campanula ferpyUifolia ; a 
name that does not very well exprefi the plant \ 
but moll other writers have copied it. 
GENUS XV. 
B U C K B E A N. 
M E N r A N r H E S. 
THE flower confifts of a Angle petal, divided into five legments, wliicli are hairy ; the fruit is a 
fintrle capfule, of an oval figure, and undivided within ; this ftands furrounded with the cup, 
■which is formed of a fingle leaf, divided into five fegments, and hairy within : the leaves iland three 
on a rtalk. 
Linnseus places this among the peiHundria moiiogjnia, the threads in each flower being five, and the 
rudiment of the fruit fingle. 
This author joins in this genus with the buckbean, properly called meiiyantbes, the little ■waler-lilly j 
but they are plants altogether differing in fliape and qualities, though their flowers are alike; The 
difpofition of the leaves, which is by threes in this plant, and fingly in the other, is a fufficient and 
obvious mark of diftinftion. 
Where nature happens to have given flowers of the fame form to plants very difl^erent in form and 
qualities, we are not to confound the^ genera flie has efliabliflied, by joining them together under one 
name, but to fcek in the refl; of the plant thofe particulars which may keep them feparate. 
Of this genus there is but one known fpecies, which is a common wild plant among us. 
Common Buckbean. 
Mertyanthes •vulgare. 
The root is long, thick, jointed, redifh on the 
outfide, white within, and runs obliquely under 
the furface. 
The firfl: leaves fl:and three on each footftalk ; 
and thefe footfi:3lks are thick, and redilh at the 
bottom. 
The leaves are large, oblong, of a frefh green 
colour, and of a thick, flcChy fubftance : they 
are broadeft in the middle, pointed at the end, 
and undivided at the edges. 
The ftalk is thick, round, ten inches high, 
and not at all branched : it is redifli at the bot- 
tom, and is there generally enveloped by the 
broad bottoms of footftalks of fcveral leaves that 
rife with it, and furround it to fome height. 
Thefe are like thofe from the root, but Imaller ; 
and there are no others on the ftalk. 
The flowers ftand at the top in a thick, fhort 
fpike ; and are large, and very beautiful : their 
colour is whitiOi, but with a faint blulh of red, 
and they are hairy or rough on the infide. 
The feed-veflel is large and ova!. 
It is common in damp paftures, and on boggy 
grounds, and flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it T lifolhtm falujire. Tourne- 
fort, Menyanthes pnlujlre triphyllmn. 
It is a plant defervedly celebrated for its vir- 
tues : it is diuretick and deobfl:ruent in a great 
degree, and has a bitternefs extremely ferviceable 
to the ftomach. 
It is good in dropfies, the jaundice, the fcurvy, 
the rheumatifm, and in intermittent fevers. 
For dropfies the beft method of giving it is to 
exprefs the juice after bruifing the plant, with a 
little white wine. 
In the fcurvy, a ftrong infufion taken twice a- 
day for a continuance, is of great effeft ; there 
are not wanting thofe who give it in the gout in 
the fame manner. 
For intermittent fevers, it fliould be dried care- 
fully, and powdered ; half a dram is a dofe; and 
I have known it fucceed where the bark has 
failed. 
GENUS XVI. 
FRINGED WATER LILLY. 
N 1' M P H 0 1 V E S. 
T^HE flower confifts of a fingle petal, divided deeply into five fegments, which are cut or fringed 
•»■ at the edges : the feed-veffel is large, and fimple m its ftrufture: the leaves ftand fingly, one 
on each footO:alk. -, . 
8 X Lmn^us, 
