The BRITISH HERBAL. 
79 
Black Saltwort. 
Glaux maritima. 
The root is compofed of a clufter of Qender 
fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, and thofe which Ihoot 
firft generally lie upon the ground, and take root 
again at little diftances. 
The fucceeding ftalks rife In the centre of 
thefe, and are round, flender, five or fix inches 
high, and tolerably ereift. 
The leaves ftand in pairs at fmall diftances : 
they are oblong, fmall, and of an inverted oval 
figure ; the part where they grow to the ftaik be- 
ing narroweft, and the leaf growing broader to 
the end. 
The flowers are fmall and redifh : they ftand 
without footftalks, clofc ia the bofoms of the 
leaves, and are very pretty. 
The feed-veffel follows, and is large in pro- 
portion to the plant. 
It is common on our falt-marfhes, and elfe- 
wherc about the fea-coaft, and flowers all fum- 
mer. 
C. Bauhine calls it Glaux maritima. Others, 
Glaiix exigiia maritma. We, Saltwort, and Sea 
Milkwort, from a notion of its encreafing the 
milk in the breafts of nurfes. 
This is ail the virtue or ufc attributed to iCj 
and this feems to ftand upon a very precarious 
foundation. 
G 
N U 
XIX. 
GREEK VALERIAN. 
POLEMONIUM. 
THE flower confifl:s of a fingle petal, which is tubular in the lower part, and divided into five, 
broad fegments at the rim the fruit is a fingle capfule, of an oval form, with three rifing 
edges, and it contains three cells : the cup is compofed of a fingle leaf, divided into five fegments. 
Liiinieus places this among the fmtmidria mmgynia ; the threads in each flower being five, and 
the rudiment of the fruit fingle. 
It would be well if this genus had a better name. Its Englifii one, which is the tranfiation of the 
vulgar Latin n.-ime, it received from the refemblance of the leaves in the common kind to thofe of 
fom" of the ■uakriam ; plants from which it is altogether difi'erent in charader, and therefore ill 
confounded in name : the Latin one we give here, which is that ufcd by the more accurate writers, 
founds too like that of polcymountain ? a plant from it as different, and with which it would be as 
erroneous in the ftudent to confound it as with viilirian. 
DIVISION I. 
BRITISH SPECIES. 
Common Gre' k Valerian. 
Pokmoniitm vulgare. 
The root is compofed of numerous, thick, and 
long fibres. 
The leaves rife in a large tuft, and are ex- 
tremely beautiful : they are of the pinnated kind, 
and each is compofed of a great many pairs of 
pinnae or fmaller leaves, difpofed with great re- 
gularity along a middle rib, with an odd one at 
the end : they are of a beautiful green. 
The flialks rife in the centre of this tuft of 
leaves -, and are green, hollow, thick, fliriated, 
upright, and two feet high. 
The leaves fiand alternately on them, and are 
like thofe of the root, pinnated in the fame elegant 
manner, but fmallcr. 
The flowers ftand in large clufters at the tops 
of the ftalks, and of fmall branches, rifing from 
the bofoms of the leaves : they are large, and of 
a beautiful blue, fometimes white. 
The feed-veflels are large and light, and the 
feeds numerous. 
It is not uncommon wild in damp places in 
Yorkfhire, and the other northern counties j and 
its beauty has brought it into frequent ufe in our 
gardens. 
C. Bauhine calls it Valeriana carulsa. J. Bau- 
hine, Valeriana Graca quihifdam colore c^ruleo ^ 
albo. Tournefort, PoUmoniim vulgare caru- 
lemn. 
Its virtues are not known. 
DIVISION II. 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
Large-flowered Greek Valerian. 
Polemoniwn fori magno. 
The root is compofed of numerous long fibres. 
The firft leaves are large, and of the pinnated 
kind; the pinnae are oblong, and very num£- 
rous, and are terminated by an odd leaf. 
The ftalk is m&, ftriated, and firm. 
The leaves are like thofe from the root, but 
fmaller, and paler coloured : they are placed alter- 
nately, and at confiderable diftances. 
The flowers are large, and of a bright red : 
they ftand in a kind of thick clufters at the tops 
of the ftalks and branches. 
The feed-veflcl is large, and has three ribs 
very plain and firm. 
It is a native of Carolina. 
Dillenius calls it ^amoclit pinnatum ereUum 
floritus in thyrfnm difpoftlis ; but it is properly a 
polemo?iium. 
GENUS 
