The BRITISH HERBAL. 
SERIES 1. 
NATIVES OF BRITAIN. 
Thofe of which one or more fpecies are naturally wild in this country. 
GENUS I. 
BUTTERWORT. 
PINGUICULJ. 
THE flower con fills of a fingle petal, formed into two lips and a long fpur : the upper lip is 
divided into four fegments, tiie lower into two, and the fpur runs out behind: the cup re- 
fembles the divifions of the flower, and remains with the feed-vcITd : this is a Angle capfule, of an 
oval form, but compreffed at the top. 
Linnaeus places this among the dyandria momgynia^ the threads in the flower being two, and the 
rudiment of the feed-veffel and its filament or llyle angle. 
From this number of the threads he ^^Wzt% fingukula in the fame genus with th^jafmine, olive, and 
lilac, feparacing it from the pedicularis, becaufe that has four, two longer and two (hortzv, which, 
with the others, he therefore joins to other unlike plants. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
I, Common Butterwort. 
Pingidcula vulgaris. 
The root confifts of numerous thick fibres, 
rifing from a longifh head, and fpreading irregu- 
larly under the furface. 
The leaves are numerous, and rife in a thick, 
dufler. 
They have no footftalks ; they are broadefl: at 
the bottom, undivided at the edge, and fliarp at 
the point : their colour is a pale yellowifli green, 
and they are of a flefliy fubftance. 
The ftalks rife in the centre, four or five to- 
gether. 
They are flender, naked, and undivided : each 
fupports afingic flower. 
This is large, and very beautiful: it refembles, 
in feme degree, a violet : its colour is a pale 
purple, pale red, or white; for there are ail thefe 
variations frequent, and it has a long fpur. 
The feed-veflel is large, oval, comprcfied at 
the end, and without any divifion within. The 
feeds are numerous and very fmall. 
ft is frequent in the north of England upon 
boggy ground, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Sanicula montana fiore cal- 
carl d&nato. Others, Psnguicula vulgm-is. 
2. Lefier Butterwort. 
Pinguicidn minor. 
The root is compofed of a great clufter of 
fibres, which have no other head than the bafe of 
the leaves : they are very flender, black, long, 
and run perpendicularly. 
The leaves are numerous, oblong, and lie 
fpread upon the ground. 
They are narrow toward the bafe, broadeft 
pear the middle, and fmall again at the point : 
their colour is a pale green, and they have red 
veins : they are thin, and, as it were, naked. 
The fl:alks are flender, about three inches high, 
and quite fingle or undivided. 
One flower flands on the top of each, and 
this is fmall, and of a pale red, or white : the 
f,:ur in this is thicker and fliorter than in the 
common kind. 
The feed-veflTel is fmall, and the feeds are very 
minute, and of a duflcy colour. 
It is frequent in Cornwal and our other weftern 
counties on bogs ; clfewhere it is rare. 
It flowers in May. 
Merret calls it P///^i//fM/z2 r/iininia fiore alho\ that 
is, butterwort with a white flower ; but the 
more ufual colour is red. Ray calls it Pinguicuhi 
flore minore cameo. 
The common butterwort has confiderabh virtues 
both inwardly and outwardly ; but they are not 
much known out of the places where it grows, 
becaufe it can neither be well kept in our gardens 
nor brought frefli to our markets. 
The whole plant, bruifed with white wine, and 
the juice, exprefled, and taken thick as it comes 
from fqueczing, is a rough but ufeful medicine 
in dropfies. 
A fyrup made of the juice has the fame virtue, 
but in a milder degree. It is a good purge, and 
operates alfo by urine. 
The people of Yorkfliire make an ointment of 
the leaves and hogs-lard, with which they drefs 
chaps and injuries in their cows udders : this has 
led them to ufe it for hurts and fores upon them- 
felves ; and it ftands, upon experienced report,, 
as an excellent vulnerary. 
Thofe to whom we owe the knowledge of it 
thence called the plant 2'orkjhire fanicle. 
D I V 1- 
