The B R I T I S 
H HERBAL. 
It is of a pale bluilh green, ibmetimes fimple, 
and frequently divided into feveral branches. 
The leaves are numerous, and ftand irregu- 
larly : they are Ipng, narrow, undivided at the 
edges, and without footftalks. 
Their colour is a pale bluifli green. 
The flowers are large, numerouSj and beauti- 
ful : they fland in a kind of fpikes at the tops of 
the ftalks, and are in general of a very pale and 
very beautiful yellow, with a deeper, or orange 
yellow in fome parts. 
The feed-veffcl is large and round : the feeds 
are fmall and brown. 
It is common on dry banks, and flowers in 
June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Linaria vulgaris iutea Jlorc 
majors. Others, Linaria vulgaris. 
Our common people, from the mixture of a 
very pale and deep yellow, call it Butter and e^gs. 
2. Blue, fweet Toadflax. 
Linaria carulea edorata. 
The root is long, (lender, hard, v/hitlfli, and 
furniflied with many fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, and a foot and half 
high : they are round, (lender, upright, and 
rarely divided into branches, 
The leaves are very numerous, and they ftand 
thick and clofe upon the (talk : they are of a 
pale green, very narrow, and have no foot- 
llalks. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the fl:alks, and 
are of a beautiful pale blue, and flriated. 
The feed-veflcls are large and rounded. 
It is found in Cornwai and Devonfhire ; and 
Rowers in July. 
C Bauhine calls it Linaria capillaceo folio ereSta^ 
jlore odoro. J. Bauhine, Linaria cdorala mons 
fejfiilana. 
^•Short-I eaveLl Toadflax. 
Linaria foliis hrcvibiis. 
The root is long, (lender, woody, and divided, 
and is hung with a few fibres. 
The lirfl: leaves rife in a fmall tuft, and are 
oblong, fomev.hat broad, and of a pale grten : 
they have no footftallis, and when the ilaik rifes 
they quiclily fade away. 
The ftallc is round, upright, a foot and half 
high, feldom branched, though ufually there rife 
a few flioots from the bofoms of the leaves near 
the top. 
The leaves are numerous, and of the fliapc of 
thofe of the common toadjiax, but lliorter : they 
have no footllalks : their colour is a pale green : 
they are undivided at the edges, Iharp pointed, . 
and of a flefhy fubftance. 
The flowers ftand in a kind of fpikcs at the 
top of the ftalks and branches, and they are of 
a beautiful pale blue. 
The feed-veflels are large, and the feeds are 
fmall and brown. 
It is found in Surry and fome of the adjacent 
counties, in cornflelds, and barren paftures, and 
on walls: it flowers in July. 
Robinus calls it Linaria ofyris fare cinericeo ; 
but the flower is properly of a pale blue, not 
alh-coloured. 
N" II. 
4. Small; red Toadflax. 
.Linaria farva rubefcciis. 
The root is fmall, woody, divided, and 
fpreading. 
The ftalks arc numerous, weak, round, up- 
right, and very much branched : they are eight 
inches high, and of a pale green. 
The leaves are numerous, and ftand irregu- 
larly : they are narrow, long, and of a dulky 
green. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the ft.ilks; 
and fepararely on other parts of the plant, rifing 
from the bofoms of the leaves : they are fmall, 
and of a pale red. 
The fetd-veffel is round, and the feeds are 
fmall. 
It is common in our cornfields, and flowers in 
June. 
Ray calls it Linaria antirrhinum di£la'; diftin- 
guilhing it from the antirrhinums, with which 
others had joined if, from the fliape and ftruflure 
of the flower and feed-veflcl. C. Bauhine calls it 
Antirrhinum arvenfe minus. Others, Antirrhinum 
arvenfe minimum : this is the more improper, as 
we have wild alfo in our cornfields a fpecies of 
fnapd.'agon, properly fo called. 
The common toadflax is a plant poflefled of 
virtues too much negleftcd. It has its ufcs both 
inwardly and outwardly, and in both kinds very 
worthy of notice. 
The whole frcfli herb boiled in ale is a coun- 
try purge; it operates briflciy, and alfo promotes 
urine. 
The frefli herb bruifed, with fome white wine^ 
is a ftronger purge, and fometimes works alfo by 
vomit; 
An infufion of the whole herb, root and all, 
juft before it gets into flower, works very power, 
fully by urine. 
In either of thefe forms it is excellent againft 
dropfies : in the beginning of that difeafe the in- 
fufion is the faeft method of giving it ; when it 
is more advanced the country deccdion in ale is 
proper ■, and when the difeafe is violent, and the 
conilitution can bear it, the exprefled juice, in the 
manner we have namedj with white wine, is beft 
of all. 
The juice of the leaves is excellent againft in- 
flammations of the eyes. We owe this to Tra- 
gus, who reports it as confirmed from his own 
long experience; and trials fince made lliew it was 
true. 
The juice is alfo excellent for cieanfing old 
ulcers. 
A decoftion, or ftrong infufion of the tops, 
taken morning and evening, cures the jaundice. 
An ointment or pultice, made with the leaves 
of common toadflax, is excellent in the piles. 
The feveral other fpecies of toadflax, Englifli 
and foreign, poflels the fame virtues, though 
moft of them in a leflcr degree. The antirrhina 
of fome fpecies have very difterent qualities, a 
(ufiicient rcafon why they fliould be kept as na- 
ture has difpofed them, diiUnft, and under fe- 
parate names. 
Ff DIVI- 
