The BRITISH HERBAL. 
119 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
Narrow-leaved Hedge Hyffop. 
Gratiola angiifiifoUa. 
The root is long, (lender, and white: it fpreads ■ 
under the furface, and fends up numerous (hoots. 
The ftalk is round, thick, upright, and eight 
or ten inches high : it is not at all branched, and 
is ufually of a rcdiH-i colour near the ground, and 
of a pale green elfcwhere. 
The leaves fland :n pairs : they have no foot- 
ftalks : they are oblong, ferrated at the edges, 
and fharp pointed. 
The flowers ftand fingly on long, flender foot- 
ftalks rifing from the bofoms of the leaves ; and 
are of a mixed white and yellow colour. 
The leed-vefiel is large, oval, and pointed ; 
and the feeds are numerous, fmail, and dufity. 
It is a native of the north of Scotland, but 
not common. It grows in places where waters 
have ftagiiated in winter. 
It flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Gratiola centauroides. O- 
thers, Gratiola vulgaris. 
It is but lately we have the notice of its being 
a native of Britain ; nor have we any other fpecies 
of it: that which is called the fmaller hedge hyffhp, 
falicaria hyjfopifolia by C. Bauhine, and by lefs 
accurate writers g?-aliola ajigu/lifolia^ is properly 
a fpecies of falicaria, not oi this plant. 
There are alfo two other planes called by the 
na.nie gratiola, which are fpecies of cajida, and 
will be found under that head. 
This is fuch a fource of error to the young 
ftudent, that there cannot be too much care in 
avoiding it : he is to know, that till this proper 
DIVISION II. 
Blunt-leaved Hedge HylTop. 
Gratiolis foliis obtufis. 
The root is flender and creeping: it is white, 
tough, furniflied with many fibres, and of a 
bitter tafl:e. 
The fl:alk is round, upright, and of a pale 
green; often redifli toward the ground, as alfo at 
the inlertions of the leaves. 
The leaves ftand in pairs, and are oblong, nar- 
row, and of a dead green : they are very flighdy 
and irregularly notched at the edges, and obtufe 
at the ends. 
gratiola, which is here defcribed, was found in 
Scotland, it was not known that any fpecies of 
that genus was native of Britain \ and, he muft 
obferve, that the plants named by Mr. Kay with 
thefe fynony.ma of gratida are neither of them of 
that kind ; nor fo underfl:ood by Mr. Ray, who 
has placed them feverally in their proper genera, 
though he has added the different names by which 
they have been called by other writers, and 
thefe among them. 
Hedge byj[-:p, though not known before wild in 
Britain, is very common in France, and is greatly 
elleemed for its medicinal virtues. 
It approaches to the nature of the foxglove in 
qualities as well as form. Taken in a mode- 
rate dofe, it operates very brifl<Iy by ftool ; and, 
in a fomewhat larger, by vomit alfo ; and in this 
manner, for conflitutions that can bear it, carries 
off watery humours and diflodges obftrudino- 
matter in a furprifing manner. 
The juice is given in dropfies : a ftrong decoc- 
tion in the jaundice ; and in flighter cafes an 
infufion, Either way it is bitter, and difagree- 
able in the highefl: degree, to the tafte ; but its 
virtues are fo well known among the French 
peafants that it is called there poor mens pbyfuk. 
The root, dried and powdered, is given iii the 
fciatica, and with fuccefs. In fmbll dofes it is 
alfo excellent againfl: worms : its extream bitter 
tafte defliroys them, and by its purging quality 
it takes off all that matter from the coats of the 
intefliines which ufed to harbour and ferve for 
lodging of them. 
The flowers are large. 
The feed-vcflLls are alfo large, and the feeds 
arc fmall and brown. 
It is a native of many parts of North America, 
and flowers from May to Otftober. 
Gronovlus calls it Gratiolo foliis lanceolatis oh- 
tiifis fuhdentatis. 
It is very much of the fame tafl:e with the 
common kind, and probably poffeffes the fame 
virtues. The Indians extol it againft poifons. 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
GENUS IX. 
COXCOMB. 
FKl^lCVLARIS. 
T HE flower confifts of a fingle petal, and approaches to the labiated kind : it is formed into a 
tube, and two lips ; the tube is crooked, and the lips difler from one another greatly : the up- 
per lip is narrow, compreffed, dented, and galeated ; the lower lip is divided into three fegments, of 
which the middle one is the narrowcit : the cup is roundidi and fwelled, and is divided into five feg- 
ments at the rim : the feed-veffel is roundifli, and pointed at the top, 
8 Linn^us 
