lio 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
Linnaeus places this among the didynmnia migiofpermia ; tiie threads in each flower being four, 
fcwo ioiiger, and two fhorter, and the feeds contained in a caplule. 
Wc contuftdly call two genera in EngliHi by the name of rattle, diftinguifhng them only by 
epithets taken from the colour of the flower into red d.nd ycHoiv rattle : this is one of them, the fol- 
lowing genus the other : they are alio called ccxcomb, and Icufewort ; but both thefe names are given 
in common to the two genera, and have been ufed to the fame diftinaion by an epithet exprefllng the 
colour of the flower: we call them red coxcomb^ and yellow coxcomh, as well as rattle-, and fome, 
though that be not fo univerfal, red and yellow loufe-wori ; this difagreeable name is more confined to 
red, but not fufliciently to make it a generical term difl:ini5l from the other. 
It will be feen there is a yellow-jiowered pedradaris ; therefore another name is needful, and we call 
this coxcomb. It will be proper for the Undent either to ufe this confl:antly, or always to call them by 
their Latin names i thofe being Angle and diftinft words. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
I. Common red Coxcomb. 
PedicuUris rubra •vulgaris. 
The root is long, thick, and divided into fc- 
Veral parts : it is white and bitter. 
The firll leaves are large, broad, indented at 
the edges, and pointed at the ends : they are 
fo unlike thofe that follow that few would know 
the plant in this ftate. 
The flaiks are thick, green, weak, and not 
very upright: they are eight or ten inches long, 
and but little branched. 
The leaves Hand on them in great numbers, 
and are of a kind of pinnated form, each com- 
pofed of feveral pairs of fmaller, fet on a middle 
rib, with an odd one at the end ; and fome 
of the loweft: are often doubly pinnated. 
The flowers ftand in a conflderable number on 
the tops of the flalks : they are large, of a bright 
red, and have a great hollow cup : fometimes 
they are white : their cups are long, angulated, 
and fmootii. 
The feed-vefiel is large and roundifli ; and the 
feeds are numerous and fmall. 
It is common in damp places on heaths, and 
flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pedicidaris pratenfis purpurea. 
DadonEEUs, Fifiularia. Others, Fedicularis rubra 
vulgaris. 
DIVISION II. 
Yellow Coxcomb. 
Fedicularis foliis pinnatis lutea. 
The root is compofcd of a multitude of very 
large and thick fibres, and is whitifh, tough, 
and bitter. 
The firfl: leaves are large, long, and divided 
deeply to the rib in a pinnated manner : they 
feem compofed of many pairs of IclTer ones, 
with an odd one at the end ; but, nearer ex- 
amined, thefe are only fegments ; and they are 
notched deeply at the edges, and pointed at the 
ends. 
The ftalk is round, thick, hollow, redifii, and 
two foot high. 
The leaves ftand irregularly on it, and are, 
like thofe from the root, divided deeply in the 
pinnated manner, and fometimes they are com- 
2. Tall red Coxcomb. 
Fedicularis rubra elatior. 
The root is thick, large, and fpreading, 
whitifh, bitter, and full of fibres. 
The firll leaves are large, few in number, and 
not much divided. 
The llalks are round, green, thick, robufl;, 
upright, and a foot and half high. 
Tlie leaves are large, deeply divided in the pin- 
nated manner, and of a pale green, often redilh. 
The flowers arc large, and ufually red, but 
fometimes, as in the other fpecies, they are white. 
The cups are not fo bloated as in the otiier fpe- 
cies ; and they are rough on the furfacc: ufually 
they are divided only into two parts, inftead of 
five, at the extremity ; but this is uncertain. 
The feed-veffel is large, and the feeds are fmall 
and brown. 
It is not uncommon in wet places, and flowers 
in July. 
Tragus calls it Fedicularis campejiris prior fpe- 
cies. Ray, Fedicularis rubra elatior. 
The virtues of thefe plants are not certainly 
known ; but our farmers have an opinion that 
flieep feeding on them become fubjedt to vermin, 
whence the Englifh name loufewcri : whatever 
foundation there may be for thi?, it is an opinion 
as old as Tragus and is not confined to Britain^ 
for the Flemifh have it as well as we. 
poundly pinnated, or the fegments themfelves 
divided in the fame pinnated manner. 
The flowers fland in a tuft at the top of 
the fl:alki and are large, and of a pale yellow, 
and fometimes white : they make a thick, fhort 
fpike, in the manner of the orchis flowers, and 
the upper fegment or galea is very crooked. 
The feed-veflcl is large, and the feeds very 
fmall and brown. 
It is a native of Italy, and of many other parts 
of Europe; and flowers in June. 
Authors have been greatly divided as to the 
genus to which it belonged, and have thence 
called It by various names. 
BarrcHcr calls it AkSlorohphus mntana flore 
luteo. C. Bauhine, FHipendula montana fiore pedi- 
(ulariai Others, Filipenduk montana. 
GENUS 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
