The BRITISH HERBAL. 
DIVISION I. BR 
I. Common Broomrape. 
Orobanche vulgaris. 
This is a fingular and ftrange plant-, having 
neither the colour of the generality of plants, nor 
any thing that can properly be called leaves. 
The root is thick, roundifh, and compofed of 
a multitude of fcales, of a tough fublUnce and 
yellowifh colour, laid irregularly over one ano- 
ther. 
The ftalk is fingle, thick, upright, undivided, 
and a foot and half high : its colour is yellowifh, 
and its fubftance Hghc and tender. 
At diftances, from the bottom to the top, 
there ftand certain little membranes of a yel- 
lowifh brov.Mi alio: thefe are fliort, and of an 
irregular figure, ami are all it has by way of 
leaves. 
The flowers fland at the top of the flalk, and, 
for a great way down it, at diftances one from 
another and each has one of thefe little mem- 
branes under it. 
They are large, and gape very wide open ; 
their colour is in part yellowtfh, and in part a 
dead faded purple ■, and their threads are white, 
and have black buttons, which are as confpi- 
cuous as any thing in the flower. 
The fccd-vefTei is oblong, and large at the 
bottom I- the feeds are very minute. 
It is common in barren paflrures, and fome- 
times is found in cornfields. 
It grows no where fo plentifully as among 
fields of broom on barren heathy hills ; in thefe 
places it ufually grows to the root of the broom, 
and thence 'obtained its Englifli name of broom- 
rape ; but they err who fuppofe it will not grow 
elfewhere. It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Orobanche major garyophyl- 
lum oleus. J. Bauhine, Orobanche flore majors. 0~ 
thers, Orobanche •vulgaris. 
This fpecics fomctimeshas a lightly aromatlck 
fmell, but frequently nothing of this is to be ob- 
ierved : it depends in a great meafure on the place 
of growth and particular condition of the plant. 
DIVISION II. F 
I. Great-flowered Broomrape. 
Orobanche jiore maximo. 
This is a much larger plant than either of our 
kinds, and the flowers are alfo remarkably larger, 
even in proportion to the bignefs of the whole. 
The root is an irregular knob, with fome few 
ftraggling fibres : this knob is compofed of fcales, 
in the manner of ours, but it is not fo large. 
The flalk is firm, upright, a yard high, and 
not at all branched i and the whole plant is of a 
redifh colour. 
What ftand for leaves are only a kind of fmali 
membranes fl:icking clofe to the ftalk : there are 
more of them toward the bottom, fewer toward 
the top, -and tiiey are all of the fame colour with 
the ftalk, except that they are at firft a little 
deeper. 
ITISH SPECIES. 
It is good againfl obftruflions, and is beft 
given in a ftrong infufion. 
The herb mult be frefh gathered for this pur- 
pofe, and the whole cut into thin flices, and hav- 
ing water poured on it : this, with a little white 
wine and fyrup of marftimallows, operates pow- 
erfully by urine, and is good in jaundices and 
obftruftions of the fpleen. 
A conferve of it is alfo recommended by foms 
againft hypocondriac complaints : and an oint- 
ment made of it with lard againft fchirroua tu- 
mours. 
2. Branched Broomrape. 
Orobanche ramofa. 
The root is thick, large, and tuberous ; it is 
compofed of numerous irregular fcales, in the 
manner of the other j and there are feveral fibres 
grow to it. 
The ftalk is firm, ered, and very much 
branched; it is of a redifh colour, much flen- 
derer than that of common broomrape, and of a 
firmerfubftance,andgrows fix or eight inches high. 
The branches rife from it on all fides from the 
bottom nearly to the top. 
There are no leaves but a few membranes, 
which are of a pale yellowifh, and fometimes of 
a purplilh colour ^ and grow irregularly on the 
ftalk and branches. 
The flowers ftand in fpikes at the tops of the 
ftalks, thickly compared together; and they are 
of a pale red, large, and confplcuous. 
The feed-vefTel is oval, and the feeds are very 
minute. 
This is found in cornfields in the fouthern 
counties of England, but is not common. 
C. Bauhine calls it Orobanche ramofa, J. Bau- 
hine, Orobanche minor purpureis fioribus Jive ra- 
mofa. 
The common broomrape is fometimes found with 
a flower fmaller than ordinary, and in this con- 
dition has been defcribed by fome as a diftinfh 
fpecies ; but it is no more than a variety owing 
to accident in the growth. 
OREIGN SPECIES. 
The flowers ftand at the top, in a thiek, fhort 
fpike, or a large tuft ; and they are long, and of 
a deep purple \ and are obvioufly diftinguifhed 
by the buttons of the threads, which ftand out 
from the mouth of the flower. 
The feed-velTel is large and oblong \ and the 
feeds are very minute.' 
It is frequent in woods in the fouth of France; 
and flowers in April. 
C. Bauhine calls it Orobanche fiore majore. 
]. Bauhine, Of-ohantht magna purpurea monfpef- 
futand. 
2. Single -flowered Broomrape."' 
Orobanche fiore folitsrio. 
The root is a fmall knot of a fcaiy ftrudure, 
from which there run lengchwife a few fibres. 
From 
