140 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
" Common Frogbit. 
Hydrocharis vulgaris. 
The root confifts of feveral very long and 
thick fibres. 
From thefc rife alfo clufters of leaves and 
fide-Ihoots : thefe laft are long and flender ; and, 
as they fpread every way from the central root:, 
they fend Kp alfo tyfts of leave-, and, down- 
wards, roots like the firft. 
The leaves rife ten or twelve together, and are 
fupported on long, thick footftalks of a fpiingy 
fubftance. 
They are round, but indented in a heart- 
fafhioned manner at the infcrtion of the ftalk^ 
and are thick, fmooth, and of a dead green. 
The flowers are large and white ; they ftand 
on long, flender footftalks. 
The feed- veflils are large and rounded; and 
the feeds arc numerous and fmail. 
It is common in ditches fwiming on the water. 
It flowers in July. 
•C. Bauhine calls it Nymphaa alha minima. O- 
thers, The leaji tuaterliUy, Frogbit^ andMorfus rume. 
It has fomccimes double flowers, and is in that 
condition defcribcd by fome as a diRinft fpecies s 
but this is only a variety from rich and abundant 
nouriiliment. I obferved a whole ditch near 
Thorny in the i(le of Ely covered with tliis 
double flowered kind; the water was thick and 
redifh. 
The country people make a pulti^e of the frelli 
leaves boiled in milk, which they lay to fwel- 
iings : but nothing is known farther of its virti:es. 
It is not ufed in the Ihops. 
G E N U S II. 
-WATER SOLDIER. 
STRATIOTES. 
*TpHE flower is compofed of three petals, which are broad ; there are two cups, the one Is a 
hufli compofed of two membranes, which remains with the feed-veiTelj the other is formed 
of a fingle leaf, divided into three fegments, and falls off with the flower : the fced-vefl"el is oval, 
but marked with fix edges, and is divided within into fix cells, and contains numerous feeds. 
Linnaeus places this among the polyandria hexagyma ; the threads being numerous, and the ftyles 
from the rudiment of the capfule fix, anfwering to the fix feparate cells or divifions in the fruit. : 
the feeds are crooked. 
Common Water Soldier. 
Stratiotes vulgaris. 
The root is compofed of feveral long, thick, 
white fibres with tufted ends : they are naked 
from the top to the bottom but ju ft at the ex- 
tremity they have feveral fmall, fliort filaments, 
which fpread every way. 
From this root rife numerous leaves of a An- 
gular figure : they are long and narrow, thickefl: 
and broadefl: at the bafe, and ftiarp at the point : 
they are flefhy, firm, of a deep green colour, and 
armed with flight prickles along the edges. 
The fl:alks rife among thefe, and are naked, 
round, thick, and of a pale green. 
The flowers are large and white, with a tuft 
of yellow threads in the centre. 
The feed-veflTel is large, and the feeds are long, 
crooked, and, as it were, winged. 
It is common in the fen countries, the ifle of 
Ely, and el few here ; and flowers in July. 
It fwims upon the water, or is fometimes half 
way buried in it i and, though the roots are 
confiderably long, they rarely reach the bottom, 
C. Bauhine calls it Aloe palujlris. Others, 
AizQon palujire^ and Militaris aizoides, and Aloides. 
Nothing is known of a certainty of its virtues ; ' 
but the old women ufe it externally as cooling 
and repellent. 
the E ND / cAf S E V E N T H CLASS. 
4 
THE 
