15 = 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
right, and, like all the other fpurges, full of a 
milky juice. 
The leaves are numerous, long, narrow, and 
of a pale green: they have no fooellalks ; they 
adhere by a narrow bale, and ftand out horizon- 
tally. 
The top divides into feveral branches, forming 
^ very large umbel ; and the plant, wlien in 
flower, is a yard high. 
Thefe upper branches have numerous leaves j 
but they are unlike the others : they arc broad at 
the bafe, and fmaller to the point ; fo that they 
are in fome degree of a triangular form. 
The flowers are large and yellowith, and the 
feed-velTcls very large-, and deeply ribbed. 
When they are fully ripe, they burfl in the 
hot fun, and the feeds fly out forcibly. 
It is a native of France and Italy. We keep it 
frequently in gardens. It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Latbyris major. Others 
call it Catafutta major. Others only Lathyrh 
and Cataputia, without the addition of major. 
The reafon of calling this the greater catapu- 
tia is, that fome have defcribed what they call a 
fmaller fpecics -, but that diftijring, according to 
their own accounts, in nothing but fize, is a va- 
riety, and not a diftinft fpecics, 
6. Great Myrtle-Spurge, 
Tithymalus myrlifolius perennis. 
The root is thick, divided, and perennial. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, hollow, thick. 
and two feet high ; they are perfectly ereft, and 
not at all branched. 
The leaves are large, oblong, and fliarp- 
pointed, of a blackifli green, and drooping; 
The flowers are large, and of a greenifli yel- 
low : they ftand in fmall umbels. 
The feed-veffel is large, and the feeds arc 
blackifti. 
It is a native of Germany, and flowers in Au- 
guft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Tltbymahis m^rfimles a7igufii~ 
folius. Others, Tithymaks myrtifoUus niger. 
All the fpecies of tithyimil^ Engliih and fo- 
reign, agree in their qualities. They abound 
with a hot and acrid juice, wliich applied out- 
wardly eats away warts, and other excrefcences. 
The bark of the root of the efiila, and fome other 
kinds, have been at different times received in 
the (hops as medicines \ but they are now alto- 
gether difufed. 
Their operation was by vomit and ftooli and 
they did both fo violently, that it is with great 
reafon they are banillied the fhops. 
Some country-people have ventured to take 
fmali dofes of the juice of /purge: it operates vio- 
lently, and is apt to erode and inflame the in- 
teftines. If any will venture to give the efula 
bark, it fliould be corre£ted, by fteeping in vine- 
gar, and afterwards dried and powdered; and 
mace, and a few grains of gum tragacanth, 
mixed with it. 
G E N u S VI. 
P LANTAIN. 
PLANT AGO. 
THE floxver confifts of four petals, joined at tli£ bafe : the cup is formed of a fingle leaf, divided 
into four parts, and remains with the fruit : the feed-veflel is of an oval form, and the feeds are 
numerous and fmall. , , j . u n i . r 
Linnajus places this among the tetrandria mono^nia ; the threads in each flower being four, and 
the ftyle from the rudiment of the capfule fingle. 
This author joins under the fame name fome other genera, as they are called by too many, and 
with one exception, very juftly. They erred who made a peculiar genus of the coronopus or bucks- 
horn plantam ; but Linna:us is as much in the wrong, when, on the other fide, he brings in the pfyl- 
iism, otfleamrt, into the fame genus. We fliall flicw the diftinflion when treating of pfyUimn in the 
fucc'eeding part of this clafs ; there being no fpecies of it Britifli. We fee in this, as in many other 
inftances,°how natural it is in avoiding an error on one fide, to commit one on the other. The mark 
cf. prudence is to keep the moderate courfe, and to know where to flop. 
DIVISION I. 
BRITISH SPECIES. 
I. Smooth, broad-leaved Plantain. 
Plantago latifolia glabra. 
The root confifts of numerous, thick fibres, 
joined to a fmall head. 
The leaves rife in a great clufter ; and are 
large, broad, and of a dead green : they are of 
an oval figure, broadeft: at the bafe, fmaller to 
the end, where they terminate obtufely ; and they 
have long, hollow footftalks. 
The ribs arc very large and confpicuous, and 
they run lengthwife of the leaves : there are 
ufually feven of them. 
The ftalks rife among thefe, and arc nume- 
rous, round, tough, and a foot high. 
They have no leaves on them ; but at the tops 
bear a long, fiender fpike of flowers. 
The flowers are fmali and inconfiderable; they 
are of a greenilh white, and foon fade. 
The feed-veflel is fmall and oval, and the feeds 
are numerous and brown. 
C. Bauhine calls it Plantago latifolia Jinuata, 
Others, Plantago latifolia 'Vulgaris. We in Eng- 
lifh. Great plantain, or IFaybrid. 
The leaves are ufually fmooth, and fometimes 
2 lightly 
