The BRITISH HERBAL. 
159 
GENUS HI. 
FLEAWORT. 
PSTLLIUM. 
' I^HE flower 'is compored of four fmall oval petals, joined at their bafe : the cup is very fmall, 
formed of a fingle piece, and divided into five fegments at the edge : the feed-velTel is oval 
and the feeds are numerous : the flalks are branched, and have leaves upon them. 
luinnsEus places this among the tetrandria monogynia ; the threads in each flower being four, and 
the flyle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. 
He joins it, as before obferved, with the plantain, not allowing it to be a diftimSi: oenus 
Mr. Ray probably led him into this error, for he firft fell into it ; but the genera are perfcftly 
diftinft. 
The flowers and feed veffels agree indeed in both ; but the fl:alks, and manner of growing, differ 
altogether : the. plantains have leaves from the root only, and fiinple ftaiks ; the pfylliims have 
branched ftalks, and leaves on them. 
I. Common Fleawort. 
Pfyllium vidgare. 
The root is long, thick, white, and furni/hed 
with many fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, very much 
branched, and a foot and half high. 
The leaves are numerous: they ftand alter- 
nately, and are long and narrow, of a deep green : 
they are not at all divided at the edges, but 
pointed at the ends ; and they commonly have 
tufts of young ones, and rudiments of branches, 
in their bofoms : fo that the whole plant has a 
confufed afpedt. 
The flowers fl:and at the tops of the branches 
in fmall, round fpikes : they are little, and in- 
confiderable. ^ 
The feed-velTels are fmall and, oval, and the 
feeds are very numerous and glofly : their colour 
is black, and from their fhape, fize, and fhi- 
ning furface, they have been fuppofed to refemble 
fleas. 
It is common in the hedges of all the warmer 
parts of Europe, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pfylliitm majus ereSlmn. 
Others, Pfyllium vulgare. 
The feeds are ufed for making a mucilage, 
which is good in fore mouths, wafliing the mouth 
well, and fpitting it out. 
It has been given internally as a purge ; but 
there are accounts of very bad elfe6ts from it, 
faintings, and imminent danger of death ; it is 
therefore difufed. 
2. Jagi^ed Fleawort. 
PfyUiumJoIiis fcrratis. 
The root is long, white, and flender. 
The fl:alk is round, upright, branched, and a 
foot and half high. 
The leaves ftand alternately, and are long, 
narrow, and jagged, and of a pale green. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the branches, 
in oblong fpikes, and are fmall and inconfi. 
derable. 
The feed-vefltl is oval, and the feeds are large 
and black. 
It is a native of the Eafl:, and flowers in 
June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pfyllium Diofcoridis, vel In- 
dicum foliis crenatis. 
This, and not our common kind, feems to 
have been the feaivori of the antients ; but they 
appear fo much the fame in virtues, that the dif- 
ference is not efl'ential. 
3. Creeping Fleawort. 
Pfyllium rcpens. 
The root is long, and divided, and furniflied 
with many fibres. 
The flralks are numerous, round, and of a pale 
green. 
They lie upon the ground for the greateft pare 
of their length, and only raife up flioots of ten 
inches high to bear the flowers. 
The main branches, as they lie, take root at 
the joints, and the plant fpreads into very large 
tufts. 
The leaves are long, narrow, of a greyilh 
green, and a little hairy : they ftand alternately, 
and have thick tufts of fmall leaves, and flioots 
of young branches in their bofoms. 
The flowers ftand in ftiort tufts or fpikes, on 
long footftalks rifmg from the bofoms of the 
leaves, and they are fmall and whitifli. 
The feed-veflTels arc oval, and the feeds are 
fmall. 
It flowers in autumn, but the young flioots are 
frcfh and green the greateft: part of winter. 
It is frequent in the fouth of France. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pfyllium majus fupinum. Lo- 
be!, Pfyllium fempervirensy Evergreen fleawort s 
and the common writers follow him. 
Thefe are the plants, native and foreign, com- 
monly cultivated, which have four petals in the 
flower, and a fingle capfule for the feeds. 
We have obferved there is a numerous family 
of plants, with four petals in the flower, and a 
pod, not a capfule, for the feeds : thefe, if the 
number of the petals only were regarded in this 
method, would follow here ; but our chara£ters 
are eflabliftied uptin the flower and feed-veflrls 
together : we fliall therefore here purfue the iraift 
of 
