The BRITISH IT E R R B A L. 
2 11 
Two-leavcJ Mict;I!a. 
Mitella caule dipbyllo. 
The root is long, thick, and brown : it runs 
under tlie furface, and has many large fibres. 
The leave:: which rife immediately from it 
are large, and fiipported on long footftaiks : 
they are broad, of a dufky green, and a little 
hairy ; finuated, and fliarply indented at the 
edges. 
The ftalk is fiendcr, upright, and not at all 
branched : it is two feet high, and of a pale 
brown colour. 
There are two leaves on it, and they (land near 
its middle, oppofite to one another, and without 
footftaiks : th.ey are narrower in proportion to 
their length than thofe from the root, and fliarp- 
pointed : but they are, in the fame manner, finu- 
ated, and notched at the edges. 
The flowers are placed in a long, flender fpike 
at the top of the ftalk, and are very fmall, and 
as it were fringed. 
The feed-vefP^I is fmail, and the feeds are 
round and black. 
It is a native of South America, and flowers 
in June. 
Mentzelius calls it Cortufa Americana floribus 
'luimtim fimhriath. Others of the later writers, 
Mitella fcapo diphyllo. 
Its virtues are unknown. 
GENUS nr. 
CALTROP, 
r R I B U L u s. 
THE flower is compofed of five regular petals evenly difpofed: the feed-veflel is angulated and" 
ptickly, and contains numerous feeds ; the cup is tormed of a fingle piece, divided into five 
fegments. 
Linn.Tus places this among the decandria mom^ma ; the tlireads in the center of each flower being 
ten, and the ilyle from the rudiment of the fruit fihgle. 
I. Common Caltrop. 
^nhldus vulgaris. 
The root is fmall, long, white, divided, and 
furniflied with many fibres. 
The firfl leaves are numerous and pinnated, and 
very much refemble thofe of the common wild 
vetch; each is compofcd of fevera! pairs of fmall 
leaves, on a middle rib ; and thefe are oblong> 
of a frefh green, and fharp pointed. 
The ftallis are numerous, weak, flender, 
branched, and feven or eight inches high. 
The leaves on them are the fame in form and 
flruftLU-e with thofe from the root, but fmaller : 
they ffand alternately on the lower parr of the 
italic, but frequently are placed in pairs toward 
the top. 
The flowers ftand on (hort footftaiks rifing 
from the bofbms of the leaves, and they are 
fmall and yellow. 
- The fccd-veflel is ihort, angulated, and very 
prickly ; and there are fome prickles alfo round 
the upper part of the ftalk which fupports it. 
It is frequent in the northern parts of Europe, 
and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Tribulus temjlris ciccris folio 
fruliii amkato. Others, Tribulus terreflris. 
The Angular form of this herb, which re- 
fembles the vetch kind, has led all the common 
writers on plants to place it among that clafs, 
though the flower and fruit be altogether AiSt- 
rent. It is not a wonder they who judged only 
by the general face were deceived in this, for ic 
has all the afpedt of the pulfe kind. 
2. Great flowered Caltrop. 
'Trihulus fiare magno. 
The root is compofed of numerous fibres.* 
The firft leaves are long, large, and beautifully 
pinnated ; each is compofed of eight pair of pin- 
ns, fet on a double rib, with no leaf, but a fmall 
tendril at the end. 
The flalks are numerous, round, upright, not 
much branched, and of a pale green. 
The leaves on them are placed at diftances, and 
refemble thofe from the root. 
The flowers ftand fingly on long footftaiks ri- 
fing from the bofoms of the leaves, and they are 
very large and beautiful : they are of a bright 
yellow, and are as big as fmall poppies. 
The feed-veifel is fmall and prickly: the feeds 
are numerous, fmall, and ihining. 
It is a native of the warmer parts of America, 
and flowers in July. 
Van Royen calls it Tribulm foliis oHoparium 
conjugatis. 
The common caltrop is faid to be cooling and 
aftringent ; but thofe virtues are not warranted 
by any known experience. There is another plant 
called by the old writers tribulus aquaticus, and 
the water caltrop ; but this is of a difierent clafs, 
and is therefore properly diftinguiftied by Lin- 
nsus by a diflercnt generical name, trapa. 
GENUS 
