2l8 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
r. Common-fpiked Willowherb. 
Siiiicaria foliis oppojitis. 
The root is long, thick, and furniflied with 
many fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, firm, large, upright, 
and five feet high : they are not much branched ; 
they are of ah angulated figure, and of a brown 
colour toward the bottom, and green near the 
top. 
The leaves ftand in pairs : they are large, and 
have no footftalk : they are broadeft at t"he bafe, 
and narrower all the way to the end ; not at all 
notched at the edges, and of a frefli green. 
The flowers are large, and of a beautiful purple : 
they grow in long, thick fpikes at the tops of the 
Ifalks, and of many Ihoots that rife from the bo- 
foms of the upper leaves. 
The fecd-veffel is large, and the feeds are very 
numerous and fmall. 
It is common by waters, and makes a very 
elegant figure in autumn when in flower. Many 
of the American plants we nurfe up for their 
beauty, are not equal to this weed, nor fo worthy 
a place in gardens. 
C. Bauhine calls it Lyfmachia fpicata purpurea 
forte Plimi. Clufius, Lyfimachia purpurea com- 
inutiis major. Others fimply, Lyfmachia pur- 
purea. 
The root of this plant is a good aftringent : it 
DIVISION II. 
Narrow-leaved fpiked Willowherb. 
Salicaria foliis angufiiorilus flare ruhente. 
The root is long, thick, and furnilhed with 
large fibres. 
The fl:alk is fquare, firm, upright, and a foot 
high. 
The leaves are narrow, oblong, and pointed : 
they have no footftalks, and they are not at all 
ferrated on the edges. 
They are very irregularly and uncertainly 
placed on the ftalk : thole toward the bottom are 
in pairs, or fometimes three grow at a joint ; 
thofc on the upper part ftand alternately. 
does not aft with violence ; but, being continued 
in fmall dofes, feldom fails to anfwer its efteft 
in fliopping purgings or hemorrhages. 
The juice is laid to be good againfl: inflamma- 
tions of the eyes ; and fome have recommended 
the diftilled water for the fame purpofe. 
2. Sfiialt fpiked Willowherb. 
Salicaria foliis aliernis. 
The root is long, thick, and furniflied with 
large fibres. - - 
The ftalk is round, upright, firm, branched, 
and a foot high. 
The leaves are placed irregularly, and have no 
footftalks: they are oblong, narrow, fharp-pointcd, 
and of a deep green. 
The flowers are fmall, and of a bluifli purple : 
they do not ftand in long, thick fpikes at the tops 
of the ftalks, but are placed in the bofoms of the 
upper leaves. 
The feed-veflel is fmall, and the feeds arc nu- 
merous and minute. 
It is found in many parts of England, where 
there have flood waters in winter. It flowers 
in June. 
Ray calls it Salicaria hyjfopifolia. C. Bauhine, 
Hyffopifolia. Our people. Small hedge- hyffep : 
but this is a very improper name, as it con- 
founds it with a genus to which it it not at all 
alUed. 
The flowers are large, and of a bright beauti- 
ful red : they do not form a long, com- 
padi: Jpike, as thofe of the common kind, but 
ftand in the bofoms of the upper leaves in the 
manner of thofe of the laft defcribed fpecies. 
The feed-veflels are large and pointed, the 
feeds minute and brown. 
It is frequent on the fhores of the Danube, and 
elfewhere in Europe in the like damp places. It 
flowers in July. 
Clufius calls it Lyfmachia purpurea minor. 
C.Bauhine, Lyfimachia rubra mn filiqmfa. Others, 
the kffir-jpiled 'aillo-wherb, Lyfimachia fpicata mi- 
nor. 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
GENUS II. 
WATER PURSLAIN. 
P 0 R T U L A. 
rpHE flower is compofed of fix very fmall petals, regularly difpofed, and inferted near the edge 
of the cup: the Ibd-veflel is heart-fafliioncd, divided into two partitions, and full of minute 
feeds : the cup is large, bell-fafliioned, and divided at the extremity into twelve fegments, which are 
alternately larger and fmaller. 
Linnsjus places this among the hexandria momgynia ; the threads in the centre of the flower beino 
fix, and the Ityle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. " 
He takes away its name porlula, and calls it peplis. 
Of this genus there is but one known fpecies, and that is a native of Britain.' 
Water 
