The BRITISH HERBAL. 
241 
fjriners have diftinguiflied three or four kinds ; 
but the botanift is toknowthefe are no more than 
accidental varieties, or the efFecls, of culture, and 
that the plant is the fame in all, there being but 
one known fpecies of what is properly called tur- 
nip. 
The leaves are numerous and Urge : they are 
long, and confiderably broad, deeply and irre- 
gularly divided at the edges, and of a yellowifli 
green colour, and rough to the touch. 
The ftalk is round, firm, upright, and three 
or four feet high. 
The leaves on it are fmaller, and lefs divided 
than thofe at the root, the upper ones being 
fimple, and of a heart-fafhioned lhape, without 
any divifion. 
The flowers are finall and yellow : they ftand 
at the tops of the ftalks many together. 
The feed-veficl is long, and the feeds are large 
and round. 
GEN 
M U S ' 
S J N 
It is a native of Spain, and fiowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Rapiim fativum roiundumi 
and moft others follow him. 
This author, as well as many others, diflin- 
guifli the long-rooted turnip under the name of a 
peculiar fpecies, calling it the lojtg turnip., and 
the feynak turnip % but it is, as we have already 
obfcrved, nothing more than a variety. 
The turnip is a wholefome root, ufed more in 
food than medicine, but not altogether without 
virtues in that refpeiSt. 
The juice of unripe turnips, that is, finalt green 
ones, with white wine, has fometimes cured 
quartan agues. 
The roots, as eaten at table, are celebrated as 
antifcorbuticks, if eat frequently, and for a length, 
of time ; and externally they arc commended, by 
way of poultice, boiled foft with bread and milk, 
againfl fwellings of the breafts. 
USX, 
' A R D. 
API. 
rpHE flower is compofed of four fhort, roundifh petals, expanded crofs-ways, with very fhorc, 
narrow bottoms: the cup is formed of four leaves, and fpreads wide open ; its leaves are nar- 
row, and hollowed, and its opening is in a crofs form, and the whole falls with the flower : the iced- 
veffcl is long and rough, and the membrane that divides it within into two ceils ftands out to a very 
confiderable length beyond the end of the pod, and is large and flatted : the feeds are numerous and 
round. 
Linnxus places this among the tetradynamta Jtliquofa ; four of the fix threads that are in the flower 
being longer than the other two, and the feed-vefTel being a regular pod. 
He diOikes the termination of the old name, and writes it fmapis. 
DIVISIOK I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
I. Common Muflard. 
Sinapi vulgarc. 
The root is long, flender, white, and hung 
with many fibres, 
The leaves that rife from it are long and large : 
they are deeply divided at the edges, fo as fome- 
what to refemble the pinnated form, and they 
are terminated each by a broad, large, round 
piece at the end. 
The ftalk is round, upright, firm, and not 
much branched ; it is two feet and a half high, 
and is rough toward the bottom, as are alfo the 
Itaves ; and fmooth at the top. 
The leaves are placed irregularly on it, and 
are, like thofe from the root, long, fmuated at 
the edges, of a pale or yellowilh green, and rough 
to the touch. 
The flowers are fmall and yellow ; they ftand 
in a kind of fpikes at the tops of the flalk and 
branches. 
The feed-veflels arc oblong, but not fo long as 
in moft of the other plants of this clafs ; and they 
ftand upright, and near the ftalk. 
The feeds are numerous and round. 
We cultivate this in fields and gardens for the 
feed i but it is alfo wild in our corn fields, and 
in wafte places. 
This is the plant whofe feeds are the common 
muftard-itt^i much ufed in our kitchens, and fo 
valuable in medicine. 
J. Bauhine calls it Sinapi fativum Jiiiqua longa 
glabra fmine ruffo Jive vulgare. Others, Sinapi 
vulgar e. 
2. White Muftard. 
Sinapi album filiqua hirfuta. 
The root is long, flender, white, and furnUKcd 
with many fibres. 
The firfl leaves rife in a large tuft, and are 
long, broad, of a yellowifli green, rough to the 
touch, and very deeply and irregularly jagged, 
often down to the rib. 
The flalk is round, upright, and divided into 
many branches. 
The leaves on this are numerous and large : 
they are rough, and very deeply jagged, and 
have long footftalks. 
The flowers are fmail and yellow : they ftand 
in confiderable nu mbers at the tops of the 
branches, and are followed by long, hairy pods* 
The roughnefs of thefe feed-veflels is not their 
only diftindtion from thofe of the common viuf^ 
tard: they ftand out from the ftalk, whereas the 
others run almoft parallel with it ; and they are as 
Q.q q it 
