252 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
It is a native of Italy, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhinc calls it Erma klifoUa. 
All thefe plants agree in their general quali- 
ties as well as external form. They are good 
in obftrudions of the vifcera, and in fcorbutic 
diforders ; but they have not been I'ufficiently 
regarded in the practice of phyfic. 
SERIES 
II. 
'ili 
Foreign Genera. 
Thofe of which there is no fpecies naturally wild in this country. 
G E N U S I. 
TOOTHWORT. 
D E N T A R I A. 
THE flower is compofed of four petals, regularly difpofed crofs-ways : they are broad at the ends, 
and have fmall bottoms of the length of the cup. The cup is formed of four little leaves ; they 
are oval blunt, and converge at the points, and the whole falls with the flower: the feed veffcl i» 
long, and of a rounded form, and contains two cells ; the dividing membrane is a little longer than 
the fides of the pod : the feeds arc numerous and oval. 
Linna^us places this among the ttlradymmia filquoja ; four of the fix threads in the flower being 
longer than the other two, and the fced-veffel being a regular pod. 
Some of the plants of this genus produce a kind of foMes, or fruitful lumps, in the bofoms of 
the leaves ; but this is not univcrftl. 
I. Trifoliate Toothwort. 
Deiitaria Srifhylliis. 
The root is thick, of an irregular figure, and 
lies obliquely under the furface. When young it 
is white, but when older it is black on the out- 
fide i fo that the common appearance is its being 
white in fome parts, and black in others : it is 
compofed in an irregular manner of fcveral dif- 
tinft parts oddly conncfted together. 
From the difterent parts of this root rife feve- 
ral footfl:alks, on each of which are placed three 
leaves : thefe are broad, (hort, and of a deep 
green, fcrrated at the edges, pointed at the ends, 
and each has its fcparatc pedicle, by which it is 
fixed to the common footfialk. 
In other parts of the root lie the rudiments of 
the ftalk, which therefore rife in feparate places. 
Thefe are round, flcnder, of a pale green, and 
about a foot high. 
Toward the middle of the flalk, or fomewhar 
nearer the top, there (land three footftalks, each 
fufl:a!ning three leaves ; thefe are long, narrow, 
(harp-pointed, and ferrated at the edges. 
The flowers are moderately large : they have 
long and fiender pedicles, fo that they com- 
monly hang drooping ; and their colour is a 
greenifli white. 
The fecd-vefiels are long and flender, and the 
feeds are numerous and fmall. 
It is a native of Italy, and other warmer parts 
of Europe, and flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Dcntaria Iriphylks. Co- 
lumna, Ceratia Plitiii. Others in general, Da:- 
. laria trifolUite, Threi-kai cd toeth'j:orl. 
2. Seven-leaved Toothwort. 
Dmtaria hepla^bylla. 
The root it placed obliquely in the ground, and 
is compofed of a number of odd ihaped irregular 
parts, fixed in a rude manner to one another. 
The firft leaves are large, and very beautiful : 
they Hand on long, fiender footllalks, of a grcenilh 
white, or of a redifli colour ; and are of a pin- 
nated form, each confifti ng of three pairs of pinna;, 
with an odd kaf at the end. 
Thefe are oblong, narrow, lharp-pointed, and 
ferrated at the edges. 
The ftalk is round, fiender, upright, weak, 
and a foot high. 
The leaves grow irregularly on thefe, and in 
an uncertain form : the lower part of the ftalk is 
naked, and that ufually half way up: at , this 
height begin the leaves, three or four of which 
ftand at fome fmall diftances over one another ; 
and are of the pinnated form, like thofe from the 
root, but having fewer pinna: : above thefe ftand 
feveral fimple, oblong, and narrow leaves, and 
at the top the flowers in a fmall fpike. 
Thefe are large, and of a beautiful pale rcdilh 
hue. 
1 he fced-veflel is long and fiender, and the 
feeds are numerous and round. 
In this fpecies there are frequently little tu- 
bercles at the bofoms of the leaves, like thofe of 
the bulbiferous faxifrage, which falling take root, 
and become new plants. 
It is common in all the fouthern parts of Eu- 
rope in Iliady fituations at the foot of hills. It 
has been found in fome places in England 
4 thriving 
