254 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
I. Broad-leaved Arabis. 
ylrahis latiore folio. 
The root is long, {lender, and creeping. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, upright, 
hairy, and a foot high : they are of a pale colour, 
and not much branched. 
The leaves are numerous, and are placed ir- 
regularly : they are of a fliape approaching to 
oval, broadeft at the bafe, where they furround 
the ftalk, and narrower to the extremity, where 
they terminate in a (harp point : they are foft to 
the touch, of a pale green, and ferrated at the 
edges. 
The flowers (land at the tops of the branches 
in little tufts, and they are fmall and white. 
The feed-ve(re!s are long and flender : the feeds 
arc large and brown. 
It is a native of Germany, and other parts of 
Europe, and thrives bell: on (haded hills. It 
alTumes various (hapes, according to the favour- 
able qualities of the foil and (helter, fometimes 
lying for the moll part on the ground, and fome- 
times rifing perfeflly ereft. This, and its other 
variations from the fame caufe, have led fome to 
figure and defcribe it two or three times over un- 
der various names adapted to the condition of its 
growth. 
6. Long-leaved Arabis. 
Arabis lo)igiare folio. 
The root is long, flender, white, and furnilhed 
with numerous fibres. 
The (irrt leaves ri.fe in a thick tuft, and are 
fupported on Ihort footftaiks : they arc long, mo- 
derately broad, (harp-pointed, narrowed at the 
bafe, and very irregularly indented about the 
edges. 
The (la!k is round, upright, (irm, and not 
much branched. 
The leaves on it in all refpefts referable thofe 
from the root, but that they are fmaller : they 
ftand irregularly : they are of a pale green, and 
they have (hort footftaiks. 
The flowers ftand at the top in a fmall tuft, 
and are large, and of a bright yellow. 
The feed-vefiils are long, flatted, and full of 
roundidi feeds. 
It is a native of many parts of North America, 
and flowers in July. 
Plukenet calls it Eriica iellidis majoris folio. 
GENUS III. 
W O A D. 
1 & A 
I S. 
rpHE flower is compofed of four petals opening regularly crofs-ways ; they are obloir'^ oval 
X obtufe, and have very narrow bottoms : the cup is compofed of four little oval leaves" whick 
fpread open ; it is coloured, and falls entire with the flower : the feed-veflil is oblonc^ blunt' at the 
end, comprelTed, and two-edged, and is compofed of two hollow (ides: the feed is finale and of an 
oval figure, and lies in the centre of the pod. ° ' 
From the fiiortnefs of the pod in this genus fome might be for referring it to the filiculofc plants 
but that IS not their eflintial charafter, as we fliall Ihew hereafter. This is properly and truly of the 
filiquofc kind. • 
Unnxm places it among the lelradynamiafdiqmfa, four of the fix threads in the flower being lono-er 
than the other two, and the feed-velTcl, as we have obferved, notwithftanding its Uiortnefs a re °u 
lar pod. ' ts" 
Common Woad. 
Ifatis vulgaris. 
The root is long, thick, whitilh, and fur- 
nifiied with many fibres. 
The firft leaves are large, oblong, and broad : 
they lie fpread upon the ground, and they are of 
a bluilh green colour, and firm fubftance. 
The ftalk rifes in the midft the tuft, and is 
round, woody, firm, of a greyi(h co'our, and 
four feet high. 
The leaves ftand thick and irregularly on it, and 
are large and oblong : they are broad at the bafe, 
and narrower all the way to the point ; and they 
are of the fame Belliy fubftance, and bluifli green 
colour. 
The flowers ftand upon numerous, flender 
branches, into which the ftalk divides at its top ■ 
and they are fmall and yellow. 
The feed-veflels are oblong, and the feed is 
Angle and large. 
It is a native of the fhores of the Baltic ; but 
is cultivated in fields with us, and thrives very 
happily. It flowers in Auguft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Ifatis latifalia fativa. This 
author, and others, defcribe alfo a narrower-leaved 
woad, which they call the wild kind, as if a dif- 
tind fpecies ; but there is no other dilFerence 
between thefe two plants than what culture gives. 
The wild woad, brought into a cultivated land, 
will have as large and broad leaves as the other, 
and has arifen from fcattered feeds of the manured 
kind upon lefs favourable foils. 
The ufe of woad is for dying of woollen 
cloth. Its natural colour is blue ; but it is alfo 
the bafis of feveral others : for this fervice a vaft 
quantity is annually raifed in many parts of 
England. t 
GENUS 
