The BRITISH HERBAL. 
261 
inverted oval figure, and have very fmall bottoms within the cup. The cup is compofed of four hol- 
low, oval, little leaves, which ftand gaping, and fall with the flower. The feed-veifel is Ihort, fome- 
what comprefled, blunt at the end, and terminated by a fmall point : the feeds are few and fmall, 
and the leaves are very large and firm. 
LinnsEUS places this among the tetradynamia filiculofa ; the flower having four longer and two 
lliorter threads, and the feed-ven*el being a fmgle regular filicule. He joins it with the fcurvygrafs, 
taking away its original and more ufually received name. The fnortnefs ot the point at the feed- 
veflTel is a diftindion of the fmaller kind i yet it is a very certain and invariable character : but Na- 
ture has placed a much greater and more obvious mark in the form and external appearance of the 
whole plant. 
The lepidium is much more nearly allied to the raphnniis rujiicanus than the fcurvygrafs Is in na- 
ture; but even that is abfolutely difliind. 
There is but one known fpecies of horfe radijh, though it varies oddly in the leaves ; and that is a 
native of Britain. 
Common Horfe Radifh. 
Raphanits rujiicanus vulgaris. 
The root is long, thick, and white, of an 
acrid tafte, and of many years continuance in 
the ground. 
The leaves are numerous, and extremely large : 
they are long, moderately broad, and of a frefli 
green. Naturally they are entire, or but flighcly 
and irregularly dented at the edges 1 but fome- 
times they are cut very deep into numerous pin- 
nated fegmenrs. 
The ftalk is round, upright, firm, and two 
feet and a half high. 
Tlie leaves on this are oblong, narrow, and 
indented, and are of a frelher green than thofe 
from the root. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the flalks, and 
are fmall and white. 
The feed-veflel is alfo fmall and fliort, and the 
feeds are few and fmall. 
It is common wild in the north of England, and 
we fee it in uncultivated grounds, frequently about 
London, and elfewhere in the neighbourhood of 
towns. But it has in thefe places probabiv rifen 
from fome of the roots thrown out of the houfes 
or gardens. Jn Cumberland, and fome parts 
of Yorkfliire, it is abundant in places remote 
from houfes. It flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Raphanus rujiicanus ; and 
molt others copy that name without altera- 
tion. 
It is an excellent medicine in rheumatic cafes 
and in ail obflirutflions of the vifcera, There is 
no way of taking it fo good as eating of the ■ 
fcraped root in large quantities at table. 
It works powerfully by urine, and brings away 
fmail flones and gravel at the fame time it 
fircngthens the fl:omach, and alTiflis digefliion. Ic 
ftands greatly recommended alfoagainfl fcorbutic 
complaints. 
Two fpoonfuls of the juice will operate as a 
vomit; but it does this roughly and difagree- 
ably. 
GENUS VL 
DITTANDER. 
LEPIDIUM. 
THE flower is compofed of four little, oval petals, which are difpofed regularly In a crofs di- 
re(5lion, and have very narrow bottoms : the cup Is formed of four little, pointed, gaping 
leaves, which fall when the flower decays : the feed-veffel is fiiort, broad, and thick, with a very 
flight deprefi"ion at the end, and a very flender point annexed to it, which has been the ftyle of the 
flower : the feeds are numerous, fmall, and brown. 
Linnaeus places this among the tetradynamia ftUculoJa \ the flower having four longer and two 
Ihorter threads, and the feed-veflTel being a regular filicule. 
He takes away the efl:abliflied name of one plant of this genus, not allowing it to belong to it, 
but accounting it a fpecies of fcurvygrafs ; this is the narrow-leaved kind : and the other he joins 
with naftiurcium, calling them by that name. This tends to create confiifion. There is enouoh dif- 
tinftion both from the fcurvygrafs and the horfe radijh in the general form of the plants ; but, befidc 
that, we have fliewn there are diftinftions in thofc parts in particular upon which the characters of 
the genera are efliabUihed. 
Thefe are more flight in general in this whole clafs than in moft others : but, if they are properly 
attended to, they are fufficient. 
DIVISION L BRITISH SPECIES. 
Common Dittander. 
Lepidium vujgare latifolium. 
The root is flender, and runs obliquely under 
the furface : it is furniflicd with many fibres, and 
N° 26. 
fends up tufts of leaves, and young flioots of 
ftalks, in feveral places. 
The firfl: leaves are very large, and of a deep 
green : they fl:and on long, flender footftialks •, and 
they are oblong, broad, and ferrated at the 
X X X edges; 
