R I T I S H HERBAL. 
187 
Authors defcribc the garden-ka,! under the 
name of Fata bortenfis, as if a fpccics dtft.na 
from this : and upon a liiie principle v,-e fee 
that gardm-hean itfelf divided .nto innumerable 
other kinds. The truth is, all thefe are the off- 
fprinP of induftry and good culture : xht gardm- 
Ln 1s no more than the bcrfe-bean, improved | 
from time to time by careful management ; and 
all the others are again the fame kind of varia- 
tions from that. 
In a treatife of gardening, it would be proper to 
enumerate and diftinguifli thefe feveral varieties : 
but the ftudent in botany is to know there is but one 
fpecies of bean. The plant is the fame in (talk, leaf, 
flower, and fruit, the fize and the degree of flat- 
nefs only excepted ; and its ufes and qualities are 
the fame, whether it be taken from the field or the 
garden, or whether it flower in May or Augull. 
The bean, like the pea, is a very wliolelome 
food -, but it alfo ferves the purpofes of medicine. 
The whole bean, ground to Hour with its (hell, 
and taken internally by way of medicine, is found 
to be an aftringent of a ufeful kind. Diarrheas 
ot the worft i'ort, and even dylenteries, have 
been cured by it. It i." alio good agamft the 
diabetes. r j . r 
A pultice of bean flour externally is ufed in Iwel. 
linn-s ; and the infide of the ireth fiiells rubbed on 
wans will take tliem off. The fame method of 
ufing them will alfo take fpots off the face. 
Many have written againft beans, declaring 
them fi.itulent, difficult of digeftion, and bad for 
the head : but nothing can be mors idle than this 
learned preaching againft a pulfe in common ufc 
as food 'for ourfclvcs and our cattle, and found 
upon repeated experience wholefome to both. 
Pythagoras is quoted with a moH reverend 
ignorance by thofc who write againft the eating 
of them. He indeed dircfted his pupils to abftain 
from beans ; but this not bccaufe they were bad 
for the head, as Solinus thinks ; nor becaufe the 
fouls of the dead pafltjd into them, as Pliny 
dreamed. Plutarch might have fct thofc later 
commentators right, who have made fo many 
wild conjefcures about this fliort precept, the 
meaning of which was. Meddle not in farty- 
malters. The antients clefled their officers by 
ballot, and beans were the balls. 
It is fuppofed the bean of the antients was not 
the fame with ours, and many gucffes as wild and 
as unnatural have been made on that head as the 
former. The reafon of the fuppofition is, that 
they always fpeak of the dried bean as being round. 
The art of our gardeners has Batted otit the Wind- 
far bean : they lived before this improvement ot 
the bean was introduced ; and we fee in the dry 
fmalUmsJof the fame kind, a (hape which in 
general terms might not abfuidly or unnaturally 
be called round. The plant was beyond doubt 
1 the fame. 
N U 
VIII. 
L I Q.U O R I C E. 
G L 1' C r R R H I Z A. 
nnHE flower is papilionaceous, and compofed of four petals. The vexillum is oblong, ftrait 
T and rmallel> at the top. The ate are oblong, and of a plain, fimple ftruaure. The carina is 
/ nVrrolit all the way up ; and it is of the fame f.ze with the ate. The cup is formed of a 
W.= ho 0 ce divided Lei into two lips at thcedge : the upper lip is broke into three parts . 
o whtl the middle one is Ihorter and broader than the others and is fplit at the end : the lower 
Up Ts ftrait! narrow, and of a Ample ffrufture. The pod is oblong, compreffed, and acute : the 
Oprls are few, and of a kidney like fhape, , . , „ . . j 
tinnLus places this among the ^.Wrf^to Wn. . the threads m the flower being ten, and ar. 
ranged in two parcels, nine in one, and a fingle one in the other. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
Common Liquorice. 
Glycyrrhiza vulgaris Jiliquis glabris. 
The root is very long and creeping ; of the 
thickncfs of a finger, and of a tender, juicy fub- 
ftance : it is of a dufky brown on the outfide, of 
a fine yellow within, and of a fweet tafte. 
The ftalk is round, firm, upright, not much 
branched, and four feet high. 
The leaves are long, large, and regularly pin- 
nated : each is compofed of eight or more paiis 
of pinnse ; and thefe are oblong, narrow, and 
pointed at the ends, and of a pale green : they 
refcmble the leaves of the alh-tree, but are 
fmaller. 
The flowers grow on long and flender foot- 
ftalks rifing from the bofoms of the leaves, feve- 
ral on each : they arc fmall and bluifh. 
The pods are oblong, flcnder, and of a pale 
green : the feeds are large and brown. 
It is faid to have been found wild in the nor- 
thern parts of the kingdom : but, like other 
plants frequently and commonly cultivated in our 
fields, it is not eafy to fay whether it be truly a 
native or not : probably enough it may be fo; for 
it is evidently wild in other countries, in which 
the degrees of heat and cold are about equal to 
this. 
It flowers in September ; but with us it does 
not produce its flowers and fruit fo freely as in 
fbme other places. Indeed Nature has made fo 
good a provifion for the multiplying this plant by 
root, that it no where ripens its feeds in fuch 
abundance as ihofe that can only be propagated 
that way. 
' C. Bauhine 
