The BRITISH HERBAL. 
The feed-veiTel is Hiort and thick, and the feeds 
are roundifh. 
It is a wild piant in France among corn, and 
flowers in July- 
C. Bauhine calls it Lens 'vulgaris^ Others, Lejis 
major, and Lejis minor ; for there is no diffe- 
rence between thofe but from accident of cul- 
ture. 
Many things have been faid with little reafon 
on the virtues of lentils : experience fhews them 
falfe. We cultivate it for the food of cattle. 
GENUS VI. 
C H I C H. 
C I C E R. 
'npHE flower is papilionaceous. The vexillum is large and roundifh. The alas are fmall and ob- 
tufe, and the carina is fmall and fliarp-pointed. The cup is divided into five narrow fegments. 
The leed-veflel is fhort and fwelled and the feeds are roundifh, but cornered j fo that they are fup- 
pofed to reprefent the head of a ram. 
LinncEus places this, as the preceding, among the diaddphia decandria, making it improperly a 
fpecies of lentil!. 
Common Chich. 
Cicer vul^are. 
The root -is long, flentler, white, and fur- 
niflied with numerous fibres. 
The flalks are weak, (lender, branched, and 
of a pale green. 
The leaves are pinnated in a very regular and 
beautiful manner : each is compofed of four or 
five pairs of pinn^, with an odd one at the end •, 
and chefe are fliort, broad, and ferrated at the 
edges. 
The flowers ftand fingly on fhorc footfLalks ri- 
fmg; from the bofoms of the leaves ; and they are 
fmall, and of a whicifh or purplifh colour, vary- 
ing in the degree as chance directs. 
The feed-veffcl is fliort and thick, and the feeds 
are two : thefe are large at one end, fmall at the 
other, and cornered fo that they are fuppofed 
to refemble a ram's head : but there muft be fome 
ftrength of imagination to make out the Jike- 
nefs. 
It is wild in the corn-fields of Spain, and flowers 
in Augufl. 
C. Bauhine calls it Cicer fatiz-um. 
It is celebrated as a promoter of venery, but 
with no great reafon. The feeds are of the pea 
kind in nature and qualities, and may be eaten in 
the fame manner. 
We raife the plant, among our other improve- 
ments of hufbandry, in fields for the food of cattle. 
It is an excellent herb for that purpofe, and far 
from exhaufting the land, it mellows it, and pre- 
pares it for bearing larger crops of corn. 
GENUS VII. 
GOATS RUE, 
G J L E G J. 
'"pHE flower is papilionaceous. The vexillum is large and oval, and it is turned back at the top 
and at the edges. The al;E are oblong, and have a kind of appendage at the tips. The carina 
is llrait and compreflTed, and is oblong, and irregular in fliape. The cup is fhort, tubular, and di- 
vided into five fegments at the edge. The feed-vefl^^l is long, (lender, fharp pointed, and knotted at 
the phices where the feeds lie. The feeds are oblong, and kidney-fhaped. 
Linnaeus places it ^niong lYic diaJelpbia deca^d}ia ; the threads being difpofed as in the preceding 
genera. 
Common Goats Rue. 
Galena vulgaris. 
The root is long, ficnder, and furnidied with 
numerous hbres. 
The (talks are round, upright, branched, of a 
pale green colour, and a yard high. 
The leaves are beautifully pinnated, and of a 
faint green : they are compofed of five or more 
pairs of pinnae, with an odd one at tl^c end ; and 
thefe are long, narrow, and fliarp-pointed. 
The flowers grow in fpikes upon long, flendcr 
foGiflaiks rifing from the bofoms of the leaves ; 
they are fmall, and of a pale blue, ftrcaked often 
with white. 
Thefeed-vefl"elsare very long, flcnder, and green. 
It is a native of Italy, and flowers in Auguft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Galega "vulgaris \ and others 
ufe the fame name. 
It was at one time in great efleem as a cordial, 
alexipharmic, a;ld fudorific ■, but it never de- 
ferved the praife beftowed upon it, and is now 
with reafon fallen into neglect. It is an ingre- 
dient in fcveral of the old compofltions of tho 
fhops. 
GENUS 
