322 
The BRITISH fl E R B A L. 
DIVISION II. F O 
I, Branched Solomon's Sea!. 
Polygojmiiim rmiofura. 
The root.is connpofed of a vaft number of thick 
fibres, connefted to a fmall head. 
The ftalk is round, firm, upright, and branched, 
3nd is two feet and a half high. 
The leaves are very large, and of a fine deep 
green : they furround the ftalk by a broad bafe, 
and grow fmaller thence to a point. 
The fiowtrrs are fmall and whitifli : they hang 
fingly on long, nender, and, as it were, jointed 
footilalks, rifing from the bofoms of the leaves : 
they are white, with a faint tiniftof green. 
The berries are at firft green and (potted, but 
afterwards red. 
It is frequent in Germany, and fiowcrs in Au- 
giift. 
C. Bauliine calls it Tolygonatum lalifolhim ra- 
IREIGN SPECIES. 
2. Narrow-leaved Solomon's Seal. 
Polygomtum GuguJlifoHum. 
The root is thick, large, and of an irregular 
form, and fpreads under the furface. 
The ILilks are round, firm, upright, and a 
foot and half high : they are rarely branched, but 
fometimts they divide a little. 
The leaves are obiong, narrow, (harp-pointed, 
and of a pale green: they do not ftand in the 
manner of thofc in the other kinds, but furround 
the llalks like the leaves of the ftcllate plants. 
Tlie flowers hang from the bofoms of the leaives 
on fingle footftalks, ufually one from the bofom 
of each leaf : they are fm.^.ll and white. 
The benies are roundifli, and, when ripe, of a 
fine red. 
It is a native of Germany, and flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it PolyganaUm angnftifolium non 
rnmofmn. He difl;inguilhes another under the 
name of Polygonatum anguflifolutm ramofim ; but 
it is only a variety of this. 
GENUS V, 
LILLY OF THE VALLEY. 
LILLIUM CON V ALLIUM. 
'T~'HE flower Is formed of a fingle petal ; and is hollow and globular. There is no cup. The' 
berry is roundifli, divided into three cells within, and before its growing ripe is fpotted. Tlie 
leaves are few, and nervous. 
Linnxus places this among the hexandria ijjonogynia j the threads in the flower being fix, and the 
flyle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. He fcparates it from the reft of the berry-bearing plants 
by feveral ciafl'es, and joins it in the fame genus with the polygonatum. He alfo changes the received 
name, writing it convallaria. 
DIVISION L BRITISH SPECIES. 
1. Common Lilly of the A'"alley. 
Lillium convallium i-ulgare. 
The root is long, flender, fpreading, and creep- 
ing to a great diftance under the furface. 
The leaves that rife from this are ufually 
two, fometimes three : they are very large, and 
of a fine green, oblong, broad, and fliarp-pointed ; 
and they are of a firm fubftance, and marked with 
high and large ribs. 
The ftalk which bears the flowers rlfes near the 
ftem, which fupports the leaves, and Is com- 
monly conneded to it by a membranous cafe. 
There are no leaves on this ftallc. 
The flowers grow at the top in a kind of fpike ; 
but they all hang one way : they are large, of a 
whitifli colour, and of an extremely fragrant 
fmell. 
The berries are large, round, and red. 
It is common in our woods, but does not al- 
ways arrive at perfeftion. In many places only 
the leaves are feen, the plants never flowering ; 
and in many others the berries do not ripen. 
C. Bauhine calls it Lillium convallium album. 
Others, Lillium convallium vulgare. 
It is an excellent medicine in nervous cafes. 
The flowers have the principal virtue. They 
may be taken in infufion ; but the befl: way is in 
conferve : they are thus good againft head-achs, 
and all nervous complaints. 
Dried and powdered, they ad as fniiff, and do 
great fervice in inveterate diforders of the head. 
Ray mentions a variety of this plant, which 
had impofed on fome as a diftinift fpecies. The 
leaves inthis are narrower, and the flowers fmalkr > 
but this is only accidental. 
DIVISION II. FOREIGN SPECIES. 
Oneblade. 
Lillium convallium foliis cordatis. 
This is a very Angular little plant: it has been" 
dcfcribed by authors under a diftinft name j but 
it is in all refpeiits a true and proper Ully of the 
valley. 
The root Is long, flcnder, divided, and creep- 
ing. 
The firft appearance of the plant is In a fingle 
leaf, fupported on a long footftalk : this obtained 
it the (lame oneblade, for when it rifes to flower 
it has two. 
The footftalk that fupports the firft leaf is re- 
2 difh 3 
