The BRITISH HERBAL. 
32; 
GENUS IX. 
ASPARAGUS. 
J S P J R ^ G U S. 
mHE flower is formed of a fingle petal: this is oblong, hollow, and divided to the very bafe 
1 into fix narrow fet^ments ; three of which fl:and inward, and turn back at the ends. There is 
no cup. The fruit is a round berry, with a dent at the top ; and it is div.ded withm into three cells, 
in each of which there are two feeds. u ■ r 1. 
LinnjEus places this among the hemndria monogyma ; the threads in the flower being fix, and tnc 
ftvle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. 
IVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
1. Common Afparagus. 
JJparagiis vulgaris. 
The root is compofed of a vafl; number of 
long, thick, brown fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, of a pale green, 
and a yard high. The branches are regularly 
difpofcd upon it : they begin about the middle, 
and grow fliorter from thence all the way up. 
The leaves are very numerous : they are ex- 
tremely fiender, and of a pale green. 
The Bowers are fmall, and of a greenifli white : 
they are placed on Ihort footftalks upon the 
branches. 
The berries are large, and of a bright red. 
It is common wild about our weftern fea-coafl:s, 
and flowers in July. 
The young flioots there are thick and delicate; 
but in gardens culture renders them much larger 
and more tender. 
C. Bauhine calls it Afparagus. J. Bauhine, 
Jfparagus bortenfts & pratmfts ; and others, 
Afparagus vulgaris. 
It is a plant of great virtues. The Ihoots, as 
we eat them at table, operate powerfully by urine, 
but the roots much more. A decoftion of them 
is excellent againft the gravel and they aifo open 
obftructions of the vifcei a. 
2. Thick-leaved Afparagus. 
Afparagus crajfiore folio. 
The root is compofed of nuir.erous, thick 
fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, and a yard high. 
The branches are regularly difpofed, as in the 
common kind. 
Tlie leaves are fliorter and thicker ; but they 
have no more breadth than in that. 
The flowers are whitifh, and the berries are of 
a bright red. 
It is found in our wefl;ern counties near rivers 
that have falt-watcr from tides. It flowers in 
June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Afparagus maritimus craf- 
/lore folio. 
DIVISION II. F O 
I. Prickly Afparagus. 
Afparagus fpimfus. 
The root is compofed of numerous, thick 
fibres. 
The fl;alks are firm, upright, round, gloflTy, 
of a pale green, very much branched, and five 
feet high. 
The leaves are numerous, and of a fine deep 
green ; four or five rife together on difl;'erent parts 
of the branches ; and they all terminate in 
jirickles. 
The flowers are fmall and whitifli : they ftand 
on Hiort footftalks, and foon fade. 
The berries are large, round, and red. 
It is common about hedges in Italy, and flowers 
in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Afparagus foliis acutis. 
Others, Afparagus fpimfus, and Corruda. 
REIGN SPECIES. 
2. Starry-leaved Afparagus. 
Afparagus foliis fafciculatis. 
The root is fmall and fibrous. 
The Ifalks are numerous, round, jointed, and 
of a pale green, the joints being paler than the reft. 
The leaves are long, narrow, of a deep green, 
and fliarp-pointed ; they grow in clufters at the 
extremities and on the fides of the branches, like 
the rays of a ftar. 
The flowers are fmall and grcenilh. 
The berries are large and red. 
It is a native of Africa, and flowers in July. 
Plukenet calls it Afparagus Africams tenuifolius 
viminalibus virgis foliis laricis adinflar ex ufio 
pun^D fidlatim difpofuis. 
The virtues of thefe feveral kinds are faid to 
be the fame with thofe of the common afparagus, 
but in an inferior degree. 
N" 32. 
GENUS 
