358 The B R I T I S H HERBAL. 
tlie Others, and is nipped at the end ; and fo is the upper lip. The cup is tubular and ftriated, 
formed of a fingle piece, and at the top compreflcd, and divided into two lips, in the fame manner 
as the flower. The upper Up of the cup has three, and the lower has two points. The feeds ftand 
naked in the cup, whofe top Ihuts over them. I'he flowers ftand in clufters round the ilalk and 
there are no leaves under them. 
Linn32us places this among the diandria monogynia \ the threads in the flower being two, and the 
ftyle fingle. 
This author Joins it with fage^ not allowing it to be a diftinft genus ; but the naked difpofition of 
the flower is a fufficient generical diftindtion. The common writers confound it with clary, kormintim \ 
from which it differs as effentialiy, as we fhall fhew under the fucceeding head, 
Of this genus there is but one known fpecies, and that is a native of Britain. 
Wild Seebright. 
Sdarea pratenjis. 
The root is compofed of numerous, large 
fibres, connedled to an oval head. 
The firft leaves are very large, and of a greyilh 
green : they arc placed on fhort footftalks and 
arc broad at the bafe, fmaller to the point, and 
irregularly indented at the edges. 
The ftalk is robuft, upright, branched, and 
two foot and a half high : it is brown, and a 
little hairy. 
The leaves fl:and in pairs on it ; and they have 
fcarce any footilalks : they -are large, oblong, 
rough, and irregularly indented at the edges. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the flalks and 
branches in long fpikes; they are placed on thefe 
in circular tufts at diftances ■, dnd there are at 
the utmoll on ly fome imperfed rudiments of leaves 
under th^m : t)iey are very large, and of a beau- 
tiful bluifli purple. 
The feeds are fmall and brown. 
It is found in damp places, but is not com- 
mon. It flowers in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Hominum pratmfc folils fer- 
ratis. Others, Sdarea prateiifis^ and Sdarea fyl- 
vefiris. 
The feeds of this plant put Into the eye, bring 
away any little foulneffes with them. The prac- 
tice is antient ; but the manner of its effeft is little 
underftood. As foon as the feed is put in, the 
warmth and moifture of the eye operating upon 
its own fubftance, cover it with a thick and tough 
mucilage : as it continues moving in the eye, this 
entangles the little fubfl;ances which had got in 
accident, and occauoned the pain ; and brings 
them out with it. 
GENUS VIIL 
CLARY. 
H O R M I N U M. 
'pHE flower is large, and labiated : it is formed of a fingle petal, which is tubular, and compref. 
fed in the lower parr, and divided in a gaping manner at the top. The upper Hp is long, large, 
and crooked ; the lower lip is divided into three fegments, the middle one of which is again'divided 
into three parrs. The cup is formed of a fingle piece, and is aifo divided into two lips : it is tubular, 
and angulated ; and one of the lips has two, the other three points. The flowers fl:and in tufts about 
the tops of the ftalks with a particular kind of coloured leaves about them ; and at the top there 
ufually are fome of thefe leaves in clufters, without any flowers among them. The feeds are placed 
naked in the bottom of the cup, 
Tinnsus joins this genus and fage together, abolifhing the received name horviimim : but the dif- 
tinftion is fufficient, as we /hall fhew when treating of fage among thofe verticillate plants of which 
no fpecies are native of England. He places this genus among the diandria mo?iogyma ; the threads 
being, as that term exprelfes, two in each flower, and tlie fl:y!e fingle. He makes the eflential 
charafter confift in the two threads being fplit or forked ; and as this is their form in the dary as 
well as fage^ he lor that reafon joins thofe plants under one name. But in the eye of Reafon this 
is a poor occafion of uniting plants fo ofavioufly different as thofe : and the more curious enquirer 
into the flrudture of flowers will tell him, that there are fuch variations in the formation of this in- 
ternal part of the flower in fome of thefe plants, which in his fpecies he allows to be faivU, as will 
either remove thofe fpecies out of this genus, or this genus out of t!ie clafs. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
1. Broad-leaved Wild Clary. 
Horminiim fylvcjtre -vidgare. 
The root is long, flender, and furniflied with 
numerous fibres. 
The firft leaves are large, rough, and of a 
dufky green : they are oblong, irregularly di- 
vided at the edges, and rife but a little from the 
ground. 
The ftalk grows up in the centre; and Isfquare, 
firm, and two feet high: its colour is brown, 
and it is not much branched. 
The leaves ftand in pairs, and have fcarce any 
footftalks : they ate rough, and of a greyifh 
green, and are irregularly waved and indented. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the ftalks in 
long fpikes, which ufually bend or droop a little : 
they are fmall, and of a very fine blue. 
The 
