392 
The BRITISFI HERBAL. 
It is common in damp places, and flowers in 
July. 
C. Bauliine calls it Sympbylum fi'X cmfilida 
major. Others, Symphytum majtu. 
It is a plant of great virtues. It is cooling, 
agglutinant, and fub.ifl:ringent. 
A ccnferve of the roots cures the flmr alius, 
A decoflion of the frelli root is excellent in coughs 
and forenefs of the bread. The root, dried and 
powdered, is good againft (harp loofenefliis, and 
thole attended with bloody ftools. 
N U 
X. 
WATER-MILFOIL. 
pENTAPTEROrHTLLON. 
r^HE flower has no petals. The cup is formed of four leaves • and thefe are oblong erecl >nd 
1 unequal : one is placed outermoft, and is larger than the reft ; arrd one rnnerriioft. wh.ch . 
fmaller. The feeds are four-, and they Hand naked. There are on th,s plant male and fema = 
flowers diftina on the fame ftalk ; but they differ in nothing except the mner parts. In the nrale 
flowers there are feveral threads with oblong anthers ; and in the fema e tf.ere are no threads or an- 
Trl but he rudiments of the four fucceedrng feeds : thefe have no ftyles, but only a k.nd ot downy 
ftigmlta. The leaves are finely divided ; and they are placed many together at the jo.nts furrouna- 
'"unnfitl'^places this among the mon^cia rolyaniria ; the male and female flowers growing feparate 
upon the fame plant, and the threads in the flower being numerous. He takes away the name^.»- 
!Z Un, by which it is moft commonly known, and calls it „.yri.pbyUu,n. Thrs rs a name that 
hlf been given by the old writers to many water-plants altogether different ; and we have therefore 
retained the other. . r t, • ■ 
The fpecies of this genus are only two ; and both are natives of Britain. 
I. Small Water-Milfoil. 
Penlaftenphyllum minus. 
The root is long, creeping, and hung with 
many fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, of a pale green, 
and a foot high. 
The leaves are finely divided, or compofed 
of very minute parts : feveral of them grow to- 
c^ether at each joint ; and they refemble feathers, 
being formed of extremely flender, oblong feg- 
ments, united at their bafe to a middle rib. 
The flowers are fmall, and inconfiderable : 
they grow in the bofoms of the leaves from the 
middle to the top of the plant ; and they are of 
a grecnilh white. 
The feeds are oblong and fmall. 
It is common in ffiallow rivers in many parts 
of England, and flowers in Auguft. 
C. Bauliine calls it Mill'/ol'i"" aiiiialicum ftofcu- 
Us ad fQlierum nodes. 
1. Spiked Water-Milfoil. 
Pentafterophyllon fpicalum. 
The root is fmall and fibrous. 
The (talks are flender, and of a brownifli green, 
a foot or two in length, and divided into 
branches. 
The leaves are numerous, and finely divided. 
The flowers ftand in part in the bofoms of the 
leaves, and in part in jointed fpikes at the tops 
of the branches : thefe on the fpikes are the male 
flowers, and thofe in the bofoms of the leaves 
the female ; and thefe latter are followed each by 
four naked, oblong feeds. 
It is found in brooks and rivers, and flowers ia 
July- 
C. Bauhine calls it MillifoUum aqualiam pennon 
turn fpicaliim. Others, Myriofhyllum aquaticmn 
[picaium. 
The virtues of thefe plants are unkno'^n. 
SERIES 
