4o6 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
Herb-Gerard. 
The root is Qcndcr and creeping ; and it has a 
flight talie of angelica. 
The firft leaves are placed on long, purplifh 
Jbocftalks ; and they are compofcd each of nu- 
merous, Imall, ferrated fegments, of a pale green 
colour. 
TIk- ftalk is round, flriated, branched, and two 
feet high. 
The leaves ftand alternately on it, and refemble 
thofe from the root, but that they are fmallerj 
and compofed of fewer parts. 
The flowers are fmall and white. 
The feeds are moderately large and brown. 
The leaves of this plant have been celebrated 
as a remedy for the gout; but they do not de- 
ferve what has been written of them. 
GENUS X. 
ALEXANDERS. 
S Mi'RN lUM. 
THE Bowers are difpofed in an irregular, large umbel, which from time to time incrcafes in big- 
ncfs till they are all open. There is no growth of leaves under the principal or fecondary 
footftalks. Each flower is compofed of five narrow, pointed, and fomewhat bent petals. The cup 
is very minute. The feeds are large, and of a lunulated figure, rounded at the back, and marked 
with three ftria:, and flat on the other fide. 
Linnseus places this among the fentandria digynia ; the flower having five threads, and two ftyles. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
Alexanders. 
Smyrmum uulgare. 
The root is long, thick, and white ; of a ftrong 
fmell, and an acrid tafte. 
The leaves that rife from it are very large : they 
are compofed of numerous, fhort, broad fcgments; 
which are nicked at the edges, and of a dark 
green : their tafl:e is not unplcafant. 
The ftalk is upright, firm, ftriated, branched, 
and fix feet high. 
The leaves on thefe refemble thofe from the 
root ; but they are fmaller. 
The flowers are fmall, and of a greenilTi white i 
and the feeds, when ripe, are brown. 
It is found on our weftern coafts among rocks, 
and flowers in Auguft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Hippofelimm Theophrajii, vel 
Smyrnimn Viofcoridis. Others, Smyrnium, 
It is a very wholefome and agreeable plant.' 
The leaves and their footftalks blanched are very 
pleafant raw or in foops ; and they are good 
againft fcorbutick complaints. 
DIVISION II. FOREIGN SPECIES. 
Perfoliate Alexanders. 
S-myrniiim pcrfoUatum. 
The root is long, thick, and white. 
The leaves that rife from it are very large and 
beautiful : they are finely divided into numerous, 
fliort, broad fcgments : which are deeply ferra- 
ted, and of a frclh green colour. 
The tlalk rifes in the centre of thefe ; and is 
round, llriated, branched, and of a pale green. 
The leaves that grow on this are perfefftly un- 
like thofe from the root : they are roundilh, but 
pointed, and undivided : the ftalk runs through 
them. 
The flowers are fmall and whitifli ; and the 
feeds, when ripe, are black. 
It is a native of the Greek iflands, and fiowcrs 
in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Smyrnium peregrimim rotunda 
folio. 
GENUS XI. 
EARTHNUT. 
BULBOCASTANUM. 
THE fiowers are difpofed in fmall umbells, compofed of divided and fubdivided branches and 
at the bafe of the ftalks, and fubdivifions of them, are placed feveral fmall, oblong, fiender 
leaves. Each flower is compofed of five petals, nearly equal in fize, heart-faihioned at the end, and 
a little bent. The cup is very fmall. The feeds are of an oval form, convex on one fide, and flat 
on the other. 
LinnjEUS places this among the pentandria digynia ; the threads being five, and the ftyles two in 
each flower. 
Authors fpeak of a larger and lelTer Earthnut ; but they diifer only as varieties. There is but one 
fpecies of this genus, and that is a native of Britain. 
2 Earthnut. 
