The firft fort is what the College of Phyficians has 
diredted to be ufed in medicine. The leaves and tops 
of the plants are efteemed hot and dry, pectoral, and 
good to free the lungs from thick viicid phlegm, and 
thereby to help old coughs, elpecialiy in cold moift 
cpnftitutions, the juice being made into a fyrup with 
fugar or honey •, they open obftru&ions of the 
liver and fpleen, and are very ferviceable againft the 
dropfy, jaundice, green ficknefs, and obftructions of 
the catamenia, and fuppreffion of the lochia, and 
other diltempers of the female fex, for which few 
herbs go beyond this. The officinal preparation is 
the fyrupus de Praffio. 
The fourth fort is fuppofed to be Galen’s Madwort •, 
this was by the antients greatly recommended for its 
efficacy in curing of madnefs, and fome few of the 
moderns have prefcri'oed it in the fame diforder, but 
at prefent it is feldom ufed ; it is a biennial plant, 
which generally perifhes after it hath perfeded feeds. 
All thefe plants are preferved in botanic gardens for 
the fake of variety, but there are not above two of 
the forts which are cultivated in other gardens ; thefe 
are the tenth and eleventh forts, whole ftalks are 
lhrubby •, the plants are very hoary, fo make a va- 
riety when intermixed with other plants ; thefe very 
rarely produce feeds in England, fo are propagated by 
cuttings, which, if planted in a ffiady border the mid- 
dle of April, will take root pretty freely. 
They are fomewhat tender, fo in very fevere winters 
are killed, unlefs they are fcreened from the hard 
frofts, efpecially thofe plants which grow in good 
ground, where they grow luxuriant in fummer, fo 
their branches are more replete with juice, and very 
liable to fuffer by cold •, but when they are in a poor 
dry rubbiffi, the roots will be ffiort, firm, and dry, 
fo are feldom injured by cold, and will continue much 
longer than thofe in better ground. 
The other forts are eafily propagated by feeds, which 
fhould be fown on a bed of poor earth in the fpring, 
and when the plants come up they mult be kept 
clean from weeds ; and where they are too clofe they 
fhould be thinned, leaving; them a foot and a half 
afunder, that their branches may have room to 
fpread •, after this they require no other culture ^ 
they may alfo be propagated by cuttings, in the fame 
manner as the other two forts. If thefe plants are 
upon a dry poor foil, they will live feveral years, but in 
rich land they feldom laft above three or four. 
MARRUBIUM NIGRUM. See Ballote. 
MARTAGON. See Lilium. 
MARTYNIA. Houft. Gen. Nov. Martyn. Dec. i . 
42. [This name was given by the late Dr. William 
Houftoun to this genus of plants, which he difcovered 
in America, in honour of his friend Mr. John Mar- 
tyn, who was Profeffor of Botany at Cambridge.] 
The Characters are, 
5 "he emp element of the flower is cut into five parts , 
three of them are erect, and two reflexed. The flower hath 
one petal , which is bell-Jhaped , with a large f welling 
tube , at the bafe of which is fituated a gibbous neclarium. 
The rim of the petal is cut flight ly into five obtufe feg- 
ments , two of which are turned upward , the other three 
downward , reprefenting a lip flower. It hath four fen- 
der incurved ftamina , which are inflexed into each 'other, 
terminated by fumtnits, which are connected together. It 
hath an oblong germen Jituated under the flower, fupp or ting 
a floor t ftyle, crowned by a plain ftigma. The empale- 
ment afterward turns to an oblong gibbous capfule , which 
divides into two parts , including a hard nut, floaped like 
the body of a flag beetle, with two incurved ftrong horns 
at the end, having four cells, two of which are generally 
barren, the other two have one oblong feed in each. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fecond left ion 
of Linnaeus’s fourteenth clafs, which includes the 
plants whofe flowers have two long and two ffiort fta- 
mina, and the feeds are included in a capfule. 
The Species are, 
1. Martynia {Annua) caule ramofo, foliis angulatis. 
Lin. Sp. Plant. 618. Martynia with a branching ftalk 
and angular leaves. Martynia annua villofa & vif- 
cofa, folio fubrotundc, fiore magno' rubro. . Houffi 
Annual , hairy, vifeous Martynia , with 'a roundfh leaf 
and a large red flower . 
2. Martynia ( Perennis ) caule fimplici, foliis . ferrafis. 
Lin. Sp. Plant. 618. Martynia with a Jingle ftalk 'and 
flawed leaves. Martynia foliis ferratis. Lin. Hort, 
Cliff. Martynia with faived leaves. 
3. Martynia ( Loiijiana ) caule dectimbehte ramofa, fo- 
lds integris fru&ibus longiffimis. Martynia with a 'de- 
cumbent branching ftalk, entire leaves , and very long fruit . 
The firft of thefe plants was difcovered by the late 
Dr. William Houftoun, near La Vera Cruz, in New 
Spain, from whence he fent the feeds into England^ 
which lucceeded very well in the Phyfic Garden at 
Chelfea ; and in the year 1731, feveral of thefe plants 
were raifed, which produced their beautiful fi wers, 
and perfected their leed, from whence feveral plants 
were raifed the fucceeding year. 
This riles with a ftrong, herbaceous, hairy ftalk near 
three feet high, which divides upward into three or 
four large branches, garniffied with oblong oval leaves, 
cut into angles on their Tides j they artf five inches 
long, and three inches and a half broad at their bale, 
where they are broadeft, ending in obtufe points * 
they are hairy, and very vifeous, [ticking to the fingers 
if handled. The flowers are produced in ffiort fpikes 
from the forks of the Tranches, and alfo at their tops ; 
they are ffiaped like thofe c- r the Foxglove, but are 
of a paler purple colour ; thefe are fucceeded by o be- 
long oval capfules, which are thick, tough, and 
clammy-, thefe, when ripe, divide into two parts, 
leaving a large hard nut hanging on the plant, about 
the fize, and much of the fame form, as the flag 
beetle, with two ftrong crooked horns at the end. 
The nut has two deep longitudinal furrows on the 
ftdes, and feveral fmaller crofting each other in the 
middle. It is fo hard, that it is with difficulty cut 
open without injuring of the feeds : within are four 
oblong cells, two of which have generally a Angle ob- 
long feed in each, but the other two are abortive. If 
the plants are brought forward in the fpring, they will 
begin to ffiew their flowers in July, which are firft 
produced at the divifion of the branches,' and af- 
terward at the extremity of each branch, fo there 
will be a fucceffion of flowers on the fame plant till 
the end of Oftober, when the plants decay. 
The fecond fort was difcovered by Mr. Robert Mil- 
lar, growing naturally about C.arthagena in New Spain, 
from whence he fent the feeds to Europe • this hath a 
perennial root and an annual ftalk, which decays 
every autumn, and new ones arife in the fpring. The 
roots of this plant are thick, fiefiry, and divided into 
knots, which are fcaly, fomewhat like thofe of Tooth- 
wort ; thefe fend up feveral ftalks, which grow about 
a foot high •, they are thick, fucculent, and of a pur- 
plifh colour, garnifned with oblong thick leaves, 
whofe bafe fits clofe to the ftalk-, they are fawed on 
their edges, rough on their upper fide, where they 
are of a dark green, but their under fide is purpliffi. 
The ftalk is terminated by a fhort fpike "of blue 
flowers, which are bell-ffiaped, and do not fpread 
open at the rim fo much as the former fort ; thefe 
ufually appear in July or Auguft, but are not fuc- 
ceeded by feeds in England. 
The firft fort, being an annual plant, is only pro- 
pagated by feed, which Ihould be fown in pots filled 
with light rich earth, and plunged into a hot-bed of 
tanners bark, where (if the earth is duly watered to 
promote the vegetation of the feed) the plants will 
appear in about three weeks or a month, and will 
grow pretty faft if the bed is warm -, they fhould 
therefore be transplanted in a little time after they 
come up, each into a ieparate pot filled with light 
rich earth, and then plunged into the hot-bed amain 
obferving to water them well, as alfo to fhade them 
from the fun Until they have taken new root ; after 
which time they fhould have a large ffiare of frefh air 
admitted to them in warm weather, by raffing the 
glaftes of the hot-bed every day : with this manage- 
ment. the plants will make great progrefs, fo as" to 
% P fill 
